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The school bus has been a popular mode of transportation for students of all ages for generations - so much so that a week every year has been set aside to focus on the safety of these big yellow vehicles. School Bus Safety Week kicked off this month across the country, and many school districts got into action with school assemblies, events, and reminders to students, drivers, and motorists to keep students safe while they are on the road. We’ll take a look at a few of the school bus events taking place nationwide and a few facts about school buses that you may not know.

The History of School Bus Safety Week

The first School Bus Safety Week was established in 1963 for the state of California, according to the West County Transportation Agency website. The creator of that event, Dick Fischer, took his cause national by 1970, distributing a flyer of information to state directors of transportation across the country. The movement slowly gained momentum until hundreds of school districts from coast to coast began celebrating this week by emphasizing school bus safety for drivers, students, parents, and other motorists sharing the road with these bright buses. Today, the movement is coordinated by the National Transportation Association and the National Association for Pupil Transportation, and it is held the third week in October each year.

A national poster contest is held each year to allow students nationwide to submit designs for the annual promotional poster

The ongoing Atlanta 51����s cheating scandal that has taken months to investigate is now in the punishment phase. Both teachers and administrators involved in the widespread cheating throughout the city are learning their fate, as the first batch of sanctions was handed out by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission. Those first sanctions may set the pace for how the state deals with similar cases of cheating and unprofessional conduct in the future.

Teachers Suspended, Licenses Revoked

According to a report at WTVM , the first batch of 11 educators implicated in the cheating scandal received their punishment from a vote by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission last week. The vote resulted in a two-year suspension of the teaching certificates of the eight teachers included in the group. The three administrators had their certificates revoked.

The punishments are considered rather stiff, particularly in light of the fact that this first batch of educators cooperated fully with investigators, which led to information that will move cases forward against additional individuals within the school system. Gerald Griggs, an attorney representing two of the teachers from Parks Middle School, said his clients were hoping for lesser penalties as a result of their cooperation.

“They felt pressure from the top,” Griggs explained to WTVM. “It was a culture that was going on. They were implicated in making erasures and changing test scores. My two clients that were implicated had admitted it and were being cooperative with authorities.”

When asked

There are few topics as fiercely debated in the world of education today as school choice and voucher programs. The subject becomes particularly prevalent in areas where public schools are not making the grade but has also been seen in districts where the public schools are performing well. However, parents want more opportunities and choices for their children. No matter what side of the fence a parent or educator might be on, chances are the emotions surrounding this topic run high. We’ll take a closer look at the school choice idea, including the history of the programs and the pros and cons that make this issue one of the hot-button subjects around the country.

Which School to Choose?

One reason school choice has become a major point of contention is because there are many options in education today. Districts offer a wide range of school types, and parents are faced with choices they may not have had just a few decades earlier. Some of the schools seen in communities today include:

Neighborhood 51����s

Public schools are funded by the government and must follow specific guidelines set forth by state regulators. They are accessible to all children and are close to homes in the neighborhood, making them easy for children to attend. District zoning regulations typically assign schools, although some districts allow students to attend another public school outside their immediate neighborhood if there is sufficient space in the school for that student.

Charter Schools

Charter

With the first day of school still a clear memory and fall holidays right around the corner, the focus of many school districts is on a single obscure event that typically falls during the months of September or October. Count day is the one day of the school year that means everything to schools in terms of the amount of funding they receive. For every student that can be accounted for on this special day, funds are allotted for that school. During a time when school budgets are stretched well past their comfort levels, it is no wonder that count day is becoming bigger than any other day of the year for some school districts.

This video explains how student attendance affects school funding.

Why Count Day?

According to the , count day is the day when all the public schools in the state total up all of the students attending their schools. The event also occurs in other states, like Colorado and Indiana. On this day, the number of students tallied adds up to direct funding for the school. For example, every student counted on count day in Colorado brings an additional $6,400 into the school in which he is enrolled, according to data in the . In the Detroit 51���� system, every student accounted for on count day means more than $7,000

Schools across the country continue to try to do more with less, and budgets are squeezed and classroom sizes begin to bulge. Funding from any source is a welcome relief, and in Utah and California, that help comes from an unlikely source – the gas pump. The Fuel Your School program launched by Chevron in both Utah and California was a big success last year, and this year, the company and the schools involved with the program hope to see the same positive results.

What is Fuel Your School?

Fuel Your School is a program introduced to California and Utah communities by Chevron and DonorsChoose.org. This large company and non-profit organization are teaming up to provide teachers with much-needed supplies for the classroom. The focus of the funding is on STEM learning, so additional money typically goes to help science, technology, engineering, and mathematics-related projects. However, other types of projects are also eligible for funding from this program.

The premise of the program is relatively easy – to raise money for your school, simply fill your gas tank at one of the participating Chevron stations during the month of October. For every eight gallons of gas you purchase, Chevron donates $1 to the school. Last year, the initial launch of Fuel Your School in California raised more than $850,000 for the schools in the California communities, according to the .

Helping Schools in California and Utah

According to the Fuel