The Dougco voucher media scrum (John Leyba, The Denver Post).
Dougco’s bigger aims with its voucher legal fight, Jeffco recall developments, a rewrite of the nation’s major education law and putting the fear of death in people about education — literally. No education story left behind in this week’s Take Note …
Douglas County School District officials are not giving up the legal fight over vouchers — at least not yet. After a divided Colorado Supreme Court rejected the controversial program as unconstitutional, board members hinted strongly they would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. , we turned to constitutional and church-state law experts to examine whether Taxpayers for Public Education vs. Douglas County School District might become a test case for so-called Blaine amendments in 37 states that restrict public funding of religious institutions.
The effort to recall three conservative Jefferson County Board of Education members got underway this week . With that formality out of the way, recall supporters to make a dent in the 15,000 signatures per candidate they must collect and submit by Sept. 4. Here’s .
In Sunday’s Denver Post Perspective section, . He examines ACT scores and remediation rates to call into question whether graduation rates are as “impressive” as portrayed. The state Board of Education recently — well, a different board approved those — and it’s uncertain whether the issue will resurface anytime soon.
Credit to the university P.R. people for coming up with a grabber of a headline on a new study on mortality rates and education: Basically, dropping out of school is about as advisable as taking up smoking. The Post’s Electa Draper . Other studies have covered similar ground, but this one is distinguished by coming up with an actual body count.
The big news nationally this week was Congress finally taking on an long-overdue overhaul of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, also known as No Child Left Behind. Our ed-heavy Twitter feed was awash with information about amendments and speechifying. To get the goods, check out , and the . The Post , noting Colorado Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet’s prominent role in the proceedings.
On a related noted, the Washington Post’s Lindsay Layton, who is getting heat from the left and right as Congress seeks to rein in his power in the NCLB overhaul. The story opens with a nice touch — and a ringing cell phone. Lots of meaty, memorable quotes in here.
Closer to home, a story in the Greeley Tribune this week . The fact that there are not enough seats in summer school for every single student that is behind, is probably not uncommon. The article also delves into discussions about different initiatives to help students who are behind, and the reason why summer school would still be preferable to holding a student back a year.
The Grand Junction’s Daily Sentinel reports that Some had speculated that drug-related incidents would rise as marijuana became legal in Colorado, but the school district has provided a program that allows students with an alternative to suspensions if it is their first time caught with drugs.
Finally, YourHub’s Joe Vaccarelli .
