EDUCATION & EQUITY NEWS    

NATIONAL

Global Education Plan Gains Backing
The Washington Post, April 22, 2002

Global financial leaders gave broad backing yesterday to a World Bank plan aimed at ensuring that by 2015 all children in poor countries get at least a primary-school education. (See also: World Bank Aims to Help Poor Receive Elementary Education, The New York Times, April 22, 2002.)

House Republicans' Ratings on
Education Are Slipping, Pollster Says
The Washington Post, April 22, 2002

House Republicans got some bad news last week when they were told their strong poll numbers on education were beginning to slip.

Court Won't Allow School Race Factor
The Washington Times, April 22, 2002

A public school district policy in Seattle that uses race as a factor in determining high school admissions is illegal, a federal appeals court has ruled.

Separate And Unequal In Roosevelt, Long Island
The Washington Post, April 21, 2002

As measured by school and housing patterns, Long Island, NY has the most racially isolated and segregated suburbs in the nation.

Vermont May Spurn Federal Education
Money to Protest Testing
The Salt Lake Tribune, April 19, 2002

Vermont governor Howard Dean says he wants his state to consider rejecting $26 million in federal education money to escape the requirements attached to the new federal testing demands. (See also: Vermont Governor Considers Refusing Federal Funds So Schools Can Opt Out of Testing, San Francisco Chronicle, April 18, 2002.)

Schools Feeling Sting of Recession
CNN.com, April 17, 2002

Nationwide, legislators and local officials have cut billions of dollars from education spending by trimming their schools' staffs, cutting programs and even closing some buildings to deal with deficits caused by the recession.

U.S. Judge Ends Desegregation
in Dayton Schools After 25 Years
Cleveland Plain-Dealer, April 16, 2002

A federal judge has lifted a desegregation order for Dayton's public schools, a move that will end more than 25 years of crosstown busing designed to achieve racial balance. The school district of 20,800 students was the only system in Ohio still operating under a desegregation order.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA METRO AREA

Fairfax Schools Face Layoffs, Domenech Says
The Washington Post, April 21, 2002

Fairfax County public schools officials could be forced to eliminate several hundred staff positions, including some teachers, to cover a $53.4‚million shortfall in the system's fiscal 2003 budget.

Property Tax Cut Planned In Fairfax -
Increase Proposed In School Funding
The Washington Post, April 19, 2002

Fairfax County supervisors are preparing to cut 2 cents from the real estate tax rate and transfer at least an additional $11.6 million to the school system, a majority of board members said.

MARYLAND

Md. Seeks 'Adequacy,' Recasting School Debate
The Washington Post, April 22, 2002

Maryland is at the forefront of a national campaign to redesign school financing around the concept of "adequacy" -- or what it takes to adequately educate a child.

9 Elementary Schools In Line for Funding
The Washington Post, April 20, 2002

Additional school aid that Montgomery County won from the state legislature this year should go toward providing all-day kindergarten and smaller classes at nine more elementary schools serving a diverse, low-income population, school officials said.

Board Unveils Schools Budget
The Baltimore Sun, April 19, 2002

Less than two weeks after receiving an increase in state aid, Baltimore school officials unveiled yesterday a spending plan that would use the funds to cut high school class size, hire reading and math coaches for the elementary grades and recruit and retain quality teachers.

DELAWARE

Nonprofits Fear Bush Cuts
The News Journal, April 22, 2002

Delaware nonprofit agency directors say President Bush's proposal to cut $80 million from the $650 million federal Community Services Block Grant budget would harm programs that help people get off welfare.

Nearly Half Below Standard in Tests
Dover Newszap, April 19, 2002

Nearly half of Delaware's fourth- and sixth-grade students fell below standards in social studies exams in the Delaware Student Testing Program.

Third Annual Delaware Multicultural
Day Expands (Press Release)
Delaware Department of Education, April 5, 2002

State Board of Education Releases
Achievement Gap Report (Press Release)
Delaware Department of Education, March 21, 2002

Awareness to Action: Recognizing and Addressing
the Achievement Gaps in Delaware Schools
Delaware Education Research and Development Center, 2002.

PENNSYLVANIA

For 70 Schools, Let the Reforms Begin
Philadelphia Daily News, April 22, 2002

Edison Schools Inc. has received approval from the School Reform Commission to manage 20 struggling schools in Philadelphia. (See also: Philadelphia to Privatize 42 Schools, CNN.com, April 18, 2002; At 42 Newly Privatized Philadelphia Schools, Uncertainty Abounds, The New York Times, April 19, 2002; More Schools Going to Edison?, Philadelphia Daily News, April 19, 2002; A Study Guide to the Companies
that Will Operate Phila. Schools, The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 18, 2002.)

20 Teachers At School Want Out
Philadelphia Daily News, April 19, 2002

Twenty teachers at one of the schools Edison Schools Inc. is to manage have requested to be transferred to different schools for the fall, according to union officials. (See also: Union Predicts Teacher Exodus in Philly, CNN.com, April 20, 2002.)

Property-Tax Shift Eyed for Schools
Philadelphia Daily News, April 18, 2002

The proposal to shift the burden of school funding from local property taxes to a state tax - like the Pennsylvania income tax - is growing in momentum as school districts of all sizes across the state deal with financial problems.

VIRGINIA

Fairfax Schools Face Layoffs, Domenech Says
The Washington Post, April 21, 2002

Fairfax County public schools officials could be forced to eliminate several hundred staff positions, including some teachers, to cover a $53.4‚million shortfall in the system's fiscal 2003 budget.

Property Tax Cut Planned In Fairfax -
Increase Proposed In School Funding
The Washington Post, April 19, 2002

Fairfax County supervisors are preparing to cut 2 cents from the real estate tax rate and transfer at least an additional $11.6 million to the school system, a majority of board members said.

SPECIAL ARTICLES & REPORTS

The Right Way to Read
Newsweek, April 29, 2002

Curriculum Wars Rage in the Classroom
FoxNews.com, April 17, 2002

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