The first program, which was authorized by the Hawkins-Stafford Elementary and Secondary Amendments of 1988, is designed to foster experiments in such areas as teacher enrichment, teacher certification, and parental involvement.
The program will award grants and contracts to schools, states, local education agencies, colleges and universities, and nonprofit groups.
The board, whose director has not yet been named, will identify promising initiatives and recommend projects for funding. The 15 new members include:
For one-year terms, 1988-1989: Charles L. Hardwick, speaker, New Jersey Assembly, Trenton; Patrick J. Nolan, assemblyman, California State Assembly, Sacramento; Robert Peterkin, superintendent of schools, Milwaukee, Wis.; Chojaste Schroeder, teacher, Ben Franklin High School, Rochester, N.Y.; W. Karl Zinsmeister, adjunct research associate, American Enterprise InstiWashington.
For two-year terms, 1988-90: Peter G. Briggs, headmaster, Greenwich Country Day School, Greenwich, Conn.; Lorraine R. Colville, professor of government, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, New York City; Reginald MacDonald, superintendent of schools, South Portland, Me.; Richard Mills, state commissioner of education, Montpelier, Vt.; Gloria Tuchman, teacher, Taft Elementary School, Santa Ana, Calif.
For three-year terms, 1988-1991: John F. Cogan, senior fellow, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif.; Peter R. Greer, dean of the school of education, Boston University, Boston; Donna H. Hearne, owner and operator, Missouri License Bureau, St. Louis; Brenda J. Lee, principal, Edison Primary School, Dayton, Ohio; Robert Rossier, independent consultant, Montebello, Calif.
After months of bipartisan crafting, the Senate has passed legislation aimed at reducing student defaults on federally backed college loans.
The “Stafford student-loan default-prevention and management act” (S 2647) was passed by a voice vote. It would require schools, lenders, and guarantee agencies with default rates greater than 25 percent to enter into a default-management plan with the Education Department.
The House is expected to consider its loan-default bill, which differs from the Senate version in several key areas, within the next few weeks.
Missouri’s education program for handicapped students violates federal anti-discrimination laws, an administrative appeals panel of the U.S. Education Department’s office of civil rights has ruled.
The ruling upheld a 1987 decision that found the program to be discriminatory because it did not provide instructional time equal to that given nonhandicapped students.
The state provides 5 hours of instruction daily to some 2,200 handicapped pupils in 54 schools. Pupils in regular schools have a six-hour day.
The state, which could lose more than $110 million in federal funds if it does not alter its program, has 20 days to appeal the decision.
The federal government needs to plan for the transfer of military-dependent schools to local education agencies, a report released by the rand Corporation says.
The Congress has ordered transfer of Section 6 schools, which serve 36,000 students on 18 military bases, by 1990.
In some cases, transfers will result in severe overcrowding of local schools, the report warned. It recommended creation of a Section 6 subsidy for districts that enroll military dependents under the new policy.
Copies of the report can be obtained for $15 each from rand’s publications department, 1700 Main St., P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, Calif., 90406-2138. The report’s code number is R-3647-FMP.
President Reagan last week signed the Education Department’s fiscal 1989 spending bill.
Funding for the department was set at $21.72 billion, an increase of $1.48 billion over this year’s budget.
Observers said the funding level was fairly secure, since across-the-board cuts under the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings law are not expected.
The Education Department’s general counsel, Wendell L. Willkie 2nd, has left his post to become a “special counsel” to George Bush’s Presidential campaign organization.
Meanwhile, Secretary of Education Lauro F. Cavazos, in his first official act, named Mr. Willkie’s deputy in the office of General Counsel, Charles E.M. Kolb, to be acting deputy undersecretary for planning, budget, and evaluation--the post vacated by Bruce M. Carnes.
