$5.1 million safeguard for international student course fees

The Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, today announced funding of $5.1 million to further strengthen Australia’s international education industry.

The funding will be made available to top up the Education Services for Overseas Students Assurance Fund (ESOS Assurance Fund) if required.

The ESOS Assurance Fund is the cornerstone of Australia’s international student consumer protection framework which safeguards the course fees of international students. The fund was established in 2000 with a $1 million start amount provided by the Government.

As at 31 January 2010, the ESOS Assurance Fund had a positive cash balance in excess of $3.35 million.

Since it was established in 2000 the total call on the fund has been $5.3 million.

The funding is one of a number of measures the Australian Government has initiated to ensure we remain a world leader in providing international education services. These measures include:

* ESOS Amendment (Re-registration of Providers and Other Measures) Bill which will require all providers delivering education and training to international students to re register by 31 December 2010
* The review of the current ESOS Act by the Hon Bruce Baird AM, which is due to report to the Australian Government shortly
* A National International Student Strategy currently being developed through the Council Of Australian Governments
* The International Students Hotline set up in mid 2009
* The establishment of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency and a national regulator for the Vocational Education and Training sector.

The Government’s decision will provide additional certainty for students and underscores the Government’s determination to ensure that the international education sector remains both strong and vibrant into the future.

Source: Minister’s Media Centre

Survey Shows Public Dissatisfaction with Rising Higher Education Costs

This year, Colorado legislators and higher education leaders are attempting to find a new revenue stream to replace declining state dollars. But a new report shows growing public skepticism that the nation’s colleges are doing everything they can to keep costs at bay.

The annual survey conducted by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education shows a growing number of respondents saying they believe colleges function more like businesses, caring more about their bottom line.

In 2007, 52 percent of those polled agreed with the statement, according to senior research fellow John Immerwahr. Now that number is close to 60 percent.

“That’s pretty interesting because most of the numbers and trends we were following stabilize,” he says. “But this one has gone up quite impressively.”

The findings come out at a particularly critical time for higher education leaders in Colorado. This legislative session they need to find a new revenue stream to replace millions in declining state dollars. Many schools chose to fill the state funding gaps with stimulus dollar grants. But that money runs out in 2012.

Milpitas superintendent recommends more cuts for 2011-12 budget

The Milpitas Unified School District is preparing for the next in the series of continuing shock waves that has been hitting education hard and rippling throughout California. The latest response comes after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget proposal, which could widen the deficit from $1.5 million to nearly $7 million if passed, in the 2011-12 school year for the Milpitas Unified School District alone.

District staff is advancing plans to garner enough support to pass a parcel tax expected to bring in $1.4 million to $1.6 million annually for five years, if passed in the June election. But even if this passes, the district will still be left with a large hole to fill. “Originally when we went out for a parcel tax, I was hoping we wouldn’t have to recommend any budget cuts,” Superintendent Karl Black said. “But after seeing the governor’s proposal I think it’s crucial that we begin making reductions now through the 10-11 school year so we don’t have to make large reductions later.

” To cover a portion of this deficit, Black presented a report recommending a number of budget reductions spread throughout the district for 2010-11 to the Board of Education during its meeting Feb. 9. -District office reductions with $567,000 in savings.

These cuts are broken down by not assigning the position of at-risk specialist with a $87,000 salary to a new hire once the current one retires; tier 3 flexibility of $180,000; reducing 2010 summer school with $100,000 Advertisement in savings; and a change in workers compensation amounting to $200,000. -Maintenance, Operations and Transportation reductions with $100,000 in savings. This includes not assigning the position of supervisor for maintenance and grounds once the current person retires. -Elementary school reductions with $300,000 in savings.

These savings would come from increasing class sizes in first and second grade to a 24:1 student-teacher ratio. “This is a very difficult one,” Black said. He expects the change to create a reduction in staff of approximately 17 teachers but hopes to keep layoffs to a minimum since some staff will be walking away voluntarily or through retirement. -Closing the Community Day School with $133,000 in savings. The last time staff made budget reductions less than a year ago this program for at-risk students was relocated from its costly location on the hill to a classroom situated between Calaveras Hills High School and the district office. With less than 20 students currently enrolled in the program, Black believes it is no longer cost effective for the district to support it. “Because of the unique needs of these particular students … there are a lot of services that have to go along with it,” he said. “We tried to put it down here to try and keep it alive…” If the school is closed, Black said each student would be placed in services like county programs that would best meet their individual needs.

Reducing Adult Education programs with $100,000 in savings. Black expects this to have a minimum affect, projecting they would only stop one class and not continue the Community-Based English Tutoring program that hasn’t even taken place this year. Of his recommendations, Black said: “It’s getting more difficult to look around to see what we can do and spread it across the district. It’s getting hard.

We have probably cut $12 million or so in the last eight years.” But however hard, he added, it is a necessary task. “I will remind the board that before the governor’s proposal we were looking at a $2.7 million deficit in 11-12 so I think it’s prudent to make cuts anyway, even without his proposal,” Black said. “…I can’t guarantee that even if the board approves this we won’t come back next year and look at more cuts. That’s how dramatic and devastating the budget situation is for public schools right now.”

All board members spoke their thanks for Black who they believe has been working diligently to keep the cuts as minimal as possible. But a few voiced their concerns about some of the recommendations. Board Vice President Michael Mendizabal spoke in regard to not replacing positions, which could in turn create a redistributed larger workload for others. “We gotta start talking about not doing that work because there’s only so much people can do,” he said. “It just gets to the point where you can’t get it done.

It’s not a question of who’s going to do that job but whether we’re going to get those jobs done.” Although noting his understanding for the reasoning behind it, Mendizabal said he was upset about the possible closing of Community Day School.

Board members took no action on the proposed reductions during the Feb. 9 meeting, but are planning to do so at their meeting March 9. They are asking residents to respond to the proposal so they can make a decision based on what the community wants. To do so, call the district office at 635-2600 or attend the next meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 23 in the Board Room located at the district offices,

Sources: Mercury News

Education Chief Wants Days Made Up

Wednesday will be the sixth snow day in the Fayette County School System this academic year and the number of missed days is much higher in many other counties across Kentucky. Despite the harsh winter, Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday says he wants students in class the required 177 days.

Holliday told ABC 36 News Tuesday that he opposes granting school districts so called calamity days, even though he says the state must be “reasonable” when it comes to possible disaster days in systems that have dealt with other situations, such as swine flu. He says that would be on a case by case basis.

The education chief says he will push for school systems to use “every available moment” to make up the missed days.

“I do not want to cheat any child out of instruction time,” said Holliday. “I think we need to look at every available option. I think we need to look at spring breaks. I think we need to look at professional development days. I think our superintendents are looking at every option. What we have to do is address the testing window because I think our teachers deserve every moment they can get with the kids to get the kids ready for the assessments because so many things are decided based on those one shot, one day tests.”

Testing is scheduled for early April, but education officials plan to meet this week to devise a plan to delay the testing. Holliday says some students have only been in class about a week since the Christmas break.

Source: ABC 36

Utah State Senator Proposes Making 12th Grade Optional

Reductions in education spending traditionally take the form of cutting teachers, administration or salaries. But with Utah’s $700 million deficit lingering over lawmaker’s heads, a new proposal has recently attracted as much curiosity as disdain: Make 12th grade optional.

State Sen. Chris Buttars from the Salt Lake City suburbs told the Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee earlier this month that many students squander away their senior year, making it an unnecessary expense and another one to alleviate the large budget shortfall. He said eliminating 12th grade altogether would have saved $102 million.

“You’re spending a whole lot of money for a whole bunch of kids who aren’t getting anything out of that grade,” he said. “It comes down to the best use of money.”

Buttars later scaled back his proposal to just give students the option of skipping 12th grade if they finish their requirements in three years, according to The Salt Lake Tribute. That proposal could reportedly save around $60 million.

It’s unclear how many students would opt for early gradation if given the option.

“What I’m trying to do is find that money for the $700 million ongoing shortfall in ongoing money, and at the same time try to keep as many dollars as possible in the program,” Buttars said last week at an education funding subcommittee hearing, reports station KSL-TV in Salt Lake City. “This does that. Now, to what extent we don’t know because it’s their option.”

The proposal has attracted national attention and has many opponents, including many students and teachers who see senior year as critical.

J.D. Williams, student body president at West Jordan High School in Utah, told the Los Angeles Times that he’s against the plan.

“I need this year,” Williams said. “My parents are against it… All the teachers at the school are against it. I’m against it.”

“It is very shortsighted,” John Balden, president of the Utah chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, told ABC News. “Students don’t just play in 12th grade. They really do study. In higher education we find an awful lot of students unprepared for college. Twelfth grade is really a necessary grade.”

Source: CBS News

Virginia Unveils The Opportunity To Learn Education

McDonnell Joined at Unveiling of “The Opportunity to Learn” Legislative Package by Former Governor L. Douglas Wilder; Republican and Democratic Legislators.

Highlights Bipartisan Commitment to Placing Virginia in the Vanguard of the National Charter School Movement; Promotes Virtual and College Laboratory Schools.

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Four children die in Haiti school collapse

A MUDSLIDE in northern Haiti has caused the partial collapse of a school, killing four children and injuring two others, a Haitian civil protection official said today.

“The accident was caused by four days of rain that caused a mudslide,” said the official on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to give out the information.

He said the school in Cap-Haitien partially collapsed, leaving “four dead and two injured”.

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Walkout for education

Hundreds of college students in Southern Nevada walked out of classes last week to protest impending state budget cuts that could decimate higher education.

Students from UNLV, Nevada State College and the College of Southern Nevada made their feelings known to legislators in a protest at the Sawyer State Office Building in downtown Las Vegas. The Legislature is expected to meet this month in a special session to consider cuts, which at this point don’t look good.

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Nevada Governor Draws Criticism With Calls To Cut Education Funding

Carson City, NV, United States (AHN) – Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons angered teachers and parents with his proposal on Monday that legislators look for ways to cut up to 22 percent from the budgets for K-12 and higher education.

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Indiana Department of education introduces growth model

The Indiana Department of Education introduced today a new way to track students’ progress with more emphasis on yearly growth in academic skills.

The Indiana Growth Model uses a statistical model to calculate each student’s progress, or growth, on state assessments and can be used to display students, school and district results to teachers and the community.
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