Daily Headlines for June 6, 2011
Cline’s Education Reform Vision: Less Federal Cash, More School Autonomy
Minnesota Public Radio, MN, June 6, 2011
While Congress may seem locked in endless budget battles, lawmakers from both parties are trying to overhaul education laws, including No Child Left Behind. Minnesota Rep. John Kline is in charge of that effort for House Republicans.
Review of Teacher Education Colleges A Worthy Project
The Oklahoman, OK, June 5, 2011
STATE schools Superintendent Janet Barresi isn’t just making waves locally. She’s part of a national cadre of superintendents stirring up controversy at the national level, too. The nine state school chiefs who have dubbed themselves “Chiefs for Change” are supporting a review of traditional teacher education programs that we suspect will be enlightening even if it fails to be definitive.
FROM THE STATES
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
D.C. Councilmen Don’t Send Kids To Neighborhood Schools
Washington Examiner, DC, June 5, 2011
Two-thirds go for private schools
D.C. Council members are sending their kids to pricey private schools instead of putting them in the city’s troubled public system that they urge other parents to invest in.
Presidential Candidates Tend To Avoid Education Issues
Washington Post, DC, June 5, 2011
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney declared his candidacy for president last week. I went to his Web site to read his ideas about education. There weren’t any. The same thing happened when I went to former House speaker Newt Gingrich’s campaign site.
FLORIDA
Sarasota’s High Charter Marks
Florida Trend, FL, June 6, 2011
Talk to charter school operators and management companies around Florida and you’ll get an earful about school districts they view as uncooperative at best and hostile at worst. Then there’s Sarasota. ” Sarasota is probably the most enlightened district in the state,” says Tim Kitts, who heads charter schools in Bay County and chairs the advocacy committee for the Florida Consortium of Public Charter Schools.
GEORGIA
Georgia Hires Team To Work On Teacher Pay Plan
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, GA, June 6, 2011
Saying they lack the expertise internally, the Georgia Department of Education plans to spend $758,000 to bring in outside help to develop a system for evaluating teachers and administrators based on how their students perform academically.
Charter Schools Are About Local Control
Walton Tribune, GA, June 4, 2011
Tribune staff writer Stephen Milligan’s May 22 op-ed and its headline, “State needs to support public schools,” displays a lack of understanding about charter schools. First and foremost, charter schools are public schools. That is why leaders of our state and our nation are actively promoting the growth and availability of quality charter schools to our nation’s children.
Ruling on Charter Panel Won’t Hurt Many Schools
Athens Banner-Herald, GA, June 5, 2011
The state Supreme Court ruling that declared a special charter school commission unconstitutional put 16 schools in limbo, but won’t affect more than 100 other Georgia charter schools, including one in Clarke County.
MASSACHUSETTS
Charter School May Exit Union
Boston Globe, MA, June 6, 2011
Teachers at the first charter school in Massachusetts to form a union are now debating whether to dissolve it, dealing a potential blow to an effort to unionize charter schools statewide.
NEW JERSEY
N.J. Power Broker Says He’s Launching Charter Schools
Asbury Park Press, NJ, June 5, 2011
Gov. Chris Christie and Cooper University Hospital Chairman George E. Norcross III locked arms Friday at an event celebrating education and second chances.
Education Reform / Please, Let’s Get Real
Press of Atlantic City, NJ, June 5, 2011
Efforts to improve our schools are simply too important to let the discussion get muddled by misinformation, posturing and half truths. Unfortunately, that’s apparently not a position shared by either the administration of Gov. Chris Christie or the teachers union, the New Jersey Education Association.
NEW YORK
NAACP vs. Black Parents
Wall Street Journal, June 4, 2011
Here’s something you don’t see everyday. Thousands of American blacks held a rally in Harlem last week to protest . . . the NAACP.
Parents Sue to Keep Coney Island Charter School out of Intermediate School 303
New York Daily News, NY, June 6, 2011
One of the city’s most heated conflicts over school space is spilling out of the classroom and into the courtroom.
As Catholic Schools Close in Major Cities, the Need Only Grows
New York Times, NY, June 4, 2011
Amid the grandeur and permanence of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, they marched down the aisle in pairs, the graduating seniors of Rice High School in Harlem. They were the 70th commencement class in the school’s history, the latest to bear the venerable epithet of being “Rice men.”
OHIO
Near West Intergenerational Charter School to Open This Year after Push from Parents
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, June 6, 2011
A group of West Side parents agonized as their children approached school age. They were uncertain about the Cleveland schools in their neighborhood, but could not find a convenient alternative that didn’t have a waiting list. Their answer? Recruit one.
Punishing Talent
Columbus Dispatch, OH, June 5, 2011
Look no further than Pickerington Local Schools to see what is wrong with seniority as the primary driver of staffing decisions in public schools: When budgets have to be cut, principals can’t preserve the best staff. They have to preserve the longest-serving staffers, and those might not be the same people.
Springfield City Schools Lose $5.5M to Community Schools
Springfield News Sun, OH, June 4, 2011
When Dianna Conley left Southeastern schools to attend the charter school Life Skills Center, she didn’t know she took at least $5,700 in state funding with her.
OKLAHOMA
Two Bills Designed To Revamp Education
Daily Ardmoreite, OK, June 5, 2011
With the Oklahoma Legislature done for 2011, several education bills passed as a part of State Superintendent Janet Barresi’s 3R Agenda to rethink, restructure and reform.
PENNSYLVANIA
The Gap Between High School And College Requirements
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, June 6, 2011
Richard Mohammed always thought of himself as a pretty good student. He graduated from Olney High School in 2005 with a B-plus average and optimistically entered Bucks County Community College, eager to study nursing.
Nutter Seeks Role In School Oversight
Philadelphia Daily News, PA, June 6, 2011
IT SEEMS THAT Mayor Nutter plans to take on a more active role in the goings-on of the School District of Philadelphia in light of the district’s deep budget plight and a recent request for $110 million in additional funding.
RHODE ISLAND
Providence Rally Supports Teachers, Criticizes Charter Schools
Providence Journal, RI, June 4, 2011
Nearly 100 teachers and parents turned out Friday to protest the treatment of Providence teachers, but the latest target wasn’t the mayor or even the School Board.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Why S.C. Won’t Enter Race
Anderson Independent Mail, SC, June 5, 2011
Education in South Carolina will improve if Washington will get out of our classrooms. Sen. Jim DeMint and other reformers have proposed the Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success, or A-PLUS act, which would free states from many unnecessary and costly regulations.
TENNESSEE
Memphis City Schools Teachers Rewarded For Successes
Commercial Appeal, TN, June 6, 2011
Thousands of Memphis city school teachers will get an extra $750 in their paychecks this month — part two of a $1,500 reward for sticking out the year in tough schools.
UTAH
Utah’s New Charter School Group Says It’s Not Meant To Be An Alternative
Salt Lake Tribune, UT, June 5, 2011
The charter school movement is all about offering parents a choice in public education. Now Utah’s charter schools have a choice when it comes to membership in an organization.
WISCONSIN
Flip-Flop On Voucher Plan Concerning
Green Bay Gazette, WI, June 5, 2011
Few things in Wisconsin politics surprise us, but the flip-flop we saw Friday to expand the Milwaukee school voucher program to Green Bay had us puzzled and stunned.
VIRTUAL EDUCATION
Virtual Schools Showing Real Growth
Daytona Beach News-Journal, FL, June 6, 2011
Kim Medley said she was “fed up” with public schools. Her son, Ean, was receiving poor instruction and other children were “out of control.”
Online Education May Be Utah’s Future
Daily Herald, UT, June 5, 2011
As the school year winds down at the Open High School of Utah, I look back at 2010-11 and am thrilled with the transformative power that technology played in preparing my students for what lies ahead. The use of technology — real-world technology — transcends the barriers of time and place and allows students access to knowledge anytime, anyplace.