Florida School For The Deaf & The Blind Seeks $10 Million For Upgrades

Jacksonville.com: School for Deaf and Blind seeks about $10 million for upgrades.



TALLAHASSEE - Repairing buildings and making construction upgrades makes up the meat of a funding request being pitched by the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine.



The school is asking for $9.7 million in construction money, a steep increase over the $1.4 million in Gov. Rick Scott’s proposed budget and the $1.6 million it got last year. The $1.4 million is the same amount requested by the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the school’s budget.



“With that amount we would barley be able to touch projects needed to ensure safety-related repairs,” said Jeanne Prickett, the school’s president.



With the money, the school wants to fund preventive maintenance, repair projects and remain compliant with the American with Disabilities Act.



“That means we would be able to continue to keep up-to-date buildings and renovate obsolete areas,” Prickett told the House Appropriations Subcommittee during a Tuesday hearing.



Since 2008, the school’s construction funding has dropped by $11.8 million. The funding comes from the same shrinking pot of money used for higher education and k-12 projects. Lawmakers are working to overhaul the system, which is funded by taxes on certain communications and telecommunications.



Students on the School for the Deaf and the Blind’s 80-acre campus have increased from 585 to 610 over the past five years, officials said. Overall enrollment, which includes off-campus students, has increased from 904 to 989 over that time. ... Read more: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-02-12/story/school-deaf-and-blind-seeks-about-10-million-upgrades

Online Degrees Upgrades Education

The increasing demand of online education for saving time creates many online programs from universities. This thing brings chances for students with flexible choice of learning with accessible materials and a various kinds of degrees without class attendance. But remember to get the agreement from education department before choosing online programs. Here are the list of universities and colleges with online courses.

 

The University of Maryland

 

This is a school that is accredited by the institution of University of Maryland. This school is based in Adelphi, and is known to have an award winning program online. One of its MBA degrees has become a winner in the past year as the most "Outstanding eLearning Program award," which was given to them by the "Instructional Technology Council." They also offer 28 undergraduate programs, as well as 50 Masters degrees that you can chose from.

They offer students the chance to try out classes online, to give them understanding of how it will work by using a tool called UMUC 411; this gives students the chance to access and do practice work and chat in the chat rooms, and discuss the curriculum with the faculty.

 

Ball State

 

This institution was founded in the year of 1918, and can be found in Indiana, and gives students wishing to complete an online degree, a wide variety of offers. Some of their courses include an associate, bachelor's, master's, and a doctoral degree program, plus a certificate and licensing program. This institution also offers an accredited program for nursing, for those who wish to study in the health sector.

They also provide students with the opportunity to do clinical work within their local community.

 

University of Massachusetts

 

This University was discovered in 1863 and began offering students the chance to do online courses in 2001, by using its "UMassOnline program." The school stresses that the students studying online, receive the same benefits that the traditional students do, including being able to talk to the faculty members and the same academic standards. This school gives students the choice of choosing from 83 undergraduate, professional and certificate and graduate programs. This university was also ranked in 2010 in "Business Week," as one of the top 10 MBA programs for the part time students.