current events

While the controversial right-to-work legislation drew all the attention in the last week, teachers from Plymouth-Canton Community Schools in Plymouth, Mich. tried Tuesday to draw some attention to legislation coming down the road that could affect them as much, or more. While they're concerned about the new right-to-work laws, the legislation that concerns them the most is a revamping of the way public schools are funded and who can get public-school funding, and an extension of the Education Achievement Authority's reach.

The results for international assessments on math, science, and reading are in: Students from East Asian countries, along with a select group of European countries, outperformed those in the United States, according to the results for the 2011 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), released Dec. 11.

Philadelphia's Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. announced the proposed closures of 37 school buildings, plus multiple other changes to the cash-poor Philadelphia School District. He is proposing the buildings listed for closure, around 20 elementary schools, a handful of middle schools, and about 10 high schools, shut their doors in June, according to sources and documents obtained by The Inquirer. The schools are in nearly every part of the city and include well-known ones with long histories.

Just five weeks after voters ousted him from office, Tony Bennett already has a new gig. The trailblazing but controversial Indiana schools chief, a key force in implementing Gov. Mitch Daniels' broad education reform agenda, was named Florida's education commissioner Wednesday. A hero in the education reform movement and a villain to teachers unions, Mr. Bennett was hailed by Florida Gov. Rick Scott for his "great track record of achievement in Indiana."

New York schools would lose $164 million in federal funding for the 2013-14 school year if Congress does not find compromise on the nation’s looming “fiscal cliff,” according to a state School Boards Association analysis.

Maine's highest court will hear arguments this week on whether a private boarding school in central Maine should pay property taxes on facilities it rents to outside groups. The town of Hebron is appealing a Superior Court judgment that Hebron Academy is a "literary and scientific" institution and that most of its real estate is exempt from local property taxes.

Three western Nebraska school officials accused of failing to report allegations that high school wrestlers sexually assaulted a young teammate at a summer wrestling camp will not face charges, an attorney for two of the officials said Friday.

The accidental deaths of two special needs students from Hillsborough County Public Schools in Tampa, Fla. this year are shedding light on the need for comprehensive, mandatory emergency preparedness training for paraeducators. In October, 11-year-old Jennifer Caballero, a middle school student with Down syndrome, was found hiding under the bleachers during gym class by a coach, who two weeks earlier had complained to the assistant principal that the exceptional student education (ESE) aides were inattentive. The coach brought her to the aides, and asked them to keep an eye on her.

Spending reductions caused by the fiscal cliff would be devastating for Kentucky’s public schools, officials say. According to the Kentucky Department of Education, federal funding for public schools would be reduced up to $61 mil­lion per year for the next 10 years, affecting more than 1,350 jobs and nearly 130,000 students. Higher education officials in Kentucky and Indiana also are warily eying the fiscal cliff talks.