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
A Distraction from Real Education Reform
Opinion, US News & World Report, October 28, 2013
Discussions of the Common Core standards are actually sucking all of the air out of the room, distracting attention from any serious efforts to reform our schools.
Are Successful Charter Schools Just Teaching To The Test?
Column, Forbes, October 28, 2013
Education reform critics will sometimes argue that high-performing charters are only improving student test scores by teaching to the test.
Author Maya Angelou blasts Obama’s Race to the Top
Washington Post Blog, DC, October 29, 2013
Renowned author and poet Maya Angelou was one of more than 120 authors and illustrators who recently signed a letter to President Obama asking him to curb policies that promote excessive standardized testing because of the negative impact “on children’s love [of] reading and literature.”
Between the Extremes on Charter Schools
Huffington Post, October 28, 2013
To get beyond the rhetoric, it needs to be universally accepted that charters have a useful role in the school system. The innovation and the good things they do should be celebrated. However they cannot have carte blanche to get whatever they want out of the system.
STATE COVERAGE
ARIZONA
Gilbert neighborhood embraces plans for charter school
Arizona Republic, AZ, October 28, 2013
Great Hearts Academies, which operates more than a dozen schools across the Valley, plans to build a K-12 campus on a 9-acre lot at the southwestern corner of Baseline Road and Quinn Avenue.
Two AZ Dems leave Democrats for [Conservative] Education Reform
Opinion, Tucson Citizen, AZ, October 28, 2013
Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) is basically a front group for the conservative “education reform” movement — i.e. privatization and corporate takeover of education.
CALIFORNIA
LAUSD needs Deasy
Editorial, Los Angeles Times, CA, October 29, 2013
There are so many dramas and mini-disasters at the Los Angeles Unified School District, they have to take a number and line up for attention. First, a special meeting was called for Tuesday so that the board could set a broad vision from which future policies would flow.
Los Angeles Schools Leadership Questioned
Wall Street Journal, October 28, 2013
The Los Angeles Unified School District is slated to meet Tuesday to discuss whether to renew its superintendent’s contract—a decision that could change the leadership of the nation’s second-largest school system.
Students can’t wait for school reform
Opinion, Orange County Register, CA, October 28, 2013
Have you ever wanted to know if your child is attending a chronically underperforming school? Well, start spreading the word: the list is out. Due to a law I wrote while serving in the California Senate, the 2010 Open Enrollment Act identifies the 1,000 chronically underperforming schools in California and empowers parents of kids enrolled in these to be able to seek enrollment in any higher performing California public school.
COLORADO
Bloomberg, Gates each put $1 million behind pro-Amendment 66 campaign
Denver Post, CO, October 29, 2013
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates top the donor list to proponents of Amendment 66, the school finance measure that includes a $950 million tax hike.
Would Amendment 66 be a big win for charter schools?
Durango Herald, CO, October 29, 2013
Advertisements for Amendment 66 say the proposed tax increase will help fund art, music and physical education. But for Animas High School Executive Director Michael Ackerman, the only subject that matters is math.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
D.C. kicks off school boundary overhaul
Washington Post, DC, October 28, 2013
D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s administration kicked off an effort Monday to overhaul school boundaries and feeder patterns for the first time in decades, a politically charged and long-delayed process that could limit access to some of the city’s most sought-after schools.
FLORIDA
Ben Gamla charter schools take in millions in public funds as founder lives half a world away
Miami Herald, FL, October 28, 2013
Peter Deutsch, the driving force behind South Florida’s controversial Ben Gamla charter schools, is a six-term former Democratic congressman with a unique status: He lives more than 6,000 miles away in Israel as an expatriate.
Classical curriculum sets school apart
Florida Today, FL, October 29, 2013
Kindergartners will learn Latin, students will read classical literature and every morning will start with the Pledge of Allegiance around the school’s flagpole.
Teachers Learn Best Practices From McKeel Academy Workshop
The Ledger, FL, October 28, 2013
The two attended the first of a series of free seminars McKeel Academy of Technology is sponsoring, thanks to a $250,000 grant that will allow the passing on of best practices to teachers and school administrators.
LOUISIANA
New state program offers nontraditional classes
The Advocate, LA, October 28, 2013
Under a new state program, Destin Valega spends half of his school day outside the classroom learning to be an electrician, which could easily pay him $42,000 per year for starters.
MARYLAND
Incentives for what?
Editorial, Baltimore Sun, MD, October 28, 2013
Giving school staffers ‘retention stipends’ to keep them on the job sounds like paying them extra to do what they’re supposed to be doing anyway
MICHIGAN
MEA should learn from its teachers
Editorial, Detroit Free Press, MI, October 29, 2013
But not everyone is on board with efforts to prevent bullying. While parents, teachers and administrators are fighting hard every day to put an end to it, the Michigan Education Association, our state’s dominant teachers’ union, remains sadly stuck in the past.
Wasted school bonds reflect Detroit’s bedrock troubles
Editorial, Detroit Free Press, MI, October 28, 2013
There may be no better example of the tragic failure to manage Detroit’s long decline than the 110 vacant or torn down Detroit Public Schools buildings. It’s a sign of Detroit’s bedrock problems: The precipitous population decline, destabilizing neighborhoods and devastating the tax base, has been led by families with children, and the city’s inability to attract or retain families remains one of the city’s most significant challenges.
MISSOURI
Focus on parents who kept their children in Normandy schools
Letter, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, October 29, 2013
It is interesting that the Post-Dispatch chose to include the relieved comment of school choice advocate Kate Casas in the article about the Normandy School Board’s vote to refrain from paying its transfer bills rather than the comments of parents who chose to keep their children in the Normandy Public Schools.
Who’s running the show?
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, October 29, 2013
I was a member of the Missouri Senate 20 years ago when the General Assembly passed SB 380. I voted against the bill because it raised taxes without a vote of the people. At the same time I applauded the provision in the bill establishing a statewide test to measure the outcomes produced by those, now better-funded, school districts.
NEW JERSEY
School Choice openings capped
Cherry Hill Courier Post, NJ, October 29, 2013
The New Jersey Department of Education will limit the number of students it funds through the School Choice program next school year.
Students, staff pan Camden schools in survey
Cherry Hill Courier Post, NJ, October 29, 2013
Students and staff members in the Camden City School District reported their schools are unsafe, unsanitary and ill-equipped, according to a survey released Tuesday.
NEW MEXICO
Senate panel plans vote on education secretary
Santa Fe New Mexican, NM, October 28, 2013
The Senate may finally move to confirm Hanna Skandera, the governor’s designee as New Mexico’s top education official, in the upcoming legislative session in January — nearly three years after she was appointed to the post.
NEW YORK
16,000 students could suffer from De Blasio’s charter pledge
New York Post, NY, October 29, 2013
Bill de Blasio’s vow to impose a moratorium on opening new charter schools inside public-school buildings could freeze out nearly 16,000 students from the charter system, according to a new study.
A Bold Bid for Better Schools
Op-Ed, New York Times, NY, October 29, 2013
The state is on the precipice of something big. On Election Day next Tuesday, Coloradans will decide whether to ratify an ambitious statewide education overhaul that the Legislature already passed and that Gov. John Hickenlooper signed but that voters must now approve, because Colorado law gives them that right in regard to tax increases, which the overhaul entails.
Bronx parents win co-location battle at Public School 1
New York Daily News, NY, October 28, 2013
City decides struggling school is ‘making strides’ to improve. Most co-locations sail through the public review process.
Charter school backers seek long-term goals for Finn Academy
Elmira Star-Gazette, NY, October 28, 2013
The people behind a plan to bring Elmira its first charter school said they were stumped last summer when a state education official asked them where they see the school in 20 years.
NORTH CAROLINA
School board tackles ‘hot mess’ of teacher tenure
Times-News, NC, October 28, 2013
The transition away from teacher tenure in public schools is raising a lot of questions. Some questions are which teachers will be offered special contracts, who is going to pay for it and will the Alamance-Burlington School System be sued over it?
PENNSYLVANIA
Charter school reform appears to be anything but
Opinion, The Reporter, PA, October 28, 2013
THECAMPAIGN for unfettered expansion of charter schools in Pennsylvania has greatly intensified given a bill pending in the state Senate that would give life to a large number of deeply ill-advised proposals.
City charters without signed agreements get revocation threat
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, October 29, 2013
In the midst of its continuing financial crisis, the School District of Philadelphia has lowered the boom on charter schools in the city.
Lehigh Valley superintendents tell feds they need fewer mandates, more money
Lehigh Valley Express-Times, PA, October 28, 2013
The competition between Pennsylvania’s traditional public schools and cyber and charter schools was also a huge focus of the discussion. Ritsch listened intently but also told officials they needed to be talking to Harrisburg, not D.C., on the issue.
Pittsburgh city schools’ enrollment still falling
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, October 29, 2013
If the projections of Pittsburgh Public Schools had been right, the district this fall would have turned the corner on declining K-12 enrollment and would have seen the growth of 100 students.
Scores of Philadelphia teachers reassigned
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, October 28, 2013
The fallout from the Philadelphia School District’s budget crisis continues: As of Monday, 139 teachers had been moved to new schools – seven weeks into the term, and shortly before students’ first report card grades are due.
RHODE ISLAND
Principals’ ratings of R.I. teachers weren’t too generous
Opinion, Providence Journal, RI, October 29, 2013
The Oct. 12 story “High marks for state teachers come with a caveat” offers the troubling suggestion that the implementation of the educator evaluation system in Rhode Island was compromised by the overly generous favorable ratings that principals gave their teachers. Perhaps more disconcerting to those in the field is the assumption that districts employ much higher numbers of developing or ineffective teachers.
TENNESSEE
Herenton closing 2 Memphis charters for kids in custody of court
Memphis Commercial Appeal, TN, October 29, 2013
The two charter schools that former Memphis mayor Willie Herenton opened inside Northside High for juvenile delinquents will close Friday because of low enrollment.
Pinkston to Metro: Don’t Forget to Audit Charters
Nashville Scene Blog, TN, October 28, 2013
Claims charter schools boot struggling students shortly before state exams and take in few kids with disabilities should be included in Metro’s audit of the city school system, says one school board member.
School voucher campaign kicks off
WBIR-TV, TN, October 28, 2013
School Choice NOW is urging Tennessee lawmakers to approve legislation that would help provide scholarships to parents of disadvantaged children in public schools.
ONLINE LEARNING
The Cleveland schools have to hire more teachers ASAP
Editorial, Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, October 28, 2013
Before the Cleveland school district’s teacher shortage leaves a lasting sour taste in the mouths of voters who’ll be asked to renew a hefty school levy in less than four years, CEO Eric Gordon needs to quicken the pace of hiring qualified teachers.