An education reform group headed by Michelle Rhee, the controversial former chancellor of Washington, D.C., public schools, is working in Alabama toward changes in state education laws that would allow charter schools and revise tenure.

State Sen. Phil Williams, R-Rainbow City, wants the Legislature to give about one-third of Alabama teachers a raise of 2.5 percent, although he says his idea is not “fully hatched” yet. The state’s taxpayers should hope that it is never hatched.

The federal Health and Human Services Department is working with a Russellville-based operation to keep the doors open at 30 Head Start centers in Arkansas, a spokesman said today.

A state lawmaker said today he is calling on the Legislature to reject a proposed rule prohibiting state funding for pre-kindergarten education from being used to support religious activities.

An Arizona lawmaker is back for a second time with a bill to allow holders of concealed weapons permits to carry firearms on college campuses.

In the year since Englewood’s Clayton Elementary implemented an in-class breakfast program, the number of students who eat at school jumped so high that it earned a state award. But the real benefit, administrators say, is in the effect it has had in the classroom.

The Colorado House Education Committee on Wednesday sent a bill to the floor that would change the official student-count date to avoid conflicts with religious observances.

In a narrow vote, the University of Colorado regents voted Wednesday to support a bill that would give unsubsidized in-state tuition to undocumented students.

Denver Public Schools expects to weather upcoming state budget cuts without having to reduce school budgets by tapping rainy-day funds and slicing $2 million in administrative costs.

The peace between the teachers unions and the Malloy Administration ended Tuesday, one week before legislators convene at the State Capitol to get to work on a major education overhaul.

A plan to give school districts greater flexibility to hire and keep the best teachers and reduce red tape that gets in the way of improving instruction in the classroom was announced Tuesday by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Malloy-Cut-red-tape-for-school-districts-2876801.php#ixzz1l6Dk24Fi

The House is advancing a $69.2 billion no-new-taxes budget that increases college tuition by 8 percent, cuts payments to hospitals and nursing homes and eliminates 4,700 more state jobs, many from the closing of six prisons.

Sen. Gary Siplin believes this is the year for school prayer. Sure, Florida lawmakers have pitched the idea time and time again. But Siplin, a Democrat from Orlando, says his bill has momentum. His proof? On Wednesday, the bill became among the first of the year to win approval from the Senate. It passed by a vote of 31-8.

His home ravaged by earthquake, 16-year-old Renato Lherisson returned to his birthplace, the United States, to finish high school and earn a college degree. The Haitian student envisioned studying political science all the way to the doctoral level and maybe working for the United Nations one day. But now he’s just hoping to afford one class this semester.

The first budget confrontation of the legislative session emerged Tuesday when Gov. Rick Scott declared his opposition to an 8 percent tuition increase at state colleges and universities that Republican lawmakers support.

Cash-strapped school districts may soon have an alternative to the property tax revenue that funds construction and maintenance. A House panel on Tuesday approved a measure that would allow Florida school boards to levy a half-penny sales tax in exchange for a reduction in school property taxes. The revenue could only be used for capital projects.

Gov. Nathan Deal is not in favor of tweaking the HOPE scholarship program right now. And reopening the TSPLOST list could create more problems, he said Tuesday.

After nearly two hours of heated testimony during a packed meeting, the House Higher Education Committee held off voting on a bill that would bar illegal immigrants from attending all Georgia public colleges.

The chairman of a House panel said amendments to Gov. Terry Branstad’s education reform package are “being drafted right now” just as his committee finished its line-by-line review Wednesday night.

Key parts of Gov. Terry Branstad’s plan to overhaul Iowa schools appear to be in jeopardy as lawmakers started Wednesday on crafting their response to his proposal.

A Senate committee today approved setting school budget growth rates for an upcoming year, going against the wish of Gov. Terry Branstad.

Funding for a college tuition assistance program for Iowa National Guard members has been increased to meet rising demand.

A new survey shows physical violence among Idaho students is down from 2009, but more teens report they’ve seriously considered suicide.

State education officials received more than 50 public comments on their plan to adopt a new five-star rating system for schools while rejecting the latest benchmarks under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Providing laptops for each of Idaho’s students isn’t as easy as passing out the computers in schools, as legislators learned Tuesday.

A state lawmaker introduced a measure Tuesday urging Congress to repeal the nation’s No Child Left Behind education law.

Touting a jobs platform, Gov. Pat Quinn pushed modest tax relief, Medicaid and pension reforms, more college grant spending and an end to the state’s natural gas tax in a State of the State speech Wednesday overshadowed by Illinois’ gloomy financial condition.

Gov. Pat Quinn says he wants to boost the number of adults who get college degrees or career certificates.

Gov. Pat Quinn remade the state agency overseeing the College Illinois prepaid tuition program seven months ago, and on Friday his commissioners produced a recommendation to save the troubled college savings plan: Form a committee.

A bill that would largely prohibit Indiana’s public schools from starting their school years until late August has stalled in the state Legislature.

The Indiana Department of Education is challenging teachers to instruct their students digitally.

State Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, persuaded the Republican-controlled Indiana Senate on Tuesday to approve two of her education proposals.

The state Senate has deadlocked over whether to support a bill that would largely prohibit Indiana’s public schools from starting their school years until late August.

Indiana’s public schools would be allowed to teach creationism in science classes as long as they include origin of life theories from multiple religions under a proposal approved Tuesday by the state Senate.

Louisiana is at a historic crossroad with the upcoming debate over sweeping changes in public schools and state employee pensions, Gov. Bobby Jindal said Tuesday. “I think this is one of those critical moments,” Jindal said.

Gov. Paul LePage directed his education commissioner on Wednesday to develop a plan that increases online learning opportunities for Maine’s K-12 students. The executive order is the latest in a series of reforms rolled out recently by LePage and Department of Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen that highlight the administration’s commitment to expanding education options beyond the traditional classroom.

The University of Maine System board of trustees has decided to search for consulting services to pursue a performance-based funding model for the University of Maine System.

Parents, teachers and education activists squared off at the Capitol Tuesday over a Republican proposal that would transform the way Minnesota school districts conduct teacher layoffs by scrapping seniority, the sacred tenet of most teachers unions.

Tuition and fees at the four University of Missouri campuses could go up 6.5 percent, starting this summer, under a proposal that will be considered Thursday and Friday by the system’s Board of Curators.

COLUMBIA, Mo. — To help cope with Gov. Jay Nixon’s proposed 15.1 percent cut to higher education next year, the University of Missouri System is proposing an average tuition increase of 6.5 percent to UM campuses.

Catholic schools in Kansas City, combating their own trend in declining enrollment, want legislative help to improve their ability to draw students from the Kansas City Public Schools.

Mississippi’s top education official is asking for an additional $305 million for the coming year – a request he acknowledges is unlikely to be fulfilled.

MISSOULA, Mont. — An investigation of sexual assaults involving several University of Montana students has revealed nine reported attacks between September 2010 and this past December.

A North Dakota constitutional measure to abolish property taxes would force the largest tax shift in state history and end local control of decisions such as building new schools, North Dakota Chamber of Commerce President Andy Peterson said Wednesday.

Youth sports advocates turned up at the Capitol on Wednesday to prevent the state from creating what they said were barriers in the effort to fight childhood obesity.

The results of state testing of elementary and high school students during the 2010-11 school year show that while overall performance continued to hold steady or improve slightly in nearly all grades and subjects, a persistent achievement gap remains for economically disadvantaged, African American, and Hispanic students.

New Jersey’s public school students racked up slightly higher test scores in most grades in the 2010-11 school year, despite Gov. Chris Christie’s cutting about $1 billion in state aid to schools that year, according to standardized test results released today by the state Board of Education.

In a move intended to prevent schools from trying to save money at the expense of medically fragile children, an Assembly panel Monday approved a bill requiring specialized nurses to accompany students who could need life-saving care at a moment’s notice.

Gov. Chris Christie unveiled a sweeping plan last week to overhaul New Jersey’s university system, with the aim of capturing more grant money at a time when higher education is severely underfunded. Rowan, a South Jersey state college, would take over the Camden campus of Rutgers, including its law and business schools.

Nevada will apply for a waiver from federal No Child Left Behind education requirements this month.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared Wednesday that the “Battle of Albany” is on. Taking on the state’s traditionally powerful teachers unions, Cuomo threatened to impose tougher job evaluations Feb. 16 if the unions continue to, as he put it, block progress.

New York’s high schools are struggling to prepare graduates for college and it is costing the state $70 million in revenue.

As some local school districts are nearing agreements with their unions to create tougher evaluations for teachers and principals, an interest group said failure to enact the new evaluations will cost schools $1.7 billion statewide.

A bill that would change how Ohio schools calculate class time came under fire from both state and local school officials yesterday.

The latest report cards are out from the state’s leading think tanks, one of which is oriented toward market solutions to problems and the other oriented toward government solutions.

Gov. John Kitzhaber said today he will push for lawmakers to build on the overhauls of education and health care that he proposed and they approved in the 2011 session.

Three Clark County legislators are behind a bill that would require sexual health education programs to incorporate lessons about sexual offenses against minors into their curriculum.

A year that has been hard on Pennsylvania’s public school budgets, particularly in the state’s poorest districts, may be followed by an even more difficult year.

Legislation proposed by state Rep. Eugene DePasquale, D-York, would direct $30 million in state funds to 18 academically and fiscally distressed school districts to be used to improve academic achievement.

Harrisburg and Steelton-Highspire are among the 18 school districts that would receive additional money to apply toward academic programs that have been shown to help raise student achievement under a bill that Rep. Eugene DePasquale, D-York, is sponsoring.

When top Penn State officials Tim Curley and Gary Schultz testified before a grand jury in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse investigation, both men apparently thought they had an attorney.

As Penn State students clamor for more state aid in hopes of avoiding higher tuition bills, Gov. Tom Corbett has put the university on notice.

By at least one measure, Penn State University appears to be maintaining its luster with prospective students from other parts of the nation, despite the child sex scandal involving a former assistant football coach.

In 2004, during the debate over whether to legalize gambling in Pennsylvania, Gov. Ed Rendell predicted that slot machine revenue one day would be able to cut school property taxes by an average of 23 percent.

Lawyers for the Rhode Island affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, which won the Cranston High School West prayer case, on Tuesday asked the U.S. District Court to award them $173,000 in fees.

A House Education Committee has killed a bill that would boost state financial aid to school districts by requiring state funding to rise yearly by the same amount that overall state revenues increase.

A quarter of Oregon’s public school children miss at least 10 percent of the school year, according to a new analysis of state education data by a coalition of nonprofits that believes school attendance is closely tied to student achievement.

A House Education Committee has killed a bill that would boost state financial aid to school districts by requiring state funding to rise yearly by the same amount that overall state revenues increase.

Officials from South Dakota’s public universities are meeting with state lawmakers to discuss the schools’ spending plans.

Amid the cacophony of special interests fighting to be heard in statehouses and on Capitol Hill, a cadre of current and former chief state school officers is elbowing its way into the nation’s education debate at a time when states are taking more control of K-12 education.

The average scores of graduating teacher-candidates on state-required licensing exams are uniformly higher, often significantly, than the passing scores states set for such exams, according to an Education Week analysis of preliminary data from a half-dozen states.

The solution to higher education’s tuition dilemma is for states to have a baseline of funding that will allow colleges and universites to maintain affordable tuition levels without triggering federal cuts that President Obama outlined in his State of the Union address, says Washington State University President Elson S. Floyd.

Heavy textbooks weighing down teens’ backpacks might soon become a thing of the past in Utah.

Educators and parents of children with autism are being pitted against each other in a pair of proposals on an apparent collision course in the Utah Legislature.

The legislative session is a long way from over but, so far, schools have been largely spared from talk of budget cuts.

A bill that would provide technology grants to schools so the state can move forward with a computer adaptive testing program passed the Senate Tuesday.

As lawmakers discuss preschool options and school technology aids this session, one program that already combines the two is more than halfway through its trial.

The science standards for Virginia’s public schools are thorough and rigorous and should serve as a model for other states, according to a report released Tuesday.

Vermont education officials are asking the federal government to allow the state to forgo the annual school rating process this year and in the future to reduce standardized testing required under the No Child Left Behind Act.

Wyoming community college students who transfer to the University of Wyoming do much better if they first earn an associate’s degree at the two-year college.