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
Minority Groups Remain Outnumbered at Teaching Programs, Study Reports
New York Times, NY, March 20, 2013
Despite major changes in the racial makeup of American public school students, the people training to be teachers are still predominantly white.
FROM THE STATES
CALIFORNIA
Report Stirs Debate On Oakland Teachers
San Francisco Chronicle, CA, March 20, 2013
An independent group that evaluated policies in Oakland’s public schools will release a report Wednesday calling for an overhaul of the way the district compensates teachers and holds them accountable for their performance.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Henderson’s D.C. Schools Plan Calls For Equity Across The City’s Great Divide
Washington Post, DC, March 19, 2013
Provide equal educational opportunities across a city that is divided by one of the largest income gaps in the country — that’s the plan, according to D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson.
FLORIDA
Parent-Trigger Bill Bumping Forward in the House
Sunshine State News, FL, March 20, 2013
Controversial legislation known as the parent-trigger bill continues to spark debate at the state Capitol.
IDAHO
Charter School Bills Poised For Amendments
Magic Valley Times, ID, March 19, 2013
Two charter school funding bills that so far have been on a difficult path to passage may face another round of changes in the Idaho Senate.
Education Panel OKs Seniority Layoffs Bill
Idaho State Journal, ID, March 19, 2013
Seniority would no longer be used as the sole criteria when Idaho school districts determine teacher layoffs under a bill advanced by a Senate committee.
INDIANA
Statehouse Rally Aims to Move Lawmakers Against School Vouchers
93.1 WIBC Indianapolis, IN, March 19, 2013
The rally was put together by the Indiana Coalition for Public Education, which has long opposed vouchers and the expansion of charter schools. It also took place one week after an “Education Reform Rocks” rally at the Statehouse attended by Governor Pence and several pro-voucher activists, including former Indiana Pacer Jalen Rose.
KANSAS
Charter School Bill Nearing Vote
Topeka Capital Journal, KS, March 19, 2013
A bill to overhaul Kansas’ charter school system, rejected by the House Education Committee, could find new life in the Senate.
LOUISIANA
Voucher Funding In Court’s Hands
The Advertiser, LA, March 20, 2013
Whether the state constitution allows using funds dedicated to public schools to pay for private school vouchers is now in the hands of the Louisiana Supreme Court.
For Louisiana Parents, Failure Is Not An Option And Tomorrow May Be Too Late: Letter
Times-Picayune, LA, March 19, 2013
Joining parents in the fight to protect and save the Louisiana Scholarship program, the Louisiana Black Alliance for Educational Options has been working hard to rally supporters and empower parents to speak out and tell their stories.
Parents Find School Picks Slim
The Advocate, LA, March 19, 2013
A day after her children entered the halls of their fifth public school in five years, New Orleans artist and parent Anika Watson received two letters detailing something that came as no surprise: Two of her children had just begun a new school year in one of the city’s 32 failing public schools.
MARYLAND
Montgomery Schools, Unions Support Bill Postponing Reform Of Teacher Evaluation
Washington Post, DC, March 19, 2013
School administrators and teachers unions from Maryland will testify Wednesday in favor of a bill that would postpone state reform of teacher evaluation systems.
MASSACHUSETTS
Charter Schools Work
Commonwealth Magazine, MA, March 19, 2013
CHARTER SCHOOLS ARE one of the great success stories of Massachusetts education reform, but thanks to a state law limiting enrollment, their growth is about to hit the wall.
MICHIGAN
Mich. Kids Deserve A Strong Educational Foundation
Detroit News, MI, March 20, 2013
A group of largely Republican lawmakers is backing a set of bills that would weaken Michigan’s Merit Curriculum. The new standards passed seven year ago and are starting to reap some results. It doesn’t make sense to gut them now.
MINNESOTA
Teachers Facing Achievement Gap Try Cross-Race Connections
Minnesota Public Radio, MN, March 20, 2013
All the bleak statistics about Minnesota’s achievement gap became personal to fifth-grade teacher Jen Engel, when she realized that gap was playing out in her own classroom.
MISSISSIPPI
Veto Of School Board Bill By Bryant Likely To Stand
Clarion Ledger, MS, March 19, 2013
Bryant on Tuesday vetoed a bill that would create a task force to study changing from appointed to elected school boards in Mississippi. Overriding the veto would require a 2/3 vote of both chambers of the Legislature.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
A Brazen Attempt To Hold Schools Hostage
Union Leader, NH, March 20, 2013
One committee chairman in the New Hampshire House admitted in a rare moment of candor that he intends to use schools as a political hostage in his grand negotiating scheme. This sort of cynical manipulation helps explain why average citizens have such contempt for politicians and their perverted sense of ethics.
Charter School Votes In Concord Anger Advocates
Nashua Telegraph, NH, March 20, 2013
Charter schools waiting for approval will have to wait a while longer.
NEW JERSEY
Charter School To Expand Its Garfield Location
The Record, NJ, March 20, 2013
The Bergen Arts and Science Charter School in Garfield is getting a second building, a former parochial school that will allow the charter’s elementary population to grow by 240 students in September.
NORTH CAROLINA
Push Resumes For N.C. Charter School Board
News-Record, NC, March 20, 2013
Republican legislators who helped eliminate a cap on charter schools in 2011 are pushing to create a new regulatory body to oversee such schools in North Carolina.
N.C. Sen. Phil Berger’s Bill Ends Teacher Tenure
News-Record, NC, March 19, 2013
The leader of the state Senate revived a proposal Tuesday to end job-protecting tenure rules for veteran schoolteachers and to move forward a pay proposal that seeks to reward the best-performing classroom instructors.
OREGON
VIBES Charter School Will Provide What Its Students Need
Mail Tribune, OR, March 19, 2013
Children living in poverty and English as a Second Language students are not successful in the standardized classroom across the United States, including right here in Medford.
PENNSYLVANIA
Education Group Eyes System For 1 Citywide School Application
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, March 20, 2013
WHILE the number of district-run and parochial schools shrinks and the city’s charter-school population booms, a group of education advocates is looking at a plan to implement a single, citywide enrollment process.
School District Of Lancaster Board Rejects Charter For Controversial Business School
Intelligencer Journal, PA, March 19, 2013
Citing “serious and pervasive deficiencies” in its application, the School District of Lancaster board has rejected a charter for the proposed Academy of Business Entrepreneurship Charter School.
Law Creating Charters Needs To Be Overhauled
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, March 20, 2013
A new report on Pennsylvania’s charter and cyber charter schools helps make the case for long overdue reforms in how they operate.
TENNESSEE
Rep. DeBerry Considers Allowing For-Profit Charter Schools In TN
The Tennessean, TN, March 20, 2013
As a state lawmaker considers legislation allowing for-profit charter school companies in Tennessee, he is being urged to build in financial safeguards that would prevent abuses seen elsewhere.
UTAH
Republicans Keep Starving Utah Public Education
Deseret News, UT, March 20, 2013
Education is underfunded in Utah, plain and simple. Utah spends the least per pupil of any state in the nation, by far.
WASHINGTON
2 Districts Plan To Apply To Be Charter Approvers
Longview Daily News, WA, March 19, 2013
The State Board of Education says two Washington school districts have formally expressed interest in applying to be charter school authorizers.
WEST VIRGINIA
House Panel Moves School Reforms Forward
Charleston Gazette, WV, March 19, 2013
House of Delegates members questioned state school officials Tuesday about a section in Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s education reform bill that removes the state superintendent’s $175,000 salary cap and strips down the post’s minimum qualifications.
WISCONSIN
School Officials Express Voucher Program Concerns
Wisconsin State Journal, WI, March 20, 2013
Representatives from four of the nine Wisconsin school districts that would be affected by Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal to expand the state’s education voucher system voiced concerns Tuesday in a conference call organized by state Rep. Sondy Pope, D-Cross Plains.
ONLINE LEARNING
Public Charter School Blazes Educational Trail With On-Site/Online Classes
Charleston City Paper, SC, March 20, 2013
The future home of Fairfield Charter High School doesn’t look much like a school. With 5,000 square feet of space on the second floor of a West Ashley business center, the school’s neighbors will include doctors’ offices and nonprofits.
Charter School Operators Drop Appeals In Orange, Seminole, Lake
Orlando Sentinel, FL, March 19, 2013
A network of online charter schools gave up on opening in Central Florida this fall when four rejected charter schools withdrew their appeal before the state Board of Education on Tuesday.
District 300 Leaders Question Charter Reps, Get Few Answers
Daily Herald, IL, March 19, 2013
If the Illinois Virtual Charter School at Fox River Valley opens in August, its students would be expected to log in to their computers for lessons, homeroom, labs and meetings with other students and teachers all working remotely. Each student would need a “learning coach” — a parent or guardian — to help him or her stay on task.
D204 Officials, Parents Scrutinized Online Charter School
Chicago Tribune, IL, March 19, 2013
A virtual charter school seeking to operate in 18 area school districts was scrutinized during an Indian Prairie District 204 hearing Monday.