June 1, 1983

Education Week, Vol. 02, Issue 36
Education Opinion If Schools Had Heeded Their 1960's Critics...
Now comes a new offensive to reform the schools.
Leonard B. Stevens, June 1, 1983
8 min read
Education Black Teachers Sought
The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education plans to launch a program to counter the shortage of minority students entering the teaching profession.

Two other organizations, the Educational Testing Service (ets) and the National Association for Equal Opportunity, will serve as co-sponsors, according to aacte.

June 1, 1983
1 min read
Education Researchers Cite Merits of Youths' Video Games
Video games do not exert the negative influence on young people that many adults have assumed, researchers generally agreed last week at a three-day conference at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Judy Foreman , June 1, 1983
2 min read
Education Justice Rehnquist, dissenting.
In approaching this statutory construction question the Court quite adeptly avoids the statute it is construing. This I am sure is no accident, for there is nothing in the language of 501(c)(3) that supports the result obtained by the Court. Section 501(c)(3) provides tax-exempt status for:
June 1, 1983
15 min read
Education Vocational Education Column
The U.S. Education Department is conducting a national search for outstanding vocatonal-education programs.

Nominations from each state will be entered in one of 10 regional competitions for the Secretary's Award for Outstanding Vocational Education Programs. A review team from the department's regional offices will visit the schools of each program nominated before the end of the school year.

June 1, 1983
2 min read
Education Le Sacre du Printemps, Brooklyn Style

Despite an indignant editorial in The New York Times, neither the New York City Board of Education nor the city's Bureau of Traffic Operations is about to launch any massive campaigns to combat the practice of tossing pairs of sneakers over traffic lights in the city.
June 1, 1983
1 min read
Education Many Districts Face Woes That Led One to Bankruptcy
San Jose was the first California school district to vote to declare bankruptcy, but it is not the only one in the state facing severe financial problems that threaten to close schools. (See related story on page 1.)
Susan Walton, June 1, 1983
7 min read
Education National News Roundup
A Senate Judiciary subcommittee abruptly cancelled a recent hearing to mark up a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow prayer in public schools after Reagan Administration officials objected to a plan to change its wording.

According to staff members on the Subcommittee on the Constitution, several senators on the panel would like to modify the language of the proposal, SJ Res. 73, in a manner that would allow silent prayer and equal access to school property for student religious groups.

June 1, 1983
15 min read
Education Administration Plans To Replace Three Civil-Rights Commissioners
President Reagan, in a move that was condemned by numerous civil-rights organizations, announced last week that he would dismiss three members of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights--all of whom have been critical of his policies.
Tom Mirga, June 1, 1983
5 min read
Education Colorado Bill Clarifies Authority, Independence of Private Schools
The 1983 Colorado legislature, which adjourned last week, passed a bill that spells out the limitations of public control over private schools.

Reporting requirements for Colorado's private schools have not been extensive in the past, according to Patricia Burger, a legislative analyst in the state education department.

June 1, 1983
1 min read
Ed-Tech Policy Computer Column
Families that own personal computers tend to watch television less than other families, according to a recent Stanford University study. That finding, the researchers say, "suggests that home computers may be more addictive than television."

Of the 77 computer-owning Stanford families surveyed, 56 percent reported no change in television-viewing habits. But 40 percent said they had reduced their television-viewing time by 1.5 hours a day.

June 1, 1983
4 min read
Education Effects of Proposition 2 1/2 Squeez Mass. Budgets
After a series of "amicable" negotiations this year, the mayor and city council of Brockton, Mass., reluctantly agreed to bail the school district out of a $1-million budget deficit, with an understanding that there would be no future bailouts.
Susan G. Foster, June 1, 1983
6 min read
Education New Hampshire Nuns Will Drop Jobs Lawsuit Against Diocese
Four nuns in New Hampshire who sued their bishop, their superintendent, and the diocesan school board after being fired from their teaching jobs last year will be reinstated as part of an out-of-court settlement announced May 19.
Alex Heard, June 1, 1983
3 min read
Education High-School Academic Requirements Raised in Washington
The Washington State Board of Education last month unanimously approved a plan to upgrade high-school graduation requirements throughout the state.
Sheppard Ranbom, June 1, 1983
6 min read
Education Southern States Seeking Change In Chapter 1 Aid
A group of Southern senators is pressing several colleagues to adopt a new formula that would significantly alter the way the federal government distributes $2.68 billion in Chapter 1 education aid for disadvantaged children, less than a month before that aid is scheduled to be disbursed to the states.
Tom Mirga, June 1, 1983
5 min read
Education Text of the U.S. Supreme Court's Decision In the Bob Jones and Goldsboro Cases

Following is the text of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the cases Bob Jones University v. U.S. and Goldsboro Christian Schools v. U.S., in which the Court upheld rulings by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The entire texts of the majority opinion by Chief Justice Burger and the dissenting opinion by Associate Justice Rehnquist are included; the concurring opinion by Associate Justice Powell has been excerpted. In the pages that follow, single asterisks in brackets, [
  • ], denote footnotes that have been omitted; double asterisks, [
  • ], denote legal citations omitted. Remaining footnotes appear at the end of each opinion.
June 1, 1983
41 min read
Education News Updates
In the latest round of recriminations between Gov. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and the state's teachers' union, the Governor last week vetoed a conditional 3-percent pay raise for teachers and other state employees.

"If we have $30 million [the estimated cost of the salary increases], it should go to the children," Mr. Alexander said in a statement. ''Thirty million would pay for the first-year costs for the entire Better Schools Program."

June 1, 1983
2 min read
Education District News Roundup
Despite strong opposition from some community members, the Montgomery County, Md., school board voted last week to begin teaching 8th-grade students about birth control. Currently, only senior-high students receive information about contraception.

The vote came after more than two hours of debate, which included strong criticism of the measure by some community members. During a comment period that preceded the vote, the board received 3,400 letters opposing the change, and about 100 in favor of it, according to Kenneth Muir, a spokesman for the district. Most of the criticism suggested that, by adding the material, the school district would be showing students how to use contraceptives.

June 1, 1983
2 min read
Education City News Roundup
Joining two other northern California school boards, the San Francisco Board of Education voted last week to reject the chapter of a federal curriculum that tells students how to respond to the "emergency" of nuclear attack.

With only one dissenting vote, the seven-member board voted not to use the Federal Emergency Management Agency's chapter on survival after a nuclear attack because it implies that nuclear war is less destructive than the board views it to be. The chapter is included in a recommended curriculum on emergency and disaster planning.

June 1, 1983
2 min read
Education State News Roundup
The city's "commitment to academic excellence" was a major factor in the decision of a consortium of 12 high-technology and research firms to choose Austin, Tex., as a home. The firms will soon bring at least 200 new "high-tech" families into the Austin Independent School District.

"We're really thrilled," said a district spokesman, adding that the new consortium will raise the district's tax base and bring students of "high motivation" into the schools.

June 1, 1983
2 min read
Education $1-Billion Funding increase for E.D. Sustained by Senate in Budget Vote
Following three weeks of debate and the defeat of numerous budget proposals, the Senate finally approved a budget resolution that includes an additional $1 billion for federal education programs next year.
Eileen White, June 1, 1983
2 min read
Education Calif. Senate Approves Reform Bill
An omnibus education bill that ties $700 million in tax increases to a package of higher standards for public-school students and teachers has cleared the California Senate, but its fate remains uncertain.
Michael Fallon, June 1, 1983
1 min read
Education Elderly Lauded as School Volunteers
A program that brings senior-citizen volunteers into 36 Washington, D.C., public schools has had a positive effect on the academic and social development of students, according to teachers who have participated in the program.

About 80 percent of the teachers surveyed by the National School Volunteer Program said they thought that volunteers improved the academic growth of students. About 94 percent of the teachers said the volunteers improved the social development of their students.

June 1, 1983
1 min read
Education San Jose, Calif., Board Votes for Bankruptcy
Officials of the San Jose Unified School District have voted to proceed with plans to declare bankruptcy.
Charles Hardy, June 1, 1983
3 min read
Education Business Officials Urge Higher Teacher Salaries
Representatives of two Fortune 500 companies told a House Education subcommittee last week that salaries of teachers must be increased if the flow of teachers from schools to industries is to be ebbed.
Tom Mirga, June 1, 1983
2 min read
Education U.S. Court Forbids Public-School Tuition for Military Dependents
New Bern, N.C.--A federal judge has ruled unconstitutional a 1981 North Carolina law that allows school boards to charge tuition for the cost of educating students who are military dependents.
Raymond Lowery , June 1, 1983
3 min read
Education Court Bars Tax Breaks for Discriminatory Schools
The decision by the U.S. Supreme Court last week to deny federal tax exemptions to schools and colleges that practice racial discrimination was hailed by representatives for many private schools as a vindication of the schools' anti-discrimination policies.
Eileen White, June 1, 1983
8 min read
Education Former Teacher in Governor's Race
A former schoolteacher, who is now lieutenant governor, apparently has won the Democratic nomination for governor of Kentucky.

With a few precincts still uncounted, Lt. Gov. Martha Layne Collins held a slim lead over Louisville Mayor Harvey I. Sloane, the candidate endorsed by the Kentucky Education Association in last Tuesday's primary election. Dr. Grady Stumbo, state secretary of human resources, ran a close third.

June 1, 1983
1 min read
Education Three Principals React to Reagan's Praise of Their 'Local' Initiatives
The principals of the inner-city schools cited by President Reagan in a recent press conference as examples of how educational improvements can be made without infusions of federal money hold differing views about the role federal support plays in their schools' programs.
Charlie Euchner, June 1, 1983
3 min read