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• Pennsylvania issues new rules on “least restrictive environment” for all teachers [HTML 3,957kb]
  The Centre Daily Times reports that the Pennsylvania State Board of Education (PBOE) has made sweeping changes to its rules governing the “least-restrictive environment” (LRE) approach toward special education.
  
• HI’s governor, BOE in standoff over cost of random drug testing program for teacher [HTML 3,215kb]
  Education Week reports that Gov. Linda Lingle and the Hawaii State Department of Education (HDE) are battling over who will pay the costs of conducting mandatory, random drug testing of the state’s teachers.
  
• Interim Guidance on the Application of § 457(f) and 409A to Certain Recurring Part-Year Compensation [HTML 1,550kb]
  Notice 2008-62 describes regulations IRS intends to propose under § 409A which will make the requirements of § 409A not apply to public school employees who work over 10 months and are paid over 12 months in most instances.
  
• Teacher’s suit alleges he was forced out for producing controversial play [HTML 1,840kb]
  The Oregonian reports that Wade Willis, formerly a teacher and the theater director at Southridge High School (SHS) in Beaverton, Oregon, has brought a wrongful discharge suit in state court against the Beaverton School District, seeking $125,000 in damages and claiming the district created an unfit working environment that forced him to resign.
  
• Texas districts participating in teacher merit-pay plan reap financial windfall [HTML 3,557kb]
  The Dallas Morning News reports that as the number of school districts dropping out of Texas’ teacher merit-pay plan increases, those remaining are reaping a financial windfall from the $148 million program.
  
• Texas teachers union sues to keep teacher background checks private [HTML 1,498kb]
  According to an Associated Press report in the Houston Chronicle, the Association of Texas Professional Educators (ATPE) has filed the lawsuit against the Austin school board and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to prevent the release to the media of personal information gleaned from teacher background checks.
  
• Texas may raise standards for alternative teacher certification [HTML 3,179kb]
  The Dallas Morning News reports that the Texas State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC), which licenses teachers, is considering a new rule requiring alternative certification programs to accept only students who maintained a 2.5 grade-point average or better in college.
  
• Suit claims principal fired for supporting charter plan [HTML 1,852kb]
  The Los Angeles Times reports that Frank Wells, formerly principal of Locke High School (LHS), has filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) alleging district officials fired him after he threw his support behind a plan to turn over LHS, one of LAUSD’s lowest performing schools, to a charter school operator.
  
• LA teachers protest California’s proposed education budget cuts [HTML 2,448kb]
  Thousands of Los Angeles teachers have protested proposed state budget cuts in a school day job action that delayed the beginning of class for most students but caught the attention of state and local politicians and parents, according to the Los Angeles Times.
  
• Teachers’ union to file complaint over videotape surveillance of classroom [HTML 2,139kb]
  According to the Associated Press, the Everett teachers union says it will file a unfair-labor practice complaint against the Everett School District (ESD) with the Washington Public Employees Relations Commission over the ESD’s videotape surveillance of a high-school teacher's classroom for about a month last year.
  
• Connecticut school district recruiting teachers from India [HTML 1,899kb]
  The Associated Press reports that Bridgeport, facing a chronic shortage of math and science teachers, is the only urban district in Connecticut to take the state up on an offer to accept teachers from India.
  
• Removing bad teachers in Oklahoma costs time and money [HTML 3,272kb]
  According to Oklahoma City Schools Acting Superintendent Sandra Park, when teachers don't make the grade, students, parents and other educators are sharply affected.
  
• NSBA files brief in case involving outsourcing and collective bargaining [HTML 3,645kb]
  NSBA, Michigan’s Kent Intermediate School District, the National School Transportation Association, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, have jointly filed an amicus brief in Dean Transportation v. NLRB, a case on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
  
• Florida district removes teacher over “voting out” autistic kindergartner [HTML 2,328kb]
  St. Lucie County School District officials removed the Morningside Elementary kindergarten teacher who had students vote last week whether a 5-year-old should be allowed to stay in class from her teaching position pending an investigation.
  
• Supreme Court: Section 1981 allows employees to sue over retaliation [HTML 4,944kb]
  The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that employees are protected from retaliation when they complain about discrimination in the workplace, adopting a broad interpretation of workers’ rights under two federal civil rights laws.
  
• NYC’s revamped teacher hiring system garners praise, criticism, litigation [HTML 3,397kb]
  A report prepared by the New Teacher Project (TNTP), which partners with the New York City’s education department on teacher recruitment, claims teachers who have been unable to find new jobs in the district under a new hiring policy, but remain on the payroll, will cost the city $81 million by the end of this school year.
  
• Calif. district sues county superintendent over employee buyout funds [HTML 2,427kb]
  Grant school district administrators haven't been paid roughly $2 million in buyouts their school board approved in March because the county superintendent thinks the payments are illegal and won't issue the checks.
  
• Student teacher claims her MySpace activity led to denial of credential [HTML 3,589kb]
  Stacy Snyder was weeks away from getting her teaching degree when she said her career was derailed by an activity common among many young teachers: posting personal photos on a MySpace page.
  
• Iowa union bargaining bill worries school boards [HTML 3,723kb]
  A controversial labor-backed bill will soon head to the governor's desk and union officials believe that's a sign that Gov. Chet Culver may sign it into law.
  
• Bill to allow more time to file employment discrimination suits falters [HTML 2,400kb]
  Senate Democrats have failed to overcome a threatened Republican filibuster of a bill that would loosen the restrictions on the length of time in which workers could file pay discrimination claims against their employers.
  
• Supreme Court hears arguments in “class of one” equal protection suit [HTML 4,261kb]
  May a public employee be fired just out of spite? That, in essence, was the question before the U.S. Supreme Court last week in a case being watched closely by groups representing teachers and school boards.
  
• Supreme Court considers who bears burden in age discrimination claim [HTML 5,090kb]
  It is not necessarily unlawful for an employer to adopt policies that put older workers at a disadvantage. Such policies pass muster under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) as long as they are based on “reasonable factors other than age” (RFOA).
  
• Michigan districts look to pool employee health benefits, other costs [HTML 2,593kb]
  A parent group from western Fairfax County announced that it is seeking a legal order to reverse a School Board decision to reroute thousands of students among five high schools in coming years.
  
• Supreme Court to review ban on payroll deductions for union politicking [HTML 2,573kb]
  The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review an Idaho state law that bars school districts and other local government agencies from making deductions from union members' paychecks for the unions' political activities.
  
• School district settles teacher’s race discrimination suit [HTML 4,172kb]
  Faced with a lawsuit they say they couldn't win, officials with Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) say they will no longer consider race when hiring or transferring teachers.
  
• New NYC charter school to offer all teachers six figures [HTML 3,411kb]
  A New York City charter school set to open in 2009 will test one of the most fundamental questions in education: Whether significantly higher pay for teachers is the key to improving schools.
  
• NY bill would bar districts from tying test scores to teacher tenure [HTML 4,031kb]
  While the state was consumed by the downfall of Gov. Eliot Spitzer last week, the New York Assembly passed a bill that would pre-emptively bar New York City and other school districts from linking teacher tenure to students’ test scores.
  
• Florida teacher put on paid leave after student urinates in lunch box [HTML 1,147kb]
  A teacher has been put on paid leave while officials investigate why a student urinated in a lunch box during her class.
  
• D.C. schools chief ousts 98 central office employees [HTML 3,336kb]
  D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee's decision to fire 98 central office employees is generating a debate among workers and questions from D.C. Council members about the fairness of the process.
  
• Iowa district to test all prospective employees for alcohol and drug use [HTML 4,294kb]
  According to education officials, a West Des Moines school district decision to test all prospective employees for alcohol and illicit drug use is believed to be the first policy of its kind in Iowa.
  
• Puerto Rico teachers suspend strike [HTML 1,889kb]
  Public school teachers voted Wednesday to suspend a 10-day strike in the U.S. Caribbean island that shuttered classrooms and sparked clashes between protesters and police.
  
• Family and Medical Leave Act changes [HTML 1,183kb]
  The Department of Labor has issued proposed rules related to the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
  
• Deferred compensation of 10-month employees [HTML 2,296kb]
  The National Education Association (NEA) and NSBA have issued joint guidance on the tax consequences of deferred compensation under section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code.
  
• Hawai’i Board of Ed refuses to go along with teacher drug testing [HTML 4,478kb]
  Hawai'i teachers have already received most, about 7%, of the pay raise they were promised in a new contract that also called for random drug testing. The drug testing has yet to begin, and Gov. Linda Lingle and education officials are engaged in a dispute over how to fund the program.
  
• Buyouts one way for schools to jettison problem teachers, but raise issues [HTML 4,854kb]
  Some teachers, under a professional cloud, are paid to leave their jobs. It’s a fact little examined in schools or policy circles, and mostly unknown to the public.
  
• Georgia Fair Dismissal Act doesn’t apply to school administrators [HTML 3,234kb]
  The Clarke County Board of Education ousted Cedar Shoals High School Principal Tommy Craft without providing a reason for his termination.
  
• FMLA expanded for military families, other regulations proposed [HTML 2,906kb]
  President Bush has signed into law legislation that expands Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) coverage for family members of employees called for military service.
  
• EEOC allows employers to adopt a wide range of retiree health plan designs [HTML 2,066kb]
  The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued a final rule that allows employers to adopt a wide range of retiree health plan designs, such as Medicare bridge plans and Medicare wrap-around plans, without violating the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).
  
• List of problem teachers is flawed and incomplete [HTML 4,582kb]
  A list considered the best existing tool for education officials to prevent problem teachers from jumping state to state is flawed and incomplete, according to a review by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, the first newspaper to gain access to the list.
  
• D.C. schools Chancellor given authority to fire underperforming administrative employees [HTML 3,590kb]
  The D.C. Council has given final approval to legislation granting schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee authority to fire underperforming administrative employees. The bill says administrative employees past a probationary period can be fired "at the discretion of the mayor" after they are served with a 15-day separation notice and as long as they have had a performance evaluation within the previous six months.
  
• Supreme Court hears oral arguments on Kentucky's public-employee retirement system [HTML 2,463kb]
  In a case being watched by education groups, the U.S. Supreme Court has heard oral arguments on whether certain disparities in Kentucky's public-employee retirement system violate a federal age-discrimination law.
  
• Promises by Pennsylvania school boards will cost taxpayers millions [HTML 5,048kb]
  Promises by Pennsylvania school boards will cost taxpayers millions when superintendents leave for other jobs, retire or even die. An Altoona Mirror analysis of 447 Pennsylvania superintendents’ contracts shows that those promises rarely are in the form of the already-publicized salaries.
  
• Judge rules against principal forced out of New York City’s first Arabic-themed school [HTML 2,033kb]
  In a preliminary ruling, a judge has ruled against the claim of the founding principal of New York City’s first Arabic-themed school that her right to free speech was violated when she was forced out during a furor over comments she made in a newspaper interview.
  
• 403(b) plans [HTML 1,485kb]
  The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued a revenue procedure that provides model plan language school districts may use either to adopt or to amend their written Section 403(b) retirement plans to comply with the final 403(b) regulations the IRS issued in July of 2006.
  
• New York Mayor begins drive to remove unsatisfactory teachers [HTML 4,439kb]
  The administration of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is beginning a drive to remove unsatisfactory teachers, hiring new teams of lawyers and consultants who will help principals build cases against tenured teachers who they believe are not up to the job.
  
• Employment Eligibility [HTML 1,932kb]
  Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued a revised Employment Eligibility Verification Form (I-9).
  
• NSBA files amicus brief in Kentucky Retirement Systems v. EEOC [HTML 1,692kb]
• San Francisco judge puts on hold new regulations requiring businesses to fire illegal immigrant employees [HTML 2,972kb]
  Dealing a major blow to the Bush administration's crackdown on illegal immigration, a federal judge in San Francisco has put on hold new regulations that would require businesses to fire employees whose names don't match their Social Security numbers.
  
• ACLU says random drug testing of Hawai'i's teacher is illegal [HTML 2,048kb]
  American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has demanded that Hawai'i governor Linda Lingle back off a plan to randomly drug test Hawai'i's 13,000 public school teachers. The ACLU said the testing is illegal.
  
• Arkansas Supreme Court allows $635,000 buyout of fired Little Rock superintendent [HTML 1,761kb]
  The Arkansas Supreme Court has decided a $635,000 buyout the Little Rock School Board approved for its fired superintendent can proceed. The court had previously halted the buyout, but attorneys for the school district said nearly all the money had already been paid to former Superintendent Roy Brooks.
  
• OSEA may file suit against all 95 Oregon school districts over employee health coverage [HTML 2,474kb]
  The Oregon School Employees Association (OSEA) has served notice that it may file suit against all 95 of the state’s school districts over their employee health coverage that has been provided by a trust run by the Oregon School Boards Association (OSBA).
  
• Judge blocks rule requiring employers to fire workers identified as illegal immigrants [HTML 2,783kb]
  A federal judge in San Francisco has blocked the Bush administration from imposing a rule requiring employers to fire workers identified as illegal immigrants in government records or face possible prosecution.
  
• Illegal immigrants and “no-match” letters [HTML 1,601kb]
  The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Immigration and Customs Enforcement has issued final regulations describing an employer’s obligations upon receiving a “no-match letter” from DHS or the Social Security Administration (SSA).
  
• Internal Revenue Service issues proposed regulations regarding cafeteria plans [HTML 1,355kb]
  The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued proposed regulations regarding cafeteria plans. The Internal Revenue Code allows employers to offer employees a choice between cash and a variety of nontaxable benefits such as health insurance.
  
• Internal Revenue Service issues regulations on 403(b) plans [HTML 1,510kb]
  The Internal Revenue Service has issued long awaited regulations on 403(b) plans. 403(b) plans allow public school employees, among others, to defer taxes on their salary.
  
• Teachers sue over early-retirement program found to be illegal [HTML 1,735kb]
  Two teachers and a former principal have filed a law suit in Vermont state court against their school district and teachers' union for negligence and age discrimination based on negotiating an early-retirement program later found to be illegal.
  
• Many Texas schools no longer eligible for teacher pay-for-performance plan [HTML 4,475kb]
  Less than half of the 1,150 schools that earned pay rewards under Texas’ landmark teacher pay-for-performance plan the first year will be eligible to participate the second year because they failed to maintain their performance ratings as passing standards went up.
  
• Deferred compensation of teachers [HTML 2,265kb]
  The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued guidance clarifying that its deferred compensation regulations, adopted in April 2007, will not change how the pay of some teachers is taxed during the coming school year.
  
• Lawsuit claims NEA overcharged members in annuities [HTML 1,629kb]
  A new lawsuit claims that the National Education Association (NEA) overcharged the very teachers it represented in annuities sold by Nationwide Life Insurance Company and the Security Benefit Group.
  
• Internal Revenue Service - Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate [HTML 2,528kb]
  The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued final regulations regarding Form W-4, the “Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate.”
  
• Kanawha County school reconsiders drug testing teachers [HTML 3,447kb]
  Many states are discussing drug testing teachers, but few are actually going ahead with it. The Kanawha County school system (SC) rejected a proposed policy last spring, but another teacher drug arrest caused the issue to be resurrected.
  
• South Carolina Supreme Court to decide how public agencies reveal finalists for top jobs [HTML 2,047kb]
  The South Carolina Supreme Court is expected to decide how public agencies reveal who the finalists are for top jobs after hearing arguments in a case involving Spartanburg District 7 and a newspaper.
  
• Pennsylvania State Representative unveils legislation to ban teacher strikes [HTML 2,426kb]
  Pennsylvania State Representative Todd Rock has unveiled legislation that would ban teacher strikes, mandate a contract negotiation schedule and require public disclosure of negotiating positions throughout the process.
  
• Law provides little protection for schoolteachers who express their beliefs [HTML 4,643kb]
  Legal analysts say a Chicago appeals court ruling in January was probably less important as a precedent than as a stark reminder that the law provides little protection for schoolteachers who express their beliefs.
  
• Case of former coach inspires proposal to change the state's teacher tenure rules [HTML 4,068kb]
  The case of a former Madison County, Alabama, high school cheerleading coach still being paid by the school system two years after she was fired has helped inspire a proposal to change the state's teacher tenure rules.
  
• Judge rules that bus driver fired for using the “n-word” deserves unemployment pay [HTML 3,015kb]
  A black bus driver who was fired by the Des Moines school district because she used the “n-word” in front of a black student who threatened her deserves unemployment pay, an administrative law judge has ruled.
  
• Hawai‛i teachers now subject to reasonable-suspicion and random drug and alcohol testing [HTML 3,459kb]
  Teachers in the State of Hawai‛i will now be subject to reasonable-suspicion and random drug and alcohol testing, after members of the Hawai‛i State Teachers Association (HSTA) voted 61% to 38% to approve a new collective bargaining agreement that contains the controversial testing clause.
  
• Department of Homeland Security: Alien Workers [HTML 1,524kb]
  The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued final rules allowing an employer to file petitions for alien workers under the O nonimmigrant classification up to one year before the employer needs the worker’s services.
  
• H-1B visas [HTML 1,071kb]
  On April 3, 2007, the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) announced it had received enough H-1B visa petitions to meet the cap on such visas for fiscal year 2008, which begins on October 1, 2007.
  
• Unemployment Compensation [HTML 1,696kb]
  In January the Department of Labor (DOL) issued final regulations addressing the “able and available” for work (A&A) requirements that apply to a state’s payment of unemployment compensation (UC).
  
• Supreme Court dismisses BCI Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Los Angeles v. EEOC [HTML 3,630kb]
  The U.S. Supreme Court has dismissed BCI Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Los Angeles v. EEOC, Docket No. No. 06-341, shortly before the case was scheduled for oral argument, because the parties reached a settlement.
  
• School Resource Officers [HTML 1,814kb]
  In a recent opinion letter, below, the Department of Labor (DOL) concluded that a school resource officer (SRO) qualified for the administrative exemption under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
  
• School board votes to pull out of "coalition collective bargaining" [HTML 3,777kb]
  Although “coalition collective bargaining” has been the standard method of negotiation for New York’s Valley Stream Central High School District, the district’s school board has voted to pull out of such negotiations.
  
• Arizona bill would prohibit teachers from advocating political views [HTML 2,479kb]
  A committee in the Arizona House has approved a bill that would prohibit any instructor in a public school or college from advocating or opposing a political candidate or one side of a social, political, or cultural issue that is part of a partisan debate.
  
• Missouri supreme court hears oral arguments in case about public-sector collective-bargaining rights [HTML 3,095kb]
  The Missouri supreme court has heard oral arguments in a case between a school district and unions over whether the Missouri Constitution’s guarantee of collective-bargaining rights extends to public-sector employees.
  
• School board bans taping in class without instructor's permission [HTML 2,891kb]
  After a New Jersey high school teacher was recorded telling students they belonged in hell if they did not accept Jesus as their savior, the school board has banned taping in class without an instructor's permission and added training for teachers on the legal requirements on separation of church and state.
  
• United Teachers of Dade files suit over Florida's performance pay plan [HTML 3,445kb]
  United Teachers of Dade (UTD), the union representing Miami-Dade teachers, has filed a lawsuit against the Miami-Dade County school district state court, arguing that the state's $147.5 million ''Special Teachers Are Rewarded'' (STAR) plan should not be implemented in the county because it violates Florida's Constitution.
  
• National Council on Teacher Quality launches website on working conditions [HTML 2,442kb]
  National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), a Washington-based research and advocacy group, has launched a website that promises to shine a light on teachers' working conditions.
  
• Teacher at Howe Academy in Indianapolis, Ind., suspended for allegedly fondling of two students [HTML 2,488kb]
  Michael Walpole, a teacher at Howe Academy in Indianapolis, Ind., was suspended for allegedly having fondled two female students.
  
• FMCSA issues proposed rules on medical examiner’s certificates for commercial driver’s license holders [HTML 1,418kb]
  The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has issued proposed rules on medical examiner’s certificates for commercial driver’s license (CDL) holders.
  
• Nashville Metro School Board considers administrative law judges for employee dismissal hearings [HTML 2,104kb]
  The Nashville Metro School Board (NMSB) is considering using administrative law judges (ALJ) to conduct employee dismissal hearings in an effort to save time.
  
• Washington state union case heads to the Supreme Court [HTML 2,960kb]
  First Amendment rights are threatened in the state of Washington, the U.S. Supreme Court has been told, but it will be up to the justices to decide who needs protection.
  
• Teacher secretly recorded injecting his religious beliefs into classroom discussions [HTML 3,920kb]
  A Kearney, New Jersey teacher has been secretly recorded injecting his religious beliefs into classroom discussions.
  
• High school art teacher suspended over objections to his private artwork [HTML 2,315kb]
  A popular high school art teacher in Virginia has been suspended after objections were raised about his private abstract artwork, much of which includes smearing his posterior and genitals with paint and pressing them against canvas.
  
• Florida Education Association sues over teacher performance bonus plan [HTML 4,049kb]
  The Florida Education Association (FEA), the state’s teacher union, has sued to block a teacher performance bonus plan lawmakers slipped into the budget last spring.
  
• Department of Labor’s Employment Standards Division seeks public feedback on FMLA [HTML 1,280kb]
  The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employment Standards Division has requested information from the public regarding the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) “to provide a basis for ascertaining the effectiveness of the current implementing regulations and the Department’s administration of the Act.”
  
• Jewish teacher claims principal's prayer groups made her job a living hell [HTML 2,325kb]
  A Jewish art teacher in New York City claims her principal's Christian prayer groups and the staff's anti-Semitic slurs turned her job at a Brooklyn public school into a living hell—and now she's fighting back with a lawsuit.
  
• Department of Labor issues letter regarding overtime for school employee volunteers [HTML 3,253kb]
  On October 20, 2006, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued an opinion letter regarding requirements for overtime pay when non-exempt school district employees assist with coaching sports or other extracurricular activities.
  
• Cleveland public schools pays $8.2 million in workers' compensation coverage [HTML 2,105kb]
  The $8.2 million that Cleveland public schools paid for workers' compensation coverage last school year was way too high, says Chief Operations Officer Dan Burns.
  
• Department of Labor extends date for converting permanent labor certifications [HTML 1,735kb]
  The Department of Labor (DOL) has extended the date for which employers may convert their permanent labor certification applications from “traditional recruitment” to “reduction-in-recruitment.”
  
• Teacher that allowed students to view nude art on a field trip accepts settlement offer [HTML 2,277kb]
  Sydney McGee, an elementary school art teacher in Frisco Independent School District (FISD) in Texas who alleges she was placed on paid leave and threatened with termination after she allowed students to view nude art during a field trip to the Dallas Museum of Art, has accepted a settlement offer from FISD.
  
• Former substitute teacher claims he was denied work for public speech [HTML 3,145kb]
  A former substitute teacher at English High School (EHS) in Boston, Massachusetts has filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming that he was barred from any further assignments because he spoke publicly against funding school military programs.