Fast Report
04/09 -- Duncan presents budget priorities
• Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the Obama administration’s budget proposals for education for fiscal year 2010 include funding increases for programs to drive school improvement and reform efforts.
At a Feb. 26 briefing, Duncan outlined detailed plans for revising the financial aid systems for higher education, but said specific funding amounts for K-12 programs will be announced in April. He did say the department will propose:
• expansion of early childhood education programs through a new “Zero to Five” initiative;
• assistance to states for more rigorous standards and assessments,
• more support for alternative certification programs and teacher residency programs;
• incentives for rewarding effective teachers and encouraging them to teach where they are most needed;
• a new Promise Neighborhoods program aimed at improve college-going rates by combining a rigorous K-12 education with neighborhood-based social services;
• additional funding to help states turn around low-performing schools;
• increased funding for charter schools and for state oversight “to monitor and shut down” those that are underperforming.
House approves education funding bill
• The House of Representatives passed a consolidated appropriations bill for fiscal year 2009 Feb. 25 that slightly increases or continues funding levels for key education programs. The Senate is expected to take up the bill by mid-March.
The bill approved by the House would increase funding under Title I by about $648 million, from $13.9 billion in FY 08 to $14.5 billion for FY 09.
For Title I school improvement grants, the consolidated appropriations bill would provide an increase of about $54.3 million, from $491.3 million to $545.6 million.
The House approved an increase of about $600 million for grants to the states under the Individuals for Disabilities Education Act, for a total of $11.5 billion for FY 2009.
That is in addition to the approximately $100 billion in stimulus funding for the next two years.
The House bill would essentially maintain current funding levels for impact aid, career and technical education, teacher quality state grants, and 21st Century Community Learning Centers.
Districts post check registries online
• The federal stimulus money is likely to increase the call for financial accountability, possibly encouraging more districts to post their check registries online.
So far, 11 Michigan school districts have signed on to the Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s “Show Michigan the Money Project.” The districts’ check registries can be accessed from the center’s website, www.michigantransparency.org, as well as their own websites.
Montrose Community Schools in Michigan began posting its check registry online after Superintendent Mark Kleinhans discovered a payroll clerk had embezzled $1.2 million over a 10-year period.
Opening up check registries to the public “increases districts’ cost consciousness, reduces wasteful spending, and creates incentives for more competitive buying of services,” says Kenneth M. Braun, of the Mackinac Center.
For example, he notes, a small district negotiated a better deal after learning how much a neighboring district paid to remove snow from a parking lot.
Some district leaders “were worried that every gadfly will question every single expenditure,” but that hasn’t happened, Braun says. “Having more eyeballs watching the till is a good thing.”