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Education News for Thursday, June 8

Principal says he didn’t order assault of KABC-AM reporter – The principal of a Los Angeles charter elementary school said Wednesday that neither he nor his staff ordered the assault of a KABC-AM radio reporter last week. (more)

Is Every "Choice" a Good One? – Opinion: Is every "school choice" policy currently in existence and on the drawing board necessarily a step forward, or could leave us worse off than when we started? (more)

Unschooling unpopular, but it’s growing trend – Opinion: The message is startling in its simplicity: Let’s let the kids decide what they want to learn. (more)

Doing pre-K right will cost more – Editorial: Florida voters wanted to give 4-year-olds a "high quality" prekindergarten, but lawmakers are still playing low-ball. (more)

Teachers union broadens to include other education workers – California’s largest teachers union has voted to allow non-teaching educational workers including secretaries and bus drivers to become members. (more)

Many parents unhappy with school choice – In what could be the final year of the controversial public choice system that decides what schools Rockford, Illinois kids will attend, 81.5 percent of the 5,381 Rockford students whose families registered children for kindergarten, sixth or ninth grade got the school they wanted.  But nearly 1,000 students did not. (more)

Vouchers abused, state says – Legal or not, ethical or not, some private-school parents are enrolling their children in struggling public schools they don’t intend to send them to, in hopes of using state money to pay tuition. (more)

Daley defends school property tax increase – It was the 10th time in the 12 years since his school takeover that Mayor Richard Daley has allowed the Chicago Board of Education to raise property taxes to the maximum allowed by the property tax cap. (more) 

School chief seeks 10% spending hike – After promising to show fiscal restraint after two years of outspending revenues, Sarasota County (Florida) Superintendent Gary Norris plans once again to dip into reserves to operate schools next year.  That decision comes as the district is enjoying the largest voter-approved tax in its history and saving money by laying off as many as 50 teacher’s aides. (more)

3,300 fail exit exam, graduate anyway – More than 3,300 high school seniors graduated from Indiana public schools last year even though they flunked the state’s graduation test five times. (more)

UPDATE:

Peter Schrag: School reform for dummies: A short primer – Jane David’s and Larry Cuban’s little 120-page book, "Cutting Through the Hype: A Taxpayer’s Guide To School Reforms," will never generate hot headlines. It’s froth-free, and provides little ammunition for the chicken littles of American education or for the peddlers of the magic bullets of one or another all-purpose school reform. (more)

School choice vs. diversity -The Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear two reverse-discrimination school cases – one from a white mom in Louisville- that could alter public school policies nationwide nearly as profoundly as Brown v. Board of Education (1954). (more)

Archdiocese lets students have a choice -Why are well-funded teachers unions so fervently opposed to school choice for poor, mostly minority, kids? (more)

"Gov. Bush Signs Bill Strengthening Oversight of School Voucher Programs" – Governor Jeb Bush signed into law a bill increasing oversight of Florida’s two remaining school voucher programs, months after the state Supreme Court struck down the third program at least partly because there was so little state control over public money at private schools. (more)

"Web School Draws Pupils, Critics" – Oregon’s biggest virtual school ends next week after an inaugural year that drew nearly 700 students with soaring demand that could double its size this fall, eventually making it the largest school in the state. Through marketing and word of mouth, the taxpayer-funded charter school has attracted hundreds of home-schooled students and others looking for an alternative to private or regular public school. (more)

"Schools Await OK on Changing Standards" -The number of Massachusetts school systems that fail to meet No Child Left Behind standards on state tests could plunge by more than 75% if federal officials approve a state request to relax the rules. The Bay State tops the nation on test scores, but 64% of its school systems are now labeled in need of improvement. Under the current system, the state judges school districts on their overall test scores and the average scores of eight subgroups, over two years. (more)

Good intentions, wrong decision – The Christian County Board of Education like
ly
meant well when it made the decision to deny school choice to the parents of newly enrolled elementary school children. (more)

School choice advocates open Columbus office – The Washington-based Black Alliance for Educational Options celebrated the opening last month of its Columbus office by holding an informal June 1 group discussion with voucher and charter school advocate Virginia Walden Ford. (more)

An African-centered success story – Before starting their project, a quartet of fifth-graders at J.S. Chick elementary school decides to make a pledge. They raise their right hands and promise they’ll do their best work to honor Malcolm X. Then they busily create a collage and an essay about his life as a civil rights leader, a one-time prisoner, and a Muslim. (more)