Education News for Tuesday, Jan. 30

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer will propose a major increase in state aid for public schools and seek vastly expanded oversight of local school districts, including powers to remove school boards or force the dismissal of superintendents for repeated failures. (New York Times)

A judge has blocked the University of California at Berkeley from moving forward with plans to build a $125 million athletic training center, a 911-space parking garage and a building for the law and business schools. The order also blocks the seismic retrofit of the school's crumbling football stadium. Opponents say it would be too dangerous to build the center so close to an earthquake fault. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Most Wake County (N.C.) school board members think it's a bad idea to ask voters to approve another $1 billion in school construction bonds this fall so soon after last year's successful election. County commissioners shocked school leaders last weekend by saying they want to put the next bond issue on the ballot this year instead of 2008 or 2009 as originally planned. School board members fear voters won't be ready to approve another bond issue so quickly. ( Raleigh News & Observer)

An 8-year-old student at an elementary school in Shiloh, Ill., was killed when an 84-year-old woman crashed her car through a wall and drove through the school cafeteria. Ryan Wesling died of head and chest injuries. Two other students were treated at an area hospital and released. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Two Dallas school principals, have not complied with the district's request to resign in connection with an investigation into district credit card spending; the district is expected to begin termination proceedings. (Dallas Morning News)

The Aurora (Colo.) school district is mounting an aggressive effort to keep kids in school--literally. They may prohibit high school students from leaving campus during the day. (Denver Post)

Parents throughout New York City complained of confusion, crowding and lateness after the city school system eliminated 116 of 2,156 daily bus routes for students. (New York Times)

TODAY'S QUOTE:

“I was completely baffled. It looked as if a monkey had done it. It looked as if someone had done it randomly.”

--George A. Bonanno, a New York City parent, on recent changes to his children's school bus routes.. Read the New York Times article.

The Washington, D.C., school board has countered Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's school takeover plan with a proposal outlining specific academic targets to improve the city's low-performing school system within two years. (Washington Post)

Memphis City Schools has unveiled the latest version of a master plan that will make the most sweeping changes to school attendance boundaries in three decades. Attendance boundaries at 97 schools would change under the plan, and several schools are also changing grade configurations. (Memphis Commercial Appeal)

Woodland (Calif.) Community College, for most of its existence, has consisted of a small group of students and educators tucked off a county road and surrounded primarily by farmland. But the area is growing quickly, and the school is changing to accommodate that growth. (Sacramento Bee)

The Collingswood (N.J.) school board has agreed to pay $270,000 to a former high school Spanish teacher who said he was forced from his job because he was gay. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

A former Clark County (Nev.) School District teacher who says he was unjustly suspended after he tried to stage a play during Black History Month is suing the school system. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Concerns about a new school opening on the site of an old chemical company in the Leander (Texas) school district brought about 80 people to a town hall meeting, where district and environmental officials fielded questions about student safety. (Austin American-Statesman)

A fast-growing parish in Allen, Texas, is in the early stages of opening the only Catholic grade school in Collin County north of Plano. (Dallas Morning News)

With the help of wealthy donors and a local college, the Boston Catholic Archdiocese will replace the last three parochial schools in Brockton, Mass., with one regional school housed in two refurbished buildings. (Boston Globe)

Six East Jefferson High School students were arrested after a pair of lunchtime fights on the campus in Metairie, La. (New Orleans Times-Picayune)

Some parents in the Plymouth-Canton (Mich.) district can now see their children's transcripts, attendance records and other information online. (Detroit Free Press)

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MORE: Recent AS&U News Headlines:

Monday, Jan. 29
Friday, Jan. 26
Thursday, Jan. 25
Wednesday, Jan. 24

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