NEWSWIRE IS BACK! Click here for the latest weekly report on education news and commentary you won’t find anywhere else, spiced with a dash of irreverence, from the nation’s leading voice in school reform.
NATIONAL COVERAGE
Guess When This Was Written
Washington Post Blog, DC, March 19, 2013
For well over two decades now, public schools have been subjected to wave after wave of reform in which the results of standardized tests have had increasing stakes for students, teachers, schools, districts and even states. The promise was that the test data would “drive” instruction and “drive” things to improve.
FROM THE STATES
ALABAMA
Preparing Teachers For Classrooms
Times Daily, AL, March 19, 2013
Alabama ranks among the top four states in the nation for preparing new teachers for the classroom, according to a recent study.
ARKANSAS
School Choice Bills Fails In Arkansas Senate
Log Cabin Democrat, AR, March 18, 2013
A proposal that would have allowed students who have transferred to other districts under the Arkansas school choice law to remain in those districts has narrowly failed before the state Senate.
CONNECTICUT
Conflict On State School Board
Stanford Advocate, CT, March 18, 2013
Andrea Comer is a successful executive in the state charter school business. She has worked for the charter management company Achievement First, and in October was appointed chief operating officer of Family Urban Schools of Excellence, a management/expansion company created by Hartford’s Jumoke Academy charter school.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Charter Schools Can’t Fill Education Void
Washington Post, DC, March 18, 2013
The controversy aroused by KIPP DC’s proposal to build a high school on public land in Southwest Washington [Metro, March 12], with expedited city transfer of the land, highlights the negative consequences of allowing even a good charter operator to fill a geographic education void.
FLORIDA
Senate Education Committee Looks To Merge Competing Charter School Bills
WFSU, FL, March 18, 2013
Florida Senator David Simmons (R-Maitland) wants to strengthen state laws governing financial transparency and accountability for charter schools.
Bill Would Tweak Teachers Evaluations
Tallahassee Democrat, FL, March 19, 2013
A Florida Senate panel on Monday took an early step to address a major source of anxiety for Florida’s teachers.
GEORGIA
Georgia Charter-School Law Would Be Different From Other States’
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, GA, March 18, 2013
Georgia could become the only state to force local school boards to consider petitions to transform non-failing traditional public schools into charter schools.
INDIANA
FWCS Opposes Plan To Expand Vouchers
The Journal Gazette, IN, March 19, 2013
Fort Wayne school board members on Monday reviewed pending state legislation and decided to oppose expansion of Indiana’s voucher program.
More Thoughtful School Reform Debate Needed From The Indiana Legislature
Evansville Courier & Press, IN, March 19, 2013
In a Courier & Press Sunday opinion column three weeks ago, political writer and commentator Abdul Hakim-Shabazz chose quite an offhand manner to address the difficulties new State Superintendent of Education Glenda Ritz is facing.
KANSAS
ALEC-Based Charter School Bill Getting Second Chance
Lawrence Journal World, KS, March 18, 2013
Specifically, the Kansas Senate Education Committee worked through a pile of bills Monday, including one that would create new opportunities for establishing charter schools in Kansas.
House Bill Creates $10M Aid Program For Private Schools
Topeka Capital Journal, KS, March 18, 2013
Critics contend measure lacks academic accountability, unfair to disabled students
MAINE
Speech Outlines Challenges Ahead For Portland Schools
Portland Press Herald, ME, March 18, 2013
Portland’s public schools must do everything they can to stay competitive against charter schools, including investing in buildings, improving students’ achievement and changing their culture.
MASSACHUSETTS
Charter Grants To Help Pay Creditors
Gloucester Daily Times, MA, March 19, 2013
The Gloucester Community Arts Charter School is gearing up to repay some of the school’s lingering $89,266 in debts through a federal grant and an assets sale that the state approved this month, as trustees wrap up the closing procedures.
MICHIGAN
Detroit Schools Seeks Community’s Help For Strategy To Boost Enrollment
Detroit News, MI, March 19, 2013
School closures, layoffs and debt service payments are the norm at Detroit Public Schools, a district that every year loses thousands of students and millions of dollars.
MISSOURI
Study Points The Way To Better Public Schools
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, March 18, 2013
There’s a study recently completed that examines the record of the highly touted Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) charter schools. It should be mandatory vacation reading for education policy makers.
NEVADA
Who’s In Charge Of Education In Nevada?
Las Vegas Sun, NV, March 19, 2013
It could have been a “Beauty and the Beast” story of unlikely love. In 2011, Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval joined the Democratic legislative leadership — your call who’s beauty and who’s beast — in an effort to turn around Nevada’s failing education system by passing a number of education reforms for which they could both be proud.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
More Nashua Students Choosing Traditional Over Charter High School
Nashua Telegraph, NH, March 19, 2013
While she did not have exact numbers, high school guidance director Maureen O’Dea said she’s seen more and more students, particularly at the high school level, interested in returning to North or South for their last four years of schooling in the city.
NEW JERSEY
From ‘Failing’ To Flourishing: One School’s Successful Journey
Burlington County Times, NJ, March 19, 2013
Let the politically charged postmortems begin on the experience and impact of No Child Left Behind on America’s schools and children. But we should be as empirical in our analysis as we are in our leadership. Would schools like Rancocas Valley have had laser-focused programs of identification, support and remediation if not for No Child Left Behind?
NEW MEXICO
Charters Held To Higher Standards
Albuquerque Journal, NM, March 19, 2013
This month, we continue with our series of articles on dispelling myths about charter schools. Last month’s column focused on clarifying that charter schools do not hurt a local school district’s graduation rate, are not private schools and that charter schools “cherry pick” their students.
Taos’ Student Numbers Updated As Charter Lotteries Near
Taos News, NM, March 18, 2013
As charter schools prepare to hold their lotteries and a challenge to a new charter school in Taos heads to District Court, enrollment numbers recently reported to the state shed light on the populations local charter schools serve.
NEW YORK
11% of Schools Never Flunk Their Teachers
Wall Street Journal, March 19, 2013
Principals at more than one in 10 New York City public schools didn’t flunk a single teacher for at least eight years, according to an analysis of city data by The Wall Street Journal.
NORTH CAROLINA
Lee Charter School Future Uncertain After Management Company Pulls Out
Chapel Hill News, NC, March 19, 2013
National Heritage Academies has pulled out of the proposed Howard and Lillian Lee Scholars Charter School. “We’re very disturbed and disappointed,” board member Danita Mason-Hogans said Monday. “Right now we’re trying to decide what we’re going to do as a board.”
PENNSYLVANIA
Advocate Of Pa. Charter Overhaul To Release Report On Abuses
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, March 19, 2013
To bolster his argument that Pennsylvania’s laws covering charter schools and cyber schools need overhaul, the Democratic chairman of the House Education Committee will release a report Tuesday that catalogs instances of fraud, financial irregularities, mismanagement, and test-score cheating at charter schools across the state.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Revoked Charter School Remains Open, SLED Investigating
WLTX, SC, March 18, 2013
Classes continued Monday at a Sumter school with a revoked charter and a restraining order.
TEXAS
Controversial Bill Would Open Door For More Charter Schools
Austin American-Statesman, TX, March 18, 2013
Harmony Public Schools, the state’s largest charter school system, cannot keep up with the demand for seats in its 38 campuses across the state.
WEST VIRGINIA
Senate Approves Compromise School Reform Bill
Charleston Gazette, WV, March 18, 2013
State senators passed Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s education reform bill Monday, after making a flurry of last-minute changes to win support from West Virginia’s teachers unions.
WISCONSIN
Hold Voucher Schools To The Same Standards
Wisconsin State Journal, WI, March 18, 2013
As a teacher in Beloit, am I supposed to sit back and accept the idea, promoted by groups such as Americans for Prosperity, that my school is failing, that I am failing?
Governor, School Board Both Hold Events on School Vouchers
WBAY-TV, WI, March 19, 2013
The debate over the expansion of Wisconsin’s school voucher program continued Monday night as the Green Bay school board and Governor Walker held separate events in Green Bay discussing the issue.
Feast For Private Schools, Famine For Public Schools
La Crosse Tribune, WI, March 18, 2013
The 2011-2012 state budget handed our public schools one of the biggest funding cuts they have ever been asked to endure. Funding for public education was slashed by $1.6 billion, causing many school districts to eliminate teaching positions and cut educational programs.
ONLINE LEARNING
U46 Committee, Most Residents At Public Hearing Oppose Online Charter School
Elgin Courier News, IL, March 19, 2013
The last time a charter school proposal came to the Elgin School District U46 Board of Education, it was missing information, data, background – “the very pertinent questions simply were not asked,” said board member Joyce Fountain.
Online Charter School Officials: No Special Rules For Us
Daily Herald, IL, March 18, 2013
A virtual charter school that could siphon about $600,000 of state funding away from St. Charles Unit District 303 received a lengthy cross examination from district officials Monday night. But people at the meeting left it with just about as many questions as when they walked in.
New Statewide Virtual Charter School Board Has First Meeting
Tulsa World, OK, March 19, 2013
The board responsible for the new statewide virtual charter school met for the first time Monday, just months before classes are set to begin.