Daily Headlines for May 2, 2013
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NATIONAL COVERAGE
Charter Schools Unionize
Wall Street Journal, May 2, 2013
Teachers in one of the country’s largest nonprofit charter-school groups voted to unionize, fortifying efforts by organized labor to expand in an area of public education where it has been largely unwelcome.
‘No Child Left Behind’ Left Behind for Core Curriculum
Wall Street Journal, May 1, 2013
We agree that standardized tests are a means of assessing student learning and affective teaching, but we want our elected officials responsible for the standards and our parents and school boards able to change them to meet local needs. Unfortunately what’s been left behind is local control of education.
Duncan On Testing: ‘We Can’t Throw The Baby Out With The Bathwater’
Washington Post Blog, DC, May 1, 2013
Here is the text of a speech (as prepared for delivery) that Education Secretary Arne Duncan gave this week to the American Educational Research Association, meeting in San Francisco.
STATE COVERAGE
ALABAMA
Time Running Out To Clarify Private School Tax Credits
Tuscaloosa News, AL, May 2, 2013
As time runs out to clarify Alabama’s new private school tax credits, Republican lawmakers appear to agree on only one point: They want to be clear that no public or private school has to take a student from a failing public school.
CALIFORNIA
Charter Schools’ Impact To Be Discussed At Pasadena Forum
Pasadena Star, CA, May 1, 2013
The executive director of Pasadena’s Odyssey Charter School and other area educators will speak about charter schools on Thursday at a free public forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters.
Bill To Alter Evaluations Of California Teachers Fails Again In Senate
The San Luis Obispo Tribune, CA, May 2, 2013
The Senate Education Committee decided to reconsider the bill after deadlocking last week. The bill’s author, Sen. Ron Calderon, D-Montebello, said he had altered his legislation to try to persuade opponents to shift their stance.
COLORADO
Colorado Teacher Survey Shows Lower Confidence In Evaluation Process
Denver Post, CO, May 1, 2013
Although more Colorado teachers feel they’re held to high professional standards and supported by school leadership, an every-other-year survey also shows a decline in those who think teacher evaluations are fair or helpful.
DELAWARE
A Closer Look At Pencader Charter Vs. Christina School District
Delaware News Journal, DE, May 2, 2013
We all know there’s a “Delaware Way” in getting things done in this state, but, really, why are our politicians, movers and shakers, taking things to a ridiculous extreme on the issue of the state Department of Education’s oversight of charter and/or traditional public schools and allowing what certainly seems like a double standard to be applied by DOE?
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
David Catania’s Education Reform 2.0
Washington Post, DC, May 1, 2013
Four months into his chairmanship of the D.C. Council’s education committee, David Catania (I-At Large) already has big ideas about how to take school reform in the District to a new level.
FLORIDA
Teacher Pay Raises Placed On Fast Track
Miami Herald, FL, May 1, 2013
Florida teachers won’t have to wait until June 2014 to get their pay raises, lawmakers said Wednesday.
IDAHO
In Idaho, Long-Awaited “Common Core” Educational Standards Have Gotten Tangled Up In Right-Wing Politics
Pacific Northwest Inlander, WA, May 1, 2013
In a packed wood-paneled Grange hall on a Thursday night, six candidates for the Coeur d’Alene Board of Trustees debate the cost of bus privatization, “progressive education” and the International Baccalaureate program.
ILLINOIS
Woodland Still Pressing Change In Funding For State-Approved Charter Schools
Daily Herald, IL, May 2, 2013
Gurnee-based Woodland Elementary District 50 officials plan to continue calling attention to what they say is an unfair method of how state-approved charter schools are formed.
LOUISIANA
Nearly 8,000 Students Receive Voucher Seats For 2013-14
Times-Picayune, LA, May 1, 2013
The number of students attending private and parochial school at taxpayer expense is going up by at least 3,000 in 2013-14, the second year of the Louisiana Scholarship Program. Gov. Bobby Jindal announced Wednesday that nearly 8,000 students had been matched with voucher seats in the first round of applications. A second round will run from May 6 to 24.
La. Teacher Evaluation System Delayed
The Advertiser, LA, May 2, 2013
Members of the House Education Committee did the right thing last week when they postponed implementation of a controversial teacher evaluation system that many have said uses unfair criteria to measure a teacher’s effectiveness.
MAINE
Schools Get Letter Grades, Call System Flawed
Portland Press Herald, ME, May 1, 2013
The LePage administration unveiled a sweeping statewide grading system for public schools Wednesday that immediately drew sharp criticism from educators, who said it stigmatizes schools in poorer communities.
LePage’s Education Policy Earns Him An F
Portland Press Herald, ME, May 2, 2013
A state report card reveals not failing schools but the administration’s mixed-up priorities.
MICHIGAN
Charter School Brings New Life To Old Detroit
Detroit News Blog, MI, May 1, 2013
On a sunny, summer-like Wednesday, plans for a new charter elementary school were announced in Detroit — in front of historic Miller High School, still in the midst of major renovations. University Prep Science and Math is opening an elementary school here this fall; the district already runs a successful middle and high school in the city.
NEW JERSEY
Student Test Scores to Carry Just a Little Bit Less Weight for Tenure Decisions
New Jersey Spotlight, NJ, May 2, 2013
After an extraordinary amount of public comment and some high-level meetings, the Christie administration has hedged on its plans to use test scores to evaluate teachers — but not by much.
Christie Faces Potential Legal Fight Over School Vouchers
Star-Ledger, NJ, May 1, 2013
If Gov. Chris Christie gets his coveted pilot school-voucher program through a stubborn Legislature next month, he may quickly find himself battling in another arena: the courtroom.
Camden Schools Now In State’s Hands
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, May 2, 2013
With the region’s attention focused on the looming county takeover of policing in Camden, another major city institution slipped relatively quietly from local control Tuesday night.
NEW YORK
Don’t Let NYC Teachers Stall More On Evaluations
AM New York, NY, May 1, 2013
Randi Weingarten, who heads the American Federation of Teachers, has called for a moratorium on consequences from the Common Core curriculum exams that 450,000 New York City public school students took last month.
NORTH CAROLINA
Public Charter Schools An Economic Development Strategy
News of Orange County, NC, May 2, 2013
Public charter schools in North Carolina present an opportunity for more school choice options and economic development in the state’s 85 rural counties. Parental school choice gives parents the freedom to meet their children’s needs regardless of income or address.
NC Charter School Board Ready For Senate Debate
WBTV, NC, May 2, 2013
A bill that would create a new panel for managing North Carolina’s growing number of charter schools is now heading to the Senate floor.
Bill To Create New Charter School Oversight Board Keeps Moving
Progressive Pulse, NC, May 1, 2013
You might recall that about a month ago, citizens were threatened with arrest as they silently protested SB 337, a bill to create a new charter school board that would remove oversight of public charter schools from the State Board of Education and put it in the hands of a new, independent entity comprising members handpicked by the Governor.
PENNSYLVANIA
Students Should Not Be Penalized
Towanda Daily Review, PA, May 2, 2013
Soon after the growing trend towards charter schools began, the Legislature passed a law requiring that students in those schools be allowed to participate in their home district schools’ extracurricular activities – sports, band, chorus, plays and so on.
Quaker Valley Board Asks For Cap On Charter School Costs
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, PA, May 1, 2013
Quaker Valley leaders say the growing cost of cyber and other charter school tuitions from local school district funds needs to be capped.
SOUTH CAROLINA
The ‘Choice’ Charade Continues
The State, SC, May 2, 2013
WHEN SENATE budget-writers took time away from more pressing matters (such as writing the state budget) to begin a review last month of legislation to pay parents to abandon the public schools, Sen. Larry Grooms complained that he had been pushing the plan for a decade and that “Ten years of patience is wearing thin.”
TENNESSEE
Charter School Bill Can Be Traced to ALEC
Daily News Journal, TN, May 2, 2013
A recent Daily News Journal carried a front page story about “Education bills take focus near session end.” Charter schools were the big focus. Part of the article stated, “As the 108th Tennessee General Assembly draws to a close, state lawmakers are hoping to push through education proposals that include creating a state panel to authorize charter schools for five counties…”)
TEXAS
School District Calls Taxpayer-Funded Tutoring Program ‘Waste Of Money’
KHOU, TX, May 1, 2013
A multi-million dollar waste. That’s how some local educators are describing a federally-funded tutoring program for kids. They say the big government bucks behind it all has attracted big business, and in the process, they say students are being left behind.
UTAH
Columnist Not Correct On Charter Funding
St. George Daily Spectrum, UT, May 2, 2013
Mark Twain popularized the saying that there are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics. People will often use numbers to bolster an argument or legitimize a point of view. Sadly, I believe Glenn Mesa, in his columns on charter schools, has utilized this trick.
VIRGINIA
McDonnell to Create ‘Teacher Cabinet’ to Advise on Va. School Policies
Washington Post, DC, May 1, 2013
Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) announced Wednesday that he will create a “Teacher Cabinet” of advisers to influence high-level decisions that affect public schools.
WASHINGTON
Sundquist, Ex-Seattle School Board Boss, To Head Charter-School Panel
Seattle Times, WA, May 1, 2013
State’s new Charter School Commission is tentatively scheduled to start accepting applications for charter schools by Sept. 22.
ONLINE LEARNING
Virginia’s First Statewide Virtual School Likely To Close
Washington Post, DC, May 1, 2013
The Carroll County School Board plans to end its partnership with the contractor that operates Virginia’s largest full-time statewide virtual school, effectively shutting down a program that serves more than 350 students.
Florida Virtual School: Proposed Budget Would Hurt Our Funding
Miami Herald Blog, FL, May 1, 2013
School districts, teachers and parents are celebrating the $1 billion addition to the state’s education budget.
Legislators To Visit New Charter High School Launched By Connections Education
Grand Rapids Press, MI, May 1, 2013
State lawmakers Monday will get a first-hand look at Nexus Academy of Grand Rapids, one of four blended learning charter high schools launched by online learning powerhouse Connections Education.