Daily Headlines for May 13, 2013
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NATIONAL COVERAGE
Mothers Want More School Choices For Kids
USA Today, May 12, 2013
In a nation that offers so many choices from what cell phones to buy our kids to what pizza parlor will host their next birthday party, school choice is one choice no mother should be denied.
Study: Black Students Suspended More Often Than Others
USA Today, May 12, 2013
Black students are suspended more than three times as often as their white classmates, twice as often as their Latino classmates and more than 10 times as often as their Asian classmates in middle and high schools nationwide, a new study shows.
STATE COVERAGE
ARIZONA
Tanque Verde Looks At Turning Elementary School Into Charter
Arizona Star, AZ, May 12, 2013
The Tanque Verde Unified School District is considering the possibility of changing one of its elementary school into a charter school.
CALIFORNIA
Phillips Struggles To Save Its Charter Status
Napa Valley Register, CA, May 12, 2013
Students, parents and teachers from Phillips Charter School filled the room at a recent school board meeting in an attempt to save Phillips from losing its charter.
LAUSD Board Could Ban Suspensions For ‘Willful Defiance’
Los Angeles Times, CA, May 12, 2013
Backers of the resolution say ‘zero tolerance’ is harming kids. ‘Instead of punishing students, we’re going to engage them,’ says one supporter.
CONNECTICUT
The Wrong Way To Go After New School Law
CT Post, CT, May 11, 2013
Denying funding to programs created under last year’s school reform bill will not make them disappear.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Teacher Pay Gaps Among Washington Area Schools Could Deepen
Washington Post, DC, May 11, 2013
After years of pay freezes and unpaid furloughs, physical education teacher Steven Lightman received a roughly $8,000 annual salary bump this school year.
D.C. Would Be Stronger With A Weaker Mayor
Washington Post, DC, May 11, 2013
The recent investigation into cheating in D.C. schools highlights a little-understood fact in the District: Our mayor has too much power. Every state-level agency charged with overseeing the mayor’s activities reports to the mayor — a level of control that exists nowhere else in the country.
FLORIDA
Will Rowlett Chart A New Course?
Herald Tribune, FL, May 12, 2013
The last thing the embattled Manatee County School District needs is for one of its premier schools, Rowlett Magnet Elementary, to leave the fold.
ILLINOIS
Where UNO Charter Schools’ Money Comes From
Chicago Sun Times-IL, May 13, 2013
As the largest charter-school operator in Illinois, the United Neighborhood Organization depends largely on City Hall and Springfield.
INDIANA
New Law Shifts Remediation From College To High School
News and Tribune, IN, May 13, 2013
Legislation signed into law by Gov. Mike Pence will require high schools throughout Indiana do a better job of determining whether their students are ready to go college.
LOUISIANA
Charter Schools Help Drive Educational Success
Times-Picayune, LA, May 12, 2013
The charter school movement and the educator empowerment it provides has been a potent driver behind the academic gains we see in New Orleans public schools.
State’s School Voucher Funding Questioned
The Advocate, LA, May 13, 2013
Gov. Bobby Jindal faces budget and political hurdles in his bid to continue funding for vouchers after the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that the current spending method is unconstitutional.
Voucher Ruling Creates Uncertainties
Shreveport Times, LA, May 13, 2013
Gov. Bobby Jindal somehow was claiming a victory and telling parents not to worry after the Louisiana Supreme Court, in a 6-1 vote, rejected his administration’s legal arguments and declared the financing of his voucher program unconstitutional.
Court Made The Right Choice On Voucher Issue
The Advertiser, LA, May 13, 2013
The Louisiana Supreme Court was right last week when it upheld a lower court decision that ruled funding the state’s voucher program with money from the Minimum Foundation Program was unconstitutional. Taxpayer money dedicated to supporting the state’s financially struggling public schools should not be diverted to private schools.
MARYLAND
School Reform 2.0
Baltimore Sun, MD, May 12, 2013
The mission should not just be to find another Alonso but to recruit someone who can address the challenges the departing CEO left behind
MASSACHUSETTS
We Face A Gap In Opportunity, Not Achievement
Boston Globe, MA, May 12, 2013
WHILE PARENTS told touching stories of their children’s activities at charter schools at last week’s hearing before the Legislature’s Education Committee, the fact that charter schools do not serve all Massachusetts students was also hammered home (“Charter advocates want cap removed,” Metro, May 8).
Where District Schools Falter, State Should Add More Charters
Boston Globe, MA, May 12, 2013
CHARTER SCHOOLS started as an experiment, but over the last two decades, the innovative academies, which operate independently of local school committees and teachers’ unions, have become an established source of new strategies.
MICHIGAN
Michigan Lawmakers Debate Teacher Performance Pay
Detroit News, MI, May 12, 2013
Michigan teachers’ performance in the classroom would play a bigger role in the amount they get in their paychecks under a proposal being debated in the Republican-controlled state House.
MISSOURI
Backlash Of New Education Standards Is Rooted In Suspicion Of Federal Government
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, May 12, 2013
James Shuls of the conservative Show-Me Institute considers himself an outspoken critic of the Common Core, a set of national standards that define what English and math skills public school children should learn at each grade level.
NEW MEXICO
Taos County Charters Emphasize School Choice
Taos News, NM, May 11, 2013
Taos’ charter schools are among those celebrating National Charter Schools Week by touting what they have to offer.
Double-Testing Districts Flunk Common Sense
Albuquerque Journal, NM, May 13, 2013
The whole idea behind moving New Mexico’s K-12 curriculum to a common core is to ensure students have the sufficient foundations in each subject matter at each grade level to advance. It is an essential requirement in the state’s federal waiver to No Child Left Behind mandates.
NORTH CAROLINA
Charter Schools More Segregated Than Traditional Public Schools
WCNC, NC, May 10, 2013
At Sugar Creek Charter School on North Tryon Street in Charlotte, black students make up 96% of the student body while at Community School of Davidson, black students account for about 3% of the school.
OHIO
Charter School For Troubled Students Calling It Quits
Columbus Dispatch, OH, May 11, 2013
A Columbus charter school that serves troubled students in grades 6-9 will close at the end of this school year.
Cleveland School District, Cleveland Teachers Union Revamp Salary System To Reward Best Teachers
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, May 13, 2013
A tentative contract negotiated by the Cleveland school district and Cleveland Teachers Union throws out “step” raises based on years of experience and advanced degrees and replaces them with a new system in which teachers have to earn “achievement credits” to move up the salary ladder.
Charter Schools, Too, Merit Public Aid
Columbus Dispatch, OH, May 13, 2013
When it comes to charter-school funding and performance, reality can be hard to discern when interest groups hide or distort facts. Nothing is more frustrating than an elusive truth.
OKLAHOMA
School Grading Bill Merits Oklahoma Legislature’s Approval
The Oklahoman, OK, May 13, 2013
IN the sometimes Orwellian world of politics, the meaning of words can be twisted beyond recognition. In the Oklahoma House of Representatives, some lawmakers are translating “local control” to mean school administrators have a right to require teachers to engage in grade inflation. Failure to turn in an assignment would be no cause for a student to get a zero.
PENNSYLVANIA
Charter School Lawyers Ask Judge To Postpone Whistleblower’s Suit
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, May 13, 2013
A federal investigation of a Kensington charter school has not made headlines since a TV station showed video of agents carting off boxes of documents in 2009, but the probe is very much alive.
Homewood School Alters Approach To Good Behavior
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, May 13, 2013
At Pittsburgh Faison K-5 in Homewood, fifth-grader Sha’nya Currington was so excited to be recognized for her good behavior that she ran across the gym, jumped up and gave a huge hug to educator Janice Motley.
SOUTH CAROLINA
New Charter Schools Not In Stars For Pee Dee
Morning News, SC, May 13, 2013
The South Carolina Department of Education announced a list of 19 schools last week that have applied to become accredited charter schools to open in the 2014-15 school year, after using next year to plan. The proposed schools are concentrated in the Midlands, the Upstate and in Charleston.
TENNESSEE
Williamson Co. Superintendent Gets His Wish: Freedom To Be More Like Charter Schools
Nashville Public Radio, TN, May 13, 2013
Williamson County Schools could be free of some state regulations as soon as July 1st. The suburban system pushed the “High Performing School Districts Flexibility Act” through the legislature, and it was signed into law late last week.
TEXAS
In Education Reform Debate, One Group Stands Out
Texas Tribune, TX, May 12, 2013
As his legislation expanding the state’s virtual school network reached the floor of the Texas House in early May, Rep. Ken King was focused on what it was not.
WISCONSIN
A Road Map For Education Reform
Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, WI, May 11, 2013
As much as any city in America, Milwaukee has played a pioneering role in educational choice. More than two decades after establishing the nation’s first urban school voucher program, Milwaukee offers families a raft of options, including district schools, charter schools and publicly funded private school scholarships.
ONLINE LEARNING
Altoona Pulls Out Of Cyber School
Altoona Mirror, PA, May 12, 2013
As one local district cuts ties to a local cyber charter school to save money, another is looking to take it over as a source of revenue.
Law Opens Up Funding For Virtual Schools
Bradenton Herald, FL, May 12, 2013
Private online learning companies will get a better shot at Florida public school funding under a bill that won approval on the final day of the legislative session.
Recording: K12 Inc. Struggled To Comply With Law
Miami Herald, FL, May 12, 2013
The Florida Center for Investigative Reporting and StateImpact Florida have obtained internal emails and a recording of a company meeting that provide new insight into allegations that K12 Inc., the nation’s largest online education company, uses teachers in Florida who do not have all of the required state certifications.
What Comes Next For Proposed Virtual Charter School In Suburbs?
Chicago Sun Times, IL, May 13, 2013
More than 100 suburban school board members voted against an online charter school in April that was proposed to serve students from Algonquin to Plainfield.
The Who’s Who Of Online Charter School Plan
Daily Herald, IL, May 13, 2013
Suburban school board members from Algonquin to Plainfield received a proposal February 14 for a virtual charter school that would cross 18 school district boundaries. It was a Valentine’s Day surprise from Virtual Learning Solutions, a fledgling nonprofit that had incorporated with the state just a month before.