Daily Headlines: April 13, 2012
Tuscaloosa County Board of Education Opposes Bill for Charter Schools
Tuscaloosa News, AL, April 13, 2012
In a 6-1 vote, the Tuscaloosa County Board of Education approved a resolution Thursday that opposes the creation of charter schools in Alabama.
School Funding: Stop Giving Away Public Assets
Denver Post, CO, April 13, 2012
Any analysis of Colorado school finance which fails to consider that the issue of educational reform is separate from the issue of school privatization will simply serve to hide the real dynamics of the educational crisis in Colorado.
“High Stakes”? You Bet
Denver Post, CO, April 13, 2012
Many districts in Colorado are now claiming they don’t have enough time, money or smarts to adequately evaluate their teaching personnel.
The Truth About Charter Schools
CT Post, CT, April 12, 20121
This is just the latest in a string of editorials that have recently appeared not only in the Connecticut Post, but in many other Connecticut newspapers, repeating allegations about charter schools, which are largely inaccurate and misleading to the public. Let’s try to set the record straight.
Lowery Makes Right Call On School’s Expansion
Delaware News Journal, DE, April 13, 2012
Delaware Education Secretary Lillian Lowery made a good call in recommending approval of the Newark Charter School’s expansion plans.
Choice, Before It Was Cool
Palm Beach Post, FL, April 12, 2012
Palm Beach County was a leader in school choice long before the Legislature adopted its current attitude that only charter and voucher schools could deliver the kind of tailored programs that parents and students want.
Roberts: State-Chartered Schools Fill Need
Savannah Morning News, GA, April 13, 2012
Dr. Michael Moore, professor of literacy education at Georgia Southern University, may need to reread HR 1162 and reconsider his judgment that it is bad (“Lawmakers fail Georgia education,” April 8).
Teacher Evaluation Bill Dies
Maui News, HI, April 12, 2012
Hawaii lawmakers have essentially killed a bill that would have required teacher performance evaluations.
Don’t Legalize Discrimination By The State
Shreveport Times, LA, April 12, 2012
State Sen. A.G. Crowe could have introduced a bill that says, flat out, “Charter schools, which our new education reforms put in line for millions in state money, can kick out gay kids, and maybe other classes of kids we haven’t thought of yet, at the school’s discretion.”
Idea For Louisiana School-Building Authority Flops
Times Picayune, LA, April 12, 2012
The fourth time was not the charm for Sen. Karen Carter Peterson’s effort to establish a statewide school construction authority that would set priorities across a Louisiana public school system riddled with dilapidated structures. The Senate Education Committee spiked the idea Thursday without a single supporting vote.
Charter Schools: Revised Bill Flawed
Jackson Clarion Ledger, MA, April 12, 2012
A long list of legitimate questions and concerns resulted in the death of charter school proposals earlier this session, but the same bad proposals have been revived.
Improve Student Test Scores? Teacher Might Be In Line For $1,600 Bonus
Detroit Free Press, MI, April 13, 2012
By the end of this school year, teachers at Romulus Middle School could see a big payoff for their work in the last two years: bonuses of up to $1,600 each for raising student test scores, volunteering to tutor kids or developing training sessions for staff.
Flint Powers Catholic High School Planning To Spend Year Sharing Building With Charter School
Flint Journal, MI, April 13, 2012
A new charter school planning to move into the building currently housing Powers Catholic High School this fall will have to share the building for a year before the building becomes a home of its own.
Charter School To Get State Funding For Six More Years
Las Vegas Journal-Review, NV, April 13, 2012
Only 29 percent of the charter school’s students passed Nevada standardized tests in reading last year.
Love ‘Em and Sometimes Fight ‘Em: NJ’s Charter School Dilemma
New Jersey Spotlight, NJ, April 13, 2012
While promoting charter schools in public, the Christie administration has found itself at odds with them on the legal front, as it rebuffed one school’s legal challenge this week and started preparing for another.
APS Aims To Boost Graduation Rate
Albuquerque Journal, NM, April 13, 2012
Albuquerque Public Schools officials have come up with an ambitious to-do list over the next three years: increase the graduation rate to 70 percent, close the achievement gap on student test scores by 5 percent annually and significantly boost the number of schools that earn passing grades under the state’s new school grading system.
Pol a Charter ‘Fool’
New York Post, NY, April 13, 2012
A powerful state lawmaker has proposed a new bill that would block the opening of new charter schools and limit educational options to parents and kids, critics charge.
The Anxiety of Kindergarten Waiting Lists
Wall Street Journal, April 12, 2012
More than 2,400 prospective kindergarteners are on wait lists to get into their local, or “zoned,” school; 125 schools have wait lists for zoned children.
School Official Charged
Wall Street Journal, April 12, 2012
The founder and former chief executive of a troubled charter-school network in Brooklyn was indicted Thursday on charges that he repeatedly failed to pay income taxes, embezzled money from his schools and created phony records.
Mayor Jackson, Teachers Union Reach Deal on Reform Plan
Cleveland News – Fox 8, OH, April 12, 2012
A plan to drastically transform the Cleveland Metropolitan School District is a step closer to reality. Mayor Frank Jackson and the Cleveland Teacher’s Union reached an agreement Thursday on how the plan will be implemented.
U.D. Parents Will Heed Guv’s Call To ‘Speak Up’
Delaware County Daily Times, PA, April 13, 2012
First, the Chester Upland School District teetered on the brink of insolvency, with funds so low teachers were warned that they might not be paid. Now Upper Darby is the latest poster child for distress in the classroom.
Allentown, Bethlehem School Districts Could Close Vitalistic
Allentown Morning Call, PA, April 12, 2012
Vitalistic Therapeutic Charter School’s money problems run so vast and so deep students are not getting legally mandated special education services, other children may be getting misdiagnosed, and none of them is getting the state-required number of classroom hours, according to an investigation by the Allentown School District .
RI-CAN Goes Too Far with School Report Cards
Go Local Prov, RI, April 13, 2012
Unfortunately for RI-CAN, they have been getting a lot of pushback from teachers unions, charter schools, and even Commissioner Gist (folks who don’t normally agree with one another too much)—pushback that I think can best be described using the words of my statistics professor when I showed the report cards to him, who asked in confusion, “Are they serious?”
Dismantling Public Education
Spartanburg Herald Journal, SC, April 13, 2012
House Bill H4894 is a backdoor school voucher bill that passed the S.C. House of Representative and is headed to the S.C. Senate. Outside money from New Yorker Howard Rich and the tea party group from Freedom Works has convinced 58 percent of our House members that giving tax breaks to private and religious school students’ parents as well as to home-school families will strengthen our public education system.
Teacher Tenure: Noteworthy Bill
Richmond Times-Dispatch, VA, April 13, 2012
Although teaching is difficult to judge, tenure inhibits accountability. The reasons for dismissal generally should be stipulated; principals should be strong but not dictatorial. The Virginia bill failed in the state Senate. It received considerable coverage in the commonwealth, yet went almost unnoticed by those who prefer to denounce Republicans as yokels and misogynists. The education debate cannot be reduced to sneers.
VIRTUAL EDUCATION
Fairfax County Considers Creating Virtual High School
Washington Post, DC, April 12, 2012
Fairfax County schools could become the first in the Washington region to create a virtual public high school that would allow students to take all their classes from a computer at home.
Oahu School Launches Innovative E-Learning Program
KITV, HI, April 12, 2012
From traditional to 21st-century learning. At Hale Kula Elementary in Schofield, Ms. Cummings 5th grade media awareness class is learning the basics of what will become a full blown, pilot program next fall.