Daily Headlines for September 9, 2011
Teachers Union Leaders Pleased With $60 Billion For Education In Obama’s Jobs Plan
Huffington Post, NY, September 9, 2011
America’s two largest teachers unions, which have often clashed with the Obama administration on education policies, praised the president for including $60 billion in relief for cash-strapped school districts in his jobs package announced Thursday evening.
Detroit Schools Praised Despite Persistent Woes
Wall Street Journal, September 9, 2011
Two years after branding Detroit public schools “arguably the worst urban school district in the country,” U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan offered a more upbeat view on a visit here Thursday, expressing confidence that student performance could improve at the fastest rate in the U.S.
FROM THE STATES
ARIZONA
Gov. Jan Brewer Unveils Education Site
Arizona Republic, AZ, September 9, 2011
Brewer’s comments came shortly after she unveiled her latest education initiative – a new website designed to help parents make better choices about their child’s schooling and keep the public better informed about efforts to improve student and classroom performance.
CALIFORNIA
Dublin Charter Prep School Debate Rages On
Contra Costa Times, CA, September 9, 2011
The debate raged on Wednesday night over a proposed Dublin charter high school with the existing public school supporters voicing their outrage.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
House Dems Praise Bipartisan Charter School Bill
The Hill, DC, September 8, 2011
House Democrats on Thursday had nothing but praise for a bill that would reauthorize the federal charter school program, in large part because of the bipartisan work done on the bill that led to the inclusion of language aimed at ensuring public schools can benefit from best practices at charter schools.
Middle Schools: What Successful Charters Do
Washington Post Blog, DC, September 8, 2011
At Wednesday’s D.C. Council roundtable, several leaders of public charters with far more success than most DCPS middle schools described the elements they believe make their programs effective.
FLORIDA
Charter Companies Look to Seminole for Expansion
Orlando Sentinel, FL, September 8, 2011
Two for-profit charter school management companies see Seminole as fertile ground for expansion and want to open schools in the county.
Regular Schools Push For Same Freedoms As Charters
Orlando Sentinel, FL, September 8, 2011
School-district officials across Central Florida and the state say they are tired of charter schools getting all of the breaks, and they want the Legislature to give them more freedoms, too.
ILLINOIS
The Teacher Honor Roll Grows
Chicago Tribune, IL, September 9, 2011
Kudos to the teachers at Mays Elementary Academy in Englewood , who voted Thursday to expand the instructional day by 90 minutes. They’ve joined our honor roll of teachers giving students the valuable extra class time they need to excel.
INDIANA
Let’s Be Calm And Objective About School Vouchers
Fort Wayne News Sentinel, IN, September 8, 2011
Some of the reaction to the start of Indiana’s education voucher program this year – correctly described as the most ambitious choice program ever tried in this country – has been a trifle hyperbolic.
LOUISIANA
Thirty Nonprofits Line Up For New Orleans School Charters
Times Picayune, LA, September 8, 2011
Thirty different nonprofits have applied to run new charter schools in New Orleans, among them well-established networks that already run multiple campuses in the city, local groups that have struggled to win approval in the past, and national organizations trying to break into the district for the first time.
MASSACHUSETTS
Calling UP Academy a ‘Private Firm’ Is Misleading
Boston Globe, MA, September 9, 2011
RE “IN 1st, private firm opens Boston charter school” (Page A1, Aug. 29): It is encouraging to read about UP Academy, an in-district charter school that has grown out of a unique partnership between Boston Public Schools and Unlocking Potential, an organization founded specifically to work with the city and school district to help improve underperforming schools.
‘Choice’ Students Swell Ranks In Port Schools
New Bury Port News, MA, September 9, 2011
The city is seeing a bumper crop of new out-of-town students choosing to attend its schools.
Charter School To Face Big Test
Boston Herald, MA, September 8, 2011
A new Boston charter school for children who don’t speak English has five years to prove itself to the state, with this week marking its first full week of classes.
MICHIGAN
Plan Would Allow More Charter Schools
Wood TV8, MI, September 8, 2011
More charter schools — publicly-funded schools not directly operated by local school districts — could come to Michigan under a proposal announced in Lansing this week.
MISSOURI
Put Children, Not Taxpayers, First, When Seeking To Improve Schools
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, September 9, 2011
In the summer of 2010, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that children in an unaccredited school district had the right to enroll in any school district in any adjoining county. The case resulted from a lawsuit filed by St. Louis resident Jane Turner, who wanted to send her child to Clayton’s highly ranked public schools without having to pay thousands of dollars in yearly tuition.
NEW JERSEY
School Advocate Says Montclair District Hurt By Christie Veto
Montclair Times, NJ, September 9, 2011
The Christie administration’s decision last spring not to abide by the state legislature’s public school funding formula is shortchanging suburban districts like Montclair, according to a leading public school advocate.
Charter School Co-Founder Ann Garcia Interfered With Investigation of Her Contracts, State Department of Education Finds
Press of Atlantic City, NJ, September 9, 2011
School business administrator Ann Garcia, co-founder of charter schools in Vineland and Millville, intentionally interfered with an investigation into her contracts with Vineland and other schools, a report by the state Department of Education finds.
NEW YORK
State Weighs Testing Curbs on Teachers
Wall Street Journal, September 9, 2011
New York state teachers could be banned from administering and grading their own students’ standardized tests under a series of changes education officials are proposing after cheating scandals erupted in several other states.
Educators Tackling Problems in Two Crucial Age Groups
New York Times, NY, September 9, 2011
On the first day of school nearly two weeks ago, Jillian Carew quickly realized that getting all of her freshman algebra students on the same page would be a monumental task.
NORTH CAROLINA
‘Choice’ Plan
News & Observer, NC, September 9, 2001
These ideas, which have merit, are part of an overall effort on Tata’s part to create more choices for parents that are outside of the conventional.
OHIO
A Strange Case of Clemency Granted by the Governor
Youngstown Vindicator, OH, September 9, 2011
Certainly Kasich’s decision didn’t please suburban school district taxpayers who don’t believe their property taxes should be spent providing an education for children fraudulently enrolled by their nonresident parents.
OREGON
The Price of Overhauling Education
Oregonian, OR, September 8, 2011
It was not hard to hear Gov. John Kitzhaber embrace statewide education reform in his Springfield speech Tuesday and wonder: Where’s the money for all that? Among other things, he called out for individual attention to students in a year in which funding shortfalls forced teacher layoffs and, in many places, larger classes.
PENNSYLVANIA
Mariana Bracetti Academy Buys Former Northeast Catholic High
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, September 9, 2011
A Philadelphia charter school has bought the former Northeast Catholic High School building in Frankford.
Secret Funding Deal Collapses
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, September 9, 2011
It’s a shame that it took public outrage to stop the secret deal that helped finance the departure of former Philadelphia School Superintendent Arlene C. Ackerman.
Propel West Charter School Discussed at Sto-Rox
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, September 09, 2011
Propel charter school’s application to open a K-12 school in the Sto-Rox district has emotions running high.
TEXAS
Schools Open, Expand in Williamson County
Community Impact Newspaper, TX, September 9, 2011
Rebekah Wright transferred to Gateway College Preparatory School her sophomore year of high school from Georgetown ISD. Her mother, Lisa, said her daughter is quiet, and though she was receiving a quality education at Georgetown ISD, Lisa said she thought a charter school might be a better option for Rebekah.
WISCONSIN
Milwaukee Leaders Lure West Coast Charter Schools
Milwaukee Business Journal, WI, September 9, 2011
Milwaukee’s political, nonprofit and business leaders are making a major push to lure a small group of charter schools from California to the city.
Madison Charter School Gets Grant
Badger Herald, WI, September 8, 2011
After a lengthy debate over whether to give the Madison Prep Academy for Young Men, an Urban League charter school, a $225,000 planning grant, Madison Board of Education officials decided to stand by their decision to issue the grant.
Rawhide Accepted Into Milwaukee School Choice Program
Post Crescent, WI, September 8, 2011
Rawhide Boys Ranch’s private school, Starr Academy, has been approved as a private choice school under the Milwaukee Public School District School Choice program.
VIRTUAL EDUCATION
RCSD Expanding Online High School Classes
WHAM, NY, September 8, 2011
School of the Arts seniors Cassandra Coley and Shalimar Lake would not be graduating with their classmates if not for online courses.
State to Set Online Class Requirements Today
Magic Valley Times-News, ID, September 9, 2011
The state may soon give its stamp of approval to a proposed rule that would require high school students to take online classes in order to graduate.
New Technology Focused Charter School Opens
Gilroy Dispatch, CA, September 8, 2011
Flex Academy is different than other schools, said Head of School Jean Southland. Not only is it a public school not affiliated with the Morgan Hill Unified School District , but it also combines an online curriculum with offline lessons and breakout sessions.