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
Michelle Rhee: School Choice and Common Core Cheerleader
American Thinker, February 20, 2014
Who would have thought the champion of charters and school choice, the foe of teachers unions, was connected to Common Core before most people had even heard the term?
Public schools are the worst — except for all the others
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI, February 19, 2014
Educating all children is the mission of public education. Educating all children is a complex problem, but, to paraphrase H.L. Mencken, the privatization of public education is the clear, simple and wrong answer.
Teachers union head calls for Core ‘course correction’
Washington Post, DC, February 19, 2013
The head of the nation’s largest teachers union said the rollout of the new Common Core academic standards has been “completely botched” in many states and that wholesale changes taking place in U.S. classrooms need an immediate “course correction.”
The education reform compromise heard round the US
Christian Science Monitor, MA, February 19, 2014
To fix New Haven’s failing schools, the teachers union and mayor forged a rare compromise – a model for school districts and unions across the country in how to confront major challenges facing public education, without blaming each other, resisting change, or fighting in the streets.
STATE COVERAGE
ARIZONA
Non-profit disputes Grijalva’s claim about Huppenthal’s private-school robocalls
Arizona Republic, AZ, February 19, 2014
A non-profit organization that promotes taxpayer-paid scholarships to private schools says it got the phone numbers of families it targeted with robocalls last week from a private vendor, not the state Department of Education.
Proliferation of charter schools sweeps Arizona
Coolidge Examiner, AZ, February 20, 2014
If it seems there has been a steady influx of charter schools into the public school-dominated education system of Pinal County in the past decade, it’s because there has been.
COLORADO
After a legacy of conflict, a rural charter and its district learn to get along
Chalkbeat, CO, February 19, 2014
The school, which was one of the first charters in the state, has been a testing ground for statewide charter school debates, including school autonomy and funding issues.
CONNECTICUT
Gov. Malloy expands safety grants to public charter schools
West Hartford News, CT, February 20, 2014
Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy recently announced a proposal to expand the School Security Grant Program as part of his legislative agenda for 2014.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
D.C. charter board postpones vote to close Options school
Washington Post, DC, February 19, 2014
The D.C. Public Charter School Board has postponed its decision about whether to close Options Public Charter School in order to accommodate a request for a public hearing on the matter.
Very few D.C. students attend assigned schools, data show
Washington Post Blog, DC, February 19, 2014
Start with the District’s enormous range of public school quality and reputation, add the city’s enthusiastic embrace of school choice, and here is what you get: Very few D.C. students attend their assigned public school, particularly outside of a few pockets west of Rock Creek Park and on Capitol Hill.
FLORIDA
Broward school district may pay $1.5 million tab for charter schools’ errors
Miami Herald, FL, February 19, 2014
A state of Florida audit that uncovered sloppy paperwork at some Broward schools could force the district to absorb a $1.7 million budget penalty — even though it was charter schools that had the most serious audit findings.
Florida Should Dump School Grade System
Opinion, Bradenton Times, FL, February 20, 2014
Most of the hub-bub at Tuesday’s state board of education meeting focused on the adoption of the Common Core Curriculum, for which more than 70 people signed up to give public comment. However, the board also heard a presentation from Education Commissioner Pam Stewart, who once again plans on amending Florida’s bedeviled school grading system, which has been so ineffective and oft changed that it lacks even a hint of credibility.
ILLINOIS
A way forward to equal opportunity: charter schools
Opinion, Chicago Sun-Times, IL, February 20, 2014
Precision and clarity have never been the hallmarks of campaign speeches or political slogans. So President Obama’s recent State of the Union speech was a welcome contribution to the debate about whether equality of income should be a policy objective of government.
INDIANA
Where voucher dollars flow
The Journal Gazette, IN, February 19, 2014
Mark GiaQuinta, a Fort Wayne attorney and president of the Fort Wayne Community Schools board, isn’t happy with the “tuition reconfiguration” proposal a local Catholic school has pitched to its parishioners.
LOUISIANA
Nonprofit presents plan for charter in Opelousas
Opelousas Daily World, LA, February 20, 2014
A nonprofit is seeking funding to bring a second charter school to Opelousas.Deshina Buck, founder and CEO-hopeful of S.T.A.R. (School of Technology, Arts and Readiness) Education for Life Inc., made a presentation to the Opelousas City Council during its regular meeting Tuesday.
MARYLAND
Md. schools superintendent supports delay of teacher evaluations based on Common Core tests
Maryland Reporter, MD, February 19, 2014
Maryland’s superintendent of schools told lawmakers Wednesday that she supports legislation that would delay evaluating teachers on new Common Core student assessments for two years until the 2016-2017 school year.
MASSACHUSETTS
More public schools try out student uniforms
Boston Globe, MA, February 20, 2014
At the Huntington School in Brockton, students arrive to class each morning dressed smartly in navy blue, khaki, and white. The uniforms make for a familiar scene, now for the fourth year.
STEAM Studio plans stymied
Andover Townsman, MA, February 20, 2014
The team behind the proposed STEAM Studio charter school may have been passionate, but it failed to fully develop its plan for a new high school in
MICHIGAN
Michigan cancels EAA’s exclusive responsibility for state’s failing schools
Detroit News, MI, February 19, 2014
State school superintendent Mike Flanagan has pulled the plug on the Education Achievement Authority’s 15-year contract to be the only operator of Michigan’s failing schools.
NEW JERSEY
Parents hear of Camden Renaissance school plans
Cherry Hill Courier Post, NJ, February 20, 2014
Eric Knight stood in front of a crowd of about 100 anxious Camden parents Wednesday night at the first of four community meetings the district is holding to hear feedback on Renaissance schools.
NORTH CAROLINA
Students enter lottery for seats at Columbus Charter School
WECT, NC, February 19, 2014
Officials at Columbus Charter School near Whiteville don’t have enough seats for all the students who want to go there, so as spelled out by state law, the school held a lottery Wednesday to determine which children to accept in grades where the number of applications exceeded available seats.
Trapped by poverty and underfunded schools
Column, Jefferson Post, NC, February 19, 2014
Supporters of privatizing public education with a voucher program say that parents need vouchers to give them more educational choices because many low income students are “trapped in failing public schools.”
PENNSYLVANIA
Erie School Board hears charter pros, cons
Erie Times-News, PA, February 20, 2014
Erie schools Superintendent Jay Badams called an application for a proposed charter school “ill-prepared,” full of inconsistencies, and a waste of time and taxpayers’ money.
Hite wants $320M in new aid annually for schools
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, February 20, 2014
PHILADELPHIA Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. wants $320 million in new money annually to begin to execute his ambitious blueprint for Philadelphia schools, and fully carrying it out could double that amount, he said Wednesday.
Phila. charter schools turn to bonds for financing
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, February 20, 2014
As the Philadelphia School District’s money struggles continue with no end in sight, the city’s charter schools are becoming financially bolder, taking on significant debt.
York City charter school applicant undiscouraged by rejection
York Dispatch, PA, February 20, 2014
The woman behind an application for a York City charter school — denied for the third time Wednesday — said she’s not going away.
TENNESSEE
Chamber pushing for closure of worst charter schools
The Tennessean, TN, February 20, 2014
The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce reiterated Tuesday its support for state legislation that would require charter schools that are among the lowest-performing 5 percent of public schools in Tennessee to close automatically at the end of the school year.
TEXAS
Teacher pay: Salary almost certainly tied to higher turnover
Editorial, Longview News-Journal, TX, February 19, 2014
So when teacher turnover within a school district is higher by 5 percent, 10 percent or even double the state average, that justifies looking deeper. Is this mere happenstance? Perhaps, but administrators and parents should know the answer. That is the situation in many East Texas school districts — enough that high turnover rates cannot be passed off as coincidence.
WASHINGTON
Are weak teaching evaluations worth $44 million?
The News Tribune, WA, February 20, 2014
Thousand-dollar bills must be piled up like snow drifts around the state Capitol this year. Why else would Olympia’s Democrats — and at least a few of its Republicans — be willing to kiss off up to $44 million a year in federal funding for Washington’s schools?
On education reform, the political center crumbles
Column, The Olympian, WA, February 20, 2014
Until Tuesday, that is, when five state senators who had sponsored bills to fix a gap in the teacher and principal evaluation program voted no. Their votes, combined with senators from the far left and the far right who have traditionally opposed education reform measures, let Senate Bill 5246 die.
ONLINE LEARNING
Commission recommends virtual charter ban extension
Aurora Beacon News, IL, February 19, 2014
CA state charter school commission has recommended that legislators extend a ban on new virtual schools up to two and a half years while new policies are developed and existing laws amended.
How One LA School is Becoming a “Titan” of Blended Learning
Ed Surge, CA, February 19, 2014
When asked about the biggest benefit of introducing technology in the classroom, Aspire Titan principal Kim Benaraw said, “Our kids are reading more.”
Iowa Virtual Academy seeks students for success
WQAD, IA, February 19, 2014
There’s a new way of learning in Iowa. It’s a twist on home schooling called Iowa Virtual Academy.
States Struggle to Hash Out Funding Formulas for Virtual Charter Schools
Education Week, February 19, 2014
Several issues complicate the creation of funding formulas for virtual charter schools, such as the lack of a designated enrollment area for the schools, says a new primer on the subject published by the Education Commission on the States.
The chance to succeed in the digital age
Commentary, Chicago Tribune, IL, February 20, 2014
The Illinois legislature will tackle a bill that allows students to take the Advanced Placement computer science course as part of their math and science graduation requirements. If the bill passes, the AP course would no longer be just an elective but an attractive option at the core of the education we give top students.