May 29, 2013

Local News

The News Journal
Appeal over charter school bus funds prompts legislative rule tweak
A Democratic lawmaker urged the budget-drafting Joint Finance Committee on Tuesday to change the rules for funding transportation at Delaware charter schools, arguing the current system lacks transparency and is at odds with other education funding provisions. Committee members said Rep. John Kowalko’s proposal would cut hundreds of thousands of dollars in charter school funding and largely dismissed his criticisms.

Delaware targets STEM skills gap
Faced with a persistent gap between science, technology, engineering and math jobs and workers trained to fill them, state leaders are pushing for ways to connect kids with companies. There are more than 3.8 jobs in those fields for every available worker, according to the Delaware STEM Council. By comparison, there are 1.7 unemployed Delawareans for every job outside those fields. “We are looking at a skills mismatch, and one of the biggest challenges we face is finding a way to fix that,” Gov. Jack Markell said. “We are competing not just in a national economy, but in an international economy, and we need our students to be able to compete.”

Delaware State News
For minority students, Delmarva Power’s engineering challenge generates personal power
Over the years, 250 students that have gone through the M.E.R.I.T. program have gone on to graduate from college with a masters, doctorate or bachelor’s degree, said John Hollis, longtime director of M.E.R.I.T. This year’s engineering challenge included an additional mechanism designed to pick up objects.

National News

Politico
Winning the jobs war
An opinion by Governor Jack Markell
While the talk in Washington in recent weeks has veered sharply away from the issues that most affect our daily lives, the people I meet at businesses, in schools and elsewhere in our communities are still most concerned with how their leaders are going to ensure the availability of the things that mean the most to them, like well-paying jobs, quality education, and a fair opportunity for their families.

Education Next
A point-by-point rebuttal of today’s anti-Common Core op-ed in the Wall Street Journal
An opinion by Michael Petrilli
As I’ve said and written about a million times, there are plenty of reasons to be against the Common Core. As with any public-policy issue, there are pros and cons, upsides and downsides—in short, trade-offs. Still, many of those crusading against the Common Core have been playing fast and loose with the facts and purposefully spreading misinformation—nobody more than the folks at the Pioneer Institute.

Related Topics: Achievement Gap, charter schools, Governor Markell, Jack Markell, Lake Forest High School, M.E.R.I.T. program, Minority Engineering Regional Incentive Training, NAEP, Pioneer Institute, SAT, school finance, school funding, skills gap, standards, STEM Council, Sussex Tech, teacher training, transportation, Western Sussex Boys & Girls Club