Five education grants you don’t want to miss

School funding difficulties show no sign of abating, and school budgets are stretched to the limit. Many educators and administrators rely on school grants to fund important projects and opportunities for students.

The editors of eSchool News have compiled a list of the most current education grants expiring soon—from AP test assistance to environmental programs. You don’t want to miss out on these school funding opportunities for teachers, students, parents, and administrators.

(Next page: Win thousands!)…Read More

Report: Here’s how to fix school funding

Until the current school funding model is redesigned to one that is based on students instead of on institutions, even the most potentially revolutionary educational models will fail, according to a new financial report.

The report, “Funding Students, Options, and Achievement,” part of  Digital Learning Now’s Smart Series, stresses that today’s school finance system was not created with the flexibility needed to support the wave of educational innovations, such as online learning, spreading across the U.S.

“Decades of layering on attempted fixes to a broken system have only created a funding structure that is fraught with a growing list of problems,” the report says. “Today’s broken school finance system stifles innovation; locks in outdated delivery models; restricts universal student access to divers, high-quality learning opportunities; and ignores the relationship between spending and student outcomes.”…Read More

Three federal education policy updates

School funding cuts could be severe under sequestration.

As Congress nears a deadline to form a compromise and avoid sequestration, education stakeholders are hoping to avoid devastating school funding cuts that could put an end to some promising practices across the country.

A recent Alliance for Excellent Education (AEE) webinar explored where some federal education policies stand, what President Obama’s second term holds for teachers and students, and what could happen if sequestration occurs.

President Obama’s education reform plans…Read More

Texas school funding plan is unconstitutional, judge rules

School attorneys said the poorest 15 percent of Texas school districts receive about $43,000 less per classroom than the wealthiest 15 percent, on average.

The system that Texas uses to fund its public schools violates the state’s constitution by not providing enough money to school districts and failing to distribute the money fairly, a judge ruled Feb. 4 in a landmark decision that could force the state Legislature to overhaul the way it pays for education.

Moments after closing arguments in his packed courtroom, state District Judge John Dietz ruled the school funding mechanism does not meet the Texas Constitution’s requirements for a fair and efficient system that provides a “general diffusion of knowledge.”

He declared that school funding was inadequate and that there were wide discrepancies in state support received by school districts in wealthy parts of Texas versus those in poorer areas. He also said the system is tantamount to an income tax, which is forbidden by the state constitution.…Read More

Expert shows school district funding disparities

The Texas Legislature’s decision to cut $1.4 billion in grants to public schools disproportionately hurt poor districts, costing them $253 per student a year compared with $21 a year for rich districts, an expert testified Monday, the Associated Press reports. Albert Cortez, policy director at the Intercultural Development Research Association, also said that Texas’ poorest school districts charge higher local property taxes yet collect about a fourth less in revenue per student than the state’s wealthiest districts. He said the poorest 10 percent of districts statewide levy an average of 11 cents more per $100 valuation in local property taxes compared with the wealthiest 10 percent of districts. However, that translates to about $1,430 less in funding per student — a 25 percent difference between the two groups…

Click here for the full story

…Read More

Schools anticipate continued budget cuts

An end to emergency federal funding and the threat of mid-year cuts could disrupt economic recovery.

School districts, already operating in their fourth consecutive year of budget cuts, do not anticipate returning to pre-recession funding levels for several years. In a new survey from the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), school leaders report continued erosion of fiscal resources as the worst recession in recent history continues to impact state and local budgets.

The study, “Weathering the Storm: How the Economic Recession Continues to Impact Schools,” is the twelfth in a series of AASA studies examining the impact of the economic recession on schools. The study is based on a survey of 528 school administrators from 48 states in February 2012.

Respondents project new budget cuts in the 2013-14 school year, though the projected cuts might not be as deep as in the earlier years of the recession. Twenty-nine states are projecting budget shortfalls of $44 billion for FY 2013.…Read More

Advocates: New York state owes poor schools $5.5 billion

Education advocates on Wednesday pushed New York State to increase funding for schools in impoverished areas in the budget for the new fiscal year, saying those schools are owed $5.5 billion under a 2007 court ruling, Reuters reports. The Education Law Center, which absorbed the advocate group that had won the historic school funding lawsuit, did not specify how much extra funding it is seeking in the budget for poor school districts for the budget for fiscal 2013, which starts April 1. New York’s top court in 2007 had ruled that the state had failed to provide students in poor areas with the constitutionally required “sound, basic education.” New York had started to fulfill the court ruling by agreeing to a four-year increase in aid for students in so-called high needs areas. Spending rose more than $1 billion in 2007 and 2008, according to the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, the group that had won the lawsuit. There was no funding increase in 2009, however…

Click here for the full story

…Read More

Calif. budget will keep new $105M school closed

A Southern California school district spent $105 million on a new state-of-the-art high school, but after three years of funding cuts doesn’t have the money to operate it, reports the Associated Press. The Alvord Unified School District in Riverside was supposed to open the new Hillcrest High School in September to relieve overcrowding at another high school. But the district can’t afford to hire staff and pay the costs to open it, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

Click here for the full story

…Read More

Virtual schools in a fight for adequate funding

Virtual school funding gets 'Do Not Pass Go' in Georgia.
Virtual school funding gets 'Do Not Pass Go' in Georgia.

Heart-wrenching decisions made by state bureaucrats that affect the pursuit of a child’s dream might sound like the makings of a Hollywood movie, but for virtual schools in Georgia and elsewhere, these are par for the course.

Two proposed virtual schools in Georgia got the OK to open this fall, but with very limited funding. Their plans are now on hold while they appeal the state’s decision, which supporters of online instruction say was based on politics and not a careful analysis of the costs necessary to operate a high-quality virtual school. What’s more, virtual school advocates say Georgia is not alone in funding virtual schools at a level that is dramatically lower than what traditional schools receive per pupil.

The two Georgia virtual schools, Kaplan Academy of Georgia and Provost Academy Georgia, were approved in June by the Georgia Charter Schools Commission (GCSC), which also decides how much funding each school should receive.…Read More

Obama: Money alone can’t solve school predicament

President Barack Obama started the school week Sept. 27 with a call for a longer school year, and he said the worst-performing teachers have “got to go” if they don’t improve quickly, reports the Associated Press. Bemoaning America’s decreasing global educational competitiveness, Obama sought in a nationally broadcast interview to reinvigorate his education agenda. At the same time, the president acknowledged that many poor schools don’t have the money they need, and he defended federal aid for them. But Obama also said that money alone won’t fix the problems in public schools, saying higher standards must be set and achieved by students and teachers alike. Asked in an interview if he supported a year-round school year, Obama said: “The idea of a longer school year, I think, makes sense.” He did not specify how long that school year should be but said U.S. students attend classes, on average, about a month less than children in most other advanced countries. The president admitted that his own daughters, Malia and Sasha, couldn’t get the same quality education at a Washington, D.C., public school that they currently get at their private school. The Obama girls attend Sidwell Friends School, an elite private school in the Washington area. “The DC public schools systems are struggling,” Obama said, though he added that the school district has “made some important strides over the last several years to move in the direction of reform.” Separately on Sept. 27, Obama announced a goal of recruiting 10,000 teachers who work in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math over the next two years. In a statement, Obama said such education is vital to allowing students to compete against their peers in today’s economy…

Click here for the full story

…Read More

Public schools face lawsuit over fees

Public schools across the nation, many facing budget shortfalls, have been charging students fees to use textbooks or to take required tests or courses. Now, a civil liberties group is suing California over those proliferating fees, arguing that the state has failed to protect the right to a free public education, reports the New York Times. Experts said it was the first case of its kind, and could tempt parents in other states to file similar suits. In the suit, the American Civil Liberties Union names 35 school districts across California that list on their web sites the fees their schools charge for courses including art, home economics, and music, for AP tests, and for materials including gym uniforms. “We found that the charging of fees for required academic courses is rampant,” said Mark Rosenbaum, the ACLU’s legal director in Southern California. The suit names two anonymous plaintiffs, both students attending high schools in Orange County; their parents also declined to be identified. But other parents have been speaking out about the fees. Sally Smith, who has put three children through public schools in San Diego, including a daughter who is a high school senior there, said she has watched fees for uniforms and to participate in team sports rise for years. “All these fees were really taking a bite out of our budget, and our children lost the opportunity to participate in a lot of activities because we couldn’t afford them,” Smith said…

Click here for the full story

…Read More