Heads and tales: Of staggering genius

Not so smrt: How does Birmingham stack up against other midsize American cities for college degrees? Well, duh. No, really, duh. Birmingham is 65th among 76 cities, with Huntsville, Mobile and Montgomery ranking higher. The Census data was limited to Birmingham’s city limits, not counting wealthier and more educated residents in its many suburbs. Semi-random aside: Best line from a Birmingham News editorial has to be “Jefferson County is a tale of too many cities.” See, we is smart.
• Birmingham found lacking in ‘brainpower’ [Birmingham Business Journal]

Paying for pupils: The state’s annual report card on schools, in three sentences. Per-student spending is at an all-time high, $6,481. More than half of the 730,000 students are living in poverty — more than half. Several poor districts, with federal aid, spend more per pupil than rich districts: Linden in Perry County tops the list at $8,896 per student, beating out Homewood in Jefferson County. We’ll say it again: You can’t spend your way to success in education. State high school graduation rates are appalling, and test scores are flat.
• Schools spend record per pupil [Birmingham News]

Calling in the super: The city’s troubled school system is bleeding students and languishing in mediocrity. This looks like a job for Superintendent. Or make that superintendent. Stan Mims, the incoming head of Birmingham schools has a tough task ahead. What are his plans? The story doesn’t say, but mentions his track record at other city school systems. Most notably in East St. Louis, more students went to college and more schools met Illinois standards under his watch.
• ‘Man of great passion’ seeks to motivate parents, children [Birmingham News]

Teenage fanclub: It’s summer, and the last thing teens want to do is required reading, right? Not quite. The Birmingham Public Library is continuing its Read It Forward campaign by giving away 500 paperback copies of “Tears of a Tiger.” Readers can comment on the book on the library’s Cyberteen site and track where each numbered copy has been. Next thing you know, the library will be more popular on MySpace than we are. Oh, nuts.
• Teens read free books, post notes on Web site [Birmingham News]

Also:

• Bus survey arrives late, refuses answers not written on exact change
• State water fight leads researchers to seek powdered form
• Beach forecast: heavyset, with chance of occasional thong

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Posted: Monday, June 26, 2006, 6:08 pm, in Headlines.
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