Here's a quick summary of the articles in the March 14 issue of Straight A's, the Alliance's biweekly newsletter.
Click on a title below to access the complete article or download a printer-friendly version of the entire newsletter at: http://www.all4ed.org/files/Volume11No5.pdf.
WAITING GAME CONTINUES FOR FY 2011 APPROPRIATIONS: Short-Term Spending Measure Averts Government Shutdown, Postpones Decisions on Larger Spending Cuts; Senate Likely to Hold Key Votes on March 8: Unable to come to an agreement on final Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 spending levels prior to the expiration of the short-term continuing resolution (CR) that was keeping the government funded until March 4, Congress passed another short-term CR that will cut $4 billion from the federal budget while buying time for House and Senate leaders to reach a compromise that would fund the government through the end of the fiscal year on September 30.
BACK TO THE FUTURE: Secretary Duncan Defends Obama’s FY 2012 Budget Before Senate Budget Committee: While Congress continues to negotiate the spending levels for Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan appeared before the Senate Budget Committee on March 1 to discuss President Obama’s FY 2012 budget request, which proposes a 4.6 percent increase for the U.S. Department of Education compared to FY 2010. Although Senators from both parties on the committee recognized the importance of education to the country’s future, they pressed Duncan on the education budget, saying it also had to be part of the economic solution.
TALKIN’ TURNAROUND: Joined by Former Governor Jeb Bush, Obama Highlights Need to Reform Nation’s Lowest-Performing Schools: On March 4, accompanied by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush (R), President Obama visited Miami Central High School in Miami, Florida, to talk about turning around the nation’s lowest-performing schools.
THE NATION’S REPORT CARD: Urban Districts Fall Behind National Average in Science Exam: Most of the seventeen urban school districts participating in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2009 science assessment scored below the national average, according to a new report from the National Center for Education Statistics. The report, The Nation’s Report Card: Science 2009 Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA), finds that of the districts involved, Austin was the only one to break the urban mold and score on the same level as the national average in grade eight. In fourth grade, students in Austin, Charlotte, and Jefferson County (Louisville, KY), met the national average.