Oxnard Union lacks money to build large high school

Published: June 30th, 2011 | Categories: Education Advisor | 0 Comments

Oxnard Union High School District officials say they no longer have the cash to build a large high school, long after voters OK’d a 2004 bond measure to pay for new schools and renovations at existing ones.

The $102 million left from bond and other district construction money falls short of the $130 million price tag of a new, 2,250-student campus, said Assistant Superintendent Randy Winton. He gave a report to the school board at a Wednesday night study session.

One big issue now is the lack of state matching funds for school construction, he said.

“It’s not really feasible to begin a complete construction project of a new, 2,250-student school without knowing for sure that you have the money to pay for it when you get to the end,” Winton said.

The district, however, could afford a much smaller school, he said.

Voters passed Measure H in November 2004 to build two new high schools and renovate existing campuses. At the time, district officials said the schools would be built in Oxnard and Camarillo. The district already owns a site in Camarillo.

Oxnard Union officials put the new schools on hold, however, while a contentious Camarillo school unification proposal was considered.

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“TELL Tennessee” Survey Results Set Standard and Strategy

Published: June 30th, 2011 | Categories: Education Center | 0 Comments

The results are in, and more than 57,000 educators across the state completed the TELL Tennessee(Teaching, Empowering, Leading, and Learning) Survey. Overall, 85 percent of Tennessee’s educators agree that their school is a good place to work and learn. Survey data will be used to provide a foundation for assessing professional development, strategies for improvement, and policy development guidance.    “We continue to listen and have discussions with educators across the state to gain insight into the changes that need to happen in education,” said Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam. “It is critical that we remain engaged and connected to work jointly towards the improvement and success of our teachers, classrooms, and student achievement.”   Tennessee’s school districts set the standard for first time participation in the teaching and learning condition survey efforts as conducted by the New Teacher Center. A record 77 percent of educators and administrators responded to the survey, which exceeds previous results in other states such as North Carolina, Mississippi, Ohio, Maryland and Kansas. Questions prov Read more…

Record-setter makes mark as oldest grad

Published: June 29th, 2011 | Categories: Education Advisor | 0 Comments

You may have heard of some older folks getting a degree but we bet this one will still floor you.

To give you a hint about how old Leo Plass is, lets just say that when he was a young child, his school day consisted primarily of lessons about cooking, sewing and typing.

Plass came close to earning a college degree many decades ago  until the Great Depression forced him to take a job.

This year, Plass finally completed his degree requirements at 99 years old. Eastern Oregon University agreed to accept his career experiences in lieu of the final classes he needed to graduate.

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Free school figures breakdown revealed

Published: June 29th, 2011 | Categories: Education Advisor | 0 Comments

The Department for Education has released new figures outlining the make-up of the latest set of schools to apply to become academies.

Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove MP announced that, over the application round running between 17 March 2011 and 15 June 2011, the Department received 281 applications to set up a free school from September 2012.

Of these, 227 were for mainstream schools, 34 were for alternative provision schools like pupil referral units and 20 were for schools for children with special educational needs.

Among the applications to set up mainstream free schools, 77 were for primary schools, 81 for secondary schools, 65 were for all-through schools and four were for schools serving 16-to-19 year olds

Moreover, while just 12 of these applications were made by existing academy providers, 126 had emanated from local groups.

Mr Gove asserted: “The highest-performing education systems are those where government knows when to step back.

“We want a school system in which teachers have more power and in which they are more accountable to parents – not politicians.”

He said the government had confounded critics who claimed it would be impossible to open free schools so quickly and that no schools would want to become academies, countering that they were converting “at a rate of two a day”.

The number of applications to join the state sector from existing independent schools has by contrast fallen from 98 last year to 40 this year, while the share of applications from faith schools also declined from 115 to 65.

Recent research has also indicated that of the applications currently being processed by the Department, 59 per cent have come from the most deprived 50 per cent of free school catchment areas and 31 per cent are from the most deprived 20 per cent.
 

US Supreme Court allows in-state tuition for illegal immigrants in California

Published: June 29th, 2011 | Categories: Teaching News | 0 Comments

The U.S. Supreme Court today refused to hear a challenge to California’s in-state tuition policy. That policy allows undocumented high school graduates to pay the same rate as California students at public colleges and universities.

Opponents to California’s tuition policy contended that it violates a provision of federal immigration law. That law bars states from offering “any post-secondary benefit” to undocumented immigrants.

But California’s Supreme Court upheld the state’s policy last year. The justices ruled that offering in-state tuition to undocumented students is legal because it’s based on whether a student attends and graduates from a California high school, not on the student’s immigration status.

Lawyers from the Washington-based Immigration Reform Law Institute appealed the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court’s refusal to hear that appeal means that California’s policy stands – and that similar laws in 11 other states also remain legal.

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