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NEWSWIRE IS BACK! Click here for 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.

Misplaced Furor in the Battle over the Common Core
Huffington Post Blog, April 26, 2013
Welcome to the new blood sport, America: the fight over the Common Core State Standards Initiative. No issue in recent memory has served to divide the education community like Common Core.

Leaving No School Behind: Can Bad Ones Be Turned Around?
USA Today, April 28, 2013
The Obama administration has long supported charter school startups, but now aims to invest about $3 billion in those begging for improvement. Some critics say that strategy is bound to fail.

‘No Child Left Behind’ Gets Left Behind
Wall Street Journal, April 28, 2013
It has been 30 years since the landmark report “A Nation At Risk” documented the failings of America’s public-school system, and the past three decades have seen much promising reform on the local, state and federal levels, in legislatures, on school boards and in classrooms.

No Rich Child Left Behind
New York Times, NY, April 27, 2013
Here’s a fact that may not surprise you: the children of the rich perform better in school, on average, than children from middle-class or poor families. Students growing up in richer families have better grades and higher standardized test scores, on average, than poorer students; they also have higher rates of participation in extracurricular activities and school leadership positions, higher graduation rates and higher rates of college enrollment and completion.

Obama’s Big Second-Term Education Problem
Washington Post Blog, DC, April 28, 2013
President Obama has a big problem in his second term in terms of education policy: his first term.

Rethinking Common Core
Washington Examiner, DC, April 27, 2013
Thirty years ago this month, Americans were startled to learn that their underachieving public schools were undermining the future prosperity and security of the nation.

Critics Join Common Cause To Block Latest School Reform
Washington Times, DC, April 28, 2013
Education Secretary Arne Duncan would be a very wise man if he started paying close attention to the sticks being poked in the eyes of the Obama administration regarding those one-size-fits-all Common Core State Standards.

STATE COVERAGE

ARIZONA

Arizona School Vouchers Ramped Up
Arizona Daily Sun, AZ, April 28, 2013
Thousands of students in poorly performing public schools could soon get what amounts to a voucher from the state to go elsewhere — or even get educated at home — a move that could remove hundreds of millions of dollars a year from public schools.

Arizona Education Hindered By Lack Of Central Data System
Arizona Republic, AZ, April 29, 2013
State Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal has a high-tech vision for school improvement in Arizona.

CALIFORNIA

Rent Increase Could Force SF Charter School To Shut Down
KGO-TV, CA, April 28, 2013
It was a shock for students and parents when they learned their small charter school, located in the heart of San Francisco, may be forced to shut down due to a significant increase in rent. And now those parents are fighting back to keep the school open.

Gov. Brown as Robin Hood
Los Angeles Times, CA, April 29, 2013
His plan to shift money from suburban to urban districts might help disadvantaged students but it could hurt other kids.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

D.C. Charter Advocates Make Annual Push For Equal Funds
Washington Post, DC, April 27, 2013
The District sends more money per student to its traditional schools than to its charter schools, charter officials and advocates told the D.C. Council on Friday, renewing what has become an annual plea for equitable funding.

Rewarding Charter Schools For Their Failure
Washington Post, DC, April 28, 2013
The April 21 editorial “Give charters their due” suggested that D.C. public charter schools receive increased funding to match that of traditional public schools, in part because students at charter schools are outperforming those at traditional schools.

Quiet, Critical School Reform At D.C. Public Schools
Washington Post, DC, April 28, 2013
As D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) enters the second year of working toward the goals outlined in our strategic plan, “A Capital Commitment,” I often am asked whether the district is still leading the way in education reform.

Proposed KIPP DC High School Stalls
Washington Post, DC, April 26, 2013
KIPP DC’s controversial proposal to build a high school on public land in Southwest Washington stalled this week when officials with Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s administration announced that they will not consider leasing the site this year.

Educating Students To Succeed In The Global Economy
Washington Examiner, DC, April 27, 2013
Fresh off our annual lottery — which saw 1,000 applications for 30 open spots — I found myself thinking about the skills students will need for success as adults.

FLORIDA

State Budget Has More Money For Teachers, But How To Pay It Remains Issue
Naples News, FL, April 28, 2013
The money is in the budget, but Florida teachers aren’t entirely optimistic they will have more cash in their pockets during the coming school year.

Charter Schools Land $91M For Facilities
Bradenton Herald, FL, April 29, 2013
Charter schools will receive $91 million for construction and maintenance needs, state lawmakers agreed late Sunday.

Every Florida Teacher to Get Minimum $2,000 Raise; Scott Sends Up a Cheer
Sunshine State News, FL, April 29, 2013
Gov. Rick Scott came close to getting exactly what he wanted for teachers on Sunday — close enough that he and Florida Education Association (FEA) President Andy Ford jointly applauded the House and the Senate’s agreement to implement $480 million in teacher pay raises.

Fix Evaluations
News Herald, FL, April 29, 2013
First the Legislature had an evaluation plan to identify which Florida teachers deserved “merit” pay raises, but it had no money. Now, lawmakers have $480 million earmarked for “performance-based” teacher raises next year, but they don’t have an evaluation system that is credible or even understandable.

Charter School Group Touts Performance
The Ledger, FL, April 27, 2013
A nonprofit group advocating on behalf of charter schools released a report last week that says charter school students perform better than traditional public school students.

INDIANA

Lawmakers Expand School Voucher Program, Pause Common Core
Indianapolis Star, IN, April 27, 2013
The Indiana General Assembly revised the state’s A to F school ratings and paused its participation in national Common Core school standards late Friday and was poised to expand private school vouchers.

IOWA

Should Iowa Teacher Pay Be Tied To Student Test Scores?
Sioux City Journal, IA, April 29, 2013
Education reform is at a standstill in the Statehouse with the politically rocky issue of teacher evaluations one of the main stumbling blocks.

KENTUCKY

Kentucky Charter Schools Movement May Get Bump From Carl Rollins’ Resignation, Advocate Says
WFPL, KY, April 29, 2013
A leading Kentucky charter schools advocate says he’s hopeful the state House leadership will choose a new chairman for the House education committee who is open to charter schools.

LOUISIANA

Ed Overhaul Under Review
The Advocate, LA, April 28, 2013
Gov. Bobby Jindal’s education agenda, which roared through the Legislature last year, is under fire on three new fronts.

MAINE

Former Thornton Academy Headmaster To Head Baxter Academy
Portland Press Herald, ME, April 29, 2013
The longtime headmaster of Saco’s Thornton Academy has been named executive director of Portland’s first charter school, Baxter Academy for Technology and Science.

MISSISSIPPI

Teacher Bill Raises The Bar
Cleveland Currant, MS, April 29, 2013
“This provision is a component of the Governor’s larger education reform agenda,” said Leslie Griffin, dean of the college of education and human services at Delta State University. “It is designed to increase the quality of those teaching in Mississippi’s schools by requiring a higher entrance standard for teacher education programs than currently exists.”

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Sen. Stiles Misled Voters On School Vouchers
Portsmouth Herald, NH, April 29, 2013
State Sen. Nancy Stiles recently joined 12 other Senate Republicans to table HB 370, which would have repealed the school voucher law. Much will be made by Republicans that the Senate just tabled it; they didn’t kill the bill.

School Choice That Works For Everyone
Foster’s Daily Democrat, NH, April 28, 2013
I believe every parent in America should have the opportunity to send their kids to a school offering them a quality education. I’m not alone.

NEW MEXICO

APS Gives Details On Educator Reviews
Albuquerque Journal, NM, April 27, 2013
Albuquerque Public Schools officials laid out some details Friday of their plan to evaluate teachers and principals. The proposal is a counter to the state’s evaluation plan, which school board members have criticized and talked about resisting.

NEW YORK

Charter School Funding Takes Toll On The Public
Times Record-Herald, NY, April 28, 2013
When news of a proposed charter school in Newburgh first came out, those in charge of the city schools did the math and concluded that this could cost the district $1.5 million, money that it could not afford to lose.

School In Oui Bit Of $$ Trouble
New York Post, NY, April 28, 2013
Mon Dieu! A French-language charter school in Harlem faces a $500,000 deficit after wasting thousands of dollars on dubious consulting fees, staff costs and doughnut sprees, documents obtained by The Post reveal.

In North District, Retired Educator Gillick Urges Shift On Discipline
Buffalo News, NY, April 29, 2013
Susan Gillick is a retired educator whose main priority is seeing that the Buffalo Public Schools spend less time suspending and punishing kids and more time focused on progressive discipline that keeps kids in school and focuses on their needs.

NORTH CAROLINA

The Hijacking Of Charter Schools
News & Observer, NC, April 26, 2013
As a longtime supporter of charter schools, I am distressed to watch Republican legislators attempting to hijack this once-promising notion for school improvement and transform it into a force for undermining public education in North Carolina.

Rodney Ellis: Vouchers Will Harm Schools
Greenville Daily Reflector, NC, April 28, 2013
I have spent my career working with kids who without public education will never experience the hope of the American Dream.

OHIO

Ohio Charter Schools Could Enroll Out-Of-State Students
StateImpact, OH, April 29, 2013
Ohio charter schools could enroll out-of-state students — and charge them tuition — under a provision inserted into the House version of the state budget earlier this month, giving the publicly funded schools another source of revenue.

CPS Teachers Retiring In Droves
Cincinnati Enquirer, OH, April 28, 2013
About 150 teachers are expected to retire this year from Cincinnati Public Schools, the third year in a row the region’s largest district has seen more than 100 workers retire from its teaching force.

Eight-Week Strongsville Teachers Strike Is Over; School Board Unanimously Approves New Contract
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, April 28, 2013
The five-member Strongsville school board met at 9 this morning and unanimously approved an agreement to end the eight-week strike by teachers.

PENNSYLVANIA

York City Schools Reform: Breaking Down The Two Plans
York Daily Record, PA, April 28, 2013
Will charters be on the way, or will the York City School District get a chance to prove itself capable of getting on the right track? By the end of the week, the community should have a better idea of how reform will be pursued for city schools.

Hearing To Probe Philadelphia’s Oldest Charter School
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, April 29, 2013
Community Academy of Philadelphia opened in 1997, but the School Reform Commission said in January the school’s operating charter should not be renewed because of low test scores and financial problems.

Philadelphia School District To Seek $60 Million More
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, April 29, 2013
School District of Philadelphia leaders are expected Monday to ask Council to open the municipal wallet again – this time for $60 million – two months before the members have to pass a budget.

Charter Chief Says School Met Needed Benchmarks
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, April 27, 2013
The chief executive officer of a North Philadelphia charter school that is fighting to remain open testified during a Philadelphia School District hearing Friday that the school met the state’s academic benchmarks for 2012.

TEXAS

From Inner-City To Ivy League: College Is Goal For Dallas Charter Schools
WFAA, TX, April 28, 2013
Mendez was one of 40 students from Uplift Education charter schools in Dallas to travel to Boston. They went to Harvard and Boston College.

Small Crowd Rallies For School Choice At Capitol
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, TX, April 28, 2013
A few dozen activists joined a pair of tea party state senators Saturday to rally at the Texas Capitol for expanding school choice.

UTAH

New Charter School?
St. George Daily Spectrum, UT, April 28, 2013
Spectrum Media has routinely supported the arts — both in terms of news coverage and in terms of assisting with free or low-cost advertising for arts events. And this editorial board has routinely showed support for the great cultural offerings provided in Southern Utah — from the Utah Shakespeare Festival to the performances at Tuacahn to the St. George Musical Theater.

WASHINGTON

Spokane Public Schools Pursues Charter Schools
Spokesman Review, WA, April 28, 2013
Visions of the kinds of charter schools that could open in Spokane are emerging: a dual-language elementary or middle school; a high school that incorporates two years of college; an academically rigorous elementary school; and a K-8 science, technology, engineering and mathematics school.

Lawmakers Still Have ‘A Lot Of Work To Do’ On Education
Seattle Times, WA, April 28, 2013
State lawmakers ended their regular session Sunday after passing only a handful of major education-policy bills. The issue will be a focus of the special session, leaders said.

WISCONSIN

Katherine Berkvam: Take Private School Voucher Expansion Out Of State Budget
Wisconsin State Journal, WI, April 28, 2013
The state budget proposal seeks to expand the taxpayer-funded private school voucher program, which uses tax dollars to support private schools, including religious schools. To qualify, a family of four can earn around $70,000.

ONLINE LEARNING

Easton Teachers Union Files Complaint Over Cyber School Employees
Lehigh Valley Express-Times, PA, April 28, 2013
The Easton Area School District teachers union president says the district broke an agreement to hire district teachers to staff its cyber school.

School System Hailed For Tech
Forsyth News, GA, April 28, 2013
For the fifth time since 2004, Forsyth County Schools has been named one of the nation’s top 10 digital school districts.

Districts 300, 204 Ask Residents To Support Legislation Delaying Online Charter Schools
Aurora Beacon News, IL, April 26, 2013
Some local school districts are asking residents to join them in opposing plans for an online charter school in the Fox Valley.

Charter School Bill Bad
Northwest Herald, IL, April 29, 2013
State lawmakers should not support HB494 – the bill proposed by Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora, that aims to put a one-year moratorium on virtual charter schools in Illinois.

Bluesky Online School Rebounding After State Effort To Shut It Down
Pioneer Press, MN, April 29, 2013
A year after her school concluded a protracted battle with state education officials, the new leader of BlueSky Online says it is on the rebound.

In Utah’s Digital Shift, Students Turning The Page On Traditional Textbooks
Salt Lake Tribune, UT, April 29, 2013
State cranks up the development of free, open-source science, math and language-arts digital textbooks.

NEWSWIRE IS BACK! Click here for 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

Corrupt Educators Are Threatening School Reform
Washington Post, DC, April 25, 2013
An exploding culture of corruption imperils public education in the United States. Financial misconduct and outright theft are depleting and misdirecting resources critical for the nation’s children to secure the skills and tools they’ll need to become solid citizens and global competitors.

Charter Schools vs. Public: Is One Better Than the Other?
Take Part, April 256, 2013
New data shows just how well kids are doing in many of the nation’s charter schools.

Close Gap In Access To Good Teachers, Curriculum, Schools, Says New Book, Campaign
Washington Post, DC, April 25, 2013
For more than a generation, educators and policymakers have been agonizing about America’s achievement gap, the persistent chasm in academic performance between poor and privileged children.

STATE COVERAGE

CALIFORNIA

A Dangerous Game for UTLA
Los Angeles Times, CA, April 26, 2013
The leadership of the Los Angeles teachers union recently conducted a survey among its members asking if they had confidence in Los Angeles Unified Supt. John Deasy.

DELAWARE

Pencader Charter School Gets $350,000 From Delaware To Help Pay Bills
News Journal, DE, April 26, 2013
The standoff between the state Department of Education and Pencader Charter is over after the state agreed Thursday evening to pitch in $350,000 to brace the troubled school’s budget through the end of the year, school and state officials said.

Five Steps To Continue Improving Delaware’s Education
News Journal, DE, April 26, 2013
“What kind of impact has the $119 million in federal Race to the Top funding had on education in Delaware?” Three years into the state’s top finish in the RTTT competition, a number of people have asked that question.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Surprise! D.C. Admits School Test Tampering At Meridian Public Charter
Washington Post Blog, DC, April 26, 2013
The Meridian Public Charter School is a well-regarded institution serving students in preschool through eighth grade on 13th Street between V and W streets in Northwest Washington. Nearly all of its 531 students are black or Hispanic.

FLORIDA

Could A Compromise Be Coming For The Parent Trigger?
Tampa Bay Times Blog, FL, April 25, 2013
Could a compromise be coming for the parent trigger? It’s anybody’s guess what will happen with the controversial proposal, which would let parents demand sweeping changes at failing public schools.

ILLINOIS

State Turns Off UNO Money Spigot After Charter School Scandal
Chicago Tribune, IL, April 25, 2013
State officials have temporarily halted funding to the United Neighborhood Organization, contending the large charter school operator violated terms of a $98 million grant by hiring contractors who are related to one of the group’s top executives.

At Chicago School Closing Hearings, Crowds Fade
Chicago Tribune, IL, April 26, 2013
After months of jampacked hearings over Chicago’s decision to shut down scores of schools, the final round of public meetings — the ones mandated by state law — has often been sparsely attended and overcast by an air of futility.

MISSOURI

Two House Republicans Pulled From Committee Over Education Reform Clash
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Blog, MO, April 25, 2013
Two House Republicans have been pulled from a committee because of their votes blocking education reform legislation.

NEVADA

Rainbow Dreams School Has Its Charter Renewed
Las Vegas Sun, NV, April 25, 2013
The Clark County School Board renewed its contract with the two star-ranked Rainbow Dreams Academy Charter School on Thursday.

NEW JERSEY

Draft Charter Bill Calls for Local Approval, More Reviewers
New Jersey Spotlight, NJ, April 26, 2013
The outlines of a new charter school bill are taking shape, with a draft being circulated by Assembly Democrats that would add tighter controls on new charters and expand the number of organizations approving and overseeing the schools.

Luongo Seeks To Run N.J. Charter School
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, April 26, 2013
A former high-profile South Jersey politician who spent almost a year in federal prison for misusing campaign and township funds is seeking state approval for a plan to open Gloucester County’s first charter school, even though he is barred from working in the classroom.

NEW YORK

Success Academy Cobble Hill Spied On By Teachers Union, Students Photographed: Officials
New York Daily News, NY, April 26, 2013
The founder of the Success Academy charter school leveled the charges in a letter to education officials and the United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew.

City Schools Won’t Honor Teacher Evaluation Agreement With BTF
Buffalo News, NY, April 25, 2013
The Buffalo schools will not honor an agreement with the teachers union that promised not to use two years of evaluations as grounds to fire any teacher, Superintendent Pamela C. Brown announced Thursday evening.

Paladino Effect On School Board Races Seen In Mailers
Buffalo News, NY, April 25, 2013
Love him or hate him, outspoken developer and unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino has done more than any other candidate to raise awareness and raise the stakes in city School Board elections that are otherwise widely ignored by voters.

OHIO

Strongsville Group Releases Document It Says Comes From NEA, OEA Says It’s Forged
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, April 25, 2013
A group of concerned parents and community members gathered outside of Center Middle School April 25 to say they were “fed up with certain tactics” from the Strongsville teachers union.

Common Core Makes Sense, Says Governor
Marietta Daily Journal, OH, April 26, 2013
Gov. Nathan Deal, who was in Cobb County on Thursday for a bill-signing ceremony, was asked to explain his support for the controversial Common Core school curriculum.

Cleveland Names ‘Investment Schools’ Slated For Turnaround
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, April 25, 2013
The Cleveland school district this afternoon named 13 low-performing schools to receive intensive help next school year, a major step in kicking off the Cleveland Plan for Transforming Schools.

PENNSYLVANIA

Phila. Schools’ Cash Crunch May Cut Charter Growth
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, April 26, 2013
Citing a $304 million shortfall, the Philadelphia School District announced Thursday that it would recommend against expanding any charter schools in 2013-14.

TEXAS

School Rankings Highlight Challenges
Houston Chronicle, TX, April 25, 2013
his year’s annual school report card, recently released by Children at Risk (“Houston’s learning curve,” B1, April 21), once again shows the enormous difference between our area’s top public schools and its bottom ones.

UTAH

City Studies Charter School Offer
St. George Daily Spectrum, UT, April 25, 2013
City officials are considering a deal with a nonprofit educational foundation that could revive the St. George Musical Theater and provide a local building for students enrolled in a web-based charter school focused on the arts.

WASHINGTON

Legislature Must Enact Key Education Reforms
Seattle Times, WA, April 25, 2013
Promising education reforms before the state Legislature that once seemed doom are moving forward now. Bills in Olympia are never dead.

WISCONSIN

Walker Attends Rally For School Vouchers
Journal Sentinel, WI, April 25, 2013
School voucher supporters who want to see public funds support kids attending private schools in cities beyond Milwaukee and Racine kicked their efforts into high gear Thursday, gathering at a rally in Waukesha to trumpet the benefits of the program.

ONLINE LEARNING

Will Blended Learning Cost Less? (And Should That Be The Question?)
Jewish Week, April 25, 2013
Among the many challenges faced by schools today are rising costs and shrinking budgets.

Be Careful With Charters
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, April 26, 2013
The Philadelphia School District’s motive to start its own cyber charter school is understandable – recouping some of the $60 million it sends to other cyber charters to serve city students – but that’s not the road to take.

East Lycoming Reviews Cyber School Tuition
Williamsport Sun-Gazette, PA, April 26, 2013
Outreach for behaviorally challenged students and cyber and charter school tuition were topics of discussion at the East Lycoming School Board meeting, held Tuesday evening.

Fla. Online School Target Of Cuts From Legislators
Gainesville Sun, FL, April 25, 2013
Florida’s highly-successful online school is battling proposed cutbacks at a time when state legislators are bragging about boosting money for schools by more than $1 billion.

Learning Anytime, Anywhere
Holland Sentinel, MI, April 25, 2013
“This is their homeroom,” Rebekah Redmer said, as she pointed to a webpage enlarged on a projection screen.

NEWSWIRE IS BACK! Click here for 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

Senate Committee Cuts Size Of Teacher Pay Raise
The Huntsville Times Blog, AL, April 24, 2013
The proposed pay raise for Alabama’s K-12 school employees keeps shrinking the longer the Legislature stays in session.

CALIFORNIA

Michael Bloomberg Donates $350,000 To L.A. School Board Race
Los Angeles Times, CA, April 25, 2013
The New York City mayor’s contribution to a political action committee led by L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will benefit board candidate Antonio Sanchez.

Rumor Of Deal Roils Teachers Union
Los Angeles Times, CA, April 24, 2013
UTLA members allege that one of their leaders made a private arrangement on staffing with a school board candidate. Antonio Sanchez and union vice president Gregg Solkovits deny any deal.

Legislation That Would Have Required More Frequent Evaluations Of Educators Was Killed By A State
Los Angeles Times, CA, April 24, 2013
Senate committee Wednesday under strong opposition from teachers’ unions. Legislation that would have required more frequent evaluations of educators was killed by a state Senate committee Wednesday under strong opposition from teachers’ unions.

Gov. Jerry Brown Promises Fight Over Education Overhaul
Los Angeles Times, CA, April 24, 2013
Jerry Brown says lawmakers will get ‘the battle of their lives’ if they balk at his plan to give more funds to poor districts and more spending flexibility to all school districts.

Saugus Board Again Rejects Einstein’s Charter Bid
SCV News, CA, April 24, 2013
Saugus Union School District board members voted 3-1 Tuesday to reject a fourth charter school petition from the Einstein Academy for the Letters, Arts and Sciences for a kindergarten to sixth-grade school.

LASD Bids On Sunnyvale Site For BCS Campus
Los Altos Town Crier, CA, April 24, 2013
In an effort to find an adequate site for Bullis Charter School, the Los Altos School District Board of Trustees voted to instruct staff to prepare a bid for the Raynor Activity Center in Sunnyvale.

Breaking The Monopoly Of Mediocrity In Our Schools
San Diego Union-Tribune, CA, April 25, 2013
Thirty years ago this month, “A Nation At Risk,” the landmark publication on America’s education system from the Reagan administration, made the case that education reform in the United States was an absolute necessity.

COLORADO

St. Vrain Charter Budgets Show Schools’ Differences
Longmont Daily Times-Call, CO, April 25, 2013
The St. Vrain Valley School District Board of Education got its first look at the charter schools’ proposed 2013-14 budgets on Wednesday.

CONNECTICUT

Hartford Superintendent Proposes Opening New Charter School
Hartford Courant, CT, April 24, 2013
Superintendent Christina Kishimoto said Wednesday morning that she wants to open another Achievement First charter school in the city for the 2014-15 year.

FLORIDA

Neighbors Fight Plan For 2,000-Student School In Kendall
Miami Herald, FL, April 24, 2013
Plans to replace a small neighborhood school in East Kendall with a massive charter school housing 2,000 students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade drew a crowd of outraged residents this week demanding the school be stopped.

GEORGIA

Some GA Charter Schools Now Complaining About State Commission They Wanted
WXIA-TV, GA, April 24, 2013
This is one of those stories about being careful what you ask for. Last fall many Georgia charter schools and their supporters were elated when voters overwhelmingly passed a constitutional amendment re-establishing a Georgia Charter Schools Commission.

ILLINOIS

CPS Protests: Students Reject Tests, Charter School Backers Want Equal Funding
Chicago Sun Times, IL, April 24, 2013
Two different groups of protesters gathered Wednesday outside the Chicago Public Schools headquarters to make their voices heard.

Let Parents Dictate School Funding
Chicago Tribune, IL, April 24, 2013
Regarding, “Charter school parents form advocacy group,” (News, April 23), this battle between public schools and charter schools is completely off base. Rather than this silly fighting, let’s change the very paradigm upon which public education is based.

LOUISIANA

Rare Show Of Unity Among Education Leaders On RSD ‘Parent Trigger’ Bill
Times-Picayune, LA, April 24, 2013
“Unified” is not a word usually used to refer to the education community in Louisiana. But in a rare show of solidarity Wednesday, teachers unions, education officials and lawmakers from both parties came together in support of a bill that would allow parents to petition to transfer control over their child’s school from the Recovery School District to the local system.

Education Panel Adopts Bill To Postpone Rating System
Alexandria Town Talk, LA, April 24, 2013
Teachers shouldn’t be penalized by a faulty evaluation system that can be corrected and put into place next year, members of the House Education Committee said Wednesday night after a nearly three-hour meeting.

Orleans School Board Backs Bill To Let Charters Remain Local Education Agencies
The Advocate, LA, April 25, 2013
The Orleans Parish School Board on Tuesday night addressed one of the reasons charter schools cite for hesitating to return to School Board authority: the desire to keep their status as a local education agency.

MAINE

Debate Continues Over Weight Of Student Test Scores In Teacher Evaluations
Bangor Daily News, ME, April 24, 2013
A lengthy and ongoing legislative debate over how much student test scores should count when evaluating teachers continued Wednesday with a new proposal to limit the scores’ impact to 10 percent.

Sign-Ups For First Portland Charter School Falling Short
Portland Press Herald, ME, April 25, 2013
Portland’s first charter school has letters of commitment from only 105 students, far short of the 160 the school hopes to enroll by the time it opens in the fall.

MARYLAND

Maryland ‘On Track’ On Federal Teacher Evaluation Deadline, State Says
Washington Post, DC, April 24, 2013
Maryland officials say they are confident the state will meet federal deadlines to develop new teacher evaluation systems requiring the use of standardized test scores.

MASSACHUSETTS

Complaints About Mystic Valley Piled Up With State
Boston Globe, MA, April 25, 2013
As the trustees of Mystic Valley Regional Charter School in Malden seek a review of the state education commissioner’s decision to deny the school’s request to increase its enrollment cap, written complaints filed with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education since 2001 reveal that parents have repeatedly voiced concern about the way trustees run the school.

Lift Cap On Urban Charters
Worchester Telegram, MA, April 25, 2013
As former federal and state government education officials, we continue to be impressed by the performance of Massachusetts charter public schools.

MICHIGAN

Three Little-Known Facts About Charter Schools In Michigan
Michigan Radio, MI, April 24, 2013
Today, on State of Opportunity, I report on a troubling fact of charter school expansion in Michigan: Some of the state’s best charter schools are struggling to compete against low-performing charter schools.

Don’t Trust Ed-Trust on Charter Schools
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, MI, April 24, 2013
A new report from Education Trust-Michigan lays out an “education roadmap” for improving average standardized test scores in Michigan. Before describing the roadmap, however, the report goes to great lengths to criticize state policies that have enabled parents to enroll their children in public charter schools.

Secretive Education Panel To Go Public
Detroit News, MI, April 25, 2013
A group focused on using technology to lower school costs is emerging from the shadows after Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration was criticized for its secret meetings.

Educational Achievement Authority Bad For State – And Its Kids
Detroit Free Press, MI, April 25, 2013
Some educational entities have backed off of their opposition to the expansion of the governor’s Educational Achievement Authority (EAA). But I continue to believe that its expansion is a bad idea for Michigan’s children. The EAA circumvents educational laws, robs the school aid fund and plays by its own rules.

NEW JERSEY

State Officials Back In The Classroom With Charter School Tour
New Jersey Herald, NJ, April 24, 2013
Amid the controversy that surrounds charter schools in New Jersey, State Sen. Steve Oroho, Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose and Assemblyman Parker Space were invited to take a tour and meet with the students of the Sussex County Charter School for Technology on Wednesday.

NORTH CAROLINA

Go Slow On Vouchers
News-Record, NC, April 25, 2013
A rally for public school vouchers drew a big crowd to the Greensboro Coliseum Tuesday, proving the idea has appeal in North Carolina. But rushing to spend $90 million on a statewide voucher plan without even a pilot project could be an expensive mistake.

OHIO

Strongsville: SCAC Says 61 Teachers Want To Cross Picket Line
WKYC, OH, April 24, 2013
The Strongsville Community Action Committee says it knows of 61 striking teachers who have expressed interest in crossing the strike picket lines.

PENNSYLVANIA

$6 Million To Aid Three Phila. Public Schools
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, April 25, 2013
Three progressive Philadelphia public schools will expand in the fall as a result of a $6 million investment from a city nonprofit with growing clout, officials announced Wednesday.

RHODE ISLAND

The Struggle To Retain Seniority For Teachers
Go Local Prov, RI, April 25, 2013
The problem with this long-standing practice is that seniority (time in the system) does not necessarily equate to highly effective teaching. Couple the job fairs with lackluster professional evaluations and we had a recipe for poor academic outcomes.

SOUTH CAROLINA

S.C. Bill Drops Exemption To School Attendance Zones
Augusta Chronicle, GA, April 24, 2013
Parents could no longer buy a small plot to send their child to a certain school under a bill advanced Wednesday by a House panel.

TENNESSEE

Tennessee Charter School Incubator To Expand Services
The Tennessean, TN, April 25, 2013
The Tennessee group known for helping its participants start successful charter schools is branching out to help other charter operators start second schools.

TEXAS

Uplift Leaders Stand with Other Charters in Support of Texas SB 2
San Antonio Express, TX, April 24, 2013
Charter leaders from around Texas gathered in Austin Tuesday to give testimony in support of Senate Bill 2 which could bring major changes to charter schools including the replication and regulation processes, raising the cap on the limit of charters schools in Texas and closing low-performing, public charter schools.

ONLINE LEARNING

McKeesport School Directors Ask For State Mandate Reform
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, PA, April 25, 2013
Directors adopted two resolutions calling for reform at Wednesday’s school board meeting — one in the funding of the Pennsylvania Public School Employees Retirement System and the other in the funding formula for charter and cyber schools.

Bethel Park Board Asks State To Update Charter School Regulations
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, April 25, 2013
Bethel Park school board is asking the state Legislature to update laws regarding charter schools and their cyber counterparts.

Flaws Found At Virtual School Wooing Maine
Portland Press Herald, FL, April 25, 2013
Investigators in Florida have found that online education company K12 Inc., which is seeking to operate a full-time virtual charter school in Maine, has employed teachers to teach subjects for which they lacked the proper certification.

Middle Schoolers Get A Head Start On High School Credits
Highlands Today, FL, April 25, 2013
When mother Gabrielle Birnie enrolled her daughter in the Personal Fitness class at the online Florida Virtual School, she wanted to help her get some of her high school graduation requirements out of the way so she has time for dual enrollment classes later on.

Fla. Online School Target Of Cuts From Legislators
WRAL, NC, April 24, 2013
Florida’s highly-successful online school is battling proposed cutbacks at a time when state legislators are bragging about boosting money for schools by more than $1 billion.

Virtual Academy Expanding, Offering Online Education For All Grades
14 News WFIE Evansville, IN, April 24, 2013
Some homeschoolers have a new option for completing their school work.
EVSC’s Virtual Academy, typically for those in high school, is now open to kids in Kindergarten through Eighth grade.

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NATIONAL COVERAGE

‘Nation At Risk’ Warnings About Shortcomings In US Education 30 Years Ago Still Resonate Today
Washington Post, DC, April 24, 2013
But its warnings still reverberate today, with 1 in 4 Americans failing to earn a high school degree on time and the U.S. lagging other countries in the percentage of young people who complete college.

Why Are 2 of U.S. News’s Top 5 ‘Best High Schools’ Arizona Charter Schools?
The Atlantic, April 23, 2013
U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings of the nation’s best high schools are out, and the results suggest students thrive when given access to curriculum and instruction that’s significantly more challenging than what a typical American student receives.

STATE COVERAGE

ALABAMA

Anniston Senator: Common Core Ban Bill On Hold
Anniston Star, AL, April 23, 2013
A bill to ban the state from using its Common Core-based academic standards is on hold in the Alabama Senate, Sen. Del Marsh, R-Anniston, said today.

CALIFORNIA

Oakland Charter School May Shut Down Due To Mismanagement
KGO-TV, CA, April 23, 2013
A high school in Oakland has been honored with national recognition for academic performance, ranking 36th in the entire country. But there is a big problem — the school, American Indian Public Charter High, may shut down soon because of alleged financial mismanagement.

CONNECTICUT

Proposed State Budget Contains Bad News For Charter Schools
The Hour, CT, April 24, 2013
There seems to be a pattern in news coming out of Hartford these days — you know, good news, bad news.

DELAWARE

Pencader And State Remain At Odds Over Possible Rescue
News Journal, DE, April 24, 2013
The relationship between Pencader Charter School and the state Department of Education appears to be deteriorating.

FLORIDA

Parent Trigger Headed To Senate Floor
Florida Current, FL, April 23, 2013
The “parent trigger” bill cleared its final committee stop Tuesday and now heads to the Senate floor. Opponents speaking at the final public hearing for SB 862 outnumbered supporters by a 3-1 margin, but members of the Senate Appropriations Committee sent it to the floor on a 12-6 vote.

Gov. Rick Scott Not Giving Up On Across-The-Board Teacher Raises
Tampa Bay Times, FL, April 23, 2013
First, Gov. Rick Scott criticized the Florida House on Tuesday during a Cabinet meeting, calling it “very disappointing” that the House is pushing a 6 percent increase in tuition at state colleges and universities.

Willfully Blind
Gainesville Sun, FL, April 24, 2013
It’s nothing new for Florida lawmakers to try to pull down the shades on the state’s Sunshine Law, creating exemptions that hide information from public view.

Stop Blaming Poor Parents, Empower Them With School Choice
Miami Herald, FL, April 24, 2013
There has long been a troubling attitude in our society about low-income parents. Put bluntly, it goes like this: Poor people make poor parents.

Former Southside Fundamental Middle School To Become Charter School
Tampa Bay Times, FL, April 23, 2013
The Pinellas County school board voted Tuesday night to sell the property to University Preparatory Academies, Inc. The $1.1 million purchase marks the first time the Pinellas school board has sold a former school site to a charter.

GEORGIA

Dark Days for DeKalb County Schools
Atlanta Daily World, GA, April 24, 2013
Over the past two years, Metropolitan Atlanta school systems have faced much scrutiny. Suspicions of manipulated students test scores, changes to attendance records and the mismanagement of county funds for personal usage have all been par for the course.

ILLINOIS

School Board To Hear Charter Proposal
Idaho Mountain Express, ID, April 24, 2013
The Blaine County School District board of trustees has scheduled a special meeting for Thursday for an update on a proposal to establish the private Mountain School near Bellevue as a state charter school.

A Bronzeville Charter School Makes Its Mark In Robotics
Chicago Tribune, IL, April 24, 2013
If their robot was ever going to fling Frisbees well enough to win a world championship, the students at Perspectives/IIT Math & Science Academy had work to do.

INDIANA

Charter School Hearing In Clark: Backers, Opponents Make Their Case
Courier Journal, IN, April 23, 2013
Clark County school officials told staff members of the Indiana Charter School Board during a hearing Tuesday that a proposed charter school locating in the county would financially devastate area districts by taking state education money that follows each student.

Data Show Voucher Students Often Opt For Schools No Better Than Public Ones
Evansville Courier & Press, IN, April 243, 2013
Students using Indiana’s voucher program to attend private schools are not necessarily attending better-quality schools when they leave public schools.

IOWA

Education Group Tries To Jumpstart Reform Debate
Des Moines Register, IA, April 24, 2013
The national education reform advocacy group StudentsFirst will start running a radio spot in the Des Moines area this week aimed at breaking a stalemate in the state’s education reform debate.

LOUISIANA

Orleans Parish School Board Takes First Step In Hiring New Superintendent
Times-Picayune, LA, April 23, 2013
The Orleans Parish School Board took the first step in hiring a new superintendent Tuesday, voting unanimously to use a professional firm to run the process. The board expects to receive some applications by its May meeting.

MAINE

Charter Schools Contribute To $500K SAD 59 Budget Squeeze
Kennebec Journal, ME, April 23, 2013
Superintendent says $300,000 of increase comes from tuition payments to charter schools; $150,000 from increased teacher retirement costs

MASSACHUSETTS

Union Says Teacher Evaluation Plan Has Race Bias
Boston Globe, MA, April 24, 2013
The Boston Teachers Union demanded Tuesday that the School Department launch an independent review of its new teacher evaluation system to determine why black and ¬Hispanic teachers are more likely to be targeted for possible dismissal.

MICHIGAN

Keep Backroom Dealings Out Of The Classroom
Detroit Free Press, MI, April 23, 2013
Gov. Rick Snyder says education in Michigan — and in the nation — is broken, and badly in need of reform. We couldn’t agree more. So, let’s talk about it.

MINNESOTA

House Education Bill About More Than Education
Bemidji Pioneer, MN, April 24, 2013
A debate about education funding goes beyond helping individual students: There is widespread agreement that a better education system would help the economy. However, there is less agreement about how to achieve those improvements.

NEW YORK

The Teacher-Rating Charade
New York Post, NY, April 23, 2013
Gov. Cuomo likes to boast that “99 percent” of state school districts struck teacher-evaluation deals with their unions, attributing it to funding he offered if they did. A report yesterday suggests a different reason: The deals are shams.

Buffalo District, Teachers Should Give Up Attempt To Weaken Evaluation System
Buffalo News, NY, April 24, 2013
Children in the Buffalo Public Schools are once again caught in the middle because self-interested adults will not follow the rules set out by state officials. At risk is millions of dollars in aid flowing to this broken school system.

NORTH CAROLINA

N.C. Lawmakers Court Black Families To Back Vouchers
News Record, NC, April 24, 2013
State lawmakers have turned to a key demographic in the state — black families — to build support for legislation that would help more students attend private schools.

School Voucher System With A Different Name
Citizen Times, NC, April 24, 2013
The legislative assault on education in North Carolina continued last week as Republican leaders in the House of Representatives have followed through on a pledge — some might characterize it as a threat — to introduce legislation that would throw an estimated $90 million in state taxpayer dollars at private institutions over the next two years.

TENNESSEE

Metro School Board Braces For Review Of 6 New Charter Schools
Nashville City Paper, TN, April 23, 2013
In light of what the school district considers a legislative victory in local control, Metro school board members are bracing to review six new charter school applications this spring.

TEXAS

House Panel Mulls Charter School Expansion Bill
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, TX, April 24, 2013
Top education leaders in the Texas House began discussing a major proposal late Tuesday to increase the number of charter schools allowed to operate statewide. The plan sailed through the Senate but may face a tougher road in the lower chamber.

Charter School Banks On Innovation For Students
Daily Cougar, TX, April 24, 2013
Sitting on the edge of the UH campus is a public charter school that admitted around 135 students from kindergarten to fifth grade.

UTAH

Valley Academy Charter School, Invitational Demonstrates First-Year Success
South George News, UT, April 23, 2013
Valley Academy Charter School hosted an Invitational Brunch on Thursday where its staff showcased their program, gave attendees a tour of the school, allowed them to observe how the teachers and students interacted, and made board members, administrators, members of the school staff, and a parent volunteer, available to answer questions.

Education Task Force All Too Familiar
Deseret News, UT, April 24, 2013
Would we think it strange, if plumbers and electricians decided to form a task force to reform the medical profession and hold physicians accountable? Why then, do we not cringe when lawyers and business executives decide to reform public education and hold teachers accountable?

VIRGINIA

Legislature’s Contentment With Status Quo Hinders Student Success
Virginia Watchdog, April 23, 2013
A culture of complacency is keeping Virginia from furthering student success, one educational expert says.

WISCONSIN

Data In Department Of Public Instruction Release Fuels Private School Voucher Debate
Daily Cardinal, WI, April 23, 2013
A Tuesday release from the Department of Public Instruction that showed Milwaukee and Racine students in the state’s school voucher program scored lower on last year’s standardized achievement test than public school students raised questions among state legislators over the necessity of private school voucher expansion.

ONLINE LEARNING

Phila. Cyber Charter Fights State Bid To Close It
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, April 24, 2013
A Philadelphia-based cyber charter school that the Pennsylvania Department of Education wants to shut down as allegedly not providing cyber education is fighting to survive.