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Education News for Monday, July 24

NJ voucher fight tilts to the right – A lawsuit to apply New Jersey’s public-education funding toward private-school tuition has key support from some of the country’s most conservative charitable foundations, including those run by heirs to the Wal-Mart and Amway fortunes, public records show. (more)

Nina Rees: The CA preschool initiative – Ed Week (subscription required) The resounding defeat of California’s Proposition 82, which sought to offer all 4-year-olds in California access to free half-day preschool, appears to be a big blow to advocates of universal prekindergarten. (more)

Who’s donating and what do they want? – National charter-school advocates are digging deep to help underwrite Ken Blackwell’s gubernatorial campaign. (more)

Ruben Navarrette: NEA’s anti-education crusade: Leave no union member behind – The National Education Association voted to launch a nationwide campaign to lobby Congress to radically change NCLB when the law comes up for reauthorization next year. (more)

Antonio pressured on LAUSD plan – After cutting a backroom deal on school reform with teachers unions, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa finds himself under mounting pressure from business and civic leaders to revise the measure before state lawmakers vote on it. (more)

Check back later for more education news.

UPDATE:

WI: Wal-Mart owners giving to Green – Members of the Walton family – owners of Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retail chain and Wisconsin’s largest private employer – have given Republican gubernatorial candidate U.S. Rep. Mark Green $18,000 in his bid to unseat Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, campaign finance records show. (more)

Education race – The achievement gap between Latino and non-Latino students “begins before children even enter kindergarten and persists throughout the K-12 years… (more)

AFT Hikes Dues to Pay for Recruitment, Political Efforts – Ed Week (subscription required) The American Federation of Teachers, at its biennial convention here, approved a dues increase to pay for stepped-up recruitment and what the union hopes will be more-effective political programs. (more)

Another voucher joust – On the education front, GOP leaders last week trotted out one of their old favorites: a nationwide school voucher program. This iteration would spend $100 million to allow poor children "trapped" in struggling public schools to escape to successful private ones. (more)

UPDATE:

Teacher union puts members’ needs ahead of students’ – After five years of trying to undermine the No Child Left Behind Act, the nation’s largest teachers union has decided that it can live with the education reform law after all — as long as the legislation is gutted, its standards lowered and its accountability measures watered down. (more)

School choice empty promise– A keystone of the federal No Child Left Behind accountability program is the requirement that students who attend schools that are not performing up to the program’s standards can choose to leave that school and transfer to a school that does meet standards. (more)

Expanding government’s reach OK if it adds education options – The only thing tolerable about the growth of domestic spending during the Bush presidency is that, in some instances, there’s a devilish brilliance to it. (more)

Funds would follow child– A national education group is proposing an overhaul of federal and state funding formulas for schools, calling for dollars to be spent directly on children rather than districts. Some local leaders say the plan is worth considering. (more)

Sen. Villalobos’ voucher snub invites payback in the primary– The quick-thinking supporters of Miami-Dade School Board Member Frank Bolanos last week revealed the extent to which political revenge will be exacted against Miami state Sen. Alex Villalobos for voting his conscience on class size and voucher legislation last session. But, just watch, the biggest show is yet to come. (more)

Education realities can’t be buried or ignored forever – The federal government just released a study with some surprising news about public education. (more)

Texas House Rep. Strama, a Democrat, meets with top GOP donor – State Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, met with businessman James Leininger in San Antonio for about 90 minutes last month — a man-bites-dog event of sorts because Leininger has poured millions of dollars into defeating candidates who share Strama’s position on school vouchers. (more)