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Hundreds of Chicago State University students received state financial aid even though their grades were so low that they shouldn’t have been allowed to enroll at the university, according to testimony Wednesday at a state hearing.

Hundreds of Chicago State University students received state financial aid even though their grades were so low that they shouldn’t have been allowed to enroll at the university, according to testimony Wednesday at a state hearing. Sen. Edward Maloney, D-Chicago, chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee, revealed that 449 students during 2008-2009, who should have been dismissed for poor academic performance based on university policy, received state financial aid given to needy students. Of those students, 106 had a grade point average of 0.0 and still received financial aid from the taxpayer-funded Monetary Award Program, known as MAP. (Tribune)

Also:Lawmakers rip CSU after limited state aid given to failing students. (Sun-Times)

A Tribune editorial takes on Mayor Rahm Emanuel and school officials for seeking a $150 million take boost. Among question, the paper asks: Why are expenses rising as enrollment decreases? What percent of CPS schools are underenrolled and why hasn't CPS significantly quickened the pace of closing or consolidating those schools? Why hasn't CPS controlled costs better by outsourcing more jobs, including central office jobs that could be more efficiently and economically run by outside contractors?

A group of ministers on the West Side came together Wednesday to show their support for a longer school day, one of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's pet causes for the coming school year. (Tribune)

Activists who’ve been fighting for years to restore recess to city elementary schools are rallying around a comment made by the new head of Chicago Public Schools. Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard said every elementary school in the city will offer recess beginning in fall 2012. (WBEZ)

Oak Park and River Forest High School is about to enter its first year of offering a flat rate for textbooks and instructional materials. With school fees on the rise, according to a analysis of 60 school districts by the Tribune, OPRF officials decided in the spring to go with a flat rate of $320 for all course and textbook fees. The idea, officials said, is to create a predictable cost that is not based on which classes students were taking. (Trib Local)

In the state

Gov. Quinn on Wednesday named former state treasurer and Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias chairman of the Illinois Community College Board, the Sun-Times and WBEZ reported.

Quinn budget cut continues to squeeze regional school offices. (State Journal-Register)

The latest contract proposal from the Cary Education Association includes a number of concessions from teachers, but Cary Elementary District 26 school board members say the district still cannot afford the terms of offer. (Daily Herald)

In the nation

For the first time, data show that 53 percent of African-American students in New Orleans scored at grade level or better on Louisiana's tests this spring, compared with 51 percent of black students statewide. Just four years ago, only 32 percent of black students in the city had achieved grade level, compared with 43  percent statewide. The milestone could have game-changing social and economic implications. (New Orleans Times Picayune)

A new crop of university-backed, virtual high schools is changing the emerging field of online learning. Stanford University, George Washington University, Indiana University and the University of Missouri have all launched online, diploma-granting high school programs, and several other four-year universities offer online classes to secondary school students. (U.S. News and World Report)

California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson this week rolled out a plan for overhauling the state's public school system, ranked among the nation's lowest in academic achievement. (Santa Cruz Sentinel)

New York City will mandate sex education in public schools. The curriculum will be flexible but will include lessons on how to use condoms, how to avoid unwanted sexual encounters and how to respect relationship partners. Only 20 states and the District of Columbia mandate sex education, according to a recent report by the Guttmacher Institute, which studies sexual health. (ABC News)