State

Almost every state has been sued for not investing enough in education, especially in poorer districts. But localities may be more to blame.by Mary Ellen McIntireWhat’s the right amount to spend on schools to get the best outcomes?The average spending per student in school districts around the country decreased in 2011 — the latest year that data is available — and began years of declining expenditures, according to an April report on K-12 funding by State Policy Reports.Read the rest of the story on Governing.

by Tracy Seipel

By Jimmy Vielkind ALBANY—Voters offered a mixed appraisal of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s various budget proposals, but a new poll finds a majority believe he should separate his proposed changes to the state’s ethics and education plans from the $141.6 billion spending plan currently under negotiation with lawmakers.The Siena Research Institute found 56 percent of the 800 voters surveyed wanted to see the education plans dropped, and 54 percent wanted to see ethics addressed as a separate bill.Cuomo, a Democrat, has said he won’t approve a budget that isn’t linked to a five-point ethics plan that includes forcing lawmakers to disclose their law and business clients. He’s also yoked a proposed $1.1 billion increase in school aid to changes to teacher evaluation and tenure laws, an increase in the amount of charter schools in the state, the extension of tuition assistance to undocumented immigrants—known as the Dream Act—and a tax credit on donations to private and parochial school scholarship funds as well as public schools.Read the rest of the story at CapitalPhoto Credit: Comme Sisyphe by Honoré Daumier (displayed in the Brooklyn Museum) Photo of lithograph on newsprint courtesy of Wikipedia

Governor Bentley signed a bill supporting charter schools in Alabama, but superintendents still do not know what the bill means for their school systems.

S teven Hodas, the former Executive Director for NY city’s iZone or Office of Innovation and current Practitioner in Residence at CRPE.org shares his views on innovation in the face of K-12 bureaucracy.

STORY CREDIT: al.com and Mike Cason published original article.

Elton Stokes of Blue Sky Innovative Solutions talks about the value of education conferences and his current focus on education in Mississippi after a successful stint in Montgomery County Public Schools.

The Gov. Chris Christie and the state’s largest teachers union are collaborating to fix New Jersey’s struggling pension system.