Friday News Roundup: Week of April 5-9

At Ed Money Watch, we discuss and analyze major issues affecting education funding. In our Friday News Roundup, we try to highlight interesting stories that might otherwise get overlooked. These stories emphasize how federal and state policy changes can affect local schools and districts.

  <p><b><img alt="" src="/downloads/Roundup_13.JPG" align="right">Missouri</b><b> Senate Committee Approves Slimmed-Down Budget Plan</b></p>    <p><b>New Jersey Governor Seeks to Slash State Aid for Higher Education While Capping Tuition and Fee Increases</b></p>    <p><b>Oklahoma</b><b> Business Groups Oppose Education Spending Initiative</b></p>    <p><b>Pennsylvania Governor Seeks to Increase Education Budget in 2011</b></p> <p>&nbsp;</p><p><b>Missouri</b><b> Senate Committee Approves Slimmed-Down Budget Plan</b><br>This week, the Missouri Senate Appropriations Committee <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h-PUz6D-3aeG93eUxN2ZCWrRiB6QD9EV6K681">approved a budget plan</a> that would cut $500 million from the state’s proposed $23.86 billion fiscal year 2011 budget. The cuts include the elimination of the Career Ladder program, a $37 million program that pays teachers between $1,500 and $5,000 extra annually for performing additional duties like after-school tutoring and curriculum development. The proposal would also reduce higher education funding by more than 7 percent from the prior year. Governor Jay Nixon opposes the cut to higher education funding because he brokered a deal with state colleges and universities that would freeze tuition as long as state aid was not reduced by more than 5 percent. The Committee’s version of the budget would keep basic K-12 education aid at fiscal year 2010 levels. The plan must now go to the full Senate for approval, and then must be reconciled with a House version that is $200 million leaner and fully funds the Career Ladder program. <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h-PUz6D-3aeG93eUxN2ZCWrRiB6QD9EV6K681">More here…</a></p>      <p><b>New Jersey Governor Seeks to Slash State Aid for Higher Education While Capping Tuition and Fee Increases</b><br>New Jersey Governor Chris Christie this week announced a plan to <a href="http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/nj/20100409_Christie_seeks_cap_on_N_Jpublic_college_tuition.html">cap the annual tuition and fee increases</a> at state colleges and universities at 4 percent while slashing state aid for the institutions by 18 percent. The plan would cut $173 million from higher education funding in fiscal year 2011 as Governor Christie works to close a budget gap of $11 billion without increasing taxes. Governor Christie has no formal power to set a cap on tuition and fee increases, but his plan would penalize institutions that violate it by withholding state aid by an amount equal to twice what they collect in additional tuition. The withheld funds would be distributed among schools abiding by the cap. According to university officials, Governor Christie’s plan would leave higher education institutions with state funding levels equal to what they received in the 1990s. <a href="http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/nj/20100409_Christie_seeks_cap_on_N_Jpublic_college_tuition.html">More here…</a></p>      <p><b>Oklahoma</b><b> Business Groups Oppose Education Spending Initiative</b><br>The One Oklahoma Coalition, a coalition of business and labor groups, announced this week that it would work to <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9EV4NTO1.htm">defeat a ballot initiative</a> to dramatically increase K-12 education spending in the state. The Helping Oklahoma Public Education ballot measure would force the state to spend more on public education while cutting funding for other state agencies. While supporters of the program say it is crucial to increase state support for public education, the business community disagrees. The executive director of the One Oklahoma Coalition claims that the petition’s passage could force budget cuts of up to 20 percent for other agencies. Oklahoma currently spends 41 percent of its budget on public K-12 education, but per pupil spending levels in the state are the lowest in the region, at $8,009 in the 2008-09 school year. The ballot measure will be voted on in November 2010. <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9EV4NTO1.htm">More here...<br></a></p>      <p><b>Pennsylvania Governor Seeks to Increase Education Budget in 2011</b><br>This week, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell announced that he would continue the state’s effort to <a href="http://www.thenotebook.org/april-2010/102393/rendell-wants-more-school-aid-fight-expected">increase funding for school </a>districts to more adequate levels despite a slow economy and a large state budget deficit. The state passed a new education formula in 2008 which aimed to bring all school districts up to an adequate funding level based on characteristics such as enrollment, poverty rates, tax effort, district size, and local cost of living. That formula calls for a $355 million increase to the state education aid for fiscal year 2011. Governor Rendell was able to use federal stimulus funds in 2009 and 2010 to provide the increases called for in the formula, but without that federal support the state will be hard pressed to pay for the increase. Other line items in the education budget would take a hit under Governor Rendell’s budget proposal, including charter school reimbursements, Head Start, and the state’s tutoring program. <a href="http://www.thenotebook.org/april-2010/102393/rendell-wants-more-school-aid-fight-expected">More here…</a></p>      <p><b>Briefly Noted</b></p>  <ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li>Alabama legislature      <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9EV43081.htm">approves budget</a> that would protect most teacher jobs, but cut other      education costs.</li></ul><p><!--break--></p>