Education Reform Briefs

From the Las Vegas Sun/Associated Press, 4/7/98

Salaries for College Faculty Rise

College faculty salaries rose 3.4 percent this year, with full professors at research universities now making just under $80,000, a study released Tuesday showed.

With inflation running at just half that rate, it was the largest increase in faculty pay in a decade, said the American Association of University Professors.

The findings are based on an association survey of 1,839 colleges and universities in 1997-98.

From the American Federation of Teachers, 4/6/98

Vouchers and Paycheck Protection Top AFT Hit List

School vouchers and efforts to cut off funds for union political action are "two of the most cynical and destructive schemes" that the AFT and the labor movement have ever faced, AFT president Sandra Feldman told AFT leaders at the union's COPE/Legislative conference in Washington, D.C., last week.

Feldman also urged the 150 conference participants to make fighting so-called paycheck protection ballot initiatives and legislation a top priority.

From the Las Vegas Sun/Associated Press, 4/15/98

Miss America Chides Sex Ed Programs

Miss America, Kate Shindle, says she finds many sexual education programs "grossly inadequate" in teaching students about AIDS and how to protect themselves from the HIV virus.

Shindle said most school teachers and principals know what their students need to learn to protect themselves but are prevented from discussing it. She encouraged students, parents and educators to engage in active dialogue with each other, "dialogue which does not pass judgment but rather listens to the actions of our youth and educates them on how to make their behavior safer."

From the National PTA, 4/3/98

PTA Alerts Members to Oppose Coverdell Tax Bill

The Coverdell tax bill, H.R. 2646, will be debated on April 20th. As proposed, the bill would allow a tax subsidy for parents, relatives and corporations to pay for K-12 tuition and expenses at public, religious and private schools; National PTA opposes the bill. Seventeen amendments will be offered when the debate begins. Two proposed amendments that National PTA supports are: 1) a substitute by Sen. Moseley-Braun [D-IL] that would fund school construction projects; and 2) an amendment by Sen. Glenn [D-OH] to strike the language that would allow a tax subsidy for K-12 education.

From the Mackinac Institute for Public Policy, 4/6/98

Tax Credits Are Not Vouchers!

Writing about the Universal Tuition Tax Credit (UTTC), a plan proposed by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy,and refuting "false characterizations" by the Michigan Education Association, Joseph P. Overton states "With a tax credit, the taxpayer pays tuition for a student at a public or nonpublic school, and when he calculates his taxes, he subtracts the amount paid in tuition (subject to a maximum limit of fifty percent of what public schools receive per student) from his tax liability. The state is not involved in writing checks or selecting the school. The taxpayer, having already made the funding of education a priority, is simply allowed to offset a portion of the taxes he pays to support the school system he does not use.

A tax credit is more like a tax deduction than a voucher. The charitable contribution deduction and the home mortgage deduction are good examples. The federal tax code allows a taxpayer to pay less taxes if he donates to his church, an organization like the Salvation Army, or even to a nonprofit private school. If the taxpayer makes such a contribution, he pays less in taxes. No one calls this a "voucher."

From the Education Intelligence Agency, 4/13/98

Opposition to NEA/AFT Merger Grows

Recent events make it clear that NEA will need landslides in pro-merger states in order to overcome a coalescing opposition.

• The Illinois Education Association (ranked 6th in membership) voted to oppose merger by a 2-1 margin.
• The Iowa State Education Association (ranked 22nd) voted to oppose merger by a nearly 3-1 margin.
• Affiliates from several right-to-work states -- most specifically Georgia, Virginia and Iowa -- have threatened to disaffiliate from NEA if the merger is approved.

One major issue is causing the uproar -- affiliation with the AFL-CIO.

From the Education Commission of the States, 4/6/98

ECS Announces New School Reform Initiatives

The Education Commission of the States (ECS) announced a series of new initiatives -- three consumer publications, state and regional workshops, and a web page -- to help states access new funding for schoolwide academic improvement efforts.

Under funding approved by Congress in 1997, schools can now apply for grants of at least $50,000 a year to implement research-based, comprehensive school reform models. Schoolwide academic improvement efforts focus on reorganizing and revitalizing all aspects of a school's operation, rather than on isolated, piecemeal programs. As such, these reform initiatives help teachers, principals, parents, and policymakers harness the power of curriculum and instruction, student assessment, professional development, parent involvement, school management, and resource allocation so they all work together for higher student achievement.

From the Las Vegas Sun/Associated Press, 4/3/98

Hasidic School District Dealt Blow

New York State Supreme Court Justice Joseph C. Teresi dealt another blow to attempts to allow a Hasidic Jewish community near New York City to set up its own school district for disabled children, saying it violates the constitutionally mandated separation of church and state.

Leaders for the sect say its disabled children do not learn well in non-Hasidic schools. By creating a special district, the community also can control the special education of its students and the $3 million in state aid it qualifies for each year.

The state School Boards Association has repeatedly challenged the special Kiryas Joel districts, arguing that the disabled children can be taught effectively by the nearby public school district. A similar challenge to a 1989 law permitting the enclave rare educational autonomy went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which threw out the statute in 1994.