Cash-strapped public schools nickel-and-dime parents
Whatever problems may now dog our public education system, at least every child can get a free education, right? Well, not exactly, reports the Lookout.
Funding
Grants and Funding information and news for K-12 and higher-ed.
Feds announce $500M for early learning competition
A new state-level grant competition will direct $500 million in federal funding to improve child care and early childhood learning as part of the Obama administration's signature Race…
New Jersey must give poor schools $500 million: Supreme Court
New Jersey must provide about $500 million for its poorer school districts next year, the state Supreme Court said on Tuesday, complicating the state's ongoing budget negotiations, Reuters…
Lauded Dallas campus could help shoulder Texas school cuts
Templet's high-achieving students are part of the Dallas Independent School District's School for the Talented and Gifted, which consistently is named among the top high schools in the…
State says charter school misused federal funds
Don Bosco Charter High School, which already announced that it would close in June, needs to return $256,000 in allegedly misappropriated federal funds, the state announced on May…
Gates gives $20M for digital learning, Common Core curriculum
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced April 27 that it will be investing more than $20 million in game-based learning and other digital tools to help usher…
Stakeholders decry EETT elimination
After narrowly avoiding a government shutdown, Congress has approved legislation that would cut $38 billion from the Fy11 budget--including the complete elimination of the federal Enhancing Education Through…
Ed-tech stakeholders protest budget cuts
Educational technology stakeholders are speaking out against federal efforts to eliminate the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program by releasing state profiles and information showing how important the…
FY11 budget details: a mixed bag for education
Although Congress reached a budget deal for the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year—avoiding a government shutdown in the process—the federal education budget did not escape unscathed, and…
Eleventh-hour budget deal cuts $13B from health, education, labor
A last minute budget deal for the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year, forged amid bluster and tough bargaining, averted an embarrassing government shutdown that would have affected…
‘Funding cliff’ looms as stimulus money runs out
As lawmakers around the country debate their states’ budgets, they’re staring over the edge of a massive fiscal cliff—the point where about $100 billion in federal stimulus money…
Viewpoint: Scarce resources, insufficient talent threaten to sink public education
Our disadvantaged students are about to encounter the “perfect storm”: a lack of resources needed to ensure they are not left behind and an insufficient number of talented…
Indiana GOP pushes ahead with big voucher program
Indiana's Republican leadership is pushing ahead with a proposal that would be the nation's broadest use of school vouchers, allowing even middle-class families to use taxpayer money to…
USDA funds more fruits and veggies for school kids
According to Reuters, state agencies will get more federal funding to provide fresh fruits and vegetables at schools, the Department of Agriculture announced on Wednesday.
Judge’s study finds New Jersey budget cuts fail schools
A New Jersey judge on Tuesday said the state's school budget cuts fail to meet constitutional standards for education, dealing a political blow to Republican Gov. Chris Christie…
Rural schools face uphill climb for funding
Large, low-performing, urban school districts make national headlines with their struggles and successes. But rural school districts, less frequently noticed or mentioned, also face significant challenges in helping…
Cuts to Head Start show challenge of fiscal restraint
The difficulty Senate Republicans faced voting this week for a bill full of spending cuts is best illustrated on the home page for the Alaska Head Start program’s…
Schools to get $9M for off-campus wireless access
Government officials are handing out $9 million for projects that will help schools extend wireless internet connections beyond the classroom.
Obama highlights $90M ed-tech agency
Educational technology advocates applauded President Obama’s focus on college and career readiness and his call for a new federal agency devoted to ed-tech innovations, which he expanded on…
Obama to GOP: Don’t cut education spending
Placing a limit on his own willingness to slice spending, President Barack Obama issued a not-too-veiled warning at Republican budget cutters Tuesday and characterized any reductions in money…
Redevelopment agencies shortchanged California Schools $40 million, used funds for golf course
According to the Los Angeles Times, redevelopment agencies in California illegally shortchanged schools by at least $40 million last year, forcing the state to make up the money,…
Tight budgets mean squeeze in classrooms
Millions of public school students across the nation are seeing their class sizes swell because of budget cuts and teacher layoffs, undermining a decades-long push by parents, administrators…
Texans duel over millions in school funding
As Texas schools scrounge for cash to buy supplies and threaten to lay off teachers, $830 million in education funding earmarked for the state is sitting at the…
Budget crisis forces states to spend creatively: Duncan
With some states taking a budget-cutting ax to public school funding, the U.S. education department on Thursday offered some guidance on finding and spending federal money flexibly--but did…
Survey: Districts lack STEM funding, professional development
Though STEM educators highly value technology’s presence and potential in the classroom, they cited a lack of funding and professional development for teachers as two major roadblocks in…
Wis. schools face deep cuts under gov.’s budget
Gov. Scott Walker is plowing ahead with his full plan for balancing Wisconsin's budget, proposing massive cuts to public schools even as he faces a stalemate over his…
Texas group launches scholarship exclusively for white males
The application for a $500 scholarship from the Former Majority Association for Equality looks pretty much like all the others out there. Well, except for this eligibility requirement:…
California headed for cuts for for-profit students
California's student aid commission said on Friday that aid funds going to students at for-profit schools should be slashed first when the state cuts its education budget, Reuters…
Providence faces shortfall, teachers to get dismissal notices
The school district plans to send out dismissal notices to every one of its 1,926 teachers, an unprecedented move that has union leaders up in arms, reports the…
More LA schools convert to charters as funds dip
Like other successful schools before it, El Camino is about to break off from the district to get more funding and flexibility in how it spends its dollars…
Obama’s ed budget a tough sell on Capitol Hill
President Barack Obama's budget request for increased education spending is likely to face a tough fight against Republicans — and even if ends up being approved, the extra…
Education sees modest increase in Obama’s FY2012 budget
Despite tough economic times, President Obama’s $3.73 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2012 would increase education spending by 4.3 percent in an effort to help students compete…
Community colleges are uneasy as ax hangs over state aid for health benefits
The Legislature’s initial state budget proposals calling for the closing of four community colleges caught many lawmakers off guard. But what largely escaped their attention--the slashing of health…
Obama to push for new ed-tech agency
President Obama will request fiscal 2012 funding for an educational technology agency within the U.S. Department of Education (ED) that would bring resources and funding to schools and…
U.S. says 25 percent of for-profit students default
For-profit schools' former students default at more than double the rate of those from nonprofit schools, according to data released by the U.S. Education Department as part of…
Universities on the brink
The ever-increasing cost of education is not sustainable, reports Louis E. Lataif for Forbes.
Cheaper student loans, but shortage of college grants likely in 2011 and 2012
According to U.S. News & World Report, although the federal government will hand out billions of dollars more in college grants in 2011 and 2012 than ever before,…
Community Colleges: Where’s our $12 billion?
The Obama administration has touted community colleges as the one institution in higher education that can best adapt to the nation's economic realities and still deliver the education…
Obama: Spare education from budget cuts
In his State of the Union address on Jan. 25, President Obama called for more investment in education, innovation, and infrastructure—setting up a showdown between his administration and…
Rep. Rand Paul unveils $500 billion in federal budget cuts
The freshman Republican congressman, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), would nearly eliminate the Department of Education and do away with the Energy Department, reports the Los Angeles Times.