Vol. 4, No. 45
November 5, 2002

* VOTE! The pundits may all be wrong after today's election is over. Going into the elections, education ranked as the top issue after national security and the economy. That's likely to affect voter choices today -- or at least it should. For a refresher on where the states' governor and education chief candidates are on education reform go to EDUCATION REFORM 2002: A VOTER'S GUIDE.

        Speaking of voters, the new 2002 National Opinion Poll by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies continues to show that a majority of African-Americans continue to support vouchers. The Joint Center poll shows that more than 57 percent of those polled favor a system "where parents get the money from the government to send their children to the public, private or parochial school of their choice." Their results track similar CER findings in August, where school choice was favored by 63 percent of the overall population, and by 72 percent of African Americans. Even better news is that, according to the JCPES poll's author, younger African-Americans are more likely to support vouchers than older, which bodes well for future reform efforts. For the CER poll, click here.

* ELECTIONS II: Unions are working hard at the polls trying to salvage candidates who will guarantee their captive clientele. In most states, unions have dispatched teachers to the polls after hours, which is fair game. But in Florida, Miami union leaders overstepped their bounds by asking teachers to send home notes to parents, urging their vote for Bill McBride and for initiatives that would raise education spending to unprecedented levels. The Miami superintendent told the union it was violating the law by doing so, but children had apparently already been toting the letters home. To the union head, Pat Tornillo, it was an innocent effort to have the children "take a note home to their parents." Observers wonder if he'd feel that way if the letter urged support for parent-friendly reforms.

* ELECTIONS III: Reformers are rejoicing that this election day in many states they'll have an opportunity to seat people whose minds are open to raising the level of accountability and freedom for schools and their primary customers. In New York, Senate education committee chairman Edward Sullivan is retiring, which is good news given his attitude towards one successful reform effort that is helping children upstate. When asked his views on the establishment of the single-sex Brighter Choice Schools for Girls and Boys, established this fall, Sullivan responded, "I think the important thing at that age is not learning the math, it's learning the interaction." Single sex schools demonstrate not only academic achievement at all SES levels, but the social graces and maturity necessary to interact on a peer level with the opposite sex. Here's hoping the new Senate Education Chair will have a more worldly view of education opportunities for children.

* CHARTER SUCCESSES: In case you missed it, link to CER's 2002 Charter School Survey for clear, compelling reasons why charter schools are succeeding in myriad ways to education children. CER's annual survey of charter schools, which is a snapshot of schools serving 25 percent of all charter students, is a must-read for policymakers and pundits.

* MICHIGAN: Good news this week, amidst the move by some in Michigan to lower their standards. Governor Engler announced the 2002 Golden Apple Awards given to four "High Achieving" schools and 125 "Most Improved" schools. One charter school -- Midland Academy of Advanced and Creative Studies -- was selected in BOTH categories. Seventeen other charter schools received awards in the "Most Improved" category. The awards are given for the highest achieving and most improved scores on the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) test and come with a $10,000 award for school improvements. To show parents the standards students are being held to under the MEAP test, many school districts will invite parents and members of the community to take an abridged version of the high school MEAP test this month. Perhaps parents can use this as an opportunity to remind their leaders that lowering standards is not the way to improve education in the Great Lake State.

* MASSACHUSETTS: The success of Boston's charter schools is well known, but because of a sticky provision in the state's charter law, the potential for new schools -- or growth of existing schools -- is all but lost. The law stipulates that, "In any fiscal year, no public school district's total charter school tuition payment to commonwealth charter schools shall exceed 9 percent of said district's net school spending." The superintendent of Boston announced recently that the 9 percent cap was fast approaching, and that only a few hundred more students would be able to attend charter schools under this restriction. The state's 42 charter schools currently serve about 15,000 students, and another 11,000 are on the waiting lists. Depending on election outcomes today, charter proponents may want to consider an amendment to the budget restrictions that are putting the brakes on the charter movement in the Bay State.

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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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