Daily Headlines for June 30, 2011
New Orleans ‘Portfolio’ Strategy For Public Schools Gains Supporters Around The Country
Times Picayune, LA, June 29, 2011
More evidence arrives today that the same school improvement strategy that’s been adopted in New Orleans is gaining traction across the country.
Education Is The New Abortion: The Battle Over School Reform Has Turned Dangerously Vitriolic
New York Daily News, NY, June 30, 2011
Less than a year ago, as I was finishing a book on Michelle Rhee, the combative former chancellor of schools in Washington, D.C., the time arrived to set up a website for the book. The website designer asked if I wanted to include reader comments. It was a sensible suggestion, but I said, no, thanks.
FROM THE STATES
CALIFORNIA
New Setback For Parents Battling Compton School District
Los Angles Wave, CA, June 29, 2011
After a recent legal blow against parents fighting to strip control of McKinley Elementary School from Compton Unified School District and place it in the hands of a charter operator, members of the activist group Parent Revolution said this week they will likely take the matter to an appeals court.
COLORADO
Denver School Board Set To Vote On Charter For Minority Boys
Denver Post, CO, June 30, 2011
The Denver Public Schools board is expected to vote tonight on applications to open eight schools, including one for an all-boys charter focusing on African-Americans and Latinos in the district’s far northeast area.
Dougco Vouchers, Round 2
Denver Post, CO, June 30, 2011
It’s no surprise that the Douglas County School District’s pilot voucher plan has been challenged in court. That’s what school choice opponents do when such measures have popular support. When a school voucher plan was passed by the Colorado legislature in 2003, it was killed by our liberal state Supreme Court on the grounds that it undermined the authority of local school districts.
FLORIDA
Group At Top Of List To Run Duval’s 4 Most Struggling Schools Not In Business Very Long
Florida Times Union, FL, June 30, 2011
National Academic Educational Partners, the front-runner for teaming with Duval Partners to possibly run the county’s four most struggling public schools, has helped improve reading scores at most of the Florida charter schools it has worked with, but that’s only after a little more than a year of being in existence.
New Florida Teacher Evaluation Guidelines Take Effect Friday
TC Palms, FL, June 29, 2011
Florida teachers who don’t have tenure by now are out of luck. Friday marks the start of a new era in Florida public schools with parts of the state’s sweeping merit pay law, Senate Bill 736, going into effect.
ILLINOIS
Struggling Chicago Public High Schools Get Millions
Chicago Sun-Times, IL, June 30, 2011
Eight poorly performing Chicago public high schools – including a charter school – have been awarded nearly $5.7 million each in federal money to overhaul their programs over the next three years, state officials announced Wednesday.
INDIANA
Private Schools Receive More State Funding For Disabled Students
WRTV Indianapolis, IN, June 29, 2011
New legislation will allow private school students with disabilities access to state tax dollars earmarked for education.
Taxpayers Liable for Imagine’s Bill
Fort Wayne Journal -Gazette, IN, June 30, 2011
The first statewide challenge to the tax-exempt status of a charter school ended with a landmark denial for a Fort Wayne school, a decision that could be detrimental to Allen County taxpayers.
Diocese Officials Praise Voucher Plan
Evansville Courier Press, IN, June 29, 2011
Catholic schools and other nonpublic schools across Indiana stand to gain students from the voucher law, which allows students to transfer from public schools at state expense. The law takes effect Friday.
MAINE
Charter School Law A Chance To Try New Things
Portland Press Herald, ME, June 30, 2011
Educators with ideas of how to meet an unmet need will now have a way to proceed.
Charter Schools History A Boon For Our Program
Kennebec Journal, ME, June 30, 2011
For the past two decades, educators in some of the nation’s big cities and rural towns have been conducting an experiment, seeing what charter schools would do to help their students.
MICHIGAN
To Improve Schools, Shift Funds To Proven Programs
Detroit Free Press, MI, June 30, 2011
Detroit Public Schools is about to undergo its fourth makeover in 18 months under a plan to create a new governing body called the Education Achievement System. The state-controlled EAS would operate on top of the DPS district, paradoxically creating a new layer of governance in the name of downsizing.
MINNESOTA
Two Charter Schools Waiting On The State
Minneapolis Star Tribune, MN, June 29, 2011
Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA) is one of two charter schools still waiting on a decision from state officials who are reviewing requests for the schools to switch to new overseers by the end of the day Thursday.
All-Girls Charter Tries To Build Engineering Students
Minneapolis Star Tribune, MN, June 29, 2011
A St. Paul girls-only charter school seeks to get more of them interested in technical fields.
NEW JERSEY
New N.J. Bills Could Halt Growth Of Charter Schools In Suburbs, Expand In Unwelcome Areas
Star-Ledger, NJ, June 29, 2011
The Assembly advanced a package of bills tonight that could stymie the growth of charter schools in the suburbs while dramatically expanding their portfolio statewide.
NEW YORK
School Braces for Hard Truth
Wall Street Journal, June 30, 2011
That hard truth is one of many that the teachers, students and parents of Harlem Day have been confronting in recent months as the school prepares to become the city’s first attempt at a takeover of a failing charter school.
Suing to Strangle NYC Schools
New York Post, NY, June 30, 2011
The United Federation of Teachers and the NAACP are suing to prevent 16 charter schools from “co-locating” with other public schools in city Department of Education buildings. If the lawsuit succeeds, it’s highly unlikely those schools will be able to open this fall
Teacher Evaluations Must Be Worked Out
Poughkeepsie Journal, NY, June 30, 2011
There is, to be certain, much at stake as New York attempts to implement meaningful teacher and principal evaluations, a contentious issue that has landed in court.
OHIO
Historic Achievement
Columbus Dispatch, OH, June 30, 2011
On the important question of evaluating and compensating teachers, the budget provides a good start toward the merit-based pay system that would encourage the most-talented teachers to enter and stay in education.
OKLAHOMA
KIPP Tulsa Applies For Charter School Status
Tulsa World, OK, June 30, 2011
Officials from the school, which is part of the national Knowledge Is Power Program, as well as Tulsa Public Schools say they hope the conversion would bring few changes for students.
PENNSYLVANIA
Successful Charters Can Help Those Struggling
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, June 30, 2011
The study by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes cited by reporter Martha Woodall (” Pa. charters put to a test,” June 20) highlights the need for clear accountability standards for charter schools in Pennsylvania.
State Budget Leaves School District With $35 Million Hole To Fill
Philadelphia Daily News, PA, June 30, 2011
The school district’s budget problems are far from over after the state Legislature restored a paltry $22 million from the nearly $300 million that Gov. Corbett slashed
School Voucher Push Stalls, Likely Halted Until Fall
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, PA, June 30, 2011
RA last-minute push to provide students in Pennsylvania’s worst schools with a tuition voucher program has likely failed.
SOUTH DAKOTA
S.D. Schools Back Out Of No Child Law
Argus Leader, SD, June 30, 2011
South Dakota schools will not face higher proficiency targets for this year’s math and reading tests – in defiance of the No Child Left Behind Act, Education Secretary Melody Schopp said Wednesday.