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Pennsylvania s substitute-teacher shortage has put a lot of pressure on educators in the state, but a new law signed by Gov. Tom Wolf last week aims to expand the pool of eligible substitutes. Under House Bill 412, retired teachers now can fill vacancies on an emergency or short-term basis. . ....
Almost 27 million borrowers with federal student loans are set to start repayments in February, but some have succeeded in erasing their debt through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program (PSLF). The program ran into trouble a few years ago, and fewer than 5% of applicants were approved for loan forgiveness despite tracking their payments for a decade, as required. Yvonne Dowell, a Baltimore mental-health counselor, was initially denied, but she reapplied after the Biden administration overhauled the program this fall. . ....
SALT LAKE CITY Utah teachers and school librarians are reacting with alarm to a growing problem of parents and other groups demanding books they find objectionable be removed from shelves. A coalition of Utah educators, librarians and social advocates spoke out this week on recent calls for several volumes some of them literary classics to be censored because they contain controversial sexual or cultural references. In response, the groups representing librarians and teachers have published an eBook highlighting libraries role in defending the First Amendment. . ....
NEW BEDFORD, Ma. The state holds a public hearing today on a new charter school to serve New Bedford and Fall River students, and advocates for public schools are urging the Massachusetts Department of Education to reject the proposal. Educators unions and others contend it is not worth draining millions of dollars annually from New Bedford s public school system to create an alternative. . ....
AUSTIN, Texas In the past decade, the number of Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) at the college level has grown significantly, but some researchers wonder if federal money earmarked for these institutions is used as effectively as it could be. Stephanie Aguilar-Smith, assistant professor of higher education at the University of North Texas, interviewed administrators, staff and faculty members from a dozen colleges designated as HSIs, including those with a high concentration of students eligible for Pell Grants, awarded for high financial need. She found the schools pursue grant money for a variety of reasons, including some not meant to serve Hispanic students specifically. . ....