Fast Report
State budget deficits continue to grow
• State budget gaps have grown by 50 percent in the past two months, the National Conference of State Legislatures reported Feb. 4.
According to a survey by the NCSL, two-thirds of the states must reduce their budgets by nearly $26 billion by June 30, the end of the fiscal year in most states.
States had already addressed a $49.1 billion shortfall as they crafted their fiscal year 2003 budgets. For FY 2004, the NCSL says states face a minimum $68.5 billion shortfall.
According to the report, 29 states have imposed across-the-board budget cuts, and nine states have cut K-12 education.
NASA still seeks 'educator astronauts'
• NASA has not cancelled or delayed its Educator Astronaut program following the Columbia tragedy. NASA had received well over 1,000 nominations since the program was announced Jan. 21, including 100 after the accident, a NASA spokesperson says.
NASA plans to select three to six educators for the program. Applicants must be certified K-12 teachers with a degree in math or science or a degree in education and a concentration in science, math, or technology. Those accepted will receive the same type of training as other astronauts but will be expected to help develop new ways to connect space exploration with the classroom and inspire the next generation of explorers.
Tax abatements hurt public schools
• City and state governments are giving too many tax breaks to corporations with little or no accountability, and public schools are being shortchanged, states a report released Jan. 22 by the National Education Association.
Protecting Public Education from Tax Giveaways to Corporations, prepared for NEA by a non-profit organization called Good Jobs First, concludes corporate tax handouts often come at the direct expense of public schools.
According to the report, all 50 states offer either property tax abatements or other property tax-based subsidies known as tax-increment financing (TIF), or both. Only Florida and Maryland shield public school funding from abatements and TIFs.
School boards in Kansas, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas have gained a formal say over whether the school portions of property taxes can be subjected to abatement. Five other states require local governments to notify school boards of proposed abatements. The rest don't give school boards any input in the decision-making process.
Many states do not even have adequate corporate disclosure requirements, making it hard for citizens to know how their tax dollars are being used. One estimate puts the cost of these abatements at nearly $50 billion a year.
ACLU sues districts over GSA issues
• The American Civil Liberties Union filed suits against two school districts Jan. 22 to force them to let students form Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) clubs.
The suits charge that Boyd County High School in Ashland, Ky., and Klein (Texas) High School violated students' rights under the Equal Access Act and the First Amendment by blocking students' efforts to form GSAs.
The suit against the Boyd County Board of Education alleges that the board banned all after-school clubs to prevent the GSA from meeting, but school officials then allowed certain clubs to meet, including student council, drama club, and sports teams.
According to the ACLU, "permitting some clubs to meet while not allowing the GSA is a clear violation of the Equal Access Act."
The other suit charges that officials at Klein High School attempted to block students' request to form a GSA by changing the application requirements for student clubs and delaying action on the request.
The ACLU charges that student requests to form GSAs often face resistance from school officials. "These baseless excuses to avoid the law just hurt the students who are already struggling to find acceptance in a hostile environment," says Tamara Lange, a staff attorney with the ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project.
High-stakes tests can be harmful
• "The problem with high-stakes tests is that they have harmful consequences," W. James Popham told attendees at NSBA's Leadership Conference Jan. 31 in Washington, D.C.
Teachers don't know how to raise test scores, so they engage in flat-out cheating by using previous tests as practice items, says Popham, professor emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles, and chair of the Commission on Instructionally Supportive Assessment.
According to Popham, "Classrooms have become drill factories where children no longer enjoy learning and teachers no longer enjoy teaching."
"Terrible things will get worse because of the No Child Left Behind Act," he warns. "If NCLB is unwisely implemented in a particular state, a school labeled 'failing' actually may not be."
"Traditional standardized tests are not appropriate when implementing NCLB," Popham says. Such tests often lead to a mismatch between what is tested and what is supposed to be taught, and teachers focus too much on raising test scores, instead of student mastery.