Education News

BOISE, Idaho - Idaho hopes to win $75 million or more in competitive federal grants for public schools, money that officials say could be the state's only opportunity to boost funding for education in the next few years. Full Story »

HONG KONG - How do you say school's out in Chinese? Full Story »

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. - Officials at the University of California, Santa Cruz say dozens of protesters who were occupying the university's main administrative building have ended their protest. Full Story »

LEXINGTON, Va. - Virginia Military Institute is defending itself against a lengthy investigation into accusations that the school's policies are sexist and hostile toward female cadets, a dozen years after women won the right to enroll. Full Story »

LONG BEACH, Calif. - Authorities say five male students have been arrested on suspicion of sexual battery after two ninth-grade girls were attacked at a Long Beach high school. Full Story »

ATLANTA - When Liz Fitzgerald realized her son and daughter were forced to read books in math class while the other children caught up, she had them moved into gifted classes at their suburban Atlanta elementary school. Full Story »

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Community colleges have joined Missouri's four-year colleges and universities in agreeing to freeze tuition next school year if state officials promise to nick and not slash their budgets. Full Story »

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Student protests spread at California state universities over a big tuition hike Friday, with protesters barricading themselves inside a building at the University of California, Berkeley. Full Story »

BETHESDA, Md. - Fresh from his weeklong trip through Asia, President Barack Obama is taking time to catch up on dad duty. Full Story »

SANTA FE, N.M. - Legislative auditors have faulted poor financial management by school districts for allowing questionable spending of public money, including the purchase of a $91,000 tow truck. Full Story »

DETROIT - The Detroit Public Schools will seek a court order forcing a school board member to testify about his role in a $1.5 billion construction bond issue, the district's emergency financial manager said Thursday. Full Story »

SEATTLE - Three school districts and a coalition of charter schools have agreed to be test kitchens for some radical ideas for improving teacher quality — from paying new teachers to spend another year practicing before getting their own class to letting student test scores affect teacher pay. Full Story »

BOISE, Idaho - Two months before the 2010 Idaho Legislature convenes, the session's bitter tenor is set: Public education funding is due to be slashed again and state agencies now scraping to get by could be eliminated to help cover a remaining $52 million budget shortfall. Full Story »

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Auditor General Jack Wagner said about one-fifth of Pennsylvania's school districts have recently been involved with interest rate "swaps," a practice he said the Legislature should ban. Full Story »

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - State officials are facing a second lawsuit filed in as many weeks accusing them of shortchanging public schools in violation of a state constitutional provision requiring a "high quality" education for Florida's children. Full Story »

CHICAGO - Chicago police said Wednesday that tests have revealed gunshot residue on the hand of Michael Scott — the strongest evidence yet that the president of the city's school board took his own life. Full Story »

ST. LOUIS - Tuition and academic fees will be frozen for the second straight year at Missouri's public four-year colleges and universities, Gov. Jay Nixon announced Tuesday. Full Story »

OKLAHOMA CITY - Cuts in state funding for education mean teachers at one northeastern Oklahoma school now must clean their own classrooms while their superintendent scrubs the toilets. A superintendent in a neighboring county is considering laying off five teachers. Yet another is asking veteran teachers to consider early retirement. Full Story »