The Daily Report Card: Expanding Disadvantage, Gary Schools, Fort Wayne Charter Schools

In The Classroom Today

States expand ‘disadvantaged’ category to address racial gap – Washington Times A number of states struggling with vast racial achievement gaps in schools may have found a way around the problem: Lump blacks and Hispanics with handicapped and poor children. Nine of the 11 states seeking federal waivers from the No Child Left Behind law have proposed revised accountability systems, designed to track how an all-encompassing group of disadvantaged students? stacks up against the student population as a whole, according to a new study from the Center on Education Policy, a D.C.-based education think tank. (Washington Times)

Gary schools want a share of state found money – Post-Tribune The Gary School Board is asking Gov. Mitch Daniels to don a red suit and beard and dig into the $320 million of recently tax money to return $13.5 million the district said should have gone to Gary schools. The board also approved a plan to convert high school calendars from two semesters a school year to a trimester system. The board passed a resolution to get what it considers its share of hundreds of millions of dollars Daniels said his administration found earlier this month in corporate tax payments dating back to 2007 that were not figured into state operating funds. (posttrib.suntimes.com)

JournalGazette.net – Editorials | The Journal Gazette | Fort Wayne, IN The push to expand school choices for Indiana students has unseen consequences for taxpayers and, ultimately, the students themselves. A new law requiring public schools to make vacant buildings available to charter schools and another establishing a state charter school board create additional budget burdens on schools already struggling to improve. The unhealthy competition fostered by the new legislation doesn’t serve anyone well. (journalgazette.net)