Education
Secretary Riley Praises North Carolina Schools On 5-State Tour
Richard Riley, the secretary of education, received a rousing reception Thursday during stops in North Carolina as part of a 5-state swing through Southern states. On his annual back-to-school tour, Riley told North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt and other officials that he frequently cited that state’s strong commitment to public education. Challenging other governors to […]
Massachusetts Leads High Tech States; Mississippi Trails
WASHINGTON — Massachusetts, not California or Washington, leads the nation in adapting to and taking advantage of the national transition to a high-tech “new economy,” according to a study by the Progressive Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C. think tank associated with the centrist Democratic Leadership Council. “The State New Economy Index” takes into account 17 […]
Alliance Forms Over Innovative School Reform
WASHINGTON — An innovative school reform experiment aimed at the lowest performing schools in Boston, Chicago, New Orleans, San Francisco and St. Louis was launched in Washington yesterday. The Ford Foundation is providing a ,000 grant to help support labor-management partnerships with local school personnel, parents and a host of education associations. The alliance is being […]
Schools Giving More Weight To Character Education
WASHINGTON — Hanging the Ten Commandments in classrooms as some in Congress propose, or requiring public elementary school students to say “Yes, Sir” and “Yes Ma’am” to teachers as a new law in Louisiana mandates — these are some of the ways America’s lawmakers are addressing a perceived lack of standards among young people. The […]
States Give School Construction Top Dollar Priority
WASHINGTON — For the first time in Nevada’s history, the state has earmarked money to help school districts rebuild or renovate schools that are unsafe. The million grant was signed by Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn last Thursday, just two working days before the Census Bureau announced that national school construction expenditures topped billion in 1996, the […]
School Violence Spurs New Policy Debates
WASHINGTON – Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold helped redefine the national agenda when they opened fire on their classmates at Columbine High School, sweeping gun control measures, school safety and media bills through a number of America’s state legislatures. The two boys, who shot their way into the national spotlight when they gleefully massacred their […]
Education Jobs Account For Increase In State, Local Government
WASHINGTON – State and local governments employed 307,000 new workers in 1998, 35,000 more workers than the previous year, a new stody indicates. The increase came despite the fact that 13,000 fewer employees — 70,000 — were hired during the fourth quarter of 1998 than in the third quarter, according to a Nelson A. Rockefeller […]
Education Experts Clash Over Reform Proposals
SANTA FE, New Mexico – To the dismay of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers’ union, and many U.S. educational experts, a growing number of America’s governors want to subsidize parents who send their children to private schools. Pilot voucher programs are underway in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Tax credits are offered in Iowa […]
California Gov Aggressive on Education Reform
With public opinion polls showing education far and away the top issue among California voters, Governor Gray Davis began his new administration by calling a special session of the Legislature to enact his school overhaul package. “My first priority in fact, my first, second and third priority is education,” the 56-year-old Democrat said in his […]
States Scramble to Upgrade Schools
From Maine to California, improving education is far and away the top priority of the states this year, and governors have all kinds of ideas about how to do it. The focus on schools is partly dirven by pressure from voters who want their kids to learn more, but even more so by the intense […]
Florida Republicans Focus on Tax Cuts, Education
As Republicans take over Florida government for the first time since Reconstruction, the talk is all of tax cuts and education. The GOP now controls both houses of the legislature, the governor’s office and the elected state cabinet a first for any southern state. It is out to make a good impression, and ready to […]
Young Artists Mark California’s Changing of the Guard
According to California schoolchildren, the same things that have historically drawn more people to the Golden State than to any other part of the country will propel it into the 21st Century – the Pacific Ocean, dreams of fame, and a diverse culture and landscape. Artwork that incorporates those images was assembled into a mosaic […]