Free Breakfasts at Public Schools

It is a high school student's worst nightmare: to have the secondary school he or she attends lose accreditation, directly impacting the student's ability to obtain scholarships or even get admitted to the college of his choice. However, that is exactly the situation facing students and parents in Atlanta Public Schools, where an educational standards agency has placed the entire school district on probation and in danger of losing its accreditation before the end of 2011. We will take a look at just how Atlanta ended up in this situation, and what the school board plans to do to survive the probationary period and come out of it with their accreditation still intact.

Reason for Investigation

The accrediting agency AdvancED was notified of potential problems in the Atlanta school district last year, when bickering among school board members became a matter of public concern. AdvancED scheduled an onsite visit in December to review board documents and make necessary recommendations. At that visit, the accrediting agency found the Atlanta school system's board has failed to meet standards on governance and leadership, according to a report by the Associated Press at Google News.

CEO of AdvancED, Mark Elgart, said at a news conference, "The reason for probation is the issues are serious. They not only affect the effective governance of the board but they affect the future direction of the school system and its ability to provide a quality education for all students." A report in

New Report: Best (and Worst) Charter School Environments in America

Amidst the heated debate surrounding charter vs. traditional schools, one conclusion has been clear: charter schools may only be as good as the laws that govern them. To find out which states offer the best environment for charter school growth and development, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools issues an annual report on the best – and worst – state charter laws in the country. The results for 2010 were recently printed in the 2011 NAPCS State Charter Law Ranking Report and we have the highlights of the findings below.

What is the NAPCS?

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools is considered the leading nonprofit organization committed to the success of charter schools throughout the country. The goal of this organization is to "increase the number of high-quality charter schools available to all families, particularly in disadvantaged communities that lack access to quality public schools," according to the organization's website. To achieve this purpose, the NAPCS provides information about the current state of charter schools across the country, including this report on the state of charter laws in every state.

In this video, the Executive Director of The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools explains how the organization works.

The NAPCS website reports that significant legislative changes were made in various states during 2010. These changes made

School shootings are tragic occurrences that have become far too common in our culture today by many standards. In light of some of the most recent events involving school shootings in Philadelphia, New Mexico, and Colorado, as well as the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012, some state legislators are considering a new approach to the problem: licenses that allow educators to carry concealed weapons onto campus. The first known school district to institute such a policy was the Harrold Independent School District in Harrold, Texas, but numerous other districts have followed suit in recent years, with other districts considering the possibility rather seriously. We'll take a closer look at the issue of guns in school and some of the districts that are thinking about taking matters into their own hands.

Current Laws

Laws vary from state to state regarding the criteria for purchasing and carrying a gun. Some states do not require a permit to purchase a handgun or long gun, nor do some states require gun owners to register their firearms. And while some states require a permit to carry a concealed weapon, others require no such permit for concealed or open carry weapons. A number of states including Massachusetts, Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, New Jersey, and Connecticut have passed restrictive assault weapons laws in light of the use of such weapons in many of the most recent school

Detroit Public Schools are facing a serious financial crisis – and very limited options for digging their way out of the monetary hole. The District's emergency financial planner, Robert Bobb, has three possible options in front of him to solve at least some of the district's financial woes. However, none of the choices are particularly attractive, and all would require severe sacrifices by students, parents and staff to make them work. We'll take a look at the choices here as we examine how Detroit plans to muddle through large amounts of debt and revenue shortfalls in the midst of one of the toughest economic crises to hit the city in decades.

Steeped in Debt

According to a report at Bloomberg Business Week, Detroit Public Schools currently face $327 million in debt with no visible means of repayment at this time. While bankruptcy is a viable option for Detroit, the district's debt insurer, Assured Guaranty Ltd., wants the state legislature to add a no-bankruptcy agreement before the schools can take out any more short-term debt. Without the agreement, the insurer has threatened to accelerate long-term debt payments, raising the annual payment amount from $21 million to $45 million. The schools, which cannot afford this option, have been forced to look at other solutions to their financial crisis as a result.

"They're basically holding a gun to our heads," Robb told Bloomberg.

If the schools agree to the no-bankruptcy clause, Assured is willing to continue working