The Center for Education Reform, Author at The Center for Education Reform

Daily Headlines for March 6, 2014

March 6, 2014 By The Center for Education Reform

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

The SAT Gets a Makeover
TIME, March 5, 2014
The prominent SAT college entrance exam will return to its previous 1,600-point scoring system and the essay portion will be optional starting in 2016, the group that creates the test said Wednesday, the biggest makeover in almost a decade for an exam familiar to any high school student with an eye on college.

Taking New York’s school fight national
Opinion, New York Post, NY, March 5, 2014
What a moment New York is in over charter schools. Mayor de Blasio has managed to illuminate the heroism of Eva Moskowitz and the families of her Success Academy. It could be a springboard for Moskowitz to run for mayor. Gov. Cuomo is now in the fight in a big and encouraging way.

STATE COVERAGE

ALABAMA

Committees OK bills reducing influence of seniority in teacher cutbacks
Montgomery Advertiser, AL, march 6, 2014
Teacher seniority could not be used as the most significant factor in employee cutbacks, under bills passed Wednesday by House and Senate committees.

ALASKA

Legislators worry that bill could create more school districts
Juneau Empire, AK, March 6, 2014
Members of the state House Education Committee raised concerns on Wednesday that Alaska could end up with more school districts if charter schools are authorized by entities other than local school boards.

CALIFORNIA

Come Back Kids charter opens doors for dropouts
Modesto Bee, CA, March 5, 2014
Magali Penaloza, 18, struggled in school, then quit her junior year to have a baby. But Tuesday she started over, signing up for a second chance at graduation through an innovative and fast-growing charter school.

FLORIDA

Big money, powerful lobbying groups push school voucher proposal
Miami Herald, FL, March 5, 2014
Nearly 200 schoolchildren greeted Senate President Don Gaetz last month when he visited a Catholic school in Pensacola to get a first-hand look at the impact of Florida’s controversial school voucher program.

More Manatee County school board division and dysfunction
Editorial, Bradenton Herald, FL, March 6, 2014
The Manatee County school board’s public infighting got overheated at Monday’s training session, designed to examine the draft of a new operations manual.

Palm Beach County schools consider full choice
Sun Sentinel, FL, March 6, 2014
Palm Beach County could dramatically change the concept of neighborhood schools and give parents far more choices for their children’s education.

ILLINOIS

Why CPS students should take the ISAT
Editorial, Chicago Tribune, IL, March 6, 2014
More than 170,000 Chicago Public Schools students are buckling down in the next two weeks to take the Illinois Standards Achievement Test. Their teachers have drilled them in reading and math. Their parents have done their part — helping with homework, turning off the TV and confiscating the cellphone.

INDIANA

Senate backs bill promoting IPS-charter school partnerships
Indiana Chalkbeat, IN, March 5, 2014
A legislative vote Tuesday may clear the way for Indianapolis Public Schools to create unique partnerships to jointly run IPS schools with charter schools.

LOUISIANA

Central cracking down on school ‘zone jumpers’
The Advocate, LA, March 5, 2014
The Central School Board wants to make it much harder for people who live outside the school district to send their children to Central schools illegally.

Head of Baton Rouge schools seeks alternative to charters
The Advocate, LA, March 5, 2014
East Baton Rouge Parish Superintendent Bernard Taylor has a plan to fight off charter school competition by creating autonomous schools that operate as part of the school system.

MAINE

Lottery held to fill Baxter Academy’s new student spots
Portland Press Herald, ME, March 6, 2014
One of five charter schools in the state, the academy had more than 100 apply for 85 student openings.

MICHIGAN

Crestwood, area charter schools have top graduation rates
Dearborn Press & Guide, MI, March 6, 2014
Henry Ford Academy, Crestwood High, Star International Academy and Riverside Academy all had more than 90 percent of their students graduating in four years of high school, according to state figures released last week.

MISSISSIPPI

Senate unanimously OKs teacher raise
Jackson Clarion Ledger, MS, March 6, 2014
The state Senate on Wednesday unanimously approved a teacher pay raise, with the hope that the House will agree with it and send the legislation to the governor.

NEVADA

For true turnaround, struggling schools need great teachers
Editorial, Las Vegas Review Journal, NV, March 5, 2014
The Clark County School District’s lowest-performing campuses desperately need a turnaround. Unfortunately, addressing some of the problems at these schools involves moving the problems to other schools.

NEW JERSEY

Mullica Township teachers, staff vote no confidence in superintendent
Press of Atlantic City, NJ, March 5, 2014
Mullica Township Education Association members voted no-confidence in Superintendent Brenda Harring-Marro on Wednesday, effectively calling for her removal.

NJ revokes 2 charter schools, renews 10 others
Star-Ledger, NJ, March 5, 2014
Charter schools in Camden and Pemberton must close at the end of the school year after the Department of Education revoked their charters, officials announced yesterday.

Teachers, union officials blast evaluation system at NJ State Board of Education meeting
Star-Ledger, NJ, March 5, 2014
Teachers and union officials bombarded the New Jersey State Board of Education with complaints about the upcoming performance evaluations during a public session in Trenton today.

NEW YORK

A lesson in political shenanigans
Opinion, New York Daily News, NY, March 6, 2014
Charter kids come to Albany, and learn about the politicians who don’t care much about their success

Assembly Speaker Silver says charter schools are not getting more money right now
New York Daily News, NY, March 6, 2014
Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) said there was no ‘crisis’ over charter schools and that a construction program should consider more than three schools.

Mamaroneck school board raises ire among private-school parents
The Journal News, NY, March 5, 2014
About 80 parents who send their children to non-public schools and several clergy members staged a protest Tuesday about the Mamaroneck Board of Education’s plan to require about 100 private and parochial middle and high school students to use public transportation to get to school while their public school peers get district busing.

Passionate parents leading the newest civil-rights movement
Opinion, New York Post, NY
March 5, 2014
Last month, the city’s first lady, Chirlane McCray, urged support for her husband’s signature universal pre-K program by declaring, “Education is clearly the civil-rights issue for today.”

Success Academy charter school families have no place for children to go after de Blasio cut co-locations
New York Daily News, NY, March 6, 2014
Mayor de Blasio axed plans three Success Academy charter schools had to move into new schools, and now Harlem families are left searching.

NORTH CAROLINA

Durham board joins lawsuit against tenure law
Durham Sun, NC, March 6, 2014
The Durham Public Schools Board of Education on Wednesday voted unanimously to join a lawsuit opposing a new state law that, in four years, will end tenure or “career status” for North Carolina teachers.

OKLAHOMA

Oklahoma lawmakers receive petitions backing Common Core education standards
The Oklahoman, OK, March 5, 2014
A group backing Oklahoma’s Common Core education standards presented state lawmakers Wednesday with more than 7,000 electronic signatures obtained through an Internet petition asking for continued support of the stiffer education standards.

PENNSYLVANIA

Gateway gets grant to close racial achievement gap
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, March 6, 2014
The Heinz Endowments awarded the district $82,000 to support programming and professional development toward closing and eventually eliminating a racial achievement gap.

Work launched in Camden on state’s first ‘Renaissance’ school
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, March 5, 2014
KIPP Cooper Norcross Academy is slated to be the first of the hybrid district/charter schools established under the Urban Hope Act.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Thomas: Don’t link teacher pay to student test scores
Column, The State, SC, March 6, 2014
Linking teacher evaluations to student standardized test scores is a bad idea that will not die. The S.C. League of Women Voters issued a report in 2013 endorsing a plan to include what are called value-added methods in teacher evaluations, despite the overwhelming evidence that they are unreliable in high-stakes policies.

TENNESSEE

New school voucher proposal narrowly advances in House with Harwell’s backing
The Tennessean, TN, March 6, 2014
A revised school voucher proposal advanced in the House on Wednesday after Speaker Beth Harwell broke a tie on an amended bill, improving the prospects for a compromise that would allow public dollars to fund private schooling.

TEXAS

Austin charter school American Youthworks sues state over charter revocation
American-Statesman, TX, March 5, 2014
An Austin charter school that the state will likely shut down has sued the Texas Education Agency, claiming that the state is using new standards to judge the school’s past performance and isn’t giving the school a chance to defend itself.

ONLINE LEARNING

Blended learning: It’s time for Morgan Hill to embrace a more effective approach
Opinion, Mercury News, CA, March 5, 2014
A heated debate has been brewing in Morgan Hill over whether the school district should allow a charter school operator, Navigator Schools, to open a campus. Beyond the debate over charter vs. district schools, this is also a debate over which instructional model will best serve students: blended or traditional.

The Digital Classroom
Letter, New York Times, NY, March 6, 2014
We shouldn’t be surrendering to computer-fed children’s limited attention span or their need for instant gratification but rather encouraging a more deliberate type of learning that forces them to do more than tap an index finger on a screen.

Filed Under: Daily Headlines

Obama’s Budget Boosts Preschool, Access To Top Teachers, But Freezes Many Education Programs

March 5, 2014 By The Center for Education Reform

Joy Resmovits, Huffington Post

President Barack Obama’s 2015 budget request increases education funding 2 percent over the previous year, cheering many education advocates, and proposes a revamped Race to the Top competition that focuses on opportunity for all students and a tobacco tax to pay for a previously-announced preschool expansion effort.

Obama announced the budget, which would restore across-the-board cuts known as sequestration, at Powell Elementary School in Washington.

“We know — and this is part of the reason why we’re here today — that education has to start at the earliest possible ages,” Obama said. “So this budget expands access to the kind of high-quality preschool and other early learning programs to give all of our children the same kinds of opportunities that those wonderful children that we just saw are getting right here at Powell.”

In a call with reporters, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said the budget speech setting was no accident. “In tough economic times, education is receiving the largest non-defense increase” in discretionary spending, Duncan said.

Many newer education initiatives, such as a high school redesign competition, receive a boost in Obama’s budget. But some key programs, including most parts of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Title I — the main source of federal education cash for students in poverty — and special education research, were flatlined. The only increase in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was in a section known as Part C, for babies, and a new competitive grant for results-driven accountability in special education.

“We’re very excited about that,” said Lindsay Jones, head of public policy for the National Center for Learning Disabilities. “It’s smart to start moving states in that direction. But I’m disappointed overall in the massive freeze.”

Some education advocates, however, said they were thrilled.

“We applaud the president for moving towards ending the era of austerity and recognizing the need to protect Social Security,” said Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers’ union. “Replacing the unnecessary automatic budget cuts, known as sequester, which caused significant and harmful damage to schools and working families, with smart investments in education, infrastructure, and research and development is necessary to move the country forward.” Van Roekel praised the preschool expansion and an initiative that would make college tax credits permanent.

Charles Barone, policy head for the interest group Democrats for Education Reform, also praised the plan.

“The Obama administration has put forth a much-needed plan to invest $300 million in pilot efforts to narrow student equality gaps in areas such as helping highly effective teachers stay in high-need schools, among other options,” Barone said. “These efforts nicely fit with the FY 2015 budget’s theme of increasing economic prosperity.”

Obama’s budget is unlikely to win approval from the divided Congress. Shortly after the president’s speech, Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), who chairs the House Education and the Workforce Committee, issued a skeptical statement.

“Today’s budget proposal includes hundreds of billions of dollars in additional spending to fund new federal programs. In critical areas such as early learning, job training, and higher education, the president wants to make an existing maze of programs even more costly and confusing,” Kline said. “Spending more money on broken programs will not provide the support our most vulnerable children, workers, and families desperately need.”

Some of these initiatives — such as a teacher support program and the tobacco tax-funded preschool expansion — were in last year’s budget, but failed to win significant funding in Congress. The high school redesign competition was launched with $100 million in Department of Labor discretionary funding.

The budget provoked skepticism, along with praise, from American Federation of Teachers union president Randi Weingarten, often but not always an Obama ally.

“While we are pleased with the overall intent of the budget proposal, we are skeptical that a Race to the Top-like competition, which creates winners and losers, is the way to promote equity,” Weingarten said. “Public education should be focused on strengthening teaching and learning for all students and maintaining and improving neighborhood public schools.”

Race to the Top was first used to dangle economic stimulus money in front of states to encourage certain Obama-favored education reforms, such as higher learning standards, teacher evaluations that reflect student test scores, and more charter schools. More recent — and smaller — iterations of the program have included a competition designed to increase preschool quality and one aimed at encouraging school districts to sponsor innovations in so-called personalized learning.

The new $300 million program, known as “Race to the Top — Equity and Opportunity,” would have states and districts develop plans to vie for funds to help them “drive comprehensive change in how … [they] identify and close opportunity and achievement gaps,” according to an administration memo. The grants may support things like extended learning time, tougher classes, and making sure disadvantaged students have equal access to the best teachers.

The budget also includes $200 million in a “new investment for helping teachers prepare to be successful with increased tech tools,” Duncan said, as well as additional funding for school safety.

As in previous years, Obama zeroed out funds for the Washington, D.C., school voucher program, which gives families public money to send their children to private schools. Kara Kerwin, president of the right-leaning Center for Education Reform, said the budget’s failure to embrace vouchers “is unacceptable.”

Charter school advocates, whose work is often championed by Obama, said they also feel slighted. Obama proposed $248 million for charter schools in his new budget, compared with $295 million proposed in the previous year.

“The president’s request for charter schools is insufficient and fails to bring the Charter Schools Program back to pre-sequester levels,” said Nina Rees, who leads the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. “Given the budget’s focus on education equity, it is surprising to see the lack of funding for charter schools.”

Filed Under: CER in the News

Our View: School budget puts Idaho on right path

March 5, 2014 By The Center for Education Reform

Editorial, Idaho Statesman

During a Legislature that at times has resembled a scavenger hunt for laws that solve imaginary problems and that pad political resumes for upcoming elections, the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee has so far done its work well, and delivered an education funding package truly in the people’s long-term interest.

Whereas the Senate Affairs and Agriculture committees allowed themselves to be overly influenced by the NRA and agricultural lobbies, respectively, JFAC has lived up to delivering on what we were all told was the “No. 1 priority” for this session and this time in Idaho’s history: education reform and the funding to make it happen.

Free from the pressures of an election, we like the way Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna framed in a release his assessment of the JFAC budget announced Monday: “The budget improves the way we compensate Idaho’s teachers, provides more advanced opportunities for high school students, takes critical steps to restore discretionary funding to local school districts, strongly emphasizes classroom technology … With this budget, we are taking the necessary steps toward implementing the Task Force for Improving Education recommendations and making sure every student graduates from high school prepared for college or the workforce.”

The $1.38 billion budget for Idaho schools in fiscal year 2015 is a 5.1 ($66.2 million) percent increase over the previous year’s and much more generous than the 2.9 percent Gov. Butch Otter had requested. When Otter first announced his education request, we were concerned whether it sent the right message, and we are pleased JFAC has gone one better with its number.

Idaho and JFAC still have plenty of work to do before the education reforms we need can be set into motion, but taking the Idaho education system to a new and better level is going to take equal commitments from teachers — whom we are happy to report under JFAC’s plans will receive raises and career ladder assurances — and parents, who must invest more of their time and support in encouraging and monitoring their children’s academic preparations.

The financial commitment is precisely a “down payment” on Idaho’s future and will require many more installments to restore and maintain success in the future. But where money sometimes fails — or dries up at times — parents can always produce even higher dividends of success by volunteering at schools and getting engaged in the process as the Idaho Core Standards are implemented.

As Jeanne Allen put it Tuesday during an address to educators while speaking before an Albertson Foundation Ed Session in Boise, there is no substitute for “parent power” in education reform. The founder of The Center for Education Reform and president through 2013, Allen advised educators that they shouldn’t concern themselves with adopting ideas from other states and districts. They should be concerned only about the failure to follow through on them.

Idaho has a good funding start, a set of Task Force recommendations and a path forward. It now must stay the course.

Filed Under: CER in the News

Cashing in on Hypocrisy

March 5, 2014 By The Center for Education Reform

Larry Sand, Union Watch

Latest teacher union stunt to discredit charter schools rings hollow.

As I have written before – as recently as last Tuesday – the teachers unions have a schizoid relationship with charter schools. Depending on the tides, they either want to kill charters off or unionize them. Last week – in kill mode – Randi Weingarten’s American Federation of Teachers and a group called In the Public Interest launched a website called Cashing in on Kids.

The website consists of several cases of alleged charter improprieties – fiscal hanky-panky at one, mismanagement at another, etc. Whether the stories are true or not isn’t the point.

No one has ever said that these alternatives to traditional public schools are perfect or should operate with impunity. In fact, accountability is the hallmark of charter schools which get shut down if they don’t do their job. It’s audacious for AFT to bloviate about accountability and transparency in the charter sector when it is the unions that fight (spending untold millions in the process) to maintain the failing educational status quo. In a spot-on response to the attack, Center for Education Reform president Kara Kerwin wrote,

… Unlike all other public schools, charters must be proactive in their efforts to stay open. They must set and meet rigorous academic goals, and actually meet or exceed their state’s proficiency standards. Unlike the conventional public schools that intentionally remain under the radar, charter schools operate under intense scrutiny from teachers unions, the media, and lawmakers. In states with strong charter school laws that allow for objective oversight, it is clear that performance-based accountability is working.

In a rhetorical gymnastics routine we’ve come to expect from teacher unions, this latest campaign against education reform irresponsibly suggests that profit and student success are mutually exclusive, ignoring the fact that K-12 education in the U.S. is a $607 billion enterprise annually.

… By law, for-profit companies may only contract with the non-profit governing board of a charter school. These are public schools that are held to the same state standards, open meeting laws, and transparency. Open-enrollment policies must apply, and students that attend charter schools, regardless of the tax status of the organization that manages it, do so by choice.

Education management companies bring investment and capital to the communities they serve, creating jobs, innovation, and cost-saving strategies. Most assume great financial risk on behalf of their non-profit clients to build infrastructure and facilities in communities that in any other industry would most likely not be considered ideal or open to business. In fact, like most charter schools, even those in public-private partnerships, receive on average 30% less per pupil than their traditional school peers whose management has no accountability or incentive to improve student outcomes. (Emphasis added.)

This latest attempt by the AFT to discredit charter schools is nothing more than an effort to stifle the calls for greater accountability in our conventional public schools that the American public demands.

And it’s even worse than Kerwin made it out to be. In a U.S. News & World Report article about the website, Weingarten is quoted:

This is a simple exercise of following the money. … How many times do people simply get up on a pedestal and say we care about kids, and then you realize that they care about profits, they care about tax deductions, they care about privatizing the public system?

This gets right to the heart of the matter: the latest attack on charters is really an anti-capitalist screed more than anything else. Its goal is to score political points and paint charters as evil money-grubbing outfits. In the Public Interest – a perfect partner for AFT – is a project of The Partnership for Working Families (PWF), which is an ACORN-like group that hates anything capitalist and is a card-carrying member of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, whose raison d’être is to bash “one percenters.” Not surprisingly, several of PWF donors are rich “philanthropists,” including George Soros and other globalist/socialists.

Perhaps Weingarten, who is on a crusade to keep private entities from abusing public funds, should follow her own money. Her union – a private association – takes in $175,000,000 a year in union dues, which are purloined from teachers’ salaries in most states. And every penny of those salaries is paid by public tax money that originates with private citizens – the taxpayers.

Just what does the union do with all this public/private money? RiShawn Biddle reports,

For 2012-2013, the AFT spent $32 million on political lobbying activities and contributions …; this, by the way, doesn’t include politically-driven spending that can often find its way under so-called “representational activities”. This is a 19 percent increase over spending by the union during the 2011-2012 fiscal year.

This means that the union is pouring public/private money into causes that advance its main agenda which is essentially to keep public/private money flowing into its coffers. The union also pays its bosses quite nicely. According to the latest AFT tax filing, Weingarten pulls in $549,622 in total compensation. (Not too shabby for someone who rails against one percenters.) Her tax deduction crack is especially laughable because Weingarten, in her last year as United Federation of Teachers president, received a $194,000 payout for unused sick days, which pushed her total compensation for the year to over $600,000. And of course, it’s just a coincidence that she abandoned New York City that year for East Hampton, a very wealthy community on Long Island’s south shore, thus avoidingpaying $30,000 in taxes.

Hopefully the “Cashing in on Kids” website will get little traction. I mean, really – just who exactly is cashing in on kids … and their parents … and the taxpayers?

Filed Under: CER in the News

Daily Headlines for March 5, 2014

March 5, 2014 By The Center for Education Reform

NATIONAL COVERAGE

Obama’s Budget Boosts Preschool, Access To Top Teachers, But Freezes Many Education Programs
Huffington Post, March 5, 2014
President Barack Obama’s 2015 budget request increases education funding 2 percent over the previous year, cheering many education advocates, and proposes a revamped Race to the Top competition that focuses on opportunity for all students and a tobacco tax to pay for a previously-announced preschool expansion effort.

Obama Focuses on Education in 2015 Budget
Wall Street Journal, March 5, 2014
President Barack Obama unveiled his 2015 budget proposal at the Powell Elementary School in Washington on Tuesday, a location he said represented his commitment to educating the next generation of Americans.

School budget puts Idaho on right path
Editorial, Idaho Statesman, ID, March 5, 2014
During a Legislature that at times has resembled a scavenger hunt for laws that solve imaginary problems and that pad political resumes for upcoming elections, the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee has so far done its work well, and delivered an education funding package truly in the people’s long-term interest.

STATE COVERAGE

CALIFORNIA

Suit over teacher job protections will continue in L.A.
Los Angeles Times, CA, March 4, 2014
A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge has denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit seeking to limit teacher job protections in California.

CONNECTICUT

New Haven charter parents want more involvement in public school reform efforts
New Haven Register, CT, March 5, 2014
The education report compiled by Mayor Toni Harp’s transition team was intended to focus on improving New Haven Public Schools, but for parents of students in the city’s public charters, the report only widens the gap between traditional public and public charter.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Getting results at a high-poverty school
Washington Post Blog, DC, March 3, 2014
Turnaround for Children, a nonprofit that aims to improve schools by addressing the effects of poverty both inside and outside the classroom, is working with five DCPS schools this year. The goal is a calmer environment where learning can take place. So far the results look promising.

FLORIDA

Choice is starving our public schools: My Word
Opinion, Orlando Sentinel, FL, March 4, 2014
The Orlando Sentinel’s excellent editorial on school choice and accountability (“Ensure school choice leads to advancement,” Saturday) points out flaws in the system.

New schools standards bring new ways to evaluate, pay teachers
Bradenton Herald, FL, March 4, 2014
A new set of education standards for the state of Florida will also bring new teacher evaluations and a new pay scale. The changes were being questioned by Manatee County educators and parents Tuesday at a community engagement forum.

Why a charter school at MacDill Air Force Base is ‘absolutely necessary’
Commentary, The Tampa Tribune, FL, March 5, 2014
As a member of the MacDill Advisory Education Council, I have been disappointed reading recent articles and editorials in other publications that are not supportive of a charter school at MacDill Air Force Base and that are based to some extent on misinformation or lack of information.

ILLINOIS

Charter school, Elgin Academy get go-ahead for leasing former school property
Courier-News, IL, March 4, 2014
“This is not an endorsement of the charter school,” Mayor David Kaptain said as council member voted 8-1 Saturday to approve a lease deal with both the proposed Elgin Math and Science Academy charter school and with Elgin Academy to use some of the property’s 12 buildings.

LOUISIANA

Education plans could create a volatile mix in legislative session
The Advocate, LA, March 4, 2014
While Common Core is expected to dominate legislative education debates, battles are shaping up on teacher tenure, educator job evaluations and an overhaul of Louisiana’s public-school leadership.

New Orleans goes all in on charter schools. Is it showing the way?
Christian Science Monitors, MA, March 2, 2014
Nine in 10 students attend charter schools in New Orleans, which sought to transform failing public schools after hurricane Katrina. No other US city has gone so far down the charter path. Here’s a look at the results so far.

MAINE

Charter school commission undecided on probe of Lewiston application
Portland Press Herald, ME, March 5, 2014
Despite a suggestion by a member of the Maine Charter School Commission that the Attorney General’s Office investigate “material falsehoods” in an application for a charter school, it’s not clear whether the commission will make such a request.

MARYLAND

Brown proposal for closing the achievement gap
Baltimore Sun Blog, MD, March 4, 2014
Maryland Democratic gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown pledged Tuesday to adopt a variety of new educational initiatives that take aim at reducing the achievement gap by extending support to struggling families.

NEW YORK

De Blasio and Cuomo Clash Over Charters
Wall Street Journal, March 5, 2014
Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo headlined dueling rallies here Tuesday, clashing on the future of city charter schools and funding for the mayor’s plan to expand prekindergarten and after-school programs.

De Blasio and Builder of Charter School Empire Do Battle
New York Times, NY, March 5, 2014
She was a darling of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s administration, given free space to expand her charter schools from a single one in Harlem into a network larger than many New York State school districts.

Newburgh Prep holds first graduation
Times Herald-Record, NY, March 5, 2014
Five months after opening its doors, the mid-Hudson’s only charter school graduated its first student on Tuesday.

Over 11K charter school supporters pack Albany rally
New York Post, NY, March 5, 2014
An overflow crowd of 11,000 charter-school supporters braved Albany’s subfreezing weather Tuesday to cheer Cuomo as he blasted the state’s 200-plus failing public schools and declared that “parents deserve a choice” in charter schools.

Plans moving forward for first charter school in Niagara Falls
Buffalo News, NY, March 4, 2014
A group of parents and other community members is moving forward with a plan to open a charter school in the city.

Take that, Bill
Opinion, New York Daily News, NY, March 5, 2014
Gov. Cuomo hit it out of the park on Tuesday with a full-throated promise to “save charter schools” just days after Mayor de Blasio killed three of them, including throwing 210 children out of one of the state’s highest achieving programs.

NORTH CAROLINA

Wake County school leaders criticize the use of merit pay for teachers
News & Observer, NC, March 5, 2014
Wake County school leaders made it clear Tuesday that they don’t think merit pay works for teachers and even in some parts of the private sector.

Editorial: NC teachers revolt against trading tenure for bonuses
News & Observer, NC, March 5, 2014
There are indications that some boards of education in North Carolina may take lawmakers to school over attempts to get teachers to trade their tenure for modest bonuses. Good for them. The law that Republicans passed forcing school systems to encourage 25 percent of their teachers to give up tenure before it officially ends in 2018 is an affront to our educators.

OHIO

Core issues
Marietta Times, OH, March 4, 2014
With the opening of the The Veritas Academy in Marietta slated for the upcoming school year, parents will be given another private school option.

New website gives parents a simpler way to search their school choices
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, March 4, 2014
There’s now a simpler way for Cleveland parents to research what school to pick for their children.

RHODE ISLAND

NEW: RI Charter Schools See Huge Increase in Applications
GoLocal PrRov, RI, March 4, 2014
Charter public school applications for the upcoming school year far outweighed the available openings, according to state held blind lotteries held this week.

PENNSYLVANIA

Easton Area School District superintendent wants to review district’s charter school policy
Lehigh Valley Express-News, PA, March 4, 2014
Easton Area School District’s superintendent wants to review the district’s policy on charter school applications as the school board faces a decision on whether to approve a request by Strong Foundation Charter School to open next fall.

TENNESSEE

Nashville schools budget expected to be $4 million to $5 million less than August forecast
The Tennessean, TN, March 5, 2014
As officials at Metro Nashville Public Schools head into the homestretch of budget talks that began months ago, they’re now looking at a smaller number.

Nashville charter school LEAD Academy boasts 100 percent college acceptance
The Tennessean, TN, March 4, 2014
The inaugural senior class at Nashville’s first and only charter high school has pulled off a feat that might seem improbable: each member has been accepted to a four-year college.

TEXAS

Dallas ISD home-rule backers’ petition drive met with mixed reaction from voters
Dallas Morning News, TX, March 5, 2014
Supporters of an effort to make Dallas ISD a home-rule charter launched their campaign Tuesday with a petition that voters met with mixed reaction, confusion and lots of questions.

VIRGINIA

Middleburg gets county’s first charter school
Loudoun Times-Mirror, VA, March 5, 2014
Middleburg will soon be the home of the county’s first Charter School. The Loudoun County School Board voted to accept the application of the Middleburg Community Charter School at a work session and action meeting Tuesday night.

WISCONSIN

Keep promise on voucher-school accountability
Editorial, Green Bay Press-Gazette, WI, March 4, 2014
Wisconsin residents were promised, when the 2013-15 budget was passed in June, that voucher schools would be held to the same accountability standards as public schools.

Wisconsin bill that could target Common Core standards set for debate
Journal Sentinel, WI, March 4, 2014
A bill that would create a state academic standards board with the power to derail the implementation of nationally aligned reading and math goals in Wisconsin’s public schools will likely see intense debate Thursday in Madison.

ONLINE LEARNING

County OK’s First Lease Payment for Digital Learning Initiative
The Pilot, NC, March 4, 2014
The Moore County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night unanimously approved the first payment of $251,830 for the school system to lease 3,400 Chromebooks for the second phase of its digital learning initiative.

Online learning system could end school snow days
Charleston Gazette, WV, March 4, 2014
Education leaders hope the state’s implementation of Project 24, a digital learning initiative, could eliminate snow days as we know them.

Some school districts turn to e-learning to make up snow days
WRTV, IN, March 4, 2014
Of all the Indiana schools that need to make up for lost snow days, Zionsville is on the shortlist of districts that have the resources to do it on a virtual level.

Still nagging doubts about virtual schools
Editorial, Sun Journal, ME, March 5, 2014
We can only hope the Maine Charter School Commission members spoke with equal wisdom when they approved the application for the Maine Connections virtual school.

Virtual charter school eager to get started in Maine
Portland Press Herald, ME, March 5, 2014
The board hopes to start recruiting staff and students soon, and plans to open at least one local center where the faculty will work.

Virtual charter school would lack face time
Opinion, Portland Press Herald, ME, March 5, 2014
I just read the sample “Day in the Life” of a student at the just-approved Maine Connections Academy and it made me think of a kid who went by the name of Rada.

Filed Under: Daily Headlines

President Obama Puts Opportunity Scholarships On Chopping Block

March 4, 2014 By The Center for Education Reform

Obama Administration Once Again Neglects DC Voucher Program

CER Press Release
Washington, DC
March 4, 2014

Showing little regard for low-income families who rely on school choice for a chance at success, the Obama administration has yet again allowed for a severe funding imbalance in its budget for the widely popular and successful D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP). Since 2004, approximately 6,000 low-income students have benefitted from obtaining scholarships to pursue a better education, and escape a failing school.

“The refusal to allocate more than the bare minimum for the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program directly violates the sentiment of the 2011 SOAR Act, which was designed to secure future funding for these vital pathways to more and better opportunities,” said Kara Kerwin, president of The Center for Education Reform. “The Obama administration’s continued refusal to embrace the OSP in budgetary requests is unacceptable.”

The evidence that the D.C. OSP works is irrefutable. Scholarship recipients graduated high school at an average rate of 93 percent between 2010 and 2012, and enrolled in college at a 90 percent rate.

“It’s critical that members of Congress acknowledge the longstanding benefits of the OSP, and remedy this funding shortfall,” Kerwin added.

Filed Under: Press Releases

NEWSWIRE: March 4, 2014

March 4, 2014 By The Center for Education Reform

Vol. 16, No. 9

OPPORTUNITY SHORTCHANGED. Once again, President Obama’s FY15 budget has shortchanged money for the successful, popular, money-saving Opportunity Scholarship Program in Washington, D.C. Sadly, this is not the first time D.C. vouchers have been zeroed-out of the budget, even though research validates the program’s effectiveness, despite President’s claims to the contrary. Very few government programs can claim a positive return on taxpayer investment, but the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program offers a 162 percent return on each taxpayer dollar invested in the program. Not only that, but the graduation rate for voucher students is 12 percentage points higher than those not using vouchers. It’s the leaders who ignore these facts and ignore the families who deserve and need this program that deserve a zero.

IN DEFENSE OF NYC CHARTER SCHOOLS. As of one week ago, it looked like hundreds of students were all ready to attend a quality school of their own choosing. This expectation was put in serious jeopardy when the New York City Department of Education reversed the co-location approval decision for three separate charter schools, representing an unacceptable denial of choices that families were rightfully afforded. This is the latest in a series of attacks on publicly supported charter schools that have demonstrated a clear ability to improve educational outcomes for New York City students. As city officials continue to take steps to reverse what seemed at one point the inexorable expansion of alternatives to traditional public schools, it’s critical parents make their voices heard to make sure kids still have access to schools that fit their needs. Take action now by signing the petition to tell city hall that charters work.

DISCREDITING GOOD TEACHERS. In an alarming course of action, teachers in Fairfax County, Virginia, are ‘working to the rule,’ due to a shared wariness that pay raises aren’t going to materialize. This means teachers will do the bare minimum of their job description, cutting out extracurricular activities, science fairs, and college recommendation writing. This unfortunate tactic will undoubtedly come at the expense of students, and undercuts the widespread satisfaction teachers feel about their job in addition to the desire of many to make a difference first and foremost. Treating teachers as a collective of rank-and-file personnel does a disservice to the honor and dignity of the teaching profession, and does little to reward good educators. Pay policies rooted in performance is one way to treat teachers with respect.

ROAD TO RECOVERY. It has been over a decade since the Louisiana government laid the groundwork for the Recovery School District, and if much-needed reform became imminent following the state takeover, it became inevitable in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. In the face of much adversity, New Orleans schools – and by extension the city as a whole – embraced charter schools as an effective method of improving educational outcomes, and the Big Easy hasn’t looked back. High school graduation rates are climbing, and more students are eligible for college scholarships after they were able to chart their own destiny in the school they chose with their parents. Other urban areas are now watching the New Orleans experiment, and with the right laws and leadership, could replicate the types of opportunities seen in Louisiana.

MISGUIDED ATTACK ON FOR-PROFITS. In what seems to be a relentless attempt at banning certain charter school operators, there is now a ballot initiative in California aiming to shut out for-profit charter entities from the Golden State. Similar actions have been taken in recent weeks to vilify charter operators, despite having proven track records of managing quality schools and improving surrounding communities. Public-private partnerships tend to implement performance-based accountability measures to serve students to the best of their ability, and the private sides of these relationships often take the brunt of the financial risk associated with creating a new charter school. Ballot initiatives like these accomplish nothing but to inhibit the proliferation of more and better opportunities for students.

IDAHO ED SESSIONS. Today, Center for Education Reform founder Jeanne Allen asked Idahoans “What if Parents Reformed Education?” as the guest speaker and national thought leader on education reform at J.A. & Kathryn Albertson Foundation’s Ed Sessions 2.0. This event featured some of the brightest, most inspired voices from around the globe with a focus on education, training, and self-fulfillment. The goal? To collectively discover what’s needed to meet the extraordinary challenges of living and working in the 21st century. For more information visit Ed Sessions 2.0 and watch the video Live Chat on Wednesday by clicking here.

DON’T MISS a special viewing of “The Ticket: The Many Faces of School Choice” on Tuesday, March 18 at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C. This documentary tours the country, highlighting different forms of how parents and students exercise the freedom of choosing the education that’s right for them. Click here to register.

Filed Under: Newswire Weekly, Newswire

Daily Headlines for March 4, 2014

March 4, 2014 By The Center for Education Reform

STATE COVERAGE

ALABAMA

Alabama House passes school flexibility bill
Dothan First, AL, March 3, 2014
Six hours of instruction per day, for 180 days per year. That’s the traditional school calendar. But state lawmakers want to give local school systems a little leeway.

ARIZONA

Arizona House postpones debate on voucher program expansion
Arizona Capital Times, AZ, March 34, 2014
The Arizona House will debate a bill vastly expanding the state’s voucher program that allows students to use public funds for a private education.

CALIFORNIA

Group petitions for World Language Academy
Stockton Record, CA, March 3, 2014
A northern California charter school group has petitioned the San Joaquin County Office of Education to start a school that doubles as a Spanish language dual immersion and International Baccalaureate program in east Stockton.

In survey, union leader vows to file complaints over ‘teacher jails’
Los Angeles Times, CA, March 3, 2014
Los Angeles teachers union president Warren Fletcher lashed out at the school district Monday for its handling of teachers accused of misconduct, vowing to file federal and state age-discrimination complaints.

COLORADO

Colorado tries to revive education overhaul
Denver Post, CO, March 3, 2014
Colorado lawmakers started work Monday on what may be the Legislature’s trickiest job of the year: Crafting an education overhaul without $1 billion a year in new taxes.
The House Education Committee heard testimony on two bills that attempt to salvage a school-reform plan that was rejected by voters last year. That plan included an income-tax hike of about $1 billion a year.

FLORIDA

Henderson: Teacher evaluation tool pure gibberish
The Tampa Tribune, FL, March 3, 2014
A lot of words come to mind when trying to make sense of the formula the state has mandated to evaluate how well public school teachers are doing their jobs.

Facts needed for informed debate on school vouchers
Opinion, Sun-Sentinel, FL, March 4, 2014
Since we opened Mount Bethel Christian Academy in 1990, we have worked with a steady stream of students who arrived in our classrooms academically behind. Many of them were in danger of falling through the cracks in school – and in life.

Lawmakers eying broader landscape for school vouchers
First Coast News, FL, March 4, 2014
Florida lawmakers are taking a hard look at broadening a voucher program that would enable children from low-income families to afford a private education.

Public school siege
Editorial, Gainesville Sun, FL, March 4, 2014
It’s no wonder that public school educators would feel like they’re under attack in Florida.

School voucher program should be expanded
Letter, Sun Sentinel, FL, March 4, 2014
As a recipient school of the Corporate Tax Credit Scholarship program administered by Step Up for Students, we know firsthand the financial sacrifices made by our parents to give their children the education we provide. This is evident among the least fortunate of families, who would not otherwise be afforded that opportunity without assistance from this program.

IDAHO

Sen. Lacey’s motion on teacher pay approved by state budget writers
Idaho State Journal, ID, March 4, 2014
Sen. Roy Lacey, D-Pocatello, gained bipartisan support Monday among state budget writers with a successful motion to increase Idaho’s K-12 public schools teacher pay by 1.6 percent.

ILLINOIS

ISAT boycott is met by CPS saying test is crucial
Chicago Tribune, IL, March 4, 2014
Many Chicago Public Schools students found themselves Monday in the middle of a tug of war between parents and teachers calling for a boycott of the Illinois Standards Achievement Test and district officials who continue to stress the exam’s importance.

MAINE

Michaud, Cutler, LePage offer differing views on virtual charter schools
Portland Press Herald, ME, March 4, 2014
Independent candidate for governor Eliot Cutler offered cautious support Monday for virtual charter schools while the Democratic candidate, U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, said the online schools are “not the right answer.”

NEW MEXICO

New classwork + tests = no fill-in-the-blank evals
Editorial, Albuquerque Journal, NM, March 4, 2014
The classes of 2013 prepared for and took Standards Based Assessment tests. The classes of 2014 are preparing for new Common Core Standards but will take a modified SBA that includes, but does not count, Common Core test questions for grading. And the classes of 2015 and beyond will prepare for Common Core and take its Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exam.

NEW YORK

De Blasio heads to Albany for pleas and protest
Wall Street Journal, March 4, 2 014
Bill de Blasio’s journey to Albany marks a key date in his young mayoralty, as he heads to the capital to make a late push for his signature pre-kindergarten plan amid a backdrop of a protest organized by well-financed charter school advocates.

Not a ‘for the kids’ point of view
Editorial, Orange County Register, CA, March 4, 2014
Success Academy Harlem 4 is an exemplary charter school. Some 55 percent of its low-income, preponderantly black students passed English exams last year, while 83 percent passed math exams. Those figures are far above averages for New York City public schools.

Success breeds success
Opinion, New York Daily News, NY, March 4, 2014
In the best American political tradition, families and students from Success Academy charter schools are visiting Albany on a school day to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

NORTH CAROLINA

Wake and Durham school leaders to oppose new teacher contracts
News & Observer, NC, March 4, 2014
Two of the Triangle’s largest school districts are poised this week to publicly oppose the state’s new requirement that systems encourage 25 percent of their teachers to give up their tenure rights in return for bonuses.

OHIO

Cleveland and Columbus charter school concerns will be taken on by upcoming bills in the legislature
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, March 3, 2014
The “loophole” in state law that allowed two charter schools to start in Cleveland this fall with little state oversight and none by the city, could soon be closed.

Two new charter schools win the backing of the Cleveland school district
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, March 3, 2014
The Cleveland school district agreed Tuesday to support two new charter schools that will add to the mix of charter and district schools that families and students can pick from.

PENNSYLVANIA

Erie School Board votes to deny charter for Huxley school
Erie Times-News, PA, March 4, 2014
The Erie School Board denied a charter application from the proposed Huxley Charter School for the Liberal Arts and Sciences after the board’s lawyer outlined numerous problems with the application and plan for operation.

Fixing public charter schools
Editorial, The Intelligencer, PA, March 4, 2014
One of the obstacles to effective government reform on any issue is disagreement on the problem. Without a shared understanding of what’s broken and why, fixing it can be darn near impossible, at least in a collaborative way.

TEXAS

Five charter schools warned for failing to meet state academic and financial standards
San Antonio Express-News, TX, March 4, 2014
The Texas Education Agency has warned five local charter school networks that their accreditation status is in jeopardy after they failed to meet academic standards, financial integrity ratings or both.

WEST VIRGINIA

House Ed Committee botches teacher pay bill
West Virginia MetroNews, WV, March 4, 2014
Governor Tomblin, teacher unions and key lawmakers have spent the last two months trying to shepherd a pay raise for teachers and service workers through the Legislature. It’s been a challenge, for a variety of reasons.

ONLINE LEARNING

Commission approves Maine’s first virtual charter school
Portland Press Herald, ME, March 3, 2014
The Maine Charter School Commission voted unanimously Monday to approve the state’s first virtual charter school, while rejecting applications from another virtual school and a school whose backers allegedly have ties to an imam at the center of political upheaval in Turkey.

Greenfield schools’ involvement in virtual school nearing end
Greenfield Recorder, MA, March 4, 2014
By month’s end, the Greenfield School Department will no longer be involved with the virtual school it helped create four years ago.

Maine shouldn’t reduce opportunities for all students to provide virtual learning for a few
Opinion, Bangor Daily News, ME, March 4, 2014
Former Superintendent Rich Abramson’s points regarding the benefits of online learning opportunities for Maine students in his Feb. 26 BDN OpEd were right on the mark. Distance learning must be a tool in the educational toolbox of all Maine communities.

Filed Under: Daily Headlines

Daily Headlines for March 3, 2014

March 3, 2014 By The Center for Education Reform

NATIONAL COVERAGE

Calling Arne Duncan
Review & Outlook, Wall Street Journal, March 2, 2014
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio carried through this week on one of his campaign’s “progressive” promises: his assault on charter schools. Mr. de Blasio announced that he would not allow Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy to open three new charter schools that had been approved by previous Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

STATE COVERAGE

ALABAMA

Bill would lift Alabama Accountability Act tax credit cap
Montgomery Advertiser, AL, March 2, 2014
The Alabama Accountability Act, whose passage and provisions engulfed lawmakers last year, is back for the stretch run of the 2014 legislative session.

Legislation that would change criteria used to lay off teachers hotly debated
Montgomery Advertiser, AL, March 2, 2014
Meadows spoke at a public hearing last Wednesday to support legislation that would no longer allow school boards in Alabama to use seniority as the primary factor in determining which teachers to cut when there are budget reductions or drops in student enrollment.

COLORADO

Documenting Colorado teacher effectiveness: How much is enough?
Denver Post, CO, March 2, 2014
Requirements for such evidence differ widely among districts — from those that demand just a few artifacts to those that expect teachers to mount an extensive case proving their effectiveness. Most districts use the state evaluation model advanced by the Colorado Department of Education, which grades teachers on 27 separate elements.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

D.C. mulling Common Core test switch
Washington Post, DC, March 3, 2014
The District is slated to begin administering new tests next year that aim to gauge students’ performance on the Common Core State Standards, new national academic guidelines that are designed to promote critical thinking instead of rote memorization.

Fla. considers best way to implement ed reforms
Washington Times, DC, March 1, 2014
Sweeping changes the Florida Legislature has made to education in recent years are likely to come to the forefront again during the upcoming session as lawmakers grapple with their implementation.

Nonpublic schools to rally for tax credit
Washington Post, DC, March 3, 2014
Maryland’s nonpublic schools are pushing for a business tax credit to encourage investments in schools.

FLORIDA

Ensure school choice leads to advancement: Editorial
Editorial, Orlando Sentinel, FL, March 1, 2014
It’s an educational fix long overdue. So give Florida Senate President Don Gaetz credit for insisting that private schools that receive state-supported vouchers administer the same accountability tests as their public-school counterparts.

Palm Beach County district foots bills for its students to take SAT for free, charter schools decline to pay
Palm Beach Post, FL, March 3, 2014
Thousands of juniors at public high schools run by Palm Beach County got to take their SATs at school for free this past Tuesday, with the school district picking up the tab.

Southwest Florida schools compete for good teachers
News-Press, FL, March 2, 2014
Finding teachers has become a complicated and competitive task for school districts. It’s become difficult to fill classrooms. Enrollment is growing at a rapid pace for Southwest Florida schools and many teachers are leaving the profession after just a few years. There aren’t enough education majors graduating from local colleges and the competition to employ those students is steep.

GEORGIA

Will charter schools work in Cobb?
Marietta Journal, GA, March 3, 2014
Being a charter school takes work. And not just on the part of the students, teachers and administrators.

LOUISIANA

Education plans could create a volatile mix
The Advocate, LA, March 3, 2014
While Common Core is expected to dominate legislative education debates, battles are shaping up on teacher tenure, educator job evaluations and an overhaul of Louisiana’s public-school leadership.

MASSACHUSETTS

Charting a pathway to stability in Lenox
Opinion, Berkshire Eagle, MA, March 3, 2014
The School Department’s strategic study committee is doubling down on charting pathways to financial stability for the district, zeroing in on the future of school choice.

Charter school, flooded with applicants, to hold lottery
Lowell Sun, MA, March 2, 2014
More than 300 families have submitted applications for their children to attend the Lowell Community Charter Public School in fall 2014. In January, the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education granted an amendment to LCCPS’ charter allowing the school to become a K-8 school.

Global Learning Charter School determined to remove probation stigma
South Coast Today, MA, March 2, 2014
Across Massachusetts, there are 81 charter schools and over the past decade, nine of them have been placed on probation, state education officials said.

MICHIGAN

Suit seeks to prevent action against Novi teacher who refused to pay union dues
Detroit News, MI, March 3, 2014
The legal arm of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy has filed a lawsuit to prevent the state’s largest education union from using a collection agency against a Novi teacher who refused to pay her union dues.

MINNESOTA

Education committee weighs charter school bills
Daily Planet, MN, February 28, 2014
Two charter school bills have been set aside for possible inclusion into an omnibus education bill. However, Rep. Carlos Mariani (DFL-St. Paul), chair of the House Education Policy Committee, deemed one more problematic than the other.

MISSOURI

Alternative Education Center offers help to students with problems
Southeast Missourian, MO, March 3, 2014
Students who attend the Alternative Education Center usually wind up there because of several factors — attendance, behavior and academic performance. But once they’re there, principal Scott McMullen says, they want to stay.

NEW JERSEY

Moment of truth for Newark school reform
Editorial, Star Leger, NJ, March 1, 2014
The political meltdown in Newark over school reform has reached an alarming stage and now threatens to derail the entire effort.

School choice cannot survive on altruism alone
Editorial, The Record, NJ, March 3, 2014
We understand Pequannock officials’ exasperation that the additional aid they expected when they participated in the state’s School Choice Program was being offset with a reduction elsewhere, for ostensibly a net gain of zero.

NEW YORK

Charter schools axed by Mayor de Blasio: pro and con
New York Daily News, NY, March 2, 2014
De Blasio announced Thursday he was axing three planned charter schools operated by Success Academy, and charter school advocates plan to march in Albany to protest that move. A charter school principal argues de Blasio is working against kids’ education and safety. A Queens councilman responds that Success Academy’s CEO is using kids as pawns in her effort to privatize public schools and get rich.

City Details After-School Expansion
Wall Street Journal, February 3, 2014
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to double the number of middle-school students in after-school programs would provide more than 95,000 slots in a total of 512 schools, according to a report to be released by city officials Monday.

Find these kids a home
Opinion, New York Daily News, NY, March 3, 2014
With the New York City school system serving more than 1 million students in hundreds of buildings, it defies belief that Mayor de Blasio cannot find room for the 210 children whose charter school in Harlem he is shuttering.

Senate GOP leader vows to fight for city’s charter schools
New York Post, NY, March 3, 2014
Charter schools under assault by Mayor de Blasio have found a political champion: state Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos.

NORTH CAROLINA

A good start on teacher pay, marred by politics as usual
Gaston Gazette, NC, March 1, 2014
Imagine this headline: “Democrats, public school ‘advocates’ oppose raising teacher pay.” Now that would be news. If it were true. It isn’t.

Black children stand to benefit from vouchers
Column, Fayetteville Observer, NC, March 2, 2014
North Carolina Democrats want to trap poor black children in low-performing schools. Their main opposition to a school-voucher plan, I suspect, centers on concerns about racial balance. However, underprivileged African-American children stand to gain the most from the Republican-endorsed private school tuition grants, and we all know it.

School choice is the new norm in North Carolina education
Fayetteville Observer, NC, March 2, 2014
The education landscape has changed in North Carolina over the past several years, which has given parents more school options for their children.

OHIO

Hit on charters was full of untruths
Letter, Columbus Dispatch, OH, March 1, 2014
I respond to Anita Beck’s letter to the editor last Saturday (“What took Yost so long to look at charters?”). It included so many unsubstantiated claims — and a clear disdain for all charter schools — that it’s difficult to know where to begin.

PENNSYLVANIA

Phila. district has covered $1.1M in 12 charters’ pension payments
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, March 3, 2014
When city charter schools don’t pay the state teachers’ pension system, the Philadelphia School District temporarily picks up the tab.

TENNESSEE

School board member asks for investigation of complaints at Nashville Prep charter school
The Tennessean, TN, February 28, 2014
Allegations paint the middle school’s culture as authoritative, inflexible and uniform — a climate Frogge called emblematic of a “no excuses” charter school model that she contends isn’t appropriate for young children.

TEXAS

New Texas graduation requirements are a change for the better
Dallas Morning News Blog, TX, March 2, 2014
One could argue the decision the state education board passed with new graduation requirements is not the best thing for high schools; however, if you set aside the mentality that everyone should go to college or that everyone should take Algebra II, the new graduation plan is a good thing for our state.

UTAH

Malodorous deals
Editorial, Salt Lake Tribune, UT, March 1, 2014
There is so much wrong with the way some Utah charter and district schools are siphoning tax money and their responsibility to educate children to private online providers, it’s difficult to know where to begin.

WASHINGTON

Less lecturing, more doing: New approach for A.P. classes
Seattle Times, WA, March 1, 2014
In an attempt to add depth to the curriculum in America’s most popular advanced high-school courses, some local teachers threw out most of their lectures and replaced them with a series of projects. Results so far are encouraging.

ONLINE LEARNING

Beaufort County schools look to grow ‘flipped’ classroom model
Island Packet, SC, March 2, 2014
Several teachers in Beaufort County schools are flipping education on its head. The traditional model of students listening to a lecture in class and doing homework at home is a thing of the past, said Hilton Head Island Elementary School teacher Mary Baker.

City, suburban schools grappling with common problem
Philadelphia Daily News, PA, March 2, 2014
ROUGHLY 15 miles apart, Overbrook High and Upper Dublin High are geographically close – but the two schools are virtually worlds apart when it comes to their academic realities.

Computers, Internet force more students to spend snow days on school work
Baltimore Sun, MD, March 3, 2014
When some kids hear the hallowed words “snow day” in advance of Monday’s storm, they’ll grab their coats and sleds and head outdoors. But Maryvale Preparatory School senior Elizabeth Piet, like a growing number of students across the Baltimore region, will power up her iPad to see what assignments her teachers have waiting.

Cyber School Not a Fix for Snow Days
Opinion, Arkansas Business, AK, March 3, 2014
Students may love nothing more than a snow day. Who wouldn’t want to stay home, maybe go sledding at the neighborhood park and sit around watching TV all day?

Decision day for three thorny charter school applications in Maine
Portland Press Herald, ME, March 3, 2014
A commission will vote on bids to open the state’s first virtual academies, and one with Turkey ties in the Lewiston area.

E-days might come to replace snow days
Connecticut Post, CT, March 2, 2014
Snow days are piling up this school year in Connecticut, and weekend forecasts said Monday might be another one, which would mean further mayhem for school calendars.

New All-Digital Curriculums Hope to Ride High-Tech Push in Schoolrooms
New York Times, NY, March 3, 2014
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio carried through this week on one of his campaign’s “progressive” promises: his assault on charter schools. Mr. de Blasio announced that he would not allow Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy to open three new charter schools that had been approved by previous Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

Online classes multiply in state
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, PA, March 2, 2014
Nicole Rizzitano practices pirouettes at ballet school in Seattle, but she expects to graduate 2,500 miles away in May from the North Hills School District.

Virtual school and Greenfield schools consider 30-day transitional agreement
Greenfield Recorder, MA, March 1, 2014
The Massachusetts Virtual Academy at Greenfield is moving out on its own, and officials will work out an exit plan with the School Committee Thursday.

Filed Under: Daily Headlines

AFT, Nonprofit Launch ‘Cashing in on Kids’ Website, Spur Controversy

February 28, 2014 By The Center for Education Reform

Michele Moinar
Education Week
February 27th, 2014

For-profit education is being put under the microscope in the new ‘Cashing in on Kids’ website, a collaboration between the American Federation of Teachers and In the Public Interest that takes on the five largest for-profit charter school organizations in the country.

Kara Kerwin, president of The Center for Education Reform, a Washington organization that advocates for charters and school choice, issued a strong response to the launch today.

“[T]his latest campaign against education reform irresponsibly suggests that profit and student success are mutually exclusive, ignoring the fact that K-12 education in the U.S. is a $607 billion enterprise annually,” Kerwin indicated.

Read the rest of the article here.

Filed Under: CER in the News

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