What’s churning:
The executive committee of Denver Mayor Michael Hancock’s Education Compact came together Monday for its first full meeting of 2012, and it included a couple of new – if familiar – faces.
Denver School Board president Mary Seawell has been added to the compact executive committee. Don Elliman, interim chancellor at the University of Colorado Denver and Anschutz Medical Campus, is taking the place of Jerry Wartgow, who recently announced his retirement.
Hancock touted the need to improve city schools during his 2011 campaign and officially launched the compact in August 2011 with the announcement of former DPS board member Theresa Peña as its executive director.
Hancock serves as a co-chair of the compact, along with Superintendent Tom Boasberg and Donna Lynne, president of Kaiser Permanente Colorado.
Much of Monday’s session was devoted to presentation of a “cradle-to-career civic infrastructure” by facilitator Kimberly Wicoff, director of knowledge and innovation for the Cincinnati-based Strive Network, which has helped guide similar efforts in numerous cities across the country.
The compact has identified three primary areas of focus: school readiness, high school graduation and preparedness, and postsecondary access and completion.
A subcommittee focusing on school readiness is beginning its work this week.
Compact board meetings are scheduled for the second Monday of every other month, so the full board will not meet again until April 9. The last board meeting was Dec. 12.
Read more about the compact here.
What’s on tap:
The Boulder school board meets at 5 p.m. at 6500 Arapahoe in Boulder. A mid-year budget update is on the agenda.
Good reads from elsewhere:
Obama’s budget: The administration’s 2013 budget proposal has lots of proposals of interest to education, including emergency aid for K-12 schools, competitive grants for teacher-related programs and an $8 billion fund to encourage jobs training at community colleges. Obama is asking $69.8 billion for the U.S. Department of Education, an increase of 2.5 percent. Flat funding is proposed for the major formula grants such as Title I. Our partners at EdWeek have the details.
The EdNews’ Churn is a daily roundup of briefs, notes and meetings in the world of Colorado education. To submit an item for consideration in this listing, please email us at EdNews@EdNewsColorado.org.