Quick Hits

Scientists Delve Into Public Education: A visit to the campus of a newly built research center here offers a glimpse of Alabama’s economic heritage and, quite possibly, its economic future... Since the HudsonAlpha Institute opened last April, its leaders have sought to channel the organization’s financial and intellectual acumen toward another goal: improving science education. (Education Week)

Budget Pain Dampening K-12 Efforts: Governors and state lawmakers are poised to kick off their toughest legislative sessions in years, with the hope of sparing K-12 education from deep budget cuts. (Ed Week)

Funding Formula, Increased K-12 Aid Top Actions in N.J.: Even in an austere budget year, the Garden State found the funds to give precollegiate education a boost. (Ed Week)

Pennsylvania Sets New K-12 Formula, Boosts Budget: As other states cut back on education spending in the darkening economy of 2008, Pennsylvania produced a budget that delivered the biggest increase in two decades. (Ed Week)

Tuition ammunition - a happy lesson on lending: Despite a massive federal effort to aid banks and boost the economy, lending has plunged in the last year. Home-mortgage volume and bank loans to big companies are down dramatically. But the government's response is expanding credit in at least one sector: higher education. (Wall Street Journal)

Former Home-School chief held for trial: Down on his luck, Greg Wade turned to a quick source of cash, authorities allege - money set aside to improve the lives of Philadelphia's public-school children. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

New Leaders Group to Train Charlotte, N.C., Principals: New Leaders for New Schools, a national nonprofit organization that recruits and grooms principals to serve in high-poverty schools, will begin training leaders in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., district this summer. (Ed Week)

Alabama's two-year colleges are asking for identification to curb admission to illegal immigrants: A new policy aimed at keeping illegal immigrants from enrolling in Alabama two-year colleges has required extra paperwork and training for campus admission officials and given a little headache to at least a few prospective students. (Birmingham News)

Calif. Judge Blocks Requirement For 8th Graders to Take Algebra: A California judge has blocked a state mandate that would have required students to take and be tested in introductory algebra in 8th grade. California Superior Court ruled that the state's board of education exceeded its authority in approving the policy in July and did so without adequate public input. (Education Week)

Teen 'sexting' risky behavior: Across the Lowcountry, kids are returning to school this week, and many have powerful new weapons in their pockets, purses and book bags that they received over the holidays: cell phones with built-in cameras and text-messaging capabilities. (Charleston Gazette)

As rich rivals cut back, small colleges sell stability: Lesser-known colleges, which do not have the luxury of dipping into multibillion-dollar reserves, are scrambling to market themselves as affordable and sound investments. Their survival, after all, is directly tied to the number of students - and tuition dollars - they bring in. (Boston Globe)

'Indulgent' parents fuelling bad behaviour in classroom: Behaviour among schoolchildren is deteriorating as "over-indulgent" parents create a culture of disrespect, according to a study. (London Daily Telegraph)

Angry Ohio boy, 4, shoots baby sitter: Police say an angry 4-year-old Ohio boy grabbed a gun from a closet and shot his baby sitter. Eighteen-year-old Nathan Beavers was hospitalized Sunday with minor wounds to his arm and side after the shotgun attack. Witnesses told police the child was angry because Beavers accidentally stepped on his foot. (H-L)

Protection for High School Journalism Advisers: A new law has taken effect in California that prohibits school administrators from retaliating against advisers who seek to protect student press freedoms. In the past three years, 15 high school journalism advisers have lost their jobs or been reassigned by administrators who perceived stories in student publications as critical of their schools. (Los Angeles Times)

Court upholds teacher dismissal over MySpace page: A federal district court has ruled that a Pennsylvania school district did not violate the First Amendment rights of a student teacher when it barred her from continuing to teach because of a posting on her MySpace page. The district had warned the student teacher to keep her personal Web pages free of references to students and teachers where she was doing her practicum. (Washington Post)