Newswire Archives
E-Mail CER CER
Publications
Education Reform Newswire |
|
The latest news in education from The Center for
Education Reform |
Vol. 4, No. 16
April 23, 2002
Special Alert: Next Week CER will be providing you with in-depth, day by day stories about charter school success, and events happening around the country in the charter school movement. Log onto our website now for a special National Charter School Week slide show and information on upcoming events.
Stepping out With Charters: Below are major locations where senior Education Department officials will be present for local or state-wide charter school celebrations.
There are hundreds more activities you can learn more about by going to http://www.charterfriends.org/csweek-events.html.
Unions: It's hard to believe that a bill opposed by nearly the entire education establishment AND almost all education reformers could actually make it through one part of the legislative process. But that's the story with AB 2160, the bill that the California Teachers Association wants passed so that everything that happens in a classroom will be subjected to labor contract negotiations. The Assembly Public Employees Committee passed it, with all Democrats in favor, and all Republicans against. According to the Education Intelligence Report, the bill, which will next be heard by the Assembly Education Committee, is opposed by the following: associations of school administrators, superintendents, school boards, school psychologists, charter schools, newspaper publishers, manufacturers, Catholics, Republicans, taxpayers, families, the chamber of commerce, the business roundtable, 58 school districts, and 109 individuals. As Jeanne Allen, president of the Center for Education Reform said in a San Francisco Chronicle op-ed:
"The motive is clear -- CTA believes that it must protect teachers from external efforts to hold them accountable. If unions are able to dictate through the bargaining process everything from textbook selection to curriculum to assessment, they will seek the least challenging of programs so that all will do well.
"Rank-and-file teachers believe that the union has little confidence that they will excel in an environment that requires them to perform. What comfort is that to Golden State parents, who have entrusted their children to schools where the CTA already governs a large segment of the population?" [Link to full text of op-ed, California's Schools: Will AB2160 Improve Them? New Bill Won't Help Teachers.]
It's now being said that the bill has been watered down to include parental participation. But mandating parent involvement on committees does nothing to ensure that the lion's share of decisions for what happens in a school is made at the school, where it belongs. This effort is a giant step backward toward the days of Boss Tweed. Will California legislators resist the temptation?
Charters II: Speaking of going backwards, a hearing before a Tennessee legislative committee shows the challenge faced by parents and school improvement advocates everywhere. Considering a charter school bill that would only allow schools to open under certain circumstances, Memphis lawmakers jumped all over the concept. Said one: "Says who we need options? The federal government has been wrong about a lot of things," as if charters were born in Washington. Another asked for a guarantee that they'd get federal money before they would even consider the bill, arguing that the state "shouldn't move forward with a plan for charter schools without state and federal funding firmly in place." To her credit, Education Commissioner Faye Taylor spoke passionately about the charter school model, arguing that "it's a parental choice, and if a charter school fails a parent then that parent can pull their child out of the school. That's where you get true accountability. You can't have schools without students." The bill's next stop is a Senate Education Committee hearing on Wednesday.
Federal Policy: If you know any school people who haven't a clue about how the new federal education law affects them, you'll want to forward them this link for How-to guidance, written particularly for charter schools but applicable to traditional public schools as well. For more, go to: http://www.edreform.com/charter_schools/esea.pdf.
Achievement: Children in Florida have continued to make gains on the state's test (the FCAT), but apparently those facts were missed in an April 14, 2002, Orlando Sentinel article. In it, the paper said that Governor Jeb Bush misrepresented minority improvement, by excluding learning disabled students. But the fact is that learning disabled students have been excluded since prior to Bush's tenure, at the behest of educators who want to keep the scores separated. Even so, Florida 4th-grade reading scores have improved across the board, including for the learning disabled. The state's accountability system has consistently worked for kids, something that we hope all can cheer regardless of political affiliation.
SUBSCRIBE to CER's Education Reform Newswire -- have these regular newswires delivered right to your email box (for free!).
SEARCH the Newswire Library.
BROWSE the Newswire Library
The CER Newswire may be redistributed in its entirety with proper attribution. The CER Newswire is published by The Center for Education Reform, the nation's leading authority on school reform. CER is dedicated to making schools better for America's children by improving educational access and excellence for all. CER works with parents, teachers and policymakers to advance meaningful education improvement initiatives.
###