20 years ago ... NOV. 3, 1982
- Twenty-six states provide private schools with auxiliary services—such as loans of instructional material, health services, and gifts of textbooks— according to a survey by Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, a Washington-based group that opposes such help.
- In a setback for civil rights advocates, the Illinois Supreme Court rules that the state board of education overstepped its authority when it set regulations that mandated racially balanced schools. The court says only local districts have the power to dictate desegregation policies. (Story not available from archives)
- The nation’s oldest FM education-themed radio station faces a shutdown, when cuts in state and federal funding prompt the San Francisco district’s school board to end its $240,000-a-year financial commitment to KALW. The district has owned and operated the station since it went on the air in 1941.
10 years ago ...NOV. 4, 1992
- The National Association of State Boards of Education recommends that districts work toward full inclusion of students with disabilities in regular classrooms instead of mainstreaming, which calls for such students to split their time between traditional and special education classes.
- Citing more than a dozen incidents in which students were caught with weapons, the union that represents teachers in the New York City schools urges the district to provide handheld metal detectors in all 124 public high schools.
- A study of Minnesota’s open- enrollment program reveals modest but positive results. Less than one-half of 1 percent of students took advantage of the option in 1989-90. Most of the parents whose children did switch schools cited academic reasons and appeared satisfied with the changes.