Rural Republican proposes tax increase for public education

By: Ben Giles January 7, 2019 Republican Sen. Sylvia Allen wants voters to approve a sales tax hike to boost funding for K-12 schools and higher education. Voters already approved the 0.6-cent sales tax for education in 2000, a levy that generated more than $700 million in the previous fiscal year. Allen, a Snowflake Republican, wants…

Education year in review: Alabama 2018 edition

By Trisha Powell Crain January 1, 2019 From the hiring of a new superintendent to school safety dominating the national conversation to a charter school leading the way, 2018 was a busy year in education in Alabama. Here’s a look back at 2018. Data, data, and more data  As is happening nationally, educators and policymakers…

Kentucky GOP sifting through teachers’ emails for political misuse

Allison Ross and Mandy McLaren, Dec. 14, 2018 The Republican Party of Kentucky has sent a wave of open records requests for the work emails of several teachers, including some who ran for office in November’s election — a move it said was a way to see if there was widespread misuse of government resources. But some educators see…

Nation’s first charter school strike ends, but could portend more battles on choice

Aamer Madhani, December 10, 2018 CHICAGO – Teachers and administrators agreed Sunday to suspend the nation’s first-ever charter school strike, ending a four-day work stoppage at one of the largest charter networks in Chicago. But the fight could portend more to come in the labor movement’s long-running battle with the alternative schools. The strike against the Acero charter school…

7 Corridor public school districts have had contracts scaled back

  TIFFIN — Almost as soon legislative changes allowed, everything but wages were shed from Clear Creek Amana Community School District teachers’ contracts. The teachers’ union agreed to the changes, the Clear Creek Amana Education Association’s chief bargainer Marcia Charbon said, primarily because of its faith in the current school board and superintendent. “I don’t…

Set Up to Fail? How High Schools Aren’t Preparing Kids for College

Small schools and high poverty schools are putting their students at the biggest disadvantage, according to a new report. BY J. BRIAN CHARLES  NOVEMBER 15, 2018 (AP/LM Otero) Students in small schools or schools with high concentrations of poverty are less likely to be offered the kinds of higher-level classes that prepare them for college, according…

Should the state stop funding public education?

by Burt Mummolo Wednesday, December 5th 2018 Should the state stop funding public education? (Mummolo/KTUL) TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — “To paraphrase Will Rogers, ‘I’m not a member of an organized party. I’m an Oklahoma Republican,’” said David Arnett, reacting to the fallout from a Canadian County GOP letter saying public education should be privatized. “The Republican…

Indianapolis superintendent chosen to lead D.C. Public Schools

By Perry Stein December 3, 2018 Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) on Monday named the Indianapolis schools superintendent to be the next leader of D.C. Public Schools, choosing an heir to the educational philosophy that put the city’s classrooms in the national spotlight a decade ago. Lewis D. Ferebee, who served for five years as superintendent…

Teachers Are Serving As First Responders To The Opioid Crisis

By Rebecca Klein 11/03/18 WAR, W.Va. ― Middle school teacher Greg Cruey can explain the most harrowing details of his students’ lives with matter-of-fact precision. That smart sixth-grader who had her hand raised last period? She’s homeless and has, in the past, been suicidal. That middle school student who seemed on edge during class? As a…