Daily Headlines for November 25, 2013
Click here for Newswire, the latest weekly report on education news and commentary you won’t find anywhere else – spiced with a dash of irreverence – from the nation’s leading voice in school reform.
NATIONAL COVERAGE
Hasten: Both sides claim victory in La. voucher case
Alexandria Town Talk, LA, November 24, 2013
It’s been a fairly good week in court for Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. The U.S. Department of Justice pretty much dropped its lawsuit challenging Jindal’s voucher program on the grounds that it might violate desegregation orders that seek racial balances in Louisiana’s public schools.
More states delay Common Core testing as concerns grow
Washington Post Blog, DC, November 24, 2013
Massachusetts and Louisiana, both seen as important in the world of school reform, have decided to delay the implementation of high-stakes standardized tests aligned to the Common Core State Standards in the face of growing concern about the initiative.
Needs to Choose School Choice
Michigan Capitol Confidential, MI, November 23, 2013
This fall, Michigan received disappointing, but expected news: The Center for Education Reform gave the state a score of ‘0’ for its school choice policies.
STATE COVERAGE
CALIFORNIA
Don’t let lax rules sabotage school-funding reforms
Editorial, Press Enterprise, CA, November 24, 2013
California should prevent flawed implementation from sabotaging school-funding reforms. The state Board of Education needs to strengthen proposed rules for the state’s new school financing formula. The regulations should ensure that money to aid educationally needy students actually goes for that purpose.
DELAWARE
New school offerings showcased at Delaware charter expo
News Journal, DE, November 23, 2013
Charter schools from all over New Castle County packed a room above The Grand Opera House in Wilmington on Saturday morning, trying to get the word out to potential parents and students.
FLORIDA
BPS to expel more teachers
Boston Herald, FL, November 24, 2013
Boston Public Schools officials are moving to fire more teachers who aren’t making the grade, even as poor-performing teachers who already have been terminated under the new evaluation process are fighting to get their jobs back.
Charter Schools Meet the Challenge
Column, The Ledger, FL, November 23, 2013
This is in response to Dr. William Hahn’s op-ed column “School Grading Favors Charter Schools,” published Nov. 9. Hahn was critical of a “one-size-fits-all” school grading standard when “charter schools” are in the mix. He used Lake Wales as his example.
Pinellas schools looking to attract more students with magnet programs
Tampa Bay Times, FL, November 23, 2013
It used to be that they didn’t have to work so hard. Pinellas County would open a school, and students would enroll.
KANSAS
Chris Christie pushes teacher tenure reform to the top
Opinion, Kansas City Star, KS, November 23, 2013
There is a puzzling nugget hidden in all the bragging by Republican New Jersey’s governor, Chris Christie, re-elected by a landslide in a “blue” state. It’s a doozy.
LOUISIANA
Former voucher foe heads pro-voucher group
The Advocate, LA
November 24, 2013
The new president of a group that supports school vouchers once fought against them — a change in views sparked in part by the murder of her father.
Our schools, not that great
Editorial, The Advocate, LA, November 24, 2013
It’s always fun to see politicians get into trouble for saying what they really think. Look at the latest from Arne Duncan, the head of the U.S. Department of Education.
MARYLAND
Bill would subject voucher schools to report cards by 2015
Journal Sentinel, WI
November 23, 2013
A new version of a bill is in the works in the Legislature that could bring all the state’s publicly funded students — including those in private voucher schools — into the same accountability system in 2015.
MICHIGAN
Charters, choice are strangling our public schools
Editorial, Battle Creek Enquirer, MI, November 23, 2013
The people behind the charter school and privatization movement are intent on destroying public schools, and they are succeeding. In so doing, they are literally depriving children of the promise of a quality education and doing immeasurable harm to our democracy.
MISSOURI
Embattled superintendent had spoken out on school choice
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, November 25, 2013
Art McCoy stood in front of legislators a few months ago in a small auditorium at St. Charles Community College, offering a controversial idea to help kids in failing schools — choice.
NEW JERSEY
Charter school parents clash with school board
Hudson Reporter, NJ, November 23, 2013
Parents poured into a Board of Education meeting Tuesday night after it was revealed that Superintendent of Schools Mark Toback intended to send a letter to the state education commissioner opposing the expansion of Hoboken’s Dual Language Charter School (HoLa) to eighth grade, and expressing concerns about charter schools in general.
NEW MEXICO
Bid denied to halt teacher eval system
Albuquerque Journal, NM, November 24, 2013
A state district court judge has denied a petition filed by state legislators, teachers unions and an individual teacher that aimed to stop the state’s new teacher-evaluation system, because the judge said that the state education chief was well within her power to unilaterally overhaul the process for evaluating New Mexico educators.
Superintendent Boyd on school reform: ‘Our children cannot wait’
Santa Fe New Mexican, NM, November 23, 2013
Santa Fe Public Schools Superintendent Joel Boyd abandoned his prepared script for the annual State of the Schools speech Thursday and instead spoke off the cuff for about 15 minutes to about 150 people — mostly district employees — at the Roundhouse.
NEW YORK
Bill de Blasio gives cold shoulder to education reformers as he prepares to choose a chancellor
New York Daily News, NY, November 24, 2013
De Blasio chose to place high-profile critics of Bloomberg’s policies on his 60-member transition team, troubling education reformers and advocates for charter schools
In the Classroom, Learning for Today and Tomorrow
Letters, New York Times, NY, November 25, 2013
Re “Advertisements for the Common Core” (editorial, Nov. 20): A writing-intensive curriculum is linked with reading; all understand that, and most will applaud.
Lawmakers divided on school tax liability distribution plan
Journal News, NY, November 23, 2013
Fractures have emerged among leading state Senate Democrats supporting the school-choice movement’s ambitious proposal to allow New York taxpayers to target up to 75 percent of their state tax liability to private school scholarship funds, individual public schools or public-school foundations.
NY only state still on board with school data plan
Wall Street Journal, November 23, 2013
After months of debate about the risks of storing student data in the cloud, New York is pressing ahead with a plan to create a statewide database for every public school student’s grades, tests scores and attendance records — a tech startup proposal that drew interest from several other states that have now reconsidered.
Teachers union failing charter schools
Editorial, New York Post, NY
November 23, 2013
Anyone notice a pattern here? Our city’s traditional public schools are doing a dismal job of preparing New York’s children for life and college.
NORTH CAROLINA
Questions about charter schools linger as numbers grow
Star News, NC
November 23, 2013
For Annie and her family, the environment at Charter Day makes it a better choice. But some say choice is all charters offer, deviating from the original goals of creating innovative ways to teach all students.
OHIO
Just who is minding the charter schools?
Letter, Columbus Dispatch, OH, November 24, 2013
I read in awe about the house of cards that made up the McCord family’s second failed charter school (“Ohio’s $1.2M propped up owner’s 2nd charter bust,” Dispatch article, Tuesday). While this was a masterpiece of investigative reporting, it raised many more questions.
PENNSYLVANIA
Busing to other schools burdens districts
Allentown Morning Call, PA, November 25, 2013
Salisbury Township School District consists of two elementary schools, a middle school and a high school. But it buses students to 46 schools.
Novice teachers are not the solution
Opinion, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, November 24, 2013
In an effort to keep educational costs in check, America’s cash-strapped states, local school districts and charter schools are hiring less costly novice teachers. I understand that Pittsburgh Public Schools may soon be among them.
Senate bill causes uproar, could authorize expansion of charter schools in Cumberland County
The Sentinel, PA, November 25, 2013
Senate Bill 1085 could authorize the “unprecedented” expansion of charter schools in Cumberland County — and public school advocates want to know why Midstate officials, including Sen. Pat Vance, R-31, support it.
SOUTH CAROLINA
D.P. Cooper granted $300,000 for charter conversion
Weekly Observer, SC, November 24, 2013
D.P. Cooper Elementary School, which became approved for charter conversion earlier in the fall, received notification recently it would be the recipient of a $300,000 grant.
TENNESSEE
Charters disrupt Metro school board’s plans
Column, The Tennessean, TN, November 24, 2013
Disruptive innovation is the most difficult challenge that entrenched organizations face. They struggle to recognize why their constituencies are abandoning them for what they, with strong reasoning, perceive to be lower-quality solutions.
Chorus of criticism doesn’t stop reform-minded TN education chief Huffman
The Tennessean, TN, November 25, 2013
On the ninth floor of a state building on Nashville’s James Robertson Parkway, Tennessee’s much-celebrated yet much-maligned education commissioner doesn’t work from his own office.
Reformers, politicians quick to tie TN test gains to new policies
The Tennessean, TN, November 24, 2013
At the high point of the choreographed celebration, Gov. Bill Haslam turned to a video that let kids count down to the big winner. Which state had outperformed all others in education gains?
TEXAS
Arizona charter operator’s bid to start Dallas school rejected by State Board of Education
Dallas Morning News, TX, November 23, 2013
The Texas Board of Education has rejected Great Hearts Academies’ charter school application to operate in Dallas.
WASHINGTON
Charter school proposals target range of students
Yakima Herald, WA, November 25, 2013
Dropouts, gang members, kids who love sports, children with disabilities and creative youngsters who can’t sit still are among the children charter school developers say they’ll teach in the new public schools they want to open in Washington state next year.
Charter schools can be important part of education’s future
Editorial, Spokesman Review, WA, November 24, 2013
Implementation of Washington’s charter school law advanced another step forward Friday while its opponents were in court insisting the state look backward.
Judge to decide fate of new charter school law
Seattle Times, WA, November 23, 2013
A judge will soon decide whether the state’s new charter school law is an innovative tool for educating Washington’s children or violates the state Constitution’s mandate for an equal education for all.
ONLINE LEARNING
Before state officials expand cyber-charters, take a look at the data
Op-Ed, Patriot-News, PA, November 24, 2013
If it was viewed as a single school district, Pennsylvania’s expansive cyber charter sector would represent Pennsylvania’s second-largest district, with more than 35,000 students attending 16 schools statewide. Cyber charters received approximately $366 million in taxpayer funds in 2012-13—drawing payments from 498 of the state’s 500 school districts.
Cy-buried Education
Editorial, Philadelphia Daily News, PA, November 25, 2013
WITHIN the herd of public-education options, cyber charter schools are clearly the black sheep. From the time they first appeared on the scene soon after Pennsylvania legalized charters in 1997, cyber charters have been subject to lawsuits, pushback from districts that have refused to pay for cyber students and, more recently, federal probes and grand-jury indictments of some cyber operators.
Opponents say cyber schools fail
Pocono Record, PA, November 23, 2013
Cyber charter schools are providing Pennsylvania students with a below average education at above average cost, public education advocates say.
Transparency is best for all schools — Scott Brown
Opinion, Wisconsin State Journal, WI, November 25, 2013
Legislation that aims to reform the accountability provisions for statewide online charter schools will create more transparency and accountability for online schools and districts that operate them.