Education News: April 8, 2005

Following are some of the top headlines from the world of education for the week ending April 8, 2005.

Facing State Protests, U.S. Offers More Flexibility on School Rules
(Source: The New York Times)
In her first major response to the growing rancor over federal education policy, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced Thursday, April 7, that the U.S. would show greater flexibility to states on the No Child Left Behind law. Spellings referred to the law’s rocky beginnings as its “terrible 2’s,” and promised that states that generate results and follow the principles of NCLB will become eligible to receive new tools to help them reach the law’s goals. Spellings detailed specific changes in only one of the law’s areas—special education. Previously, only 1% of all students could be given special tests, which left many handicapped students taking tests of the same difficulty as their healthy peers; now, according to Spellings, an additional 2% may take alternative tests.

Public School Failures Raise Questions of Political Leadership
(Source: The Associated Press)
California’s public school system, once among the nation’s best, is now falling behind almost every other state in terms of student achievement, teacher quality, funding, and facilities, according to several recent reports from organizations such as the Rand Corporation, Education Trust-West, and the Harvard University Civil Rights Project. The studies cite several different factors, including budget cuts, shifting demographics, and lack of political will, as primary reasons for the dramatic decline in quality of California’s public schools. Some education officials have criticized Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for not engaging more actively with the state’s education crisis. Currently, the only education-related proposal that the governor is promoting is the initiative to pay teachers based on merit rather than pay. He also remains embroiled in debates with teachers who object to his withholding of $2 billion that they say is owed to schools under Proposition 98.

Connecticut to Sue U.S. Over Cost of Testing Law
(Source: The New York Times)
The state of Connecticut will sue the federal government over the No Child Left Behind law, claiming that it compels the state to spend millions on new tests without supplying adequate additional funding, according to state attorney general Richard Blumenthal. Saying that the law was “illegal and unconstitutional,” Blumenthal expressed hope that other states would join Connecticut in the lawsuit before it is filed in several weeks. The main complaint in the suit is that the federal government requires Connecticut to spend some $112.2 million to expand its testing program, even though it has only appropriated $70.6 million additional dollars to the state.

Title IX Covers Whistleblowers, High Court Says; Teachers, Coaches Can Sue Under Sex-Bias Law
(Source: Education Week)
A Supreme Court ruling this week has determined that teachers and coaches who suffer retaliation for complaining about illegal sex discrimination against their students can sue their school districts for damages. The 5-4 ruling pertained to the federal law that bans gender-based discrimination in federally funded education programs and came in a case brought by Roderick L. Jackson, a high school girls’ basketball coach who sued the Birmingham, Alabama, school district in 2001. Jackson’s suit claims he started receiving negative job evaluations and was eventually stripped of his coaching responsibilities for complaining about unequal access to athletic equipment, facilities, and funding for the female athletes under his instruction.