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Newswire: January 24, 2012

Vol. 14, No. 4

THE WEEK FOR CHOICE… National School Choice Week takes its message of parent empowerment nationwide. Events abound, including a Town Hall tonight with none other than Bill Cosby. Choice supporters can also sign a petition that “gives parents the right to choose schools that are best for their children,” but one Facebook commentator got it right: “I can’t believe such obvious common sense idea even needs a petition. What other product or service is ever better without some real competition to make it so…education is no different!” So true.

LUNCHTIME LESSONS ON SCHOOL CHOICE. Bring your lunch to CER’s EdReformTV and join experts talking and taking questions on hot-button choice issues. To grab a seat at the table, join us at 12am EST at the CER website.

FROM THE STATES. A look at how leaders and policymakers are tackling the big issues this week:

* Seeking quality teachers, the OKLAHOMA City School Board voted unanimously to hire 70 Teach for America teachers for next school year. Business donations are paying for the new teachers.

* PENNSYLVANIA, where tennis legend Andre Agassi will attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony for KIPP Philadelphia Elementary. Agassi calls KIPP the “gold standard when it comes to operating charter schools and educating these kids.”

* MASSACHUSETTS faces a teacher union lawsuit that seeks to bar a ballot initiative to take teacher evaluation off the collective bargaining table and require school districts to use evaluation standards developed by the state Board of Education.

* Making it easier for parents to make decisions about their child’s education, the NORTH CAROLINA Education Department has posted teacher evaluation data online.

* INDIANA, already light years ahead on choice and charters, is debating its own parent trigger law that will have more teeth than last year’s proposal that had school boards make the ultimate decision.

STATE OF THE UNION. Tonight, keep up with the commentary on the President’s State of the Union address via twitter (follow @edreform and @jeanneallen). And, be on the look-out tomorrow for our take on the condition of education in our nation via at edreform.com and edpresso.com. Till then.