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Education news for Monday, June 12

FL voucher change strands students – This means an uncertain summer for parents and students involved in the Opportunity Scholarship program, which the Florida Supreme Court struck down in January. (more)

Ohio Voucher games – The Associated Press reported last week that with a June 9 deadline approaching for enrolled students to apply for the scholarships, the Ohio Department of Education noticed an enrollment spike in underperforming schools. (more)

A lifeline to high school dropouts – …nearly a third of students who began as freshmen four years ago dropped out of high school and will not receive a traditional diploma. (more)

When poor kids get poor teachers – we see that few people who purport to represent the interests of our minority and poor populations have yet to address what is perhaps the most important social and economic issue of our time… (more)

Milwaukee public schools – Some learn, some just show up – Every Milwaukee Public Schools high school has industrious students, dedicated teachers. But in many classrooms they can seem few and far between. (more)

Perhaps not all affirmative action is created equal – NOW that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear two cases challenging racial balancing in public schools, some conservatives hope the end of affirmative action is near. (more)

Alan Bonsteel: Education department hides dropout crisis – In 2001, California enrolled 499,505 ninth grade freshmen, and in 2005 graduated 355,217 seniors, for an alarming 28.9 percent dropout rate – not even counting kids who dropped out of middle school and never even started high school. (more)

Spelling gutting – Spellings—who first helped design and then enforce the law during four years at the White House domestic-policy shop—has been methodically gutting No Child Left Behind since about the time she became secretary.  (more)

USA Today: New Orleans schools aim higher – The last lesson Gil Wilson taught before Hurricane Katrina still fills a chalkboard inside abandoned Lafon Elementary School. Recently, on a warm Sunday morning, he donned a jacket and tie and interviewed for another job within the same school system. (more)

Not enough teachers ‘highly qualified’ – Florida school districts are failing to meet another provision of the No Child Left Behind Act that ensures students get teachers who know the subjects they teach. And Florida is not alone.  (more)

There goes the enrollment – Public school enrollment is dropping fast in some of the most notoriously crowded neighborhoods of Los Angeles as soaring rents and property values displace low-income, mostly immigrant families. (more)

Charter schools become safety net for parents – Charter schools have become popular in part because parents see them as havens from the violence in public schools. (more)

Ohio voucher applicants sparse – About 2,500 students statewide had applied for Ohio’s new voucher program just hours before the deadline, leaving unused almost 11,500 vouchers worth tens of millions of dollars for private-school tuition…."(This) is more applications received than any other voucher program ever awarded in the first year of implementation across the country," said J.C. Benton, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Education. (more)

NYC takeover of schools gets mixed reviews – Four years after taking control of New York’s struggling school system, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has earned praise from many education observers across the country. (more)

Crist rolls out education plan – Advocating big property tax cuts and big pay raises for some teachers and touting an endorsement by Sen. Mel Martinez, Charlie Crist barnstormed through Florida this week in hope of cementing himself as the front-runner in the Republican governor’s primary. (more)

New Orleans parents choosing charter schools – Charter schools looking to open in Orleans Parish for the first time since Hurricane Katrina may not know where they’ll be, but it looks like they’ll be crowded. (more)

Check back later for more education news

UPDATE:

Voucher games – supporters of vouchers in the Ohio legislature have explained th
e
rationale often and loudly: Tuition vouchers are an escape route to superior private education for students who are enrolled — “trapped” is the more sinister description — in failing public schools. The purpose is to give low-income families an educational option available to their neighbors with higher incomes. Clear? Apparently, the point hasn’t been made clearly enough to prevent some families from trying to game the system. (more)

Voucher change strands students– Asia Brown loves her Christian school in Orlando and the state-funded scholarship that paid her tuition for two years. But judges have shut off the money for her and more than 700 other Florida students. (more)

Make it work– Ohio’s first foray into a statewide school-voucher program clearly has some kinks, but they can be worked out. The most surprising bump in the road to better school choices for families is that most of the 14,000 vouchers available statewide have no takers. (more)

On a (B) roll – School officials in Washington are finally getting the picture that the one-size-fits-all approach to public education simply doesn’t fit. In attempts to "reform" the system, both the Board of Education and the superintendent have agreed to close some unneeded school buildings and work with charter schools to accommodate that growing student population. (more)

Pupils’ futures show disparity in city– Malcolm Lawson, a 14-year-old Baltimore boy with a head full of rap songs and a knack for solving math equations, will go to a rigorous college preparatory school this fall. (more)