An NSBA webinar this week showed ways that school boards can use Facebook, Twitter, wikis, and other Web 2.0 tools to communicate more effectively with their constituents, and School Board News has the recap. In other news, more schools are selling ads on their web pages to earn extra revenue, lawmakers from rural areas are concerned about the Obama administration’s ESEA proposal, and NSBA’s advocacy team explains what the new jobs bill signed today by President Obama will mean for K-12 education. Read more in School Board News Today.

In the news today, the U.S. Senate defeats a proposal to allow new students to enroll in the controversial D.C. voucher program, PepsiCo will stop selling soft drinks in schools by 2012, and the FCC releases its broadband plans, which could help schools maximize their use of the technology. Read more in School Board News Today.

With all the focus on getting students ready for college, those who aren’t interested in a higher education are being left behind, USA Today reports. Massachusetts’ education chief says he won’t adopt common standards if they are lower than the rigorous set the state has already adopted, and the usual Washington pundits weigh in on the Obama ESEA proposal. Read more in School Board News Today, and also read about NSBA’s amicus brief supporting Hastings College in a Supreme Court case dealing with student clubs and discrimination against gay and lesbian students.

Photo courtesy of Stockvault,com-

Stocks and consumer spending may be rising, but the economic recession is still ravaging school districts, as budget woes and school closures dominated the news this week.

In Kansas City, Mo., the school board narrowly voted to close nearly half of its schools for budget reasons.

Commenting on the dismal budget situation nationally, NSBA Executive Director Anne L. Bryant told MSNBC that school boards will likely face deeper cuts in the fall and that their funding problems show no sign of abating anytime soon.

“There is no silver lining, at least in the next 18 months,” she said.

Meanwhile, teachers across the nation were incensed at the firings of all 93 teachers at Central Falls High School in Rhode Island — and President Obama’s apparent endorsement of the move.

“I ripped the Obama sticker off my truck,” a Houston Federation of Teachers official said in a New York Times story. The quote was highlighted by Alexander Russo in his This Week in Education blog.

Employment prospects also weren’t looking up for New York’s embattled Gov. David Paterson, who announced recently that he will not seek re-election amid a series of investigations into his administration.

“Hubris is terminal,” Timothy G. Kremer, executive director of the New York State School Boards Association, said in his blog this week, quoting someone who should know: former Gov. Eliot Spitzer. After assessing Paterson’s chances of survival, Kremer turned to a more immediate concern: a state budget that cuts $1.1 billion out of the schools. For more on the possible impact of these cuts, and NYSSBA’s response, go to “Be the Change for Kids.”
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NSBA Executive Director Anne L. Bryant is quoted in a story on the impact of state budget cuts, while NPR examines the impact of declining enrollments on school budgets. In other news, the Mississippi high school that canceled its prom in light of a lesbian couple’s desire to attend is being sued in federal court. Read more in School Board News Today.

In the news today, the Texas school board, with members known for their far-right views, is debating the portrayal of conservatives in its social studies curriculum, and its decision may impact textbooks nationwide. Kansas City’s school board moves forward with a plan to shut down almost half of the district’s schools, and read different viewpoints on mass teacher firings at underperforming schools in School Board News Today.

Some important news today for K-12 education: the National Governors Association and Council of Chief State School Officers released the draft of the common core standards, federal officials are discussing procedures for food safety and schools, LAUSD’s services to English language learners are the target of the newly revamped Office of Civil Right’s investigation, an international official says the U.S. education system is lagging during hearings on the Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorization, and Harlem public schools are using marketing tactics to compete with charters. Read more in School Board News Today.

Yesterday, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that the Education Department’s office of civil rights will step up enforcement of civil rights laws, and School Board News has an online-only report with NSBA’s take. In other news, after 26 years of court oversight a federal judge has taken the first steps to end the special education lawsuit in Baltimore, and an analysis by the Columbus Dispatch shows taxpayer-funded vouchers are keeping some Ohio private schools afloat.  Read these stories and more in School Board News Today.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announces today that his agency’s office of civil rights is going to step up enforcement of civil rights rules for K-12 and higher education. In other news, budget cuts are forcing more districts to move to a four-day work week, which is causing angst for both school officials and parents. Read these stories and more in School Board News Today.

photo by stockvault

Should the Title I funds your school district receives be contingent on your state adopting college-ready math and reading standards?  That’s one proposal President Obama announced at a recent National Governors Association conference, and it’s the subject of a revealing discussion in this week’s National Journal.

Obama’s proposal would be a shift from the current policy of basing Title I money solely on the number of poor children in a district. But historically, it makes sense, writes Cheryl  L. Sattler, a senior partner at Ethica, LLC:  “Truth is, the feds have been linking money to state standards for years, in response to low or even nonexistent standards for poor minority students.”

True. But is this the right thing to do with Title I? Phil Quon, superintendent of the Cupertino Union School District in California, doesn’t think so: “Let’s commit to the targeted student population that Title I was created to serve. And while we’re at it, let’s also commit to fully funding all federal education mandates, in particular, IDEA. It just seems like another ‘great idea’ which diverts our attention away from the real issues of fully funding past, present, and future federally mandated programs.” (more…)