Vol. 5, No. 39
September 3, 2003

• CHOICES IN WASHINGTON, DC: While kids went back to school, Congress went back to work this week and will debate expanded educational opportunities for Washington, D.C. school children. The House of Representatives is likely to take up the issue later this week and the Senate is scheduled to follow suit later in the month. The measure would help approximately 2,000 of the District's most disadvantaged children, by allowing scholarships to flow to their school of choice, while also expanding charter and public school improvement programs.

        The power of – and demand for – school choice was evident at the Friendship Edison charter schools during the last week as more kids than seats available lined up for the distant chance that they'd get a seat in these coveted charter schools. Three of Friendship's four campuses are overenrolled and there were kids on line as late as four o'clock Tuesday trying to get in. The fourth campus, Woodridge, is at capacity.

        Administrators were working hard to find places for these kids but there simply was no more room in any of the four charters they run. Of the hundreds of calls and visits already received, "one lady called and said she had already removed her child from Brent (one of the District's better public schools) and said she didn't want her child going back to DCPS. She said we gotta find a place for her.”

        Click here for the latest on what's happening in DC on school choice.

• CHOICE IN THE NEWS: Thanks to Washington Post reporter Jay Mathews, both sides of the school choice debate are prominently featured in an online debate between CER president Jeanne Allen and NEA Vice President Michael Pons. To "attend" the debate, go to: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14882-2003Sep2.html.

• CHOICE RESEARCH: A new study, "When Schools Compete: The Effect of Vouchers on Florida Public School Achievement" by Manhattan Institute fellow Jay Greene shows that students who participated in the Florida A+ program have made academic gains. The program allows children in schools that have failed for two years in a four year period to be eligible for vouchers. The study finds that "Florida's low-performing schools are improving in direct proportion to the challenge they face from voucher competition. These improvements are real, not the result of test gaming or demographic shifts. Schools already facing competition from vouchers showed the greatest improvements of all five categories of low-performing schools, improving by 9.3 scale score points on the FCAT math test, 10.1 points on the FCAT reading test, and 5.1 percentile points on the Stanford-9 math test relative to Florida public schools that were not in any low-performing category. Schools threatened with the prospect of vouchers showed the second greatest improvements, making relative gains of 6.7 scale points on the FCAT math test, 8.2 points on the FCAT reading test, and 3.0 percentile points on the Stanford-9 math test." For more from the study, go to: http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/ewp_02.htm.

CHARTERS:

• MARYLAND: Despite passing a weak charter school law, observers could have never predicted that the law could become even more restrictive. But thanks to policies drafted by the Maryland State Education Department, with help from the education establishment who opposed charters having any autonomy, charters are now all but guaranteed they will be subject to as much regulation and bureaucracy as traditional public schools.

        The new charter policy that will guide school boards and the state in their approval process leaves almost all details concerning how and what a charter does to the school boards rather than to the individual citizens, parents and teachers that were intended to run charters schools. The policy provides no legal, fiscal or governing autonomy to a charter school without school board consent, leaving them scant opportunity to implement anything that resembles the innovative policies that are in existence in most of the other 40 states with charter school laws. The policy as drafted is completely at odds with the intent of the law and adds restrictions that were not legislatively approved. Governor Ehrlich still has time to come through on his campaign promise to bring charter schools to Maryland. The State Board of Education can still go back to the drawing board and create a policy that will foster a strong and robust system of charter schools. CER recommended that the Governor statutorily reject the policy. Click here for more on what's happening with charters in Maryland.

• ACHIEVEMENT: Under the No Child Left Behind law, schools across the nation are being evaluated on how much school progress academically is being met. Schools are considered as “needing improvement” if any group within a school fails to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals. The news on charters is beginning to trickle in and is positive. In Georgia, a total of 77 percent of charters made AYP last year compared to 58 percent of all public schools in the state. In Florida, an average of nearly 36 percent of charters made AYP for both Title I and non-Title I schools compared to nearly 13 percent of district schools. Florida charters outperformed district schools in meeting AYP in 21 counties that include some of Florida's toughest districts: Brevard, Broward, Dade, Escambia and Hillsborough, while district schools only outperformed charters in 13 counties.

• CALIFORNIA: The Senate will soon vote on a measure that will provide more funding flexibility to charters, and in exchange for that concession, charters would have to meet certain state standards: The Golden state evaluates schools on the basis of an Academic Performance Index (API). To be renewed, a charter would have to have a 4 or higher (on a scale of ten). Non-classroom based charters, i.e. virtual schools, would have access to more flexible and equitable funds if they scored an API of 6 or higher. Existing law allows their funds to be slashed if they couldn't demonstrate spending on classrooms. Options for Youth charter schools is one such example. The online charter school that services mainly non-traditional students has consistently scored high on all academic evaluations, but because they do not operate brick and mortar schools had their funding cut to 40 percent of what is currently spent on California school children. The bill is expected to pass. Click here for more on this legislative effort.

• CER CAREER OPPORTUNITIES – CER is searching for highly qualified candidates for new and existing posts including policy and planning director, policy analyst, state liaison and Maryland Parent Liaison. If you are searching for a great position and would like or desire to make a solid contribution to the national education reform movement, send your resume and cover letter to hr@edreform.com. Please note: job position must be identified in Subject line. Link here for more information on each position.

SUBSCRIBE to CER's Education Reform Newswire -- have these regular newswires delivered right to your email box (for free!).

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.

###

CER Home Page Newswire Archives E-Mail CER CER Publications