Daily Headlines for December 24, 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
School-to-prison pipeline overflowing
Opinion, The Daily Telegram, MI, December 23, 2013
There was a time when disruptive students were sent to see the principal. Today in some school districts, the disruptive student is handcuffed and ushered off to court. The school-to-prison pipeline is overflowing with students.
STATE COVERAGE
CALIFORNIA
Battle over teacher tenure is shaping up
Column, Modesto Bee, CA, December 23, 2013
The powerful political forces that have been skirmishing for years over the direction of California’s public schools appear to be headed for a multifront political and legal war next year.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
D.C. schools gave 44 teachers mistaken job evaluations
Washington Post, DC, December 23, 2013
Faulty calculations of the “value” that D.C. teachers added to student achievement in the last school year resulted in erroneous performance evaluations for 44 teachers, including one who was fired because of a low rating, school officials disclosed Monday.
GEORGIA
Cobb school board eyes switch to charter system
Marietta Daily Journal, GA, December 24, 2013
The Cobb County school system is looking at switching to a charter system in the next few years, board members say.
MCS switches to a pay system based on student success
Marietta Daily Journal, GA, December 24, 2013
Teachers in Marietta City Schools can now make more money earlier in their careers and be reimbursed for advanced degrees.
ILLINOIS
New CPS Charter Schools Could Cost $255M Over 10 Years, Study Says
DNAinfo, IL, December 23, 2014
Community groups charge that 21 proposed new charter schools up for approval next month would cost Chicago Public Schools $21 million the first year — and $255 million over 10 years.
State agency overrules CPS for charter funding
WBEZ, IL, December 23, 2 013
A little-known state agency backed by powerful Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan has overruled Chicago public school officials, ordering them to approve and fund two new charter schools in the city.
INDIANA
Grades subpar for charters, takeover schools
Post-Tribune, IN, December 23, 2013
Five high schools taken over by the state, including one in Gary, failed to improve “A-F” scores released last week by the Indiana Department of Education.
IOWA
Saving the Charter School
Storm Lake Pilot Tribune, IA, December 24, 2013
Decision Day is nearing for the Storm Lake Charter School. The school district is preparing to make its case to the state Department of Education board to renew funding for the innovative program for another four years.
KANSAS
School boards stand behind role of state board
Topeka Capital Journal, KS, December 23, 2013
Kansas school districts passed a resolution this month affirming their support for the authority of the Kansas State Board of Education, following a legislative session this year that produced some bills that critics said infringed on that body.
LOUSIANA
New public school funding formula gets key backing from Louisiana School Board Association
The Times-Picayune, LA, December 23, 213
A new formula to fund Louisiana’s public schools is moving closer to approval, as members of the Minimum Foundation Task Force appear to have resolved their differences over how to allocate $3.5 billion in state education money.
MARYLAND
Prince George’s schools chief adds executive-level positions and attracts criticism
Washington Post, DC, December 23, 2013
Prince George’s County Schools Chief Executive Kevin M. Maxwell, who came to the district as part of an overhaul of the school system, has added four new executive-level positions to his administration, hires he said will improve academic achievement.
MASSACHUSETTS
Charters are for public good
Letter, Sentinel & Enterprise, MA, December 24, 2013
Jean LaBelle-Pierce, the newly elected School Committee member in Fitchburg, misses the point in her letter to the editor on Dec 20 about the meaning of public good as a concept that is void of “excludability and rivalry.”
Hard numbers: Turnaround schools that remove most teachers have best records
South Coast Today, MA, December 23, 2013
The statistic nearly jumps off the page: Of the troubled Level 4 schools embarking on a state-mandated turnaround in Masssachusetts, those that replaced at least 50 percent of their teachers in the first year met their performance goals 89 percent of the time (8 out of 9).
MINNESOTA
School should not have to sell to its competitor
Letter, Duluth News Tribune, MN, December 24, 2013
I read with interest the letters this fall urging ISD 709 to sell Central High School to a local charter school. To what extent did the high volume of letters come from people associated with that school?
MISSOURI
A bipartisan school transfer bill built on solidly common ground
Editorial, St. Louis Post Dispatch, MO, December 24, 2013
Last week, a group of Republican and Democratic senators from the St. Louis region stood together and said they would file an identical piece of legislation seeking to improve the school transfer law that created havoc in the St. Louis region this fall.
NEW MEXICO
Charters among top in U.S.
Column, Albuquerque Journal, NM, December 24, 2013
This has been a landmark year for charter schools in New Mexico. Charter schools in this state continue to excel at providing high-quality educational opportunities for students.
PENNSYLVANIA
Ads won’t pay for education
Editorial, Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, December 23, 2013
Bad habits that at first seem amusing become irritating when repeated over and over. Take City Council’s patting itself on the back for inadequate responses to the public schools’ cash-flow problems.
Tread lightly on charter school legislation
Editorial, The Reporter, PA, December 23, 2013
There’s a certain irony that while Edward Grisillo was collecting honors recently as the Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year in Harrisburg, not far away the state Senate was debating the merits of a controversial overhaul of charter schools in the state.
What does Philly schools funder Mark Gleason want?
Philadelphia Daily News, PA, December 24, 2013
JUST 10 years ago, Mark Gleason was a journalist and publisher working in New York, trying to launch a magazine called Book that was heavily funded by Barnes & Noble.
WISCONSIN
State moves to remove private school from Milwaukee voucher program
Journal Sentinel, WI, December 24, 2013
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has moved to boot another private school from receiving taxpayer money through the Milwaukee voucher program.
ONLINE LEARNING
Blended school program working at Haverford
Maine Line Times, ME, December 23, 2013
A blended school program is performing well and saving money, according to a recent presentation to the school board by Coordinator of Secondary Special Programs David Parker and special education instructor Nicole Battestelli.
Education department mum on PA Cyber’s college tuition payments
Times Leader, PA, December 23, 2013
The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School has paid nearly $38,000 in college tuition expenses for some students over the last three years, nearly all of it under its gifted program, but the Pennsylvania Department of Education would not clarify the legality of those payments.