Schools pay for teacher pensions? They say no   Chicago Daily Herald –  Top Illinois Democrats are thinking about shifting billions of dollars in teacher retirement costs onto local schools to help save the state’s crippled finances, but suburban education officials say they don’t have any

Record number of students take advanced placement exams  The State Journal-Register – The Illinois State Board of Education says growth in participation rates was especially high among Latino students. The number of Latinos taking AP classes has quadrupled in the last decade.

D118 board decides to cut
Danville Commercial News – Sean Burns, the UniServe director for the Illinois Education Association, asked McKiernan if District 118 had enough money in its education fund to operate …

District 15 proposes staff cuts, larger class sizes to cut deficit
Arlington Heights Daily Herald – save $1.65 million annually, would be reinstituted if the 12,000-student district realizes savings through negotiated salaries and benefits with its bargaining units. That depends particularly on the teachers union, whose contract expires this summer. Thompson wouldn’t disclose specific contract figures, but said the administration believes that through successful negotiations,

D34 Plans $3.2 Mil In Cuts
Glenview Journal – Glenview Elementary School Dist. 34 officials put together $3.2 million in specific cuts presented at a school board meeting Monday. More than 100 people were in attendance at Monday’s Dist. 34 meeting reacting to the administration’s cost cutting proposal first released Friday.

St. Joseph-Ogden teacher faces assault charges
Danville Commercial-News – sexual assault of victims between 13 and 17 years old were filed Tuesday by the Champaign County State’s Attorney’s Office against the 33-year-old Jon A. Jamison, a special education teacher and coach at the high school. He was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday afternoon. According to the Champaign County Sheriff’s Department, investigators received information

SJ-O Superintendent Responds to Allegations and Possible Lawsuit
Champaign WCIA (CBS) 3 – A former high school student is looking to sue the St. Joseph-Ogden High School District, superintendent, and principal after she said her former coach touched her inappropriately.  The now 19-year-old college student’s attorney, Tom Bruno, faxed over a letter to the district Wednesday afternoon, alerting them his client planned to seek damages. 

Director: College Illinois! to stay afloat, even if that means taxpayer bailout  FOX Illinois – Illinois’ prepaid college tuition fund on which some 54000 families are relying is vowing to find some way to make up a $559.9-million deficit.

ISU’s Bowman: ‘Reasonable’ to help fund pensions
WJBC AM 1230 Bloomington – Illinois State University’s president said Wednesday he’s not opposed to the institution playing a bigger role in funding its teachers’ retirement plans. Al Bowman told WJBC Illinois State will do what it can to ease some of the state’s economic burdens.

Quinn to unveil education initiative at State Farm   Bloomington Pantagraph – ‎The governor and Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon will travel to State Farm Insurance Cos.’ corporate headquarters to outline a program called Illinois Pathways, which is designed to boost the number of Illinoisans with advanced academic degrees and certificates. 

Poshard backs Quinn’s call for MAP funds
Southern Illinoisan – College and university presidents support Gov. Pat Quinn’s plan to offer more grants to low-income students. Quinn on Wednesday held a closed-door meeting at the executive mansion with

School reform organization gets average grades  Chicago Tribune – Over the last decade, a nonprofit teaching academy with strong political ties has launched an education revolution inside Chicago Public Schools, tearing down and rebuilding some of the city’s worst-performing schools.

Chicago Teachers Union accuses CPS of discriminating against African-American teachers
Chicago Tribune – The Chicago teachers Union filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Wednesday alleging that layoffs last summer targeted tenured African-American teachers

Teachers union suing Chicago Public Schools — twice
Crains Chicago Business – making failing schools and related matters is hitting the legal arena. In the first of two actions, the union today announced it has filed charges with a federal agency alleging that recent Board of education layoffs have disproportionately affected African-American teachers. The complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission contends that 43% of tenured teachers who were laid

Political News

Caterpillar rules Illinois out of plant plans  Rockford Register Star – Pat Quinn about the state’s business climate after Illinois raised income … After Caterpillar’s initial complaints, Quinn last year also signed into law

Quinn hopes to work with Caterpillar  Morton Times-News – Pat Quinn hopes to work on concerns that Caterpillar Inc. raised Tuesday when the company announced that the next plant it plans to build in North America …

Consolidating townships may not save money  Illinois Times – According to a report released this month for the Township Officials of Illinois, consolidating local governments such as townships could lead to more financial problems than it would solve.

House panel OKs raising federal employee pension contribution  Pensions & Investments – All government workers, including members of Congress, would contribute more toward their defined benefit pension plans under a proposal approved by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The bill would change the … 

National News

Obama to give 10 states a pass on No Child Left Behind deadline   Fox News – President Obama is set to give 10 states a pass regarding an approaching deadline under the No Child Left Behind law, after the states struggled to meet the proficiency standards for reading and math. The executive action will circumvent … 

White House to Issue Waiver List on No Child Left Behind   Wall Street Journal – The Obama administration will announce Thursday the list of 10 states it is releasing from key requirements of No Child Left Behind, according to a White House official familiar with the decision, in a major move away from the … 

10 states freed from some ‘No Child Left Behind’ rules   CNN – Ten states are being granted waivers to free them from parts of the No Child Left Behind law, a White House official told CNN Thursday. President Barack Obama will make the announcement Thursday, saying that the states “that have agreed to … 

Obama to Free 10 States From Education’s ‘No Child’ Requirements   BusinessWeek – President Barack Obama will announce today that he’s freeing 10 states from requirements of the No Child Left Behind law as they pursue alternate means of judging student progress, …

Changing Mindsets, Motivating Students  Thursday, Feb. 16, 2012, 2 p.m. ET
Renowned psychologist Carol Dweck discusses how teachers can use new discoveries in cognitive development to improve student motivation and engagement. Hear about the most common mistakes teachers make in trying to motivate students and discover detailed strategies for promoting a “growth mindset” rather than “fixed mindset” in the classroom.
Register for this webinar now, or register for the entire series.

TIME.com Today’s Top Stories

Egypt’s NGO Crisis: How Will U.S. Aid Play in the Controversy?

As the diplomatic uproar continues over the arrests and likely trials. the question of U.S. financial support for Cairo may come into play

College Endowments: Why Even Harvard Isn’t as Rich as You Think

We all assume schools are sitting on a big pile of cash they could use to lower tuition. Here’s why that’s not true

Is Mark Zuckerberg too Powerful? Why Some Investors Are Worried about the Facebook IPO

The California State Teachers’ Retirement System, which has a $145 billion portfolio and owns Facebook shares through its private equity managers, plans to send Facebook a letter outlining its concerns

Oscars 2012: TIME’s Portraits of the Greatest Performers of the Year

The Art of Nazi Hunting: How the Mossad Found Adolf Eichmann

The Washington Post
U.S. likely to scale down plans for bases in Japan and Guam

TOKYO — The U.S. military will probably scale back plans to build key bases in Japan and Guam because of political obstacles and budget pressures, according to U.S. and Japanese officials, complicating the Obama administration’s efforts to strengthen its troop presence in Asia.

Read full article >>
(Chico Harlan, Craig Whitlock)

Editorial Board: Proposition 8 ruling was just but wobbly

IS IT UNCONSTITUTIONAL to forbid same-sex couples from calling their unions a “marriage” if — as is the case in California — they enjoy the same legal rights and responsibilities as opposite-sex partners in the state?

Read full article >>
(Editorial Board)

Rick Santorum’s strategy of focusing on low-key races paid off

Rick Santorum and his supporters moved quickly Wednesday to raise money and redirect their efforts after a surprising Tuesday sweep of three contests again put the former senator from Pennsylvania in position to contend for the Republican nomination.

Read full article >>
(Rosalind S. Helderman, Nia-Malika Henderson)

Prosecutors: George Huguely e-mail to Yeardley Love said, ‘I should have killed you’

CHARLOTTESVILLE — Drunken rages, romantic betrayals and teary reconciliations defined the relationship between University of Virginia students Yeardley Love and George Huguely V in their final months together, prosecutors said, deteriorating just days before her death in an e-mail from Huguely that said in part: “I should have killed you.”

Read full article >>
(Mary Pat Flaherty, Jenna Johnson)

Scaled-back ethics measure moves toward approval in House

A scaled-back ethics bill headed toward likely passage in the House on Thursday despite complaints from senators that Republican leaders had jettisoned several key provisions that won overwhelming Senate support last week.

Read full article >>
(Paul Kane)

Word of the Day for Thursday, February 9, 2012

screed \skreed\, noun:

1. A long discourse or essay, especially a diatribe.
2. An informal letter, account, or other piece of writing.
3. Building Trades. A. A strip of plaster or wood applied to a surface to be plastered to serve as a guide for making a true surface. B. A wooden strip serving as a guide for making a true level surface on a concrete pavement or the like. C. A board or metal strip dragged across a freshly poured concrete slab to give it its proper level.
4. British Dialect. A fragment or shred, as of cloth.
5. Scot. A. A tear or rip, especially in cloth. B. A drinking bout.

verb:
1. Scot. To tear, rip, or shred, as cloth.