Senator Florence Shapiro (R-Plano) has been awarded AVIDs Visionary Leadership Award for her relentless pursuit of college readiness standards. AVID stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination a 4-12 grade system which prepares students in the academic middle for 4-year college eligibility. These are mostly low-income students who are capable of completing a college-prep curriculum but are falling short of their potential.The core component is the AVID elective which supports students as they tackle rigorous classes. AVIDs teaching strategies curriculum and trainings are used not only in the AVID elective class but by subject-area teachers in the entire school.
AVID started in 1992 with one high school and 32 students and now expects to have 4369 schools in the system by next year.
Said the AVID Award Program of the senator Senator Florence Shapiro has been a champion for children and public education in Texas since she was elected to the Texas Senate in 1993. As Chairman of the Senate Education Committee her unwavering focus to ensure all students in Texas are academically prepared to continue their education in a post secondary institution has resulted in progressive legislation and additional funding for Texas high schools.
Texas Reveives Approval for $2 Billion in Federal Education Funds
Texas recently received more than $2 billion under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 that will flow to public schools. Texas will be eligible to apply for another $1 billion this Fall. The funding is being made available per Texass successful completion of Part 1 of the State Stabilization Application which was made available on April 1st.
In order to receive funds the state provided assurances that it will collect publish analyze and act on basic information regarding the quality of classroom teachers annual student improvements college readiness the effectiveness of state standards and assessments progress on removing charter caps and interventions in turning around underperforming schools.
Texas is also required by the Department of Education to report the number of jobs saved through Recovery Act funding the amount of state and local tax increases averted and how funds are used.
To see the applications from Texas and other states for initial funding under the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund Program please visit U.S. Department of Education.
July Special Session Accomplisments: Transportation Infrastructure Funding
The recently concluded Special Session focused on transportation infrastructure funding. The Governor gave the legislature three specific tasks to address: Continuing several state agencies that were set to begin shutting down this year including the
Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) authorizing TxDOT to issue general obligation bonds approved by the voters and extending the
authority for TxDOT to use comprehensive development agreements.
Various state agencies were set to close down in September of this year. But Senate Bill 2 of the special session continued these agencies that would otherwise have begun to shut down. These agencies include the Texas Department of Transportation the Texas Department of Insurance the Texas Racing Commission the Office of Public Insurance Counsel and the Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation.
In November 2007 the voters of Texas overwhelmingly supported a constitutional amendment to allow TxDOT to issue bonds up to $5 billion backed by the general revenue of the state to build more roads. House Bill 1 was filed in the special session to give TxDOT the statutory authority to issue $2 billion of the bonds. The bill specified that TxDOT would use this funding for highway improvement projects.
The final task of the special session involved Comprehensive Development Agreements (CDAs) a tool that allows for private development of and in some cases private investments in transportation projects. The authority for TxDOT to use this tool is set to expire in August of this year. While legislation was filed in the special session to continue this authority with explicit restrictions the legislature ultimately decided that the issue deserved more discussion than a special session can provide. Neither Senate Bill nor House Bill 3 were passed out of their respective committees.
Though the special session only lasted two days the legislature was able to accomplish two important initiatives that will keep Texas transportation infrastructure funded until the next legislative session in January 2011.
Wounded Veterans Get Break on Tax Bills
Disabled veterans in Texas will qualify for total homestead property tax exemptions if the Department of Veterans Affairs has determined that they are
unable to work or if they are receiving 100 percent disability compensation for physical or psychological problems related to their military service.
The new law also increases exemptions for veterans with disability ratings of 30 percent 50 percent or 70 percent. Many states offer similar tax breaks.
Economic Road Back for Texas Less Rocky
A Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas forecaster recently reported that initial jobless claims which economists watch closely for signs the recession is easing have fallen from their peak of early 2009. And in Texas he says the states economy hasnt been sinking for nearly as long as the rest of the national economy so potentially a slightly quicker rebound could be in store for the state.
In the past two weeks analysts have seen a potential sign of national recovery in a 0.7 percent June increase in the U.S. leading economic index. This statistic represented the third consecutive monthly increase for the index which is made up of ten components including interest rate spreads building permits stock prices manufacturing hours initial jobless claims and the money supply.
Still analysts warn that the national jobless rate could peak at close to 11 percent next year. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics the highest jobless rate since World War II was 10.8 percent in 1982.
Rent Movies So Why Not Textbook?
Higher education costs are always a concern to parents and students and in this economy finding ways to save is a necessity.
Chegg.com is an online service
designed to help with the rising cost of textbooks. Chegg rents books to students which significantly cuts down on a students book bill.
For example a macroeconomics textbook that retails for $122 has been found on Chegg.com for $65 while an organic chemistry book retailing for $123 lists on the site for $33.
While Chegg primarily rents books it also adds liquidity to the market by collecting books from sellers at the end of a semester and renting or sometimes selling them to other students at the beginning of a new semester. For students that rent textbooks they see an automatic savings at the beginning of the semester.
When the semester ends they dont have to worry about selling back books at a fraction of their value. While this service is not for everyone it is definitely worth checking out for parents and students looking for ways to save money on textbooks.
