Daily Headlines for August 26, 2013
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
Alabama Accountability Act’s parental choice is an extension of the civil rights movement
Opinion, The Huntsville Times, August 25, 2013
In 1965 I marched with Dr. Martin Luther King in Selma. Forty five years later I marched with almost 6,000 low income parents in Tallahassee. How are these events related?
America’s kids need a better education law
Commentary, Washington Post, August 25, 2013
The nation’s most sweeping education law — the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, better known as No Child Left Behind — is outmoded and broken. Congress has gone home for its summer recess without passing a responsible replacement.
DIGITS: 8 in 10 rate their child’s teachers highly
Las Vegas Sun, August 25, 2013
Parents across the United States have a lot of love for their children’s teachers. So says a new survey of parents whose children completed kindergarten through 12th grade in the past school year.
STATE COVERAGE
CALIFORNIA
Even odds (4 part series)
San Francisco Chronicle, August 24, 2013
African American boys in Oakland are more likely to miss school, be suspended, not graduate on time or be incarcerated than any other students.
When given choice, new trumps old
The Desert Sun, August 24, 2013
At neighboring schools, such as Cathedral City, the opening of Rancho Mirage High School has been met with apprehension. That’s in part because of the CIF’s “school of choice” policy, which creates situations comparable to opening Pandora’s Box.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
DC charter school officials consider ranking preschools based on kids’ test scores
Washington Post, August 25, 2013
Charter school officials in the District of Columbia are proposing to rank preschools based largely on reading and math test scores for children as young as 3.
FLORIDA
Charter schools a growing trend
Herald Tribune, August 26, 2013
With charter school enrollment booming across Florida, nine groups are seeking to capitalize on the trend by opening new charters in Southwest Florida.
ILLINOIS
Rewarding success at CPS
Editorial, Chicago Tribune, August 26, 2013
Monday, the first day of classes, marks the close of an agonizing, frustrating summer for Chicago Public Schools. It has been a summer dominated by often-harsh clashes over spending cuts and closing schools. So it’s probably no surprise that something very good, very positive, didn’t get a lot of attention last week.
Some Rockford-area private schools buck fewer-students trend
Rockford Register Star, August 26, 2013
The largest private schools in the Rockford area lost about 850 students since 2008 and only a handful are seeing enrollment rebound in recent years.
INDIANA
Charters face same challenges traditional schools do
Opinion, Indianapolis Star, August 24, 2013
I would like to correct assertions made in Patrick J. Wiltshire’s letter about unfair advantages given to charter schools.
KENTUCKY
JCPS task force to tackle creation of Louisville’s 1st public boarding school
The Courier-Journal, August 25, 2013
Jefferson County Public Schools is embarking on what could be its most ambitious proposal yet for raising the academic levels of the district’s most disadvantaged students — the possibility of opening public boarding schools.
LOUISIANA
Parents not deterred by school’s F
The Advocate, August 25, 2013
Two weeks ago, parents at Career Academy in Baton Rouge received a three-page letter in the mail alerting them that their children were attending an F school, and consequently, would have the option of going elsewhere.
U.S. government sues to block vouchers in some Louisiana school systems
Times-Picayune, August 25, 2013
The U.S. Justice Department is suing Louisiana in New Orleans federal court to block 2014-15 vouchers for students in public school systems that are under federal desegregation orders. The first year of private school vouchers “impeded the desegregation process,” the federal government says.
MAINE
Percentage of students tested key to grades
Portland Press Herald, August 26, 2013
The state’s new A-F report card for schools gives undue weight to test participation, some educators say.
MASSACHUSETTS
The next step in education reform
Editorial, Swampscott Reporter, August 24, 2013
Massachusetts now leads the nation in public K-12 education, but there is more to be done, especially for the state’s neediest students in its toughest neighborhoods. By building on what we’ve already learned about turning around failing schools, we can bring quality public schools to every corner of the commonwealth.
NEVADA
Power of school choice
Opinion, Las Vegas Sun, August 26, 2013
With students across Nevada returning to school this month, it’s important to make sure that they are getting the best education possible, tailored to their needs and interests.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
It’s not a voucher program, but if offers NH parents real choice
Opinion, Nashua Telegraph, August 26, 2013
Advocates for putting the interests of the public school establishment ahead of the broader public goal of ensuring an educated populace continue to employ the tactics of propagandists. Case in point: Bill Duncan crows that “Lack of interest from public school families and from business results in a small voucher program.”
Scrap NH’s school vouchers
Opinion, Nashua Telegraph, August 26, 2013
How is it that New Hampshire’s voucher tax credit program can find only 15 public school students who want vouchers? And is giving them $164,000 – $11,000 apiece – to leave their public schools and go to private schools.
NEW JERSEY
Newark’s Merit-Pay Plan Begins
Wall Street Journal, August 26, 2013
Newark, in a first for a large New Jersey public-school system, has given out bonuses of up to $12,500 to its highest-rated teachers, inaugurating a controversial merit-pay program being watched across the nation.
NEW MEXICO
Plugging a knowledge gap
Albuquerque Journal, August 25, 2013
The report also shows that New Mexico high schools vary widely in the percentage of graduates who enroll in remedial classes.
NEW YORK
State to close Pinnacle Charter School less than two weeks before classes start
Buffalo News, August 25, 2013
Parents of 560 students in kindergarten through eighth grade are in the dark about where their children will attend school this fall after the state Education Department announced plans to close Buffalo’s Pinnacle Charter School less than two weeks before classes were scheduled to start.
Teachers, students, parents excited about charter school
Utica Observer Dispatch, August 25, 2013
Longer hours, a smaller salary and a six-day workweek. That might not seem like a dream job for some, but the 12 teachers hired for the Utica Academy of Science Charter School can’t wait to start.
OHIO
Charter schools’ state report cards: Failing
Canton Repository, August 24, 2013
Of the 40 letter grades awarded to local charter schools on the new state report cards, more than half were F’s.
New crop of charter schools opens doors
Columbus Dispatch, August 26, 2013
About a third of the new charter schools set to open this fall in Ohio are opening in Columbus.
OKLAHOMA
Debate over school standards gets serious
Norman Transcripts, August 26, 2013
Efforts are building to block tougher, nationally uniform academic standards from taking effect next year in Oklahoma’s public schools.
PENNSYLVANIA
$5M in tax credits to help fund York charter school expansion
York Dispatch, August 23, 2013
An award of $5 million in new market tax credits will help the York Academy Regional Charter School expand to educate students through eighth grade.
Bill would boost transparency for school labor contracts
The Tribune-Democrat, August 24, 2013
State Rep. Fred Keller, R-Union, is looking for support for a bill that would require school boards to be more open with the public about the terms of proposed union contracts before the labor agreements are finalized.
Crisis requires union action
Editorial, Philadelphia Inquirer, August 25, 2013
Other than the children, there are no innocents in this city’s inability to avert a funding disaster in its public schools.
Nicholas Trombetta’s unique charter school saved town of Midland
Pittsburgh POst-Gazette, August 24, 2013
Nicholas Trombetta’s frustration over having to bus high school students from Midland, Beaver County, to East Liverpool, Ohio, prompted the former Midland superintendent to create a cyber charter school.
School Lane questions charter school funding formulas
PhillyBurbs, August 26, 2013
As Gov. Tom Corbett renews his push for comprehensive charter school reform, charter school operators across the state are pursuing millions of federal dollars they say they should have been paid under state law.
RHODE ISLAND
R.I. school official: NECAP results won’t be used in grading teachers this year
Providence Journal, August 25, 2013
The state Department of Education has temporarily suspended the use of student progress on the NECAP test as part of its teacher evaluations, an education official confirmed Sunday.
TENNESSEE
MNPS attorney: Tennessee’s charter school law is unconstitutional
The Tennessean, August 24, 2013
An attorney for Metro Nashville Public Schools says the decade-old state law that allows charter schools to operate in Tennessee is unconstitutional, perhaps giving local school districts a basis for a major legal fight.
VIRGINIA
Held back: VA charter schools lag as other states move ahead
Watchdog.org, August 22, 2013
Republicans support them. Democrats like them. Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama all embrace them. So why does Virginia keep getting F’s on charter schools?
WASHINGTON
Commission OKs rules on charter schools
The Olympian, August 26, 2013
Washington officials are preparing to solicit applications for the state’s first charter schools, issuing guidance this week on how schools will be authorized and evaluated.
WISCONSIN
Argument for vouchers is weak here
Editorial, Wausau Daily Herald, August 25, 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.
Changes on horizon as Waupun charter school enters 2nd term
Font du Lac Reporter, August 24, 2013
With a year under their belt, Waupun school officials are hoping to build on the success of the state’s first agriculture/environmental-themed charter school.
ONLINE LEARNING
Cyberschools Grow, Fueling New Concerns
New York Times, August 25, 2013
The number of full-time cyberschools serving Texas public school students will double in the coming school year despite a history of lackluster performance and a new law limiting the number of online courses that public school students are allowed to take at the state’s expense.
(Cyber) school is in session Florida Virtual School, other online options benefit self-motivated students
Highlands Today, August 25, 2013
Online options for education are becoming more and more well-known in the digital age. While most higher learning institutions offer online classes and even fully online degrees, there are options for the K-12 segment as well.
Fed, state probes target largest charter schools
Philadelphia Inquirer blog, August 25, 2013
The founder of Pennsylvania’s largest cyber charter school was arrested by federal authorities for allegedly funneling millions through front companies into his personal bank account.
Few high school juniors on course to meet state mandates
News Press, August 26, 2013
Not enough juniors in Lee County public schools have completed an online course they need to graduate, which could create a bottleneck for the state-mandated courses.
Online Classes Begin for Hayfield Tomorrow
KAAL-TV, August 25, 2013
While many kids in the area are preparing for their first day of school tomorrow, a young Hayfield boy is preparing for a different type of school, and has an organization in his hands.
TN virtual school hits bottom, gets reprieve
WBIR-TV, August 25, 2013
Students at the Tennessee Virtual Academy, an online school run for profit, learned less than their peers anywhere else in Tennessee last year, data released by the state last week show, but efforts to crack down on the school have been delayed by heavy lobbying on its behalf.