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AL: State to refine grant application

By Dana Beyerle

Alabama failed in its initial bid for a Race to the Top grant, but the state will try again to get a share of the federal school improvement money.

AL: Gag order issued in UAH shooter case

By The Associated Press

The judge set to preside over accused UAH shooter Amy Bishop's upcoming preliminary hearing Tuesday on capital murder and attempted murder charges issued a gag order in the case today.

AR: Ark. lottery hit with trademark suit over name

By Chuck Bartels, The Associated Press

A Little Rock businessman filed suit Thursday against the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery, arguing that the lottery should be ordered to stop using terms for which he secured the trademark years ago — including the phrase "Arkansas Lottery."

AR: Student who sued over confiscated cell phone loses appeal

By John Lyon

The Arkansas Supreme Court today rejected an appeal by a high school student who sued his teacher after she confiscated his cell phone.

AZ: Cuts to all-day kindergarten big problem for schools, parents

By Pat Kossan

State lawmakers last week permanently cut the funding that made the programs possible in many schools, and now parents, public-school districts and charter schools around the state are struggling to find ways to keep them going.

AZ: Ariz. House considers 3rd-grade reading standards

By Staff Reports

The Arizona House has given preliminary approval to a measure that would require school districts to hold back third-graders who score far below grade-level reading standards.

CA: UC could oversee prison health

By Michael Rothfeld

The Schwarzenegger administration wants to put the University of California in charge of state prison inmates' medical needs in an overhaul of the troubled corrections healthcare system that could save $12 billion over a decade, officials say.

CT: Private fundraiser foundation to pay majority of UConn president's office furniture

By Dave Altimari

University of Connecticut officials have turned to the school's private fundraiser foundation to pay the bulk of the bill for the more than $35,000 in high-end furniture purchased for President Michael Hogan's office.

DE: Delaware House OKs tax refunds to college accounts

By Staff Reports

Legislation to make it possible for people to have their state tax refunds deposited directly into a Delaware College Investment Plan account passed the House unanimously Thursday.

DE: Delaware Board of Ed lets schools skip some snow days

By Edward L. Kenney

Delaware public school students and teachers won't have to make up some of the class days missed earlier this year because of inclement weather, the State Board of Education decided Thursday.

GA: Two in Georgia governor's race were accused of misconduct

By Robbie Brown

ATLANTA — Two former high school teachers running for governor in Georgia were suspended from their jobs in the past for sexual misconduct involving students, according to state documents.

GA: State taps lottery reserves

By Dorie Turner, The Associated Press

State officials are dipping into reserves to help pay for education programs funded by the Georgia Lottery for the first time in nearly a decade, as ticket sales lag behind the growth of the HOPE scholarship and statewide prekindergarten.

GA: Zero Tolerance bill passes out of Senate, moves to House

By Ernie Suggs

An overhaul on Georgia's zero-tolerance policies, the kind of law that Emanuel Jones said he was elected to the Georgia Senate to write, passed his chamber Thursday and now heads to the House. SB 299 would give principals and school systems more discretion in how they handle disciplinary cases in their schools.

HI: More freshmen urged to Step Up

By Loren Moreno

Some 1,800 high school freshmen have pledged to work toward a more rigorous diploma known as the Board of Education's "Step Up" Recognition Diploma, but officials are hoping to get hundreds more students to step up.

HI: Softball players claim bias

By Curtis Lum

U.S. District Judge David Ezra today will hear a motion for a temporary restraining order after three members of Baldwin High School's girls softball team filed a federal lawsuit against the state and Maui County yesterday alleging they are being discriminated against because of their gender.

IA: ISU, UNI athletics face end to use of tax money

By Staci Hupp

Iowa State University and University of Northern Iowa officials would have until September to draw up plans to wean their athletic departments off taxpayer money under a proposal state regents will consider next week.

IA: Iowa schools making doomsday predictions, Senate leader says

By Jason Clayworth

School officials have made "doomsday-scenario budgets" but the reality is much brighter, Iowa Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal told reporters today.

ID: Proposed law takes aim at youth concussions

By Brian Murphy

A history of concussions and the concern of his father could not keep Kort Breckenridge from suiting up for Teton High against Sugar-Salem on Oct. 7, 2005.

IL: Teachers safe for now in Huntley Dist. 158

By Larissa Chinwah

While school districts across the area are reducing staff in order to make up decreased revenue from the state, the Huntley Unit District 158 school board shaved a further $2 million from its draft 2010-2011 budget without laying off teachers.

IL: Plan to elect U of I trustees rejected

By Mike Riopell

A plan to have voters pick trustees to run the University of Illinois was rejected in the Illinois House Wednesday.

IL: Plan could let schools opt out of new rules

By Mike Riopell

Under legislation approved Thursday, local schools wouldn't have to implement some new rules made by the state unless the state also sends money to pay for the changes.

IL: District 86 weighs cost-cutting moves

By Leslie Williams

EAST PEORIA, Ill. -- Cuts to supplies, travel and training workshops are some of the cost-saving measures District 86 school board members weighed Thursday night in an attempt to plug what could be up to a $3 million gap in next year's budget.

IL: ICC approves smaller tuition increase

By Dave Haney

EAST PEORIA, Ill. -- An initial vote to raise tuition at Illinois Central College by $8 per credit hour failed Thursday, ending with a stalemate and at least two trustees remarking how students and families are struggling financially.

IL: Bill OK'd by Illinois House allows schools to skip new unfunded mandates

By Mike Riopell

Under legislation approved Thursday, local schools wouldn't have to implement some new rules made by the state unless the state also sends money to pay for the changes.

IL: Sexting bill passes Illinois Senate

By Michelle Manchir

Students under 18 who use computers or cell phones to share nude photos of their peers would earn little more than a scolding under a measure the Illinois Senate approved Thursday to address the "sexting" phenomenon.

IL: NIU probes motives, response to 2008 shootings

By Jodi S. Cohen

Steven Kazmierczak wanted infamy. He wanted video game-style bloodshed. And perhaps most of all, he wanted to punish Northern Illinois University, the "surrogate family" that had kept his demons at bay but that he felt ultimately abandoned him.

IN: Will union make allowances for school reform?

By Joseph Dits and Kevin Allen

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- If the South Bend Community School Corp. goes through with state mandates to lift failing ISTEP test scores at Bendix, Riley and Washington high schools — specifically, the state's list of "must do" tasks — it will have to violate the teachers contract.

IN: Full day kindergarten hurt by sour economy, cost

By Chelsea Schneider Kirk

Northwest Indiana parents who pay their school districts for full-day kindergarten may face steeper costs next year as districts struggle to find revenue in the wake of $300 million in cuts ordered by Gov. Mitch Daniels.

KS: No tax increase, but schools would take a hit in latest Kansas budget plan

By Jeannine Koranda

The House Appropriations Committee passed a $5.1 billion budget proposal Thursday that includes no tax increases and would cause public schools to lose $172 million.

KY: Proposal to alter principal hiring process gains new life

By Linda B. Blackford

In a surprise move Thursday, the Senate Education Committee tacked a controversial and embattled bill about school principal selection onto a House measure to create a Kentucky Literacy Day and then approved it without discussion.

KY: Bill to ease college transfers advances

By Tom Loftus

A bill to make it easier for community college students to transfer to four-year public universities cleared the Senate Education Committee on Thursday in a weaker — but satisfactory — form, the bill's original sponsor said.

LA: Higher education cuts loom

By Jordan Blum

State higher education leaders Thursday were preparing to cut another $85 million from their budgets after receiving word from the Jindal administration.

MA: Harvard will raise tuition

By Staff Reports

Harvard University will increase tuition next school year by 3.8 percent, the school announced yesterday, bringing the annual cost of a Harvard education, including room and board, to $50,724.

MD: House panel split on private school funding

By Liam Farrell

The fate of controversial legislation granting tax credits for contributions to private and public schools now rests in the hands of a divided House of Delegates committee.

ME: Money there for some schools

By Matthew Stone

Maine school districts will have access to $41.4 million in school construction bonds this year, but they have to move fast to get the money.

MI: Public school chiefs like that Obama is veering from No Child Left Behind

By Monica Scott

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Many local public school chiefs praised President Obama's plan to abandon No Child Left Behind and take a more-carrot-than-stick approach to education reform. But an official with the state's largest teachers union has concerns.

MI: Think tank says West Michigan schools are slow to post spending online for public review

By Dave Murray

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- A growing number of West Michigan school districts are making their checkbook registers available online, but a Midland think tank says the region lags behind the rest of the state.

MO: College leaders OK scholarship equity

By Janese Heavin

Some private college presidents have given up their fight against Missouri lawmakers who want to equalize Access Missouri scholarships.

MS: Policy meant to ease transfer to 4-year colleges

By The Associated Press

Students from the state's community and junior colleges will be able to transfer more credits to four-year universities under a proposal approved by the state College Board on Thursday.

MS: Colleges eye rate hike for boarding

By Maria Burnham, The Associated Press

The leaders of Mississippi's eight public universities presented the state College Board with requests to raise room-and-board rates Thursday but were told to come back next month with proposals for the long-term upkeep of dorms, not just the bare minimum needed to scrape by.

MT: What happens to Otter Creek coal revenue, regarding schools and other programs

By Mike Dennison

While Thursday's lease of state coal in the Otter Creek Valley creates an $86 million windfall for the state next month, the ultimate decision on how to spend it is a year off — at the 2011 Legislature.

NC: School suspensions lead to legal challenge

By Erik Eckholm

CHOCOWINITY, N.C. — As school let out one day in January 2008, students from rival towns faced off. Two girls flailed away for several seconds and clusters of boys pummeled each other until teachers pulled them apart.

NC: Legislators' grades weighted - heavily

By Staff Reports

The N.C. Association of Educators, an organization of mostly teachers, released its grades for legislators Thursday.

NC: Grant to aid work of stem cell groundbreaker

By Sarah Avery

An internationally known pioneer in using umbilical cord stem cells will research novel cerebral palsy treatments thanks to a $10.2 million gift to Duke University.

ND: NDSU hires new VP for finance, administration

By Staff Reports

North Dakota State University has hired a new vice president for finance and administration.

NJ: State school board group ask Christie to suspend school budget elections

By Matt Friendman

The New Jersey School Boards Association yesterday called on lawmakers and Gov. Chris Christie to suspend this year's school budget elections so districts can grapple with unprecedented cuts in aid announced this week.

NV: Gibbons' education task force to meet behind closed doors

By David McGrath Schwartz and Cy Ryan

Gov. Jim Gibbons declared this week that Nevada's future education policy will emerge from a blue ribbon task force he created by executive order.

NY: Despite gains, charter school is told to close

By Trip Gabriel

Accountability is a mantra of the charter school movement. Students sign pledges at some schools to do their homework, and teachers owe their jobs to students' gains on tests. But as New York State moves to shut down an 11-year-old charter school in Albany, whose test scores it acknowledges beat the city's public schools last year, it is apparent that holding schools themselves accountable is not always so easy, or bloodless, as numbers on a page

NY: Senate backs school tax cap but fate uncertain

By Rick Karlin

The idea of a school tax cap refuses to die in the Senate, despite earlier failed efforts, and an apparent cold shoulder from the Assembly.

OH: Columbus State may hold line on tuition again

By Encarnacion Pyle

Columbus State Community College students likely can count on tuition being frozen for a fourth year in a row, thanks to the school's financial health.

RI: Obama effigy found in Central Falls, RI, high school classroom

By Jennifer D. Jordan

CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. — A teacher at Central Falls High School has been disciplined after School Supt. Frances Gallo discovered a doll representing President Obama hanging upside down in effigy in the teacher's third-floor classroom Monday afternoon. The doll wore a sign: "Fire CF teachers."

TX: The runoffs -- SBOE District 10

By Abby Rapoport

State Board of Education candidate Brian Russell has got the social conservative circuit covered.

TX: UT, A&M joining others in transition to federal direct loan program

By Melissa B. Taboada

As federal lawmakers prepare to possibly eliminate the primary program through which students currently obtain loans to pay for college, Texas universities are joining thousands across the country abandoning the bank-based system.

US: Congress does repair job on stimulus school construction plan

By Christopher Flavelle

Last December, we reported in USA Today [1] that a plan to subsidize billions of dollars in school construction under the stimulus bill had largely flopped. Now, Congress has passed a fix to get the program back on track. President Obama signed the bill today.

VA: State schools will lose $700 million in 2 years

By Lauren Roth

Budget cuts this year could have negative implications for Virginia schools for years to come, members of the State Board of Education said Thursday.

VT: Billions for student aid will help VSAC

By Staff Reports

WASHINGTON -- A $36 billion boost in student aid could preserve a role for Vermont Student Assistance Corp. in the student-loan process. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., announced Thursday that an agreement on student aid legislation would provide billions in new spending on Pell grants -- rescuing VSAC jobs in the process.

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