A WSJ article about the major cuts and layoffs coming to school systems across the country:

The struggles at Downe Township School illustrate the challenges public schools face across America as a convergence of factors—ravaged state and local finances, tapped-out taxpayers and a reform push by the Obama administration—force wrenching change. As the school year winds down, educators are grasping for new ways to do more with less, and to remedy an embarrassing reality: Despite spending more per student than the average developed country, U.S. schools perform below average in core subjects such as math and reading.

"Where we are as a country in education is not acceptable," says Jon Schnur, a former education adviser to the Clinton and Obama administrations and now head of a training program for school administrators called New Leaders for New Schools. The goal, he believes, should be to bring performance up to the level of spending, rather than to cut the latter.

But in the wake of the worst recession in more than half a century, many communities find themselves with no choice but to cut.

Public education, unlike Social Security and national defense, depends on state and local financing. The federal government accounts for less than 10% of public-school funding, with state and local budgets roughly splitting the rest.

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• JUNE 15, 2010

Schools Face Test on Budget Math

By MARK WHITEHOUSE And AMY MERRICK

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704256604575294773110972964.html

DOWNE TOWNSHIP, N.J.—For seventh-grader Kyle Scarpa, budget strains affecting schools across the country are hitting where it hurts.

A Race to the Top?