The Pew Charitable Trusts

SCHOOL VETO: Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has been wielding a heavy veto pen over the past few days. Last week the Republican governor stymied her Republican legislature, the East Valley Tribune reports, by refusing to sign a bill that would have expanded state tax credits to people and corporations donating money for private or parochial school tuition. Such legislation has been popular among supporters of voucher programs as a roundabout way for state governments to subsidize private schools, but Brewer says that Arizona's continuing budget crisis drove her opposition to expanded tax credits. 

SEEKING TUITION: California universities are opening their doors wider to out-of-state students as they chase the higher tuition revenue that such students can bring in, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The University of California, Berkeley, offered admission to 9,303 undergraduates this year, down from 11,184 in 2009. This year, 2,920 of those admitted were non-Californians, up from 1,026 in 2009. Meanwhile, students currently enrolled in the California State University system held a day of rallies at all 23 campuses last week protesting tuition increases and budget cuts, according to the Los Angeles Times . Governor Jerry Brown proposes to cut $1.4 billion from higher education, of which about $500 million would come from the California State University system.

TEACHER LAYOFFS: Robert Bobb, the emergency financial manager for Detroit's schools, has taken advantage of a new Michigan law granting vast new powers to financial managers, the Detroit Free Press reports.  Bobb sent layoff notices to all 5,466 unionized teachers in Detroit's public schools, and to 248 administrators. Most of those employees will be hired back, but the city teachers' union complained that the layoffs were an attempt to circumvent seniority rules that give preference to veteran teachers. Bobb says the notices were necessary to cut costs at a time when enrollment in Detroit schools is rapidly declining. Bobb tried to get rid of the seniority provision in teachers' contracts in 2009, but the Detroit Federation of Teachers insisted that they be maintained and other cost-saving measures implemented instead. 

SHORT-YEAR STAYING POWER: State officials in Hawaii faced heavy criticism two years ago when they cut the school year by 17 days in order to save money. To make up for that, state legislators passed a bill in 2010 to gradually extend the school year by 10 days. The measure was supposed to take effect this fall, but lawmakers now are considering postponing its enactment until 2014, according to the  Honolulu Star Advertiser .  The reason? Hawaii can't afford it. Extending the school year would cost about $55 million a year.