A free lunch: Other cities look to replicate Philly’s no-strings-attached school meal program

PHILADELPHIA — For students at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School, there IS such a thing as a free lunch — and a free breakfast, too. With no strings attached.

States beleaguered by budget woes set to ring in Independence Day without fiscal game plan

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Several states are facing the prospect of government shutdowns and program cuts as they enter the first weekend of the fiscal year and July Fourth holiday without a budget in place.

Education secretary challenges NEA to stop resisting teacher pay tied to student performance

WASHINGTON — Education Secretary Arne Duncan challenged members of the National Education Association Thursday to stop resisting the idea of linking teacher pay to student achievement.

Supreme Court won’t decide whether high school students can form Bible club in school

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday declined to stop a school district from blocking a group of Christian students from forming a Bible club on campus.

District’s error axes summer break for 2 Southern California elementary schools

CHINO HILLS, Calif. — It’s a kid’s worst nightmare — just as the last bell has rung for summer break, a school district’s error sentences students to another six weeks in class.

Economy, university tuitions prompt more college students to move to schools closer to home

SEATTLE — A few months ago, Rebecca Gottlieb faced a difficult choice: continue on at her $50,000-a-year private school in Massachusetts, or leave her new friends and life and enroll at a cheaper school near home in Washington.

After rift with son, Schuller turns to daughter to lead floundering Cyrstal Cathedral

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. — Starting at age 4, Sheila Schuller Coleman has held just about every job at her father’s Crystal Cathedral, from copying Sunday programs at the kitchen table to launching a private high school on the church grounds.

15 eighth-graders denied diplomas for protesting teacher layoffs at LA graduation ceremony

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles school district says 15 students were denied diplomas at their eighth-grade graduation because they protested impending teacher layoffs.

As Obama seeks more charter schools, unions push for bigger role

WASHINGTON — As the Obama administration pushes for more charter schools, a teachers’ union is pushing for a bigger role in them.

‘Rubber rooms’: NYC teachers accused of misconduct are paid to sit around and do nothing

NEW YORK — Hundreds of New York City public school teachers accused of offenses ranging from insubordination to sexual misconduct are being paid their full salaries to sit around all day playing Scrabble, surfing the Internet or just staring at the wall, if that’s what they want to do.

Supreme Court says public must pay for private special education

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday shifted the landscape for students with learning disabilities, saying parents can in many instances bypass public school special education programs and be reimbursed for private school tuition instead.

Calif. budget crisis forces schools to slash programs, fire teachers, expand class sizes

RICHMOND, Calif. — California’s historic budget crisis threatens to devastate a public education system that was once considered a national model but now ranks near the bottom in school funding and academic achievement.

The final bell: Vt. village closing 2-room school opened in 1801, when Jefferson was president

HANCOCK, Vt. — The aged maple floorboards are scuffed and creaky, worn thin and smooth by thousands of youngsters over the years in the Hancock Village School. Banks of tall windows, a dozen panes over a dozen panes each, flood a pair of classrooms with sunlight.

Military academies see applications jump as tough economy pairs with stepped-up recruiting

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Applications have surged at the nation’s three top military academies as tough economic times coincide with stepped-up recruiting efforts by the Army, Navy and Air Force schools, making the prospect of free college and a steady job look sweeter.

Layoffs based on seniority mean LA’s grittiest neighborhoods may lose nearly half of teachers

LOS ANGELES — Sean Leys sat huddled and still in a tent on a sidewalk outside of a Los Angeles middle school, fatigued by an ongoing hunger strike but resolved to protest looming teacher layoffs.

California towns face off with federal government in court over military recruiting of minors

SAN FRANCISCO — Two towns nestled in the rugged coastline and the liberal politics of Northern California have fought the federal government by banning the U.S. military from recruiting minors within their city limits. Now the federal government is fighting back.

In this economy, many high school grads can’t afford to go to their dream school

The wretched economy has taught many of the nation’s college-bound seniors a hard lesson: You can’t always get what you want.

Stimulus pushes states to judge teachers on student achievement

WASHINGTON — Teachers should be judged on student performance, though not solely on test scores, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Monday.

Partially tax-funded VT program lets high school students explore how gender is portrayed

BURLINGTON, Vt. — Like plenty of other high school students, a group of about a dozen Vermont teenagers trundled into a youth center one day every week this spring to participate in an after-school program.

90-year-old Ill. woman who dropped out of school during Depression now has high school diploma

CHICAGO — A 90-year-old suburban Chicago woman who dropped out of school to help her family during the Great Depression now has her high school diploma.

Ohio school district uncovers senior class cheating scandal, cancels graduation

CENTERBURG, Ohio — An Ohio school district that canceled its graduation ceremony after a senior cheating scandal says it’s investigating whether underclassmen also cheated.

Pope to meet with top Irish churchmen after abuse report published

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI meets Friday with Ireland’s top churchmen following the publication of a damning report detailing decades of rapes, humiliation and beatings at church-run reform schools in Ireland for castaway children.

Catholic orders in Ireland bow to government pressure, pledge more aid for child-abuse victims

DUBLIN — Bowing to government pressure, 18 Roman Catholic religious orders that had abused thousands of Irish children pledged Thursday to allow external audits of their finances and to establish an entirely new compensation fund for victims.

Ten-hut! Public school districts opening military academies to reach out to at-risk students

ATLANTA — The U.S. Marine Corps is wooing public school districts across the country, expanding a network of military academies that has grown steadily despite criticism that it’s a recruiting ploy.

Pittsburgh-area school board upholds expulsion for 15-year-old girl who had eyebrow shaver

PENN HILLS, Pa. — A Pittsburgh-area school board has upheld the expulsion of a 15-year-old middle school student who was found to have an eyebrow shaver in her handbag during a random search. The Penn Hills School Board on Tuesday voted 8-1 to uphold the expulsion recommended last month by officials at Linton Middle School.

Short on funds, Fla. district declares fiscal emergency; towns big and small take similar step

MONTICELLO, Fla. — These days, Superintendent Bill Brumfield finds himself frequently turning to passages in the brown leather Bible resting on his desk. His school district is losing students. Utility and transportation costs are rising. And he’s expecting to lay off staff — even, perhaps, his own son.

Federal judge rules Wisconsin school district can hold graduation ceremonies in church

MILWAUKEE — A federal judge ruled Tuesday that a Wisconsin school district may continue to hold its graduation ceremonies in a church because the location doesn’t necessarily make it a religious event.

Sotomayor would be 6th Catholic on Supreme Court, but from different mold than other justices

NEW YORK — If Judge Sonia Sotomayor is confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court, she will be the sixth Roman Catholic of the nine justices.

Obama plans to spend $5 billion to turn around 5,000 failing schools

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama intends to use $5 billion to prod local officials to close failing schools and reopen them with new teachers and principals.

Mysterious black smoke coming from bottle in Ill. school hallway sends 13 students to hospital

LOCKPORT, Ill. — Authorities in the Chicago suburb of Lockport, Ill., locked down a high school campus after mysterious fumes from a bottle left in a hallway sent 13 students to a hospital.