Daily Headlines for October 9, 2013
Click here for Newswire, 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.
STATE COVERAGE
ARIZONA
CAVIT is now open to charters
TriValley Central, AZ, October 8, 2013
Thanks to a change in state law, charter high schools inside the Central Arizona Valley Institute of Technology boundaries – most of western Pinal County – now may send juniors and seniors to CAVIT’s central campus just like the high schools in the Casa Grande Union, Maricopa, Florence, Coolidge and Santa Cruz Valley public school districts.
COLORADO
Denver school board wants superintendent to make faster progress
Denver Post, CO, October 8, 2013
Academic performance has improved under the leadership of Denver Public Schools Superintendent Tom Boasberg, but the progress is not fast enough, according to an evaluation by the school board.
CONNECTICUT
Mom Glad For Hartford School Alternative
Letter, Hartford Courant, CT, October 8, 2013
The Hartford teachers union op-ed on charter school expansion, “Hartford Board Too Hasty On Charter School” [Sept. 29, Opinion], is not only insulting to the Achievement First educators who run these public schools, but more important, to those of us who have chosen to send our children there.
State OKs New Work Rules At “Local Charter”
New Haven Independent, CT, October 8, 2013
New Haven got the OK to launch another experiment in how a teachers union can work with the school district to try out new ways of running schools.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
D.C.’s Oldest Charter School Faces Possible Revocation after Mismanagement of $3M
Washington Informer, DC, October 8, 2013
The D.C. Public Charter School Board may have to revoke the charter of its oldest school amid an investigation of alleged fiscal mismanagement involving more than $3 million in funds from city coffers.
Most D.C. schools to participate in unified enrollment lottery starting next year
Washington Post, DC, October 8, 2013
The majority of D.C. charter schools and all schools in the city’s traditional school system plan to participate in a single unified lottery to determine enrollment for the 2014-2015 school year, officials in the office of Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) said.
School choice may get easier; still tough between districts
Delaware News Journal, DE, October 9, 2013
Parents could find it easier to “choice” their students into other school districts, now that districts must bring themselves in line with new state laws.
Study: Boost D.C. schools funding by $180 million
Washington Post, DC, October 8, 2013
The District should boost funding for public education by more than 15 percent — or nearly $180 million — to ensure that schools have adequate resources to lift student achievement, according to the preliminary recommendations of a study commissioned by the city government.
ILLINOIS
Lawmakers end voucher study with few clear answers
Chicago Sun Times, IL, October 8, 2013
Indiana lawmakers are ending their review of the state’s school vouchers program with few clear answers.
MASSACHUSETTS
Students adrift due to bus driver strike, parents jump in
Boston Globe, MA, October 8, 2013
Some walked their children for miles across the city, while others borrowed cars, took public buses, or found friends and relatives to help out.
MINNESOTA
Study: ‘White flight’ gets a nudge from Minnesota charter schools
Start Tribune, MN, October 9, 2013
Findings show charter schools with mostly white student bodies are opening in diverse neighborhoods.
NEW YORK
Charter schools earn more than passing grade
Editorial, amNY, NY, October 8, 2013
Thousands of charter-school parents and students in matching green shirts marched across the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall Tuesday and straight into a political whirlwind. If their goal was to flex some political muscle, it was mission accomplished.
Thousands rally against charter-school rent plan
New York Post, NY, October 9, 2013
Thousands of infuriated parents and children, staging one of the biggest demonstrations in years, converged on City Hall Tuesday to protest Bill de Blasio’s plan to make charter schools pay rent.
PENNSYLVANIA
Phila. has more than half of Pa.’s worst schools
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, October 9, 2013
More than half of Pennsylvania’s 92 worst-performing schools are in the Philadelphia School District, the state said Tuesday.
TENNESSEE
3 Nashville charters warned to improve or else face closure
The Tennessean, TN, October 9, 2013
A new Metro schools report released Tuesday warns three Nashville charter schools to improve their performance levels this schools or face possible closure in the future.
ONLINE LEARNING
Trombetta sister pleads to assisting brother in charter school fraud
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, PA, October 8, 2013
A crying and at times inaudible Elaine Trombetta Neill admitted in federal court Tuesday that she helped her brother hide some of the money he was siphoning from the Beaver County cyber charter school he founded.