1. Black-and-white images of a rundown school are then interwoven with scenes of the woman driving her son to school. 2. He talked about shortcomings in public education, from use of outdated textbooks that talk about the Soviet Union to rundown school buildings. 3. Only that kind of dramatic change would allow the city to close its most rundown schools and concentrate economic resources on making the remaining buildings up-to-date. 4. Democrats are reluctant to accept any cuts to their top priorities of hiring new teachers and modernizing rundown schools. 5. The bill has been an annual area of contention between Republicans trying to hold down spending and the administration seeking money to hire teachers and repair rundown schools. 6. The rundown school has been hit by artillery. |