Daily Headlines for June 14, 2013
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
Private Preschools See More Public Funds as Classes Grow
New York Times, June 14, 2013
According to the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University, about one-third of students enrolled in state-financed preschool programs attend classes conducted outside the public schools.
Raising the bar
The Economist, June 13, 2013
HERE’S a multiple-choice question: if the federal government penalises states where pupils do badly in school, but lets the states themselves set the pass mark, will the states a) make the tests harder; or b) dumb them down?
Assumptions of education reformers falling apart
Opinion, Connecticut Post June 13,2013
It has been five years since Bill Gates wrote to the Washington Post concerning his beliefs regarding education reform in this country. At that time, he cited how high schools needed to be improved by the utilization of standardized test scores as his version of accountability and progress.
Homeschooling and Charter Schools Growing, Give Families Options
Christian Post, June 13, 2013
Our education system is broiling with two major, conflicting trends: Centralization and school choice. The most rapidly growing trend is the explosion of growth over the past decade of enrollment in charter schools and homeschooling.
STATE COVERAGE
CALIFORNIA
Deasy and new board member Ratliff laud teacher report
Los Angeles Times, June 13, 2013
Los Angeles schools Supt. John Deasy on Thursday broadly endorsed proposals from an outside group for attracting and retaining teachers, including more money for those who take on difficult assignments and deliver measurable academic gains.
State committee gives Chino charter another chance
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, June 13, 2013
A charter school that was previously denied three times may get the green light to serve students in the 2014-15 school year.
COLORADO
St. Vrain Valley School District toughens charter contracts
Longmont Weekly, June 14, 2013
The St. Vrain Valley School District is cracking down on charter schools’ financial reports.
DELAWARE
G.A. should pass H.B. 165 to reform charter school law
Letter, Delaware News Journal, June 14, 2013
As a parent of two children attending two of Delaware’s 22 charter schools, I implore our legislators to pass the charter school reform bill, House Bill 165, on Tuesday when it moves to the floor of the Delaware House of Representatives for consideration.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
D.C. teachers union president faces challenge in runoff election
Washington Post, June 13, 2013
Washington Teachers Union President Nathan Saunders will face challenger Elizabeth Davis in a runoff election for his seat, union officials said.
FLORIDA
Steele-Collins Charter academy seeks to solve ‘crisis’ among young men
Tallahassee Democrat, June 14, 2013
One of Florida’s longest-running charter schools took steps toward becoming an all-boys school on Thursday, in what its leaders described as an effort to stem a mounting “crisis” among young men.
Pasco charter school may get 15-year extension
Tampa Tribune, June 14, 2013
A charter school that has earned an A rating from the state seven years in a row could be getting a 15-year contract extension with the Pasco County School Board.
Don’t let failing schools off the hook
Editorial, Tampa Bay Times June 13, 2013
The argument that Imagine Charter School in St. Petersburg should not be closed for poor student performance because other failing public schools are doing even worse is not persuasive.
Bill to pay private school fees resurfaces
Times Union, June 14, 2013
A bill that would reimburse parents who send their special-needs children to private schools is surfacing in the Legislature, almost a year after a similar measure was vetoed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
ILLINOIS
Teachers union, charter schools rail at CPS budget cuts
Chicago Tribune, June 13, 2013
As principals got a better sense this week of their school’s budget for the coming year, officials with the Chicago Teachers Union and privately run charter schools — which rarely agree on anything — both sounded an alarm over the effects of potential funding cuts.
LOUISIANA
Supporters of breakaway school still hopeful
The Advocate, June 13, 2013
Days after falling short for the second time, supporters of creating a breakaway school district in southeast Baton Rouge asked the nearly 150 people gathered Thursday night whether to try a third time in the Legislature or work to create a new city in the area.
MARYLAND
Teacher Group Calls For End To Pay-For-Performance
WYPR, June 13, 2013
Only 11 percent of Baltimore city teachers would vote for their current contract again, according to a survey released today.
MASSACHUSETTS
Charter school’s absence at Marlborough meeting criticized
Metro West Daily News, June 14, 2013
Some city councilors on Wednesday night criticized officials from the Advanced Math and Science Academy after no one from the school showed up at an Urban Affairs Committee meeting to discuss the school’s plan to move its Marlborough facility.
MICHIGAN
House approves legislation to allow dissolving Buena Vista, Inkster school districts
Grand Rapids Press, June 14, 2013
The future of Buena Vista Schools and Inkster Public Schools became clearer minutes before midnight Thursday when the Michigan House voted largely along party lines to give the state superintendent and state treasurer the authority to dissolve the districts.
MISSOURI
Supreme Court provides hope for children in failing schools
Editorial, St. Louis Post-Dispatch June 13, 2013
In 1812, the writers of Missouri’s territorial charter, a document that would later guide statehood, wrote this: “Knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of public education shall be encouraged and provided for.”
NEVADA
New regulations for evaluating Nevada teachers win approval
Las Vegas Sun, June 14, 2013
The Nevada Board of Education unanimously adopted legislative changes to a new teacher evaluation system rolling out this fall.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Chamber honors Great Bay Charter School
Portsmouth Herald, June 14, 2013
Great Bay Charter School was awarded this year’s Chamber of Commerce’s Business of the Year Award for education/non-profit, a great achievement for the small school who only recently became involved with the chamber.
NEW JERSEY
Newark Proposes New Charter Admissions Policy
Wall Street Journal, June 13, 2013
Charter-school operators often have to defend themselves against accusations that they find ways to admit only the best students who apply, leading to higher test scores.
Atlantic City charter school needs to register 135 pupils
Press of Atlantic City, June 14, 2013
The new Atlantic City Community Charter School, or ACCCS, has until the end of the month to register at least 135 students in grades kindergarten through 5 for the 2013-14 school year.
NEW YORK
Charter director retires after creating ‘what a school should be’
Buffalo News, June 14, 2013
King Center Charter School on Thursday paid homage to its founding director, Claity P. Massey, by giving her a very spirited, heartfelt send-off into retirement.
Dezoning plan, blasted by upper Manhattan parents, is working great in the Bronx, officials say
New York Daily News, June 13, 2013
District 7 in the neighboring borough has had positive experiences with ‘choice’ plan. Upper Manhattan lawmakers and residents oppose it.
NORTH CAROLINA
School voucher bill included in N.C. House budget
Winston-Salem Journal, June 13, 2013
The budget proposal passed by the North Carolina House Thursday included more than some legislators bargained for. House Republicans included a controversial private school voucher proposal in what was otherwise the most public education-friendly of the state’s budget proposals.
PENNSYLVANIA
Teachers union, education official spar over funding
Reading Eagle, June 14, 2013
Public schools in Pennsylvania are facing a funding crisis, and the impact will be felt statewide, according to a report by the state teachers union.
SOUTH CAROLINA
School-choice debate looms in SC budget talks
The State, June 13, 2013
A debate over how much private school “choice” S.C. taxpayers should subsidize looms as lawmakers work to adopt a budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1.
WISCONSIN
Wisconsin schools chief blasts voucher expansion
Journal Sentinel, June 13, 2013
State Superintendent Tony Evers and public school district leaders spoke out Thursday against the state budget proposal to expand the voucher school system statewide in the next budget, saying the expansion is costly for children and public schools across the state.
ONLINE LEARNING
Study Gauges Value of Technology in Schools
New York Times, June 14, 2013
With school districts rushing to buy computers, tablets, digital white boards and other technology, a new report questions whether the investment is worth it.
Teachers learn to integrate technology
The Ledger, June 14, 2013
“One thing that’s happening (is) it’s not a traditional classroom anymore,” Moyer said. “It’s a hybrid. Online (resources) extend the classroom.”
New blended learning charter high school graduates first senior class
Grand Rapids Press, June 13, 2013
Nexus Academy of Grand Rapids, the new blended learning charter high school launched this school year, graduated its first class of three seniors Thursday, June 19.
Nevada Virtual Academy offers an alternative, graduates 148
Reno Gazette-Journal, June 14, 2013
For the fourteen virtual students — some of which had never met their classmates before — gathered at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center with family, friends and guests to celebrate their accomplishment, the reasons for choosing a nontraditional high school education varied.