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NEWSWIRE IS BACK! Click here for 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

La. Schools Chief White Testifies Before U.S. Congress
The Advocate, LA, May 7, 2013
While the Louisiana Supreme Court rejected the funding mechanism for the state’s expanded school voucher system, state Superintendent of Education John White was discussing school choice and accountability with members of Congress.

STATE COVERAGE

CALIFORNIA

Pomona Unified Administrator Propose Turning Yorba Elementary Into Charter School
Inland Valley Daily Herald, CA, May 8, 2013
Pomona Unified School District administrators presented a proposal to the district’s Board of Education Tuesday night calling for converting Yorba Elementary School into a charter school with an emphasis on science and technology.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Gray Nominates Two New Candidates for D.C. Public Charter School Board
Washington Post, DC, May 7, 2013
Mayor Vincent C. Gray has nominated two candidates to fill vacancies on the D.C. Public Charter School Board, which is responsible for authorizing new charter schools and closing poor performers.

FLORIDA

Manatee’s Rowlett Elementary Considers Charter School Option During Budget Crisis
Bradenton Herald, FL, May 8, 2013
Rowlett Magnet Elementary School, concerned about the financial uncertainty facing the Manatee County School District, is exploring a novel approach to ensure the quality of its academic programs, which focus on communications and the arts.

‘Trigger’ Bill Or No, Parents Already Have Good Options To Empower Them
Miami Herald, FL, May 7, 2013
As media websites throughout Florida told of the end of the notorious “parent trigger” bill for this year, one state senator nailed the problem — the law already allows parents to get involved in fixing failing public schools, but few of them bother to do so.

GEORGIA

Common Core Standards Debated
Cherokee Ledger News, GA, May 8, 2013
Federal education standards being piloted in Cherokee County schools as a part of the state’s participation in Race To The Top (RTTT) became the topic of conversation at the May 2 school board meeting.

Georgia DOE Releases New Grades For Public Schools
Athens Banner-Herald, GA, May 7, 2013
Georgia’s new report card for public schools is out. The Georgia Department of Education said the average score for Georgia’s elementary schools is 83.4; middle schools is 81.4 and high schools is 72.6.

Governor Signs Bill Linking Teacher Evaluations To Student Performance
Atlanta Journal Constitution Blog, GA, May 7, 2013
StudentsFirst, the influential advocacy organization created by former Washington, D.C., schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, sent out a media release today celebrating Gov. Nathan Deal’s signing of House Bill 244.

ILLINOIS

Tick … Tick … Tick …
Chicago Tribune, IL, May 8, 2013
The latest headache for Chicago Public Schools officials: Independent hearing officers oppose efforts to close about a quarter of the 53 elementary schools that are on the block.

LOUISIANA

Jindal Promises To Find Voucher Funding After High Court Strikes It Down
Times-Picayune, LA, May 8, 2013
The Louisiana Supreme Court on Tuesday declared that the way the Jindal administration has been financing a statewide school voucher program is unconstitutional, a decision that has significant ramifications for the ongoing state budget debate and the approximately 8,000 students who have been promised voucher seats for the fall.

Funding For La. Gov. Jindal’s Voucher Program Struck Down By Court
Washington Times, DC, May 7, 2013
In a setback for Gov. Bobby Jindal’s drive to overhaul the state’s education system, the Louisiana Supreme Court on Tuesday said the state can’t fund its landmark voucher initiative with money meant for public schools.

Locals Applaud State Supreme Court Ruling On Vouchers
Monroe News Star, LA, May 8, 2013
Local educators and community members were excited Tuesday to learn about the Louisiana Supreme Court’s ruling that the funding mechanism for the Louisiana Scholarship Program is unconstitutional.

MAINE

After Turmoil, Portland Charter School Approved
Portland Press Herald, ME, May 8, 2013
The Maine Charter School Commission approved a scaled-down plan for Portland’s first charter school Tuesday, clearing the way for the Baxter Academy for Technology and Science to open in the fall

Lawmakers At Odds With LePage Administration Over Charter Schools
Portland Press Herald, ME, May 8, 2013
A standoff is developing between the Maine Department of Education and Democratic lawmakers over a new, more equitable way to fund public charter schools.

MARYLAND

Md. Teachers: We’re Not Ready For New Evaluation Systems, Common Core
Washington Post, DC, May 7, 2013
Maryland teachers are asking for more time and training to meet the demands of new evaluation systems and education standards expected to be in place by the start of the next school year, according to a survey from the Maryland State Education Association.

Referendum Petition Drive Targets Prince George’s Schools Takeover Bill
Baltimore Sun, MD, May 8, 2013
A signature-collecting petition drive has started in Prince George’s County to try to force County Executive Rushern Baker III’s impending school takeover to a 2014 referendum.

MASSACHUSETTS

Charter School Advocates Want Cap Removed in Mass.
Boston Globe, MA, May 8, 2013
Three years after state lawmakers lifted the cap on the number of charter schools that can legally operate in Massachusetts, advocates urged lawmakers Tuesday to abolish it, citing a study that found that the schools outperform traditional public schools in the state, particularly in Boston.

More School Reform
Boston Herald, MA, May 8, 2013
It’s cute that the Joint Committee on Education scheduled a hearing on a slew of bills related to charter schools during National Charter School Awareness Month.

MICHIGAN

Michigan District Can’t Pay Teachers, Lays Off Staff
Detroit News, MI, May 8, 2013
A Michigan school district that said it can’t afford to pay its teachers will remain closed for a second day Wednesday after laying off staff because of a loss of state funds.

NEBRASKA

Lawmakers Revive Arguments On Charter-Schools Proposal
Omaha World Herald, NE, May 8, 2013
Nebraska lawmakers who support an Omaha charter-schools bill launched a debate on a measure that was killed in committee this year.

NEW JERSEY

Appeal Filed To Block Camden School’s Approval
Cherry Hill Courier Post, NJ, May 8, 2013
The Education Law Center has filed an appeal to block the state’s approval of the KIPP Cooper Norcross Academy.

NEW MEXICO

District Plans New Charter School Compacts
Santa Fe New Mexican, NM, May 8, 2013
Santa Fe Public Schools is moving forward with a plan to set up performance compacts with the district’s four charter schools in an effort to provide greater transparency and set clear goals for the schools.

NEW YORK

A 30-Month Legal Fight to Conceal E-Mails About a 95-Day Schools Chancellor
New York Times, NY, May 8, 2013
If you have lost three consecutive times in court on the same legal fight, with not a single judge giving you the time of day, and one of them saying that your main argument is “particularly specious,” what would you do?

NORTH CAROLINA

NC Senate Passes Bill Creating Separate State Board For Charter Schools
News & Observer, NC, May 7, 2013
The state Senate passed a bill Tuesday creating a separate regulatory board for charter schools by a vote of 32-17.

OHIO

Curriculum Critics Wrong
Columbus Dispatch, OH, May 8, 2013
A campaign against Common Core educational standards — developed by governors, adopted by 45 states and designed to help American children catch up to their peers around the world — is misguided and misinformed.

PENNSYLVANIA

Pocono Mountain Charter School’s Court-Appointed Custodian Quickly Takes Charge
Pocono Record, PA, May 8, 2013
The court-appointed custodian for the troubled Pocono Mountain Charter School swiftly stepped in Tuesday night, hiring a new principal and firing a public relations firm.

TEXAS

Charter School Rally Planned At Texas Capitol
Houston Chronicle, TX, May 8, 2013
Parents and activists are set to rally at the state Capitol for high-profile proposed legislation to expand charter schools in Texas.

WASHINGTON

New Law Targets How Schools Perform
Everett Herald, WA, May 8, 2013
One of the first Republican-sponsored education reform bills became law Tuesday and will give the state more power to intercede in schools where student performance on basic skills tests is persistently poor.

WISCONSIN

School Choice Will Help Students Succeed
Green Bay Press Gazette, WI, May 7, 2013
Choosing a school for your child is one of the most important decisions you will make. Wealthy parents have always had access to a variety of educational options.

ONLINE LEARNING

Gov. Rick Snyder To Visit Zeeland’s Innoacademy Charter School, Site Of New Icademy
Grand Rapids Press, MI, May 8, 2013
Governor Rick Snyder today will visit Innocademy, a Zeeland-based year-round public school academy, and tour its Homestead Campus.

‘Blended Learning’ Leads To Rare Teacher Satisfaction
The Californian, CA, May 7, 2013
By all rights, Wendy Chaves’ Algebra II class should be a zoo. She’s charged with teaching nearly 50 teenagers at a time at the Alliance Tennenbaum Family Technology High School in Los Angeles. Yet Chaves has never felt more effective.

NEWSWIRE IS BACK! Click here for 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

New Course Recommended for Some High-School Students
Wall Street Journal, May 7, 2013
Amid a national push to lift high-school standards in the U.S., a new study recommends a different approach for students who go on to community college, one that emphasizes basic subjects to provide them with only the skills they would need to succeed in their future careers.

Republicans Should Love ‘Common Core’
Wall Street Journal, May 6, 2013
The Common Core State Standards are a set of rigorous academic standards in mathematics and English language arts. They are the culmination of a meticulous, 20-year process initiated by the states and involving teachers, educators, business leaders and policy makers from across the country and both sides of the aisle. The standards form a foundation for a high-quality education, have been adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia, and are slated for full implementation in 2014.

State School Systems Rethink Common Core Standards
Washington Post, DC, May 6, 2013
The growing backlash against the nationwide K-12 school standards known as Common Core, bubbling to the surface in Indiana, Michigan and elsewhere, has become the hottest story in education.

Assemblyman Diegnan’s Charter Bill Flies in Face of (Rare) Consensus
New Jersey Spotlight, NJ, May 7, 2013
One of the few things educators and administrators agree on: charter schools need multiple authorizers

Teacher Pay Hurt by Recession, Report Says
New York Times, NY, May 7, 2013
During the recession and its aftermath, public schools took a hit as both state coffers and local property taxes shriveled. That showed up in shrinking employment, but also in teacher salaries.

Charter Schools: The Report Card
MSNBC, May 7, 2013
On Friday the White House issued a presidential proclamation naming May 5 -11 “National Charter School Week.” Charter Schools are publicly funded schools that are governed by an independent organization through a contract–or charter–with the state.

Corruption is Destroying America’s Schools
Richmond Times-Dispatch, VA, May 7, 2013
The recent 65-count cheating indictment against 35 Atlanta school officials, including the superintendent, has reignited an intense national debate on the use of standardized test scores as a key feature in teacher evaluations.

STATE COVERAGE

ALABAMA

Alabama’s Private Schools Don’t Want State Involvement
Montgomery Advertiser, AL, May 6, 2013
Private and parochial schools want to make sure Alabama’s new tax credits and scholarships for private school attendance don’t lead to the state government having a role in their operations.

CALIFORNIA

Bullis, LASD Battle ‘Escalating’
Mountain View-Voice, CA, May 6, 2013
The ongoing battle between Bullis Charter School and the Los Altos School District appears to be escalating — with officials from both organizations accusing the other of breaking the law.

LA Mayoral Candidates: Boost Education Reform
My Fox Atlanta, CA, May 7, 2013
The countdown is on for the May 21st election and the candidates are coming-a-courting. While officially the Mayor of Los Angeles has no role in how the public school system is run, extra-officially, he/she can play a big role. The Mayor’s office is a great bully-pulpit.

CONNECTICUT

Weingarten Proclaims Victory In New Haven
New Haven Independent, CT, May 6, 2013
Three thousand miles away from New Haven, the city became Exhibit A in a showdown between a national union president and a charter school proponent about the future of school reform.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

D.C. Charter School Waitlists Vary Widely
Washington Post, DC, May 6, 2013
Charter school waiting lists vary widely across the District, according to data released Monday by the D.C. Public Charter School Board that suggests demand tends to be greatest for early childhood programs and schools rated high-performing.

FLORIDA

Pasco County Charter Schools, By The Numbers
Tampa Bay Times Blog, FL, May 6, 2013
Pasco County School Board members plan a wide-ranging discussion on charter schools on Tuesday, discussing the future of charters in the district as well as the impact of newly adopted legislation.

GEORGIA

Charter School Funding A Hot Topic At APS Board Meeting
WXIA-TV, GA, May 6, 2013
Parents are putting pressure on the Atlanta Public Schools Board concerning charter school funding.

ILLINOIS

One Vote, Many Lives
Chicago Tribune, IL, May 7, 2013
The Chicago City Council will vote on many items Wednesday. None likely will be more important than the zoning change on tap for the property at 2245 W. Pershing Road. That is where Concept Schools, a top-quality charter operator, wants to open the Horizon Science Academy-McKinley Park.

INDIANA

Charter’s Opening Is Set For ’14 After Snafu
The Journal Gazette, IN, May 7, 2013
A technology-centered charter school approved to open this fall with some conditions will delay opening until 2014, according to a statement from the school.

LOUISIANA

Teachers Want Higher Standards, Delayed Consequences, Poll Says
Times-Picayune, LA, May 6, 2013
Higher educational standards, yes; consequences based on them, not yet. That’s the conclusion of a nationwide poll of 800 members of the American Federation of Teachers. The union released the results on May 3.

Louisiana House Backs Bill Allowing Parents To Shift RSD-Controlled Schools Back To Local Systems
Times-Picayune, LA, May 6, 2013
A bill allowing parents to petition to transfer control of their child’s school from the Recovery School District into the local school system easily cleared the House on Monday.

House Puts Teacher Evaluation Impact On Hold
Monroe News Star, LA, May 7, 2013
Some kinks in Louisiana’s teacher evaluation need to be straightened out before teachers’ futures are decided using the instrument, House members said Monday in unanimously approving legislation by Rep. Gene Reynolds, D-Minden.

MARYLAND

City Schools Chief Alonso Resigns
Baltimore Sun, MD, May 6, 2013
His six-year tenure has been marked by bold yet divisive reforms; Tisha Edwards will be interim superintendent

Andres Alonso’s Departure: An Opportunity for Baltimore to Move Beyond the Traditional District
Dropout Nation Blog, May 7, 2013
School reformers in Baltimore, along with those in the city looking to keep the city from becoming the next Detroit, can’t help but be pensive about yesterday’s news that Andres Alonso is departing as chief executive officer of its traditional district to take a gig at Harvard University’s education school.

MASSACHUSETTS

Bill Would Loosen Cap On Mass. Charter Schools
Boston Globe, MA, May 7, 2013
Supporters of legislation to lift the cap on charter schools in the state’s lowest performing school districts will be making their case before lawmakers.

66 Percent Support More Charter Schools
Cape Cod Today, MA, May 6, 2013
Charter school proponents on Monday morning were promoting new poll results showing voters in the Boston area support lifting caps on the number of charter schools by a nearly three to one margin.

MICHIGAN

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan ‘Very Encouraged’ By Visit To Michigan’s Reform District
Detroit Free Press, MI, May 6, 2013
Gov. Rick Snyder joined U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan today at Thirkell Elementary School and Brenda Scott Academy of Theater Arts in Detroit as part of three school tours highlighting local education reform and the importance of investing in preschool.

Michigan Schools Leave Food Subsidies On Table
Detroit News, MI, May 7, 2013
Every year, the federal government buys more than $1.4 billion in chicken, beef, butter and dozens of other products from U.S. farmers and then offers them at substantial discounts to America’s schools.

MISSISSIPPI

Mississippi Prepares New Push On Education
Associated Press, May 6, 2013
Republicans’ statewide solutions include making it easier to create charter schools and holding back third-graders who can’t read. Other changes approved by lawmakers are state-funded prekindergarten and higher qualifications and merit pay for teachers.

MISSOURI

Paranoia About ‘Common Core’ Is A Lousy Way To Fix Schools
St. Louis Post Dispatch, MO, May 7, 2013
The anger is being fueled by conspiracy theorists, including some in the Missouri Legislature, who see the common core movement as some evil federal takeover of schools, rather than the thoughtful and bipartisan attempt that it is to raise standards and unify them across state lines so that the United States can do a better job of competing in a global economy.

NEW JERSEY

Newark Charter Is A Scam On Schoolchildren
Star Ledger, NJ, May 7, 2013
Here’s what we know about Fredrica Bey, founder of Adelaide L. Sanford Charter School in Newark: She has consistently taken money intended for kids in order to enrich herself and her organizations.

NEW MEXICO

4 On Your Side Investigation Reveals Charter School Rent Problems
KOB, NM, May 6, 2013
A 4 On Your Side Investigation has found taxpayers are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in rent money for school buildings they already own.

NEW YORK

Quinn Offers Plan to Add Slots for Gifted in City Schools
New York Times, NY, May 7, 2013
Seeking to address pervasive racial disparities at the top echelons of New York City schools, Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker, plans on Tuesday to propose a significant overhaul of gifted and talented programs that would provide space for more children and loosen admissions requirements.

Charter Schools: A Skeptical Look
Brooklyn Eagle, NY, May 6, 2013
In his third term, Mayor Bloomberg is increasingly showing his true colors. Nowhere is this more evident than in his advocacy of charter schools. Bloomberg has constantly pushed for more charter schools, and unsuccessfully lobbied for the state to raise the cap on the number of charter schools that are permitted.

Charter School Success Spurs More To Act
Utica Observer Dispatch, NY, May 6, 2013
Utica With one charter school opening in the fall, the area might have two more schools on the horizon — one in Utica, another in Rome.

It’s Unfair To Ask Taxpayers To Subsidize Private Schools
Buffalo News, NY, May 7, 2013
Providing tax credits for those who choose a private or parochial school education for their children is no different. Parents, of course, have every right to choose what kind of education they believe is best for their children, but they shouldn’t be asking the public to subsidize their personal choices through back-door voucher schemes masquerading as charitable giving.

NORTH CAROLINA

Next Step For Charter Schools
Salisbury Post, NC, May 6, 2013
The strongest argument for charter schools when the concept gained widespread recognition in the 1990s was their ability to experiment with education techniques and curriculum. The schools could innovate free of many state and local regulations. The best practices developed from these living laboratories could be adopted by public schools, thereby improving education for everyone, advocates said.

Charter School Bill Would Lower Teacher Quality Standards
Progressive Pulse, NC, May 6, 2013
Tomorrow afternoon, the North Carolina Senate is set to vote on SB 337, which creates a Public Charter School Board that is separate from the State Board of Education and does away with the Charter School Advisory Council. This bill would needlessly exempt charter schools from any requirement that teachers be certified.

OHIO

Another Blow To City Schools
Columbus Dispatch, OH, May 7, 2013
Thursday’s records seizures at 20 Columbus high schools by the state auditor ought to prove convincing to those who have blindly defended the district or downplayed the seriousness of a monumental cheating scandal in the district.

PENNSYLVANIA

Auditor: Kensington Charter School Had Longtime Money Woes
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, May 7, 2013
A Philadelphia School District auditor testified Monday about long-standing financial issues at a Kensington charter school during a district hearing to determine whether the school should remain open.

Wrong Reform
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, May 7, 2013
The Bethel Park School Board recently passed a resolution asking the Pennsylvania Legislature to reform charter school funding. We agree, but not with Bethel Park’s proposed solution.

WISCONSIN

Wausau Schools Deal With Minority Achievement Gap
Wausau Daily Herald, WI, May 6, 2013
Minority students overall lag significantly behind their white peers in the Wausau School District, reflecting the racial achievement gap that affects students across the state.

ONLINE LEARNING

To Embrace Virtual Schools Would Be To Shortchange Maine Students
Portland Press Herald, ME, May 7, 2013
Instead, Maine should boost funding for the ‘bricks and mortar’ system that responds to the public.

Cincinnati’s First Tuition-Free Charter School To Open In August
Soap Box Media, May 7, 2013
Carpe Diem-Aiken will offer a blended learning model of digital curriculum with blended learning experiences, says Rick Ogston, founder of CDLS.

‘Blended Learning’ Charter High School Impresses One Grand Rapids Lawmaker, Another Raises Concerns
Grand Rapids Press, MI, May 6, 2013
State lawmakers visited the new Nexus Academy of Grand Rapids charter high school Monday to gain greater perspective on the model being used in Michigan and Ohio.

Board Approves Virtual School Proposal
Garden City Telegram, KS, May 7, 2013
USD 457 Board of Education members Monday night approved a virtual school be put into place at the Alternative Education Center.

NEWSWIRE IS BACK! Click here for 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

Expanded Options Are the Best Justification for School Choice
Reason Blog, May 3, 2013
Opponents of school choice often act as if the eternal chase after standardized test scores is the only purpose of any scheme for educating kids.

Closing the Social Gap in Schools
New York Times, NY, May 5, 2013
In “No Rich Child Left Behind” (Sunday Review, April 28), Sean F. Reardon reminds us of the growing educational divide not only between the poor and the middle class but increasingly between the middle class and the very rich. Only a significant infusion of federal money for early childhood programs will address this issue.

Wall Street ♥ Charter Schools
Muckety, May 5, 2013
Call them cynical, but the widespread involvement of financial firms in the charter school movement raises suspicion among many public school advocates.

STATE COVERAGE

ALABAMA

‘School Choice’ Law Fiscally Reckless
Decatur Daily, AL, May 5, 2013
I’m tired of writing about the Alabama Accountability Act. You’re probably tired of reading about it. Issues surrounding the law keep changing, though, and legislative actions this week likely will decide whether it remains on the books. Whether to salvage their political stature or because they finally read the law, lawmakers who voted for it suddenly are expressing concerns.

ARIZONA

Coming Charter School to be an Open Model for Districts
Tucson Citizen, AZ, May 5, 2013
Depending on who you talk to, Charter schools in Arizona were enabled for the purpose of innovating and improving education; or for destroying the public school system.

DELAWARE

In High-Stakes School Elections, A Few Rule The Many In Delaware
Delaware News Journal, DE, May 6, 2013
Low interest in Delaware school board elections has helped create a dynamic where a relative handful of voters decides the outcome of races with millions in educational dollars at stake.

FLORIDA

State Lawmakers Increased Education Budget By $1 Billion
Bradenton Herald, FL, May 6, 2013
Teachers won raises. School districts got a boost in per-pupil funding. Charter schools nearly doubled construction and maintenance dollars.

Orange Schools Creates Position To Help Close Achievement Gap
Orlando Sentinel, FL, May 5, 2013
In an attempt to “super-accelerate” the academic achievement of minorities, Orange County public school leaders plan to dedicate a senior administrator to the task.

Teacher Evaluations Take Time, Offer More Feedback
Gainesville Times, FL, May 5, 2013
When the new teacher evaluation system first rolled out, there was a lot of apprehension as state leaders talked about tying the evaluations to how teachers are paid.

Teachers At Failing Schools Eligible For $2,000 Bonuses
Sun Sentinel, FL, May 5, 2013
More than 700 teachers at Broward County’s low-performing schools could be eligible for $2,000 bonuses this year if they fare well on their evaluations.

IDAHO

North Star Charter School Gets Money To Stay Open
Idaho Statesman, ID, May 4, 2013
The financially strapped institution has secured $133,000 in loans and reimbursements to pay its bills through the end of the year.

INDIANA

How Indiana’s Grass-Root Activists Took Down The Common Core
Indianapolis Star, IN, May 4, 2013
The Common Core academic standards looked like a mighty Goliath when opponents began their opposition last year.

IOWA

Division Lingers In Iowa Legislature On How Best To Evaluate Teachers
Des Moines Register, IA, May 6, 2013
Proposed changes to Iowa’s teacher evaluation system have halted progress at the Statehouse on a sweeping education bill aimed at improving instruction in Iowa’s 1,434 public schools.

MAINE

Maine Charter School Funding Is A Lesson In Controversy
Orlando Sentinel, FL, May 3, 2013
Some raise concerns as the Education Committee looks at making this a line item in the state budget.

MASSACHUSETTS

Public School Districts Recruiting Students
Worcester Telegram, MA, May 5, 2013
With public school enrollments flat, some school districts are stepping up efforts to recruit students through school choice to generate revenue. Others are recruiting students from other countries.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Nashua Charter School Still In The Works Despite State Funding Issues
Nashua Telegraph, NH, May 6, 2013
It takes a lot more than a little uncertainty to derail Cheryl Bean’s dream to found a new school in the city.

NEW JERSEY

Special Report: Born In Hope, Newark Charter School Now Embroiled In Controversy
Star-Ledger, NJ, May 5, 2013
Linda Newton enrolled her 8-year-old son at Adelaide L. Sanford Charter School to shield him from the ills that afflict many of Newark’s regular public schools.

OHIO

Don’t Blame Boards, Superintendents
Tribune-Chronicle, OH, May 5, 2013
Charter schools and vouchers take money from public school districts. Almost $800 million in state funding went to charter schools last year. Why increase public tax dollars to charter schools when most earned a failing grade from the last year?

PENNSYLVANIA

Phila. School Staff Paint A Doomsday Budget Picture
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, May 6, 2013
If the doomsday budget being floated by the nearly broke Philadelphia School District comes to pass, this is what school will look like in September:

District Moves To Shut Down Pocono Mountain Charter School
Pocono Record, PA, May 5, 2013
Pocono Mountain School District has filed an “emergency motion” seeking a state shutdown of the embattled Pocono Mountain Charter School on the strength of new allegations.

Are Charter Schools Actually Better?
Lancaster Newspapers, PA, May 5, 2013
In theory, I like the idea of charter schools. I like that students who don’t do well in a traditional classroom setting might have an alternative, like at-home learning on the computer

York City School Reform: Why The Committee Chose An Internal Plan Over Charter Schools
York Daily Record, PA, May 4, 2013
After months of deliberation, members of the York City schools advisory committee and its chief recovery officer opted for giving the district a chance to turn things around.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Get Rid Of School Attendance Loophole In S.C. Law
Rock Hill Herald, SC, May 4, 2013
South Carolina students ought to have a wider choice of which schools they attend within the state’s public school system. But an antiquated loophole that allows privileged families to game the system is not the way to accomplish that.

TENNESSEE

Common Core Lifts TN’s Chances
The Tennessean, TN, May 5, 2013
There is really just one main question for the throngs of upset parents who have spoken out against the Common Core State Standards at public meetings over the past week:

TEXAS

Whites Flock To Private Schools While Minorities More Likely In Charters
Dallas Morning News, TX, May 4, 2013
The search for a way out of underfunded and underperforming public schools has led hundreds of thousands of Texas students into an alternative education.

WISCONSIN

Debate: School Voucher Issue On Its Own Bill Vs. Within State Budget
FoxNews 6, WI, May 5, 2013
Does the school voucher debate belong on its own bill, or within the state budget? The Wisconsin Senate’s top Democrat is demanding a stand-alone bill, but Gov. Walker calls that idea “ridiculous.”

Amid Reform Fatigue, A Crying Need For Leadership On Education
Journal Sentinel, WI, May 4, 2013
But a certain fatigue, and with it skepticism of new education “solutions,” may be setting in. Both, certainly, are pervasive in the city that takes the prize for educational experimentalism: Milwaukee.

Vouchers A Boon For Private Schools In Milwaukee, Racine Counties
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI, May 4, 2013
Inside a sprawling building a few blocks from Mitchell International Airport, the first class of seniors who grew up in the country’s largest K-8 Catholic school will graduate this spring.

ONLINE LEARNING

‘Blended Learning’ Win Win Situation: Column
USA Today, May 5, 2013
By all rights, Wendy Chaves’ Algebra II class should be a zoo. She’s charged with teaching nearly 50 teenagers at a time at the Alliance Tennenbaum Family Technology High School in Los Angeles. Yet Chaves has never felt more effective. “I don’t have to worry about classroom management,” she reports. “The kids are engaged.”

Virtual Shout-Out For Cyber Schools
Philadelphia Enquirer, PA, May 5, 2013
As it turns out, I spent four years, from 2008 through 2012, observing a cyber high school in action. I watched my kids interact with their teachers. I kept an eye on their progress; I looked over the comments that teachers wrote on their papers.

Enrollment Up At Embattled Bluesky Charter School
Minnesota Public Radio, MN, May 4, 2013
An online charter school that faced closure just last year is now seeing an increase in enrollment.

Cost To Expand Texas ‘Virtual Schools’ Puts Bill In Legislature At Risk
Dallas Morning News, TX, May 5, 2013
Legislative efforts to dramatically boost the number of Texas students taking online courses have been sidetracked by strong opposition from public education groups and a hefty price tag that stunned supporters.

Online K-12 Learning On The Rise In Iowa
Quad City Times, IA, May 5, 2013
Rhavon Cox-Bey doesn’t consider cyber-learning as home school. Rather, it’s school at home. Last year, the Davenport woman enrolled her children De-Andria, 18, Jhavon, 15, Anaiaha, 10, and niece Alesia, 17, in the newly launched Iowa Connections Academy, a tuition-free online public school for students K-12.

NEWSWIRE IS BACK! Click here for 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.

Charter Advocacy Organization Calls for Independent Authorizers
Education Week Blog, May 2, 2013
A charter school advocacy organization has laid out its case for state lawmakers to pass policies that support using independent authorizers of those schools, an approach that it says is the best one for bringing both accountability and autonomy to the sector.

Common Core A Common Enemy For Some Conservatives, Liberals
Daily Caller, DC, May 2, 2013
The implementation of the Obama administration’s national education standards are being met with increased opposition from both conservative and liberal activists — albeit it for very different reasons.

STATE COVERAGE

ALABAMA

Private Concerns: Alabama Accountability Act Hits Another Snag
Anniston Star, AL, May 2, 2013
The premise behind the tax-credit portion of the Alabama Accountability Act is offering educational alternatives to children stuck in “failing schools.”

CALIFORNIA

West Contra Costa School District Rejects Charter Application
Mercury News, CA, May 3, 2013
West Contra Costa school district trustees Wednesday evening denied a petition for sponsorship from the backers of Caliber Schools for a K-8 charter school.

COLORADO

Colorado Education Overhaul Clears Legislature
Denver Post, CO, May 2, 2013
A monster makeover for K-12 school funding in Colorado has cleared the Democratic Legislature and await the signature of Gov. John Hickenlooper. But a big question remains: How will the state pay for it?

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

City Closes Door On KIPP DC Charter High School
Washington Post, DC, May 2, 2013
MAYOR VINCENT C. Gray (D) has pretty much shut the door on plans by KIPP DC to build a new high school on public land in Southwest Washington.

Critics: Charters Cheated Out Of Funds
Washington Examiner, DC, May 2, 2013
Public charter schools do not get the same amount of funds as their traditional public school counterparts, which severely affects their ability to acquire buildings and pay competitive wages, charter school leaders told members of the D.C. Council on Thursday.

Charter School Waitlists Hit 22,000
Washington Examiner, DC, May 2, 2013
The District’s public charter schools saw a nearly 50 percent increase in the number of children on schools’ waitlists this year, with roughly 22,000 students vying for seats, the Public Charter School Board announced Thursday.

FLORIDA

Judge Dismisses Challenge to Teacher Law
The Ledger, FL, May 2, 2013
A circuit judge has tossed out a lawsuit challenging a law requiring merit pay for teachers and ending tenure for new hires.

Florida’s Largest Teachers Union Lost Tax-Exempt Status
FCIR, FL, May 3, 2013
What happened to the Florida Education Association’s tax-exempt status? There’s a story there, but the fact is that the state’s largest teachers union has been operating since January without its coveted 501(c)(5) tax exemption. The organization with $31 million in revenue in 2010 had its tax status revoked for failing to file a tax return for three consecutive years.

Pruitt To Lead City’s Charter School System
Pine Island Eagle, FL, May 2, 2013
Instead of just one school to handle, Dr. Angela Pruitt will have four to care for. Pruitt, who has been the principal of Trafalgar Middle School for nine years, has been named the new superintendent for the Cape Coral charter school system and will begin work next month.

State Lawmakers Take On ‘Unsatisfactory’ Teachers
Bradenton Herald, FL, May 3, 2013
Two days after the Florida Senate killed the parent trigger bill, one of the proposal’s more controversial provisions found new life in the Florida House.

Charter School Bill Passes (Takes Aim At Northstar High Problems)
Orlando Sentinel Blog, FL, May 2, 2013
The House this morning passed charter school legislation that aims to deal with the problems at the now-shuttered NorthStar High School in Orange County — but also looks to make it easier for charter schools to expand.

LOUISIANA

School Districts Move Forward With Merit Pay Plans Despite Constitutional Challenge
Times-Picayune, LA, May 2, 2013
School districts statewide are moving forward with plans to tie teacher salary bonuses to the results of proposed new evaluations despite a constitutional challenge to the law that mandates both those evaluations and the bonus system itself.

Use A Year For Compass
The Advocate, LA, May 2, 2013
After a couple of years of pilot projects, a tough teacher evaluation system is finally becoming effective. As it is still causing concern among many teachers, its penalties should be deferred for this year, as a bill before the Legislature proposes.

Grading The Teachers’ Teachers
Hechinger Report, May 2, 2013
Gerald Carlson’s heart sank when he received word several years ago that a controversial statistical analysis had decreed his program one of Louisiana’s weakest in preparing educators to teach English language arts.

MAINE

Grading Quality, Or Incomes?
Portland Press Herald, ME, May 3, 2013
Education experts say it’s no surprise that Maine’s new A-to-F school grading system shows schools in wealthier communities generally have higher grades while those in poorer communities have more D’s and F’s.

MARYLAND

Six Out Of 10 Montgomery County High Schoolers Flunk Algebra Final
Washington Examiner, DC, May 2, 2013
Almost two-thirds of high school students in Montgomery County who took Algebra I last semester failed their final math exam, causing parents and school officials to search for answers as to what went wrong.

MASSACHUSETTS

Town Charter School Steps Up Profile
Barnstable Patriot, MA, May 2, 2013
The Barnstable Public Schools’ last remaining Horace Mann charter school is standing its ground and looking to renew its charter with the state for another five years.

MICHIGAN

Roberts: DPS Fixed, ‘Time For Me To Go’
Detroit News, MI, May 3, 2013
Two years after taking the helm of the Detroit Public Schools, emergency manager Roy Roberts said he is stepping down in two weeks.

NEW YORK

Figuring Out How to Give Teachers Useful Feedback
New York Times, NY, May 3, 2013
When Texas lawmakers rolled out a framework for evaluating public schoolteachers more than 15 years ago, they intended to identify ways to strengthen the state’s teaching corps.

NORTH CAROLINA

NC Won’t Find Any School Miracles To Copy In Florida
News & Observer, NC, May 2, 2013
As a Florida mom, I find it hard to watch states with veto-proof majorities push and pass the same education reforms that have hurt our children and harmed our public schools.

Update: NC Charter School Board Bill Delayed In Senate
Greensboro News & Record, NC, May 2, 2013
Debate on a bill that would create a new panel for managing North Carolina’s growing number of charter schools has been delayed until early next week.

OHIO

Law On Charters Still Needs Work
Columbus Dispatch, OH, May 3, 2013
A decade after Ohio’s first charter schools opened, state law still falls short of ensuring full accountability for private parties using tax dollars to operate public schools. A recent report by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute gives lawmakers a clear picture of some changes that need to be made.

Protesters March On Statehouse Against District-Takeover Proposal
Columbus Dispatch, OH, May 3, 2013
Protesters marched to the Statehouse today to oppose a provision in the proposed state budget that would allow mayors to take over school districts with the help of the state school superintendent.

End The State-Supported Charter School Boondoggle:
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, May 3, 2013
Charter schools and vouchers take money from public school districts. Almost $800 million in state funding went to charter schools last year. Why increase public tax dollars to charter schools when most earned a failing grade in the last year?

OKLAHOMA

Oklahoma School Testing Troubles Show Need For Better Preventive, Contingency Plans
The Oklahoman, OK, May 3, 2013
FINDING a silver lining among a week of testing troubles at Oklahoma schools isn’t easy. We can think of only one: The contract with the company responsible for the debacle expires in June.

WASHINGTON

Panel Wants MAP Exam To Be Optional For Seattle High Schools
Seattle Times, WA, May 2, 2013
A committee formed to evaluate the Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) tests given in Seattle Public Schools plans to recommend the exams be optional in high schools.

WISCONSIN

Feds Order More Oversight Of Voucher Schools
Wisconsin Radio Network, WI, May 2, 2013
The US Department of Justice is ordering state education officials to make sure disabled students in the Milwaukee school choice program are not being discriminated against.

Public, Private Schools In Madison Consider The Impact Of Voucher Program
Madison Commons, WI, May 2, 2013
If school vouchers expand to Madison, as Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposes, Wingra School Principal Paul Brahce would have to say “no.”

ONLINE LEARNING

Cyber Schools Hope One Day The Focus Will Solely Be On Learning
WHPTV, PA, May 2, 2013
Our state’s charter and cyber charter schools have made headlines recently. Some state lawmakers are questioning whether these public schools are making the grade when it comes to our tax dollars.

Florida Attorney General Sides With Virtual Charter School Over Who Has To Pay For Student Testing
Palm Beach Post Blog, FL, May 2, 2013
When the Florida Legislature in 2011 authorized virtual charter schools, it created a whole new realm in the education world — one that school districts are finding themselves trying to understand and navigate as virtual school operators begin to open across the state.

Florida Public Online School Gets Small Budget Increase
Miami Herald, FL, May 2, 2013
School districts, teachers and parents are celebrating the $1 billion addition to the state’s education budget.

New Lafayette School Program Would Target New Students
The Advocate, LA, May 2, 2013
The Lafayette Parish School System is considering the launch of a virtual school option for students in the fall to recapture students who have left the system for home schooling or virtual charter schools.

Auburndale, Stratford Join Virtual Education Program
Marshfield News Herald, WI, May 3, 2013
The Auburndale and Stratford schools districts have joined the Rural Virtual Academy consortium to provide a new option for students who might benefit from nontraditional education.

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NATIONAL COVERAGE

Charter Schools Unionize
Wall Street Journal, May 2, 2013
Teachers in one of the country’s largest nonprofit charter-school groups voted to unionize, fortifying efforts by organized labor to expand in an area of public education where it has been largely unwelcome.

‘No Child Left Behind’ Left Behind for Core Curriculum
Wall Street Journal, May 1, 2013
We agree that standardized tests are a means of assessing student learning and affective teaching, but we want our elected officials responsible for the standards and our parents and school boards able to change them to meet local needs. Unfortunately what’s been left behind is local control of education.

Duncan On Testing: ‘We Can’t Throw The Baby Out With The Bathwater’
Washington Post Blog, DC, May 1, 2013
Here is the text of a speech (as prepared for delivery) that Education Secretary Arne Duncan gave this week to the American Educational Research Association, meeting in San Francisco.

STATE COVERAGE

ALABAMA

Time Running Out To Clarify Private School Tax Credits
Tuscaloosa News, AL, May 2, 2013
As time runs out to clarify Alabama’s new private school tax credits, Republican lawmakers appear to agree on only one point: They want to be clear that no public or private school has to take a student from a failing public school.

CALIFORNIA

Charter Schools’ Impact To Be Discussed At Pasadena Forum
Pasadena Star, CA, May 1, 2013
The executive director of Pasadena’s Odyssey Charter School and other area educators will speak about charter schools on Thursday at a free public forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters.

Bill To Alter Evaluations Of California Teachers Fails Again In Senate
The San Luis Obispo Tribune, CA, May 2, 2013
The Senate Education Committee decided to reconsider the bill after deadlocking last week. The bill’s author, Sen. Ron Calderon, D-Montebello, said he had altered his legislation to try to persuade opponents to shift their stance.

COLORADO

Colorado Teacher Survey Shows Lower Confidence In Evaluation Process
Denver Post, CO, May 1, 2013
Although more Colorado teachers feel they’re held to high professional standards and supported by school leadership, an every-other-year survey also shows a decline in those who think teacher evaluations are fair or helpful.

DELAWARE

A Closer Look At Pencader Charter Vs. Christina School District
Delaware News Journal, DE, May 2, 2013
We all know there’s a “Delaware Way” in getting things done in this state, but, really, why are our politicians, movers and shakers, taking things to a ridiculous extreme on the issue of the state Department of Education’s oversight of charter and/or traditional public schools and allowing what certainly seems like a double standard to be applied by DOE?

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

David Catania’s Education Reform 2.0
Washington Post, DC, May 1, 2013
Four months into his chairmanship of the D.C. Council’s education committee, David Catania (I-At Large) already has big ideas about how to take school reform in the District to a new level.

FLORIDA

Teacher Pay Raises Placed On Fast Track
Miami Herald, FL, May 1, 2013
Florida teachers won’t have to wait until June 2014 to get their pay raises, lawmakers said Wednesday.

IDAHO

In Idaho, Long-Awaited “Common Core” Educational Standards Have Gotten Tangled Up In Right-Wing Politics
Pacific Northwest Inlander, WA, May 1, 2013
In a packed wood-paneled Grange hall on a Thursday night, six candidates for the Coeur d’Alene Board of Trustees debate the cost of bus privatization, “progressive education” and the International Baccalaureate program.

ILLINOIS

Woodland Still Pressing Change In Funding For State-Approved Charter Schools
Daily Herald, IL, May 2, 2013
Gurnee-based Woodland Elementary District 50 officials plan to continue calling attention to what they say is an unfair method of how state-approved charter schools are formed.

LOUISIANA

Nearly 8,000 Students Receive Voucher Seats For 2013-14
Times-Picayune, LA, May 1, 2013
The number of students attending private and parochial school at taxpayer expense is going up by at least 3,000 in 2013-14, the second year of the Louisiana Scholarship Program. Gov. Bobby Jindal announced Wednesday that nearly 8,000 students had been matched with voucher seats in the first round of applications. A second round will run from May 6 to 24.

La. Teacher Evaluation System Delayed
The Advertiser, LA, May 2, 2013
Members of the House Education Committee did the right thing last week when they postponed implementation of a controversial teacher evaluation system that many have said uses unfair criteria to measure a teacher’s effectiveness.

MAINE

Schools Get Letter Grades, Call System Flawed
Portland Press Herald, ME, May 1, 2013
The LePage administration unveiled a sweeping statewide grading system for public schools Wednesday that immediately drew sharp criticism from educators, who said it stigmatizes schools in poorer communities.

LePage’s Education Policy Earns Him An F
Portland Press Herald, ME, May 2, 2013
A state report card reveals not failing schools but the administration’s mixed-up priorities.

MICHIGAN

Charter School Brings New Life To Old Detroit
Detroit News Blog, MI, May 1, 2013
On a sunny, summer-like Wednesday, plans for a new charter elementary school were announced in Detroit — in front of historic Miller High School, still in the midst of major renovations. University Prep Science and Math is opening an elementary school here this fall; the district already runs a successful middle and high school in the city.

NEW JERSEY

Student Test Scores to Carry Just a Little Bit Less Weight for Tenure Decisions
New Jersey Spotlight, NJ, May 2, 2013
After an extraordinary amount of public comment and some high-level meetings, the Christie administration has hedged on its plans to use test scores to evaluate teachers — but not by much.

Christie Faces Potential Legal Fight Over School Vouchers
Star-Ledger, NJ, May 1, 2013
If Gov. Chris Christie gets his coveted pilot school-voucher program through a stubborn Legislature next month, he may quickly find himself battling in another arena: the courtroom.

Camden Schools Now In State’s Hands
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, May 2, 2013
With the region’s attention focused on the looming county takeover of policing in Camden, another major city institution slipped relatively quietly from local control Tuesday night.

NEW YORK

Don’t Let NYC Teachers Stall More On Evaluations
AM New York, NY, May 1, 2013
Randi Weingarten, who heads the American Federation of Teachers, has called for a moratorium on consequences from the Common Core curriculum exams that 450,000 New York City public school students took last month.

NORTH CAROLINA

Public Charter Schools An Economic Development Strategy
News of Orange County, NC, May 2, 2013
Public charter schools in North Carolina present an opportunity for more school choice options and economic development in the state’s 85 rural counties. Parental school choice gives parents the freedom to meet their children’s needs regardless of income or address.

NC Charter School Board Ready For Senate Debate
WBTV, NC, May 2, 2013
A bill that would create a new panel for managing North Carolina’s growing number of charter schools is now heading to the Senate floor.

Bill To Create New Charter School Oversight Board Keeps Moving
Progressive Pulse, NC, May 1, 2013
You might recall that about a month ago, citizens were threatened with arrest as they silently protested SB 337, a bill to create a new charter school board that would remove oversight of public charter schools from the State Board of Education and put it in the hands of a new, independent entity comprising members handpicked by the Governor.

PENNSYLVANIA

Students Should Not Be Penalized
Towanda Daily Review, PA, May 2, 2013
Soon after the growing trend towards charter schools began, the Legislature passed a law requiring that students in those schools be allowed to participate in their home district schools’ extracurricular activities – sports, band, chorus, plays and so on.

Quaker Valley Board Asks For Cap On Charter School Costs
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, PA, May 1, 2013
Quaker Valley leaders say the growing cost of cyber and other charter school tuitions from local school district funds needs to be capped.

SOUTH CAROLINA

The ‘Choice’ Charade Continues
The State, SC, May 2, 2013
WHEN SENATE budget-writers took time away from more pressing matters (such as writing the state budget) to begin a review last month of legislation to pay parents to abandon the public schools, Sen. Larry Grooms complained that he had been pushing the plan for a decade and that “Ten years of patience is wearing thin.”

TENNESSEE

Charter School Bill Can Be Traced to ALEC
Daily News Journal, TN, May 2, 2013
A recent Daily News Journal carried a front page story about “Education bills take focus near session end.” Charter schools were the big focus. Part of the article stated, “As the 108th Tennessee General Assembly draws to a close, state lawmakers are hoping to push through education proposals that include creating a state panel to authorize charter schools for five counties…”)

TEXAS

School District Calls Taxpayer-Funded Tutoring Program ‘Waste Of Money’
KHOU, TX, May 1, 2013
A multi-million dollar waste. That’s how some local educators are describing a federally-funded tutoring program for kids. They say the big government bucks behind it all has attracted big business, and in the process, they say students are being left behind.

UTAH

Columnist Not Correct On Charter Funding
St. George Daily Spectrum, UT, May 2, 2013
Mark Twain popularized the saying that there are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics. People will often use numbers to bolster an argument or legitimize a point of view. Sadly, I believe Glenn Mesa, in his columns on charter schools, has utilized this trick.

VIRGINIA

McDonnell to Create ‘Teacher Cabinet’ to Advise on Va. School Policies
Washington Post, DC, May 1, 2013
Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) announced Wednesday that he will create a “Teacher Cabinet” of advisers to influence high-level decisions that affect public schools.

WASHINGTON

Sundquist, Ex-Seattle School Board Boss, To Head Charter-School Panel
Seattle Times, WA, May 1, 2013
State’s new Charter School Commission is tentatively scheduled to start accepting applications for charter schools by Sept. 22.

ONLINE LEARNING

Virginia’s First Statewide Virtual School Likely To Close
Washington Post, DC, May 1, 2013
The Carroll County School Board plans to end its partnership with the contractor that operates Virginia’s largest full-time statewide virtual school, effectively shutting down a program that serves more than 350 students.

Florida Virtual School: Proposed Budget Would Hurt Our Funding
Miami Herald Blog, FL, May 1, 2013
School districts, teachers and parents are celebrating the $1 billion addition to the state’s education budget.

Legislators To Visit New Charter High School Launched By Connections Education
Grand Rapids Press, MI, May 1, 2013
State lawmakers Monday will get a first-hand look at Nexus Academy of Grand Rapids, one of four blended learning charter high schools launched by online learning powerhouse Connections Education.

NEWSWIRE IS BACK! Click here for 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

Learning Goals Spur Backlash
Wall Street Journal, May 1, 2013
As more classrooms across the country roll out universal math and reading standards, a growing group of critics are pressing officials to slow their implementation or dump the learning goals entirely.

Union Chief Recommends Delay in Use of Test Scores
New York Times, NY, May 1, 2013
Warning that a new set of academic standards was on the verge of falling into the “dustbin of history,” the leader of a national teachers’ union called on Tuesday for school systems to postpone using new tests to evaluate teachers and promote students.

High Stakes, No Prep: These Tests Are Designed To Fail
Washington Post, DC, April 30, 2013
It’s no wonder that parents, educators and even students are spearheading a small but growing revolution to opt out of standardized tests. From Seattle to Pennsylvania, more and more students across the country are boycotting tests that many say are increasing stress, narrowing curriculum and, at worst, leading to the kind of cheating exposed in the recent Atlanta Public Schools scandal.

Education Fight Likely To Split Lawmakers
The Hill, DC, May 1, 2013
Democratic senators from rural areas are seeking a rewrite of the No Child Left Behind law to give their constituents a better chance of competing for federal funding, a touchy subject in the majority’s conference.

STATE COVERAGE

ALABAMA

City Eyes New Way To Rate Teachers
Tuscaloosa News, AL, May 1, 2013
Tuscaloosa City School System officials are in the process of developing a new teacher evaluation tool that will focus on how well teachers have met established standards.

ARIZONA

How School Choice Has Reshaped Arizona
Arizona Republic, AZ, April 30, 2013
Arizona students can learn to speak Mandarin, study dance, become young engineers or delve into the medical sciences because of the state’s competitive K-12 marketplace.

CALIFORNIA

School Voucher System Could Come to California
San Josie Inside, CA, April 30, 2013
The school “choice” movement was originally embraced by the right side of the political aisle; today, for the most part, it is bipartisan. Four years ago, I was on the fence relative to the role charter schools can play in achieving results for students. Now, I am a staunch advocate for the high quality charter school movement in Santa Clara County as a proud Democrat.

LAUSD Supt. John Deasy Faces ‘Performance Evaluation’ By Teachers Union
Los Angeles Daily News, CA, April 30, 2013
Barely two weeks after delivering a stinging no-confidence vote on the leadership of Superintendent John Deasy, the teachers union announced it will do a first-ever “performance evaluation” of the Los Angeles Unified chief.

Lawsuit Targets Union Fees Collected From Nonmember Teachers
Los Angeles Times, CA, April 30, 2013
A conservative organization has joined with a group of California teachers in an effort to overturn laws that allow teacher unions to collect fees from those who don’t want to be members.

FLORIDA

Senate Kills Parent Trigger Bill In Dramatic 20-20 Vote
Miami Herald, FL, April 30, 2013
The controversial parent trigger bill died a dramatic legislative death Tuesday the same way it did last year: in a surprise tie vote in the Florida Senate during the final week of session.

Parent Trigger
Tallahassee Democrat, FL, May 1, 2013
Who could argue against parents’ involvement in their children’s education?

Legislature Looks To Speed Release Of School Employee Raises
Miami Herald, FL, April 30, 2013
Florida lawmakers are looking to speed up the release of $480 million in school employee raises one day after the House and Senate negotiated a budget that proposed delaying them until June 2014.

ILLINOIS

Science Charter School Gets Zoning Approval After Heated Debate
Chicago Sun-Times, IL, May 1, 2013
Concept Charter School got the go-ahead Tuesday to open a new charter school in a McKinley Park industrial building but not before a heated debate about the wisdom of opening charters while closing public schools.

INDIANA

Charter School Of The Dunes Expects New Relationship To Boost Student Achievement
NW Times, IN, April 30, 2013
Calumet College of St. Joseph held a public hearing Tuesday as part of the process to become the new sponsor of the Gary charter school in July.

Hoosiers Are Right To Be Wary About Common Core
Indianapolis Star, IN, April 30, 2013
Indiana has just shot into the spotlight of the education world, with the legislature voting over the weekend to hit the pause button on the Common Core national curriculum standards.

MAINE

Public School Rankings Don’t Make The Grade
Portland Press Herald, ME, May 1, 2013
The state Department of Education has given each of Maine’s 600 public schools a letter grade, from A to F, and Wednesday is the day those rankings will be made public.

MARYLAND

Prince George’s School System Forwards E-Mail Opposing Overhaul
Washington Post, DC, April 30, 2013
A government watchdog group says the Prince George’s County school system “crossed a line” when a schools official sent an e-mail late Monday that urged residents to join a petition drive that opposes the county’s new school governance structure.

Laurel Boys and Girls Club Postpones Charter School Plans
Baltimore Sun, MD, April 30, 2013
Laurel Boys and Girls Club officials have not only decided to put off plans to open a charter high school in their Montgomery Street headquarters indefinitely, but they will not renew the lease of its current tenant, Princeton Day Academy, for next year.

MASSACHUSETTS

Lift The Charter School Cap
Boston Globe, MA, April 30, 2013
A child’s destiny should not be determined by her zip code. Massachusetts has been a leader in public education reform for nearly two decades, but persistent poverty- and race-based achievement gaps in low-income communities are reminders that we have not done enough to meet our commitment to offer educational opportunity to every young person in the Commonwealth.

MICHIGAN

Should School Districts Sell Vacant Schools To Charters?
Oakland Press, MI, April 30, 2013
Readers are mixed in reaction to Brandon Board of Education decision to demolish a vacant building rather than sell it to a charter school that would compete for students.

NEW MEXICO

Put Changes In APS Policy On Public Table
Albuquerque Journal, NM, May 1, 2013
Today, we have a two-for-one lesson in how not to set policy for one of the nation’s largest school districts — and efforts to change it.

NEW YORK

Utica’s First Charter School Chooses Inaugural Students
Utica Observer Dispatch, NY, April 30, 2013
Jasmin Sabanovic stared anxiously at the screen hanging in the Holy Trinity Church gymnasium Tuesday afternoon.

NORTH CAROLINA

Vouchers Plan Would Hurt Public Schools
Rocky Mountain Telegram, NC, April 30, 2013
North Carolina legislators seem determined to put private school vouchers on a fast track to approval this session. A recent Civitas poll shows support for the plan cuts across political, racial and economic lines, but we’re disappointed for several reasons.

OHIO

Charter School Officials Accused Of Stealing Nearly $2 Million
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, April 30, 2013
Five former officials of the Cleveland Academy of Scholarship Technology & Leadership Enterprise are among 10 people and 13 businesses accused of fleecing the taxpayer-supported charter school out of nearly $2 million.

PENNSYLVANIA

Parents: Besieged Schools In Dire Need
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, May 1, 2013
Even assuming that the city comes up with another $60 million requested by the Philadelphia School District, the projected budget for the next school year will be a disaster for the city and its schoolchildren, a series of parents, teachers, civic groups and students told City Council on Tuesday.

Teachers At Philly Charter Unionize
Philadelphia Inquirer Blog, PA, April 30, 2013
After a significant two-year battle, teachers at the New Media Technology Charter School in West Oak Lane have voted to unionize, the Pennsylvania American Federation of Teachers said Tuesday.

Commentary Urging Charter School Reform Was Flawed
Patriot News, PA, April 30, 2013
An April 11 op-ed entitled “Pennsylvania’s charter school law is long overdue for reform: As I See It” bears significant inaccuracies that convey either the writer’s unfamiliarity with charter school law, or a willful intention to mislead readers.

Public Education Groups Call For Restoring $900 Million In School Funding Cut Two Years Ago
Patriot-News, PA, April 30, 2013
Public education groups are calling on Gov. Tom Corbett and state lawmakers to make a three-year commitment to restore the $900 million cut from public school funding two years ago.

TEXAS

Charter School Bill Means More Options For Parents And Students
KUHF-FM, TX, April 30, 2013
Charter schools will soon expand in Texas. A Texas House education panel approved raising the cap on charter school licenses over the next six years.

Charter Bill Brings New Players to Education Policy
Texas Tribune, TX, April 30, 2013
As lawmakers hammer out the terms of charter school legislation, political operatives better known for their activities in other venues have popped up among the usual cast of characters in education committee meetings.

WISCONSIN

Republicans Introduce Tuition Tax Credit Bill
La Crosse Tribune, WI, May 1, 2013
A Republican-sponsored bill that would give tax credits to parents of students in private schools has been introduced in the Legislature.

Evidence Doesn’t Support Choice Program Expansion
Journal Sentinel, WI, April 1, 2013
Legislators should be skeptical of a proposal by Gov. Scott Walker to sharply expand the school voucher program. There isn’t much evidence that students in voucher schools are better educated; in fact, they seem to perform at about the same level as their peers in mainline public schools.

ONLINE LEARNING

Panel: Level The Playing Field For Traditional Schools, Cyberschools
Observer-Reporter, PA, April 30, 2013
State legislators and school officials from around Southwestern Pennsylvania met Saturday morning to discuss the future of public education and the growing presence of cyberschools.

Muskegon Joining List Of Districts Offering ‘Virtual’ Middle And High Schools With Online Programs
The Muskegon Chronicle, MI, April 30, 2013
An online “virtual school” program will be operated by a private firm for Muskegon schools, one of the most recent districts to offer the education alternative.

School Districts Exploring Blended Learning Classes
Times Herald, MI, April 30, 2013
Moodle is a program that allows students to work online from home. Assignments, quizzes, homework and even video lessons are available.

Online Education Offers Viable Alternative For Students
Idaho Statesman, ID, May 1, 2013
As the school year winds down, many parents have begun to consider whether their children’s educational needs are being met or if they will explore alternatives for the coming school year.

Rocketship Education’s Next Phase: Technology In A Blended Classroom
Ed Source, CA, April 30, 2013
Palo Alto-based Rocketship Education has attracted national attention in the past few years for its innovative use of technology and impressive test scores for its largely low-income, Hispanic students.

NEWSWIRE IS BACK! Click here for 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

Common Core School Standards Hit Another Roadblock, This Time In Indiana
Washington Times Blog, DC, April 29, 2013
State resistance to the nationwide K-12 school standards known as Common Core has spread to Indiana. Less than a week after Michigan lawmakers took aim at Common Core, the Indiana legislature over the weekend passed a bill to “halt” its implementation and called for a revised cost analysis and a series of town hall meetings before the standards can be implemented further. They were scheduled to be in place by next year.

Every Major School Reform Issue – From Tenure To Charters – Is Hotly Debated, Bitterly Divisive
Trenton Times, NJ, April 30, 2013
A recent Rasmussen poll tells us that American voters have little confidence in our K-12 schools. A mere 18 percent believe that most high school graduates have the skills they need for college. (Sixty-one percent believe they don’t have the skills and 21 percent aren’t sure.)

Walton Foundation Gives $8 Million To StudentsFirst
Los Angeles Times, CA, April 30, 2013
A foundation associated with the Wal-Mart family fortune has expanded its support for the education advocacy group run by former District of Columbia schools chancellor Michelle Rhee.

Per-Student Pre-K Spending Lowest In Decade
Associated Press, April 29, 2013
State funding for pre-kindergarten programs had its largest drop ever last year and states are now spending less per child than they did a decade ago, according to a report released Monday.

STATE COVERAGE

ARIZONA

Brewer Backs New Admission Rules For Charters
KGUN, AZ, April 29, 2013
Gov. Jan Brewer has signed a bill into law that allows for new charter school admission preferences benefiting some siblings and grandchildren.

CALIFORNIA

Don’t Let Politics Block School Finance Reform
Press-Enterprise, CA, April 30, 2013
California does not need a political brawl that stymies progress on creating a better system of taxpayer financing for public schools. Gov. Jerry Brown and legislators need to work through their differences on reshaping school finances, and not let inertia or political self-interest block badly needed reforms.

FLORIDA

Fla. Senate To Vote On Failing Public School Bill
WFTV Orlando, FL, April 29, 2013
Florida parents could soon have the power to turn a failing public school into a charter school.

‘Grass Roots’ Support Hurts Credibility Of Parent Trigger Backers
Tampa Bay Times, FL, April 29, 2013
The petition was supposed to prove this pro-charter school legislation had grass roots support among parents, but instead it highlighted what critics have been saying all along: This law is about pushing Jeb Bush’s education agenda, and little else.

Pay Raises For Teachers Linked To Teacher Performance
WOKV, FL, April 29, 2013
The president of the Clay County Education Association says teacher pay raises are long overdue but he doesn’t believe they should be tied to teacher performance.

GEORGIA

Life A Tough Teacher
Rome Tribune-News, GA, April 30, 2013
The ongoing three-cornered dustup between the Floyd County School System, some of its teachers and parents, plus the state educational powers, in the wake of the local planned large-scale reduction in force, and whether the procedures violated the district’s charter status is just a particularly noisy example of how dreamy ideas can turn out to be very different from what the sales pitch involved.

IDAHO

Myths And Facts About The Idaho Core Standards
Coeur d’Alene Press, ID, April 30, 2013
The following list of common fallacies regarding the Common Core initiative in Idaho was provided to The Press by the office of Idaho public schools chief, Tom Luna. It was prepared by the Idaho State Department of Education.

INDIANA

Taxpayers Are Losers In Charter-School Building Accommodation
Journal-Gazette, IN, April 30, 2013
The decision by the Indiana legislature to reduce the time school districts must legally hold unused school facilities for potential ownership by charter schools from four to two years appears to be applauded by some. I remain puzzled by this requirement.

IOWA

Clashes Remain On School Reform
Des Moines Register, IA, April 30, 2013
Democrats and Republicans in the Iowa Legislature remain divided over session-defining education reform, but leaders say they’re making incremental progress and steadily shrinking areas of disagreement.

MARYLAND

Schools for Everyone
Baltimore Sun, MD, April 29, 2013
This year’s city school budget prioritizes science and programs for advanced students, but in doing so the system can’t afford to shortchange the needs of its average learners

MASSACHUSETTS

State Should OK More Charter Schools For Cities
South Coast Today, MA, April 30, 2013
As former federal and state government education officials, we continue to be impressed by the performance of Massachusetts charter public schools.

MICHIGAN

State School Takeover Bill Stalls In Senate, Republicans Want Changes
WKAR, MI, April 29, 2013
Republicans in the state Senate say it’s time to go back to the drawing board on a bill that would facilitate state takeovers of struggling schools.

MISSOURI

New Teacher Evaluation Guidelines Coming
Southeast Missourian, MO, April 30, 2013
Changes in the way future teachers are certified and how current teachers are evaluated are coming soon to Missouri.

House Speaker Gets His Way: Teacher Evaluation Bill Revived
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Blog, MO, April 29, 2013
A bill requiring annual evaluations of public school teachers is headed to the Missouri House for debate, thanks to a shove from Speaker Tim Jones and a do-over by the House Fiscal Review Committee.

NEW JERSEY

State Arbitrators Rule on First Cases Brought Under New Tenure Law
New Jersey Spotlight, NJ, April 30, 2013
Eight months into New Jersey’s new teacher tenure law, state arbitrators have ruled on a trickle of disputed cases, many of them dealing with egregious cases of misconduct.

Charter School Bill Would Add More Oversight
Star-Ledger, NJ, April 29, 2013
A new bill is in the works for New Jersey’s charter schools, that could require the schools to provide more reporting on enrollments and budgets, according to a report in NJSpotlight.

NEW YORK

Charter Rent War
New York Post, NY, April 30, 2013
A bid to force charter schools to pay rent for the use of public-school building space has been derailed — for now.

Strange Location For A New Bronx Charter School–And Not Because It’s To Be At Site Of Former Strip Club
New York Daily News, NY, April 30, 2013
A new elementary charter school is set to open next year on the site of a former strip club, but that’s not why the location is a strange choice.

PENNSYLVANIA

District Spars With Charter School At Phila. Hearing
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, April 30, 2013
The Philadelphia School District and the city’s oldest charter school sparred over the school’s academic performance during a district hearing Monday on whether its operating charter should be renewed.

The Reality Of Charter Schools
The Reporter, PA, April 29, 2013
The funding of charter school is typically accomplished by a transfer of funding from the school district to the charter school. The student’s home district would contribute the student’s portion of funding (cost per student) to the charter school.

UTAH

Mike Lee Asks For Stop To Federal ‘Interference’ In School Standards
Salt Lake Tribune, UT, April 29, 2013
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has jumped into the ongoing fray over Common Core State Standards, signing a letter asking Senate budget leaders to “restore state decision-making and accountability.”

WASHINGTON

Charter School Boosters Have Eyes For Tacoma
News Tribune, WA, April 30, 2013
Pierce County is emerging as one of the hot spots in Washington’s fledgling charter school movement. November’s voter approval of Initiative 1240 allows the creation of up to 40 of the independently operated, publicly funded schools over the next five years.

WISCONSIN

Private School Tax Credits Wrong
Appleton Post-Crescent, WI, April 29, 2013
As an alternative to an expansion of the state’s voucher school program — in which low- and middle-income parents in some school districts would receive state tax money to send their children to private schools — two Republican legislators are proposing a tax credit for all private-school parents.

Debate Over Expansion Of Voucher Program Heats Up
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI, April 29, 2013
In recent months, Green Bay School Board President Brenda Warren’s schedule has been packed with an uncharacteristic number of public speaking engagements.

ONLINE LEARNING

Cyber Student Not Allowed To Attend Prom
ABC27, PA, April 29, 2013
Eleanor Lohry, 18, already has the dress and the shoes, but the West Shore School District is not allowing the cyber student to attend Cedar Cliff High School’s prom.

Online Charter Schools Could Split in Two, Avoiding State Cap on New Schools
StateImpact, OH, April 29, 2013
This fall Ohio will lift a moratorium on the creation of new online schools, allowing up to five new online schools to open.

Superintendents Urge Temporary Halt On Virtual Charter Schools
Chicago Tribune, IL, April 30, 2013
Several area school district superintendents are asking parents and others to support legislation that would impose a one-year moratorium on the creation of new virtual charter schools.

Illinois Policy Institute’s $16 Million Virtual Charter School Tax Grab
Chicago Now, IL, April 30, 2013
You may have heard about the plan to establish an Illinois “virtual” charter school for 18 suburban school districts and the new bill that could impose a one-year moratorium on digital schools.

Flipped Classroom Turns Traditional Teaching Upside Down
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, April 30, 2013
In teacher Ron Lamb’s chemistry class, students are embracing a new classroom concept being used this school year in a few classes at Pattonville High School.

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Misplaced Furor in the Battle over the Common Core
Huffington Post Blog, April 26, 2013
Welcome to the new blood sport, America: the fight over the Common Core State Standards Initiative. No issue in recent memory has served to divide the education community like Common Core.

Leaving No School Behind: Can Bad Ones Be Turned Around?
USA Today, April 28, 2013
The Obama administration has long supported charter school startups, but now aims to invest about $3 billion in those begging for improvement. Some critics say that strategy is bound to fail.

‘No Child Left Behind’ Gets Left Behind
Wall Street Journal, April 28, 2013
It has been 30 years since the landmark report “A Nation At Risk” documented the failings of America’s public-school system, and the past three decades have seen much promising reform on the local, state and federal levels, in legislatures, on school boards and in classrooms.

No Rich Child Left Behind
New York Times, NY, April 27, 2013
Here’s a fact that may not surprise you: the children of the rich perform better in school, on average, than children from middle-class or poor families. Students growing up in richer families have better grades and higher standardized test scores, on average, than poorer students; they also have higher rates of participation in extracurricular activities and school leadership positions, higher graduation rates and higher rates of college enrollment and completion.

Obama’s Big Second-Term Education Problem
Washington Post Blog, DC, April 28, 2013
President Obama has a big problem in his second term in terms of education policy: his first term.

Rethinking Common Core
Washington Examiner, DC, April 27, 2013
Thirty years ago this month, Americans were startled to learn that their underachieving public schools were undermining the future prosperity and security of the nation.

Critics Join Common Cause To Block Latest School Reform
Washington Times, DC, April 28, 2013
Education Secretary Arne Duncan would be a very wise man if he started paying close attention to the sticks being poked in the eyes of the Obama administration regarding those one-size-fits-all Common Core State Standards.

STATE COVERAGE

ARIZONA

Arizona School Vouchers Ramped Up
Arizona Daily Sun, AZ, April 28, 2013
Thousands of students in poorly performing public schools could soon get what amounts to a voucher from the state to go elsewhere — or even get educated at home — a move that could remove hundreds of millions of dollars a year from public schools.

Arizona Education Hindered By Lack Of Central Data System
Arizona Republic, AZ, April 29, 2013
State Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal has a high-tech vision for school improvement in Arizona.

CALIFORNIA

Rent Increase Could Force SF Charter School To Shut Down
KGO-TV, CA, April 28, 2013
It was a shock for students and parents when they learned their small charter school, located in the heart of San Francisco, may be forced to shut down due to a significant increase in rent. And now those parents are fighting back to keep the school open.

Gov. Brown as Robin Hood
Los Angeles Times, CA, April 29, 2013
His plan to shift money from suburban to urban districts might help disadvantaged students but it could hurt other kids.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

D.C. Charter Advocates Make Annual Push For Equal Funds
Washington Post, DC, April 27, 2013
The District sends more money per student to its traditional schools than to its charter schools, charter officials and advocates told the D.C. Council on Friday, renewing what has become an annual plea for equitable funding.

Rewarding Charter Schools For Their Failure
Washington Post, DC, April 28, 2013
The April 21 editorial “Give charters their due” suggested that D.C. public charter schools receive increased funding to match that of traditional public schools, in part because students at charter schools are outperforming those at traditional schools.

Quiet, Critical School Reform At D.C. Public Schools
Washington Post, DC, April 28, 2013
As D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) enters the second year of working toward the goals outlined in our strategic plan, “A Capital Commitment,” I often am asked whether the district is still leading the way in education reform.

Proposed KIPP DC High School Stalls
Washington Post, DC, April 26, 2013
KIPP DC’s controversial proposal to build a high school on public land in Southwest Washington stalled this week when officials with Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s administration announced that they will not consider leasing the site this year.

Educating Students To Succeed In The Global Economy
Washington Examiner, DC, April 27, 2013
Fresh off our annual lottery — which saw 1,000 applications for 30 open spots — I found myself thinking about the skills students will need for success as adults.

FLORIDA

State Budget Has More Money For Teachers, But How To Pay It Remains Issue
Naples News, FL, April 28, 2013
The money is in the budget, but Florida teachers aren’t entirely optimistic they will have more cash in their pockets during the coming school year.

Charter Schools Land $91M For Facilities
Bradenton Herald, FL, April 29, 2013
Charter schools will receive $91 million for construction and maintenance needs, state lawmakers agreed late Sunday.

Every Florida Teacher to Get Minimum $2,000 Raise; Scott Sends Up a Cheer
Sunshine State News, FL, April 29, 2013
Gov. Rick Scott came close to getting exactly what he wanted for teachers on Sunday — close enough that he and Florida Education Association (FEA) President Andy Ford jointly applauded the House and the Senate’s agreement to implement $480 million in teacher pay raises.

Fix Evaluations
News Herald, FL, April 29, 2013
First the Legislature had an evaluation plan to identify which Florida teachers deserved “merit” pay raises, but it had no money. Now, lawmakers have $480 million earmarked for “performance-based” teacher raises next year, but they don’t have an evaluation system that is credible or even understandable.

Charter School Group Touts Performance
The Ledger, FL, April 27, 2013
A nonprofit group advocating on behalf of charter schools released a report last week that says charter school students perform better than traditional public school students.

INDIANA

Lawmakers Expand School Voucher Program, Pause Common Core
Indianapolis Star, IN, April 27, 2013
The Indiana General Assembly revised the state’s A to F school ratings and paused its participation in national Common Core school standards late Friday and was poised to expand private school vouchers.

IOWA

Should Iowa Teacher Pay Be Tied To Student Test Scores?
Sioux City Journal, IA, April 29, 2013
Education reform is at a standstill in the Statehouse with the politically rocky issue of teacher evaluations one of the main stumbling blocks.

KENTUCKY

Kentucky Charter Schools Movement May Get Bump From Carl Rollins’ Resignation, Advocate Says
WFPL, KY, April 29, 2013
A leading Kentucky charter schools advocate says he’s hopeful the state House leadership will choose a new chairman for the House education committee who is open to charter schools.

LOUISIANA

Ed Overhaul Under Review
The Advocate, LA, April 28, 2013
Gov. Bobby Jindal’s education agenda, which roared through the Legislature last year, is under fire on three new fronts.

MAINE

Former Thornton Academy Headmaster To Head Baxter Academy
Portland Press Herald, ME, April 29, 2013
The longtime headmaster of Saco’s Thornton Academy has been named executive director of Portland’s first charter school, Baxter Academy for Technology and Science.

MISSISSIPPI

Teacher Bill Raises The Bar
Cleveland Currant, MS, April 29, 2013
“This provision is a component of the Governor’s larger education reform agenda,” said Leslie Griffin, dean of the college of education and human services at Delta State University. “It is designed to increase the quality of those teaching in Mississippi’s schools by requiring a higher entrance standard for teacher education programs than currently exists.”

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Sen. Stiles Misled Voters On School Vouchers
Portsmouth Herald, NH, April 29, 2013
State Sen. Nancy Stiles recently joined 12 other Senate Republicans to table HB 370, which would have repealed the school voucher law. Much will be made by Republicans that the Senate just tabled it; they didn’t kill the bill.

School Choice That Works For Everyone
Foster’s Daily Democrat, NH, April 28, 2013
I believe every parent in America should have the opportunity to send their kids to a school offering them a quality education. I’m not alone.

NEW MEXICO

APS Gives Details On Educator Reviews
Albuquerque Journal, NM, April 27, 2013
Albuquerque Public Schools officials laid out some details Friday of their plan to evaluate teachers and principals. The proposal is a counter to the state’s evaluation plan, which school board members have criticized and talked about resisting.

NEW YORK

Charter School Funding Takes Toll On The Public
Times Record-Herald, NY, April 28, 2013
When news of a proposed charter school in Newburgh first came out, those in charge of the city schools did the math and concluded that this could cost the district $1.5 million, money that it could not afford to lose.

School In Oui Bit Of $$ Trouble
New York Post, NY, April 28, 2013
Mon Dieu! A French-language charter school in Harlem faces a $500,000 deficit after wasting thousands of dollars on dubious consulting fees, staff costs and doughnut sprees, documents obtained by The Post reveal.

In North District, Retired Educator Gillick Urges Shift On Discipline
Buffalo News, NY, April 29, 2013
Susan Gillick is a retired educator whose main priority is seeing that the Buffalo Public Schools spend less time suspending and punishing kids and more time focused on progressive discipline that keeps kids in school and focuses on their needs.

NORTH CAROLINA

The Hijacking Of Charter Schools
News & Observer, NC, April 26, 2013
As a longtime supporter of charter schools, I am distressed to watch Republican legislators attempting to hijack this once-promising notion for school improvement and transform it into a force for undermining public education in North Carolina.

Rodney Ellis: Vouchers Will Harm Schools
Greenville Daily Reflector, NC, April 28, 2013
I have spent my career working with kids who without public education will never experience the hope of the American Dream.

OHIO

Ohio Charter Schools Could Enroll Out-Of-State Students
StateImpact, OH, April 29, 2013
Ohio charter schools could enroll out-of-state students — and charge them tuition — under a provision inserted into the House version of the state budget earlier this month, giving the publicly funded schools another source of revenue.

CPS Teachers Retiring In Droves
Cincinnati Enquirer, OH, April 28, 2013
About 150 teachers are expected to retire this year from Cincinnati Public Schools, the third year in a row the region’s largest district has seen more than 100 workers retire from its teaching force.

Eight-Week Strongsville Teachers Strike Is Over; School Board Unanimously Approves New Contract
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, April 28, 2013
The five-member Strongsville school board met at 9 this morning and unanimously approved an agreement to end the eight-week strike by teachers.

PENNSYLVANIA

York City Schools Reform: Breaking Down The Two Plans
York Daily Record, PA, April 28, 2013
Will charters be on the way, or will the York City School District get a chance to prove itself capable of getting on the right track? By the end of the week, the community should have a better idea of how reform will be pursued for city schools.

Hearing To Probe Philadelphia’s Oldest Charter School
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, April 29, 2013
Community Academy of Philadelphia opened in 1997, but the School Reform Commission said in January the school’s operating charter should not be renewed because of low test scores and financial problems.

Philadelphia School District To Seek $60 Million More
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, April 29, 2013
School District of Philadelphia leaders are expected Monday to ask Council to open the municipal wallet again – this time for $60 million – two months before the members have to pass a budget.

Charter Chief Says School Met Needed Benchmarks
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, April 27, 2013
The chief executive officer of a North Philadelphia charter school that is fighting to remain open testified during a Philadelphia School District hearing Friday that the school met the state’s academic benchmarks for 2012.

TEXAS

From Inner-City To Ivy League: College Is Goal For Dallas Charter Schools
WFAA, TX, April 28, 2013
Mendez was one of 40 students from Uplift Education charter schools in Dallas to travel to Boston. They went to Harvard and Boston College.

Small Crowd Rallies For School Choice At Capitol
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, TX, April 28, 2013
A few dozen activists joined a pair of tea party state senators Saturday to rally at the Texas Capitol for expanding school choice.

UTAH

New Charter School?
St. George Daily Spectrum, UT, April 28, 2013
Spectrum Media has routinely supported the arts — both in terms of news coverage and in terms of assisting with free or low-cost advertising for arts events. And this editorial board has routinely showed support for the great cultural offerings provided in Southern Utah — from the Utah Shakespeare Festival to the performances at Tuacahn to the St. George Musical Theater.

WASHINGTON

Spokane Public Schools Pursues Charter Schools
Spokesman Review, WA, April 28, 2013
Visions of the kinds of charter schools that could open in Spokane are emerging: a dual-language elementary or middle school; a high school that incorporates two years of college; an academically rigorous elementary school; and a K-8 science, technology, engineering and mathematics school.

Lawmakers Still Have ‘A Lot Of Work To Do’ On Education
Seattle Times, WA, April 28, 2013
State lawmakers ended their regular session Sunday after passing only a handful of major education-policy bills. The issue will be a focus of the special session, leaders said.

WISCONSIN

Katherine Berkvam: Take Private School Voucher Expansion Out Of State Budget
Wisconsin State Journal, WI, April 28, 2013
The state budget proposal seeks to expand the taxpayer-funded private school voucher program, which uses tax dollars to support private schools, including religious schools. To qualify, a family of four can earn around $70,000.

ONLINE LEARNING

Easton Teachers Union Files Complaint Over Cyber School Employees
Lehigh Valley Express-Times, PA, April 28, 2013
The Easton Area School District teachers union president says the district broke an agreement to hire district teachers to staff its cyber school.

School System Hailed For Tech
Forsyth News, GA, April 28, 2013
For the fifth time since 2004, Forsyth County Schools has been named one of the nation’s top 10 digital school districts.

Districts 300, 204 Ask Residents To Support Legislation Delaying Online Charter Schools
Aurora Beacon News, IL, April 26, 2013
Some local school districts are asking residents to join them in opposing plans for an online charter school in the Fox Valley.

Charter School Bill Bad
Northwest Herald, IL, April 29, 2013
State lawmakers should not support HB494 – the bill proposed by Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora, that aims to put a one-year moratorium on virtual charter schools in Illinois.

Bluesky Online School Rebounding After State Effort To Shut It Down
Pioneer Press, MN, April 29, 2013
A year after her school concluded a protracted battle with state education officials, the new leader of BlueSky Online says it is on the rebound.

In Utah’s Digital Shift, Students Turning The Page On Traditional Textbooks
Salt Lake Tribune, UT, April 29, 2013
State cranks up the development of free, open-source science, math and language-arts digital textbooks.

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NATIONAL COVERAGE

Corrupt Educators Are Threatening School Reform
Washington Post, DC, April 25, 2013
An exploding culture of corruption imperils public education in the United States. Financial misconduct and outright theft are depleting and misdirecting resources critical for the nation’s children to secure the skills and tools they’ll need to become solid citizens and global competitors.

Charter Schools vs. Public: Is One Better Than the Other?
Take Part, April 256, 2013
New data shows just how well kids are doing in many of the nation’s charter schools.

Close Gap In Access To Good Teachers, Curriculum, Schools, Says New Book, Campaign
Washington Post, DC, April 25, 2013
For more than a generation, educators and policymakers have been agonizing about America’s achievement gap, the persistent chasm in academic performance between poor and privileged children.

STATE COVERAGE

CALIFORNIA

A Dangerous Game for UTLA
Los Angeles Times, CA, April 26, 2013
The leadership of the Los Angeles teachers union recently conducted a survey among its members asking if they had confidence in Los Angeles Unified Supt. John Deasy.

DELAWARE

Pencader Charter School Gets $350,000 From Delaware To Help Pay Bills
News Journal, DE, April 26, 2013
The standoff between the state Department of Education and Pencader Charter is over after the state agreed Thursday evening to pitch in $350,000 to brace the troubled school’s budget through the end of the year, school and state officials said.

Five Steps To Continue Improving Delaware’s Education
News Journal, DE, April 26, 2013
“What kind of impact has the $119 million in federal Race to the Top funding had on education in Delaware?” Three years into the state’s top finish in the RTTT competition, a number of people have asked that question.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Surprise! D.C. Admits School Test Tampering At Meridian Public Charter
Washington Post Blog, DC, April 26, 2013
The Meridian Public Charter School is a well-regarded institution serving students in preschool through eighth grade on 13th Street between V and W streets in Northwest Washington. Nearly all of its 531 students are black or Hispanic.

FLORIDA

Could A Compromise Be Coming For The Parent Trigger?
Tampa Bay Times Blog, FL, April 25, 2013
Could a compromise be coming for the parent trigger? It’s anybody’s guess what will happen with the controversial proposal, which would let parents demand sweeping changes at failing public schools.

ILLINOIS

State Turns Off UNO Money Spigot After Charter School Scandal
Chicago Tribune, IL, April 25, 2013
State officials have temporarily halted funding to the United Neighborhood Organization, contending the large charter school operator violated terms of a $98 million grant by hiring contractors who are related to one of the group’s top executives.

At Chicago School Closing Hearings, Crowds Fade
Chicago Tribune, IL, April 26, 2013
After months of jampacked hearings over Chicago’s decision to shut down scores of schools, the final round of public meetings — the ones mandated by state law — has often been sparsely attended and overcast by an air of futility.

MISSOURI

Two House Republicans Pulled From Committee Over Education Reform Clash
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Blog, MO, April 25, 2013
Two House Republicans have been pulled from a committee because of their votes blocking education reform legislation.

NEVADA

Rainbow Dreams School Has Its Charter Renewed
Las Vegas Sun, NV, April 25, 2013
The Clark County School Board renewed its contract with the two star-ranked Rainbow Dreams Academy Charter School on Thursday.

NEW JERSEY

Draft Charter Bill Calls for Local Approval, More Reviewers
New Jersey Spotlight, NJ, April 26, 2013
The outlines of a new charter school bill are taking shape, with a draft being circulated by Assembly Democrats that would add tighter controls on new charters and expand the number of organizations approving and overseeing the schools.

Luongo Seeks To Run N.J. Charter School
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, April 26, 2013
A former high-profile South Jersey politician who spent almost a year in federal prison for misusing campaign and township funds is seeking state approval for a plan to open Gloucester County’s first charter school, even though he is barred from working in the classroom.

NEW YORK

Success Academy Cobble Hill Spied On By Teachers Union, Students Photographed: Officials
New York Daily News, NY, April 26, 2013
The founder of the Success Academy charter school leveled the charges in a letter to education officials and the United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew.

City Schools Won’t Honor Teacher Evaluation Agreement With BTF
Buffalo News, NY, April 25, 2013
The Buffalo schools will not honor an agreement with the teachers union that promised not to use two years of evaluations as grounds to fire any teacher, Superintendent Pamela C. Brown announced Thursday evening.

Paladino Effect On School Board Races Seen In Mailers
Buffalo News, NY, April 25, 2013
Love him or hate him, outspoken developer and unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino has done more than any other candidate to raise awareness and raise the stakes in city School Board elections that are otherwise widely ignored by voters.

OHIO

Strongsville Group Releases Document It Says Comes From NEA, OEA Says It’s Forged
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, April 25, 2013
A group of concerned parents and community members gathered outside of Center Middle School April 25 to say they were “fed up with certain tactics” from the Strongsville teachers union.

Common Core Makes Sense, Says Governor
Marietta Daily Journal, OH, April 26, 2013
Gov. Nathan Deal, who was in Cobb County on Thursday for a bill-signing ceremony, was asked to explain his support for the controversial Common Core school curriculum.

Cleveland Names ‘Investment Schools’ Slated For Turnaround
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, April 25, 2013
The Cleveland school district this afternoon named 13 low-performing schools to receive intensive help next school year, a major step in kicking off the Cleveland Plan for Transforming Schools.

PENNSYLVANIA

Phila. Schools’ Cash Crunch May Cut Charter Growth
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, April 26, 2013
Citing a $304 million shortfall, the Philadelphia School District announced Thursday that it would recommend against expanding any charter schools in 2013-14.

TEXAS

School Rankings Highlight Challenges
Houston Chronicle, TX, April 25, 2013
his year’s annual school report card, recently released by Children at Risk (“Houston’s learning curve,” B1, April 21), once again shows the enormous difference between our area’s top public schools and its bottom ones.

UTAH

City Studies Charter School Offer
St. George Daily Spectrum, UT, April 25, 2013
City officials are considering a deal with a nonprofit educational foundation that could revive the St. George Musical Theater and provide a local building for students enrolled in a web-based charter school focused on the arts.

WASHINGTON

Legislature Must Enact Key Education Reforms
Seattle Times, WA, April 25, 2013
Promising education reforms before the state Legislature that once seemed doom are moving forward now. Bills in Olympia are never dead.

WISCONSIN

Walker Attends Rally For School Vouchers
Journal Sentinel, WI, April 25, 2013
School voucher supporters who want to see public funds support kids attending private schools in cities beyond Milwaukee and Racine kicked their efforts into high gear Thursday, gathering at a rally in Waukesha to trumpet the benefits of the program.

ONLINE LEARNING

Will Blended Learning Cost Less? (And Should That Be The Question?)
Jewish Week, April 25, 2013
Among the many challenges faced by schools today are rising costs and shrinking budgets.

Be Careful With Charters
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, April 26, 2013
The Philadelphia School District’s motive to start its own cyber charter school is understandable – recouping some of the $60 million it sends to other cyber charters to serve city students – but that’s not the road to take.

East Lycoming Reviews Cyber School Tuition
Williamsport Sun-Gazette, PA, April 26, 2013
Outreach for behaviorally challenged students and cyber and charter school tuition were topics of discussion at the East Lycoming School Board meeting, held Tuesday evening.

Fla. Online School Target Of Cuts From Legislators
Gainesville Sun, FL, April 25, 2013
Florida’s highly-successful online school is battling proposed cutbacks at a time when state legislators are bragging about boosting money for schools by more than $1 billion.

Learning Anytime, Anywhere
Holland Sentinel, MI, April 25, 2013
“This is their homeroom,” Rebekah Redmer said, as she pointed to a webpage enlarged on a projection screen.

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STATE COVERAGE

ALABAMA

Senate Committee Cuts Size Of Teacher Pay Raise
The Huntsville Times Blog, AL, April 24, 2013
The proposed pay raise for Alabama’s K-12 school employees keeps shrinking the longer the Legislature stays in session.

CALIFORNIA

Michael Bloomberg Donates $350,000 To L.A. School Board Race
Los Angeles Times, CA, April 25, 2013
The New York City mayor’s contribution to a political action committee led by L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will benefit board candidate Antonio Sanchez.

Rumor Of Deal Roils Teachers Union
Los Angeles Times, CA, April 24, 2013
UTLA members allege that one of their leaders made a private arrangement on staffing with a school board candidate. Antonio Sanchez and union vice president Gregg Solkovits deny any deal.

Legislation That Would Have Required More Frequent Evaluations Of Educators Was Killed By A State
Los Angeles Times, CA, April 24, 2013
Senate committee Wednesday under strong opposition from teachers’ unions. Legislation that would have required more frequent evaluations of educators was killed by a state Senate committee Wednesday under strong opposition from teachers’ unions.

Gov. Jerry Brown Promises Fight Over Education Overhaul
Los Angeles Times, CA, April 24, 2013
Jerry Brown says lawmakers will get ‘the battle of their lives’ if they balk at his plan to give more funds to poor districts and more spending flexibility to all school districts.

Saugus Board Again Rejects Einstein’s Charter Bid
SCV News, CA, April 24, 2013
Saugus Union School District board members voted 3-1 Tuesday to reject a fourth charter school petition from the Einstein Academy for the Letters, Arts and Sciences for a kindergarten to sixth-grade school.

LASD Bids On Sunnyvale Site For BCS Campus
Los Altos Town Crier, CA, April 24, 2013
In an effort to find an adequate site for Bullis Charter School, the Los Altos School District Board of Trustees voted to instruct staff to prepare a bid for the Raynor Activity Center in Sunnyvale.

Breaking The Monopoly Of Mediocrity In Our Schools
San Diego Union-Tribune, CA, April 25, 2013
Thirty years ago this month, “A Nation At Risk,” the landmark publication on America’s education system from the Reagan administration, made the case that education reform in the United States was an absolute necessity.

COLORADO

St. Vrain Charter Budgets Show Schools’ Differences
Longmont Daily Times-Call, CO, April 25, 2013
The St. Vrain Valley School District Board of Education got its first look at the charter schools’ proposed 2013-14 budgets on Wednesday.

CONNECTICUT

Hartford Superintendent Proposes Opening New Charter School
Hartford Courant, CT, April 24, 2013
Superintendent Christina Kishimoto said Wednesday morning that she wants to open another Achievement First charter school in the city for the 2014-15 year.

FLORIDA

Neighbors Fight Plan For 2,000-Student School In Kendall
Miami Herald, FL, April 24, 2013
Plans to replace a small neighborhood school in East Kendall with a massive charter school housing 2,000 students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade drew a crowd of outraged residents this week demanding the school be stopped.

GEORGIA

Some GA Charter Schools Now Complaining About State Commission They Wanted
WXIA-TV, GA, April 24, 2013
This is one of those stories about being careful what you ask for. Last fall many Georgia charter schools and their supporters were elated when voters overwhelmingly passed a constitutional amendment re-establishing a Georgia Charter Schools Commission.

ILLINOIS

CPS Protests: Students Reject Tests, Charter School Backers Want Equal Funding
Chicago Sun Times, IL, April 24, 2013
Two different groups of protesters gathered Wednesday outside the Chicago Public Schools headquarters to make their voices heard.

Let Parents Dictate School Funding
Chicago Tribune, IL, April 24, 2013
Regarding, “Charter school parents form advocacy group,” (News, April 23), this battle between public schools and charter schools is completely off base. Rather than this silly fighting, let’s change the very paradigm upon which public education is based.

LOUISIANA

Rare Show Of Unity Among Education Leaders On RSD ‘Parent Trigger’ Bill
Times-Picayune, LA, April 24, 2013
“Unified” is not a word usually used to refer to the education community in Louisiana. But in a rare show of solidarity Wednesday, teachers unions, education officials and lawmakers from both parties came together in support of a bill that would allow parents to petition to transfer control over their child’s school from the Recovery School District to the local system.

Education Panel Adopts Bill To Postpone Rating System
Alexandria Town Talk, LA, April 24, 2013
Teachers shouldn’t be penalized by a faulty evaluation system that can be corrected and put into place next year, members of the House Education Committee said Wednesday night after a nearly three-hour meeting.

Orleans School Board Backs Bill To Let Charters Remain Local Education Agencies
The Advocate, LA, April 25, 2013
The Orleans Parish School Board on Tuesday night addressed one of the reasons charter schools cite for hesitating to return to School Board authority: the desire to keep their status as a local education agency.

MAINE

Debate Continues Over Weight Of Student Test Scores In Teacher Evaluations
Bangor Daily News, ME, April 24, 2013
A lengthy and ongoing legislative debate over how much student test scores should count when evaluating teachers continued Wednesday with a new proposal to limit the scores’ impact to 10 percent.

Sign-Ups For First Portland Charter School Falling Short
Portland Press Herald, ME, April 25, 2013
Portland’s first charter school has letters of commitment from only 105 students, far short of the 160 the school hopes to enroll by the time it opens in the fall.

MARYLAND

Maryland ‘On Track’ On Federal Teacher Evaluation Deadline, State Says
Washington Post, DC, April 24, 2013
Maryland officials say they are confident the state will meet federal deadlines to develop new teacher evaluation systems requiring the use of standardized test scores.

MASSACHUSETTS

Complaints About Mystic Valley Piled Up With State
Boston Globe, MA, April 25, 2013
As the trustees of Mystic Valley Regional Charter School in Malden seek a review of the state education commissioner’s decision to deny the school’s request to increase its enrollment cap, written complaints filed with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education since 2001 reveal that parents have repeatedly voiced concern about the way trustees run the school.

Lift Cap On Urban Charters
Worchester Telegram, MA, April 25, 2013
As former federal and state government education officials, we continue to be impressed by the performance of Massachusetts charter public schools.

MICHIGAN

Three Little-Known Facts About Charter Schools In Michigan
Michigan Radio, MI, April 24, 2013
Today, on State of Opportunity, I report on a troubling fact of charter school expansion in Michigan: Some of the state’s best charter schools are struggling to compete against low-performing charter schools.

Don’t Trust Ed-Trust on Charter Schools
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, MI, April 24, 2013
A new report from Education Trust-Michigan lays out an “education roadmap” for improving average standardized test scores in Michigan. Before describing the roadmap, however, the report goes to great lengths to criticize state policies that have enabled parents to enroll their children in public charter schools.

Secretive Education Panel To Go Public
Detroit News, MI, April 25, 2013
A group focused on using technology to lower school costs is emerging from the shadows after Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration was criticized for its secret meetings.

Educational Achievement Authority Bad For State – And Its Kids
Detroit Free Press, MI, April 25, 2013
Some educational entities have backed off of their opposition to the expansion of the governor’s Educational Achievement Authority (EAA). But I continue to believe that its expansion is a bad idea for Michigan’s children. The EAA circumvents educational laws, robs the school aid fund and plays by its own rules.

NEW JERSEY

State Officials Back In The Classroom With Charter School Tour
New Jersey Herald, NJ, April 24, 2013
Amid the controversy that surrounds charter schools in New Jersey, State Sen. Steve Oroho, Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose and Assemblyman Parker Space were invited to take a tour and meet with the students of the Sussex County Charter School for Technology on Wednesday.

NORTH CAROLINA

Go Slow On Vouchers
News-Record, NC, April 25, 2013
A rally for public school vouchers drew a big crowd to the Greensboro Coliseum Tuesday, proving the idea has appeal in North Carolina. But rushing to spend $90 million on a statewide voucher plan without even a pilot project could be an expensive mistake.

OHIO

Strongsville: SCAC Says 61 Teachers Want To Cross Picket Line
WKYC, OH, April 24, 2013
The Strongsville Community Action Committee says it knows of 61 striking teachers who have expressed interest in crossing the strike picket lines.

PENNSYLVANIA

$6 Million To Aid Three Phila. Public Schools
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, April 25, 2013
Three progressive Philadelphia public schools will expand in the fall as a result of a $6 million investment from a city nonprofit with growing clout, officials announced Wednesday.

RHODE ISLAND

The Struggle To Retain Seniority For Teachers
Go Local Prov, RI, April 25, 2013
The problem with this long-standing practice is that seniority (time in the system) does not necessarily equate to highly effective teaching. Couple the job fairs with lackluster professional evaluations and we had a recipe for poor academic outcomes.

SOUTH CAROLINA

S.C. Bill Drops Exemption To School Attendance Zones
Augusta Chronicle, GA, April 24, 2013
Parents could no longer buy a small plot to send their child to a certain school under a bill advanced Wednesday by a House panel.

TENNESSEE

Tennessee Charter School Incubator To Expand Services
The Tennessean, TN, April 25, 2013
The Tennessee group known for helping its participants start successful charter schools is branching out to help other charter operators start second schools.

TEXAS

Uplift Leaders Stand with Other Charters in Support of Texas SB 2
San Antonio Express, TX, April 24, 2013
Charter leaders from around Texas gathered in Austin Tuesday to give testimony in support of Senate Bill 2 which could bring major changes to charter schools including the replication and regulation processes, raising the cap on the limit of charters schools in Texas and closing low-performing, public charter schools.

ONLINE LEARNING

McKeesport School Directors Ask For State Mandate Reform
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, PA, April 25, 2013
Directors adopted two resolutions calling for reform at Wednesday’s school board meeting — one in the funding of the Pennsylvania Public School Employees Retirement System and the other in the funding formula for charter and cyber schools.

Bethel Park Board Asks State To Update Charter School Regulations
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, April 25, 2013
Bethel Park school board is asking the state Legislature to update laws regarding charter schools and their cyber counterparts.

Flaws Found At Virtual School Wooing Maine
Portland Press Herald, FL, April 25, 2013
Investigators in Florida have found that online education company K12 Inc., which is seeking to operate a full-time virtual charter school in Maine, has employed teachers to teach subjects for which they lacked the proper certification.

Middle Schoolers Get A Head Start On High School Credits
Highlands Today, FL, April 25, 2013
When mother Gabrielle Birnie enrolled her daughter in the Personal Fitness class at the online Florida Virtual School, she wanted to help her get some of her high school graduation requirements out of the way so she has time for dual enrollment classes later on.

Fla. Online School Target Of Cuts From Legislators
WRAL, NC, April 24, 2013
Florida’s highly-successful online school is battling proposed cutbacks at a time when state legislators are bragging about boosting money for schools by more than $1 billion.

Virtual Academy Expanding, Offering Online Education For All Grades
14 News WFIE Evansville, IN, April 24, 2013
Some homeschoolers have a new option for completing their school work.
EVSC’s Virtual Academy, typically for those in high school, is now open to kids in Kindergarten through Eighth grade.