Congress approves budget resolution
• Congress passed a budget resolution for fiscal year 2004 that would increase funding for education by $3 billion.
The measure includes a $2.2 billion increase for the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. Overall, programs under the No Child Left Behind Act would be increased by only $300 million.
Other programs would have to be cut or eliminated, however, to offset the increase.
Congress could not agree on the size of a tax cut, so it directed the House Ways and Means Committee to resolve the issue.
The House budget resolution had included a $550 billion tax cut; the Senate measure included $350 billion.
Budget resolutions are not binding. They serve as a framework for setting allocations for the appropriations committees.
CDC issues SARS guidelines for students
• According to guidelines issued April 12 by the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC), students exposed to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) who develop fever or respiratory symptoms during the 10 days following exposure should stay home from school.
Such students should avoid contact with others, seek immediate medical evaluation, and practice infection control precautions, such as frequent hand washing.
If the symptoms do not progress within 72 hours, the guidelines state, the student can be allowed to go to school.
"Exposed students without fever or respiratory symptoms should not be excluded from school," the guidelines state. However, the exposure should be reported to school officials and local health authorities.
The CDC recommends that schools where a symptomatic, exposed student had enrolled should educate students and staff about SARS and monitor anyone who might have been exposed.
As of April 17, SARS has struck 3,389 people worldwide, and 165 have died, the World Health Organization reports.
In the United States, there have have been 199 cases of SARS and no deaths.
So far, there has been one possible case involving a student.
A kindergartner in Oskaloosa County, Fla., who has SARS symptoms is being treated in isolation at home. His grandmother, who had cared for him, had traveled in Asia and is suspected of having SARS.
Charter schools rely on uncertified teachers
• Charter schools rely heavily on uncredentialed teachers, reports a study by Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), an institute based at Stanford and the University of California.
According to the study, 48 percent of teachers in the average charter school lack a teaching certificate, compared to 9 percent in the typical public school.
Among other findings:
• The average teacher in a charter school instructs more than 20 percent more students each day than teachers in regular schools.
• Fewer than 5 percent of all charter school students are helped by federal programs for low-income students, even though 43 percent qualify for assistance.
• Charter schools display the same finance disparities that beset regular public schools.
• There is wide variation across states. In California, the ratio of children per full-time teacher is 30 to 1, compared to 14 to 1 in North Carolina. Eighty percent of charter school teachers are uncredentialed in the District of Columbia, compared to 32 percent in California.
Hispanic education gap addressed
• The final report of a presidential commission recommends these six strategies to address the educational achievement gap for Hispanic Americans:
• Set new and high expectations for Hispanic-American children.
• Support No Child Left Behind.
• Reinforce and expand a high-quality teaching profession.
• Develop a federal research agenda to identify the needs of Hispanic-American students.
• Create pathways to college graduation.
• Create increased federal accountability and coordination.
One of every three Hispanic-American students fails to complete high school, and only 10 percent graduate from four-year colleges.
Los Angeles board opposes exit exam
• The board of education of the Los Angeles Unified School District voted unanimously to oppose the state's exit exam requirement.
Students graduating in 2004 must pass the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE) in order to receive a diploma.
The board directed district administrators to "investigate the legal, financial, and policy implications of establishing a moratorium on the high-stakes consequences of the CAHSEE while continuing to use the test as a diagnostic tool."
The Coalition for Educational Justice and other organizations have held protest rallies against the exam. They say the exam is unfair because Latino and African-American students have much lower pass rates than white and Asian students.