Fast Report

• A coalition of education, industry, state, and local organizations — including NSBA — is working with members of Congress to resume e-rate funding during the lame duck session.

E-rate funding was temporarily frozen in August, and no funding commitment letters have been sent to schools since then.

At that time, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) determined that the e-rate is a federal funding program and thus subject to the Anti-deficiency Act. That meant the Universal Service Administrative Co. (USAC) had to sell off more than $3 billion in investments and can no longer make funding commitments until it has the money in hand.

Meanwhile, USAC has had to convert to new accounting standards, and revenues from telecommunications companies, which are used to fund the e-rate, have been less than expected. One possible solution is to make the e-rate exempt from the Anti-deficiency Act.

Chicago told to stop providing tutoring

• The U.S. Education Department wants the Chicago school system to stop offering tutoring to some 40,000 students because the district is expected to be identified by the state for the second year in a row as being in “school improvement” status under No Child Left Behind.

The department believes teachers in schools that failed to make adequate yearly progress under NCLB should not provide supplemental services, such as tutoring, and that private organizations will be able to do a better job. The department has also asked the Prince George’s County school system in Maryland to stop providing tutoring for the same reason.

Chicago will not stop its tutoring program. The district is working on an agreement with the state to allow the program to continue, says district spokesperson Mike Vaughan.

Students from 231 Chicago schools are eligible for supplemental services. In addition to the 40,000 who are receiving tutoring from Chicago public school teachers, 35,000 are being tutored by 28 private companies. “We don’t think the private sector has the capacity to take on 40,000 more children,” says Xavier Botana, director of the district’s NCLB program.

Athletics should not overpower academics

• State education officials should take greater oversight responsibilities for high school athletics to counter the growing professionalization of high school sports, concerns about steroid use, and other questionable practices, recommends a commission created by the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE).

“We have a moral obligation to prevent the exploitation of high school students,” says NASBE Executive Director Brenda Wellburn. The “dark side” of college athletics — mercenary coaches, dubious recruiting, sponsorships, and extravagant gifts — “are now encroaching on the high school level.”

The group’s final report, Athletics & Achievement, released Oct. 22, includes the following recommendations:

• Academics should take precedence over athletics.

• States should promote equitable participation so that all students who are eligible to be in athletics can do so, including students in vocational, charter, and cyber schools and students who are home-schooled.

• Extensive research should be conducted on the impact of athletics on student achievement.

• Students should be educated about the limitations of viewing athletics as a career goal.

EEOC sues over early retirement plans

• The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has filed lawsuits against 10 Minnesota school districts, charging that their incentive plans for employees who retire early violate the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.

The suits charge that the plans are discriminatory because they offer larger cash incentives to employees who retire at an earlier age than those who retire when they are older.

Some school districts use incentive plans to encourage older, more experienced teachers to retire so they can save money by hiring new teachers at a lower pay scale.

The EEOC had taken an interest in this issue in 2001 but at that time indicated that it would not pursue litigation if school districts changed their collective bargaining agreements to provide equal cash bonuses to retirees regardless of their age, says NSBA staff attorney Lisa Soronen. The districts being sued have changed their plans.

The EEOC has changed its position, and its current lawsuits address union contracts that cover the period 1998 to 2001, Soronen says.

Budget troubles beset Head Start programs

• The Head Start program is suffering after “three years of neglect and disdain,” and two-thirds of local programs expect to make staffing and service cuts in 2005, the National Head Start Association (NHSA) says.

According to a report released by NHSA Oct. 27, almost 9,000 slots for poor children have been trimmed from the program, and half of local Head Start grantees have been forced to cut services and/or staffing during the past two years.

According to NHSA, more than 660,000 poor children who are eligible for Head Start cannot receive services because of a lack of adequate funding.