CHICAGO — The Chicago Board of Education will close 50 schools in the city; the decision will mark the largest wave school closures in United States history.
The board saved only four schools from its initial proposal, which the board has stated will save $560 million over the next decade for the district that is currently facing a $1 billion deficit.
MOORESVILLE, N.C. — President Barack Obama is calling for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to lead a campaign that would bring high-speed broadband Internet to 99 percent of K-12 schools by 2018.
Entitled the ConnectED initiative, the President unveiled his plan at Mooresville Middle School last week during his “Middle Class Jobs and Opportunity” tour.
“In a country where we expect free Wi-Fi with our coffee, why shouldn’t we have it in our schools,” Obama said.
LOS ANGELES — HGA Architects and Engineers’ (HGA) Los Angeles office has completed the design for Phase I of the new West Valley Campus at in Palm Springs, Calif.
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas universities are anxiously awaiting the governor’s decision on whether a bill that would bring more than $2 billion to Texas university capital projects will go forward in the special session.
MOORE, Okla. — In the aftermath of a devastating EF-5 twister that killed seven children at a Moore, Okla. elementary school, schools in the nation’s “tornado alley” are looking to establish safer facilities with required storm shelters or safe rooms.
PEABODY, Mass. — The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) has approved Peabody city council’s request to borrow $92.6 million for school construction.
The multimillion-dollar bond will be used to build the new Higgins Middle School in Peabody, with groundbreaking date set in 2014.
AUSTIN, Texas — A charter school reform bill that would increase the cap of charter schools has passed the Texas state legislator and is poised for Governor Rick Perry’s signature into law.
MISSOULA, Mont. — The University of Montana (UM), Missoula has been threatened with a lawsuit from the Advocates for Missoula’s Future (AMF) if the university continues to plan construction at the south campus.
WASHINGTON — Students and the Department of Education are preparing to weather the storm of the sequester and its various hits to financial assistance and grant programs.
The Budget Control Act of 2011, which developed an automatic 10-year process of “across-the-board” federal cuts if Congress failed to reduce federal deficit, will take its toll on financial aid and several grants that have eased tuition and fees for hundreds of thousands of students.
HEAMPTSEAD, N.Y.