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.
NATIONAL COVERAGE
Ed. Secretary Duncan dodges charter school issue during Chicago visit
Chicago Sun Times, IL, December 17, 2013
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan came to Benito Juarez Community Academy on Monday to find out how the school boosted its attendance and graduation rates and climbed out of its Chicago Public Schools probationary status.
Republicans back away from Common Core as legislative roadblocks advance
Washington Post Blog, DC, December 17, 2013
Even as international studies show American students falling farther behind Asian and European students in math, science and reading scores, a group of Republican governors, mostly in Southern states, are distancing themselves from a set of education standards that most of their colleagues are embracing.
Gov. Bryant says Miss. has right to define academic standards
Clarion Ledger, MS, December 16, 2013
Gov. Phil Bryant on Monday, with Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves at his side, issued an executive order that says Mississippi, not the federal government, has control over its public school standards and curricula.
STATE COVERAGE
ARKANSAS
State Board of Education removes distress labels, votes further review of WLR charter school
Arkansas Times Blog, AR, December 16, 2013
The lead issue likely will be the Little Rock School District’s opposition to approval of two charter schools in Little Rock, including the Questmiddle school for an upscale white neighborhood of Little Rock that seems likely to fall short of the school’s projection that it would primarily serve students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunches.
CALIFORNIA
Gloria Romero: Landmark education reform case set for trial
Orange County Register, CA,
December 16, 2013
Vergara, filed in the names of nine students, seeks to strike down and rule as unconstitutional several California statutes that long have been protected by the power of the teachers unions.
CONNECTICUT
Closing the achievement gap: BOE exploring changes in preschool program
Greenwich Times, CT, December 16, 2013
As Board of Education members continue to explore means of raising student achievement, they have identified the district’s preschool program as a candidate for possible changes, with a focus on improving student access.
DC
Options D.C. charter school’s Medicaid billing is at center of investigation
Washington Post, DC, December 16, 2013
Federal investigators are looking into whether former leaders of the District’s Options Public Charter School committed Medicaid fraud by, among other things, exaggerating the needs of its disabled students and paying students with gift cards to ride school buses, according to several people familiar with the criminal investigation.
ILLINOIS
A passionate debate over CPS’ 21 proposed charter schools
Chicago Sun-Times, IL, December 16, 2013
A hearing on 21 proposed new Chicago Public Schools charters drew at least 300 people to CPS headquarters on a snowy Monday evening, with supporters and opponents equally passionate about the need to propel or quash charter efforts.
LOUISIANA
Groups vie to open charters schools in Caddo
Shreveport Times, LA
, December 17, 2013
Seven proposed Caddo charter schools offer open enrollment, but a lack of transportation and special education services may effectively limit the types of students they serve.
Legislative auditor: Oversight poor for La. Voucher program
Opelousas Daily World, LA,
December 17, 2013
Louisiana’s Department of Education isn’t properly monitoring the state’s voucher program to make sure students are placed in private schools that demonstrate student achievement and success, according to an audit released Monday.
MASSACHUSETTS
Charter school holds admission lottery, clashes with state over enrollment cap
Melrose Free Press, MA,
December 16, 2013
Bradbury’s number was one of the first called in the annual Mystic Valley Regional Charter School admission lottery on Dec. 4. The lucky draw means she’ll be one of roughly 50 new families — out of more than 900 applicants — to enroll a child in the school in the fall.
MICHIGAN
Grosse Pointe Farms parents say their kids denied ‘equal education’
Detroit News, MI, December 16, 2013
But a group of families in Grosse Pointe Farms, one of Michigan’s most affluent communities, feels it is being shortchanged. The families want the district to move their children from North High to South High, claiming their kids have been denied “equal access” to “equal education.”
MONTANA
Privatizing urban schools isn’t reform
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, December 17, 2013
Education has been getting a lot of attention in the media these past several months. I believe this is a good thing, but we must keep our focus on: What’s best for all of our children?
NEBRASKA
Hard work at OPS is paying off
Omaha World-Herald, NE, December 17, 2013
Omaha Public Schools teachers, staff and administrators are helping local high school students learn more and graduate more often.
NEW JERSEY
N.J. Supreme Court upholds education commissioner’s review process for charter schools
Star-Ledger, NJ, December 16, 2013
New Jersey’s education commissioner has the final say in approving or denying charter schools, and those decisions can be overturned by a court only when they are “arbitrary, capricious or unreasonable,” the state Supreme Court ruled today.
NEW YORK
New York City school principals boo Bloomberg, want de Blasio’s overhauls
New York Daily News, NY, December 16, 2013
The 140 educators say they want to see the system transformed ‘after years of detrimental educational policies and practices.’ In response, the mayor-elect’s spokeswoman promised a change in tone.
NORTH CAROLINA
Teachers to sue for tenure protections
Charlotte Observer, NC, December 17, 2013
RALEIGH In the second major education lawsuit in a week, six teachers and the N.C. Association of Educators are expected to file suit on Tuesday, challenging the end of tenure for public school teachers across North Carolina.
PENNSYLVANIA
Teach for America plan opposed for Pittsburgh schools
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, December 16, 2013
The board of Pittsburgh Public Schools heard from a dozen people Monday — most of them teachers — who oppose the district’s plan to bring in Teach for America teachers to take hard-to-fill jobs at its most challenging schools.
Philadelphia school district threatens charters
Pennsylvania Independent, PA, December 16, 2013
After Philadelphia’s School Reform Commission gave itself expansive new authority over charter schools in August, the deadline has arrived for it to follow through on an attempt to curb the growth of alternative public schools in the district.
OKLAHOMA
Oklahoma City charter school accused of misconduct, faces termination
The Oklahoman, OK, December 17, 2013
A charter school for high-risk students is accused of failing to provide a “safe and appropriate learning environment” and faces termination of its contract, The Oklahoman has learned.
TENNESSEE
Dean to Metro schools: ‘No department gets a blank check’
The Tennessean, TN, December 17, 2013
Mayor Karl Dean fanned the flames of an already polarized debate over charter schools costs on Monday, calling for closer scrutiny of local school spending and accusing the Metro Nashville school board of unfairly singling out charters.
WASHINGTON
Five potential charter schools for Yakima County
KIMA-TV, WA, December 16, 2013
Nineteen potential charter schools have applied for opening across the state, five of them in Yakima County. Some of those could open as early as next year. Just what will these new school offer your children?
ONLINE LEARNING
Pennsylvania Senate bill is poison pill for online learning
Watchdog.org, December 16, 2013
Cyber schools are a valuable facet in the push to improve our education system, creating more options for parents and strengthening brick-and-mortar public schools by providing additional resources for students with unique learning needs.
South Central schools officials consider virtual learning academy
Herald Argus, IN, December 17, 2013
A virtual learning academy and a one-to-one technology initiative are some of the programs officials are considering for South Central Schools next year.
POLITICAL / LEGISLATIVE COVERAGE
Bumpy path to education reform
Connecticut Day, CT, December 17, 2013
The Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents made the right decision in pulling the plug on an incendiary draft statement prepared by a subcommittee and headed for the desk of state Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor.
Group of N.J. special-needs schools pledges more accountability for use of taxpayer dollars
Star-Ledger, NJ, December 16, 2013
Under fire after disclosures of wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars, advocates for New Jersey’s private schools for students with disabilities said today they are rewriting their code of ethics and welcome changes to make them more accountable to the public.
Williams stands by charter-reform bill in meeting with parents
Philadelphia Daily News, PA, December 17, 2013
STATE SEN. Anthony H. Williams reiterated his support for controversial legislation that would remove caps for charter-school enrollment yesterday in a private meeting with parents.
Bill would allow charter schools to expand free of districts, unions
Journal Sentinel, WI, December 16, 2013
Wisconsin could see a dramatic rise in the number of charter schools operating outside of districts and without teachers unions, under a new Assembly bill brought by Republicans that would take independent charters statewide.
Group of state senators unite on school transfer bill
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, December 17, 2013
Four area state senators stood together inside a Clayton law office Monday to make it clear that setting limits and adding clarity to Missouri’s school transfer law in the 2014 legislative session is at the top of their agenda.
L.A. school board priority: Put students first
Los Angeles Times, CA, December 17, 2013
Politics and infighting have no place in L.A. Unified’s decision on how to honor the memory of Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte.
Spacey In Seattle: Muddled Reaction To Charter Law Decision
Egged on by hyperbolic media headlines, teacher union chiefs and their anti-reform surrogates declared the Washington state charter school law unconstitutional, treating it as the kiss of death to innovative educational solutions in the Evergreen State. However, the ruling actually upholds the law’s constitutionality, albeit not to its fullest, which no doubt sets up an appeal decision in an attempt to satisfy one side or the other.
But aside from that, their declarations were completely accurate.
We would have paid to see Diane Ravitch jumping for joy thinking the charter school law was unconstitutional, only to scale back the celebration in an intellectually profound blog post partially entitled, “figure it out yourself.” (But we’d only fork over a few dollars, definitely not as much as the $29 million in union dues the WEA collected in 2010.)
According to leading interpretations of the judgment, the law itself is constitutional, allowing for the approval of charter schools to move forward in 2014. But the judge also ruled charter schools don’t fit the definition of a “common school” stipulated in the state constitution, which could present a barrier to receiving facilities funding from the state budget.
At the end of the day, all of this represents the feeble attempt at which the teacher unions and like-minded allies are trying circumvent the democratic process and impose their will on students and families in need of better schooling options. They can’t stand that a voter approved measure like the charter school initiative gave blinding clarity to the fact that public opinion is not on their side.
And they’ll continue the attack, even if it’s at the expense of students unable to access a school that provides them with a greater chance of success.