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Education News for Tuesday, July 18

Unions drive a hard bargain – The New Jersey Education Association has been called the most powerful union in the state, and it’s not difficult to see why. (more)

Suit Seeks School Choice for Underprivileged New Jersey Students – A class-action lawsuit filed against New Jersey school districts and the State Commissioner of Education seeks to win more than 60,000 students in failing schools the right to attend a different public or private school. (more)

Pay teachers more and demand results – Opinion: With student performance still dismal 23 years after a federal report proclaimed “a nation at risk,” it’s just possible that a decisive, bipartisan “grand bargain” can be struck to improve the public schools. (more)

Building a Better School Board – Editorial: If we had our druthers, the Los Angeles school board as it is currently constituted would be abolished.  If that can’t happen — and it looks unlikely, but we can still hope — then the next best thing may be to give the board a raise. (more)

59 receive EdChoice scholarships – The Ohio Department of Education said Monday that 59 Lima schools pupils have been awarded Ohio EdChoice Scholarships to attend private schools this fall. (more)

Congress should kill No Child Left Behind – Editorial: Members of Congress are wrong to think that the No Child Left Behind law can be fixed, and additional burdens it would place on schools beginning in the fall are further cause for scrapping the 4-year-old federal program. (more)

Educators: No Child Left Behind needs changes – Many educators in South Carolina say the law continues to cause headaches, particularly when it requires that all categories of students must pass state standardized tests. (more)

Private schools not inherently better, national study suggests – When factors such as race and wealth are accounted for, students at public and private schools scored about the same on national fourth- and eighthgrade math and reading exams, according to a U.S. Department of Education report that has rekindled the debate over the usefulness of vouchers. (more)

409 in Dayton to attend schools under voucher plan – Across Ohio, 2,272 students who last year attended low-rated public schools received vouchers from the state paying up to $5,000 toward tuition at private schools. (more)

Check back later for more education news. 
UPDATE:

Failing grade on No Child Left Behind could redirect money – The U.S. Department of Education says Kansas gets a failing grade when it comes to meeting No Child Left Behind mandates. And that could cause the Kansas State Department of Education to lose out on a big chunk of federal funding. (more)

Spinning a Bad Report Card (subscription required) – Thanks to a new federal report comparing public and private schools, there’s no doubt that public schools have one huge advantage: the leaders of their unions are unrivaled masters of spin. (more)

Republicans unveil $100 million school voucher plan– Congressional Republicans on Tuesday proposed a $100 million plan to let poor children leave struggling schools and attend private schools at public expense. (more)

On Point: Questionable tactics – When you face a political adversary who will do anything to win, it’s tempting to respond with the same unprincipled tactics. Maybe this explains the support of some bigtime school-choice advocates for an unfortunate lawsuit in New Jersey. (more)

Private Performance – predictably, Diana Jean Schemo and the New York Times found front-page, above-the-fold space on Saturday to cover on a new National Center for Education Statistics report, drawn from 2003 National Assessment of Educational Progress data, that finds private schools only slightly more effective than public when analysts control for income, race, parent education, and such. (The exception is eighth-grade reading where the private-school advantage is marked.) (more)

Local control is a key issue – All three Republican candidates for the 3rd District Kansas Board of Education seat claim local control of schools as a key part of their platform. (more)

Politics Over Public Education – Today’s introduction of legislation to create a massive, publicly funded school voucher program is a gift to the Religious Right and anti-government activists opposed to public education. Unfortunately, it’s also a step further away from a nationa
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commitment to reforms that will strengthen America’s public schools. (more)

Three districts with failing schools could face penalties – Three school districts could face financial penalties unless they can satisfy state officials that they are taking sufficient steps to improve chronically failing schools. (more)

Alexander seeks school choice – U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., joined colleagues in the House and Senate today to introduce legislation that would implement a Bush administration program to give low-income children more opportunities to improve their educational experience.(more)

Secretary of Education and Congressional Leaders Introduce …- Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, along with Senators Ensign and Alexander, and Representatives McKeon and Johnson, today introduced a massive national private school voucher program. People For the American Way President Ralph G. Neas released the following statement. (more)

US senator to introduce school voucher measure – U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said July 14 that he planned to introduce legislation to provide $100 million in federally funded vouchers so that students in low-performing public schools could attend private or parochial schools. (more)