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.
NATIONAL COVERAGE
Think Tank Takes: What You Don’t Know About Common Core
Washington Examiner, DC, May 19, 2013
Sol Stern is a nice man. It’s too bad he’s deceiving himself and others about Common Core, an enterprise that essentially nationalizes U.S. education. He and Joel Klein write in the Wall Street Journal, in the latest pro-Common Core PR piece:
Commentary: Common Core Needs More Debate
Detroit News, MI, May 20, 2013
Parents in Michigan, like those across the country, want their children to have the tools they need to excel in school and beyond. The Common Core national curriculum standards were sold as the way to give students those tools.
STATE COVERAGE
ARIZONA
Allsport Academy’s Charter Revoked By Arizona Education Department
Arizona Daily Star, AZ, May 19, 2013
The Arizona State Board for Charter Schools voted last week to revoke the charter of a Tucson school that mixes sports with academics.
COLORADO
Colorado’s Charter Schools: Their History And Their Future
Denver Post, CO, May 20, 2013
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the passage of the Colorado Charter Schools Act, thanks to the hard work of Gov. Roy Romer, state Rep. Peggy Kerns, Gov. Bill Owens, former Lt. Gov. Barbara O’Brien, and many others.
CONNECTICUT
Things Looking Up For Connecticut’s Education Reform Program
New Haven Register, CT, May 20, 2013
The governor’s education reform program, which just completed its first school year, appears out of danger concerning loss of support in the upcoming two-year budget.
DELAWARE
Charter Schools Are My Family’s Best Education Choice
News Journal, DE, May 19, 2013
Earlier this month I had the pleasure of speaking at a rally for Delaware’s charter schools in Dover. I spoke because I feel very strongly about the merits of charter school education and how it can change the trajectory of a child’s life, as I’ve seen with my own family.
Christina Should Find Incentives For Teachers
Delaware News Journal, DE, May 20, 2013
Walking away from a fight is seldom a painless venture, and one the Christina School District might or might not realize with its decision to turn down $2.3 million in federal Race to the Top funds.
FLORIDA
Public Charter Conversions Could Become Popular Option
Bradenton Times, FL, May 19, 2013
If 51 percent of both teachers and households vote in favor of a proposal to convert popular elementary magnet school Rowlett into a public charter school, Manatee School District could see the beginning of a trend.
Florida Plans Increased Scrutiny For Education Schools
NPR StateImpact, FL, May 20, 2013
UCF is the largest producers of teachers in the state; the university’s education school enrolls more than 2,000 students.
INDIANA
Charter School Families In Limbo
The Journal Gazette, IN, May 20, 2013
Mary Staples has been a strong supporter of Imagine MASTer Academy, but she feels she’s in limbo now, pulled between her desire to send her kids to the school and her need to plan ahead. Ball State University decided not to renew the charters for Imagine MASTer Academy and two other Fort Wayne charter schools because of their poor academic performances.
IOWA
State Supports 52 Charter Schools, Giving Parents Options
Des Moines Register, IA, May 19, 2013
The charter school’s 470 students sign a contract pledging to do their best every day. Teachers promise to do the same. And the school gets results — making it a small yet promising part of Maryland’s education reform story.
LOUISIANA
New Nonprofit Helps To Recruit Charter Companies To BR
The Advocate, LA, May 20, 2013
Soon after Chris Meyer came on board in spring 2012 as the first CEO of the fledgling nonprofit New Schools for Baton Rouge, he compiled a list of more than 150 charter management organizations from around the country in hopes of finding some that would be worth recruiting to Baton Rouge.
Incentivize Actual Learning
National Review Online, May 20, 2013
The decision of the Louisiana supreme court to strike down as unconstitutional the funding mechanism of the state’s school-voucher program is a major blow to school-choice supporters, but the biggest problem they face is not the courts. It’s a funding system that pays schools for failure.
MAINE
Funding Isn’t Everything: Education Reform Takes Innovation, Cooperation
Bangor Daily News, ME, May 19, 2013
Education is a big deal. It prepares our children, fuels our economy and accounts for more than a third of our state budget — even more for local town budgets. We must take steps to allow our education system to adapt to changing times, and we must ensure that it serves our children above all else.
MARYLAND
Now’s The Time To Raise The Bar For Baltimore Schools
Baltimore Sun, MD, May 19, 2013
KIPP founder says change of leadership offers opportunity to focus on effective teachers and empowered principals
Baltimore Charter School Advocate Among New Crop Of Casey Foundation Fellows
Baltimore Sun, MD, May 19, 2013
City Neighbors schools founder chosen for leadership program that trains those working with children, families
MASSACHUSETTS
Targeted Districts Have Reason To Be Wary Of More Charter Schools
Boston Globe, MA, May 20, 2013
YOUR MAY 13 editorial “Where district schools falter, state should add more charters” names a number of school districts where it is believed that the current cap should be removed. According to the editorial, “the most telling testimony came from . . . Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes” study of Massachusetts charter schools.
MICHIGAN
Michigan Lawmaker, Board Of Education President Spar Over Charter Schools And Financial Oversight
The Grand Rapids Press, MI, May 18, 2013
Political tensions related to public charter schools continue at Michigan’s Capitol, evidenced this week by a squabble involving the Republican chairman of the Senate Education Committee and the Democratic president of the State Board of Education.
What Michigan’s Charter Schools Can Teach the Country
Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2013
Public charter schools now serve 2.3 million children nationwide and enjoy growing bipartisan support. But they are still loathed by teachers unions and traditional public-school officials more interested in protecting their piece of the school-funding pie than in providing students trapped in failing schools with a chance at a decent education.
MINNESOTA
Mpls. Schools To Revive Autonomy Plan Amid Mixed Results In US
Minnesota Public Radio, MN, May 20, 2013
In the latest effort to boost student performance, the Minneapolis school district wants to give more autonomy to individual schools.
MISSOURI
School Choice Advocates Come Up Empty In 2013 Legislature But Vow To Keep Fighting
Missoulian, MO, May 18, 2013
While advocates of school choice struck out again this year in Montana, failing to enact a bill providing tax credits or any public money for private or charter schools, they say they’re not giving up.
1 St. Louis Charter School Closing, 2nd Is At Risk
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, May 19, 2013
One St. Louis charter school is closing and another is at risk. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Shearwater High School announced Friday that it would close voluntarily in late June. The school sought to help at-risk students receive diplomas before they turned 22. But officials said many arrived so far behind that staff couldn’t get them caught up in time.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Attacks Against School Choice Network Misleading And Off-Base
Nashua Telegraph, NH, May 20, 2013
The Network for Educational Opportunity is busy launching a scholarship program that will make a positive contribution to educational excellence in New Hampshire. Soon, we’ll discover the merits of parental choice in the decision of where and how students are educated when an authentic choice is presented.
NEW YORK
Despite Opponents’ Criticism, The Demand For Charter Schools In New York Is Growing
New York Daily News, NY, May 19, 2013
There are 50,000 families on charter school waitlists citywide, 20,000 of those in the Bronx, where last year only one-third of students in public school grades 3-8 could read at grade level
School ‘Project’
New York Post, NY, May 19, 2013
A controversial $100 million charter school will open next month smack in the middle of a rundown, crime-plagued Harlem housing project — a first-of-its-kind arrangement in the nation.
Brooklyn Principal’s 92G Bonus
New York Post, NY, May 20, 2013
Good grades earned him more than just a spot on the fridge. PS 172 Principal Jack Spatola has raked in $92,000 in bonus pay from the city since 2008 for his Brooklyn school’s good performance, making him the top earner under a revamped merit-pay system, data show.
Education, Vision and the Mayor’s Race
New York Times, NY, May 20, 2013
The Democratic candidates for New York mayor, whirling around the boroughs on the debate-and-forum carousel, have been struggling for advantage and the attention of tuned-out voters. But they have had no trouble infuriating the Bloomberg administration, which seems to be getting touchier about criticism as it heads to the exits.
NORTH CAROLINA
Bid For Potential Funding Shift Benefiting Charter Schools Falls Short
Winston-Salem Journal, NC, May 18, 2013
Those who oversee public school district coffers are breathing a collective uneasy sigh of relief, at least for now, after a renewed attempt to funnel more money to charter schools is likely put to bed for this legislative session.
Not Sold On Single-Gender School Plan
Herald Sun, NC, May 19, 2013
Is it worth it? Is it wise? Can a district already so strapped for cash that it has to scrounge to keep teacher assistants on the payroll one more year afford to launch a multi-million dollar experiment to save the boys of Durham?
OHIO
Charter Tax Plan Raises Questions
Columbus Dispatch, OH, May 18, 2013
A proposed state law singles out Columbus City Schools taxpayers to shoulder part of the tax burden for charter schools even though thousands of Franklin County’s charter-school students live in suburban school districts.
OKLAHOMA
Fallout Of Oklahoma School Testing Glitch Continues
The Oklahoman, OK, May 20, 2013
Oklahoma schools Superintendent Janet Barresi said she wasn’t part of the decision-making process to hire the state’s testing company, but she has stepped in to negotiate what happens from now on after the company experienced a technical glitch that affected more than 9,000 test-takers.
PENNSYLVANIA
Charters Ready To Work With District
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, May 20, 2013
A flurry of media activity has swept the city in the wake of the School District of Philadelphia’s fiscal crisis. This activity has produced some misinformation regarding charter schools. It’s time to set the record straight.
We Can’t Afford Not To Have True Education Reform
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, May 20, 2013
It is disturbing that so few Pittsburgh children attend their feeder schools (“4 of 10 Pupils Attend Assigned Schools,” May 13), and I applaud the district’s effort to improve school quality, but true reform must make a commitment to the quality education found in other places in the world.
Pennsylvania Education Standards Running Into Resistance
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, May 19, 2013
Pennsylvania education standards running into resistance
A new set of educational standards based on Common Core has run into late-in-the-game opposition along unusual political lines
Agency: Charters Ignore Most Records Requests
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, PA, May 17, 2013
Charter schools, funded with about $1.1 billion a year in tax money, ignored citizens’ requests for records about 87 percent of the time and didn’t participate in nearly three of four appeals to the Office of Open Records, agency records show.
Criticism Flares Around New Pa. Graduation Tests
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, May 20, 2013
It seemed to hit the Capitol like a brick: a sudden groundswell of criticism over a move by Gov. Tom Corbett and the Pennsylvania State Board of Education to toughen academic achievement standards and tie them to graduation tests for the state’s roughly 1.7 million public and charter school students.
WASHINGTON
Port Townsend Board Delays Decision About Charter Schools
Peninsula Daily News, WA, May 20, 2013
The Port Townsend School Board said it will put off deciding on whether to become a charter school authorizer until next Monday in order to give the district superintendent time to research the issue.
WISCONSIN
Pro-Voucher Group Targets Madison School District
Capital Times, WI, May 20, 2013
Why is EAGnews, the website for a Michigan-based “education reform” group — proudly pro-voucher, pro-charter school, anti-union and basically anti-public schools — blasting local Madison media outlets with alarming press releases about spending in the Madison School District?
ONLINE LEARNING
D.C. Charter School Would Teach All But Math And English Online
Washington Examiner, DC, May 19, 2013
A controversial computer-based learning model is competing with eight other proposals to be one of the next charter schools approved for the District.
Bradley County Has 4 Graduates In Its First Virtual School Class
Cleveland Daily Herald, TN, May 19, 2013
The first class of graduates from Bradley County Virtual School walked across the stage to receive their high school diplomas on Friday.
K12 and Virtual Academy Put Students First
The Gazette, VA, May 19, 2013
An editorial in The Gazette about the online public school Virginia Virtual Academy makes a number of wrong claims. It is children, not online learning provider K12 Inc., who benefitted most from the academy.
Oklahoma Virtual Charter Academy’s First Graduating Class Turns Their Tassels, Earns Their Diplomas
KJRH, OK, May 18, 2013
The first graduating class of the Oklahoma Virtual Charter Academy accepted their diplomas in Tulsa Saturday.