In the News: A Clipping Service – January 24, 2010

In this edition of In the News:

  • Tough Economic Times Impact K-12 Schools
  • Tackling Barriers to Academic Achievement
  • How Does Louisiana Measure Up?
  • Other Charter News
  • Orleans Study Predicts Continued Growth in K-12 Enrollment

Tough Economic Times Impact K-12 Schools

Recession’s Toll on K-12 Budgets Both Wide and Deep
Education Week
– January 13, 2011
Louisiana is not alone in facing budget shortfalls. Across the nation, districts are dealing with budget cuts, increasing class sizes, and cutting programs.

Retirement Costs a Growing Burden for Louisiana Schools
Associated Press
– January 20, 2011
Louisiana school districts are being forced to boost class sizes and lay off staff to keep up with increasing retirement and health costs. Retiree pension costs alone will be 23% of payroll. Meanwhile, BESE is considering another freeze in the MFP – the education financing formula for public schools. This would be the third year in a row without an increase.

Jefferson Parish School Board Must Cut $10 Million from Budget
The Times-Picayune
– January 19, 2011
Because of an unexpected drop in property tax revenues, Jefferson Parish school officials will have to slash the 2010-11 budget by $10 million.

Tackling Barriers to Academic Achievement

Rhee’s Advocacy Group: Abolish Tenure, Give Districts Evaluation Prerogative
Education Week
– January 12, 2011
Former D.C. Chancellor Michelle Rhee announces the top policy targets for her new advocacy group, Students First, which include abolishing tenure, empowering parents, and expanding choice.

View a summary of the Students First policy agenda.

U.S. Aims to Make School Lunches Healthier
US News & World Report
– January 13, 2011
The first major overhaul of school lunches in 15 years will require less sodium, more whole grains, more fruit and veggies, and only one cup of starchy vegetables (i.e. french fries) per child per week.

Researcher Finds Easy Solution for Test Anxiety
Education Week
– January 13, 2011
Students who spend 10 minutes before an exam writing down their thoughts and feelings free up brainpower and can do their best work.

Louisiana Launching Effort to Reduce Dropouts
Associated Press
– January 14, 2011
Louisiana is scrapping its Pre-GED/Skills options in favor of a new anti-dropout program called Connections, which will use instruction, remediation, and mentoring to keep students in school.

How Does Louisiana Measure Up?

Good and Bad News for Louisiana in Education Rankings
Associated Press
– January 11, 2011
Education Week’s
“Quality Counts” report gave Louisiana an A for accountability and assessments and raised Louisiana’s overall score from a C to a C+, but the state’s score for student achievement in K-12 dropped from a D- to an F

Charter School Advocates Praise La. for Strong Law
The Advocate
– January 21, 2011
A new report from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools analyzes the country’s 41 state charter laws and scores how well each supports charter school quality and growth. Louisiana is one of the top 10 states for charters, scoring especially well on the four “quality controls” components.

View “Measuring Up to the Model: A Ranking of State Public Charter School Laws.”
The state summary for Louisiana can be found on page 40.

Students Participate in Project Examining Grandparents as Parents
The Examiner – January 22, 2011
A recent study found that Louisiana has the fourth largest percentage of children living with grandparents in the country. Nationwide the number of children being raised by their grandparents has increased 55 percent since 1990.

Other Charter News

Jindal Says Charter School Proposal Is Based on Florida Initiative
The Times-Picayune
– January 12, 2011
Governor Jindal is proposing legislation modeled after a Florida law that would allow businesses to provide a facility or land to a charter school. In exchange, children of the company’s employees would be given up to 50 percent of the seats in the school.

Tubman Elementary School in Algiers Will Lose its Charter
The Times-Picayune
– January 18, 2011
BESE’s Recovery School District Committee recently met to review charter schools up for renewal in Orleans Parish. Tubman Elementary will lose its charter for failing to meet academic and financial benchmarks, but 13 other charters were renewed.

Orleans Study Predicts Continued Growth in K-12 Enrollment

Study Predicts Growth For Orleans Student Enrollment
WWL TV
– January 18, 2011
A new study conducted by GCR & Associates for the OPSB and RSD looked at census and school-level data to create a 10-year forecast of population and student enrollment. Of interest: student enrollment grew by 4,000 students since 2008; currently only 13% of students attend their neighborhood school; and student enrollment could grow by another 13,000 in the next 10 years.

View the Updated Demographic Study.