The Governor wants you to “Balance the Budget with Charlie”

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ACCEPT HER CHALLENGE HERE

 

 

Also….

Under the Dome put together the Education highlights from the Gov’s ‘State of the State’…

Check It Out Here

Education Committee Meeting Today at 10:00am

Live audio stream of committee meetings can be accessed by clicking the link below:

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

The above link will direct you to the Legislature’s audio page – which has a few different options.

For today’s 10:00am meeting, select:

FINANCE COMMITTEE ROOM AUDIO (Rm 544)

Check out the Public School Forum’s Friday Report

The Friday Report covers great topics including:

• When Does the State Respond to Projected Layoffs?
• Budget Cuts Likely To Go Much Deeper Than Anticipated
• Charter Changes Unveiled
• Just Because You’re Paranoid Doesn’t Mean They Aren’t Plotting Against You
• General Assembly Sets Ambitious Budget-Approval Goals
• State Board Releases 2011 Legislative Priorities

CLICK HERE TO FOR THE REPORT

or

http://www.ncforum.org/

Let the Wild Rumpus Start!

In an interesting political move, the General Assembly is expected to grant what may be referred to as ’emergency budget super powers’ to the Governor this week.  Although it may appear harmonious at first, rest assured, this is anything but.  No doubt, there is some very savvy political play set to unfold – the details of which, are being closely guarded.   As for the rest of us… Waiting and watching is the name of the game.

Check out the story below:

From WRAL: Legislative measure gives Perdue more budget power

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina lawmakers have rolled out a bill that would give Gov. Beverly Perdue more authority to reduce spending throughout state government to free up extra cash to help close an expected budget gap next year of more than $3.5 billion….

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING

North Carolina 2009 NAEP Science Test Results

January 25, 2011

 

North Carolina is reporting on the results of the fourth graders and eighth grades who participated in the National Assessment of Educational Progress in Science. NC has participated four times in this national assessment with a sampling of fourth and eight graders across the state. The National average in fourth grade was 149 and NC fourth grade students scored 148. NC eighth grades did not do as well scoring 144, while the National average score was 148. Only 24 percent of NC eight graders were deemed proficient, while 30 percent of fourth graders scored at or above the proficient level. Approximately 9,900 fourth and eighth graders participated in the NAEP Science assessment. More information the NEAP can be found in this DPI Press Release

or by pasting this link in your browser’s address field: http://www.ncpublicschools.org/newsroom/news/2010-11/20110125-01

 

Interesting links from the NEA Web site:

State Legislatures Underfunded Pensions

Does Bullying Really Get Better?

Governors Seek Authority of Education

How Finland Reached the Top of the Educational Rankings

Links to the respective articles are:

http://neatoday.org/2011/01/14/who’s-really-to-blame-for-underfunded-pensions/

http://neatoday.org/2011/01/19/does-bullying-really-get-better/

http://neatoday.org/2011/01/21/governors-seek-authority-of-education/

http://neatoday.org/2010/10/07/how-finland-reached-the-top-of-the-educational-rankings/

NCAE Now Supporting Lifting the Cap on Charter Schools

Clearly an effort to roll with the political tide, NCAE has opted to rethink their long standing opposition of raising the cap on charter schools….

This, from one of the association’s ‘Daily Political Briefings’:

The NC General Assembly gavels the 2011 legislative session on Wednesday, and it is widely expected that the 100-school cap on charter schools will be lifted within the first two weeks of GOP control.

NCAE President Sheri Strickland said if the General Assembly lifts the cap, it should be done in small increments so the State Board of Education and the Office of Charter Schools can monitor quality and performance.  

“We understand lifting the cap on charter schools is a campaign promise the new leadership plans to fulfill,” Strickland said.  “We support their efforts to lift the cap if it’s done to ensure every child in charter schools is given access to a quality education.”

Strickland said NCAE was not committed to a specific expansion number, but any increase over 100 should allow the Office of Charter Schools (in the NC Department of Public Instruction) to fulfill oversight responsibilities.

Follow the link to READ MORE….

-or-

http://msg4svc.net/servlet/Pv?c=703d6e65616e6326733d3532343934266d3d373026743d4826723d4e2664613d30267469643d30

 

Additional Reading:

Great Article from the N&O on the Charter School Cap

 

-or-

http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/01/19/928914/tipping-a-cap.html

 

 

Two Excellent N&O Articles

 

“The New Power Brokers“

(BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE ‘GALLERY’ SECTION)

&

“Legislative committees getting a nip and tuck“

Links to the articles above are:

http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/01/23/938231/the-new-power-brokers.html#ixzz1BxZOhUUm

http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/01/24/940346/legislative-committees-getting.html

Civitas: The smart way to reduce education budgets

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011 | Written by Bob Luebke |

With the state forced to come to grips with a $3.7 billion budget deficit everyone knows cuts are coming to the K-12 education, the single biggest item in the state’s general fund budget.  The how and where of budget cuts is just as important as their size.  Unfortunately, the conventional wisdom is to weather the economic storm and apply across-the-board cuts.

This is a bad idea.  Doing so falsely assumes the economic downturn is a temporary hiccup and that all programs deserve to be treated equally.

What is needed now – more than ever – is to know how to remake and resize education spending but not impact student learning. It’s a challenging though not impossible task. Fortunately, Michael Petrilli and Marguerite Roza of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute provide policymakers with a blueprint of 15 ideas for how school districts can “smartly” reduce education budgets. The fifteen ideas include:

• End last hired, first fired practices
• Remove class size mandates
• Eliminate mandatory salary schedules
• Eliminate state mandates regarding work rules and terms of employment
• Remove seat time requirements
• Merge categorical programs and ease onerous reporting requirements
• Create a rigorous teacher evaluation system
• Pool health care benefits
• Tackle the fiscal viability of teacher pensions
• Move toward weighted student funding
• Eliminate excess spending on small schools and small districts
• Allocate spending for learning disabled students as a percent of population
• Limit the length of time that students can be identified as English Language Learners
• Offers waivers of non-productive state requirements
• Create bankruptcy-like loan provisions

Granted not all these recommendations will be applicable and easy to implement. However, they represent a far better option for dealing with the current crises than slap-dash across the board budget cuts.  If you’re seriously interested in learning how our schools can navigate the current crisis, Petrilli and Roza’s suggestions should be considered a starting point for state and local discussions on the education budget.

 

VIEW THE ARTICLE HERE