July 14, 1999
Judge Draws a Line on Technology Aid
To Religious Schools: A federal judge has upheld a Wisconsin program that subsidizes Internet access at schools and colleges, including religiously affiliated schools. But the judge struck down a portion of the program that provided direct cash grants to religious schools as reimbursement for Internet hookups that they had already arranged for on their own.
Education Minnesota broke the rules, and now it will have to pay.
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GOP Bill Would Restructure Clinton Class-Size Initiative
The House Education and the Workforce Committee approved a measure to restructure President Clinton's class-size-reduction plan on June 30, the day before $1.2 billion in fiscal 1999 funding for the program was mailed to states.
Testing fate
Gov. Gray Davis of California has put his political fate in the hands of his state's roughly 6 million public school students.
NEA Runs Hot--and Cold-- For Hillary Clinton
Orlando, Fla.Hillary Rodham Clinton, the 1999 recipient of the National Education Association's Friend of Education award, drew loud and enthusiastic applause with nearly every point in her policy-laden speech to delegates here--except when she praised charter schools.
Staff Sgt. Paul N. Jackson can offer the world to high school graduates who join the U.S. Army, but these days he rarely has takers.
When applying to college in the late 1950s, Hugh B. Price was determined to aim for the top. So he ignored a guidance counselor who advised him to shoot low, and wound up winning admission to such top-ranked schools as Harvard University and Amherst College, his eventual alma mater.
New job for Cohen
President Clinton this month nominated his former White House education adviser, Michael Cohen, to serve as the assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education at the Department of Education.
The Department of Education unveiled final allocations last week for $8 billion in Title I aid that reflect changes in how the money is doled out but show few dramatic differences in funding for states and districts.
The U.S. Supreme Court has temporarily blocked a New York state court ruling that struck down a state law authorizing the Hasidic Jewish village of Kiryas Joel to maintain its own public school district to serve children with disabilities.
Monica Viega describes what went on in her classroom earlier in the school year as "Jerry Springer fights." Displays of anger and incivility among the 5th graders sometimes grew so intense that furniture would get tossed across the room.
Congressional Republicans and conservative organizations are lining up behind a new accountability measure unveiled with much fanfare last month, but the plan faces strong opposition from Democrats and education groups.
The following is a summary of the fiscal 2000 state budgets for schools and highlights of education-related action in legislatures. The totals for K-12 education include money for state education administration, but do not include federal, flow-through dollars.