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July 16-31, 2011, News Archive
7/31/11 Praised teacher program gets ax
"For the past quarter of a century, North Carolina has offered a great deal to thousands of its brightest high school students: a free ride in college in exchange for teaching four years in Tar Heel classrooms."
7/30/11 Schools won't have to add class time
"All 115 of the state's local school districts sought and received a waiver from a requirement in the new state budget to expand the 180-day school year to 185 this year. The extra classroom time would have been added by taking away five days in which teachers work while students stay home."
7/28/11 Wake studies school options
"A debate over whether to build a new high school in Cary or Apex will determine how the Wake County school system handles crowding issues before the economy improves enough to ask voters to approve funding for more construction."
7/28/11 CMS leaves county leaders feeling 'snookered'
"If the leaders of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools head into their next budget cycle warning of a budget crisis, will anybody believe them?"
7/27/11 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools adding 500 jobs this fall
"Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, which had warned for months of hundreds of potential layoffs, is headed into next school year planning to employ nearly 500 more school-based staff than last year."
7/26/11 Jeb Bush will visit for education forum
"Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida and a vocal advocate of education reform, will be one of the keynote speakers at a November education forum in Raleigh."
7/26/11 NC judge says school district's early start OK
"A North Carolina administrative law judge on Tuesday refused to block a small school district from starting classes next week."
7/26/11 Wake Democratic Party announces "coordinated campaign" for school board elections
"The Wake County Democratic Party plans to run a "coordinated campaign" this year to help elect school board and municipal candidates."
7/26/11 CMS will have an increase in teachers this fall
"After months of financial upheaval and angst over the some 1,500 projected layoffs, figures released by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools today show the school system ultimately cut 320 people due to budget cuts."
7/25/11 Charters get $55 million for upkeep, other schools get zero
"All of the state cash budgeted for school construction and maintenance is going to the independent, tax-financed charters favored by the Republican-dominated Legislature and Gov.Rick Scott."
7/25/11 Filing period begins for Wake school board race
"Eight people are officially in the running for the Wake County Board of Education election race this fall."
7/24/11 Private dollars flow unequally to Wake schools
"Some Wake County schools are blessed with parents who can contribute substantial amounts of money to enrich their children's education. Others in less-affluent areas cannot. At a time when the amount that schools spend on each child is dropping, some school leaders worry that students at some schools will suffer because parents there are less able to give."
7/24/11 Manning's duty
"Manning's duty was to find, as he did, that the Leandro remedy was no longer being implemented, and so the violation is continuing."
7/23/11 Wake's Tony Tata wants to make better use of U.S. funds
"Wake County schools Superintendent Tony Tata said Friday that the system needs to make better use of about $33.5 million it receives from the federal government to boost achievement among low-income students and those for whom English is a second language."
7/22/11 CMS test scores slide after 4 years of increases
"After four years of rising test scores that drew national attention for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, achievement levels dropped broadly this past school year - particularly in high schools."
7/22/11 Limitations on implementing districtwide teacher merit pay
"For some practical reasons, Wake County isn't close to implementing a districtwide pay-for-performance model for teachers."
7/22/11 Wake schools to assess No Child Left Behind performance
"Wake County Public School System Superintendent Tony Tata said Friday that he plans to put together a team of principals to assess the district's performance when it comes to the federal No Child Left Behind Act."
7/21/11 Only 22 of 163 Wake County schools met yearly progress standard
"Only 22 of the 163 schools in the Wake County Public School System met the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standard for 2010-11, according to the preliminary results for Adequate Yearly Progress released Thursday by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction."
7/20/11 Howdy, reality
"Judge Howard "Howdy" Manning Jr. of Wake County Superior Court has not just tossed a wrench in the approved state budget crafted by Republican leaders in the General Assembly. He has dumped the whole tool box on their plan and showered it with nuts and bolts."
7/19/11 The scramble to avoid the truth
"Republican legislative leaders are scrambling mightily to respond to Judge Howard Manning's ruling Monday that the recently passed budget denies at-risk four year olds in North Carolina the sound basic education that the state constitution guarantees them."
7/19/11 Bill Gates funds CMS PR blitz
"The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is bankrolling a $200,000 public relations campaign to boost interest in local school reform efforts, but critics quickly panned it as meddling billionaires trying to steer debate over the future of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools."
7/19/11 Wording pits judge against legislators
"Do Republican lawmakers seek to deny pre-kindergarten education to most economically disadvantaged 4-year-olds? Or has a poorly worded legislative provision led to a very big misunderstanding?"
7/19/11 Judge Manning strikes limits on pre-kindergarten program
"A judge has ruled that the state cannot deny poor children access to the state run four-year-old prekindergarten program as spelled out in new regulations in the Republican-authored budget law."
7/17/11 Project L.I.F.T. to be honored
"Project L.I.F.T., the $55 million school reform plan that rallied local corporations behind struggling schools, is about to get honored at the White House."
7/16/11 McGarry to step down as others step up for CMS board
"Her decision means three veteran members are leaving the nine-person board. Their seats are up for grabs, and their replacements could shift the balance of power on performance pay for teachers and other hot-button issues."
