LATEST DOUGCO VOUCHER NEWS
Families scramble to find schools after voucher program halted
Douglas County Schools started more than a week ago, but hundreds of families are now scrambling to get their kids back into the school system after a preliminary injunction put a stop to the Douglas County voucher program.
The program planned to offer state money to help 500 families pay for private schools, but Friday a judge temporarily halted the program saying it was unconstitutional to use taxpayer money to fund private or religious schools. Read more in the Denver Post.
Implications of voucher ruling not clear
Douglas County school district officials on Monday were still sorting through the implications of a judge’s order Friday putting a halt to their voucher pilot – including whether the district is on the hook for $300,000 already sent out in voucher payments.
Part of the confusion stems from the fact that the parents and civil-liberties groups who filed a lawsuit to stop the pilot sought only a preliminary injunction, which would have suspended the pilot while the legal challenges were resolved. Read all about it in Education News Colorado.
LATEST COLO. SCHOOL FUNDING LAWSUIT NEWS
Lobato 8/12: The first real clash
Amendment 23 author Cary Kennedy had a rough cross-examination, and the first real legal tussling erupted Friday afternoon as the Lobato trial ended its second week. Read more in Education News Colorado.
Lobato 8/15: Budget cuts a tradeoff
David Hart, chief financial officer of the Denver Public Schools, knows his way around a school finance spreadsheet, and he demonstrated that knowledge Monday during testimony in the Lobato v. State school funding lawsuit.
Hart spend much of his nearly three hours of testimony manipulating spreadsheets on a laptop perched on the edge of the witness box. Everyone else in the courtroom watched in real time on a large screen. Read more in Education News Colorado.
EdNews Lobato case primer
Is the system Colorado uses to pay for its schools constitutional?
That short but infinitely complex question is the focus of the five-week trial in the case of Lobato v. State. Read more in Education News Colorado.
OTHER SCHOOL NEWS
Comcast to give subsidized Internet to free-lunch students
Slightly more than a third of all Colorado students qualify for free lunches, and starting this school year, those kids also will qualify for low-cost broadband Internet access if their neighborhoods are served by Comcast.
“A lot of families have had to make a lot of tough choices between Internet or cable, for instance, and school supplies or health care,” said Chris Watney, president of the Colorado Children’s Campaign. “For them, this will be a significant resource.” Read more in the Denver Post.
Angry parents fight back against new Adams Co. school fees
DENVER— Going back to school is always a money drain for parents.
This year, Adams County schools are asking parents to dig deeper in their pockets and some say are threatening to send them to collections if they don’t pay up.
“About a week ago, I received an email saying I need to pay $45 per student to enroll them in school this year,” says Adams County School parent, Brianne Abrams. Check out this report on KDVR.
More students in need of school supplies
JEFFERSON COUNTY – There’s a program in Jefferson County that’s handing out free school supplies to kids who can’t afford to get their own.
Up to 1,000 children have lined up at the Action Center every day this week. Officials say that is about a 50 percent increase over last year. Watch this 9NEWS report.
Stuff for Students annual school supplies drive now underway
The annual Stuff for Students school supplies drive is back, kicking off Aug. 6 at all Denver area Walmarts and continuing until Aug. 21.
The fundraiser is the combined effort of Volunteers of America, 9News, FedEx and Walmart to bring school supplies to over 23 districts in Colorado. The Stuff for Students barrels collect the supplies for two weeks, ending with the organization and distribution of the supplies directly to the schools that need them most. Read more at YourHub.
Can U.S. compete if only 32 percent of students are proficient in math?
What do Massachusetts, Switzerland, and Singapore have in common? Their students are among the top performers in the world when it comes to mathematical proficiency. Read more at MSNBC.
Broomfield-area education pros offer back-to-school advice
Pencils and pens, a backpack, a new pair of shoes, a couple of three-ring binders — these are just a few of the items that appear on the average back-to-school checklist, but local educators say that school supplies and new clothes are just a portion of what students and parents should focus on the ensure an easy back-to-school transition. Read more in the Broomfield Enterprise.
ENG@GE Online Academy now accepting students
ENG@GE Online Academy, a new online school developed by District 6, is now accepting ninth-grade and tenth-grade students for the 2011-12 school year.
ENG@GE stands for Educating the Next Generation @ Greeley-Evans. Core academic content courses in math, science, social studies, language arts and electives are available through the school. District 6 teachers will facilitate the online classes and be available for face-to-face meetings with parents and students as needed.
“Whether a student’s goals include higher education, work-force readiness, or possibly the military, we believe our online environment will provide them with a series of robust learning experiences,” said Doug Zauha, the district’s eLearning director.
For the 2011-12 school year, ENG@GE Online Academy will focus on ninth- and tenth-grade students who seek to either take a full complement of online courses or the ability to take one or more individual online courses. In future years, the school will expand to other grade levels.
Parents and students interested in learning more about ENG@GE, and how online learning works, are invited to attend an informational session on Thursday, August 18, 5—6 p.m. at the District 6 administration building, 1025 Ninth Avenue, in Greeley.
To enroll in ENG@GE during the 2011-12 school year, students must live within the District 6 boundary. To apply today, parents and students can contact Doug Zauha or Susan Alexander at 348-6262, ordzauha@greeleyschools.org or salexander@greeleyschools.org.
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