Daily Headlines: June 1, 2012
The Benefits of School Choice for Poor Children
Letter by Kevin P. Chavous, New York Times, NY, May 31, 2012
Re “Public Money Finds Back Door to Private Schools” (front page, May 22): The negative characterizations made about the Georgia Tax Credit Scholarship Program do not represent the entirety — or even a portion — of the thousands of scholarship-granting organizations, schools and administrators either across the state or nationally.
Romney Misses The Mark With Education Plan
Green Bay Press -Gazette, WI, May 31, 2012
In its planning, Mitt Romney’s recent foray into a west Philadelphia charter school was the kind of well-timed incursion that has made Navy SEALs legendary. He went to that Democratic stronghold to talk about the nation’s troubled public schools, the soft underbelly of President Barack Obama’s support in urban America .
Class Size Isn’t Most Important Factor In Education
USA Today, May 31, 2012
Despite its emphasis in DeWayne Wickham’s column, class size isn’t the most significant factor in a student’s education (“Column: Romney stubs toe in flawed education pitch”).
No Excuses: We Need 100 Percent High School Graduation
Us News & World Report Blog, May 31, 2012
Next month, high schools across America will hold their graduation ceremonies–except for an alarmingly high number of students who will not earn their diplomas.
FROM THE STATES
ARIZONA
Switch To Charters Won’t Affect Cave Creek Lawsuit
Arizona Republic, AZ, May 31, 2012
If the Cave Creek Unified School District decides to switch four of its five elementary schools to charters, it would have no effect on the outcome of the district’s long-running lawsuit with the Goldwater Institute.
CALIFORNIA
Two L.A. Education Groups Back Test Scores As Part Of Teacher Reviews
Los Angeles Times, CA, June 1, 2012
Teach Plus and Our Schools, Our Voice announce separate proposals to incorporate student test scores into teacher evaluations in the LAUSD.
For Emerson Parents Hope To Keep Long Beach Charter’s P.E., Science Classes
Long Beach Press-Telegram, CA, May 31, 2012
As a charter school with the freedom to decide how it uses state funding, Emerson Parkside Academy in East Long Beach has been able to avoid some of the budget cuts that have plagued other schools.
ILLINOIS
$35 Million Education Grant Threatened By Merit Pay Standoff
Chicago Tribune, IL, June 1, 2012
CPS award, contingent on union cooperation that current leadership never agreed to, may be revoked; CTU chief requests investigation by inspector general
Newly Unionized Chicago Charter School Stays Open For Now
Progress Illinois, IL, May 31, 2012
In an unfolding dispute that reflects the larger issues surrounding charter schools and teachers unions in Chicago, a South Side charter, whose teachers were told their school was closing one day after they voted to unionize, will stay open for now.
Chicago Schools Battle Closely Studied Across Country
Chicago Tribune, IL, June 1, 2012
Stature of Mayor Emanuel, entry of out-of-state reform groups into fray bringing CPS-CTU contract clash to center of national debate
LOUISIANA
New Leadership Preparing To Join Algiers Charter Schools
Times Picayune, LA, May 31, 2012
The incoming, interim leader of the Algiers Charter Schools Association, Stuart Gay, who formerly was a chief financial officer for the group, says his main goal will be to position the charter network for a new phase when it selects its next permanent chief. Andrea Thomas-Reynolds, chief executive officer for the last three years, is stepping down at the end of June.
Louisiana High School Dropout Rates Fall
Times Picayune, LA, May 31, 2012
Annual high school dropout rates fell in Louisiana last year, according to data released Thursday by the state Department of Education, with both public districts operating in New Orleans posting their third straight year of declines.
Voucher Program Is A Blessing
Monroe News Star, LA, June 1, 2012
Louisiana’s voucher program offers our most vulnerable families an enormous opportunity. The program will enable more than 5,000 students from low-income and working-class families to escape under-performing schools and attend private or parochial schools with taxpayer-funded vouchers offsetting the cost of tuition.
MAINE
Charter Schools Drain Public Finances
Morning Sentinel, ME, May 31, 2012
The reliance on charter schools as viable alternatives to public education is part of a larger alarming nationwide trend toward zealous individualism and self-absorption. Rather than being turned outward toward our communities, many of us are turning inward in self-serving ways.
MICHIGAN
Michigan’s Attack On Public Schools Continues
Detroit Free Press, MI, June 1, 2012
Don Weatherspoon’s recent edict declaring the end of the Muskegon Heights public school system and the start of a charter school entity shocked believers in democracy.
MINNESOTA
Anoka-Hennepin Teachers Approve Q Comp
Minnesota Public Radio, MN, May 31, 2012
Teachers at the state’s largest school district voted Thursday to adopt the state’s merit pay program, which is called Q Comp.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Education Funding Compromise Reached
Portsmouth Herald, NH, June 1, 2012
New Hampshire legislative leaders and Gov. John Lynch agreed Thursday to the language of a constitutional amendment that would give the Legislature authority over public school funding, but they still must win over a three-fifths majority of both the House and Senate.
NORTH CAROLINA
Bad Teachers, Reading Targeted In N.C. Senate’s Schools Bill
News & Observer, NC, June 1, 2012
The state Senate is poised to approve sweeping changes to public schools that would prevent most third-graders who don’t read well from being promoted, end teacher tenure and give schools A through F letter grades based on performance.
OREGON
New Ed Chief Can Do What?
Albany Democrat Herald, OR, May 30, 2012
Governor Kitzhaber now will have an education chief, but don’t expect anything big to happen in Oregon education — except perhaps more noise.
PENNSYLVANIA
Amid Protests, Philly SRC Adopts $2.5 Billion School Budget At Wild Meeting
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, June 1, 2012
Over the objections of hundreds, the School Reform Commission adopted a $2.5 billion 2012-13 budget at a wild Thursday meeting interrupted frequently by chanting angry audience members.
RHODE ISLAND
R.I. House Budget: Merger Of Education Authorities, Creation Of Chancellor Position Proposed
Providence Journal, RI, May 31, 2012
The state’s elementary, high school and college education authorities would be merged into one large agency, headed by a state education chancellor, under a proposal included in the state budget unveiled Thursday by the House Finance Committee.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Parents Closer To School Choice
Columbia Star, SC, June 1, 2012
A plan to help low-income and disabled students attend the school of their family’s choosing moved closer to becoming law May 29, emerging from the Senate Finance Committee by a voice vote.
TENNESSEE
Memphis-Shelby County Schools Merger Reaches Rough Patch
Commercial Appeal, TN, June 1, 2012
For members of the Transition Planning Commission, the thrill is gone.
Members of the group crafting a plan for the merger of Memphis and Shelby County Schools had no trouble with their first item of business Thursday: approving a set of financial projections that left a $67 million gap between available revenue and proposed spending for the first year of operation.
Cash Is Wrong Choice For Schools
Commercial Appeal, TN, June 1, 2012
If the unified school board gives in and listens to the civil rights leaders and African-American clergy (May 30 article) and hires Memphis City Schools Supt. Kriner Cash, he will bring on board his band of Miami thugs and soon turn the new combined school system into an image of the disbanded MCS.
WEST VIRGINIA
Report Shows Federal School Grants Yielding Positive Results
Charleston Daily Mail, WV, June 1, 2012
School Improvement Grants are provided to persistently low-performing schools as a way to turn things around. The amount varies by school: Watts received $1 million to spread over three years; Cedar Grove Elementary will get about $230,000 per year; and Riverside High has received $1 million in the past two years.
VIRTUAL EDUCATION
End Taxpayer Funding Of For-Profit Cyber Charter Schools
The Pottstown Mercury, PA, June 1, 2012
The General Assembly should stop cyber charter schools from maximizing profits for investors and minimizing education outcomes for students. On the 2011-12 PSSA tests, 467 or 93.7 percent of Pennsylvania’s public schools made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). On the same assessments, 2 or 16.6 percent of Pennsylvania’s cyber charter schools made AYP.
When Students Stray, Schools Pay
Reading Eagle, PA, June 1, 2012
Tired of sending students and money to outside programs like private online schools, several Berks County school districts are working to bring those programs in-house.
School Board Joins Fight Over Virtual Public Charter School
Gaston Gazette, NC, May 31, 2012
Gaston County Schools Board of Education is one of 35 school districts across the state seeking to join a lawsuit that opposes a virtual charter school that could begin offering classes this fall.
Cabarrus School Board: Virtual School Deal ‘Not What We Bargained For’
Independent Tribune, NC, May 31, 2012
The game has changed since Cabarrus County Board of Education granted preliminary approval of the North Carolina Virtual Academy that is set to be based here and open later this year, said board Chairperson Lynn Shue in a phone interview on Thursday.
GOP’s School Choice Movement
Daily Reflector, NC, June 1, 2012
That the Republican majority in the North Carolina Legislature is more open to the school choice movement than their Democratic predecessors should come as no surprise.
State Commission Puts Caldwell’s Heritage Community Charter On Notice
Idaho Press Tribune, ID, June 1, 2012
A new charter school in Caldwell is in trouble with the state for not accrediting its high school, among other problems such as hiring improperly certified administrators and mismanaging finances.
School Crisis May Spur Transformation
North County Times , CA, June 1, 2012
No Child Left Behind and the rise of charter schools have been the primary drivers of school reform in the past decade. But while NCLB promised school accountability, it got it by labeling students and schools successes or failures based on test scores alone. It failed the promise implied by its title, to close the learning gap separating students by income and ethnicity.