On Friday, December 16, the Obama Administration announced the winners of the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge. California, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island and Washington state will each receive a portion of the $500 million allotted for this grant.
Race to the Top is the Administration’s keystone education initiative which allows states to compete for grant money for innovative programs to make schools more effective. Of the 35 states who applied for these grants to improve their pre-kindergarten educational programs, the nine winners will receive between $50 and $100 million. Budgets will be finalized after discussions between the grantees and the Department, and states will draw down funds in accordance with their plans.
A new report by the Miami Herald and StateImpact Florida – a National Public Radio initiative - confirms CEC’s ongoing concern that many charter schools are failing to serve students with disabilities, particularly students with significant disabilities.
According to the report No Choice: How Florida Charter Schools are Failing to Serve Students with Disabilities, 86% of charter schools in Florida do not enroll a student with significant disabilities, a trend that is occurring in California, Louisiana, New York and Texas. While charter schools differ in operational practices from traditional public schools, they remain public schools and therefore, must adhere to federal laws such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
The Department of Education recently released a study that details the discrepancies amongst anti-bullying laws and policies throughout the country. This study is the first nationwide look at bullying legislation from the Department and highlights some inconsistencies that exist between the states.
Congress has still not acted to fund fiscal year 2012. Although it appears something may happen this week, no final details have been released about the education budget. One issue CEC has been working to address since September is a 1.5% cut to IDEA and three other education programs that was made in the current short term funding bill (called Continuing Resolutions or CR’s) funding the federal government through December 16.
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) is seeking ways to increase inclusion of people with autism in the research process. During ASAN’s recent Symposium on Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications of Autism Research ASAN engaged self-advocates and researchers in a broad conversation about how to do just this. Participants came up with a number of possibilities, - from Community Based Participatory Research processes to inclusion of Autistic adults on grant review panels all of which have promise to helping the process be better informed about the needs of people with autism.
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