October 27, 1982

Education Week, Vol. 02, Issue 08
Education Biology Teachers Still Divided on How To Mesh Science With Social Issues
Shortly after World War II, a Soviet botanist named T.D. Lysenko began a rise to power within his government that would continue until 1964.
Susan Walton, October 27, 1982
9 min read
Education National News Roundup
Yielding to pressure from the Congress and lobbying groups, President Reagan signed into law earlier this month a bill that establishes a Pell Grant family-contribution schedule for 1983-1984 and 1984-1985 that protects about 1 million needy students from having their Pell Grant aid reduced.

Although the bill, S2852, provides for no appropriations, it guarantees that about the same number of students who received Pell Grants this year, estimated at almost 2 million, will be eligible to receive maximum grants of $1,800 next year.

October 27, 1982
3 min read
Education Colleges Column
At a time when state legislatures are becoming increasingly tight-fisted in response to the public's call for fiscal austerity, a group representing college and university professors in Texas is joining forces with the representatives of the state's public-school teachers to present one unified voice to the legislature and the voters.

The new, formal alliance merges the Texas Conference of the American Association of University Professors with the Texas State Teachers Association, an affiliate of the National Education Association.

October 27, 1982
5 min read
Education Federal File

But according to an article in the Oct. 17 Boston Sunday Globe, Mr. Carter was not as staunch a supporter of public schools as many thought he was. In fact, the article by Curtis Wilkie of the newspaper's Washington bureau alleged, the Carters planned to enroll Amy in one of the area's private academies if the President had won re-election.

The article was supposedly based on a dinner conversation Mr. Wilkie had with the Carters shortly before the President left office.

October 27, 1982
2 min read
Education Key Members of the Congress Face Tough Challenges This Fall
In the education-related races for seats in the U.S. Senate next month, three key Republican members of the Labor and Human Resources Committee face tough re-election challenges, while the three Democratic members of that committee facing reelection hold what are considered to be safe seats.
Tom Mirga & Eileen White, October 27, 1982
6 min read
Education Education Related Issues On State Ballots This Fall: Far West
In California, what began as a significant clash of ideas in the race for state superintendent of public instruction has turned into a series of quibbles over specifics.

William Honig, a Marin County school superintendent who is challenging the incumbent, Wilson Riles, has relied heavily on his call for a more traditional system of education with emphasis on the "basics."

October 27, 1982
3 min read
Education Education Related Issues On State Ballots This Fall: Mid-Atlantic
Tuition tax credits and changes in the state's teacher-pension system are among the issues that divide New York's gubernatorial candidates, Lieut. Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, the nominee of the Democratic and Liberal parties, and Lewis Lehrman, who will be on the ballot as a Republican, a Conservative, and an independent.

Ronald W. Frantz, an official of the 250,000-member New York State United Teachers, says his organization views the election as a referendum on support for public education. His union helped Mr. Cuomo in his campaign against New York City's Mayor Edward Koch for the Democratic nomination.

October 27, 1982
2 min read
Education Advocates of Gifted Education Urge State, Local Lobbying
The elimination by the Reagan Administration last year of the $6-million federal program for the gifted and talented, along with the reluctance of state legislators to appropriate funds for such programs, may hamper schools' commitment to providing special programs for gifted students, several researchers and educators told the National Commission on Excellence in Education last week.
Eileen White, October 27, 1982
3 min read
Education More Money Won't Help Schools, Says British M.P.
Public education's ailments cannot be cured by large doses of money, nor can they be helped by reducing the ratio of teachers to students, according to a British deputy minister of education.
Tom Mirga, October 27, 1982
4 min read
Education High Court Asked To Reassess Stand on State Finance Reform
Invoking the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last spring in a Texas case involving the education of illegal aliens, a group of New York school districts this month asked the Justices to review a state high-court decision upholding the state's school-finance law.
Peggy Caldwell, October 27, 1982
4 min read
Education Independent Schools Exploring Private Student-Loan Plans
As national debate continues over the Reagan Administration's tuition tax-credit plan, efforts are under way in the independent-school sector to expand the use of low-cost loans as a means of financing private, precollegiate education.
Margaret L. Weeks, October 27, 1982
7 min read
Education John Gardner on the Revival Of Public Interest in Education
For nearly 30 years, John W. Gardner has been one of the nation's leading spokesmen on education, urban affairs, and social issues. In his 10 years as president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York from 1955-65, during his tenure as Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare in the Johnson Administration, and recently, as chairman of Common Cause and Independent Sector, Mr. Gardner has developed a keen perception of shifts in public attitudes toward major social issues.
Eileen White, October 27, 1982
9 min read
Education Panel Blames Math and Science Crisis On Public's Agenda, Not on Schools
The National Science Board's Commission on Precollege Education in Mathematics, Science, and Technology last week blamed the public's perceptions and priorities, not public schools, for the current problems in precollege science and mathematics education.
Susan Walton, October 27, 1982
4 min read
Education Oklahoma Judge's Order May Increase Schools' Income From State Properties
In the latest move in a continuing dispute over use of the real estate controlled by the Oklahoma School Land Commission, an Oklahoma County judge has ordered the commission to cease issuing low-interest farm loans and has apparently ordered that the commission begin selling the land at competitive market prices when current leases expire.
Alex Heard, October 27, 1982
3 min read
Education Financial, Federal Issues Dominate Meeting of State School-Board Officers
Talk of crisis and decline marked the annual meeting of the National Association of State Boards of Education here last week.
Eileen White, October 27, 1982
2 min read
Education Education Related Issues On State Ballots This Fall: Rocky Mountain

In Idaho, a Homestead Exemption initiative, which would exempt the first $50,000 of assessed value on residences from property tax, was placed on the November ballot by petition. Its opponents say it would result in dramatic revenue losses to schools and other public services; supporters say they plan to recoup the lost revenue by taxing commercial and farm property.
October 27, 1982
1 min read
Education Education Related Issues On State Ballots This Fall: Southeast
Mississippi voters have a chance to amend their constitution to replace the current state board of education, composed of three elected state officials, with a "lay board" made up of nine elected members. Advocates of the measure consider the switch essential to improving the legislative status and the quality of the state's schools. Most of the state's education leaders support the amendment.

Both gubernatorial candidates in Georgia have named education as a "top priority," but differ on the issue of increasing taxes. The Democratic candidate, Joe Frank Harris, is a former chairman of the state's House appropriations committee and is considered well versed in matters of school finance. Mr. Harris has pledged that there will be no tax increase if he is elected; the Republican, Robert Bayle, has made no such promise.

October 27, 1982
1 min read
Education Education Related Issues On State Ballots This Fall: Southwest
In Texas, Gov. William P. Clements Jr., the Republican incumbent, is involved in a tight re-election campaign against state Attorney General Mark White, a Democrat.

The Texas Federation of Teachers has organized a "Beat Bill Clements" movement and hopes to provide $400,000 in cash and volunteer time to Mr. White, whose record on education, union leaders say, has been "pretty good." The union also recently put out a booklet of unflattering "Quotations from Governor Bill." The Texas State Teachers Association has also endorsed Mr. White. The third union, the Texas Classroom Teachers Association, does not endorse candidates.

October 27, 1982
2 min read
Education Texas, Bracing for an Influx of Pupils, Eyes Building Bonds, Higher Salaries
An estimated 1.6 million new students will enter Texas schools by the year 2000, creating a demand for 43,000 more teachers and 67,000 new classrooms, according to reports prepared for the state legislature's forthcoming session.
Alex Heard, October 27, 1982
2 min read
Education Shifts in Chapter 1 Policy Worry State Directors
State directors of education programs for the disadvantaged are concerned that lax new rules governing Chapter 1, combined with new federal auditing procedures, might set them up for a multi-million-dollar knockout punch in a few years.
Tom Mirga, October 27, 1982
4 min read
Education Hawaii Schools and Police Join To Crack Down on Truants
The lure of Hawaii's beaches, malls, and video arcades proved too strong for several thousand high-school students, who have been nabbed by local law-enforcement officials in a cooperative program to crack down on truants.
Susan G. Foster, October 27, 1982
3 min read
Education Rights Group Protests New Promotion Policy With Sit-In
Five local members of a national civil-rights group last week entered the third week of a sit-in at the Tuscaloosa, Ala., board of education building, holding to a demand that a promotion policy they say was implemented unfairly be delayed.
Charlie Euchner, October 27, 1982
5 min read
Education City News Roundup
Funded by a large donation from a local businessman, Boston's school officials have begun a massive public-relations campaign designed to improve the public image of the city's public schools.

The campaign, which began this month, will publicize the accomplishments of the public schools through billboard displays at 30 locations throughout the city. The space was donated by Ackerly Communications of Massachusetts Inc., one of the largest billboard advertising firms in the state.

October 27, 1982
3 min read
Education Research and Reports
Despite the increasing evidence that diet can be linked to many of the most common--and most lethal--ailments, many health textbooks used in high schools ignore the issue entirely, according to a survey conducted by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington-based group concerned with health and nutrition.

"It would be no surprise if schoolchildren thought America's most pressing current nutritional problems were beriberi, pellagra, and scurvy," said Michael Jacobson, the biochemist who is the organization's executive director. "Rarely do the textbooks mention that the major diseases related to diet are due to the overconsumption of basic nutrients, rather than the lack of micro-nutrients, such as vitamins and minerals."

October 27, 1982
3 min read
Education News Update
A new version of "shared time"--a program through which the Grand Rapids, Mich., public-school system provides instruction to private-school students--has come under attack in federal district court.

Under the original program, the school district rented classroom space in private schools and provided teachers for special classes in art, music, physical education, reading, and mathematics. About 10,000 private-school students participated last year, according to Grand Rapids school officials.

October 27, 1982
1 min read
Education News Update
A new version of "shared time"--a program through which the Grand Rapids, Mich., public-school system provides instruction to private-school students--has come under attack in federal district court.

Under the original program, the school district rented classroom space in private schools and provided teachers for special classes in art, music, physical education, reading, and mathematics. About 10,000 private-school students participated last year, according to Grand Rapids school officials.

October 27, 1982
1 min read
Education States News Roundup
New Jersey public-school students would be offered a minute of silence at the beginning of each school day under legislation passed by the state's Senate last week.

The bill, passed by a vote of 30 to 5, originated in the state Assembly, where it was approved last May. It calls for the one-minute period to be used for "quiet and private contemplation or introspection."

October 27, 1982
3 min read
Education Research and Reports
Despite the increasing evidence that diet can be linked to many of the most common--and most lethal--ailments, many health textbooks used in high schools ignore the issue entirely, according to a survey conducted by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington-based group concerned with health and nutrition.

"It would be no surprise if schoolchildren thought America's most pressing current nutritional problems were beriberi, pellagra, and scurvy," said Michael Jacobson, the biochemist who is the organization's executive director. "Rarely do the textbooks mention that the major diseases related to diet are due to the overconsumption of basic nutrients, rather than the lack of micro-nutrients, such as vitamins and minerals."

October 27, 1982
3 min read
Education Education Related Issues On State Ballots This Fall: Midwest
Midwestern gubernatorial races have been dominated by the dismal state of the region's economy--which has cost the region's public schools millions of dollars in state aid in the past few years.

Education has emerged as a key issue in the Illinois gubernatorial race, dividing the candidates on important questions and the state's two major teachers' unions on the candidates.

October 27, 1982
8 min read