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Daily Headlines for April 30, 2013

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

Common Core School Standards Hit Another Roadblock, This Time In Indiana
Washington Times Blog, DC, April 29, 2013

State resistance to the nationwide K-12 school standards known as Common Core has spread to Indiana. Less than a week after Michigan lawmakers took aim at Common Core, the Indiana legislature over the weekend passed a bill to “halt” its implementation and called for a revised cost analysis and a series of town hall meetings before the standards can be implemented further. They were scheduled to be in place by next year.

Every Major School Reform Issue – From Tenure To Charters – Is Hotly Debated, Bitterly Divisive
Trenton Times, NJ, April 30, 2013

A recent Rasmussen poll tells us that American voters have little confidence in our K-12 schools. A mere 18 percent believe that most high school graduates have the skills they need for college. (Sixty-one percent believe they don’t have the skills and 21 percent aren’t sure.)

Walton Foundation Gives $8 Million To StudentsFirst
Los Angeles Times, CA, April 30, 2013

A foundation associated with the Wal-Mart family fortune has expanded its support for the education advocacy group run by former District of Columbia schools chancellor Michelle Rhee.

Per-Student Pre-K Spending Lowest In Decade
Associated Press, April 29, 2013

State funding for pre-kindergarten programs had its largest drop ever last year and states are now spending less per child than they did a decade ago, according to a report released Monday.

STATE COVERAGE

ARIZONA

Brewer Backs New Admission Rules For Charters
KGUN, AZ, April 29, 2013

Gov. Jan Brewer has signed a bill into law that allows for new charter school admission preferences benefiting some siblings and grandchildren.

CALIFORNIA

Don’t Let Politics Block School Finance Reform
Press-Enterprise, CA, April 30, 2013

California does not need a political brawl that stymies progress on creating a better system of taxpayer financing for public schools. Gov. Jerry Brown and legislators need to work through their differences on reshaping school finances, and not let inertia or political self-interest block badly needed reforms.

FLORIDA

Fla. Senate To Vote On Failing Public School Bill
WFTV Orlando, FL, April 29, 2013

Florida parents could soon have the power to turn a failing public school into a charter school.

‘Grass Roots’ Support Hurts Credibility Of Parent Trigger Backers
Tampa Bay Times, FL, April 29, 2013

The petition was supposed to prove this pro-charter school legislation had grass roots support among parents, but instead it highlighted what critics have been saying all along: This law is about pushing Jeb Bush’s education agenda, and little else.

Pay Raises For Teachers Linked To Teacher Performance
WOKV, FL, April 29, 2013

The president of the Clay County Education Association says teacher pay raises are long overdue but he doesn’t believe they should be tied to teacher performance.

GEORGIA

Life A Tough Teacher
Rome Tribune-News, GA, April 30, 2013

The ongoing three-cornered dustup between the Floyd County School System, some of its teachers and parents, plus the state educational powers, in the wake of the local planned large-scale reduction in force, and whether the procedures violated the district’s charter status is just a particularly noisy example of how dreamy ideas can turn out to be very different from what the sales pitch involved.

IDAHO

Myths And Facts About The Idaho Core Standards
Coeur d’Alene Press, ID, April 30, 2013

The following list of common fallacies regarding the Common Core initiative in Idaho was provided to The Press by the office of Idaho public schools chief, Tom Luna. It was prepared by the Idaho State Department of Education.

INDIANA

Taxpayers Are Losers In Charter-School Building Accommodation
Journal-Gazette, IN, April 30, 2013

The decision by the Indiana legislature to reduce the time school districts must legally hold unused school facilities for potential ownership by charter schools from four to two years appears to be applauded by some. I remain puzzled by this requirement.

IOWA

Clashes Remain On School Reform
Des Moines Register, IA, April 30, 2013

Democrats and Republicans in the Iowa Legislature remain divided over session-defining education reform, but leaders say they’re making incremental progress and steadily shrinking areas of disagreement.

MARYLAND

Schools for Everyone
Baltimore Sun, MD, April 29, 2013

This year’s city school budget prioritizes science and programs for advanced students, but in doing so the system can’t afford to shortchange the needs of its average learners

MASSACHUSETTS

State Should OK More Charter Schools For Cities
South Coast Today, MA, April 30, 2013

As former federal and state government education officials, we continue to be impressed by the performance of Massachusetts charter public schools.

MICHIGAN

State School Takeover Bill Stalls In Senate, Republicans Want Changes
WKAR, MI, April 29, 2013

Republicans in the state Senate say it’s time to go back to the drawing board on a bill that would facilitate state takeovers of struggling schools.

MISSOURI

New Teacher Evaluation Guidelines Coming
Southeast Missourian, MO, April 30, 2013

Changes in the way future teachers are certified and how current teachers are evaluated are coming soon to Missouri.

House Speaker Gets His Way: Teacher Evaluation Bill Revived
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Blog, MO, April 29, 2013

A bill requiring annual evaluations of public school teachers is headed to the Missouri House for debate, thanks to a shove from Speaker Tim Jones and a do-over by the House Fiscal Review Committee.

NEW JERSEY

State Arbitrators Rule on First Cases Brought Under New Tenure Law
New Jersey Spotlight, NJ, April 30, 2013

Eight months into New Jersey’s new teacher tenure law, state arbitrators have ruled on a trickle of disputed cases, many of them dealing with egregious cases of misconduct.

Charter School Bill Would Add More Oversight
Star-Ledger, NJ, April 29, 2013

A new bill is in the works for New Jersey’s charter schools, that could require the schools to provide more reporting on enrollments and budgets, according to a report in NJSpotlight.

NEW YORK

Charter Rent War
New York Post, NY, April 30, 2013

A bid to force charter schools to pay rent for the use of public-school building space has been derailed — for now.

Strange Location For A New Bronx Charter School–And Not Because It’s To Be At Site Of Former Strip Club
New York Daily News, NY, April 30, 2013

A new elementary charter school is set to open next year on the site of a former strip club, but that’s not why the location is a strange choice.

PENNSYLVANIA

District Spars With Charter School At Phila. Hearing
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, April 30, 2013

The Philadelphia School District and the city’s oldest charter school sparred over the school’s academic performance during a district hearing Monday on whether its operating charter should be renewed.

The Reality Of Charter Schools
The Reporter, PA, April 29, 2013

The funding of charter school is typically accomplished by a transfer of funding from the school district to the charter school. The student’s home district would contribute the student’s portion of funding (cost per student) to the charter school.

UTAH

Mike Lee Asks For Stop To Federal ‘Interference’ In School Standards
Salt Lake Tribune, UT, April 29, 2013

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has jumped into the ongoing fray over Common Core State Standards, signing a letter asking Senate budget leaders to “restore state decision-making and accountability.”

WASHINGTON

Charter School Boosters Have Eyes For Tacoma
News Tribune, WA, April 30, 2013

Pierce County is emerging as one of the hot spots in Washington’s fledgling charter school movement. November’s voter approval of Initiative 1240 allows the creation of up to 40 of the independently operated, publicly funded schools over the next five years.

WISCONSIN

Private School Tax Credits Wrong
Appleton Post-Crescent, WI, April 29, 2013

As an alternative to an expansion of the state’s voucher school program — in which low- and middle-income parents in some school districts would receive state tax money to send their children to private schools — two Republican legislators are proposing a tax credit for all private-school parents.

Debate Over Expansion Of Voucher Program Heats Up
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI, April 29, 2013

In recent months, Green Bay School Board President Brenda Warren’s schedule has been packed with an uncharacteristic number of public speaking engagements.

ONLINE LEARNING

Cyber Student Not Allowed To Attend Prom
ABC27, PA, April 29, 2013

Eleanor Lohry, 18, already has the dress and the shoes, but the West Shore School District is not allowing the cyber student to attend Cedar Cliff High School’s prom.

Online Charter Schools Could Split in Two, Avoiding State Cap on New Schools
StateImpact, OH, April 29, 2013

This fall Ohio will lift a moratorium on the creation of new online schools, allowing up to five new online schools to open.

Superintendents Urge Temporary Halt On Virtual Charter Schools
Chicago Tribune, IL, April 30, 2013

Several area school district superintendents are asking parents and others to support legislation that would impose a one-year moratorium on the creation of new virtual charter schools.

Illinois Policy Institute’s $16 Million Virtual Charter School Tax Grab
Chicago Now, IL, April 30, 2013

You may have heard about the plan to establish an Illinois “virtual” charter school for 18 suburban school districts and the new bill that could impose a one-year moratorium on digital schools.

Flipped Classroom Turns Traditional Teaching Upside Down
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, April 30, 2013

In teacher Ron Lamb’s chemistry class, students are embracing a new classroom concept being used this school year in a few classes at Pattonville High School.

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