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.