Monday Churn: Summer season reading

Interesting reads

Now that we’ve entered the summer season for education news, we will not be publishing a Churn every day. When we do, we will include links to interesting education stories from around the nation as part of the package. We know how you count on a frequent fix of edu-news. Here’s what we culled from late last week and over the weekend:

 

  • Union, NAACP try to halt NYC school closure plans. Gotham Schools
  • What’s behind Bloomberg’s hardline teacher-layoff stance? NY Times
  • Chicago principals get budgets that may force layoffs. Catalyst
  • Urban Catholic schools are closing at same time need grows. NY Times
  • This isn’t the 60s: ROTC booming on campuses. L.A. Times
  • California school funding analysis finds disparity. California Watch
  • Legislative action may save Las Vegas teaching jobs. Review-Journal
  • Florida looks to rein in for-profit colleges. Miami Herald
  • Miami-Dade, Broward compete with charters for students. Broward Bulldog
  • Nev., Tenn., latest to pass laws altering teaching profession? Huffington Post

What’s churning:

The Colorado Commission on Higher Education Friday was briefed on changes in top management at the Department of Higher Education, including the departure of Chief Academic Officer Cheryl Lovell, and approved allocation of state financial aid for the 2011-12 school year, an exercise in spreading about the same amount of money among more eligible students. Story

Compelling commentary on DPS graduation-proficiency gap

Read this newly-posted piece by Alexander Ooms from our opinion and commentary blog about the pervasive gap between graduation rates and academic proficiency in Denver Public Schools.

What’s on tap:

Some bills passed by the legislature are important and many are not, but that doesn’t mean politicians can’t get some mileage out of turning both kinds of bills into laws. Gov. John Hickenlooper is hopping all over the state this week, signing bills in legislators’ hometowns, speaking at a couple of conventions and promoting various economic development efforts. Among education bills he’ll sign are:

  • Senate Bill 11-265, the Mesa State College name change (first thing Monday morning at the college)
  • House Bill 11-1301, the higher ed financial flexibility bill (Tuesday afternoon in Colorado Springs)
  • Senate Bill 11-230, the school finance act, and House Bill 11-1277, streamlining some school district reporting requirements (midafternoon Thursday at the Salida schools headquarters)
  • Senate Bill 11-204, clarifying the missions of CSU-Pueblo and CU-Colorado Springs (first thing Friday at the CSU-Pueblo library)
  • Senate Bill 11-173, a minor school safety measure (later Friday morning at Rock Canyon High School in Douglas County)

MONDAY

The Denver school board has a special session scheduled at 4:30 p.m. for public comment on the budget, reports from community engagement committees and to hear staff recommendations for new schools. The meeting will be at district headquarters, 900 Grant St. Agenda

TUESDAY

The Douglas County school board will convene at 5 p.m. at district headquarters, 620 Wilcox Street, Castle Rock.

The Aurora school board meets at 6 p.m. at the Educational Services Center, 1085 Peoria St.

WEDNESDAY

The State Board for Community Colleges and Occupational Education has a work session starting at a.m. and a regular meeting convening at 3 p.m. The sessions will be at system headquarters, 9101 E. Lowry Blvd. Agendas for work session & meeting

The State Board of Education meets from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Department of Education, 201 E. Colfax Ave. Members will devote most of the morning to draft regulations for implementing the educator effectiveness law and will consider three DPS innovations schools applications in the afternoon. Agenda

The St. Vrain Valley school board meets at 7 p.m. at the
Educational Services Center, 395 South Pratt Parkway, Longmont.

FRIDAY

The University of Northern Colorado board of trustees is scheduled to meet. Meeting details haven’t yet been posted.