An in-depth exploration of education in the 21st century South.
The incumbents on the Metro school board all kept their seats on election night, despite heavy out-of-state spending from charter school advocates for most of their opponents. Some voters saw the races as a referendum on the privately-run schools.
Parents of public school students in Mississippi could soon be able to use taxpayer money to send their children to private schools. Lawmakers believe the “Equal Opportunity for All Students Act” would give many children across the state a shot at a quality education.
Mississippi Public Broadcasting’s piece, 42: The Fight Over Funding, takes an in-depth look at public school funding in Mississippi, how the state’s funding formula for public schools works, and what both sides of the Initiative 42 debate want to do about it. They interview legislators, educators, and others to help Mississippians decide before heading to the polls on November 3.
The United States locks up people at a higher rate than anywhere else in the world. Some of the most overcrowded prisons are in Alabama. Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women is one of them. It’s also been under federal investigation for sex abuse by guards. But some inmates there have access to a unique state-funded program that offers academics and life skills they’ll need after release. The problem is, this J.F. Ingram State Technical College program, which could ease overcrowding, is struggling for funds. Our Alabama reporter Dan Carsen has this national story, and a full-length interview with J.F. Ingram’s president.
There’s been a victory of sorts for parents whose children ride school buses in Hoover, Alabama. In July, the school board got national attention and angered many residents by voting to scrap the sprawling district’s busing program starting next school year. But after intense community pressure and input from the Justice Department, the board unanimously reversed itself last week. Shortly after, our Alabama reporter Dan Carsen caught up with Trisha Powell Crain, a Hoover parent and longtime education policy writer. Though she has some misgivings, she calls the school-board reversal a good example of what persistent community organizing can accomplish.
Hoover, Alabama’s school board recently voted to end its bus service, effective a year from now. District leaders say they have to cut costs as enrollments rise and revenues fall. But our Alabama reporter Dan Carsen points out, many in this hilly, sprawling suburb don’t believe that’s the whole story.
Louisiana’s Supreme Court rules the current funding mechanism for the statewide voucher program is unconstitutional.
There’s been a short break from Birmingham Board of Education fireworks, but that doesn’t mean the state takeover story, or the Alabama education beat in general, has slowed down at all. In this week’s Edu-Chat, WBHM’s Tanya Ott inverviews Southern Education Desk reporter Dan Carsen on No Child Left Behind, the Education Trust Fund, local kids in China, and “meatless meetings.”
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