An in-depth exploration of education in the 21st century South.
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Thursday Reading List: Georgia and Tennessee Receive NCLB Waivers
A White House official says 10 states will receive waivers from No Child Left Behind, including Tennessee and Georgia. (AP)
Georgia state House members rejected a constitutional amendment that would expand the state’s ability to open and fund charter schools. (AJC)
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s proposed budget is not expected to cut higher education. (Times-Picayune)
The Mississippi Senate voted to merge three school districts. (WAPT)
Teenage opponents to Tennessee’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill as lawmakers postponed taking it up. (Nashville Public Radio)
Alabama lawmakers are skeptical of Gov. Robert Bentley’s plan to use money from the state’s Education Trust Fund to support the General Fund. (Birmingham News)
Louisiana State School Superintendent John White’s plan to overhaul how schools are rated sparked controversy when it was unveiled to a key advisory panel. (The Advocate)
An Alabama state school board member said she thinks charter schools should be handled by the board, not legislatively. (Gadsden Times)
Tennessee higher education officials said they are trying to get more state support and look more to the private sector. (Memphis Commercial-Appeal)
Wednesday Reading List: Louisiana Proposes New School Rating System
Louisiana is proposing to change the way it grades schools to rely more heavily on test scores as part of its No Child Left Behind waiver application. (Times Picayune)
Georgia Republicans tried to rework and Democrats presented an alternative to a proposed constitutional amendment to expand charter schools. (AJC)
The Georgia House could vote on a version of the proposeed amendment on Wednesday. (WABE)
School officials in Hamilton County, Tennessee are launching an investigation into allegations of cheating at a local elementary school. (Times Free Press)
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley is asking the legislature to pass a law allowing a limited number of charter schools to open in the state. (AP)
An Atlanta-based thinktank proposed overhauling the wa lottery funds are spent on early learning and college scholarships. (Online Athens)
Alabama’s education department has teamed up with its teachers union to try to attract talented new teachers. (Huntsville Times)
Recovery School District officials are simplifying the application process to enroll in the district’s nearly 70 campuses. (Times Picayune)
Monday Reading List: Little Definitive Proof Of La. Voucher Program Success
Louisiana’s voucher program, which Gov. Bobby Jindal is pushing to expand, has yet to produce enough data to definitively show it is boosting student achievement. (Times-Picayune)
Tennessee legislators are cool the to the governor’s proposal to raise class sizes because of fears of how it will impact academic achievement. (Tennesseean)
New superintendents are leading 60 of Mississippi’s 152 school districts. (Jackson Clarion-Ledger)
Corporal punishment is legal in Georgia, and state records show nearly 22,000 instances of it last school year. (11 Alive)
The shooting death of an Alabama middle school student two years ago has prompted the district to overhaul how it approaches campus safety. (Huntsville Times)
Atlanta parents protested the districts’ redistricting proposal. (AJC)
Mississippi advocates launched a campaign to create a publicly-funded early learning program in the state. (WLBT)
A move towards a need-based HOPE scholarship program is currently opposed by Georgia Republicans, but that could change. (AJC)
And Tennessee is watching Georgia’s experience with HOPE as it prepares to make changes to its own scholarship program. (Times Free Press)
Friday Reading List: Georgia Charter School Amendment Progresses
The proposed Georgia amendment that would allow state officials to approve and fund charter schools passed out of legislative committee. (AJC)
Alabama state Senator Shadrack McGill called giving teachers big pay raises unbiblical. (Press-Register)
A pro-school choice lobbying group is calling for the resignation of teachers union chief Michael Walker-Jones over comments he made about impoverished parents. (Times-Picayune)
Mississippi’s higher education commissioner warned that students could lose state scholarships unless the legislature puts more money into financial aid. (AP)
A bill under consideration in Tennessee would revoke the licenses of teachers who’ve defaulted on student loans. (WREG)
The Georgia General Assembly okayed legislation to repeal nearly three dozen outdated or never implemented education regulations. (Florida Times-Union)
The Georgia Departments of Education and Agriculture are partnering to serve more locally sourced school lunches. (Access North Georgia)
Thursday Reading List: Mississippi Schools Chief Outlines School Choice Plan
Mississippi’s top education official announced a plan to allow parents of students at public schools that lose accreditation to transfer to another school. (Jackson Clarion Ledger)
Tennessee lawmakers have filed nearly 20 bills proposing changes to the state’s teacher evaluation. (The Tennesseean)
Catholic educators across Louisiana are preparing to roll out a marketing campaign promoting their schools. (Times-Picayune)
Growth in tax funds for Alabama’s Education Trust Fund slowed in January. (Birmingham News)
Alabama teachers are working to bring Black History Month to life for students. (Huntsville Times)
Georgia lawmakers are considering a bill that would ban students who are convicted of hazing from the state’s schools and colleges. (AJC)
A committee vote is expected Thursday on Georgia’s proposed constitutional amendment that would allow the state to authorize charter schools. (AJC)
A student at a Huntsville, Ala. high school was hospitalized after police quelled a fight with pepper spray. (Huntsville Times)
Wednesday Reading List: Bill to Bar Illegal Immigrants From Ga. Public Colleges Sparks Debate
A bill that would bar illegal immigrants from attending public Georgia colleges and universities generated heated debate and lawmakers deferred a vote. (AJC)
Women outnumber men by a three to two ratio at historically black colleges and universities. (AJC)
Black women also significantly outnumber black men in the University System of Georgia, and schools are working to recruit, retain and graduate more male students. (AJC)
Former D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee’s education reform group is lobbying for school choice and changing tenure laws in Alabama. (Birmingham News)
East Tennessee teachers are expressing mixed feelings about the state’s new evaluation system. (Knoxville News Sentinel)
Lobbying is intensifying around a pro-charter school state constitutional amendment in Georgia that could see its first vote this week. (AJC)
Mississippi’s school chief is asking for $305 million more dollars in education funds but acknowledged that lawmakers were unlikely to find the money. (AP via Laurel Leader-Call)
Few students take advantage of free tutoring schools must offer under No Child Left Behind. (Augusta Chronicle)
A plan to ease overcrowding in Jefferson Parish, La., could force hundreds of student transfers and the creation of the city’s first K-8 school. (Times-Picayune)
Tennessee’s largest teachers union is arguing that Gov. Bill Haslam’s education plans could mean the loss of 8,000 teaching jobs. (News Channel 5)
Georgia lawmakers have introduced legislation that would change the formula designed to eliminate funding disparities between poor and affluent school districts. (AJC)
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal’s plan to fund reading coach fills a need, but skeptics wonder if it will go far enough. (AJC)
Tuesday Reading List: More Funds For Tennessee Schools Under Proposed Budget
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam’s budget includes nearly $48 million in growth for the state’s education funding formula. (Times Free Press)
Two bills that would expand Georgia’s voucher program could be headed to the floor of the Senate for a vote. (AJC)
A new rating of state science standards calls Mississippi and Arkansas’ standards more clear than Tennessee’s. (Memphis Commercial Appeal)
Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu criticized Gov. Bobby Jindal’s plan to expand vouchers, but supports other key elements of his reform proposals. (Times-Picayune)
Jindal criticized the Louisiana Association of Educators’ Michael Walker-Jones for questioning whether poor parents can hold their schools accountable. (Times-Picayune)
Compared to Indiana’s voucher plan, Jindal’s reform plan seems more moderate. (Monroe News Star)
Birmingham residents will learn the results of a study of air toxins on the site of a proposed elementary school this fall. (Birmingham News)
Georgia school districts are waiting for news about whether federal officials will waive No Child Left Behind’s accountability system and let the state replace it with a new “College and Career Ready Performance Index.” (WMAZ)
Alabama’s career and technical educators are worrying that lawmakers will cut funds for their program. (WHNT)
More than 600 parents and other Atlanta residents sounded off about the city’s first school redistricting plans in nearly a decade. (AJC)
Five teachers implicatedin the Atlanta cheating scandal will learn next week whether the state will strip them of their licenses. (AJC)
Monday Reading List: Mississippi Schools Spending Less On Textbooks
Alabama legislators are considering a bill to allow charter schools, though it’s still not clear what exactly a charter school bill might look like. (Birmingham News)
The Louisiana Association of Educators rolled out a reform plan calling for better teacher training and less reliance on tests in teacher evaluations. (Times-Picayune)
The debate between the Louisiana teachers unions and Gov. Bobby Jindal is heavy on uncompromising rhetoric. (AP via The Town Talk)
Leaders at other colleges and universities that have merged offer lessons for Georgia institutions. (Augusta Chronicle)
Tennessee education officials plan to spend $10 million on non-profits like Teach for America to recruit new teachers to hard-to-staff schools. (The Tennesseean)
Mississippi school districts spent $14 million less on textbooks than they did three years ago, in part because of increased reliance on technology. (Jackson Clarion-Ledger)
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam’s budget is expected to allot $55 million in new education funds aimed at maintaining the status quo. (Knoxville News Sentinel)
Students in south Mobile County, Ala. are still feeling the effects of 2010’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill. (Press-Register)
Louisiana State School Superintendent John White lays out his thoughts on effective teaching, teacher evaluations, and other topics in a long interview. (The Town Talk)
Higher education costs have not risen as steeply in Georgia as they have in many states. (WABE)
For its second search for a superintendent, Mobile County, Ala., education officials are devising a job description for the first time. (Press-Register)
A new redistricting proposal in Atlanta would close about a dozen schools and build two new schools to ease overcrowding in the northern part of the city. (AJC)
The Madison County, Ala., school board may have violated open meetings laws when it used code to discuss superintendent candidates at a public meeting. (Huntsville Times)
Huntsville, Ala., city schools will soon use technology to track which buses students ride and where they get on and off. (Government Technology)
An Alabama lawmaker wants to give teachers with up to eight years on the job a 2.5 percent raise. (Gadsen Times)
Friday Reading List: Mississippi Lawmakers Hear Charter Testimony
Mississippi lawmakers heard testimony exploring the possibility of allowing charter schools to open in the state. (Jackson Clarion-Ledger)
The Alabama Department of Education will oversee the troubled Midfield school district’s finances as part of a state intervention program. (Birmingham News)
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal proposed grading early childhood centers and defunding low-performing programs. (AP via Times-Picayune)
Tennessee K-12 and higher education officials are working together to explore ways to better prepare high school students for college. (Tennesseean)
A bill that would give Georgia colleges more funds to construct dorms and other non-academic buildings advanced in the legislature. (AJC)
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam asked the State Collaborative on Reforming Education to hold roundtables and surveys to gather feedback on teacher evaluations. (Tennesseean)
Thursday Reading List: Second Georgia School Involved In Slavery-Related Scandal
A second Atlanta-area school is being accused of allowing students to participate in slavery-themed activities, this time at recess, students and parents say. (AJC)
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley promised to bring charter schools and overhauled teacher evaluations to the state. (The Birmingham News)
A gay student in Tuscaloosa is accusing her school of forcing her to remove a sweatshirt printed with a pro-gay rights message. (Tuscaloosa News)
The Mississippi legislature will hold a public hearing on a proposal for a new, expanded charter school law. (Jackson Clarion-Ledger)
Georgia state legislators are divided on whether HOPE scholarships should be changed to target more low-income students. (Savannah Morning News)
Dougherty County schools, where investigators found widespread test tampering, may also have to return federal funds they received because of the inflated test scores. (AP via AJC)
Louisiana is giving teachers new resources to help them teach the state’s history in honor of its bicentennial. (Shreveport Times)
Alabama A&M students rallied to protest what they say is the administration’s lack of respect for students. (Huntsville Times)
Louisiana State School Superintendent John White promoted Gov. Bobby Jindal’s reform plan on a school visit in Alexandria. (The Town Talk)
And Jindal lunched with a group of pro-voucher parent activists. (Shreveport Times)
A California charter school director has been tapped to lead a charter incubator program in Nashville. (Tennesseean)
