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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

Hold to Core values
Opinion, New York Daily News, NY, December 1, 2013
The most important school reform drive in decades has triggered an obtusely wrongheaded backlash by a cynical alliance of right-wing extremists and self-styled progressives.

Louisiana Voucher Assault, Round 2
Review & Outlook, Wall Street Journal
December 1, 2013
The Justice Department campaign against Louisiana school vouchers gets curiouser and curiouser. Attorney General Eric Holder’s troops are now trying to prevent black parents from joining the case by amending their original lawsuit to block the vouchers in 22 districts.

Different wings of school choice
Editorial, The Advocate, LA, December 1, 2013
Anyone who thinks Eric Cantor, the Republican leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, is not shrewd should take a look at a mildly worded but penetrating question he asked in a New Orleans schoolroom the other day.

Caution on Education
Letter, New York Times, NY, November 29, 2013
“Advertisements for the Common Core” (editorial, Nov. 20) cites recent test results as evidence that the new “challenging” national curriculum and “tough” teacher ratings work. Long experience should have taught us all to be skeptical about early claims of educational success and failure.

Critical thinking hallmark of Common Core class
Associated Press, December 2, 2013
Welcome to a classroom using the Common Core State Standards, one of the most politicized and misunderstood changes in education for students and their teachers in kindergarten through high school.

STATE COVERAGE

ARIZONA

Charter school must repay $4.7 million over bogus enrollment claims
Arizona Daily Star, AZ, December 1, 2013
A now-closed Tucson charter school and its Phoenix affiliate must repay $4.7 million to the state for exaggerated enrollment claims that qualified them to get excessive education reimbursement funding from taxpayers.

Charter schools seek $135 million per year in additional state funding
East Valley Tribune, AZ, November 29, 2013
The state’s charter schools are demanding more money from taxpayers, to the tune of $135 million a year.

Somerton residents slow in showing support for charter school
Yuma Sun, AZ, November 29, 2013
A Phoenix-area foundation plans to collect at least 100 petition signatures from residents expressing support for a charter high school the organization wants to build in this city.

DELAWARE

Why we should give Reach Academy another chance
Opinion, Delaware News Journal, DE
Reach Academy for Girls will close and that is unfortunate. Reach is the only all-girl charter school in the state. Delaware families reflecting a growing trend to select alternatives to traditional public schools and single-sex schools, decided all-girl Reach Academy was best for their daughter.

GEORGIA

Audit determines state charter schools often going unmonitored
Marietta Daily Journal, GA, December 1, 2013
A new state audit determined no one is monitoring how Georgia’s charter schools spend almost $11 million in state funding.

Fulton County school district studying more school choice
Atlanta Journal Constitution, GA, November 29, 2013
Montessori schools where students learn more independently. Schools that house students from kindergarten to eighth grade. Language immersion schools where subjects are taught in Spanish or other languages.

MAKING THE GRADE? Ga. Parents Alliance uses education votes to grade local legislators
Douglas County Sentinel, GA, November 30, 2013
The conservative leaning Georgia Parents Alliance recently graded state legislators on education reform and school choice issues, and for the most part, the results were predictable.

FLORIDA

For thousands of Florida teachers, evaluations aren’t making the grade
Miami Herald, FL, November 29, 2013
When Miami-Dade’s 2012 elementary science teacher of the year finally got her annual evaluation last May, she was confused.

Rhema Thompson: Closing the achievement gap
Column, Pensacola News Journal, FL, November 29, 2013
Escambia County School District officials will soon be forming a new task force to help close the achievement gap among the district’s students.

Senator wants to tighten charter school focus
Florida Current, FL, November 27, 2013
A Palm Beach County senator wants to narrow the mission of charter schools. Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, Wednesday, filed SB 452 — revising the guiding principles listed in statute creating charter schools to meet “a specific instructional need or a need for additional educational facilities.”

ILLINOIS

Building a bridge from CPS high schools to college
Chicago Tribune, IL, November 29, 2013
As the Tribune acknowledged in its initial call for a new Plan of Chicago, it may not have to look far for good ideas to tackle the city’s economic and social challenges. Many creative, workable ideas are out there already. Some have gained a foothold and are just looking, like business startups, to “scale up.”

LOUISIANA

Half of Louisiana’s voucher students at D or F schools in program’s first year, data shows
Times-Picayune, LA, November 28, 2013
At least 45 percent of students in Louisiana’s controversial voucher program last year attended schools with performance scores in the D to F range of the state’s grading scale, according to data the state released Wednesday.

New Orleans schools should stick with OneApp
Editorial, Times-Picayune, LA, December 1, 2013
Now it’s evident that some schools that are supposed to be open to any child wanted to handpick their students rather than take the ones assigned to them through OneApp.

MASSACHUSETTS

Boston teacher ratings don’t add up
Column, Boston Globe, MA, November 30, 2013
BOSTON’S TEACHERS are succeeding swimmingly in their chosen profession, with 93 percent landing in the exemplary and proficient categories on a new teacher-evaluation system. Yet about two-thirds of the city’s schools rank in the bottom 20 percent statewide based on student test data. What’s going on here?

Charter school divide widens
Andover Townsman, MA, November 28, 2013
A sharply divided crowd turned out last week to testify on a proposed charter high school in Andover that’s seeking a green light from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

MICHIGAN

Choice is ultimate democracy
Column, Battle Creek Enquirer, MI, November 27, 2013
In its Nov. 23 editorial (“Charters, choice are strangling our public schools”), the Battle Creek Enquirer insinuated that charter schools are not public schools and that allowing students and parents to choose among schools is “doing immeasurable harm to our democracy.”

MINNESOTA

Bridging the achievement gap
Editorial, Minnesota Daily, MN, December 2, 2013
New research shows how small changes in the classroom can play a big role in reducing academic disparities.

Students with struggles find a place of their own at Rochester charter school
Minneapolis Star Tribune, MN, November 30, 2013
When people talk about ROC, which is marking its 20th anniversary, they talk about the culture. But it’s easier said than described. When students show up at ROC’s doors for the first time, they may be homeless or from broken homes, suffering from drug addiction or battling depression.

MISSISSIPPI

Changes to charter school application process tweaked
Clarion Ledger, MS, November 28, 2013
Groups seeking to establish a charter school in Mississippi have until March 14 to submit their applications, though officials may continue to fine-tune the application forms.

MISSOURI

In debate over school transfers, it’s time to seek common ground
Editorial, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, November 30, 2013
Missouri’s most pressing public policy problem is what to do about school districts in urban areas that fail to make the grade.

NEW JERSEY

Newark’s big play on charter schools: Moran
Column, Star Ledger, NJ, December 1, 2013
Cami Anderson, the superintendent of Newark schools, has taken enormous heat for nurturing the growth of charter schools, which now educate roughly 1 in 4 kids in the city.

NEW YORK

A Charter School’s Struggle for New Students
Wall Street Journal, November 28, 2013
A Williamsburg charter school that tried to attract white and middle-class families needs to find more students in the next week, or it could be shut down.

For New York City’s Charter Schools, a Lesson on Paying Rent
New York Times, NY, December 2, 2013
As a rent-paying school, Bronx Community Charter may also offer a lesson to many New York City charter schools if the mayor-elect, Bill de Blasio, follows through on his campaign proposal that “well-resourced” charter schools pay rent.

Readers weigh in on education tax credit proposal
Opinion, Journal News, NY, December 1, 2013
If we encourage maintaining private schools, including those of various religious faiths, two important advantages come to mind: a healthy competition will benefit public schools; secondly, the public school districts in New York will save in per-student costs long term.

Students thrive at Newburgh charter school
Times Herald-Record, NY, December 2, 2013
Each dropped out of Newburgh Free Academy, and each could have stayed a dropout, statistically doomed to a life of low-wage jobs, or worse. Instead they took a chance on Newburgh Prep, the 3-month-old charter school created for dropouts.

The New Mayor and the Teachers
Editorial, New York Times, NY, December 2, 2013
Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio will take office facing the need to forge new labor agreements with the unions that represent nearly all of New York City’s 300,000 municipal workers.

NORTH CAROLINA

Chris Fitzsimmons says school vouchers are a bad idea
Opinion, Winston Salem-Journal, NC, November 30, 2013
Thanks to Gov. Pat McCrory and the current General Assembly, your tax dollars will soon be subsidizing discrimination across North Carolina and paying to teach children bizarre fundamentalist theories about dinosaurs and the age of the earth.

GOP finally notices needs of NC teachers
Editorial, News & Observer, NC, December 1, 2013
With the 2014 election coming, are North Carolina’s Republican leaders seeing chickens on the horizon, looking to come home to roost?

OHIO

Bill seeks to end Ohio’s adopting Common Core
Cincinnati Enquirer, OH, November 29, 2013
Say what you will about the new Common Core academic initiative: Love it or hate it, everybody in education is talking about it.

Weed out the bad bets
Editorial, Columbus Dispatch, OH, December 2, 2013
Ohio lawmakers haven’t done much lately to improve oversight of charter schools, and a recent spate of rather spectacular failures shows how urgently change is needed.

OKLAHOMA

A-F study called ‘misleading’ by Oklahoma Education Department officials
Tulsa World, OK, December 2, 2013
A controversial study by researchers at two Oklahoma universities that deems the state’s A-F school grading system as flawed is “misleading,” according to an in-house analysis by staffers at the Oklahoma State Department of Education.

Urban Teacher Preparation Academy partners with Oklahoma City Public Schools
The Oklahoman, OK, November 30, 2013
The Urban Teacher Preparation Academy is an intensive clinical and mentorship program designed to train more qualified and effective teachers for urban schools.

PENNSYLVANIA

Councilman Green among top picks to lead SRC
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, November 30, 2013
City Councilman Bill Green and former Convention Center head Al Mezzaroba are Gov. Corbett’s top choices to lead the School Reform Commission, multiple sources say.

Environmental Charter School wants to offer high school classes
Tribune-Review, PA, November 28, 2013
In a pair of Regent Square schools built at the beginning of the last century, students are learning through a 21st century model of education.

How education funding became Gov. Corbett’s big problem
Philadelphia City Paper, PA, November 28, 2013
Though Gov. Tom Corbett has never visited Feltonville School of Arts and Sciences, his presence there looms large.

Pittsburgh-area Title 1 reward schools go right to the head of the class
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, December 2, 2013
Students at the K-5 charter school are doing so well that the school has been designated as one of about 180 Title 1 reward schools across the state — including 20 in Allegheny County.

York Prep in new buildings but doesn’t own them
The Herald, PA, November 29, 2013
York County is home to one public charter school, with another set to open this fall.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Many S.C. charter schools lack facilities
Aiken Standard, SC, November 30, 2013
A new report said many public charter schools in South Carolina lack adequate facilities.
The report by the Charter School Facilities Initiative recommends that state lawmakers take action to help provide additional space, The State newspaper reported.

TEXAS

Deion Sanders’ Prime Prep Academy draws scrutiny from Texas Education Agency
Dallas Morning News, TX, December 1, 2013
The Texas Education Agency has yet to open a formal investigation into Prime Prep Academy, the charter school co-founded by former NFL star Deion Sanders.

Teacher merit pay plan might work, given other key factors now in play
Editorial, Waco Tribune-Herald, TX, December 1, 2013
Although the idea of merit pay has been championed by conservatives and liberals alike (and is generally opposed by teacher unions), studies of school systems in New York, Nashville and Chicago show little evidence that it results in better scores.

WASHINGTON

State’s charter school applications to be posted Monday
Bellingham Herald, WA, December 2, 2013
New details about proposals to open some of Washington’s first charter schools should be available Monday. The state Charter School Commission received 19 applications from 18 organizations hoping to launch the type of alternative public schools that already exists in most other states. Charter schools in Washington state are designed to be publicly funded and tuition-free but operated independently by nonsectarian nonprofit groups.

Legislature’s education issues not limited to money
Seattle Times, WA, December 1, 2013
When legislators reconvene in Olympia in January, the focus on education won’t be merely about money. If the teacher-evaluation system isn’t changed to meet federal standards, the state could lose its waiver from the No Child Left Behind law.

There’s no shame in being an education reformer
Column, Seattle Times, WA, December 1, 2013
I want to set the record straight and encourage other education reformers like me to speak out, writes guest columnist Kimberly Lasher Mitchell.

ONLINE LEARNING

Cuts proposed for cyber charter schools
Pocono Record, PA, December 2, 2013
The public charter school reform movement has split over its support for state Senate bill 1085.

More students switch to online schools to escape bullies
Dayton Daily News, OH, November 30, 2013
Krista Hooten saw “terror” in her daughter’s eyes as they started back-to-school shopping for seventh grade. Her daughter, Kelsey, had been bullied the previous year. It started emotionally: Other girls called her ugly and spread rumors about her. But it quickly turned physical: They pulled her hair and shoved her to the ground.

Our family thankful for online charter school
Letter, Lehigh Valley Express-Times, PA, November 27, 2013
This is the time of year when we sit around the table with our families and give thanks. One thing on my list is having the opportunity to choose the right education for my family.

Thank you for charter schools
Letter, Augusta Chronicle, GA, December 1, 2013
My child attends a public, free “virtual” charter school. I was interested in this because she suffers from Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a disability that affects stability in her arms and legs.

Virtual school proposal gains support
Metro West Daily News, MA, November 30, 2013
A proposed virtual school in the region is getting plenty of support from MetroWest lawmakers and school officials, who have told the state they have confidence in the education collaborative behind the plan.

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

Arne Duncan schooled in limits of power
Politico, November 27, 2013
Arne Duncan brought the most ambitious reform agenda in years to the Department of Education — and a determination to use every lever of power to accomplish it.

Jindal v. Obama: The new school choice battle; La. voucher fight revives reform led by conservatives
Washington Times, DC, November 26, 2013
Two decades ago, while George H.W. Bush was still president, Republican governors like Tommy Thompson in Wisconsin began in earnest their long-brewing war on underperforming public schools.

Merit Pay For Teachers Is Only Fair
Forbes, November 26, 2013
Business has long been accustomed to rewarding good performance with salary increases, but the birth of merit pay for teachers is proving both protracted and painful.

Pulling a More Diverse Group of Achievers Into the Advanced Placement Pool
New York Times, NY, November 27, 2013
Every year, more than 600,000 academically promising high school students — most of them poor, Latino or black — fail to enroll in Advanced Placement courses, often viewed as head starts for the college-bound.

STATE COVERAGE

CALIFORNIA

Oakland Needs a Moratorium on Charter Schools
Opinion, East Bay Express, CA, November 26, 2013
The proliferation of charters in the city has left traditional public schools without enough money to educate children with special needs.

DELAWARE

Reach Academy suing to stay open
WDDE, DE, November 26, 2013
Reach Academy for Girls charter school is heading to court in an effort to remain open. The school has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Delaware against the state’s Department of Education and Education Secretary Mark Murphy over the decision earlier this month not to renew the school’s charter, forcing it to close at the end of the academic year in June.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

A troubled school improves — without relying on suspensions
Washington Post Blog, DC, November 26, 2013
Four years ago, Stanton Elementary School in Anacostia was the lowest-performing elementary school in the District and in danger of being closed. But partly thanks to an innovative alternative to suspensions, Stanton is now on the rise.

In Fairfax, a lengthy battle over school funding
Washington Post, DC, November 26, 2013
When new Fairfax County Schools Superintendent Karen Garza recently warned that a $140.7 million budget shortfall might lead to layoffs and devastating program cuts, several veteran county officials couldn’t help but think of a classic children’s fable: “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.”

FLORIDA

Southwest Florida parents push teaching over tests
News-Press, FL, November 26, 2013
Southwest Florida parents are fed up with feeling they don’t have a voice in their child’s classroom.

INDIANA

Graysville’s RCA lauded as successful rural charter school
The Tribune-Star, IN, November 25, 2013
As they examined paintings in their school, students in the pre-algebra class of teacher Tracey Drappo were seeking “unintentional geometry” on Monday as they looked for rectangles, rotation and degrees.

ILLINOIS

CPS plans to relocate two schools
Chicago Tribune, IL, November 27, 2013
Chicago Public Schools officials say they won’t be closing any schools this summer, but plan to relocate two schools. Under a 2011 state law, CPS must announce any planned school closings or relocations by Dec. 1. The proposals still need to be voted on by the Board of Education after public hearings are held in January.

School turmoil not on the menu
Editorial, Chicago Sun Times, IL, November 27, 2013
Consider Wednesday’s announcement, then, the first course of a meal that we expect will go down much more easily than last year’s. After the 2012-13 closing earthquake, CPS is in desperate need of this down time to focus on the basics — improved teaching and learning.

KANSAS

District north of Topeka lessens ties to teachers’ union
Topeka Capital-Journal, KS, November 26, 2013
A group of teachers from a district about 70 miles north of Topeka has voted to lessen their ties to the state’s main teachers’ union, becoming the second district to do so in 2013.

LOUISIANA

Organizers say charter school plans on track in Lafayette
The Advocate, LA, November 26, 2013
Two groups approved to start three charter schools in Lafayette Parish say they are on track to open schools as planned in August and one is already starting to look for key staff to run its schools.

MASSACHUSETTS

Milford area teachers making the grade
Milford Daily News, MA, November 27, 2013
Of the teachers in the Milford area rated under the state’s new teacher evaluation system during the 2012-2013 school year, the majority received a passing grade, according to data from the state.

MICHIGAN

Charter offer chafes residents
Daily Press & Argus, MI, November 27, 2013
The Brighton Area Schools Board of Education decided to sell the vacant Lindbom Elementary School to a residential builder for $1.35 million, but it also faced an onslaught of emotional criticism before making its decision.

Michigan leads in number of charter schools operated by for-profit companies
Detroit News, MI, November 26, 2013
Michigan has the highest number of charter schools managed by for-profit companies, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Education Policy Center.

MINNESOTA

New charter school in Willmar will be turning to area businesses for support, assistance
West Central Tribune, MN, November 26, 2013
Collaboration with area businesses will be a key to the success of a charter school planning to open next fall in Willmar, its organizers said last week.

Strongest schools in Minneapolis shouldn’t be sacrificed
Commentary, Star Tribune, MN
November 26, 2013
Yes, there’s an achievement gap and a perception of privilege, but the city needs a foothold.

MISSISSIPPI

Application released for Miss. charter schools
Hattiesburg American, MS, November 27, 2013
Groups seeking to establish a charter school in Mississippi have until March 14 to submit their applications. But the target may move a little for the groups.

MISSOURI

Washington University partnership boosts science performance at Hazelwood
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, November 26, 2013
The enthusiasm for science is up, and so are test scores across Hazelwood schools, where teachers such as Berghoff are crediting a district partnership with Washington University.

NEW JERSEY

Majority of Newark charter schools agree to district’s universal enrollment plan
Star-Ledger, NJ, November 27, 2013
Fifteen charter schools said yes, five have declined and one has yet to decide whether join the effort to create one application for enrollment in Newark’s public and charter schools, officials said yesterday.

NJ’s school-choice program might be too popular for its own good
New Jersey Spotlight, NJ, November 27, 2013
Rising costs and enrollment prompt state to order spending caps, limits on pupil transfers

OREGON

Administration stands by Oregon ‘high risk’ label
Register-Guard, OR, November 27, 2013
The Obama administration is standing by its determination that Oregon is at risk of failing to comply with its waiver from the federal “No Child Left Behind” education law.

PENNSYLVANIA

Pa. senator plans to unveil education-reform bills
WHTM-TV, PA, November 26, 2013
A Pennsylvania lawmaker plans to introduce a package of legislation to address issues involving charter schools, teacher certification, and the need for high-quality prekindergarten.

Pittsburgh schools board votes to sell Moningside, votes against sale of Columbus
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, November 26, 2013
Pittsburgh Public Schools board tonight voted against selling Columbus on the North Side for use as a charter school but in favor of selling Morningside for purchase by the Urban Redevelopment Authority.

The on-going experiment
Letter, The Daily Review, PA, November 27, 2013
Charter schools are a permanent and permanently controversial part of public education in Pennsylvania.

RHODE ISLAND

A welcome change of climate at Central Falls High
Providence Journal, RI, November 27, 2013
Central Falls High School, once the poster child of failed school reform, has turned a corner. Math scores have improved. Students say teachers treat them with respect and inspire them to do their best work. Teachers say their voices are heard and their input respected. And parents are a daily presence in the hallways.

TENNESSEE

Charter schools must grow wisely
Opinion, The Tennessean, TN, November 27, 2013
By a 7-to-1 vote, the Metro Board of Education has established strategic priorities for approving charter schools in 2014. These priorities offer common-sense guidelines for Metro Nashville Public Schools to consider quality charters while advancing academic achievement in a way that doesn’t undermine the progress we’re making in other schools.

Merit-based teacher pay plan offered for Nashville schools
The Tennessean, TN, November 27, 2013
Nashville teachers could earn more money for performing better in the classroom under a new teacher pay structure put before the Metro school board Tuesday night.

TEXAS

Open enrollment charter serves all who come
Commentary, San Antonio Express News, TX, November 27, 2013
Great Hearts Texas is a sister network to Great Hearts Arizona and its 16 academies in Phoenix. We enjoy a decade long track record of educational excellence on a national level. We were honored to be approved for San Antonio schools by the State Board of Education (SBOE) last year.

State education board limits charter school options
Editorial, Dallas Morning News, TX, November 26, 2013
Call us confused. One year ago, the State Board of Education approved an application for Great Hearts Academies of Arizona to open a charter school in San Antonio. But last week that same panel denied the same charter organization the right to open campuses in North Texas.

WISCONSIN

Hold all ‘public’ schools accountable
Journal Sentinel, WI, November 26, 2013
The Legislature is tiptoeing closer to the idea that all schools in Wisconsin — even private schools that accepted state-funded vouchers — should be subject to a single state report card. It’s a good idea, as long as there are consequences for poor performance.

ONLINE LEARNING

Registration now open for Virtual School at LSMSA
The Daily News, LA, November 26, 2013
Students from across the state can register now through Wednesday, Jan. 15, for the Virtual School at the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts.

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

School Improvement Grants Need Some Work
Opinion, US News & World Report, November 25, 2013
Last week, the U.S. Department of Education released an analysis of the School Improvement Grant program, and the results merit some concern.

What Happens When Great Teachers Get $20,000 to Work in Low-Income Schools?
Slate Magazine, November 25, 2013
Teacher merit pay. It’s one of those perennially popular policy ideas that, historically, hasn’t worked very well.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

D.C. Council committee approves bill to give schools more money for “at risk” students
Washington Post, DC, November 25, 2013
The D.C. Council’s education committee on Monday unanimously approved a bill that aims to provide the city’s public schools with additional money to help low-income students and others at risk of academic failure.

FLORIDA

Florida NEA’s $15 Million Spree
Dropout Nation, November 25, 2013
Slowly but surely, the annual financial disclosures provided by affiliates of the National Education Association to the U.S. Department of Labor are coming available for public consumption. And in the case of the nation’s largest teachers’ union’s Florida affiliate, the spending on preserving influence is quite sizable.

LOUISIANA

State recommends charter extensions, renewals for 25 schools
Times-Picayune, LA, November 25, 2013
Fourteen New Orleans and Baton Rouge charter schools are getting contract renewals of three to 10 years. In addition, 11 New Orleans charters that opened in 2009 could get one-year extensions.

NEW MEXICO

Awards given for charters
Column, Albuquerque Journal, NM, November 26, 2013
One of the best things about my job is that I get to travel the state visiting charter schools. I am always astounded by the positive vision for education and the passion for teaching that I find.

NEW JERSEY

Common Core Standards, online testing continue to gain ground in NJ
New Jersey Spotlight, NJ, November 26, 2013
While a few states are getting cold feet about the new Common Core State Standards and the online testing they entail, most New Jersey politicians are concerned chiefly about costs and are waiting — none too patiently — for more details from the Christie administration.

N.J. lawmakers look to prevent school dropouts with new government office
Star-Ledger, NJ, November 25, 2013
The Assembly Education Committee is expected to vote on a bill to establish an office in the Department of Education focused on dropout prevention and outreach to out-of-school youth.

School Choice districts that ‘swap’ students may lose targeted tuition aid in 2014-15
Hunterdon County Democrat, NJ, November 25, 2013
School Choice districts that “swap” students could lose state tuition aid for those students next year, as part of a move by Department of Education officials to stem the growing cost of the program.

NEW YORK

Education reform backed by the wealthy
Albany Times Union, NY, November 25, 2013
A team of two dozen well-paid analysts embedded in the State Education Department is having a dramatic impact on a reform agenda that’s causing controversy throughout New York.

Take a lesson, Bill
Opinion, New York Daily News, NY, November 26, 2013
In his first policy speech since his big win, Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio vowed to fight like hell to live up to his signature promise of providing universal pre-k and expanded after school-programs, and paying for them through a tax on the wealthy.

NORTH CAROLINA

N.C. teachers see legislative changes as harmful, survey finds
Star News, NC, November 25, 2013
“North Carolina is hurting itself by not treating teachers better.” “For the first time in my career, I find myself exploring other options. And I love teaching.” “Education in North Carolina is broken.”

PENNSYLVANIA

Improve both reform bills
Editorial, Scranton Times-Tribune, PA, November 26, 2013
Charter schools are a permanent and permanently controversial part of public education in Pennsylvania.

The state Senate should reject flawed charter school bill: Susan Spicka
Op-Ed, Patriot News, PA, November 25, 2013
The Pennsylvania Senate is poised to vote on a bill that would weaken our local public schools and gut taxpayer control over how our school tax dollars are spent.

RHODE ISLAND

At R.I.’s urban schools, graduation rates are rising
Providence Journal, RI, November 26, 2013
High school graduation rates in Rhode Island’s poorest cities improved at more than twice the rate of the rest of the state during the last five years, according to a report released Monday by Rhode Island KidsCount.

TENNESSEE

Kevin Huffman ‘surprised’ by amount of time MNPS board devotes to charters
The Tennessean Blog, TN, November 25, 2013
I was unable to squeeze in Huffman’s thoughts on the Metro school board, which has increasingly raised concerns over the financial toll of charter school expansion in Nashville.

School turnaround requires a village
The Tennessean, TN, November 26, 2013
In the picture she shows teachers who come to work for her, Tammy Garrett is a third-grader on roller skates, hamming it up for the camera in front of the trailer park where she grew up.

VIRGINIA

Virginia’s K-12 reform initiatives
Commentary, Suffolk News Herald, VA, November 25, 2013
The time is now to end the excuses for chronically under-performing and unaccredited schools. This year we took decisive action to challenge the status quo. We created the Opportunity Education Institution to turn around failing schools and provide high quality alternatives for these children. We also passed legislation to bring Teach For America to Virginia to focus on closing the achievement gaps among students in low-income areas.

WASHINGTON

Three groups seek charter schools in Spokane, with one proposed for 2014
Spokesman-Review, WA, November 26, 2013
The first is Pride Prep, a grass-roots effort led by former Garry Middle School principal Brenda McDonald. The proposed college preparatory school for sixth through 12th grades would include several years of a foreign language, extra math and science, nine-hour school days and an extended school year. Pride Prep would use a four-“T” philosophy: time, technology, targets and talent.

School district defers charter onus
News-Tribune, WA, November 26, 2013
Under the charter school law approved by Washington voters last year, the schools can be authorized and overseen either by a newly created statewide charter commission or by local school districts. Charters are publicly funded but operated by private nonprofit groups rather than local school boards.

Yakima, Sunnyside proposals among 22 vying for 8 charter school slots in state
Yakima Herald-Republic, WA, November 26, 2013
And then there were two. Proposals in Yakima and Sunnyside are two of 22 submitted by nonprofit groups intent on launching charter schools in Washington — possibly in the Valley — starting next school year. These groups will know which eight grabbed the coveted first slots no later than Feb. 24.

WISCONSIN

Revised Voucher School Accountability Bill May Soon Be Ready
Wisconsin Public Radio, WI, November 25, 2013
State Sen. Luther Olsen (R-Ripon) says a revised version of a bill that would bring publicly funded voucher schools under the same accountability system may be ready as soon as mid-December.

ONLINE LEARNING

Audit finds problems with NC virtual school
News & Observer, NC, November 25, 2013
The N.C. Virtual Public School had lax standards when it came to enrolling, tracking and reporting the thousands of students it educated in online classes, a state audit has found.

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.