District looks to end desegregation case
-- Associated Press, DeSoto Appeal

Tennessee: January 6, 2009 -- The dozens of 4-inch-thick folders stuffed into a large filing cabinet at the U.S. District Court clerk's office in Aberdeen offer sobering evidence of the duration and complexity of Lowndes County School District's quest to achieve unitary status. LCSD officials believe the case may be drawing to a close within the next several months. Achieving unitary status will free the district from Justice Department oversight, an arrangement imposed on many school districts in the South in the wake of school desegregation. Since 1970, LCSD has been required to report regularly to the U.S. Department of Justice and obtain permission before building or renovating any school facilities. "I believe it is the plan of the (LCSD) board as a whole to do everything in their power to satisfy the Justice Department by the next court hearing," said board attorney Jeff Smith. "We are either going to reach an agreement with the Justice Department during our next hearing or pursue the matter on our own. If nothing else, that's what I would like everyone to understand. "A lot of people think we are just dragging our feet on this, but that is certainly not the case. I think we may be getting close to getting the Justice Department to come on board with us," Smith said. A hearing on the issue with U.S. Dist. Judge Mike Mills is scheduled for this month. At the hearing, LCSD representatives will attempt to prove to the court it has satisfied criteria outlined in a consent order filed against the school district in 2006. In the 2006 order, the Justice Department outlined several projects to be completed within the school district before it is granted unitary status.

Portland wins almost all arguments in David Douglas urban renewal case
-- JAMES MAYER, The Oregonian

Oregon: January 6, 2009 -- The city has -- mostly -- won a legal challenge to its decision to divert urban renewal money from downtown to east Portland. The Portland City Council in June approved spending $19 million from the River District to build an elementary school and community center 10 miles away. The idea, pushed by former city Commissioner Erik Sten, was to use some of the money generated in the downtown district, which includes the Pearl, and invest it in the city's outer east area. A group of former Portland Development Commission members and staffers, including Bob Ames, a Pearl landowner and former PDC chairman, filed a lawsuit challenging the decision. The state Land Use Board of Appeals just issued an opinion, sending the case back to the city for more work. The appeals board agreed with the city's arguments in all but one issue raised by the critics. On the central legal question of whether establishing a satellite district violated the state's urban renewal law, the board said the law neither allows nor prohibits such a move. It agreed with the city's description of the proposed school site as "blighted." And the board disagreed with the critics' argument that the city wasn't allowed to pay for construction of a public school. But the board agreed with the critics that the city failed to show how a new school in the David Douglas School District would benefit downtown. The city argued that the plan would provide schools for families displaced from the central city by rapidly rising housing prices, but the appeals board said the city didn't provide evidence of that. The city also argued that open space portions of the school property would create a parklike setting that isn't present in downtown, but the board said the possibility that Pearl residents will travel 10 miles for recreation on the school grounds was "too tenuous" to support that contention.

Roseville board to vote on plans for sixth high school
-- Walter Yost , Sacramento Bee

California: January 6, 2009 -- Roseville Joint Union High School District trustees are expected tonight to hire an architect to design a sixth high school campus for an area of the district with few homes and few students. Although the district was forced to make significant budget reductions this school year and faces a potential cut of $3 million from its 2009-2010 budget, a $115 million school construction bond approved by voters two years ago can't be used as a budget bailout. By law, it can only be used to build school facilities. One thing is certain, district board member Garry Genzlinger said, "There will be a sixth high school eventually." Such are the challenges school districts face planning for the future in the midst of a unpredictable economy. "It's all about housing starts. Development is slow right now," said district Superintendent Tony Monetti. In January 2007, hoping to get ahead of the growth curve, the district created a school facilities improvement district to tax future property owners for a new high school in a sparsely developed portion of Placer County. Later that year, the handful of registered voters living within the improvement district approved a bond to help fund the new school. The final tally in the special election was 11 to 1 in favor. The improvement district is anticipated to someday have 25,000 homes. However, with the sluggish housing market, homes aren't popping up as quickly as anticipated.

Baltimore County executive says priorities are schools, safety
-- Nick Madigan, Baltimore Sun

Maryland: January 5, 2009 -- Earlier, Smith, reading from prepared remarks, said Gov. Martin O'Malley and the legislature had addressed the state's $1.7 billion dollar structural deficit last year by making significant budget cuts and reforming Maryland's tax structure. Nevertheless, he went on, "no community in America has escaped the consequences of the subprime and credit crises." He urged continued support of education, in particular the legislature's $325 million commitment to a statewide public-school construction program for fiscal year 2010. The economic crisis "makes the education of our future work force more important than ever," he said. "Without these capital funds, school systems across the state will be unable to support critical improvements and necessary expansion of their school facilities." That money, Smith said, is particularly important to Baltimore County, which has the second-oldest school stock in the state. As he spoke, the school board's president, JoAnn C. Murphy, sat listening in the audience. "Many of our schools have seen students pass through their doors for more than 50 years," Smith said. "To ensure that our facilities can continue to meet the needs of our students in the 21st century, we must continue to support the aggressive systemic renovation program that is restoring our older schools." Baltimore County public schools have requested $84.5 million in state funds for construction and renovations this year, he said, including projects at Parkville High School, Catonsville High School and Milford Mill Academy that would account for $20.4 million. An additional $1.2 million is intended for window replacements at Hebbville Elementary School, a roof replacement at Colgate Elementary School and a new boiler at Oliver Beach Elementary School. Smith said the county is also asking for $18.9 million to build a new George Washington Carver Center for the Arts and Technology. Replacing the structure on the existing campus, he said, is more cost-effective than renovating the aging Carver Center. In addition, he said, increased numbers of students in the Towson area require the construction of a new elementary school, and $7 million dollars has been requested from the state toward that project.

Obama Pledges Schools Upgrade in Stimulus Plan
-- Libby Quaid,, USA Today/Associated Press

National: January 1, 2009 -- Barack Obama probably cannot fix every leaky roof and busted boiler in the nation's schools. But educators say his sweeping school modernization program — if he spends enough — could jump-start student achievement. More kids than ever are crammed into aging, run-down schools that need an estimated $255 billion in repairs, renovations or construction. While the president-elect is likely to ask Congress for only a fraction of that, education experts say it still could make a big difference. The need is definitely out there," said Robert Canavan, chairman of the Rebuild America's Schools coalition, which includes both teachers' unions and large education groups. "A federal investment of that magnitude would really have a significant impact." Educators argue that spiffy classrooms help children learn and also remove health risks. But they warn that Obama's school spending plan won't stimulate the economy if it requires matching funds from state and local governments whose tax revenues have been slashed by the recession. And they caution that throwing huge sums of money at programs that haven't proven effective, such as the federal "E-Rate" program that gives technology discounts to schools, won't help student achievement or the economy. Obama is promising to give every student access to the Internet — the federal "E-Rate" program. Outgoing Education Secretary Margaret Spellings pointed out that billions already has been spent through the "E-Rate" program. "It's made very little difference in enhancing student achievement," she said. "We should never spend money in the public sector, especially in education, unless we're getting something for it, unless it's to some good end," Spellings said. "I commend him (Obama) for taking that on. That's another very ripe area. But not unless it's moving the needle for kids." There's widespread agreement, however, that improving classrooms helps student performance. Studies in Houston, New York City and North Dakota have made a link between classroom conditions and performance; in the New York study, researchers found kids in crowded classrooms scored lower in math and reading. Nearly half the principals in primary and secondary schools said deteriorating conditions are interfering with learning, according to the Education Department.