Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Jobs bill to stop teacher layoffs nears approval

A new bill could help save thousands of teaching jobs across the nation.
A new bill could help save thousands of teaching jobs across the nation.

Legislation to provide billions to save the jobs of teachers and other public workers is on track to pass the U.S. Senate, helped along by the votes of a couple of GOP moderates.

Democrats cracked a GOP filibuster on Aug. 4, and the U.S. House of Representatives was being called back from its summer break for an expected final vote next week to help cash-strapped states and school districts.

The $26 billion measure would help states ease their severe budget problems and, advocates said, stop the layoffs of perhaps 300,000 teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public employees. Though scaled back, the bill also would salvage a victory for Democrats who have been unable to deliver most of the jobs help they and President Barack Obama promised.…Read More

Last-minute funding for education jobs looks grim

A bill that could have saved thousands of teachers' jobs failed to pass in Congress.
A bill that could have saved thousands of teachers' jobs failed to pass in Congress.

The fate of additional funding that might save thousands of teachers’ jobs remains uncertain after a $10 billion education jobs bill failed to pass in Congress, leaving many schools in the lurch as districts determine how many teaching positions their recession-riddled budgets can support. But advocates of education technology are pleased that a Senate subcommittee has added $100 million in ed-tech funding to the Senate version of the 2011 education appropriations bill.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved a war spending bill on July 1 that included $10 billion for teachers’ jobs, which supporters said would help prevent thousands of layoffs across the nation, as well as $5 billion to cover a shortfall in requests for Pell Grant loans for low-income college students.

The measure had trouble passing in the U.S. Senate, however, and the $15 billion for education ultimately was dropped from the bill.…Read More

Schools face tough economic road ahead

New legislation could provide money to save education jobs.
New legislation could provide money to save education jobs.

While some economists point to signs that the nation’s economy is improving, others say the U.S. faces a much slower climb out of the recession–a scenario that will have a huge effect on public education in the coming years.

Though the Dow recently broke 10,000 to hit its highest level for the first time in a year, the national unemployment rate, at 10 percent, is the highest it has been since 1983.

States are still waiting to hit bottom and are not likely to do so for another year or two–and education will feel the financial impact for some time after that, said Richard Sims, the chief economist for the National Education Association (NEA), at the Software and Information Industry Association’s Ed-Tech Business Forum on Dec. 1.…Read More