Panel closes 19 schools around New York City

Citing poor performance, a city panel voted Wednesday to close 19 schools around New York City. Protesters at the meeting were vocal with boos, shouts and cheers throughout the meeting. More than 300 people spoke. The vote wasn’t taken until nearly 3 a.m. The closures were recommended by Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s education department, which was created to give the mayor more control of the schools.

Tucson school district looks at budget cuts

The Sahuarita Unified School District may cut three-quarters of $1 million during its governing board meeting this evening. Under consideration are cuts to elementary music and physical education, as well as all middle school sports and some high school sports.

College students battle for classes amid state cuts

Students in California struggle to get the classes they need to graduate because of availability - or lack there of.

Since 2002, Arizona schools have benefited from a 0.6 percent sales tax that voters approved as part of Prop. 301 in 2000. The vote also meant any additional dollars reaped from the sale of State Trust Land has gone to schools.

The projections for those funds, dubbed the “classroom site fund,” have been mostly increasing year after year.

Each March, school districts learn the per pupil amount of funding they’re allowed to spend from those dollars. If, when the final count comes out, less sales tax was collected, an adjustment is made the following year.

Adjustments have come fast and furious the past two years.

And as schools await word of the next per pupil amount, for school year 2010-11, school budget leaders are warning there could be a major drop.

Chuck Essigs, the Association of Arizona School Business Official’s governmental liaison, painted the grim picture for school business managers this week during a monthly meeting for the association. At this point, no one can predict what the actual dollar amount may be, he said, for fiscal year 2011.

But knowing that the state likely won’t collect enough to meet fiscal year 2010’s prediction of $244 per student, could mean the state will have to take from one year to pay for the previous year.

“Nobody thinks they’re going to get close to that,” Essigs said of the predicted $244 per student.

Already, the state knows predictions for 2009 were off by $166 million. Calculations for 2010 are still being computed.

So those shortfalls will come right off the top of what’s collected for 2011.

Now that the state can provide adjustments during the year - and with districts knowing the state’s fiscal crunch - business leaders may be able to better handle how to budget those dollars.

School districts use the funds in a number of ways. Some tie them directly to the salary schedule - the proposition was billed as a way to increase teacher pay. School districts also reward funds to teachers and school leaders when classroom, school and district goals are met.

“There’s going to be a very significant difference in what’s going to be available and it’s going to vary district to district,” he told the group Wednesday.

That’s because some districts budgeted every dollar they were allowed to budget, while others only budgeted what they had on hand.

“Nobody loses anything as a result of doing it one way or another,” he said. Over the long haul, it all evens out.

Even so, for all districts the 2010-2011 figure is likely going to be disappointingly low, given what the past year has shown us in terms of sales tax collections. A copy of the presentation can be found here.

School suspends child over peppermint oil

I missed this one over the holidays. It was brought to my attention by the Free Range Kids Web site, one I try to frequent.

Flagstaff schools reignite community budget group

In the eye of a financial storm, the Flagstaff Unified School District is inviting community members to take part in the budget process. Chandler Unified School District is starting its own committee next week to analyze budget and building needs.

State high court rebuffs budget law challenge

This is one of our own stories, but it’s worth a look. It’s likely we’ll hear more about these teacher policy issues once the Legislature gets back to work next week.

Teachers seek to take over L.A. schools

The cash-strapped Los Angeles Unified School District is putting 30 campuses up for bid. The administration is seeking outside groups to run the schools. Competitors so far are groups of teachers, charter operators and a nonprofit group led by the city’s mayor.

Yuma schools work through funding woes

Colleges and school districts in and around Yuma are using a number of ways to save funds in light of tightening budgets.

Flagstaff district sees changes in 2009

Seeking new ways to larger numbers of students in one grade and fewer in another, Flagstaff Unified School District created a “school within a school,” in 2009, among other changes.

A recent set of stories explores the ongoing war against chocolate milk in schools. Two districts have banned the dairy beverage. Read more here.

Let’s start to think of it as a Friday fish fry… as in, I’m likely to only get this out on Fridays!

Future of teacher evaluations unclear

The guideslines for accepting some federal education funds includes a requirement that districts and states put in place “meaningful” teacher evaluations. This writer tries to explore what that means.

Arizona schools: You’re not alone

While Arizona is ranked No. 2 in the country for the budget crisis it faces, California has the top spot. Not surprising, some of the cuts may hit the university system.

Tucson teachers asked to rank resources

Arizona public education funding makes up a large chunk of the state’s budget. And with a billion dollar deficit still to be worked through this year - and double that expected next year - schools are feeling the pinch. Tucson administrators asked teachers in the state’s second-largest school district to rank what is important to them as employees.

The Parent Network for the Kyrene Elementary School District issued an update last week on legislative action to date. The group’s legislative liaison lists the budget cuts made so far - and notes that more may be coming.
Here is the tally sheet from the group, edited to follow Trib style (the group’s Web site is www.parentnetworkonline.org):

The Legislative Scoreboard for 2009 as of December 2:

· Five legislative sessions done (one regular and four special.

· $144 million was cut from public education in the category of soft capital – during the fourthspecial session - to decrease the FY09 deficit. In total during the fourth special session, the legislature cut $450 million from the budget to reduce the FY09 deficit.

· $1.5 billion still in deficit, for this year, fiscal year 2009-2010 (FY09).

· $3.3 billion deficit projected for fiscal year 2010-2011 (FY10).

· One more special session is being recommended for mid-December - to work on the FY09 budget deficit.

· The next regular session is scheduled to start January 11, 2010. One assumes they will agree to an FY10 budget in that session.