Vol. 4, No. 43
October 21, 2002

SPECIAL NOTICE: Education Reform 2002: A Voter's Guide is now available!

        Americans in 36 states will head to the polls next month to cast their vote for governor, and in seven of these states they will also select the state schools chief. The Center for Education Reform (CER) surveyed the candidates, conducted independent research and then compiled this important guide which helps voters evaluate the candidates' education reform pedigree on key issues.

        In this report CER has cut through the rhetoric and spin, making it a must read for anyone who believes education reform should be an essential part of what our chief executives do. Unfortunately, overall the responses were less than encouraging. For example, too many candidates are standing on a platform that simply calls for reducing class sizes and spending more money for schools. More than 20 percent of the candidates failed to even address the key reform issues today, such as charter schools or even annual testing.

        Here's a sample of what you'll find in Education Reform 2002: A Voter's Guide:

ALASKA  
    Fran Ulmer (D) 
    Frank Murkowski (R)

Murkowski is stressing education in his campaign, and believes in many forms of parental choice, including charter schools. He supported NCLB in Congress. Ulmer's survey takes issue with the notion that kids trapped in failing schools should leave. She would rather work with existing schools than transfer children. She believes that the school boards in Alaska are generally supportive enough of charters to preclude the necessity of another authorizer. Teacher spending is among her priorities.

CALIFORNIA  
    Gray Davis (D) 
    Bill Simon (R)

Challenger Simon lists as his priorities solving the facilities crisis, accountability -- for which he supports value-added assessments -- and teacher quality. He embraces NCLB and believes choices among public and charter schools are essential. Incumbent Davis lists accountability and reducing class size as his main priorities, and his position on charter schools is tepid at best. Both believe in mandatory testing.

IOWA  
    Tom Vilsack (D) 
    Doug Gross (R)

Gross supports increasing spending, along with reforms like charters schools and expanded choices for children. His platform, however, does not address education. Incumbent Vilsack supports "investing in public schools," but publicly opposes vouchers. He does advocate offering parents charter schools (though the state's law is painfully weak), and his literature addresses teacher quality.

MARYLAND  
    Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (D) 
    Bob Ehrlich (R)

Ehrlich responded to our survey with a ringing endorsement of accountability, standards and testing. Money is important, he says, but teacher quality is the real determinant of good schools. Townsend advocates existing accountability programs but seems to put most of her focus on smaller classes, more pre-school, and school modernization. Ehrlich is a strong supporter of charter schools and believes children in failing schools should have choices. With Bill Gates' money, he'd modernize all schools.

        The guide is available exclusively on CER's website: go to Education Reform 2002: A Voter's Guide. There you will find an at-a-glance reading of support for or against three top reforms as well as a state by state summary of views. For more information, contact Anna Varghese, CER Director of External Affairs at (202) 822-9000.

***** 

In Other News:

* ACHIEVEMENT: A new report out about KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) schools finds that charters benefit from KIPP's model. Three KIPP charter schools that opened last fall are making statistically significant gains, and gains higher than their home districts, which are attributable to their education at KIPP. Click here for a copy.

* VIRGINIA CHARTERS: The reason there are only eight charter schools in Virginia became ever more clear when we learned that school districts are charging applicants anywhere from $500 (Chesterfield School District) to $2000 (Fairfax County) just to even consider their applications. It is interesting that these boards think that they should charge potential public schools an application fee to do what the law requires -- review charter applications.

* CHICAGO CHARTERS: A landmark grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was made to the Chicago Charter School Foundation, which currently has among the highest achieving high schools in all of Chicago. The multi-million dollar grant will be used to create new secondary schooling opportunities and an urban high school model. Long-time school reform activist and charter foundation president James Murphy is to be commended for his ongoing efforts to improve education in the Windy City. For information, contact Ben Lindquist at (312) 455-7892.

* Speaking of GRANTS: The Black Alliance of Educational Options received a $600,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to teach parents about choices available under the No Child Left Behind Act. Go to http://www.baeo.org.

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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.

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