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NATIONAL COVERAGE
How Charter Schools Choose Desirable Students
Washington Post Blog, DC, February 16, 2013
The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools says this about charter schools on its Web site:
FROM THE STATES
ALASKA
Senate Leaders Bypass Education Committee On School-Voucher Measure
Anchorage Daily News, AK, February 16, 2013
In a demonstration of how politics have changed in Juneau since the last election, Senate leaders last week declared that a proposed constitutional amendment that would completely restructure public education in Alaska should bypass the Senate Education Committee.
ARKANSAS
Rural, Poor, Successful: Every Arkansas KIPP Delta Grad Accepted Into College
Jackson Clarion Ledger, MS, February 16, 2013
Diamond is 6 years old and in kindergarten. Her matter-of-fact approach that college is an expected step is what the charter school in downtown Helena, Ark. — KIPP Delta Public School — constantly preaches. And then it provides its 1,150 students the necessary education and guidance to make that goal attainable.
CALIFORNIA
S.F. District Raises Charter School Rent
San Francisco Chronicle, CA, February 15, 2013
Imagine renting a 1,000-square-foot San Francisco apartment for $950 – a year.
Deasy Wants 30% of Teacher Evaluations Based On Test Scores
Los Angeles Times, CA, February 16, 2013
Move surprises the teachers union president, who said such a plan had been pulled in order for L.A. schools and the teachers to reach a recent agreement.
California Gov. Jerry Brown Wants Local Control For School Districts
Contra Costa Times, CA, February 17, 2013
Jerry Brown is pushing an appealing idea: Local control for local schools. Bucking a national trend, the governor wants to back the state away from making schools account for their spending and for punishing them if their students lag in achievement.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Keeping Funds From D.C. Charter Schools Challenged
Washington Times, DC, February 17, 2013
At least two D.C. Council members say they would not support efforts by the chairman of the Committee on Education to deliberately withhold funds from public charter schools in order to slow their growth amid rising demand.
GEORGIA
Private School Tax Credit: A $170 Million Tax Diversion That Georgia Lawmakers Cloak In Secrecy. Why?
Atlanta Journal Constitution Blog, GA, February 17, 2013
State Rep. Edward Lindsey, R-Atlanta, met with the AJC Friday for a general discussion on education issues in the state.
IDAHO
Legislature’s Auditor Defends Teacher Report
Idaho Statesman, ID, February 18, 2013
With feelings still raw over voter repeal of Students Come First, the Legislature’s Office of Performance Evaluations reopened the wound for key proponents last month.
ILLINOIS
Charter School Freeze Hurts Kids
Chicago Sun Times, IL, February 17, 2013
A proposed moratorium on charter schools being considered by the Chicago City Council puts on hold the hopes of thousands of families.
IOWA
Iowa’s Education Reform Plan Goes Optional
Quad City Times, IA, February 18, 2013
Gutted. That’s what Democrats said happened to Gov. Terry Branstad’s education reform initiative last week when House Republicans took the centerpiece of the plan and made it voluntary.
KENTUCKY
Louisville Black Ministers Lobby For Charter Schools To Replace Low-Performing Schools
Louisville Courier Journal, KY, February 15, 2013
A Louisville group of African-American ministers said Friday that it wants charter schools to replace the 18 low-performing Jefferson County public schools that have been ordered to undergo overhauls.
LOUISIANA
State Forges Rapprochement
The Advocate, LA, February 18, 2013
After years of being at odds, the state of Louisiana is slowly forging a common approach with parish and municipal school districts, particularly East Baton Rouge, to give these districts greater say in the selection and placement of new charter schools.
Book: Solutions Elusive for New Orleans Schools
USA Today, February 18, 2013
In the months following Hurricane Katrina’s path of destruction through New Orleans in 2005, state officials took control of nearly all of the city’s 117 schools.
MASSACHUSETTS
For Teachers, A New Attention To Evaluations
Boston Globe, MA, February 18, 2013
Across Massachusetts, administrators are increasingly visiting classrooms this year and amassing a stockpile of notes, lesson plans, and examples of student work as they carefully judge the effectiveness of more than 68,000 teachers statewide.
Education Chief Backs Expansion Of Chinese School
Boston Herald, MA, February 17, 2013
The state education commissioner has recommended that a western Massachusetts Chinese immersion school be permitted to open a high school.
Five New Charter Schools Get Initial Nod
Boston Globe, MA, February 15, 2013
Proposals to open five new charter schools and expand 11 existing ones across Massachusetts won coveted recommendations from the state’s education commissioner Friday as part of an effort to provide more students with ¬high-caliber educational opportunities, officials announced Friday.
MICHIGAN
Teacher Unions Race To Ratify Contracts
Detroit News, MI, February 18, 2013
Less than six weeks before Michigan’s controversial right-to-work law takes effect, teachers unions across the state are clamoring to get new contracts approved, in what some observers say is an effort to get around the measure and keep dues flowing into union coffers.
MISSISSIPPI
Focus On Charter Schools: A Competition For Education
Jackson Clarion Ledger, MS, February 16, 2013
Almost 30,000 Mississippi students attend classes in districts where their only school options are graded D or F. About 129,000 students, roughly 26 percent of Mississippi’s public school population, are enrolled in D or F districts. But the majority of these students will never see the inside of a charter school if lawmakers approve a bill this session authorizing them.
MISSOURI
Charter School’s Success Boosts City Neighborhoods
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, February 17, 2013
They left Webster Groves in 2011 so their two young boys could get into City Garden Montessori, a charter school in the Botanical Heights neighborhood — an area once known for drug sales and murders, not stellar education.
MONTANA
Bills Would Strip Public Schools Of Needed Funds
Billings Gazette, MT, February 17, 2013
It is shocking that some Montana legislators want a corporate model for our Montana public school system. Defunding public schools by diverting education funding into a charter corporate model is the pattern across the nation that has left poor and troubled students trying to survive in abandoned and desolate public schools, while those children whose parents have money and can afford better are able to attend private and charter schools.
NEW JERSEY
Camden Charter’s Chef Gets $24,000 Raise, Drawing Scrutiny
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, February 18, 2013
A March 2012 menu feature at Camden’s LEAP Academy University Charter School was grilled cheese, tomato soup, peas, and fresh fruit. This month, the menu features grilled cheese, tomato soup, and strawberry applesauce.
NEW MEXICO
2 New To APS Board Have Charter School Ties
Albuquerque Journal, NM, February 16, 2013
There will be two new faces on the Albuquerque school board next month, and both new members have ties to the charter school community.
NEW YORK
School Bus Drivers End Strike, in Win for New York Mayor
New York Times, NY, February 16, 2013
The main union for New York City’s school bus drivers ended its monthlong strike Friday, handing a victory to the Bloomberg administration, which had refused to give in to the union’s demands for job protections.
It’s an East Harlem DREAM Come True: a New Charter School Beneath Affordable Housing
New York Daily News, NY, February 17, 2013
Ground has been broken for a Harlem RBI DREAM charter school, with inexpensive apartments above it, on a lot in the middle of NYCHA’s Washington Houses
NORTH DAKOTA
North Dakota Determined To Get No Child Waiver
Grand Forks Herald, ND, February 17, 2013
North Dakota is standing firm in negotiations to get a waiver that would swap a state-designed education improvement plan for provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind law.
PENNSYLVANIA
Hite Right To Adjust Plans
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, February 17, 2013
Philadelphians have gotten used to rallying to save public schools targeted for closure – typically to no avail.
Some Charters Make It Hard For Poor, Disabled To Get Admitted
Allentown Morning Call, PA, February 17, 2013
Students may be asked to submit a 15-page typed research paper, an original short story, or a handwritten essay on the historical figure they would most like to meet. There are interviews, exams. And pages of questions for parents to answer, including: How do you intend to help this school if we admit your son or daughter?
Under Charter Proposal, What Happens to the York City School District
York Daily Record, PA, February 16, 2013
The advisory committee looking at the future of the York City School District has yet to really evaluate a radical proposal to convert to an all-charter school system, but questions raised about the idea include what would happen to the school district.
TENNESSEE
Haslam’s Voucher Plan Is Gearing Up In TN Legislature
The Tennessean, TN, February 18, 2013
Tiffany Clay says she wants to give her sons the best education possible, and that’s why the Memphis mother favors a proposal to create a school voucher program in Tennessee.
VIRGINIA
Alexandria School Leaders Resist State Takeover Of Struggling School
Washington Post, DC, February 15, 2013
Alexandria city officials have ramped up efforts in recent years to improve the stubbornly dismal academic performance of Jefferson-Houston School. They brought in a new principal and a group of new teachers; they hired an outside turnaround consultant and math coaches; they instituted extra tutoring, drew up blueprints for a state-of-the-artmakeover and scheduled the longest school day in the city.
WASHINGTON
Disturbing Trend: Making Schools A Partisan Issue
Bellingham Herald, WA, February 17, 2013
Should every Washington public school be assigned a letter grade, similar to the grades students past and present have been given by their teachers?
WEST VIRGINIA
Principals Need To Be Able To Hire The Best
Charleston Daily Mail, WV, February 18, 2013
With spending per student above the national average and academic achievement at or near the bottom, West Virginia needs to dramatically improve its public schools system.
This Is The Year For Education Reform Action
The Herald-Dispatch, WV, February 18, 2013
Education is a process, and a very complex one at that. So, it is understandable that educators, parents and the public spend much of their time focused on the process — from school hours to teacher training and course work to extracurricular activities. But we also have to look at the results.
WISCONSIN
Union Blasts Gov. Scott Walker’s Boost In School Aid
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI, February 17, 2013
Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to increase funding for voucher and public charter schools as well as his plan to create a new stream of funding to allow special-needs children to attend private schools drew immediate criticism Sunday from the state’s largest teacher union, public school advocates and a major disability rights group.
ONLINE LEARNING
Cyber Schools And Charter Schools Hurt Local Districts
The Sunday Dispatch, PA, February 17, 2013
Pittston Area superintendent Mike Garzella and Pittston Area School Board President Charlie Sciandra were in Harrisburg Tuesday as Governor Tom Corbett announcement his plan to privatize the state liquor system.
Summer Shelton: Criticisms Of Grading At Online School Unfounded
Knoxville News Sentinel, TN, February 16, 2013
Earlier this week, the House education subcommittee met at the state Capitol to discuss new public school options. The room was packed with teachers, parent and students from the Tennessee Virtual Academy (TNVA) who came to support their public school.
Schools Seek Virtual Learning Blend
Gainesville Times, GA, February 17, 2013
As technology provides more avenues for learning, local school systems continue to explore ways students can use it to personalize their education.
Proposed Charter School Would Offer ‘Blended Learning’
Colorado Springs Gazette, CO, February 18, 2013
A proposed James Irwin charter school would bring together several education concepts