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NEWSWIRE: November 17, 2015

Vol. 17, No. 45

WORK BY RULE? Unions are at it again, this time in Maryland’s Anne Arundel County, where teachers are being asked to stick to the bare minimum of their contract. The union even has a playbook to push their adult-centric agenda. Just another reason why CER continues to fight for changes to Maryland’s charter school law…

SPEAKING OF UNIONS… The Wall Street Journal’s coverage today of teachers being manipulated by union leaders at a successful Los Angeles charter school begs the question, if unions don’t like charter schools, why do they want to play with them? CER Executive VP Alison Zgainer talks to the WSJ.

BE CAREFUL CHARTERS DON’T “MORPH”. When innovations become too established, they can lose the very conditions that made them able to innovate in the first place. It’s called Isomorphism, and it’s exactly the dangerous position charter schools find themselves in today. A cautionary tale offered by Founder Jeanne Allen.

FIXING EDUCATION. The U.S. spends $810 billion annually on schools, yet ranks 17th place in reading and 32nd place in math globally. CER Board Chair and the head of Charter Schools USA Jon Hage shares his thoughts in Forbes on how to fix our schools.

WELDERS VS. PHILOSOPHERS? Again no real substantive mentions of K-12 education in the latest presidential debates, though plenty of pokes at philosophers! Our friends at BAEO note how it’s not even a blip on candidates’ radars (but should be!).

QUALITY POLICE. Exactly how are the feds qualified to decide that Michigan’s charter authorizing isn’t good enough for its schools to receive federal start up funds? In reality, other states have much to learn from Michigan on charter authorizing…

REMEMBERING JOHN CHUBB. Last week the edreform movement lost a great intellectual and leader in John Chubb. One of the most influential people of the entire school choice movement, he pushed us to consider parent choice as the most effective and highest level of accountability for education. He will be sorely missed.

In Other News…The Center’s board and staff would like to publicly thank Kara Kerwin for her amazing work in the past two years as President of The Center for Education Reform. As a long time trusted staff member who started as an intern just out of college, Kara was instrumental in many of our parent outreach efforts over the years and in policy advancements nationwide. She will be missed! On behalf of CER’s Board, Founder Jeanne Allen is providing interim leadership and will be launching a national search in the near future for a new Chief Executive as well as other positions as part of a new expansion and vision for the organization for the next decade.