11/11/03 --
Mixed results for state education issues
• In Maine, a ballot question calling for the state to boost the state's share of local education costs from the current level of 41.4 percent to 55 percent without raising new taxes failed to get the plurality of votes needed to pass. The issue will come up again for another vote sometime in the future.
In New York, voters failed to pass a constitutional amendment question that would have allowed small-city school districts to borrow more money.
In Texas voters passed a $449 million bond package for school construction and modernization for the North East Independent School District in San Antonio. Multimillion dollar school bonds also were passed in San Francisco; New Haven, Calif.; Fairfax County, Va.; Denver; Douglas County, Colo.; Phoenix; and Guilford and Durham counties in North Carolina. In Ohio, voters approved just under half of the school bond issues on ballots across the state.
Schwarzenegger appoints Riordan
• California Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger has named former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan as his secretary for child development and education.
Riordan has led a number of efforts to support and strengthen public education, including philanthropic giving and lobbying the federal government for more federal aid for urban schools, states the California School Boards Association (CSBA).
The governor-elect's agenda is very much aligned with the mission and goals of school board members, says Jeannine Martineau, president of CSBA and a member of Schwarzenegger's transition team.
Neediest students get the least funding
• School districts that educate the greatest number of low-income and minority students receive substantially less state and local money per student than districts with the fewest such students, the Education Trust reported Oct. 29.
Among the report's findings:
• In 22 states, the quarter of districts educating the greatest number of poor students receive less state and local money per student than the quarter of districts educating the fewest poor students.
• In 28 states, districts enrolling the highest proportions of minority students receive fewer state and local education dollars per student than districts enrolling the lowest percentages of minority students.
• In 30 states, the quarter of districts educating the greatest number of poor students receive less in cost-adjusted state and local money per student than the quarter of districts educating the fewest poor students. Seven of these states have per-student funding gaps of more than $1,000.
• While 34 states reduced their gaps between 1997 and 2001 -- 12 of them by $500 or more -- funding gaps actually grew in 13 states.
• Ten states have no gap at all. They provide more resources to higher-poverty districts.
Florida approved for State-Flex
• Florida is the first state approved for the new State Flexibility Authority Program (State-Flex), the U.S. Education Department announced Oct. 28.
This program, authorized by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), allows states to consolidate certain federal formula funds to use as they deem appropriate for state-level priorities in exchange for increased accountability for student academic progress.
Approved states must also enter into performance agreements with four to 10 school districts, half of which must be high poverty. These districts can consolidate certain federal funds to meet the goals of NCLB in alignment with the state's State-Flex plan.
Florida has entered into local performance agreements with the school districts of Broward, Escambia, Hillsborough, Jefferson, Lake, Marion, Putnam, and Volusia counties.
These districts will be able to consolidate federal funding under several programs, including teacher and principal training and recruitment, educational technology, safe and drug-free schools, and innovative programs.
GAO studies privately managed schools
• The U.S. General Accounting Office finds mixed results among privately managed public schools.
The GAO found scores for fifth-grade students in Denver and San Francisco were significantly higher in both reading and math in two privately managed schools when compared with traditional schools serving similar students.
The GAO also reports fourth-grade reading and math scores were significantly lower in a privately managed public school in Cleveland, as were fifth-grade scores in two privately managed schools in St. Paul.
In Detroit, where eight privately managed schools were studied, reading and math scores of fifth graders in privately managed schools were generally lower. The GAO found no significant differences in Phoenix.
The number of public schools managed by private companies has tripled in the last five years, the GAO reports, although such schools still comprise less than 0.5 percent of all public schools.
In the 2002-03 school year, nearly 50 private companies managed more than 400 schools in 25 states and the District of Columbia. Arizona and Michigan have the most privately managed public schools.