Iowa education officials lobbying to loosen spending restrictions

Iowa school districts are sitting on more than $145 million in funding that frustrated superintendents say they can't spend because of legislative restrictions. Now, education officials are lobbying to loosen the spending restrictions so they can use the money where they say it is needed most, rather than watching the categorized accounts build up year after year. Read more>>

If schools want more clarity on a new conflict disclosure law, they're going to have to look to the Legislature, said Attorney General Marty Jackley. The recent law aims to prevent state board members and education leaders from unethically pocketing tax money. Schools across the state have called the law confusing and overly broad. Read more>>

Of Missouri’s 519 school districts, 97.9 percent, or 508, scored in the full accreditation range, with 70 percent or more of the possible points on their performance reports. ​That compares with 98.5 percent last year. Read more>>

Matt Zalaznick

Not long ago, few of us were talking about social-emotional learning or makerspaces—now, many districts use the latter tool to teach the former. Please follow the link to forecast what little-known issue, initiative or technology will dominate classrooms three, five and 10 years from now. Select predictions will appear in the January edition of District Administration. Read more>>

Two Memphis charter schools will be in limbo with the exit next spring of Gestalt Community Schools as their operator. The possibilities range from replacing Gestalt with one or more operators, to shifting management directly to the state-run Achievement School District, to closing one or both schools and transferring students to other schools. Read more>>

The Texas district's trustees approved launching a pilot plan to better integrate its schools, which now have racial and socio-economic disparities that largely mirror neighborhood demographics. In more than half of the district’s schools, black and Hispanic children make up 90 percent or more of the student body. Read more>>

The public school system released a report detailing ideas to save the school district millions of dollars, and school closings are still on the table. Those cuts could mean school closures, cuts to bus service and looking at teacher pay and special needs services. Read more>>

Tim Long

The Jay County Promise program encourages our district’s young people to continue their education beyond high school by providing a 529 college savings plan to each K3 student. Since launching the program, about 70 percent of our kids now start school with their own college savings account. Read more>>

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez slashed spending at most state agencies while preserving funding for some of her administration’s hallmark public education initiatives. She vetoed $22 million in proposed cuts to public school initiatives such as performance-based pay incentives for teachers. Read more>>

Why are so many teachers leaving? While teachers don't get into the profession for the dough, money is a factor. Beginning teachers make about 20 percent less than college graduates in other fields. But educators really want a bigger voice in school policies and plans. Many feel left out of key discussions. Read more>>

Tomorrow's leaders must be able to compete, work and thrive in a globalized world with diverse, multilingual consumers and economies in which China and the U.S. will continue to be major players. We can help prepare our students by offering them early education opportunities to learn Mandarin. Read more>>

Illinois districts should shoulder the costs for their own teacher pensions rather than the state picking up the tab. But districts need to lower costs for homeowners. How? End the pickups. Nearly 500 districts would see a net savings by ending teacher pension pickups and starting to pay the employer share of pension contributions. Such a seismic shift could spur teachers unions to strike. Read more>>

To combat the opioid and heroin epidemic, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration and Discovery Education announced a joint education initiative, Operation Prevention. Designed for middle and high school students, it focuses on the science behind drug addiction and its impact with digital lesson plans, a parent toolkit and other classroom resources. Read more>>

Usability enhancements to the Blackboard Learn learning management system are intended to help faculty members better accomplish core teaching tasks and allow students to complete coursework more quickly. Read more>>

The Epson PowerLite 2000-Series features nine projectors that includes up to 5,500 lumens of color brightness, 5,500 lumens of white brightness, full HD 1080p support and built-in enterprise level Wi-Fi security. Read more>>