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
A Lifeline for Minorities, Catholic Schools Retrench
New York Times, June 21, 2013
Justice Sotomayor’s emotions are shared by a generation of accomplished Latino and black professionals and public servants who went from humble roots to successful careers thanks to Catholic schools.
Teacher training needs a revolution
Opinion, New York Daily News, June 21, 2013
Why does the academic performance of America’s public school children compare so poorly with those of other countries? The question has bedeviled us for decades. Usually, we just look inside the school system for answers. But a growing body of evidence tells us it’s time to look someplace else as well.
STATE COVERAGE
ARIZONA
Charter schools seeing growth across the state
News-Herald, June 21, 2013
Recent statistics show that charter schools are exceptionally popular in Arizona, with the state having nearly the highest percentage of students enrolled in charters, second only to Washington, D.C.
Elementary schools switched to charters
Mohave Valley Daily News, June 21, 2013
Seeing an opportunity to bolster all of its campuses, the Mohave Valley Elementary School District governing board voted to convert two of them to charter schools.
CALIFORNIA
This ‘n that (CER in the news)
Victorville Daily Press, June 20, 2013
The Center for Education Reform, a conservative outfit focused on making our education system less dysfunctional, reported this week that the University of Arkansas has issued a study noting that students in Washington, D.C., charter schools are treated to almost 44 percent less funding than the traditional public school system there receives.
COLORADO
Two charters gain conditional approval
Our Colorado News, June 20,2013
Two elementary charter schools that focus on teaching foreign languages gained conditional approval June 18 to open their doors in Douglas County.
CONNECTICUT
Commends Malloy, Legislature On Charter Schools
Letter, The Courant, June 21, 2013
This year’s legislative session was a solid victory for thousands of Connecticut’s public charter school students. In keeping with their promises in last year’s education reform law, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the General Assembly committed to helping close the per-pupil funding gap that treats charter students like second-class citizens, and also secured funding for more charter schools.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
In D.C. public schools, advocacy group finds high rates of suspension
Washington Post, June 20, 2013
The District’s traditional and charter public schools suspended about 10,000 children — more than one in 10 D.C. students — during the 2011-12 academic year, according to a coalition of advocacy groups seeking to reduce disciplinary measures that keep kids out of class.
D.C. Mayor Gray Shares Vision for Education Reform
Washington Informer, June 20, 2013
D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray said Thursday during a 40-minute speech at Savoy Elementary School in Southeast that in order to take education reform in the District to the next level, it’s imperative for the city’s charter and public schools to work together.
DELAWARE
3 new Delaware charter schools get OK
News Journal, June 21, 2013
The state Board of Education approved three new charter schools, rejected one and approved three charter expansions at a meeting Thursday.
FLORIDA
Lake County school board could lose $1M in funding over attendance records
WFTV, June 20, 2013
The Lake County School District is being fined more than $1 million for something that’s out of their control.
HAWAII
Native Hawaiian Charter Schools get $1.5 million from OHA
Big Island News, June 21, 2013
For fourth consecutive year, the OHA Board of Trustees approved the money for the Hawaiian-focused public charter schools for the 2012-2013 school year “to address the budgetary shortfalls the schools have already faced this year”.
IDAHO
Idaho Board of Education Mulls Proposals in Twin Falls
Magic Valley Times-News, June 21, 2013
Budgets, legislative ideas and proposed changes to a rule about gun-free schools were among items addressed yesterday by the Idaho Board of Education.
ILLONOIS
4 stories, 4 diplomas
Chicago Tribune, June 21, 2013
When Fenger High School’s graduating seniors were freshmen, student Derrion Albert was pummeled to death with a wooden plank, an incident captured on a video that sparked outrage and heartache around the world.
INDIANNA
Education in Indianapolis has 2 new strong reasons for hope
Column, Indianapolis Star, June 20, 2013
There are plenty of reasons to have hope in the idea that education in this city can be improved, transformed and ultimately saved. Two of them emerged recently.
IOWA
We’re just getting started with school reform in Iowa
Opinion, SW Iowa News, June 21, 2013
The education reform bill that recently passed the Iowa Legislature is an important victory for Iowa’s children and a step in the right direction toward regaining our leadership role in education.
KENTUCKY
Education funds belong to MNPS, not charter schools
Letter, Courier Journal, June 21, 2013
Mayor Karl Dean’s capital improvements budget included approximately $5 million for new charter school construction in Metro schools. Ultimately, charter schools are annually funded by approximately $40 million of public dollars in MNPS.
LOUISIANA
A new look at standards
Editorial, The Advocate, June 20, 2013
If there is any more of a sacred cow in the State Capitol, it is the costly TOPS tuition waivers that are growing yearly. We agree with the Baton Rouge Area Chamber that the program deserves a critical look, with the aim of either increasing its academic requirements or setting a limit on the grant to students to curb the cost to the taxpayer.
MASSACHUSETTS
Boston mayoral hopefuls voice views on charter schools
Boston Globe, June 21, 2013
The majority of Boston’s 12 candidates for mayor support adding more charter schools in the city, testament to the growing momentum to expand independent schools.
MICHIGAN
New charter school to open in Lansing
Lansing State Journal, June 20, 2013
A struggling South Lansing charter is expected to reopen this fall under a new name and charter.
Detroit Public Schools: Enrollment skid to slow
Detroit News, June 21, 2013
For nearly half a century, Detroit Public Schools has lost students almost every year by the hundreds, sometimes by the tens of thousands.
Michigan House legislators to meet over Common Core standards during summer recess
Grand Rapid Press, June 21, 2013
The summer break for Michigan legislators won’t stop the debate over the Common Core State Standards, as House Republicans announced the formation of a bipartisan subcommittee to consider the standards over the next two months.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Blaine Amendment comes back to bite school choice advocates
Letter, Eagle Tribune, June 20, 2013
Justice John Lewis of the Strafford County (N.H.) Superior Court recently proclaimed that the use of Education Tax Credit Scholarships at religiously affiliated schools is unconstitutional.
NEW JERSEY
N.J. charter schools must do better
Editorial, South Jersey Times, June 21, 2013
Psst, wanna make a quick buck? Find a struggling school district, open a charter school, and siphon taxpayer money from the public education budget. Then run the school badly.
NORTH CAROLINA
Feds investigating Durham school suspension rates
News & Observer, June 21, 2013
The federal government has begun investigating a complaint that Durham Public Schools suspends black and disabled students at disproportionately high rates, a group that filed the complaint said Thursday.
OHIO
School districts poised to raise dropout age
Cincinnati Inquirer, June 21, 2013
With just days before Kentucky’s new high school dropout law takes effect, dozens of school districts are preparing to increase their mandatory attendance age to 18 and seize on state grant money that has been promised to help plan for the change.
PENNSYLVANIA
Gillingham Charter School chooses 5 trustees
Republican Herald, June 21, 2013
Gillingham Charter School elected five new members and chose officers for its board of trustees Thursday, and then passed next year’s budget in a crowded classroom at the school as parents and local residents had the opportunity to voice their concerns.
TENNESSEE
TN teachers would lose money under pay plan, critics say
The Tennessean, June 21, 2013
Tennessee teachers marshaled their forces and House Democrats hurled insults at Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman on Thursday over concerns that teachers will lose money if the state adopts a controversial plan today to require merit pay.
Case of Boys Prep shows charter schools face same startup challenges
Nashville City Paper, June 21, 2013
That’s just a taste of what leaders at Boys Prep Nashville are dealing with in what has become a crash course in everything that can go wrong with a first-year charter school.
WASHINGTON
Superintendent José Banda survives divisive Seattle School Board’s judgment
Editorial, Seattle Times, June 20, 2013
The Seattle School Board’s split over Superintendent José Banda’s first-year evaluation is more of the same from a divisive board.
Lawmakers have but one choice on education funding
Opinion, The Olympian, June 21, 2013
There’s no mistaking the position of State Superintendent Randy Dorn about what the Legislature must do to meet the Supreme Court’s decision in the McCleary case. The state’s education chief has repeatedly told lawmakers that anything less than $1.4 billion in new revenue over the next biennium will not satisfy even the minimum requirements of McCleary.
WISCONSIN
Senate passes budget as vouchers take center stage
Journal Sentinel, June 21, 2013
Senate Republicans passed the state budget by a one-vote margin just after midnight Friday as the state schools superintendent raised concerns a little-noticed provision could lead to a flood of students attending private schools at taxpayer expense.
ONLINE LEARNING
‘Cyber’ should not mean ‘less’
Opinion, Philadelphia Inquirer, June 21, 2013
This school year, the budget for my child’s public education is almost a third lower than the education budget for his peers in our school district. That’s because my child attends a public cyber-school.
Advice on how to open up a virtual charter school
Progressive Pulse, June 20, 2013
North Carolina or other states opening up online charter schools should put enrollment caps and other limits to ensure focus is kept on quality education and not profits, a board member of Colorado online charter school said recently.