Daily Headlines for April 19, 2013
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NATIONAL COVERAGE
Criminalizing Children at School
New York Times, NY, April 19, 2013
The National Rifle Association and President Obama responded to the Newtown, Conn., shootings by recommending that more police officers be placed in the nation’s schools.
Common Core Standards Attacked By Republicans
Washington Post, DC, April 19, 2013
Republicans have launched an attack on the Common Core State Standards, an initiative that more than 45 states and the District of Columbia signed onto but that has been facing increasing opposition in recent months from both right and left.
Governors Like Talking About Education. A Lot.
Washington Post Blog, DC, April 18, 2013
As lawmakers in Washington have been wrestling over guns, immigration and sequestration, the nation’s governors have their sights on a different issue: Education.
STATE COVERAGE
CALIFORNIA
Misspent School Money
Los Angeles Times, CA, April 18, 2013
Our schools need to do better, but you can’t blame teachers for being paranoid when they see some of the people lined up against them: members of the Walton family, who are rabidly against unions, or Republicans whose colleagues in state after state are trying to destroy teachers unions.
CONNECTICUT
Parents Turn Out To Support Elm City Montessori Charter School
New Haven Register, CT, April 18, 2013
Supporters of the proposed Elm City Montessori charter school spoke out Thursday night at a Board of Education public hearing.
FLORIDA
The Parent Trigger Bill: A Shot At Privatization
Cape Coral Daily Breeze, FL, April 19, 2013
The current legislation being considered by the Florida legislature (known as the Parent Trigger Bill) is the latest assault on the public education system. Promoted as a means of parent empowerment, (nothing about turning a profit) the Parent Trigger Bill allows parents to petition for dramatic changes at failing public schools.
ILLINOIS
Kadner: Parents Battle For Slice Of School Pie
Southtown Star, IL, April 19, 2013
A terrific charter high school for children in the south suburbs is creating a financial dilemma.
INDIANA
Deal Nears On Voucher Expansion
Journal Gazette, IN, April 19, 2013
Lawmakers seeking a compromise on a voucher expansion seemed close Thursday, with House Republicans seeking only three small changes in the proposed bill.
IOWA
Parties Split Over Teacher Evaluations
Mason City Globe Gazette, IA, April 19, 2013
Teacher evaluations have emerged as one of key divisions between Republican and Democratic lawmakers looking to make a deal on education reform.
Education Reform Sees Progress After Rocky Few Days
Des Moines Registers, IA, April 19, 2013
An education reform plan that faced an uncertain fate in the Iowa Legislature earlier this week took positive steps forward on Thursday, when Democratic and Republican lawmakers engaged in earnest negotiation after several days of acrimony.
LOUISIANA
EBR Board To Shift Gifted Students, Create Magnet School
The Advocate, LA, April 19, 2013
The East Baton Rouge Parish School Board on Thursday put off for two weeks a decision on changing how it provides health insurance to retirees as well as setting the 2014 premium rates of all employees.
MICHIGAN
Education Reform Group Forges Voucher-Like Plan For Michigan
Detroit News, MI, April 19, 2013
A secret work group that includes top aides to Gov. Rick Snyder has been meeting since December to develop a lower-cost model for K-12 public education with a funding mechanism that resembles school vouchers.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Senate Rejects Repeal Of School Vouchers
Exeter News-Letter, NH, April 19, 2013
Repealing New Hampshire’s controversial business education tax credit, a legislative priority for Gov. Maggie Hassan and fellow Democrats, ran headlong into the resistance of Senate Republicans who used their slim majority Thursday to block those efforts.
NEW JERSEY
Camden Schools Chief Hopes Takeover Will Help
Courier-Post, NJ, April 19, 2013
Education Commissioner Chris Cerf Thursday likened the state takeover of Camden schools to President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, saying officials will take “new and bold” steps to enact change.
NEW YORK
State Tests Spark Ire, Analysis
Wall Street Journal, April 18, 2013
New York state education officials have already begun to weigh the fallout from tougher standardized tests tied to new academic standards after schools and parents complained this week that children ran out of time, collapsed in tears or froze up.
Irate Parents, Teachers Say Brooklyn Public Schools Received Meager Improvements As Charter School In Same Building Enjoyed Big Makeover
New York Daily News, NY, April 18, 2013
The Department of Education counters that it invested more than $2.1 million in upgrades to the public schools and spent $350,000 on charter school Success Academy Cobble Hill on Baltic Street. The law requires the department to spend at least as much on the public schools, the Brooklyn School for Global Studies, the School for International Studies and Public School 368K.
NORTH CAROLINA
Why School Vouchers Are Wrong For NC
News & Observer, NC, April 18, 2013
House Bill 944, a school voucher bill, aims to spend $90 million of taxpayer money over the next two years to subsidize private school tuition, takes money away from already underfunded public schools and offers little accountability to taxpayers.
OREGON
Corbett School Board Election Puts District Charter School On Trial
Oregonian, OR, April 18, 2013
Corbett students boast some of the better test scores in Oregon, and the district has made top 10 lists in Newsweek and The Washington Post for having so many students taking tough, college-level classes.
PENNSYLVANIA
Districts Launch Teacher-Retention Program
Philadelphia Tribune, PA, April 18, 2013
Officials responsible for the Philadelphia Great Schools Compact – an education reform agreement signed by the School District of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools, the Mayor’s Office on Education, the Pennsylvania Department of Education and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia – have recently publicized a new program to attract and retain high-quality teachers for each district.
‘Catastrophic’ Budget Laid Out By Philly Schools
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, April 19, 2013
If the “catastrophic” budget picture Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. laid out Thursday comes to pass, Philadelphia schools would be virtually unrecognizable come September.
‘No Child’ Crowding Out Curriculum
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, April 19, 2013
Thank you to Joel L. Naroff for his article about the need for better tools to evaluate charter schools and, indeed, every school in our educational system (“Are charter schools working? It’s anybody’s guess,” April 7).
SRC Votes To Close Stanton School
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, April 19, 2013
The Philadelphia School Reform Commission on Thursday night ordered another city school to shut in June.
TENNESSEE
TN To Vote On Merit Pay For Teachers
The Tennessean, TN, April 19, 2013
State officials are expected to give preliminary approval this morning to a teacher pay policy that forces each district to create a merit pay system for the 2014-15 school year .
Authorizer Bill Enlarging State’s Power Over New Charter Schools Advances
Memphis Flyer, TN, April 18, 2013
For diehard determination in the face of intractable and hostile and inevitable fate, General Custer had nothing on the few Democrats, mainly from Nashville, who spent a futile but valiant hour in the state House of Representatives on Thursday, the next to last day of the 2013 legislative session, trying to turn back, or at least amend, a charter-authorizer bill that basically gives state government unlimited veto power over local school boards.
Tennessee Is Moving Ahead on Effective School Reform
Wall Street Journal, April 19, 2013
Your claim that the School Boards Association or teachers unions influenced this decision in any way is just plain wrong. Both groups oppose vouchers in any form and never supported my bill.
ONLINE LEARNING
Bethel Park Calling For Cyber And Charter School Funding Reform
McMurray Almanac, PA, April 18, 2013
Bethel Park School Board members are expected to vote April 23 to approve a resolution calling for the reform of the commonwealth’s charter and cyber school funding.
Bradley County Virtual School Growing
Times Free Press, TN, April 19, 2013
Officials with the Bradley County Virtual School are requesting more teachers and expanded Internet access to meet the needs of a growing student body.
Virtual Reality Check
Chicago Tribune, IL, April 19, 2013
Local educators in the Fox River Valley have rejected a proposal to start an online charter school that would serve students in their area. They argue that there are too many concerns about cost, curriculum, accountability and teacher quality in the bid by the nonprofit firm Virtual Learning Solutions.