http://www.ecs.org/eclips Links to the most salient daily news stories in education policy, collected 5 times a week by the Education Commission of the States. Copyright 2005 ECS en-us http://www.ecs.org/images/rss/clips_rss.gif http://www.ecs.org/eclips http://www.ecs.org/00CL12794Georgia schools Superintendent Kathy Cox is asking the state board to allow all districts to increase the number of children in each classroom for one year because of budget woes. Cox said that providing class size waivers in many districts could save $200 million and help avoid layoffs. Under the plan, most class maximums would grow by two students, which would reduce the number of new teachers districts would have to hire. http://www.ecs.org/00CL12795Five years after Maryland increased spending by $2 billion to provide greater academic equity, students have made remarkable gains in reading and math, according to a MGT of America <a href="http://docushare.msde.state.md.us/docushare/dsweb/View/Collection–18046 ">report</a>. The improvement was twice as great for middle school students as for those in elementary grades. The report confirms that money invested in teachers appears to pay off. http://www.ecs.org/00CL12796President Bush urged President–elect Barack Obama and the Democratic–led Congress not to abandon No Child Left Behind, arguing that to do so would "weaken a chance for a child to succeed in America." The president marked the seventh anniversary of NCLB with remarks at an elementary school. Approved with strong bipartisan support in 2001, the law still has support from key Democrats, but it has grown deeply unpopular, and Obama has pledged to revamp it. http://www.ecs.org/00CL12798The University of Texas at Austin has \'lost control\' of its admissions policy and wants to change the law that guarantees automatic entry to students who graduate in the top 10% of their high school class. The UT president said a record 81% of the Texas freshmen entering the university this fall gained admission through the rule. Unless the legislature changes the policy, he said, the state\'s premier university soon would have no room to admit any Texas student who does not meet that standard. http://www.ecs.org/00CL12797Fewer Texas schools are expected to earn failing marks under No Child Left Behind thanks to a more flexible rating system approved by Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. Texas is one of 15 states that have won permission to use a <a href="http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2009/01/01082009a.html ">growth model</a> when calculating adequate yearly progress. The model also is likely to become part of Texas\' own accountability system after the upcoming legislative session. Colorado, Minnesota and Pennsylvania also received approval yesterday. http://www.ecs.org/00CL12799D. Kent King, the state education commissioner who raised the bar for thousands of Missouri students, died at his home after a long battle with brain cancer. In his eight–year tenure as the state\'s highest ranking education official, King introduced new high school graduation requirements, pushed the use of data to measure achievement and presided over Missouri\'s response to No Child Left Behind. http://www.ecs.org/00CL12800Nearly 800 D.C. public school instructors are teaching classes outside their licensed area of expertise, fewer than in previous years but still far more than in other school systems in the region, and a violation of No Child Left Behind. The law requires "highly qualified" educators in each classroom. District officials caution that the number is misleading and said it reveals more about inadequacies in the law than the quality of instruction.