Daily Headlines for November 6, 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
In Public Education, Edge Still Goes to Rich
New York Times, NY, November 6, 2013
But it raises a perplexing question, too. If education is a poor child’s best shot at rising up the ladder of prosperity, why do public resources devoted to education lean so decisively in favor of the better off?
Test Takers rush to complete GED
Associated Press, November 6, 2013
Americans who passed part, but not all, of the GED test are rushing to finish the high school equivalency exam before a new version rolls out in January and their previous scores are wiped out. About 1 million people could be affected.
STATE COVERAGE
CALIFORNIA
Funding for L.A. Unified’s iPad program uncertain after three years
Los Angeles Times, CA, November 5, 2013
Options include using leftover construction funds, if any, or new bond measures to pay for the devices, which have a three-year life span.
State launches Charter School Best Practices Project
Press-Enterprise CA, November 6, 2013
A free training session for charter school board members, administrators and teachers as well as a session for charter-school authorizers is being offered Thursday, Nov. 7, at the Riverside County Office of Education, 3939 13th St., Riverside.
COLORADO
Amendment 66: a $1 billion bust
Editorial, Denver Post, CO, November 6, 2013
The drubbing of Amendment 66 Tuesday may have been a defeat for education reform and funding equity, but we understand why so many voters were reluctant to support the measure. The recession is over but times are still tough for many families, incomes remain in the doldrums and educational bureaucracies are not terribly trustworthy.
Colorado school boards shift toward reform
Denver Post, CO, November 6, 2013
Voters swept reform-minded school board candidates into all open seats in closely watched Front Range races in Denver, Douglas and Jefferson counties and Thompson Valley schools.
School tax soundly defeated
Durango Herald, CO, November 6, 2013
A multimillion-dollar campaign to increase taxes for schools failed to budge Colorado voters away from their anti-tax stance.
CONNECTICUT
Charter Revision Struck Down, Four Elected To School Board In Hartford
Hartford Courant, CT, November 5, 2013
A minuscule turnout of voters elected four members to the school board and rejected significant changes to the city charter. The proposed charter revisions would have stripped Mayor Pedro Segarra of his vote on the school board and expanded the powers and scope of the city’s internal audit commission.
FLORIDA
Browning denies ‘do-over’ for charter applicant
Suncoast News, FL, November 5, 2013
A split Pasco County School Board approved a charter school’s application Tuesday, but board members expressed concern because Superintendent Kurt Browning allowed the school to make changes or clarifications to the application after his staff initially recommended denial.
School Board approves 19 new charter schools
Sun Sentinel, FL, November 5, 2013
Parents could have more than a dozen new charter schools to choose from next year, including a sports-themed academy, two Hebrew-language schools and several others focused on science and math curriculum.
School District: Students in jeopardy at mismanaged Immokalee charter school
Naples News, FL, November 6, 2013
Uncertified teachers in classrooms, missing financial records and students being fed lunch from McDonald’s are among the litany of mismanagement allegations being levied against an Immokalee charter school, which could be shut down in the coming weeks.
LOUISIANA
Caddo avoids state takeover of schools
Shreveport Times, LA, November 5, 2013
Caddo schools will keep all failing schools and keep the state at bay for two years under a deal unveiled Tuesday.
In New Orleans and nationally, a growing number of charter schools aspire to be ‘diverse by design’
Hechinger Report, November 5, 2013
When a group of Mid-City residents proposed opening a school four years ago that would be racially and economically diverse, they were greeted with doubt. Skeptics thought Morris Jeff would end up like most other public schools in the city: almost entirely African American and low-income.
MASSACHUSETTS
Hunt leads pack for school board
Salam News, MA, November 6, 2013
The dramatic change going on in the public schools was reflected in yesterday’s stunning election for School Committee.
Most students from Spirit of Knowledge now in city schools
Worcester Telegram, MA, November 5, 2013
Most of the 155 students displaced when the Spirit of Knowledge Charter School closed last week have transferred to Worcester public schools, and many of the seniors have transferred to Doherty Memorial High School, members of the defunct school’s board of trustees learned Tuesday night.
Teachers union blasts out last-minute endorsement
Boston Herald, MA, November 6, 2013
The Boston Teachers Union, after staying out of the mayor’s race for months, finally backed a candidate yesterday, sending out an eleventh-hour email blast urging members to vote for state Rep. Martin J. Walsh.
MISSOURI
Superintendents pitch plan to aid struggling schools
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, November 6, 2013
A key education organization is attempting to galvanize support around a proposal that school superintendents hope could sidestep a thorny state statute that has allowed 2,200 students to transfer from unaccredited school districts.
Kansas City charter inflates attendance
Southeast Missourian, MO, November 6, 2013
Administrators and some staff at a Kansas City charter school aimed at dropouts are on leave amid an investigation into inflated attendance and academic problems, Missouri education officials said Tuesday.
NEW JERSEY
Ocean City hoping to work with state on new School Choice enrollment limits
Ocean City Gazette, NJ, November 6, 2013
In an attempt to manage the growth of the popular Interdistrict Public School Choice Program, New Jersey State Department of Education officials recently announced a 5 percent annual cap on the increase in students accepted by receiving districts.
NEW MEXICO
School choice is key to results
Deming Headlight, NM, November 5, 2013
There has been an incredible amount of angst among the education establishment over New Mexico’s newly-enacted system of teacher evaluations. Unlike other aspects of Gov. Martinez’s education agenda including the A-F grading system, elimination of 3rd grade social promotion, and an emphasis on digital learning, these evaluations were not based on Jeb Bush’s successful reforms in Florida.
NEW YORK
Bill de Blasio, as next mayor, must fix major problems in New York City schools
Opinion, New York Daily News, NY, November 6, 2013
The incoming mayor must build upon successful reforms by current Mayor Bloomberg, and he must devise new strategies for big problems that are festering, says New York University Professor Pedro Noguera.
With a Mayor De Blasio, Fate of Charter Schools in Limbo
Newsweek, November 5, 2013
As New York City stands poised to elect its first non-Bloomberg mayor since 2001, the impact of a probable Bill de Blasio administration has put the future of charter schools in question. De Blasio, expected to take office 11 years after Mayor Bloomberg’s takeover of NYC public schools in 2002, has publicly skewered charter schools, a hallmark element of Mayor Mike’s sometimes controversial education policies.
NORTH CAROLINA
McCrory launches teacher advisory committee
News & Observer, NC, November 5, 2013
Gov. Pat McCrory launched a teacher advisory group Tuesday that he charged with making recommendations on issues such as teacher pay, testing and technology.
Opportunity scholarships put school power in the hands of parents
Opinion, News & Observer, NC, November 5, 2013
Over the past two years, I have followed the arguments that opponents of Opportunity Scholarships have hurled at the futures of economically disadvantaged students who need educational options. I am always taken back when people who have benefited from “school choice” desire to restrict minorities from having the same “choice.” This is hypocritical at the least and condemning at best.
Tenure law poorly planned
Editorial, Daily Reflector, NC, November 5, 2013
The Republican-led state legislature should take a lesson from the botched rollout of Obamacare when crafting education policy. Rushing perceived mandates into law does nothing to enhance public opinion regarding the competency of government.
OHIO
Voters soundly defeat Columbus school levy
Columbus Dispatch, OH, November 6, 2013
But voters weren’t behind it. They defeated the 23.5 percent property-tax increase yesterday that would have shared local money with charter schools for the first time.
PENNSYLVANIA
Brandywine Heights School Board rejects plan for charter school for autistic kids
Reading Eagle, PA, November 6, 2013
The Brandywine Heights School Board has denied the application of a Lehigh Valley group seeking to open a charter school for autistic children in the district.
Vida families request charter renewal from Gettysburg
Evening Sun, PA, November 5, 2013
Vida Charter School third-grader Spencer Kennedy pleaded in Spanish to the Gettysburg Board of Education members during Monday’s meeting.
RHODE ISLAND
Cumberland’s Blackstone Valley Prep wins $2.2-million grant to expand its charter school network
Providence Journal, RI, November 6, 2013
Blackstone Valley Prep Mayoral Academy has received a $2.2-million grant from the Charter School Growth Fund, a nonprofit organization that raises money to help expand charter school networks.
Despite Critics, Achievement First Charter School Up And Running
Rhode Island Public Radio, RI, November 5, 2013
Achievement First is a brand new charter school in Providence that also operates schools in Connecticut and New York. Critics fought hard to keep it from opening in Rhode Island, arguing that among other problems, it would take money away from other public schools.
TENNESSEE
Pro-school-voucher groups reignite campaign
The Tennessean, TN, November 6, 2013
Proponents of a controversial school voucher program in Tennessee have rolled out a new statewide campaign as they look for a different result during the next legislative session.
VIRGINIA
An education path for every child
Column, Richmond Times-Dispatch, VA, November 5, 2013
In 2014, we want to build on that by empowering teachers, educators and parents with the tools they need to create what we call “A Personalized Path for Every Child.”
WASHINGTON
Peters edging Dale Estey in fiercely contested Seattle School Board race
Seattle Times, WA, November 6, 2013
Parent activist Sue Peters was leading her much-better-funded opponent Suzanne Dale Estey by three percentage points for a seat on the Seattle School Board.
WEST VIRGINIA
Summit discusses education reform
Charleston Daily Mail, WV, November 5, 2013
Nearly a year after state lawmakers passed a sweeping education reform package, West Virginia has moved to another uncertain phase for those reforms: implementation.
WISCONSIN
Is Wisconsin ready for the corporate reformers of education?
Letter, Pierce County Herald, WI, November 6, 2013
Public education is undergoing a radical change. What was predominately a local school governed by a locally elected school board is poised to become a plethora ofchoices: private religious schools, independent privately operated charter schools, voucher schools, for-profit schools, virtual schools, and public schools.
Public school districts block charter ideas
Letter, Post Crescent, WI, November 6, 2013
Your recent editorial notes that Sen. Alberta Darling’s charter school legislation is a threat to public education. How can that be? Charter schools are public schools. In exchange for more freedom to experiment and innovate, charter schools are held to unprecedented levels of accountability.
ONLINE LEARNING
Chromebooks take students beyond classroom walls
The Princeton Packet, NJ, November 6, 2013
Fifth grade students were excited to tell the Board of Education how Chromebooks are transforming and enhancing their learning in the classroom.Four classes at Village School and four classes at Millstone River School are piloting a program that gives every student a Chromebook.
Regional collaborative submits virtual school proposal
Metro West Daily News, MA, November 6, 2013
An educational collaborative that serves several MetroWest districts was the only organization to submit a proposal to the state Monday to start an online school.
Students learning more with mix of online, traditional classroom learning
Dearborn Press & Guide, MI, November 5, 2013
Dearborn Public School students will increasingly see classes that mix online learning with instruction in brick and mortar classrooms, according to information presented to the school board on Monday.
Why Schools Are ‘Blending’ Learning
EdSurge, November 6, 2013
Judy Beard, principal of Whittemore Park Middle School in Horry County SC, was so convinced that she had to implement “blended learning” to help her students achieve the common core that she started implementing blended learning before they had the funds to purchase the technology.