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
Bill to Offer an Option to Give Vouchers
New York Times, NY, January 28, 2014
Senator Lamar Alexander, who served as secretary of education under President George Bush in the early 1990s, plans to introduce a bill on Tuesday that would give 11 million children from low-income families federal money to spend on any kind of schooling their parents choose, as long as it is in an accredited institution.
GOP measure would promote ‘school choice’ with federal funding
Washington Post, DC, January 27, 2014
Republicans are positioning “school choice” — sending public dollars to charter schools, vouchers, virtual schools and other alternatives to traditional public schools — as a way to address income inequality in this election year and connect with low-income, minority voters.
Is Common Core in trouble?
MSNBC, January 27, 2014
The rollout of the new Common Core academic standards has hit a major roadblock, as one of the most powerful state teachers unions in the country rebuked its “failed implementation.”
STATE COVERAGE
CALIFORNIA
Tenure lawsuit could create better California schools
Editorial, Los Angeles Daily News, CA, January 27, 2014
There’s still a good reason for academic tenure in this country — at the collegiate level, where it was created, to ensure academic freedom of thought and speech.
Trial over California teacher protection laws opens
Los Angeles Times, CA, January 28, 2014
Suit contends the laws violate the state’s equal protection guarantee by subjecting some students to ‘grossly ineffective’ instruction.
COLORADO
Backlash against Common Core education standards surfaces in Colorado
Denver Post, CO, January 28, 2014
Backlash to implementation of new education standards known as the Common Core has begun to surface in Colorado, following about two dozen other states that have raised concerns about both the content and the high-stakes testing that comes with it.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
D.C. school boundary overhaul on track; parents uneasy but meetings are promised
Washington Post, DC, January 27, 2014
The District is on track to overhaul school boundaries and feeder patterns for the 2015-16 school year, city officials told the D.C. Council on Monday, but there are far more questions than answers about what the changes will be and how they will affect city families.
FLORIDA
Gov. Rick Scott proposes $542 million boost to education spending
Miami Herald, FL, January 27, 2014
Facing one of the best state budget outlooks in recent memory, Gov. Rick Scott on Monday made a pitch to increase public school spending by $542 million.
Lee school board to vote on South Lee charter school plan
News-Press, FL, January 28, 2014
One charter school company in Lee is getting a second chance at opening a school this fall.
IDAHO
Idaho Arts Charter looks to separate from school district
Idaho Press-Tribune, ID, January 28, 2014
If the details work out as planned, Idaho Arts Charter School may be its own local education agency by this time next year.
INDIANA
20,000 students on voucher plan
Journal Gazette, IN, January 28, 2014
More than half the local nonpublic schools doubled the number of students enrolled this academic year with vouchers, filling up private and charter school classrooms and pulling revenue from the public districts.
LOUISIANA
John McDonogh charter group audit has $1 million discrepancy with budget
Times-Picayune, LA, January 27, 2014
New audits of Future Is Now-New Orleans, the charter group that runs John McDonogh High School, found $1 million in revenue that was not in the group’s budget. Simultaneously, however, they show no sign that administrators filled a $1.5 million budget gap.
MAINE
Charter school debate continues as Maine commission turns attention to online offerings
Bangor Daily News, ME, January 27, 2014
For years, 14-year-old Riley Deraps of South Portland felt like the public school system had him stuck on a track to somewhere he didn’t want to go. After he signed up for required classes, there were only one or two slots left in his daily schedule to pursue his interests.
MICHIGAN
Some Michigan schools districts not ready for shift to online tests
Detroit News, MI, January 28, 2014
Seven students at a Grosse Pointe elementary school were midway through a 45-minute online math test when their computers crashed.
MISSOURI
Lawmakers question Normandy School District’s hiring of lobbyists
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, January 28, 2014
The Normandy School District has agreed to spend up to $130,000 on Jefferson City lobbying services in an effort to stave off bankruptcy before the end of the school year.
NEVADA
Give school choice a chance
Editorial, Las Vegas Review-Journal, NV, January 27, 2014
Much of what ails our K-12 education system can be solved by choice. If every parent had options beyond an underperforming neighborhood school, or had the ability to move children from an average school to a great one, improved outcomes would follow.
School choice, not higher taxes, will improve educational outcomes
Opinion, Las Vegas Review-Journal, NV, January 27, 2014
Liberals have already begun to tout the margins tax proposal that will appear on the ballot in November. Because implementing a modified gross receipts tax that would increase taxes on businesses already losing money isn’t a winning sound bite, liberals are trying to spin it differently. Proponents of the margins tax are instead deceptively billing it as the Education Initiative, saying the money raised would go into Nevada’s Distributive School Account.
NEW JERSEY
N.J. investing in Camden schools
Cherry Hill Courier Post, NJ, January 28, 2014
Camden Superintendent Paymon Rouhanifard rolled out his first concrete plan to save the city’s ailing school district Monday night. His pledge is safer and better schools.
Jersey Shore charter school proposal criticized
Williamsport Sun-Gazette, PA, January 28, 2014
Residents voiced their opposition to the proposal to open a charter school in Nippenose Valley at Monday night’s Jersey Shore Area School Board meeting.
NORTH CAROLINA
Why NC public schools still best choice for parents, students
Opinion, News & Observer, NC, January 27, 2014
Public schools, charter schools and private schools give North Carolina parents many choices for their child’s education. Along with these choices comes a whole lot of marketing, most of it not supported by facts.
OKLAHOMA
Tulsa Republican slams Barresi’s “reign of terror” in campaign announcement
Tulsa World, OK, January 28, 2014
Hofmeister, the owner of a local franchise of Kumon after-school math and reading programs and former public schoolteacher, called Barresi’s “one-size-fits-all” and “cookie-cutter” approach to education reform harmful to kids and likened her centralization of power over the state’s public schools to socialism.
OREGON
Portland teachers union supporters pack meeting, blast Superintendent Carole Smith and school board
The Oregonian, OR, January 27, 2014
Supporters of the Portland Association of Teachers loudly criticized Superintendent Carole Smith and the school board during a Monday night meeting, with some yelling the district had no leadership amid a protracted labor dispute.
PENNSYLVANIA
Auditor general to give Pittsburgh schools another look
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, January 27, 2014
A year after then-state Auditor General Jack Wagner released an audit of Pittsburgh Public Schools, his replacement, Eugene DePasquale, stood beside new Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto on Monday to announce the auditor general will review the school district again.
Education bill seeks to avoid conflicts of interest
Beaver County Times, PA, January 28, 2014
State Rep. Rob Matzie introduced legislation Friday to prohibit General Assembly members from having financial stakes in charter and private schools, among other changes.
RHODE ISLAND
Bill seeks to reduce frequency of R.I. teacher evaluations
Brown Daily Herald, RI, January 28, 2014
Legislation could save administrative time by eliminating unnecessary reports on top teachers
TENNESSEE
Bill Frist-led group continues support of Common Core
The Tennessean, TN, January 28, 2014
Topping the priorities of a Bill Frist-led education advocacy group in its latest report is the item it has trumpeted for months in Tennessee: stay the course on Common Core.
TEXAS
Why one school-choice group is praising Austin as a national benchmark
Austin Statesman, TX, January 27, 2014
When it comes to school choice, Austin is a smorgasbord, says a group doing a U.S. tour to mark National School Choice week.
WASHINGTON
6 charter contenders emerge from expert study
The News Tribune, WA, January 28, 2014
The state Charter School Commission released a series of reports Monday indicating that only six of 19 charter school applications statewide — including two in Tacoma — were deemed ready to roll in the next year or two.
WISCONSIN
Charter schools continue to expand in Fox Cities
Appleton Post Crescent, WI, January 27, 2014
As lawmakers continue to debate a proposal that could greatly expand independent charter schools in Wisconsin, plans are in place to increase public school-based charter options in the Fox Cities.
Major changes to school report card proposed, including closing poorly performing schools
Wisconsin State Journal, WI, January 28, 2014
Wisconsin’s lowest-performing public schools would be forced to close or reopen as charter schools and the state’s 2-year-old accountability report card would be revamped under a bill unveiled Monday.
ONLINE LEARNING
Leominster High School contemplating virtual learning
Sentinel & Enterprise, MA, January 28, 2014
From improving student achievement to providing services to 185 unexpected students, the Leominster Public School District is keeping a lot of balls in the air.
More parents choosing alternatives to the classroom for students
KOBI-TV, OR, January 27, 2014
16-year-old Myka Kelsey is a sophomore at the D9 Online School in Eagle Point. She said why she likes online “doing my classes online, I can catch up on my junior and senior classes so that I can take more college classes.”
Public gets chance tomorrow to hear about virtual charter school proposals
Progressive Pulse, NC, January 27, 2014
Two virtual education companies will explain how they would offer a full-time schooling options to North Carolina children, in a meeting tomorrow at the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.
Virtual charter athletics bill fails in House
The Statehouse File, IN, January 27, 2014
A bill that would allow virtual charter school students to participate in high school athletics at traditional public schools failed for lack of constitutional majority, 47-45, in the House of Representatives on Monday.