Education News: January 26, 2007

Following are some of the top headlines from the world of education for the week ending January 26, 2007.

Fairfax Resists ‘No Child’ Provision
(Source: The Washington Post, 1/26/07): The Fairfax County School Board in Virginia is resisting the No Child Left Behind mandate that non-native English speakers be tested at the same level as their peers. The board, in an announcement on Thursday evening, spoke out what they consider to be a standard for failure. The Virginia Board of Education has pressed Congress to rework the test to make it more equitable.

Same Sex Classes a Growing Trend in Public Schools
(Source: CNN, 1/25/07): The Milwaukee School Board came out in favor of opening a single-sex public school by 2008 at Thursday night’s board meeting. In the wake of the federal government’s decision to allow single-sex instruction when deemed beneficial (provided co-educational equal options exist), more school boards are exploring single-sex classes and schools. The trend is apparent: in 1995, 3 public schools in the United States offered single-sex classes while today 253 schools do.

Gore Film Sparks Parents’ Anger
(Source: The Washington Post, 1/25/07): The Federal Way School Board in Washington State has placed restrictions on allowing students to view Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth in response to one father’s complaint of bias in the school system. When this father found out that his daughter would be watching the movie in science class, he objected because he said the film did not allow for other viewpoints and presented global warming as a fact. The school board mandated that teachers who show the film get permission from the principal and that they present opposing viewpoints as well.

School Staff Told to Reapply for Jobs
(Source: The Baltimore Sun, 1/25/07): Every employee at Annapolis High School in the Anne Arundel school district in Maryland will have to reapply for their job in the next several weeks. District superintendent Kevin Maxwell made the announcement on Wednesday. The school has failed to meet the requirements for the No Child Left Behind Act for the last four years, and they could face state intervention next year if they fail once again.

Spellings Stands Firm on ‘Real School Choice’
(Source: The Washington Times, 1/25/07): Education Secretary Margaret Spellings announced Wednesday that she stands firmly behind the president’s upcoming changes to the No Child Left Behind Act. One of the bigger changes involves awarding students who attend schools that have failed NCLB benchmarks for five or six years $4,000 to attend another school. The voucher program, one of Bush’s educational platforms, failed to take hold while the Republicans controlled congress, and Democrats vow to fight it now that they hold the majority.

Barred From School, Kids Line Up For Shots
(Source: The Baltimore Sun, 1/23/07): Approximately 5,000 students in Baltimore city and Baltimore county were denied access to school on Monday because they had not yet obtained mandated immunizations against chickenpox and hepatitis B. Families with non-immunized children were able to go to clinics where shots were given for free. These two immunizations became mandatory in the spring of 2006.

St. Paul/ Teachers’ Retirement Fund at Risk
(Source: The Pioneer Press, 1/23/07): Setting 2021 as the deadline for getting their financial house in order, the St. Paul Teachers’ Retirement Fund is exploring ways to tackle the $420 million deficit the fund is currently running. In order to erase this deficit, teachers, school districts, and the state will have to work together to raise funds to combat the debt. The Executive Director of the St. Paul Teachers’ Retirement Fund Association plans to ask the state legislature to contribute an additional $4 million a year to help alleviate the problem.

Houston Independent School District Bonus Anxiety Builds
(Source: The Houston Chronicle, 1/22/07): Bonuses ranging from $500-$7,000 will be doled out to over half of the teachers in the Houston Independent School District this week as part of a new pay-for-performance initiative. The bonuses are part of a $14 million initiative to reward teachers whose students make remarkable improvements. The school district is using a complex formula that looks at socio-economic status of students and gains on standardized tests to distribute the bonuses.