May 27, 1998
Education Week, Vol. 17, Issue 37
Education
Legislative Update
The following are summaries of final 1999 budgets for schools and highlights of education-related action during legislative sessions. Budget totals for K-12 education include money for state education administration, but do not include federal, flow-through dollars.
Education
State Journal
George Giovanis, a junior at Coventry (R.I.) High School, marked the first day of school last fall by stripping down to his socks and taking a jog through the building. He later said he was trying to show his pride in his Greek heritage as Athens made a successful bid to host the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Indecent exposure
George Giovanis, a junior at Coventry (R.I.) High School, marked the first day of school last fall by stripping down to his socks and taking a jog through the building. He later said he was trying to show his pride in his Greek heritage as Athens made a successful bid to host the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Education
Federal File
For the first time ever, thousands of low-income students are getting help paying for their Advanced Placement examinations this month through federal grants aimed at making the College Board's AP test fees more affordable. The testing fee is $45 for low-income students and $74 for others.
AP aid
For the first time ever, thousands of low-income students are getting help paying for their Advanced Placement examinations this month through federal grants aimed at making the College Board's AP test fees more affordable. The testing fee is $45 for low-income students and $74 for others.
Education
The Importance of 'Critical Friends': Reform Effort Gets Teachers Talking
Rio Rancho, N.M.
Though the children have gone home for the day, the teachers gathered in a portable classroom at Puesta Del Sol Elementary School here have lots of hard work ahead of them.
Though the children have gone home for the day, the teachers gathered in a portable classroom at Puesta Del Sol Elementary School here have lots of hard work ahead of them.
Education
Philanthropy
Students who are philosophically opposed to community-service requirements may soon be able to fulfill them while campaigning against them.
School & District Management
Embattled Hartford, Conn., Superintendent Resigns
The Hartford, Conn., schools' state-appointed management team jettisoned one of the last vestiges of the district's once locally elected board last week by arranging the exit of Superintendent Patricia Daniel.
Teaching Profession
Cincinnati Teachers Rebuff Bonus-Pay Design
Union leaders and administrators in Cincinnati are asking why teachers last week rejected a joint union-district plan to give educators bonuses if their schools could demonstrate overall improvement.
Teaching Profession
Union Makes Offer That Befuddles N.Y.C. Officials
What the United Federation of Teachers had pitched as a bold proposition to turn around a failing school was met last week by confusion among some New York City central administrators who said they were willing to work with the union but unsure what the UFT was actually offering to do.
Law & Courts
Panel Examining Student Religious Expression
Student religious expression is alive and well in public schools because of several intensive efforts to help educators and communities understand what is allowed under the U.S. Constitution, several experts told the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights last week.
Education
Satcher Vows To Put School-Based Health Care in Limelight
At a gathering of educators and health professionals here last week, the nation's new surgeon general, Dr. David Satcher, vowed that he would make promoting school-based health care a priority.
Student Well-Being
States Move Swiftly on Child-Insurance Front
When lawmakers in Illinois emerge from this year's legislative session shortly, they may be heard singing the praises of their newly adopted comprehensive child-health-care program.
Education
People
Eric L. Eversley has been tapped to head the Eastern Suffolk Board of Cooperative Educational Services in New York state. Mr. Eversley, 52, is the superintendent of the Proviso Township High School District in Maywood, Ill. He succeeds Edward J. Milliken, who is retiring after 12 years with the 152,000-student BOCES. Mr. Eversley will take his new post in July.
School Climate & Safety
Two Students Die, 22 Injured in Ore. Rampage
The Thurston High School community in Springfield, Ore., was struggling late last week to cope with the all-too-familiar horror unleashed when a gunman opened fire in the school's cafeteria, killing two students and injuring 22 more. A freshman student accused of the shootings was being held by police.
School & District Management
New Questions Raised About the Validity of TIMSS Comparisons
The latest international study of math and science achievement is "misleading and seriously flawed," according to a critique published this month in Science.
Education
News in Brief: A National Roundup
Probation Officers To Be Placed in Several Maryland Schools
Law & Courts
Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Spec. Ed. Case
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed last week to try to clarify whether federal special education law requires districts to pay for continuous, one-on-one nursing services for medically fragile students.
English-Language Learners
On Capitol Hill, Congress Takes Up Bilingual Ed. Debate
California's heated debate over bilingual education echoed in the halls of Congress last week.
Budget & Finance
Edison Schools Predict 'Watershed Year' Ahead
The Edison Project will nearly double its revenues and number of schools next school year, its fourth in operation, company officials said last week.
Education
News in Brief: A Washington Roundup
Clinton Vetoes D.C. Voucher Bill
President Clinton last week vetoed a bill that would have provided federally financed vouchers for students from low-income families in the District of Columbia.
Education Funding
High Court in N.J. Ends Funding Suit
New Jersey's highest court last week upheld Gov. Christine Todd Whitman's plan for reforming and refurbishing the state's urban school systems, a landmark ruling that many hoped would amount to a peace treaty in the state's nearly 30-year war over school funding.
English-Language Learners
Calif. Battle Goes Beyond Bilingual Ed.
Los Angeles
When people here talk about Proposition 227, a measure that could virtually wipe out bilingual education in the state's public schools if it passes next week, it's clear they're looking beyond the schoolhouse door.
When people here talk about Proposition 227, a measure that could virtually wipe out bilingual education in the state's public schools if it passes next week, it's clear they're looking beyond the schoolhouse door.
Federal
Critics Say House Budget Plan Is Too Little, Too Late
The House Budget Committee last week approved a plan that calls for raising education spending slightly over the next five years.
Curriculum
British Publisher Set To Buy 2nd-Biggest Education House
In the grandest example yet of consolidation in the educational publishing industry, the British owner of Addison Wesley Longman has agreed to buy the second-biggest K-12 educational house, Simon & Schuster, for $3.6 billion. Pearson PLC's combination of the two makes it arguably the world's dominant education business.
Education
Hope in the Mourning
There is no formal memorial here to the five children
killed in 1989 by an angry loner who sprayed 107 rounds of ammunition from
an assault rifle over their elementary school playground.
Education
Memphis Study Tracks Gains in Whole-School Designs
The closely watched effort in Memphis, Tenn., to enhance learning by encouraging the adoption of reform designs that encompass the entire school appears to be paying off.
School & District Management
Wis. Lawmakers Reject Milwaukee Takeover Plan
For Gov. Tommy G. Thompson of Wisconsin, having Republicans in control of both houses of the legislature was no guarantee that he could carry through on his threat to take over the Milwaukee schools.
Education
News in Brief: A State Capitals Roundup
Mo. OKs Massive Finance Package; Mich. Districts Sue, Again; New Fla. Assessment Suffers Glitch