Click here for Newswire, 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
50 Years After King’s Dream — Time to Wake Up
Column by Kevin P. Chavous
Huffington Post, August 28, 2013
As our nation steps back to reflect upon the March on Washington and famous speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we all must challenges ourselves to question our nation’s progress.
Do Teachers Need to Have Experience?
Opinion, New York Times, August 28, 2013
The conventional wisdom has always been that schools and students need experienced teachers committed to a career in education. But many charter networks are depending on young, inexperienced teachers who quit after only two to five years.
The NYT Is Asking the Wrong Question About Rapid Turnover at Charter Schools
The Slate Blog, August 28, 2013
Motoko Rich has a very interesting piece in the New York Times about the rapid turnover at charter schools compared with traditional public schools, where the average teacher has about 14 years of experience as opposed to the two to five years you’ll find at charter schools.
ALABAMA
Accountability Act draws lawsuit
Montgomery Advertiser, August 29, 2013
A state senator, a county schools superintendent and the president of the Alabama Education Association have filed a state lawsuit seeking to have the controversial Alabama Accountability Act derailed and ruled unconstitutional.
CALIFORNIA
Making room for charter students
Editorial, Los Angeles Times, August 28, 2013
When voters passed Proposition 39 in 2000, they surely had no idea of the headaches it would cause Los Angeles schools. Most Californians probably never even noticed the wording about providing space for charter schools, and if they did, they had little idea of what a charter school was.
OCESD approves STREAM charter
Mercury-Register, August 29, 2013
After more than three and a half hours of public input and attorney advice, the Oroville City Elementary School District trustees had still not decided whether to approve or deny a petition for a new charter school.
COLORADO
School district’s voucher program parallels national effort
Our Colorado News, August 28, 2013
Douglas County Schools’ effort to overhaul the district is in sync with proposals put forth by a conservative, national political organization that many believe advances an education-privatization agenda.
INDIANA
MCS buildings could be sold for $1
Star Press, August 29, 2013
If Muncie Community Schools decides to close a million-dollar school building it could be sold to a charter school for $1. Yes, you read that correctly.
ILLINOIS
Chicago school board approves budget
Chicago Tribune, August 28, 2013
Teachers union, parents criticize $6.6 billion spending plan; district officials blame cuts on lack of pension reform
LOUISIANA
Education activists remain unresigned to post-Katrina changes
Times-Picayune, August 28, 2013
On a significant date in New Orleans education and civil rights history, about 40 people gathered to reaffirm their opposition to the post-Hurricane Katrina education revolution that fired all the city’s teachers, swept most of the schools into the state Recovery School District and turned all but a handful into largely independent charter schools.
Louisiana’s first charter school closes, files for liquidation
Times-Picayune, August 28, 2013
Louisiana’s first charter school, which closed at the end of the 2012-13 academic year, is now coming apart in court. Jefferson Community School’s board of directors voted in December to close the school, and earlier this month its organizers, the Jefferson Coalition for Alternative Schools, officially filed for dissolution and liquidation in the 24th Judicial District Court.
MAINE
Portland charter school gets permit, will open on time
Portland Press Herald, August 28, 2013
After two failures, Baxter Academy passes its third inspection, meaning it will open with 135 students next week.
MARYLAND
New charter school touts successful first week
Frederick News Post, August 29, 2013
Frederick Classical Charter School opened its doors to students for the first time Aug. 19, a long-awaited accomplishment for the county’s school choice advocates.
MICHIGAN
Teachers’ window for leaving union is closing
Editorial, Detroit News, August 29, 2013
The month of August is coming to an end, and that means Michigan teachers who have decided to bow out of their union need to do so ASAP. Under the state’s new right-to-work law, teachers now have this option. Certainly their unions won’t remind them of that.
MINNESOTA
Minnesota School of Science families scramble to find schools
Twin City Daily Planet, August 28, 2013
A week before the school year kicked off at many metro locations, leaders of the recently evicted Minnesota School of Science officially announced that they would not reopen in a new location. The phone call to families last week was another pothole for the parents of more than 300 North Minneapolis students, some of whom had hoped to continue at the charter this fall.
MISSISSIPPI
Charter schools hold potential for students
Opinion, Hattiesburg American, August 29, 2013
As a strong supporter of charter schools, the Black Alliance of Educational Options takes issue with those who suggest charter schools are schemes and that they can become segregated institutions.
MISSOURI
Bill Threaten’s Teachers’ Jobs
The Missourian, August 28, 2013
Teachers across Missouri have spoken out against House Bill 253 after the Missouri National Education Association, AFT-Missouri and the Missouri State Teachers Association released an analysis showing that House Bill 253 would jeopardize the jobs of thousands of Missouri teachers in public schools throughout the state.
Schools struggle with state standards
St. Louis American, August 29, 2013
Several St. Louis school districts struggled with the state’s new accreditation standards, according to the Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP) 5 results released Friday.
NEVADA
Charter school brings private education feel to tough neighborhood
KTNV Las Vegas, August 28, 2013
This school year, one of the most desirable schools in the Valley is located in one of the least desirable neighborhoods — a neighborhood struggling with drugs, prostitution, and homelessness. But Innovations International Charter School is settling in to zip code 89104.
NEW JERSEY
Paterson superintendent wants to give parents choice in elementary schools
The Record, August 29, 2013
Paterson Superintendent Donnie W. Evans said he wants to give parents citywide more say in which elementary schools their children attend, starting in September 2014.
Pooling schools
Editorial, The Record, August 29, 2013
NEW JERSEY, which already has 603 school districts — it has only 566 municipalities — should be trying to bring more districts together, not break them apart.
NEW YORK
Red tape, remodeling delays at new school for at-risk kids
WNYT, August 29, 2013
State legislation authorizing a new academy for at-risk kids is not scheduled to reach the governor’s desk until the day before the school year begins, while the building itself will not be remodeled in time for the start of classes, NewsChannel 13 has learned.
NORTH CAROLINA
NC teachers: Low pay forces some from profession, state
WRAL, August 29, 2013
More than 1.5 million students returned to school across North Carolina this week, but not all teachers decided to come back as well.
OHIO
Cleveland’s Early College high school is highest-scoring in region on state report cards
Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 28, 2013
The highest-scoring school in Northeast Ohio on state tests isn’t in Solon or Beachwood or some other well-off suburb. It’s in the Cleveland school district.
State’s school-choice chief married to Kasich’s chief of staff
Columbus Dispatch, August 29, 2013
The Department of Education has hired the husband of Gov. John Kasich’s chief of staff to a new position that will oversee the expansion of school choice in Ohio.
OKLAHOMA
Large gap between Oklahamo’s education goals and current academic reality
Editorial, The Oklahoman, August 29, 2013
LAST week’s Greater Oklahoma City Chamber “State of the Schools” luncheon highlighted the vast gap between Oklahoma’s education aspirations and current academic reality.
PENNSYLVANIA
Charter school parents protest bus stop action
Pittsburgh Tribune Review, August 29, 2013
Clairton City school board on Wednesday approved a transportation plan that reduces the number of city bus stops for charter school students from three to one, despite the protests of parents.
It’s do or die for York City schools
Editorial, York Dispatch, August 28, 2013
This is a do-or-die school year for the district, which just six months ago faced the very real possibility of becoming a charter school system — the very thing that helped contribute to the financial crisis now facing the district.
Let’s put students’ needs ahead of teachers’ seniority and dollar desires
Opinion, Philadelphia Inquirer, August 29, 2013
EXCEPTIONALLY devoted teachers should be celebrated. Instead, many of them are shoved out the door based upon a belief in the Philadelphia public-school system that seniority should always trump job performance.
Mayor, school district say union call to forgo raises falls short
Philadelphia Inquirer, August 29, 2013
The Philadelphia teachers’ union on Wednesday said it would recommend that its members take a one-year pay freeze and make cost-saving changes in health benefits – a proposal that was quickly condemned by both the school district and Mayor Nutter as vague and woefully inadequate.
New Upland charter set to open doors
Delaware County Times, August 28, 2013
Wilson moved to Upland at the beginning of the summer, but the charter’s expansion to the borough made it an easy decision for her to keep Zykel Buckley-Bolds enrolled at Community Charter for fifth grade.
Nutter offers ‘streamlined’ plan to sell 31 buildings
Philadelphia Inquirer, August 29, 2013
The Nutter administration on Wednesday announced a detailed, multifaceted plan to sell or find new uses for 31 of the School District of Philadelphia’s closed school buildings.
Tracking our school-tax dollars
Editorial, The Tribune-Democrat, August 29, 2013
It’s unfortunate that state legislation apparently is needed to assure that taxpayers are being kept abreast of where their school-tax dollars are being spent.
Urban Pathways appeal could impact statewide charter school funding
Pittsburgh Business Times, August 28, 2013
Four appeals filed by Urban Pathways Charter School with the Pennsylvania Department of Education against Pittsburgh Public Schools could impact how charter schools are funded throughout the state.
TENNESSEE
Charter schools fight grows uglier
Column, The Tennessean, August 29, 2013
Last week the street fight between the education reform crowd in Nashville and the Metro Nashville Public Schools bureaucracy went nuclear, when Schools Director Jesse Register announced that, to wit:
TEXAS
House Bill 5: Changes for Texas High Schools
KGNS, August 28, 2013
The state is making some changes to our high school educational system particularly with a new bill that goes into effect this year. Valerie Gonzalez explains what changes students and parents can expect in the classroom.
WASHINGTON
Seattle teachers step up push for settlement of contract talks
Seattle Times, August 28, 2013
With their contract set to expire Saturday, Seattle teachers remained at odds with the school district over a number of key issues.\
WISCONSIN
Argument for vouchers is weak here
Editorial, Wisconsin Rapids Tribune, August 28, 2013
Wisconsin’s controversial school voucher program is being rolled out, and in the last week or so we have had our first look at the numbers of students applying from local schools.
ONLINE LEARNING
Education quality
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 29, 2013
Regarding the Aug. 27 editorial “Virtual Indictment: How Pa. Regulates Charter Schools Is on Trial, Too”: The recent allegations against Nicholas Trombetta and Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School expose the urgent need to pass a comprehensive reform of Pennsylvania’s public charter schools.
Going to school, from the privacy of your home
The Daily Mining Gazette, August 28, 2013
Public education in the 21st century involves an expanding use of technology, and that includes an increase in online learning.
Imagine School gives students laptops
Herald Tribune, August 28, 2013
Tuesday evening was one of the rare occasions when students wanted to be at school after hours.
Imagine School, located off of Toledo Blade Boulevard, began handing out laptops to its high school students.
Mt. Morris, Atherton schools open new alternative academy in former Van Y Elementary School in Burton
Flint Journal, August 28, 2013
A re-purposed Burton elementary school will now house a virtual academy for at-risk students through a partnership between the Atherton and Mt. Morris school districts.
Virtual school lets school offer more honors classes
Mt. Airy News, August 29, 2013
Students remember concentrating on staying in the lines while coloring. Mount Airy High School is thinking outside of the lines in collaboration with the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics to provide a variety of advanced classes normally out of reach for a small school.