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District of Columbia school officials plan to give significant pay bonuses to hundreds of teachers-and to dismiss more than 200 others-based on their performance as measured by the city's teacher-evaluation system, officials announced Friday.

The District fired 206 teachers for poor performance Friday, the second year in a row it has dismissed significant numbers of educators for sub-par work in the classroom.

In the final days of the session, lawmakers stripped more than $500,000 from the proposed budget that was intended to help implement Senate Bill 7, a sweeping education overhaul that would streamline the process of firing poorly rated teachers. By eliminating the money at the end of May, lawmakers put a crimp in the bill they had approved overwhelmingly a few weeks earlier and which Secretary of Education Arne Duncan had praised as a national model.

There had long been suspicions that cheating on state tests was widespread in the Atlanta public schools, but the superintendent, Beverly L. Hall, was feared by teachers and principals, and few dared speak out. Last summer a supposedly Blue Ribbon Commission, headed by a businessman volunteering his time, produced yet another flimsy report, urging further investigation.

State-level momentum in support of vouchers and tax credits that help students go to private schools highlights what, to this point, has been a largely theoretical issue: private school capacity to support voucher-financed enrollment.

Some teachers thrived. Others gritted their teeth and managed, while a few walked out the door.

"Pennsylvania has a larger percentage of high-performing charter schools than the national average, but it also has more underperforming ones. As a result, Pennsylvania charter students on average are lagging behind students in regular public schools."

State Secretary of Education Melody Schopp announced via conference call to superintendents today that South Dakota will hold its goals for proficiency in reading and math at 2009-10 levels, rather than bumping up those targets as previously anticipated. In addition, the state will reduce its graduation rate goal to 80 percent from the current target of 85 percent.

Political wrestling matches over the right to shape school policy play out in state capitals just about every year. But in 2011, one group of policymakers in particular-state boards of education-have faced unusually intense challenges to their authority. Legislation has emerged in at least 14 states this year to change or strip the power afforded to those boards, according to the National Association of State Boards of Education, which is fighting many of those efforts.

Today, President Obama hosts a meeting at the White House with CEOs to try to raise private cash for K-12 education.

For five years running, the District of Columbia has failed to uphold parts of the federal law that governs the education of students with disabilities, according to the federal Department of Education's ratings of the district and other states and territories.

The U.S. Department of Education has evaluated states since the 2005-06 school year based on their ability to meet certain "measurable and rigorous targets" related to educating students with disabilities. This map shows the most current rating for each state's performance under Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which covers students from ages 3 to 21.

A South Bronx charter school has been put on probation for what city education officials called "serious violations" of state law mandating random admissions, including possibly testing or interviewing applicants before their enrollment.

Student test scores from 100 D.C. public schools still under investigation for cheating were used in value-added calculations that were incorporated into some teachers' evaluations this year, according to DCPS spokesperson Fred Lewis. More than 200 D.C. teachers were terminated last week on the basis of their evaluation results. Only when "instances of cheating were confirmed" were affected student scores removed from the value-added model, Lewis said.

Legislation creating Maine's first charter schools is headed to Gov. Paul LePage's desk for his signature. After years of failed attempts, advocates for charter schools finally succeeded in receiving legislative support for allowing public schools that must meet state and federal academic standards but are given more flexibility in curriculum, budgeting and other areas.

Thousands of students getting free or reduced-cost school lunches may not be eligible for the program, a report released by the state auditor this week finds. But school districts have little incentive to question applications because a higher participation rate also increases their state aid, the report states.

A federal appeals court on Friday invalidated a Michigan ballot initiative that barred racial preferences in admissions at state colleges and universities.

A Philadelphia charter school fighting a unionizing effort is trying to break legal ground by contending that it is not a public school-even though it's funded entirely by taxpayers.