Daily Headlines for November 5, 2012
In Florida And Tennessee , Teachers Unions Face Rhee-venge
Washington Times, DC, November 4, 2012
Merit pay for teachers, school choice, in-state tuition rates for veterans and undocumented immigrants.
A Better Way To Grade Teachers
Los Angeles Times, CA, November 5, 2012
Effective evaluation requires rigorous, ongoing assessment by experts who review teachers’ instruction, looking at classroom practice and evidence of student learning.
Mitt Romney Makes Education Pitch In Final Days Before Election
Huffington Post
November 4, 2012
For the last year, education advocates have been trying to get the subject of America’s beleaguered public schools onto the agenda of the presidential election.
Unions Recruit New Allies for Obama in Battleground States
New York Times, NY, November 5, 2012
Dressed in a ski jacket to protect her from the morning chill, Sandy Jacobs, an occupational therapist, arrived at a fading, nearly century-old two-family home and knocked on one of the doors.
STATE COVERAGE
CALIFORNIA
Charter Schools Growing In Sonoma County
Press-Democrat, CA, November 4, 2012
Sonoma County is at the forefront of the charter school movement in California with 11 new schools opening this year, second only to massive Los Angeles County Unified with its nearly 660,000 students.
Fresno Teachers Union Lets District Apply For Federal Grant
Los Angeles Times, CA, November 5, 2012
Many unions have opposed the grant program, which requires using student test scores in teacher evaluations. L.A. Unified is among the school districts that couldn’t get union support by the deadline.
COLORADO
Metro School Districts Get Into Race For Federal Grants
Denver Post, CO, November 5, 2012
A handful of metro-area school districts just submitted applications for the most recent round of Race to the Top, where school districts instead of states vie for a chunk of the federal education money.
CONNECTICUT
Ed Board Charter Change Divides Voters
CT Post, CT, November 4, 2012
A contentious bid to convert the city school board from an elected one to one appointed by the mayor — blasted by critics as a vote-robbing power grab but hailed by others as the best chance to rescue a failing district — will likely have no effect on student performance, according to a national expert on education policy.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Special Education Battles With No End
Washington Post, DC, November 4, 2012
Seth turns 9 on Saturday. He is a radiant child who often looks better than he feels. He was born nearly four months prematurely and weighed 15 ounces at birth.
FLORIDA
Schools Funding Should Return To 2006-07 Levels
News-Press, FL, November 4, 2012
At The News-Press Second annual Education Summit, Gov. Rick Scott laid out his education platform for the 2013 Legislative Session. The governor touched on a few areas, but I wanted to focus in on two of the larger issues.
Duval County School Board To Decide On Another 6 Charter Schools
Florida Times Union, FL, November 3, 2012
The Duval County School Board will consider whether to approve another six charter schools on Monday.
GEORGIA
Ballot Amendment Might Be Turning Point For Education
Athens Banner-Herald, GA, November 3, 2012
The most hotly contested state race this year doesn’t include candidates for office. The race concerns a constitutional amendment and, perhaps, the future of public education in Georgia .
Amendment One: A Chance At A Choice For Students Who Today Have Neither
Atlanta Journal Constitution, GA, November 5, 2012
No one among us, if faced with a persistent disease and a physician who’d failed to cure it, would be content to continue consulting only that doctor — and, especially, to be told we could not seek a second opinion.
Charter School Battle Involves Big Money
Atlanta Journal Constitution, GA, November 4, 2012
The question facing Georgia voters Tuesday is fairly simple: Do they want to create an additional pathway to approve charter schools in the state?
Price vs. Heard, Amendment 1 Top Local Items On Dougherty Ballot
Albany Herald, GA, November 4, 2012
When Dougherty County voters head to the polls on Tuesday, two of the most hotly contested items on the ballot are the School Board at-large seat and the controversial proposed constitutional Amendment 1.
Data Show Relatively Fewer Students In Poverty Served By Charter Schools
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, GA, November 3, 2012
Charter schools educate a smaller proportion of metro Atlanta’s impoverished students than the public school systems in which those charters are located, a new analysis by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows.
HAWAII
Parents Say High School Is Needed In Kihei
Maui News, HI, November 4, 2012
Dozens of Kihei residents, including parents and children, stood on the shoulder of Piilani Highway on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning to wave signs and draw attention to the need for a Kihei high school.
ILLINOIS
Giving A Grade To No Child Left Behind: Controversial Program ‘Tarnished’ Good Schools
Belleville News Democrat, IL, November 3, 2012
Robert Green coached track before he was superintendent of Collinsville schools — and he compares trying to help schools satisfy No Child Left Behind to facing the high jump.
CPS Wants To Delay Decision On School Closings
Chicago Tribune, IL, November 3, 2012
With community concern growing over school closings, Chicago Public Schools officials on Friday said they are asking for a four-month extension for producing a list of targeted schools.
Involving Parents
Chicago Tribune, IL, November 5, 2012
Chicago’s teachers often tell us that they alone can’t educate kids. They need help from parents. The teachers are disappointed that some parents don’t, or can’t, get to school to pick up their children’s report cards.
INDIANA
GSU Hosts Alternative Teacher Certification Information Session
Munster Times, IN, November 5, 2012
Learn how to earn elementary or secondary (biology, chemistry, or mathematics) teacher certification and secure a teaching position through Governors State University’s Alternative Certification Program.
Charter Group Tells Judge It Opposes Sale By EACS To Diocese
The Journal Gazette, IN, November 3, 2012
The Indiana Public Charter Schools Association told an Allen Superior Court judge Friday morning it would support changes to the state law it feels requires school buildings to sit unused for up to four years
KANSAS
First Bell : A Peek Into Next Year’s Legislative Agenda For Education
Lawrence Journal World, KS, November 5, 2012
If you want a peek into what Kansas lawmakers have in mind for education bills next session, I suggest checking out the agenda for the next Legislative Educational Planning Committee meeting.
MAINE
Political Mailer Makes Inaccurate Claims About Charter Schools
Bangor Daily News, ME, November 4, 2012
It’s the height of the silly season when politicians and others with points of view and axes to grind say and write things that make little sense in order to get the people they want elected or not elected. So I probably should not be so surprised.
MICHIGAN
High School Students Take Sides On EM Law
Detroit News, MI, November 5, 2012
Detroit high school students added their voices to the emergency manager law ballot issue during a lively debate Sunday.
MISSISSIPPI
Reeves Describes Content Of A Charter School Push
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, MS, November 3, 2012
Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves stood by his personal preference of allowing all 145 Mississippi school districts the freedom to establish public charter schools in an early morning Tupelo address Friday but indicated he could again support a more restrictive bill as passed in 2012 by the Senate.
NEVADA
Deal Reached On Grant Application
Las Vegas Review-Journal, NV, November 5, 2012
With only hours to go before an extended deadline, the Clark County teachers union Friday morning signed off on the school district’s application for $40 million in federal grant money.
NEW MEXICO
Called ‘Pioneers’ in Reform
ABQ Journal, NM, November 3, 2012
Gov. Susana Martinez addressed a coalition of charter schools Friday as part of the coalition’s annual conference, reassuring the group that she would work to secure funding for charter schools.
Teacher Union Head Lashes Out
ABQ Journal, NM, November 4, 2012
Santa Fe Public Schools’ new superintendent Joel Boyd ruffled some feathers among teachers last week with the release of data suggesting teachers and other staff may be absent at rates nearly twice the national average.
NEW YORK
Pauline Liu: Give Charter School Plans A Chance To Make The Grade
Times Herald-Record, NY, November 5, 2012
Polarizing. That’s the word frequently used in reference to charter schools, the independently-run, alternative public schools than began opening in the wake of the state’s 1998 charter school law. It is no wonder why.
Utica Fears Cost Of Charter Schools
Utica Observer-Dispatch, NY, November 4, 2012
The question of whether Utica will have its own charter schools will be decided next month.
How the Utica City School District will pay for them, however, isn’t as easy to answer.
Analysis: City School District Often Faces Tug of War
Albany Democrat and Chronicle, NY, November 3, 2012
School closing plans are becoming a new reality in an urban district that has lost more than 5,000 students in the past decade, driven largely by declining enrollment and the continued exodus of middle-class families to the suburbs.
NORTH CAROLINA
Voters Decide Who Makes Education Decision For N.C. Children
Herald-Sun, NC, November 3, 2012
Parents care more about the education of their children than anyone else. Those parents who choose to vote the first Tuesday in November could therefore determine who runs North Carolina ’s K-12 public schools for their kids over the next decade. Let’s look at the positions and players at stake Nov. 6.
OHIO
Charter Schools Fail To Make Top Ratings
Lima News, OH, November 4, 2012
While 92 percent of the state’s public school districts scored effective or higher on this year’s report cards, only 26 percent of charter schools did. Locally, no charter school fell in the top three ratings.
OKLAHOMA
Conflict Over Special-Needs Scholarship Law On Hold For Now
Tulsa World, OK, November 5, 2012
Controversy over a law that allows the use of public funds to send special-needs students to private schools may have died down for now.
OREGON
Charter School Appeals Termination
Register Guard, OR, November 5, 2012
HomeSource family charter school, which had its contract revoked by the Bethel School District earlier this year, will appeal a second school board decision to terminate the contract, this time over the academic performance of its students.
TENNESSEE
Pro-School Choice PACs Spend Freely In Tennessee
The Tennessean, TN, November 4, 2012
With education issues high on the agenda for the upcoming legislative session, two new groups that favor charter schools and vouchers have spent lavishly on Tennessee House and Senate races.
Funding Dispute Surfaces Between Memphis City Schools, Charter Schools
Commercial Appeal, TN, November 4, 2012
Memphis City Schools Supt. Kriner Cash met with local charter school operators last week after prompting by state Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman to resolve a lingering dispute over charter school funds.
VIRGINIA
Big Change, Big Challenges Ahead For Richmond School Board
Richmond Times-Dispatch, VA, November 5, 2012
That the Richmond School Board will be dramatically changed after Tuesday’s election is a certainty.
WASHINGTON
Seattle Must Do More To Improve Special Education
Seattle Times, WA, November 4, 2012
A damning assessment from the state shows Seattle Public Schools needs to do more for its special-education students.
School Reform Propositions In Idaho Will Be ‘Catalyst For Turnout’
Spokesman Review, WA, November 4, 2012
Idaho voters are riled up and ready to vote, with a contentious school-reform debate reverberating in the state’s airwaves and decisions looming on every seat in the Legislature, key local races, two constitutional amendments and seats in Congress.
Vote No On I-1240
Spokesman Review, WA, November 3, 2012
Washington voters, the ballots are in the mail. Please vote no on Initiative 1240. Simply put, it steals money from the tax-supported public schools. Yes, a charter school is a private school funded with our hard-earned tax dollars.
No More Waiting For Charter Schools
Seattle Times, WA, November 2, 2012
Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Jose Banda is a thoughtful man with a personal narrative indicative of the ways educational inequalities challenge American dreams of careers and economic stability.
ONLINE SCHOOLS
Lake Appoints First Virtual Principal For Growing Program
Orlando Sentinel, FL, November 4, 2012
The Lake County school district’s first virtual principal assumed his post last week after the growing virtual franchise program became too large for a single district staffer to handle.
Alternative Broward Diploma Program Raises Concerns
Orlando Sentinel, FL, November 5, 2012
Many of Broward County’s struggling high school seniors have been called into their guidance counselors in recent weeks and strongly encouraged — some even say forced — to withdraw and finish their education through an online program.
Duval County School District Settles Court Case Over K12-Run Online Charter School
NPR StateImpact , FL, November 2, 2012
Duval County schools have settled a lawsuit over an online charter school to be run by K12, the nation’s largest online education company, according to the News Service of Florida.