Daily Headlines for September 16, 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
Author shows how ridiculous arguments are against school reform
New York Post, NY
September 14, 2013
Public schools? They’re fine. Teachers who can’t be fired? No problem at all. Our international competitiveness in education? Nothing to worry about.
United States v. minority children
Editorial, Chicago Tribune, IL, September 15, 2013
Think about that for a second: The Justice Department is concerned that giving vouchers mostly to minority children so they can attend better schools perpetuates segregation. Best then to leave them in their failing schools? It’s a sinister argument to say the least.
STATE COVERAGE
ARIZONA
Traditional, Charter Schools Compete For Students
The Foothills Focus, AZ, September 12, 2013
Traditional school districts and their new, charter school spin-offs largely vie for the same students, and the resulting competition for classroom “customers” has fueled some strongly worded marketing pitches from both sides.
CALIFORNIA
L.A. Unified seeks to end confusion and fights over parent trigger law
Los Angeles Times, CA, September 16, 2013
School board votes to require public informational meetings about campuses targeted in parent petition campaigns.
Education secretary tones down criticism of California
Los Angeles Times, CA, September 16, 2013
Arne Duncan says his threat to withhold federal funding over state’s new student test plan was a ‘last resort’ and praises Gov. Brown.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
D.C. police adjust how schools are patrolled
Washington Post, DC, September 15, 2013
D.C. police this year have quietly adjusted the way they patrol the District’s traditional public and charter schools, moving away from assigning dedicated officers to most public high schools and instead clustering groups of schools with shared officers.
attendance gets a closer look
Editorial, Washington Post, DC, September 15, 2013
SEPTEMBER MEANS back to school for the country’s 55 million students. Too many students, though, will finish the month with two or three absences and, if that pattern continues, end up missing 10 percent of the school year.
GEORGIA
Georgia commission to decide on possible Hephzibah charter school in October
Augusta Chronicle, GA, September 15, 2013
Officials in Hephzibah are counting on a state commission to approve their application for a charter school targeted toward children in the Hephzibah and Blythe area and aimed at giving families an alternative to Richmond County public schools.
City moves ahead on performance pay for teachers
Marietta Daily Journal, GA, September 16, 2013
The Marietta Board of Education this week unanimously approved developing a performance-based pay system for teachers that would take effect for the 2015-16 school year.
ILLINOIS
Emanuel touts plans for Southeast Side elementary school amid concerns about urgency, environment
Chicago Tribune, IL, September 15, 2013
The rooftop plants, gleaming glass windows and pristine entranceway in the image beside Mayor Rahm Emanuel stood in stark contrast to the tiny, dated school gymnasium where he spoke Sunday evening.
Rauner calls for more charter schools, less union control
Quincy Journal, IL, September 14, 2013
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner wants to shake up the state’s education system by introducing more charter schools and taking on teachers unions.
TIFs won’t rescue schools
Editorial, Chicago Tribune, IL, September 15, 2013
As the Chicago Public Schools district has closed dozens of buildings and cut thousands of staffers, an idea has gained steam: Prop up the schools by shifting millions of dollars from Chicago’s tax increment financing districts.
INDIANA
Bennett emails reveal deep worries about takeover school
Courier Press, IN, September 14, 2013
Emails showing deep concerns about how a private company was handling an Indianapolis school taken over by the state in 2012 are raising broader questions about how the Department of Education operated under former schools chief Tony Bennett.
IOWA
Home-schoolers find their own clout in Legislature
Editorial, Mason City Globe Gazette, IA, September 16, 2013
Iowa’s home-schoolers delivered an important lesson for every student enrolled in a public K-12 district, and every private school, as well as their parents: If you want to change state law, it helps to have your advocates hold elected office.
LOUISIANA
Louisiana is smart to have these school fights
Editorial, Alexandria Town Talk, LA, September 15, 2013
It is only about 1,150 miles from Baton Rouge to Washington, D.C., but it can seem a lot farther away, especially when you’re looking in either direction through the lens of change.
New Orleans is leading the way in education reform: Gov. Bobby Jindal
Op-Ed, Times-Picayune, LA, September 14, 2013
When Hurricane Katrina struck our shores eight years ago and devastated the city of New Orleans, it was more than just infrastructure and commerce that was left in ruin. A school system that was already on life support from years of neglect and mismanagement was in danger of being washed away entirely.
Tea party opposition to Common Core could have implications
The Advocate, LA, September 16, 2013
The politics of education have been scrambling typical party divisions for decades. But over the past few months a new force has entered the debate, complicating the lives of Louisiana educators and politicians alike: the tea party.
MAINE
Common Core: Overreach or the start of school improvement?
Column, Bangor Daily News, ME, September 13, 2013
Just months after Republicans took control of the Maine Legislature in 2011, the House and Senate unanimously approved a bill allowing the state to implement a new set of math and English expectations for students in kindergarten through grade 12.
MASSACHUSETTS
At lot at stake in Salem school race
Salem News, MA, September 16, 2013
The crisis in the Salem public schools has sent ripples in many directions. Inside the schools, there are a number of initiatives and new programs underway aimed at turning around an underperforming system.
Rob Consalvo earns A+ in pandering to teachers union
Column, Boston Globe, MA, September 13, 2013
IT WAS a spectacle not to be missed: a mayoral campaign forum featuring candidates sharply divided about charter schools, held at the Boston Teachers Union Hall.
MICHIGAN
Detroit Public Schools’ new policy seeks to get tough on truancy
Detroit Free Press, MI, September 16, 2013
After years of angst and lost funding because of chronic truancy, Detroit Public Schools is implementing a new attendance policy for the 2013-14 school year that could result in parents being reported for prosecution after nine unexcused absences for their child.
Tennis star Andre Agassi coming to Detroit for grand opening of new school
Detroit Free Press, MI, September 16, 2013
It’s all about the arts at the new Southwest Detroit Lighthouse Charter Academy, where music, dance, art and theater are interwoven throughout the curriculum. But on Tuesday at the school’s grand opening, there might just be a little tennis added in.
MINNESOTA
High-poverty Columbia Heights charter school beats the odds to achieve academic excellence
Star Tribune, MN, September 14, 2013
Global Academy’s college prep classes, a no-nonsense classroom culture and involved parents have contributed to remarkable results.
MISSOURI
School test scores only part of the picture for many parents
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, September 14, 2013
A new set of report cards and ratings for public schools in Missouri now give parents more information at their fingertips than ever before to compare quality and effectiveness — that is, if they care to look.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Attacks on education tax credit full of disinformation
Letter, Nashua Telegraph, NH, September 14, 2013
Bill Duncan has always been a vociferous opponent of the new education tax credit law in New Hampshire. In a recent column, he disparaged this law by asking, “How is it that New Hampshire’s voucher tax credit program can find only 15 public school students who want vouchers?”
NEW JERSEY
Christie gets improving grade for handling of education issues
Courier News, NJ, September 16, 2013
For many, views of Gov. Chris Christie’s handling of education were cemented in 2010 — the height of his feud with the New Jersey Education Association, either a badge of honor or sign of disrespect for teachers, depending on one’s point of view.
Democratic assemblyman starts to leave his mark on education policies
New Jersey Spotlight, NJ, September 15, 2013
Singleton releases package of three bills, working on revision of 1995 Charter School Law.
Minority male teacher shortage prompts legislation that aims to boost their numbers
Star-Ledger, NJ, September 15, 2013
Minority male teachers are scarce in New Jersey’s public schools—and in classrooms across the country—but a bill moving through the state Legislature aims to attract more of them to some of the state’s struggling school districts.
NEW MEXICO
Lawmakers join educators in legal fight over evaluations
Santa Fee New Mexican, NM, September 14, 2013
A trio of Democratic lawmakers have joined with a state teachers union and others to stop the Public Education Department from initiating a new teacher evaluation system.
Teacher evaluation petition another stalling tactic
Editorial, Albuquerque Journal, NM
September 16, 2013
An Albuquerque representative calls it an effort to block an “end run” around the law-making process. The New Mexico Public Education Department calls it “terribly unfortunate.”
NORTH CAROLINA
State teachers face difficult choices after new law
Daily Tar Heel, NC, September 16, 2013
Like Hennessee, some teachers and education majors in North Carolina are reconsidering career options after education issues dominated the N.C. General Assembly’s recently concluded long session.
A teacher’s master’s degree equals more math learning for students
Opinion, News & Observer, NC, September 13, 2013
The fact that teacher pay (in constant dollars) has fallen faster in North Carolina than in any other state in the nation over the past decade has finally raised some eyebrows. Removing pay incentives for teachers who earn graduate degrees should as well.
OHIO
Don’t judge charter schools too hastily
Letter, Columbus Dispatch, OH, September 14, 2013
On Aug. 27, The Dispatch ran an op-ed column by Charles M. Blow that cited the Broad Foundation, an educational-reform group, on the U.S. educational system: “American students rank 25th in math, 17th in science and 14th in reading compared to students in 27 industrialized countries.”
Ohio lawmaker proposing that Ohio license plates help fund private education
Akron Beacon Journal, OH, September 15, 2013
Proponents of publicly funded charter and private schools can make a donation to the school choice movement through their local Bureau of Motor Vehicles if one state lawmaker gains support for legislation that could hit the statehouse floor by early October.
PENNSYLVANIA
Audit: End of charter reimbursements hurting school districts
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, September 13, 2013
State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale today highlighted the financial difficulties of the Duquesne and Sto-Rox school districts as he released their performance audits.
Districts, teachers at loss over solving strikes
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, September 14, 2013
Gone are the days when teachers stayed on strike until their contracts were settled and school boards could raise taxes to fund the agreements.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Charter schools experience first-year growing pains
Hilton Head Island Packet, SC, September 14, 2013
But so, too, can the schools they attend, according to the superintendent for the S.C. Public Charter School District. That’s why Wayne Brazell is neither alarmed nor surprised by tumult at Bridges Preparatory School in Beaufort, which lost its head of school less than a month after it opened in August.
TENNESSEE
White Ready to Take on Frayser High
Memphis Daily News, TN, September 16, 2013
Bobby White is so close that he sometimes has to remember that the decision about who will run Frayser High School won’t be made until December.
UTAH
In our opinion: Charters doing well
Editorial, Deseret News, UT, September 14, 2013
Now that Utah’s schools have each received a letter grade as part of a state-imposed accountability system, some are calling attention to the fact that Utah’s charter schools received roughly the same A through F grade distribution as traditional public schools.
WASHINGTON
Area school districts besides SPS undecided on charter schools
Spokesman Review, WA, September 16, 2013
Not all school districts are as sure about charter schools as Spokane Public Schools. Spokane’s biggest district made history last week by becoming the first in the state to welcome a charter school.
New-school thinking
Spokesman Review, WA, September 16, 2013
Seven years of foreign language. Extra math and science. Nine-hour school days and an extended school year. These are the makings of a charter school planned for Spokane next year.
WEST VIRGINIA
High school graduates could save state money
Charleston Daily Mail, WV, September 16, 2013
West Virginia could save $100 million annually in crime-associated costs just by increasing its high school graduation rate by 5 percent.
ONLINE LEARNING
Glitches slow digital makeover effort for Utah schools
Salt Lake Tribune, UT, September 14, 2013
Students are powering on MacBook Air laptops and Skyping with teachers at Kaysville charter school Career Path High.
Graduation gaps among Miss. school districts glaring
The Hechinger Report, September 16, 2013
To catch Walton up with his classmates, the Rankin County School District enrolled him in both traditional classes and online classes, which operate like college correspondence courses.
Interest in virtual schooling surges in Tampa Bay area
Tampa Tribune, FL, September 16, 2013
For the first time in its 16-year history, Florida Virtual School, the largest state-run online K-12 school in the nation, this year had to fire teachers due to low enrollment numbers and diminished funding. At the same time, school districts across the Tampa Bay area are dealing with too many students.
iPads open doors for students in poor school districts
USA Today, September 14, 2013
Coachella Valley Unified is one of small number of school districts buying iPads or other tablets for all their students. The district will issue iPads to all students – pre-school through high school – by November.
No Child Left Untableted
New York Times Magazine, NY, September 15, 2013
Sally Hurd Smith, a veteran teacher, held up her brand-new tablet computer and shook it as she said, “I don’t want this thing to take over my classroom.” It was late June, a month before the first day of school.
Online school best for some students
Letter, The Tennessean, TN
September 16, 2013
A new school year is upon us — with new teachers, new textbooks, and hopefully, many new educational opportunities for more Tennessee families and students.
Should state funds cover online classes? Many not sure
USA Today, September 15, 2013
Growing concerns over how much state education funding should go to online courses are prompting lawmakers to create a range of policies, but no clear consensus has yet emerged.
Walnut Valley Unified’s virtual teaching could foreshadow future of education
San Gabriel Valley Tribune, CA, September 15, 2013
There’s online classes, then there are classes online. Walnut Valley Unified is trying virtual teaching this semester in an interesting experiment that could foreshadow the future of education.