Daily Headlines for February 5, 2014
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
Obama smacks Bill O’Reilly on school voucers
Washington Post Blog, DC, February 5, 2014
The Obama administration has steadfastly opposed vouchers, which use public money for families to pay for private school tuition, even while it has supported other reforms that critics say are leading to the privatization of public education.
The Education Revolution: Breaking the Status Quo
Column by Kevin P. Chavous, Huffington Post, February 4, 2014
In the early 1800s, Prussia created a top-down model of education to educate the masses with an emphasis on quantity not quality. This same model was imported to the United States in the mid 1800s, and now 150 years later, our country’s education system continues to teach children in the same form, fashion and formula created generations ago.
STATE COVERAGE
CALIFORNIA
Charter seeks to expand
Santa Maria Times, CA, February 5, 2014
About 22 parents and other attendees stood in a showing of support for Trivium Charter School at a Lucia Mar Unified School District board meeting Tuesday.
Some charter schools may not get bond money
Fox5 San Diego, CA, February 4, 2014
When voters passed Prop. Z in 2012, they were under the impression the money would go to improve schools around San Diego, but two local school board members are putting forth a plan that establishes some guideline that could exclude some charter schools from getting any of the cash.
Walton group funds more charter schools in L.A. than elsewhere
Los Angeles Times, CA, February 5, 2014
Los Angeles charter schools have been the largest recipients of funding from the foundation associated with the family that started Wal-Mart, according to figures released Wednesday.
FLORIDA
Fight for educational equality goes on
Column, Tampa Bay Times, FL, February 5, 2014
A national policy report card released by StudentsFirst in January gives Florida education policies high marks in many areas. It also outlines areas where Florida needs to improve — specifically the areas of school choice and spending wisely.
Hernando teachers union proposes performance-based pay for all
Tampa Bay Times, FL, February 4, 2014
Hernando County teachers have long received pay raises based on their experience. It’s been simple: Survive another year, jump a step on the salary schedule.
Pasco School Board approves 15-year contract with Pepin Academies
Tampa Bay Times, FL, February 4, 2014
A new charter school that faced early problems with its application has won a 15-year contract to open in Pasco County in the fall. But the lengthy agreement comes with a caveat that the school will have obtained financing for a permanent new building.
School superintendents tell Gov. Rick Scott that school districts need more money
Miami Herald, FL, February 4, 2014
Gov. Rick Scott spent the past week promoting his “historic” proposal to boost education spending.
In a meeting Tuesday with Scott, about 30 school superintendents did all the talking.
GEORGIA
Cherokee Charter high school gets the boot
Cherokee Ledger, GA, February 5, 2014
Cherokee Charter Academy’s fledgling high school program will not survive after the end of this school year — it was decided Jan. 27.
ILLINOIS
CPS changing assessment test for selective-enrollment high schools
Chicago Tribune, IL, February 5, 2014
Every year, getting into Chicago’s most competitive public high schools is a gut-wrenching, high-stakes process for many students and their parents.
INDIANA
Choose school wisely, hold schools accountable
Opinion, NW Times, IN, February 5, 2014
Ambassador Christian Academy in Gary, which has 257 students using Choice Scholarship Program vouchers — the highest in the state — is an F school under Indiana’s A-F grading system for school accountability.
Make vouchers available to all students
Opinion, Indianapolis Star, IN, February 4, 2014
I have read all the articles about the increased use of vouchers to attend private schools with utter amazement at the narrowness of the debate. As a parent who sent my two boys to private Catholic grade schools and high schools, I think the argument could be made that every school-age child attending a private school should receive a voucher!
LOUISIANA
Parents exploring charter school option in Lafayette
The Advocate, LA, February 4, 2014
The lack of racial diversity at her daughter’s school drew Robin Thomas to a meeting Tuesday to learn more about Willow Charter Academy, one of three new elementary charter schools set to open in Lafayette Parish in August.
MASSACHUSETTS
Despite state probation, parents back charter school
South Coast Today, MA, February 5, 2014
The state put the Global Learning Charter Public School on probation last week but parents at a meeting Tuesday night said they believe their children are getting a good education.
MICHIGAN
Michigan Aims to Aid Shrinking Schools
Wall Street Journal, January 4, 2014
Michigan’s governor plans to propose new school funding from the state’s nearly $1 billion surplus, including aid for districts struggling with enrollment declines amid competition from charter schools and other districts, officials said.
MISSISSIPPI
Legislature briefs: Inspection stickers, charter schools, appointed school superintendents
Jackson Clarion Ledger, MS, February 5, 2014
Charter schools could decide whether their employees could participate in the state Public Employee Retirement System under HB 444, passed to the full House on Tuesday.
Republican pay package fails teachers
Editorial, Sun Herald, MS, February 4, 2014
At least Democrats in the Mississippi Legislature are honest about giving every public school teacher in the state a pay increase with no strings attached. Republicans strike us as less than honest.
NEW YORK
A Call to Ignore Exam Results When Evaluating Educators
New York Times, NY, February 5, 2014
A year after a switch to new standardized tests for public school students caused passing rates to plummet, leaders of both political parties in the New York Legislature on Tuesday called on the state to back away from plans to use those exams to grade teachers.
Cuomo expresses support for charter schools
New York Post, NY, February 5, 2014
Charter schools, under siege by the de Blasio administration, received a rousing show of support Tuesday from the Cuomo administration, which declared that there should be “room for everybody” when it comes to improving education.
De Blasio names charter schools advocate as deputy mayor
New York Post, NY, February 5, 2015
Mayor de Blasio tapped Children’s Aid Society CEO Richard Buery Jr. as his fourth and final deputy mayor Tuesday — even as City Hall mulls booting the group’s charter school from a public building.
Delay Sought in Key Portion of New York State’s Evaluation of Teachers
Wall Street Journal, February 5, 2014
New York state lawmakers on Tuesday pulled their support from a key part of new teacher evaluations, saying schools should get more time to implement tough new academic standards before teachers are held accountable for students’ results.
Don’t take charter funds for pre-K
Editorial, AM New York, NY, February 4, 2014
The battle has begun. Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña has said the city will divert $210 million intended for charter schools to pay for prekindergarten seats.
New York’s top politicians join together to delay Common Core school tests
New York Daily News, NY, February 4, 2014
The coordinated effort by Republicans and Democrats in New York’s Assembly and Senate is a rare show of bipartisan unity from lawmakers who have been bombarded with complaints from parents around the state about the tests.
Our common chore
Opinion, New York Daily News, NY, February 4, 2014
Joining an epidemic of spinelessness on the Common Core education standards, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate leaders Dean Skelos and Jeff Klein have cast their lot with those who would pause the standards’ full implementation for two years.
NORTH CAROLINA
Applications pour in for private school vouchers
WRAL, NC, February 4, 2014
Three days after North Carolina began taking applications for the state’s new school voucher program, hundreds of families have entered the lottery, hoping to get the state to pick up part of the cost of private school tuition.
Political war isn’t making schools better
Editorial, Fayetteville Observer, NC, February 4, 2014
North Carolina’s teacher-tenure rules were weak. They offered some protection to teachers, but couldn’t deflect basic issues like incompetence, immorality and insubordination.
Unhappy side to NC vouchers: Society stops looking out for the neediest
Opinion, News & Observer, NC, February 5, 2014
Now that North Carolinians can apply for vouchers, the impulse to think they will save education is a natural reaction to a crisis: Public school systems are failing millions of children. Much of this failing is a direct result of two unprecedented difficulties.
OHIO
There must be consequences for those found to have engaged in school-attendance fraud in Columbus city schools
Editorial, Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, February 4, 2014
The well-orchestrated attendance-fraud scandal in the Columbus City School District outlined in a recent report by Ohio Auditor Dave Yost is outrageous, infuriating and possibly criminal.
PENNSYLVANIA
Three Pittsburgh schools named STARs for high scores
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, February 5, 2014
Fourth-grader Olivia Russell thinks it’s “awesome” her school, Pittsburgh Whittier K-5 on Mount Washington, has been named a STAR school for the second year in a row, one of only three schools districtwide honored for academic growth.
RHODE ISLAND
The Education of Gina Raimondo
Review & Outlook, Wall Street Journal, February 5, 2014
It isn’t easy being a reform Democrat these days. Witness the decision last week by Rhode Island Treasurer Gina Raimondo, heretofore a hero of pension reform, to buckle under pressure from the teachers union and dump a hedge fund run by a supporter of education choice.
TENNESSEE
Teachers union reverses stance on tying learning gains to evaluations
The Tennessean, TN, February 5, 2014
Tennessee’s largest teachers union has turned against the policy of including student learning gains in the evaluation of teachers, a flip that shows its growing discomfort with a major Race to the Top reform.
Educators propose charter school
The Ashland City Times, TN, February 5, 2014
A Cheatham County Central High School teacher and a former Cheatham Middle School teacher have submitted a letter of intent to apply for a charter school in Cheatham County.
TEXAS
New charter school for Austin
Austin Weekly, TX, February 4, 2014
One of the seven charter schools approved last month by the Chicago Board of Education will be in Austin despite come community protests.
VIRGINIA
Senate backs bills to delay McDonnell school reforms
Richmond Times-Dispatch, VA, February 5, 2014
The Virginia Senate on Tuesday passed with bipartisan support several bills that effectively suspend key planks of former Gov. Bob McDonnell’s education reforms.
WEST VIRGINIA
Bill would limit time state BOE could take over schools
Register-Herald Reporter, WV, February 5, 2014
A bill in the House of Delegates would limit the State Board of Education to five years in a county where it has “taken over” the school system.
ONLINE LEARNING
Education Insider: Online lesson plans leave students cold
Columbus Dispatch, OH, February 5, 2014
Officials in the Olentangy schools had a plan the night of Jan. 28 when they canceled classes for a sixth time this school year: The students would make up the day online.
Maine lawmakers consider creating state-run virtual school
Portland Press Herald, ME, February 5, 2014
The proposal has bipartisan backing, but a provision to freeze approval of private virtual schools faces opposition from LePage administration.
Mentor schools, students see results with blended learning
The News-Herald, OH, February 5, 2014
While spiral notebooks and loose leaf paper are still present in the classrooms, seventh-graders at Mentor’s Ridge Middle School don’t fret about a backpack or a disorganized Trapper Keeper eating a handout. Instead, the students use school-owned iPads where most of their course work is accessible through education-specific applications or Google Drive, an online storage site for documents, files and pictures.
Northfield math teachers use iPads to flip classroom, help struggling students
Northfield News, MN, February 4, 2014
Hannah Amy stared down at her math problem set, unsure how to proceed. But instead of getting frustrated, skipping to the next problem or giving up on the homework all together, she simply raised her hand and asked her teacher for help.
What does digital learning look like in kindergarten?
The Birmingham News blog, AL, February 4, 2014
Ideas for digital learning are expanding daily in Mobile and Baldwin County schools, where teachers are integrating digital devices to the very youngest children.