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Education News for Tuesday, June 6

Jeb puts seal on a massive education-reform package – Florida students will soon be required to choose majors in high school, and middle school students will begin planning for college and careers, according to a massive education package signed by Gov. Jeb Bush on Monday. (more)

Black educators divided on Villaraigosa schools plan – While some black educators have expressed their determined opposition to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s plan to take control of the expansive Los Angeles Unified School District, others say they are very much in favor of the mayor’s ambitious effort to reform K-12 education here. (more)

Voucher-Eligible Schools See Last-Minute Enrollment Spike – Troubled public schools in Ohio where students are eligible for vouchers saw a sudden spike in enrollment as the school year wound down last week, with parents and administrators at private schools realizing thousands of the scholarships were about to go unused. (more)

Mandate Aside, Private Tutors Aren’t Always An Option – Across the country, educators say, many poor, rural schools are having trouble following the No Child Left Behind requirement to provide tutoring to struggling students. (more)

Universal Preschool in California: Why David Brooks is Wrong – Opinion: Why the New York Times columnist is wrong on California’s Proposition 82. (more)

High court to weigh school racial balance – The Supreme Court agreed Monday to take up two cases that could mark a historic shift in the role of race in education and spell the end of official efforts to integrate the nation’s public schools. (more)

Ruling Against Integration Plans Could Add to L.A. Schools’ Burden – Like many urban school systems around the country, the Los Angeles Unified School District will be watching this fall when the U.S. Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of desegregation programs in Seattle and Louisville, Ky. (more)

District clears charter school catering to Mexican students – Responding to allegations of discrimination, the school district has concluded that an elementary school catering to students of Mexican descent is following its charter, officials said Monday. (more)

Study shows U.S. falling behind in science – Opinion: Dismal new results on U.S. student performance in science ought to spur Congress to pass President Bush’s competitiveness agenda this year – and to extend his "No Child Left Behind" program to high schools. (more)

A poor ‘choice’ – Opinion: After reading the platforms of some candidates for South Carolina superintendent of education, I’m amazed. They speak of vouchers and school choice, ideas that seem detrimental to public education as well as highly impractical. (more)

Check back later for more education news.   

UPDATE:

WSJ: Early warning: Today’s special election in California should send a message to out-of-touch Republicans – Two years ago Francine Busby, a Democrat and school board member in suburban San Diego, ran for Congress and was trounced by Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Today Cunningham is behind bars, and Ms. Busby has a very good shot at winning a special election to serve out the remainder of his term. (more)

New Orleans schools charter a new course – Katrina gave the city an ironic gift: a fresh start on an education system long in a shambles. The state has taken control of most campuses. (more)

Bishop DiMarzio emerges in debate over schools in NY – These days, Brooklyn’s leading Catholic cleric is talking about the need for tax credits to help parents offset the costs of tuition at private and parochial schools. (more)

Ed Week: Dual Orlean’s systems grow in storm’s wake – (subscription required) Nine months after Hurricane Katrina crippled the New Orleans school district, two distinct systems of public schools are slowly emerging in the city. The highly unusual arrangement is fraught with questions, from the small—What should we call it?—to the large—Will it work? (more)

Ed Week: Conservative House GOP group flexes policy muscle – (subscription required) As debates raged last year over how much federal aid to provide in response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, including to help schools, a coalition of staunchly conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives insisted that lawmakers try to save money in other places to pay for hurricane relief. (more)

Ed Week: Unions’ deals with brokers raise issues – (subscription required) The New York state attorney general’s office is close to announcing a settlement with the 525,000-member New York State United Teachers over a relationship between the union and ING Group, a large financial-services company based in the Netherlands. (more)