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.
STATE COVERAGE
ALABAMA
Below the belt — High dropout rates in the South are old news, but huge problem
Editorial
Anniston Star, AL,
December 20, 2013
For lifelong Southerners, thick skin is a must. The South’s inherent traits, faults and culinary habits — some that are, as we say, fine eatin’ — often are punchlines for comedians and social pundits nationwide.
CONNECTICUT
School board homes in on achievement gap
Greenwich Times, CT, December 20, 2013
The Board of Education on Thursday night approved a recommendation for the school district to spend as much as approximately $93,000 next year to help underachieving elementary students, as it neared a vote on Superintendent of Schools William McKersie’s proposed $143.9 million operating budget for the 2014-15 fiscal year.
DC
DOJ’s Louisiana voucher challenge could segregate schools further
The Daily Caller, DC, December 19, 2013
Sometimes history reverses itself rather than repeats itself. Such is the case in Louisiana, where the U.S. Department of Justice is pushing for oversight over the Pelican State’s private school voucher program out of fears that it will violate federal desegregation orders.
FLORIDA
Success comes with a caution
Miami Herald, FL, December 19, 2013
Students in Miami-Dade and Broward counties hit it out of the park, academically speaking. Not only were there no F schools in South Florida, there were hardly any C and D schools, either. A and B schools mostly ruled, even among several inner-city schools that had been plagued by low test scores and school grades in past years
IDAHO
Enrollment climbing at new charter school
Idaho Mountain Express & Guide, ID, December 20, 2013
About midway through its enrollment period, Syringa Mountain School, the new state-funded charter school in Blaine County, already has about 90 students lined up to attend the school when it opens next fall.
Boise charter school plans to expand
Idaho Statesman, ID, December 20, 2013
Sage International School is planning an expansion that could make room for an additional 145 elementary students beginning next fall.
ILLINOIS
Cost analysis questions wisdom of opening more charter schools
WBEZ, IL, December 19, 2013
A new cost analysis questions the wisdom of opening more charter schools in Chicago. The analysis, calculated by Communities United for Quality Education (CUQE), finds that approving all 21 charter schools that have applied to open would cost Chicago $21 million dollars the first year and $225 million over the next decade.
LOUISIANA
Vouchers ignite new arguments
The Advocate, LA, December 19, 2013
Parents of voucher students need more information to ensure their choice of private schools is better than the public schools they fled, several members of a state legislative committee said Thursday.
Recovery School District will be country’s first all-charter district in September 2014
The Times-Picayune, LA, December 19, 2013
The great educational experiment in New Orleans is taking a dramatic, albeit long-awaited, turn. New Orleans’ Recovery School District will become the country’s first all-charter system in September 2014, a year earlier than planned.
MASSACHUSETTS
Boston School Superintendent Slot May Take Time To Fill For Mayor-Elect Walsh
WGBH NEWS, MA, December 20, 2013
Boston’s new mayor will have three major appointments to make after his inauguration on January 6: Police and fire commissioners, and a school superintendent. That last position has been open the longest, and may take the longest to fill.
MICHIGAN
$52M federal grant will benefit education of 182,000 low-income Michigan children
Detroit Free Press, MI, December 19, 2013
Michigan has won a $51.7-million grant in a national competition focused on improving early learning and closing the school readiness gap, federal and state officials announced today.
NEW YORK
3-school plan lacks stakeholder input as teachers, parents fault Brown over insularity
Buffalo News, NY, December 19, 2013
Superintendent Pamela C. Brown’s latest proposal to turn around three of Buffalo’s most struggling schools is being met by criticism from two influential stakeholder groups.
Task force to review rollout
Albany Times Union, NY, December 19, 2013
Amid heavy criticism of the state’s implementation of the new Common Core learning standards, Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch has appointed a task force to review those complaints and report back by February with recommendations for improvement.
NORTH CAROLINA
NC schools bracing for impact of Read to Achieve law
News & Observer, NC, December 19, 2013
As many as 50,000 North Carolina third-grade students might be in danger of having to attend a six-week summer reading camp to get promoted next year.
The unaccountability movement in education
Jefferson Post, NC, December 19, 2013
The recent filing of a lawsuit against the state’s new private school voucher scheme by the NCAE and the N.C. Justice Center on behalf of 25 plaintiffs received a flurry of media attention – and it should have.
OHIO
Cleveland schools are showing successes — just not enough of them, yet:
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, December 19, 2013
No one doubts that the Cleveland schools have a ways to go. The concentration of poverty – virtually all the students attending the Cleveland public schools are disadvantaged economically – along with the sapping of public-school resources because of defections to charter schools and the years of lackluster academic results have all taken their toll.
Some hits, some misses in last CPS union contract
Cincinnati Enquirer, OH, December 19, 2013
In December 2010, Cincinnati Public Schools and its teachers union announced a new labor contract – one more than a year in the making.
PENNSYLVANIA
Group challenges scope of Chester charter school
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, December 20, 2013
Over the last 15 years, Chester Community Charter School has grown so rapidly that it educates more students – about 3,000 – than the cash-strapped traditional classrooms in the surrounding Chester Upland School District.
Union hits Aspira Olney Charter High School with a third unfair-labor-practice charge
Philadelphia Daily News, PA, December 20, 2013
IMAGINE A SCHOOL where teachers could be suspended, even terminated, for talking to one another. That school exists and it’s called Aspira Olney Charter High School, according to an unfairlabor-practice charge filed against the school and its operator, Aspira of Pennsylvania.
Allentown School Board rejects two proposed charter schools
Lehigh Valley Express-Times, PA, December 19, 2013
The Allentown School Board tonight rejected two charter school applications for a lack of community support.
Preposterous: The new city school board is off to a bad start
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, December 20, 2013
The disturbing moves will have long-term, negative effects, and they trigger worries that this panel won’t use the sound judgment necessary to keep the Pittsburgh Public Schools from going the way of failed urban districts.
TENNESSEE
Pinkston to mayor: There are ‘real costs’ with charter school growth
The Tennessean Blog, TN, December 19, 2013
Anyone who watched Mayor Karl Dean hit Metro Nashville Public Schools in his unexpected in-your-face speech on Monday knew a response from Will Pinkston would be coming.
Andre Agassi group to bankroll new charter school in Nashville
The Tennessean, TN, December 19, 2013
Former tennis great Andre Agassi’s charter school facilities organization is making Nashville one of its latest financial plays, with plans to cover the entire $7 million in construction costs for a new charter school in North Nashville.
TEXAS
Texas orders Dallas-based charter and five others to close next year
Dallas Morning News, TX, December 19, 2013
The state on Thursday ordered a Dallas-based charter school and five others to close under a new law that cracks down on charter operators with chronic problems.
ONLINE LEARNING
Special report: York County school districts combat cyber schools with own online options
York Dispatch, PA, December 19, 2013
School districts across York County are combating fund-draining cyber charter schools with online programs of their own, a move that allows schools to keep money inside the district.
Florida Virtual School’s high school gets first grade, a B
Orlando Sentinel Blog, FL, December 19, 2013
Florida Virtual School’s full-time high school earned a B this year, the first time the online school qualified for a grade under Florida’s annual A-to-F report card. The school got its first grade this year because 2012-13 was the first time it had enough students for the state to run its grading calculations.
WIVA shares achievements, challenges
The Mcfarland Thistle, WI, December 19, 2013
It was a banner year for the Wisconsin Virtual Academy (WIVA) with the largest graduating class since its inception and a substantial increase in the number of enrollees. Head of school Leslye Erickson attended Monday’s school board meeting to share the school’s successes and challenges.
KCPS digital rollout hits a snag when it comes to the internet
KSHB, MO, December 19, 2013
The Kansas City Public Schools District said it will roll out more laptops to students in January 2014 as part of their Digital Learning Initiative. But some kids may face a significant challenge when they the laptops home.
Idaho online tech high school plans 2014 opening
Idaho Statesman, ID, December 19, 2013
A new online charter high school aimed at technical and specialty trade education is coming to Idaho in fall 2014 in a partnership between K12 Inc. and the Idaho College and Career Readiness Academy.
POLITICAL/LEGISLATIVE COVERAGE
Bill would bar bonuses tied to special education limit
Asbury Park Press, NJ, December 20, 2013
The state Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would prohibit payment of bonuses to schools superintendents for keeping special-education students in district programs instead of sending them to out-of-district schools.
Blurred Lines: Conservatives On Education Policy
The Chattanoogan, TN, December 19, 2013
In a nutshell, most conservative orthodoxy in education and other policy areas is that of devolution. What devolution means is that the power to make decisions is returned to those closest to the people. Taxpayer money is spent for the needs at the local level, rather than at the national level.
Charter schools changing education
Alice Echo-News Journal, TX, December 20, 2013
One of my top priorities in the Legislature is education. We have many good schools, eager students and hard-working school personnel in South Texas and I am proud to advocate for them. Communities like ours recognize the importance of giving students a good foundation for building a career and a life as a productive adult. That’s why I was honored to accept an invitation to tour St. Mary’s Academy Charter School in Beeville recently.