Daily Headlines for June 26, 2012
National Education Reform Group’s Spending Shown
Reuters, June 25, 2012
The national education reform group StudentsFirst, which has set out to transform U.S. schools by introducing more free-market principles to public education, raised $7.6 million in its first nine months – and spent nearly a quarter of it on advertising – according to partial tax records released on Monday.
FROM THE STATES
CALIFORNIA
San Diego Neighbors Oppose Veterans Treatment Center
Los Angeles Times, CA, June 25, 2012
A plan for a 40-bed treatment center for military veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering frompost-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury has run into opposition from neighborhood groups and a nearby charter school.
COLORADO
Denver Public Schools Approves Eight New Schools to Open in Fall 2013
Denver Post, CO, June 25, 2012
Denver Public Schools will soon get eight new schools, four of them district run, four of them charter schools.
Douglas County Schools’ Dismissal of Voucher Survey Results
Denver Post, CO, June 25, 2012
I find it amusing that the Douglas County School District, supposedly under financial hardship, spent money to hire an independent firm to conduct a survey about the school voucher program, and then proceeded to ignore the negative results because they did not support the school board’s agenda.
CONNECTICUT
Side by Side to Work Together with Quinnipiac University
The Hour, CT, June 25, 2012
Side by Side Charter School, Quinnipiac University and New Haven’s Fair Haven School have entered into a partnership that will provide new opportunities to educators and students at all three schools.
City Stays at Front of School Reform
New Haven Register, CT, June 25, 2012
New Haven has chalked up another first in state education reform, thanks to collaboration between its schools and the teachers union. In contrast to the battle between the governor and unions this year over education reform, New Haven has turned over management of one its high schools to the New Haven Federation of Teachers.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
More Than 17,000 Names On D.C. Charter School Waiting Lists
Washington Examiner, DC, June 25, 2012
Students on the waiting list for admission to E.L. Haynes Public Charter School ‘s earliest grades are in good company — if more than 3,000 children count as “company” rather than Disney World on a sunny day.
IDAHO
McGurn: Son of Scott Walker
Wall Street Journal, June 26, 2012
It’s on. On the Idaho ballot, that is. Come November, Idahoans will vote on three referenda aimed at repealing what may be the nation’s most sweeping education reform, including new limits on collective bargaining for teachers. Think of it as the sequel to Wisconsin , where similar reforms led to a similar effort—the attempted recall of Gov. Scott Walker.
Education Reform Will Hurt Idaho Teachers
The Spokesman-Review, WA, June 26, 2012
Idaho Schools Superintendent Tom Luna could not resist an opportunity last week to beat up the Idaho Education Association for alleged lies about “Students Come First,” his controversial program to substitute online learning for live teaching, implement merit pay and put an end to collective bargaining.
INDIANA
Charter School Expansion Keeps on Rolling in Indianapolis
Indianapolis Star Blog, IN, June 25, 2012
Back in March, I wrote about an impending explosion of charter schools that would be fueled by a combination of factors. Today we have more evidence of the boom to come.
Charter School Offers Bright Budget Outlook
The Journal Gazette, IN, June 26, 2012
Timothy L. Johnson Academy’s school leader gave board members a positive budget forecast for the charter school Monday.
LOUISIANA
City School Board To Mull Charter Issues
Monroe News Star, LA, June 25, 2012
Neville Alumni and Friends Association president Susan Weaver said the group is looking forward to Tuesday’s Monroe City School Board meeting to learn the status of Neville High School ‘s charter application.
Charter School Getting Ready
The Advocate, LA, June 26, 2012
St. Landry Parish’s newest charter school, J.S. Clark Leadership Academy , is on schedule to open Aug. 1 with 180 students and a waiting list of at least 60, school officials said Monday.
School Reform Battle Moves to the Courts
The Daily Advertiser, LA, June 25, 2012
The “voucher system” is little more than a corporate takeover that stabs our public school system in the back. Superintendent John White talks of “empowering” teachers, while standing for de-professionalization, lower wages, mass teacher firings, and loss of basic tenure rights.
Judge Discards Jefferson Parish Teacher Layoffs, Calls Process ‘Arbitrary’
Times Picayune, LA, June 26, 2012
The Jefferson Parish School Board’s decisions last year to cut costs by laying off a group of teachers and imposing furlough days on all employees suffered another in a string of legal defeats Monday when 24th Judicial District Judge Raymond Steib discarded them because of the way the school system conducted them. He called the system’s methods, “arbitrary and an abuse of discretion.”
MICHIGAN
Merit-Based Teacher Pay Rewards Everyone
Mackinac Center for Public Policy Blog, MI, June 25, 2012
Two more Michigan school districts have earned praise for implementing merit-based teacher pay. Blissfield Schools and the St. Clair intermediate school district join Oscoda and Suttons Bay in transitioning away from an industrial-era assembly line worker type compensation system to one that recognizes and rewards teachers as motivated professionals.
MINNESOTA
Community Approach Can Lift Up Duluth Students
Duluth News Tribune, MN, June 25, 2012
A school district by itself is unlikely to improve graduation rates or to narrow the achievement gap between white students and students of color. Duluth is a prime example; heaven knows the Duluth school district has been trying.
MISSOURI
Program To Turn Around The Nation’s Worst Schools Is Hard On Principals
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, June 26, 2012
In the fall of 2010, before Riverview Gardens Central Middle School could benefit from a surge of federal money intended to help turn around the foundering school, it was assigned a new principal. Before long, that interim hire left — as did the next one.
NEW JERSEY
Sweeping N.J. Teacher’s Tenure Bill Passes Legislature, Heads To Gov. Christie’s Desk
The Star-Ledger, NJ, June 25, 2012
New Jersey’s public-school teachers and principals would have to ace their own yearly test if they want to attain job security under a bill that won final passage in the Legislature today.
Teacher Tenure Changes Now in Christie’s Court
New Jersey Spotlight, NJ, June 26, 2012
As New Jersey’s tenure reform bill continues to win broad support, maybe the only debate left is who gets credit for it.
N.J. Teacher Tenure Reform Is Long Overdue
Times of Trenton, NJ, June 25, 2012
As the various plans for overhauling New Jersey’s teacher tenure system coalesce, we applaud the overarching efforts intended to make it easier to get rid of bad teachers and reward good teachers.
School Vouchers, Especially Now, Are A Bad Idea
The Record, NJ, June 25, 2012
IF THERE is anything good in the bad New Jersey fiscal situation, with its revenue shortfall of up to $1.4 billion, it’s the fact that this lamentable condition should constitute the last nail in the coffin bearing a horrible educational idea: vouchers.
NEW YORK
New York Success Academy Network To Receive 50 Percent Increase In Per Student Payment
Huffington Post, June 25, 2012
The controversial Success Academy Charter Schools network — founded by former City Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz — is expected to receive a 50 percent increase in its per-pupil management fee on Monday, despite it already being one of the wealthiest and biggest-spending charter school operators in New York City .
For City Parents, Frustration Over Rising Cost of Public School
New York Times Schoolbook, June 25, 2012
School budget cuts, rising expenses and grander ambitions for student activities have driven up the cost of sending a child to a New York City public school.
An Upstairs-Downstairs Divide at a Public School Building in East Harlem
New York Times, NY, June 26, 2012
Karen Melendez-Hutt once presided over a fine success story. Early last decade, she became principal of Public School 30 in East Harlem, a school on the critical care list.
Charter School Fees Get Pricier
New York Daily News, NY, June 25, 2012
The SUNY Board’s Charter Schools Committee decided — without a vote — to allow Harlem Success Academy Charter Schools to increase its per-pupil fee from $1,350 to $2,000 to run charter schools in Harlem, the Bronx and Brooklyn .
Teacher Evaluation Access For Parents Only
Newsday, NY, June 25, 2012
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed a new law Monday that will limit public access to teachers’ evaluations to parents only.
PENNSYLVANIA
Keep Focus on Education Quality and Choice
Patriot News, PA, June 26, 2012
Pennsylvania’s Charter School Act of 1997 must be updated to reflect the current, vital role that charter schools offer parents and children. Two pieces of proposed legislation in the House Education Committee aim to reform charter school law, but each would have a very different outcome for parents and children seeking public school choice in the commonwealth.
Chester Community Charter School Request To Reconsider Lawsuit Denied
Delaware County Times, PA, June 26, 2012
The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania denied a request by Chester Community Charter School to reconsider a lawsuit in which the school claimed it was owed $7.49 million in unpaid charter payments from 1998-2007.
Teacher Evaluations May Look At Student Test Scores
The Scranton Times Tribune, PA, June 26, 2012
Evaluations of teachers may soon go beyond how well they teach, to how well their students perform on exams.
TENNESSEE
Desoto Lawmakers Glad They Opposed Charter School Measure
Commercial Appeal, TN, June 26, 2012
Local legislators Monday defended their opposition to a charter school measure that died during this year’s session.
Let KIPP Middle, Great Hearts Help Metro Teach
The Tennessean, TN, June 26, 2012
The Metro Board of Education meets tonight to review appeals from the five charter school groups whose petitions were rejected in May. All but one of the resubmissions should be easy for the board to decide.
TN Education Department to Release TCAP Results Today
The Tennessean, TN, June 26, 2012
The state Department of Education will release data showing Tennessee’s progress on education reform in an event early Tuesday afternoon in Nashville.
Charter Schools Topic du Jour in MNPS Board Race
Nashville Public Radio, TN, June 25, 2012
Candidates in the race to unseat Metro Schools board chair are trying to clarify their positions on charters. The privately-run but publicly-financed schools have become something of a hot-button.
UTAH
‘Coming to our Census’: Bridging the Education Gap
KSL, UT, June 25, 2012
Currently, more than one in 10 of America’s school children are learning English as a second language. But by 2030, experts estimate that number will be 40 percent, which presents a unique challenge for schools.
VERMONT
State to Grade Schools After All
Burlington Free Press, VT, June 26, 2012
Report cards are in the works for Vermont schools after all. The Vermont Education Department plans to issue adequate yearly progress (AYP) reports required under the federal No Child Left Behind Act the first week of August, about five months later than usual.
ONLINE SCHOOLS
Judge Reviews Plan For Online-Only Charter School
Asheville Citizen-Times, NC, June 25, 2012
A North Carolina judge heard arguments Monday on whether a for-profit company should get taxpayer money to operate a virtual charter school that offers online-only classes to students as young as kindergarten.
State Wants Say In Virtual Charter
Charlotte Observer, NC, June 26, 2012
RALEIGH After missing a key opportunity to review a virtual charter school that would be the first of its kind in North Carolina, the state school board was in court on Monday essentially asking for a mulligan.
‘Virtual Teachers’ Enjoy Some Real-Life Face Time
Peoria Journal Star, IL, June 15, 2012
This is one of Trish Crull’s more interesting semesters teaching Spanish in summer school.
Springfield Schools Plan To Add Online Offerings To Attract Charter Students
Register-Guard, OR, June 26, 2012
With more parents turning to online learning as an option for their students, the Springfield School District has decided to eliminate the middle man — online charter schools that siphon state funding — and offer the program directly next fall.