May 21, 2014
Local News
WDDE
Gov. Markell, lawmakers look for budget solutions
In the face of the latest grim state revenue forecast, the Markell Administration is putting up another $37.2 million dollars in new cuts to his proposed fiscal year 2015 budget. If the Joint Finance Committee adopts all of those reductions, and revenues remain flat, they still have to fill in another $13.9 million dollar hole. For example, Budget Director Ann Visalli says they’re no longer backing new teacher leadership positions in schools.
Dover Post
Lake Forest Board of Education selects new superintendent
Lake Forest School District Board of Education has selected a Pennsylvania educator as its next district superintendent. Dr. Jason Conway, currently the acting superintendent of the Dover Area School District in Dover, Pennsylvania, will replace Dr. Daniel Curry on July 1.
Megan Szabo named Caesar Rodney School District’s Teacher of the Year
Meghan Szabo, a seventh- and eighth-grade teacher at Postlethwait Middle School, was named as Caesar Rodney School District’s Teacher of the Year on May 8. Szabo, a Delaware native and University of Delaware graduate, has spent the last nine years teaching in the district. Prior to that, she taught in the Christina School District and in Pennsylvania.
Cape Gazette
Elected vo-tech school board bill stalled in committee
A bill to replace Sussex Tech’s appointed school board with an elected board, is still in the Senate Education Committee after its May 7 hearing. Chairman Sen. David Sokola, D-Newark, gave no reason for declining to sign the bill out of committee. He said if the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Brian Pettyjohn, R-Georgetown, could get four committee members to sign the bill, it would be released to the Senate floor.
Cape busing plan promotes healthy kids
An editorial
A new busing plan for Cape Henlopen School District starts with what these days seems to be a novel idea: If you live within a half mile of school, you are expected to walk. District officials are walking the routes themselves to ensure the 300 children who will start walking next year, if the plan is ap¬proved, will have a safe path to every school.
Milford Beacon
Residents question boarded-up Milford Middle School
The Milford School District recently took a proactive approach to security at the Milford Middle School by boarding up the first floor of the building, a decision made without public notice or discussion. This decision, which some are saying has ulterior motives, has garnered some disapproval from local residents and council members, which was voiced during the Board of Education’s regular monthly meeting on Monday night.
Board considers 20-percent cut, sports eliminations
The end of the Milford School District’s 2013-2014 fiscal year is approaching, and the Board of Education is considering a 20-percent cut to the majority of its budget, as well as the possible elimination of three sports, some staffing, programs and limited contracts.
National News
Education Week
Array of factors drives students from school
Often, there’s not a clear, single factor but a collision of negative events that finally breaks a young person’s will to go to school, according to a new report.
Separate but equal: Teacher diversity 60 years after Brown v. Board
An opinion by Ryan Mulso, a teacher at Highland Park Senior High in St. Paul
The 60th anniversary of the landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education provides us with a chance to reevaluate what has happened in the time since. Schools now are having an identity and hiring crisis, and we have a lack of quality teachers of color in the workforce.
Three charter school systems named as finalists for Broad Foundation prize
The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation has named three finalists for its annual Broad Prize for Public Charter Schools. The contenders for this year’s prize are Achievement First, KIPP Foundation and IDEA Public Schools. The award honors charter systems in urban areas that have made big strides in raising performance and closing achievement gaps for minority and low-income students.
Governing
How early should it be taught?
Chicago Treasurer Stephanie Neely recently launched a push to make financial literacy a regular piece of the curriculum for Chicago’s grade schoolers.
The Connecticut Mirror
Arne Duncan touts ‘middle college’
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan highlighted one innovative approach to reducing the cost of higher education: “middle colleges.”
The Associated Press
Kansas working through teacher licensing changes
Changes are in store for the Kansas teacher licensing process under a new state law aimed at making it easier for people without education degrees to get into classrooms.
Boston Herald
Massachusetts says computer coding is essential
Students as young as kindergartners are learning computer programming as Massachusetts schools join a growing national movement to prepare students for 21st-century jobs.