The magazine Education Week has ranked Arkansas sixth in the nation in education policies, environment and performance, state education officials said today.   Read More

Graduate business students seeking a good return on their education dollars get it at both Arizona State University and the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale.   Read More

Cursing at a teacher may get a student suspended. But that doesn’t make it a crime, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Monday.   Read More

Central High School is the first public school in the state to adopt the University of Cambridge International Examinations, a rigorous system that will upgrade the curriculum at the Phoenix school to international standards.   Read More

Former state Sen. Gloria Romero, the author of a controversial law that allows parents to force major changes in their children’s school, said she won’t amend the law to make the process more open, despite a roiling controversy over use of the law in Compton.   Read More

Jerry Brown has named the wife of one of his top advisers to the state Board of Education. Ilene Straus was named to the board Tuesday, replacing Brown’s earlier pick, Louis “Bill” Honig.   Read More

Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposals to slash state spending on higher education has triggered anxiety across California’s already budget-battered public colleges and universities about possible new waves of staff and faculty layoffs, reductions in class offerings and higher tuition bills.   Read More

California received a C grade and ranked 30th in the nation in an annual education survey released yesterday.   Read More

What a turnaround from last year.   Read More

Republicans, back in control of the Colorado House after six years out of power, on Wednesday unveiled a slew of legislation reflecting priorities ranging from restoring tax breaks for agriculture and scaling back health care for the poor to subsidizing private school tuition.   Read More

Gov. John Hickenlooper issued four executive orders Tuesday on his first day in office. They aim to foster economic development from the county level up, spread export growth to foreign countries, reduce unfunded mandates and unnecessary regulations burdening counties and create a seamless vision for education from preschool through college.   Read More

Connecticut children have a better chance to succeed in life than those in most other states, and the state spends more money per pupil than the national average.   Read More

After handing state lawmakers the first budget proposal of his administration, Gov. Nathan Deal on Wednesday sat down – with his wife Sandra — for an exclusive chat.   Read More

Gov. Nathan Deal on Wednesday vowed to end teacher furloughs while also proposing deep cuts to higher education and no pay raise for state employees.   Read More

Gov. Nathan Deal has named a top campaign contributor to the state Board of Regents.   Read More

Handled correctly, zero-based budgeting – which, in terms of governmental budgets, requires public agencies to submit new budgets each year with detailed explanations of all expenditures and revenues, rather than simply requesting a percentage increase over the previous year’s budget – can be an important tool for controlling the cost of public services.   Read More

Hawaii schools got a C-plus in an annual report that grades the quality of the nation’s public education systems, coming in slightly higher than the national average but lower than 19 other states.   Read More

The University of Hawaii says it needs $1.9 million to tighten its Web security and lessen the chance of future data breaches of individual privacy.   Read More

A public hearing has been set for Tuesday for people to compliment or voice concern about a legislative proposal that would eliminate statewide preschool, cut family planning and end smoking cessation programs.   Read More

A top executive at the Iowa Association of School Boards has not yet paid back almost $30,000 she was allegedly overpaid last year.   Read More

Idaho would eliminate tenure for new teachers, limit all collective bargaining agreements with teachers to one year and raise class sizes in grades four to 12 to fund a big new emphasis on technology and accountability, under a sweeping plan outlined to lawmakers Wednesday by state Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna.   Read More

MOSCOW, Idaho — University of Idaho President Duane Nellis says cuts to the state’s public four-year colleges and universities recently announced by Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter could have been much worse.   Read More

Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter projects Idaho will end the fiscal year with $50 million in the bank to carry forward, but lawmakers were warned they could have to spend a bulk of that money on education.   Read More

Rend Lake College cited the forecasted budgetary needs of the college, given an anticipated decrease in state funding, as the rationale behind its increase from $85 to $93 per credit hour.   Read More

Nearly six decades after the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic Brown vs. Board of Education decision barred segregation in public schools, a host of Northwest Indiana school districts are closing the achievement gap faster than the state’s average.   Read More

Gov. Mitch Daniels and legislative leaders are pushing a multifaceted plan for education reform, but experts say a crucial ingredient is missing: early childhood learning.   Read More

Gov. Mitch Daniels promised there would be no surprises in his State of the State address Tuesday evening. His 2011 legislative agenda, after all, had been exhaustively laid out in recent weeks.   Read More

Even as his next-to-last legislative session unfolds, Gov. Mitch Daniels doesn’t sound much like a lame duck.   Read More

Gov. Mitch Daniels’ education reform proposals announced Tuesday in his State of the State address did not get a ringing endorsement from Northwest Indiana school superintendents and state lawmakers.   Read More

Across the state, schools showed an increase in their nonwaiver school graduation rate from 2009 to 2010. Public schools graduated 78.1 percent, up from 75.6 percent for the class of 2009.   Read More

With the clock ticking on his final two years as Indiana’s chief executive, Gov. Mitch Daniels says he can’t wait any longer for reforms to education and government — and Hoosiers shouldn’t have to.   Read More

State education officials on Tuesday released the percentages of public high school students who graduated in May without having received waivers on the mandatory Graduation Examination.   Read More

Southwestern Indiana lawmakers gave Gov. Mitch Daniels’ State of the State address a generally warm response Tuesday night but said they still need to be convinced of the wisdom of some of the education reforms he is pushing.   Read More

Gov. Mitch Daniels urged the state legislature to finally act on significant reforms to public education and local government in his annual State of the State speech Tuesday, repeating a call for the expansion of charter schools, merit pay for teachers and the elimination of township government.   Read More

Vouchers to send impoverished children to private schools, an explosion of new charter schools, narrower rules for contracts with teachers unions and more education reforms were the meat of his seventh State of the State address Tuesday night.   Read More

Gov. Sam Brownback on Wednesday said that growing the Kansas economy would be his first priority and that tax cuts and investments in higher education would be a large part of that effort.   Read More

After two days of debate and six ballots, the Kansas State Board of Education finally has its new chairman.   Read More

A Senate-passed bill that would guarantee children the right to attend their neighborhood school — a measure that Jefferson County officials have said would dismantle their desegregation efforts — is dead in this year’s legislative session.   Read More

Gov. Bobby Jindal asked the state’s largest business lobby Wednesday to help him persuade lawmakers at the April legislative session to pass legislation that would allow businesses to team with charter schools to “help feed the pipeline of qualified workers” in the state.   Read More

Despite gains in some areas Louisiana was handed an “F” for student achievement Tuesday in a report touted as the most comprehensive snapshot of public education in the nation.   Read More

State education leaders will host their first “leadership summit” Wednesday to discuss key issues with new members of local school boards. “It is unprecedented,” said state Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek, who is the chief driving force behind the gathering.   Read More

Maryland lawmakers were greeted upon their return to Annapolis on Wednesday by environmentalists in blue T-shirts who want to spur development of offshore wind farms, state workers in green T-shirts who don’t want their pensions cut and immigrant teenagers in black T-shirts who are pushing for a change in college tuition rates.   Read More

Maine’s standing has slipped six places in the latest edition of an annual ranking of the nation’s education systems.   Read More

DETROIT — Some city and suburban schools are failing to educate students to perform well enough on standardized tests, according to a report released this week by a coalition urging educational reform in Metro Detroit.   Read More

DETROIT — Detroit Public Schools is not necessarily Michigan’s lowest performing district, according to a report being released today.   Read More

Like other public institutions across Michigan, leaders at Eastern Michigan University say they’re curious to see what the new administration in Lansing will signal for the state dollars that flow their way.   Read More

Scores on state achievement exams would take a nose dive and dramatically fewer schools would meet state and federal academic requirements under a plan being discussed today that would set the bar higher for passing the state exams.   Read More

Gov. Rick Snyder made his first appearance at the State Board of Education meeting as governor today, telling board members he wants to create a close dialogue with them as the state works to improve schools.   Read More

DETROIT — Detroit Public Schools would close nearly half of its schools in the next two years, and increase high school class sizes to 62 by the following year, under a deficit-reduction plan filed with the state.   Read More

The chair of the House Education Reform Committee is apologizing for using the word “Gestapo” to criticize a teacher training proposal.   Read More

The Minnesota House Education Reform Committee takes up what promises to be one of the most contentious education issues of the session, licensing teachers outside the existing process.   Read More

Smaller classes and more parental engagement are two keys to shrinking the racial academic achievement gap among Minnesota students, according to Minnesota’s influential teachers union, which also presented its recommendations for evaluating teachers and easing the path for others to enter the profession on Tuesday.   Read More

Missouri’s college loan authority has set aside about $30 million in case it’s needed to help pay for state scholarships next school year, state education officials said Wednesday.   Read More

Madison County school officials are considering closing East Flora Middle School to cope with what they figure will be not enough in state funding, a move strongly opposed by town leaders.   Read More

The Mississippi House has passed a bill that would enhance penalties for motorists who violate traffic laws while passing school buses.   Read More

By the time Lori Roberts was 18, she had given birth to three children, but she believes her choices about sex would have been different if she had learned about the subject in school.   Read More

The talk in Jackson is promising, but University of Southern Mississippi officials said they are unsure what less severe higher education cuts might mean for programs and professors currently appealing their firings.   Read More

Just as the Hattiesburg Public School District concludes a six-month process to find a new superintendent for the city school system, we learn that Forrest County will also be getting a new superintendent.   Read More

A bill before the Education and Cultural Resource Committee would increase the legal dropout rate from 16 to 18.   Read More

A divided appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday cut proposed education agency budgets by 5 percent or nearly $72 million in general fund money.   Read More

Gov. Beverly Perdue is being honored by the University of Florida, where she earned two graduate degrees in education.   Read More

From the mountains to the coast, school districts across North Carolina are planning to close for a third day in the aftermath of the latest winter storm.   Read More

The school superintendent in North Carolina’s largest city is recommending the elimination of more than 1,500 jobs to deal with a huge budget shortfall.   Read More

RALEIGH, N.C. — The sprawling Wake County School District has long been a rarity. Some of its best, most diverse schools are in the poorest sections of this capital city. And its suburban schools, rather than being exclusive enclaves, include children whose parents cannot afford a house in the neighborhood.   Read More

There appear to be at least three motivations behind legislation in the North Dakota House of Representatives to reopen the irrationally emotional debate over retirement of the University of North Dakota’s Fighting Sioux logo.   Read More

North Dakota lawmakers’ proposals to force UND to keep the Fighting Sioux nickname are fatally flawed.   Read More

North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, for years one of the strongest advocates for the University of North Dakota retaining its Fighting Sioux nickname and logo, said Tuesday that bills introduced in the Legislature on Monday to enshrine the symbols in state law face a significant constitutional hurdle.   Read More

Native American students are North Dakota’s future workers and more needs to be done to help them succeed, the state’s top education official said.   Read More

Two related bills before the North Dakota Legislature aim to improve consumer protection for students of for-profit colleges.   Read More

Investment earnings from a seldom-used education reserve fund could finance college scholarships for North Dakota’s best students if voters agree to change the state’s constitution, two Fargo senators said.   Read More

Thanks to tenure, many believe that teachers’ jobs are basically guaranteed, no matter how students do. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie wants to change that: He is seeking to end tenure and on Wednesday said he would support switching to a system that gives individual teachers five-year contracts, which districts could renew based on merit.   Read More

Gov. Chris Christie’s tough-on-schools approach in a state that has zealously protected its public schools — and its teachers — has already put him at loggerheads with legislative leaders, unions and some parents in New Jersey.   Read More

Judging by Gov. Chris Christie’s State of the State speech Tuesday, his second year in the office will look much like his first.   Read More

New Jersey’s pension fund for retired teachers and government workers has gained 8.7 percent so far this fiscal year, according to a report presented to the State Investment Council today.   Read More

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is hitting the road again to pitch his education and pension reform agenda to voters.   Read More

TRENTON, N.J. — Gov. Chris Christie signaled Tuesday that his second year in office will be as full of conflict and wrenching change as his first, calling for more deep cuts in state spending and public employee benefits, and a broad education overhaul that quickly drew scorn from Democrats.   Read More

When Chris Christie walked into the Assembly chamber to deliver his State of the State message his reputation for being a different kind of governor – one always itching for a fight – accompanied him.   Read More

NEWARK, N.J. — Like an octopus, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey is one body with eight arms.   Read More

Pending a vote at tonight’s Board of Education meeting, Hoboken will finally have a permanent superintendent of schools for the first time in over a year and a half as the state has finally approved a contract for Dr. Mark Toback.   Read More

New Jersey is on the road to recovery, Gov. Christie said in his first State of the State speech Tuesday, but he warned that more difficult work lies ahead.   Read More

SANTA FE, N.M.—A new report on the quality of public education gives New Mexico a grade of C and a ranking of 32nd nationally.   Read More

Financial support for education will likely be a cornerstone of debate during the coming session of the Legislature, and educators from around the state have been meeting with business leaders to ensure each camp is invested in the symbiosis of their goals.   Read More

More requirements for math as early as kindergarten and teaching a greater understanding of literature are among new standards for New York’s public schools to be in place by the 2011-12 school year.   Read More

A ruling by a hearing officer appointed by the state Department of Education says that John Freshwater violated the U.S. Constitution by professing religion in the classroom and applying it to question basic facts of science.   Read More

Gov. John Kasich’s to-do list now includes finding a leader for Ohio’s public schools construction program.   Read More

When the Mount Vernon school board decided to fire eighth-grade science teacher John Freshwater for teaching creationism, a 70-year-old state law allowed him to demand an administrative hearing.   Read More

The Republican-controlled state Senate yesterday rejected former Gov. Ted Strickland’s last batch of appointees, including those to the state Board of Education.   Read More

As The Oregonian’s editorial board has noted, our education system is the key to Oregon’s economic competitiveness.   Read More

Gov. Ed Rendell expressed pride in Pennsylvania’s top-10 national ranking in the annual “Quality Counts” report released by Education Week on Tuesday and urged his successor to not cut education spending in the state’s next budget.   Read More

Gov. Rendell urged his successor Tuesday to not cut education spending in the state’s next budget, and came out against a proposed voucher program that would help low-income students from low-performing schools attend either private schools or public schools in other districts.   Read More

A report card for Pennsylvania measuring school quality resulted in a grade that you wouldn’t be embarrassed to bring home to Mom, but clearly she would say there is room for improvement.   Read More

The public will have a chance to weigh in on dramatic changes to regulations that pertain to high school graduation requirements and charter schools during a series of public hearings over the next two weeks.   Read More

Most Midlands roads were open, mail service picked up, and workers got ready to return to work today, as life’s daily rhythms struggled to get back to normal after an ice and snow storm brought much of the state to a standstill.   Read More

Hours before the Legislature convened and Gov. Dennis Daugaard called for severe spending cuts, a coalition of schools tried to convince the South Dakota Supreme Court that K-12 education has been getting shorted for years.   Read More

The South Dakota Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in a high-stakes challenge to the state’s system for funding schools, as lawmakers consider severe school aid cuts to balance the budget.   Read More

Members of Tennessee tea parties presented state legislators with five priorities for action Wednesday, including “rejecting” the federal health reform act, establishing an elected “chief litigator” for the state and “educating students the truth about America.”   Read More

President Obama will mount a fresh attempt this year to rewrite the No Child Left Behind education law, a top administration official said this week, and key congressional Republicans said they are ready to deal.   Read More

Dave Buhler, associate commissioner of the Utah System of Higher Education, was just 30 seconds into his presentation on this year’s USHE budget request when a member of the panel in front of him broke in with a question.   Read More

Utah’s education system ranks 41st in the nation, according to a new study released by a prominent education magazine. That’s down three places from where the state was listed last year.   Read More

Illegal immigration promises to be a hot topic at this year’s General Assembly session. Del. Christopher K. Peace, R-Hanover, has introduced legislation that would bar undocumented immigrants from attending public universities and colleges, renewing an effort he started three years ago.His proposal is just one of several that tackle illegal immigration, highlighting a growing sentiment in the state to dissuade illegal immigrants from coming to Virginia.   Read More

The Virginia General Assembly convened Wednesday for a 46-day session that promises pitched battles over budget priorities, transportation funding, redistricting and the governor’s latest proposal to privatize the state’s liquor monopoly.   Read More

Gov. Bob McDonnell used the annual State of the Commonwealth address Wednesday night to pitch his spending and legislation priorities to the General Assembly.   Read More

Gov. Bob McDonnell urged Virginia lawmakers Wednesday to rise above partisanship and help him reform government, fix roads and make college more affordable.   Read More

Vermont colleges, law enforcement and mental health agencies say they have extensive plans in place for what to do with potentially dangerous mentally ill people, but those plans cannot entirely prevent tragedies like Saturday’s shooting in Arizona.   Read More

Laid low by a succession of knee surgeries, former Assembly member and state schools superintendent Herbert J. Grover is looking forward to returning to work in the woods near his Gresham home.   Read More

John Wiley still gets worked up when talking about the time he “literally spent weeks” getting permission from the state to buy Clorox bleach.   Read More

Education in Wyoming ranks in the middle of the pack, according to a national report released this week.