WASHINGTON — A bipartisan bill that would lower the cost of borrowing student loans and reverse a recent loan rate hike has gone to President Barack Obama for approval.
After the House overwhelming approved the bill in a 392-31 vote, students in the United States may soon receive lower interest rates for federal student loans.
QUINCY, Ill. — Dozens of private universities in Illinois recently discovered that they would receive millions of dollars of additional funding from the state. The funding is a result of a capital construction program that helps fund campus development for private colleges and universities.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — A new facility for the Department of Entomology at Texas A&M University, to be named the Center for Urban and Structural Entomology, will begin construction soon. This 11,000-square-foot facility will ensure that the university remains a strong participant in the discovery, development and implementation of research to control insects in and around homes and other structures.
GREENVILLE, N.C. — The UNC Center for Civil Rights (CCR) is representing a group of African American parents and the Pitt County Coalition for Educating Black Children in a case concerning racial segregation in a North Carolina school district. This district — Pitt County Schools (PCS) — put a plan into action in 2011 that redistributed students throughout the district for 2012. This redistribution left many schools with a disproportionately high number of minority students.
PHILADELPHIA — Surviving with a $304 million deficit, teachers, staff and education activists of the School District of Philadelphia are calling the funding shortage of area schools a crisis.
In a letter addressed to Education Secretary Arne Duncan from Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, and education activist Diane Ravitch, Duncan is pressured to intervene.
NEW ORLEANS — A $1.2 million fraud oversight contract between the Inspector General (IG) and the Recovery School District (RSD) was recently canceled. The contract, which was originally expected to last three years, ended earlier in June, two years early. It was put in place to help develop and reshape the structure of New Orleans’ school landscape.
WASHINGTON — The D.C. Council recently decided that all students in D.C. will have free access to Metro buses starting in the fall of 2013. This is part of the council’s plan to use the $50 million of unexpected revenue from this year’s strong income tax, the growing population and a lasting city economy.
LIMA, Ohio — With many school facilities empty during summer break, maintenance and repair teams are moving in to create a healthier, more productive environment for students come fall.
Lima, Ohio-headquartered Allied Environmental Services Inc is gearing up for the busy summer season to provide school facilities with services aimed at environmentally sensitive projects such as asbestos removal and repair, AHERA 3-year inspections, laboratory chemical management and disposal, neutralization tank cleaning and underground storage tank upgrades.
SALEM, Ore. — The House approved the budget for Oregon’s public schools and Gov. John Kitzhaber’s spending initiatives on July 1. The budget, $6.55 billion for K-12 education, was approved by a 53-5 vote. This will be a drastic 17.5 percent increase from the 2011-13 budget.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — While students and administrators of California’s higher education system can breathe a sigh of relief with the revised state budget for the time being, the economy will continue into an era of unpredictability, according to a statement by Governor Jerry Brown.
