Search Result for: Alabama


alabama Faces Serious Budgetary Woes

...Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. alabama schools are hoping to avoid further “proration” this school year. During proration the state makes across-the-board cuts in school funding after the state’s budget has been passed and, consequently, after districts have made funding commitments and hiring decisions. During the 2010 fiscal year (which runs October 1–September 30 in alabama), districts were prorated ...
Date: 2010-12-21

alabama Funding Discrimination Lawsuit Moves Forward

...equire registration or expire over time. After multiple setbacks in the state courts through 2002, alabama school funding plaintiffs have turned to federal court for relief with a new litigation strategy. The hearing in Lynch v. alabama, first filed in 2008, began earlier this month in Huntsville. Plaintiffs from rural Lawrence and Sumter counties asked a federal court in the Northeastern Division for alabama to suspend several provisions of the state’s constitution, claiming that those p...
Date: 2011-03-30

alabama Immigration Law Draws More Federal Scrutiny

...osting, but may require registration or expire over time. In a letter to school superintendents in alabama, Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez of the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) has reminded them of the responsibility of schools to ensure that no students experience barriers to accessing public education. The letter also asked for detailed statistics about English Language Learning (ELL) students. The DOJ is seeking enrollment numbers as well as other information that could reveal how m...
Date: 2011-11-29

alabama Judge Finds Rural Discrimination in School Funding But No Legal Basis to Rule for Plaintiffs

...me. A federal district court judge has ruled against plaintiffs from Lawrence and Sumter Counties, alabama who claimed that black schoolchildren in the state are disproportionately affected by the state’s tax code and that it is a vestige of institutionalized discrimination. During the bench trial held earlier this year, attorneys for the plaintiffs presented historical evidence about the racially motivated tax laws found in the 1901 alabama State Constitution along with testimony related...
Date: 2011-11-29

alabama School Funding Trial Wraps Up

...current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Last month, Lynch v. alabama was heard by Federal Court Judge Linwood Smith. The state's tax law is being challenged, and both sides made extensive presentations related to the state's history, with emphasis on the circumstances and motivations behind the creation of alabama’s tax structure. As reported in March RSFN (www.ruraledu.org/articles.php?id=2676), plaintiffs from Lawrence and Sumter Counties are as...
Date: 2011-05-29

alabama Schools Not Allowed to Check Immigration Status

...sting, but may require registration or expire over time. One of the more controversial elements of alabama’s sweeping immigration law, passed last year, was the requirement that schools check the immigration status of all new students and their parents and report a tally of the number of students whose families lacked immigration or citizenship documents. That provision along with several others was immediately challenged in federal court and an injunction was issued barring enforcement ...
Date: 2012-08-28

alabama State Department of Education Sued Over Student Records

...: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. alabama's controversial and extensive immigration law includes a provision that requires schools to obtain information on the immigration status of all newly enrolling students and their families. The provision does not require schools to report the names of students whose families do not present papers, but it does require schools to report the number of students to the State Department of Educat...
Date: 2012-10-29

alabama Teachers In Political and Legal Crosshairs

... time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Like a number of other states, alabama has taken action in recent years aimed at curtailing tenure protections for teachers and at reducing the influence of teachers on education policy and budgeting. But lawmakers in alabama didn’t rely only on education and labor law to accomplish their goals. Instead, a range of legislation, including a new set of ethics laws, the state's new immigration law, and assaults on the state'...
Date: 2011-09-28

alabama Voucher Law Passes Amid Major Controversy

...y changed by Republican lawmakers into a full-fledged voucher program to support private schools in alabama. In March, a bill originating from the alabama House was written to allow school systems to deviate from certain regulatory requirements after requesting permission from the State Board of Education. The bill was voted out to a House-Senate conference committee. Republican members left the committee meeting then returned with a heavily amended bill, the Private School Voucher Act. That de...
Date: 2013-05-30

Judge Suspends Portions of alabama Immigration Law Affecting K-12 Education

...re over time. Earlier this month a federal judge temporarily blocked implementation of portions of alabama’s controversial new immigration law, including its K-12 education provisions, while the law is on appeal by the U.S. Department of Justice. The blocked education provisions include a requirement that schools determine and report the legal status of all newly enrolling children and their parents. The law also required extensive school-level analysis of information related to students...
Date: 2011-10-27

Key Portion of alabama Immigration Law Upheld

...ently enacted far-reaching laws designed to stop or slow down illegal immigration into the country, alabama’s H.B. 56 is touted as the “strongest in the country.” Notable in alabama’s law is the requirement on schools to report on the number of students who did not produce a United States birth certificate or other acceptable proof that they are in the country legally. As in other southern states, a high percentage of Latino immigrants live and attend school in rural com...
Date: 2011-09-28

Save alabama's Small Schools Hosts Statewide Meeting

...This article appeared in the April 2010 Rural Policy Matters. The rural education advocacy group, Save alabama’s Small Schools (SASS), held its first annual conference earlier this month. The group initially formed in 2003 to support the state’s small rural public schools and to advocate for state and local policies and programs that ensure the best educational opportunities for rural students. In 2009, SASS incorporated as a non-profit organization. Since then SASS has held annua...
Date: 2010-04-29

alabama Schools Facing Lawsuit over Use of Pepper Spray

...0/11/civil_rights_group_threatens_t.html www.courthousenews.com/2010/12/03/32292.htm www2.alabamas13.com/news/2010/dec/01/lawsuit-filed-against-birmingham-city-schools-usin-ar-1156773/ Read the complaint here: www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/downloads/case/Birmingham-schools-mace-complaint.pdf Read more from the February 2011 Rural Policy Matters....
Date: 2011-02-24

2008 State Election Update: A Sampler

...This article appeared in the November 2008 Rural Policy Matters. alabama. In a statewide vote, Amendment 1 passed (57% to 43%), creating "rainy day" accounts for the state's Education Trust Fund, which funds preK through post-secondary (and some other items) and the General Fund, which funds most non-education items in the state's budget. The constitutional amendment gives the governor authority to borrow from the alabama Trust Fund, a $3 billion state-owned investment account that co...
Date: 2008-11-06

2010 Rural School and Community Trust / Fund For Teachers Grant Recipients

...ecipients 2008 Grant Recipients alabama   Dixie Elementary School, Opelika Librarian Pamela Williamson toured Germany, the Netherlands, and France to observe how European culture and landscape influenced modern day fairy tales to bring the written word to life for students. Resources  Presentation: Fairy Tales and Battle Grounds  Curriculum: Letters from War     LOUISIANA   Zachary Elem...
Date: 2010-10-26