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TX School Choice Expansion Proposals

January 4, 2013 By

“School choice legislation introduced this week”
Hays Free Press
January 3, 2013

As of press time, Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and state Sen. Dan Patrick were expected to announce education legislation this week that would allow more school choice. The Texas Tribune reported that the bill would likely spark a major battle in the upcoming legislative session.

Dewhurst and Patrick are strong proponents of school choice options for parents. Newly minted Texas Education Agency Commissioner Michael Williams is also in favor of choice but has said he would not advocate for it in his current position.

According to the Texas Tribune, proponents of school choice believe competition would elevate all schools, while critics are concerned about the effectiveness of competition if there isn’t a level playing field between public and private schools.

They are also concerned about how Texas STAAR measures would apply, as well as whether the cost of transportation and tuition would be affordable for Texas families.

Filed Under: Breaking News

Mississippi Charter School Battle Looms

January 4, 2013 By

Charter School Fight Looms as 2013 Session Nears
by Daniel Cherry
Mississippi Public Broadcasting
January 3, 2013

Mississippi lawmakers will gavel in the 2013 legislative session this Tuesday, and the debate over charter schools is likely to be one of the hottest issues of the session. MPB’s Daniel Cherry has more…

Those pushing public charter schools in Mississippi are eager for another shot at education reform, and they have some political heavyweights in their corner, including the Governor and Lieutenant Governor. Advocates like Andrew Campanella, President of National School Choice Week, think it’s time Mississippi families have a say in where their children go to school.

“Not all children have access to a good school, and some of these kids are trapped in failing schools. And when you trap a child in a failing school, they’re more likely to drop out, or graduate without the skills necessary to get a good job.”

Charter schools are publicly funded schools, run by a private or non-profit organization…not the government. Nancy Loome, Executive Director of the Parents Campaign, says she supports school choice, only as long as the organizations running the schools have proven records of success.

“The idea that we should allow anybody to come in and have a charter school, even if the charter school is low-performing, just to give parents more choice, if the choice is a bad choice then I don’t think we’re accomplishing our goal of improving student achievement.”

Opponents are concerned charter schools will siphon off public funds from traditional public schools schools in dire need of money. But Erika Berry, with the Mississippi Coalition for Public Charter Schools, thinks competition will improve education all around.

“A charter school can help that traditional public school, show them how to best serve their students. ‘This is what we’re doing to really put our students on a successful trajectory. You can do it too.’ And I think that’s what we need to focus on and not so much, the school district is going to lose a lot of money, and that’s just not the case…it’s just not.”

Charter school legislation failed to pass the House of Representatives last session.

Filed Under: Breaking News Tagged With:

Charters that fail must pay the price

January 4, 2013 By

by Camilla P. Benbow
The Tennessean
January 3, 2013

When the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools Board voted in mid-November to close Smithson-Craighead Middle School at the end of the current academic year, the decision angered parents and generated pleas for patience. This despite the fact that the charter school had been warned over several years that it needed to improve its performance or risk closure.

The most recent TCAP scores showed that only 7.6 percent of Smithson-Craighead students were proficient in math and only 17.6 percent in reading. These abysmal scores were far below those of other Nashville charter and public schools.

Nationally, the data on charter school closings have been mixed. One report from the Center for Education Reform indicated that 15 percent of the 6,700 charters opened over the past 20 years have closed. However, less than a fifth of these closed because of poor academic performance. Most were closed because of financial problems or mismanagement.

And charter school closures are down, according to the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA). The association observed a three-year decline in the percentage of charters closed at the time of charter renewal with 6.2 percent being closed in 2010-2011. However, the association cautioned that there could be several reasons for the decline, including improvement in school quality.

Critics who believe that charters are too slow to close might bear in mind another study, by Peabody alumnus David A. Stuit for the Fordham Foundation, that showed that poorly performing charters are much more likely to be closed than poorly performing public schools.

Signs also suggest that more charters may be closed in the years to come. In the fall, NACSA launched its One Million Lives campaign to strengthen charter school standards. It plans to work with authorizers, policymakers, legislators and charter school operators to close failing charter schools while opening new ones and enrolling many more children. In the face of evidence that most charter schools are neither better nor worse than their public school peers, NACSA hopes to help the charter school movement do a better job of policing itself and improving academic performance. The organization estimates between 900 and 1,300 charter schools are performing in the lowest 15 percent of schools in their states.

In the end, performance should be at the heart of the question of whether to continue or close a charter school. This means looking closely at student achievement on a school-by-school basis. Unfortunately, Smithson-Craighead Middle School did not withstand close scrutiny. MNPS was right to make the decision early enough in the year to allow parents to make other plans for their children. More such decisions may be needed in the years to come.

Parents, politicians and other charter school advocates need to remember that charters have always been experimental in nature. In exchange for public funding and operational latitude, charters promise innovation and academic success. When that success is not forthcoming, the experiment must come to a close.

Camilla P. Benbow is Patricia and Rodes Hart Dean of Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College. Her column on education appears every other Thursday in The Tennessean Local section.

Filed Under: CER in the News Tagged With: ,

Newspaper unfair in articles critical of charter schools

January 3, 2013 By

Opinion by Gregory A. Miller
The Arizona Republic
November 23, 2012

Re: “Insiders benefiting in charter deals” and “Critics say state is lax on charter purchasing practices,” by Ann Ryman (Nov. 18, The Arizona Republic).

Just the titles of the articles are misleading. It should be “Taxpayers are benefiting” because charter schools spend about $7,300 per student in state, federal and local money vs. over $12,500 per student at the district public school.

Ryman indicated that she and her team had “reviewed thousands of pages” of public documents. She found no criminal or bureaucratic bungling on the part of the 50 largest charter schools, just good business practices that are monitored by yearly outside independent auditors to minimize operational and supply costs of these independent, non-profit and for-profit businesses.

Show me a district principal who needs a new television for the media center who doesn’t wish the PTA would go buy it at Target, Best Buy or Walmart for about $250 instead of using the state procurement system and spending $400 for the same TV!

As for conflict-of-interest concerns, or public-trust issues, lots of districts do business with their board members and their families for construction of classrooms, athletic facilities, supplies, etc., with full disclosure and non-voting of the board member.

It is the same for charter schools, as a requirement of their contract (charter) with the state and the required procurement policy even after the exemption. There has been no loss of public trust in Arizona’s charter-school option. In the past 17 years, we have gone from a first-year enrollment of 6,500 to the current 144,800 (a number that is only limited by available space for students). That increase represents an annual growth over 13 percent.

With all due respect to those in the Legislature who believe that charters were established only to “provide an educational setting that may meet specific needs or try out non-traditional methods of educating students,” they are sorely misinformed.

The Education Reform Act of 1995 not only provided “labs of innovation,” it also put choice into the system. It not only gave birth to charters, it gave parents choices other than the neighborhood school within the district system. It put competition into a tried and poorly performing government-run system. It would save money! On new facilities costs alone it has saved the taxpayers of Arizona billions — yes, billions of dollars during the past 17 years.

The idea of free enterprise, with concerted public overview (When was the last time a district school was closed for poor academic achievement?) was taken on by charter operators with passion. We invested our own money, we run our own schools, hands on, and we live and die on our students’ academic performance and sound financial management.

Have there been poor examples of charter schools? Yes, but they have been eliminated by parents voting with their feet or by public oversight and closed by the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools.

This type of “expose” is always used as a driver of public opinion to add more regulations to try to create a charter profile that looks like, smells like and tastes like all other choices in education. It serves the purpose of the current public-school blob to eliminate by bureaucratic regulations (strangulation) these institutions of higher academic achievement and opportunity provided to the students and parents of Arizona.

Gregory A. Miller, CEO of Challenge School Inc., is the charter-school member of the Arizona State Board of Education.

Filed Under: Opinions

Out With the Old, In With the New: Education Reform Cannot Be Compromised

January 2, 2013 By

by Jeanne Allen
Huffington Post
January 2, 2013

Among many traditions as we close one year and begin a new one are lists of what is “in” and “out.” At the end of 2012, compromise was definitely “in.” And no wonder. Staring over the precipice of a fiscal cliff, the American people couldn’t understand why politicians can’t seem to agree on things. Compromise, it is thought, is an unadulterated good.

I don’t want to be the skunk at the national compromising garden party, but as we look back at 2012 and ahead to 2013, when it comes to education reform we should think twice about “compromise” being the watchword. Why? Because when education reformers negotiate with unions or others opposed to fundamental changes in K-12 education, often the only thing compromised is children’s education. Conversely, some of the best, most sustainable results come from those who are called “uncompromising.” A litany of examples demonstrates that intransigence in education reform isn’t a bad thing.

Education reformers were heartbroken in November when Indiana’s incumbent Tony Bennett lost his race for Superintendent of Public Instruction. But despite the unions’ successful effort to install a reform opponent, Indiana is likely to remain, as many have termed it, the “reformiest” state in the nation. That’s because Governor Mitch Daniels, Tony Bennett and many other reformers (all of whom were once called “uncompromising”) laid the legal groundwork to allow choice and accountability to flourish in Indiana.

There are good and bad education reform laws. The bad ones — often “compromise solutions” — make people feel good but do little to enhance choice or accountability in a state. Years ago, Indiana codified good measures into law, so despite Tony Bennett’s loss, schoolchildren will continue to benefit. To see what’s ahead, Indianans can look to Florida, which enacted holistic reforms in the late 1990s that yielded choice, accountability, funds for charters and a system for grading schools. These measures are now bearing fruit. Among many other positive results, recent studies show that Florida schoolchildren are reading better than students in other states, and other nations.

The education reform movement, however, will continue to lose ground if state legislatures keep enacting weak, watered down legislation. To wit: Pennsylvania, where everyone worshipped at the altar of compromise during their two year battle over school choice. What survived was almost worse than nothing — an extremely modest tax-credit funded scholarship program for a limited number of kids in failing schools that requires painstaking effort to raise money, rather than permit public funds to follow kids equitably to schools that fit them best.

Tennessee lawmakers passed legislation two years ago to expand the state’s charter program, but left control in the hands of school districts, which are notoriously anti-competition. Tennessee will eventually get what it needs — an expansion of groups authorized to approve charters — but for two years students have languished in bad schools while districts throw obstacles in the way of more school choices.

In New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie called his 2012 teacher evaluation bill “historic,” and, while a step in the right direction, it was hardly groundbreaking. It supposedly “requires” school districts to tie evaluations to performance, but nothing in the law forces them to do so. Some have and will indeed use the law to move out ineffective teachers, but most won’t have the stomach. That doesn’t stop New Jersey lawmakers from patting themselves on the back, claiming to have “done” teacher quality legislation.

Another example: North Carolina had struggled under a mediocre charter law, which limited numbers and left power in the hands of an unfriendly state board. Legislators finally lifted the cap and basked in the praise, but prospective charters still must negotiate a cumbersome approval process and are often dismissed arbitrarily. As to fixing the problem, one lawmaker told me it was too hard because of “all we went through already.” That’s what you get with “compromise” legislation — lawmakers exhaust political will on a bad result. Fortunately for North Carolinians, 2013 will usher in a new crop of lawmakers who believe in expanded parental choice and options for kids. But despite the will, it will be a struggle with the powerful education establishment, the Blob.

The good news, as we look ahead to a new year, is that some of these states and their neighbors — all in the south — appear poised to show the rest of the nation the positive changes that can result from good legislation. In addition to North Carolina and Tennessee making necessary adjustments to their laws, lawmakers in Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma plan to expand substantive choices offered to students and parents, as will elected officials in Mississippi and Alabama, who may also address fixing the teacher quality problem that plagues their states.

It won’t be easy. Teachers unions and their school district allies oppose fundamental education reforms. They have co-opted the language of reform, leading many observers to wrongly declare that the unions are coming along. But their definition of reform and compromise consists of supporting only toothless, ineffective measures that leave all the power in the hands of the traditional system’s adults. Lawmakers must be clear that when the status quo embraces reform measures, it is reform in name only. The two exemplars that did not compromise — Florida and Indiana — demonstrate that enacting substantive, structural education reform laws yields dramatic results.

When it comes to the gritty, detailed business of writing and enacting education reform laws, we must remember what is on the table when we sit down to negotiate — the ability of all children to get a good education, regardless of their race, income or zip code.

On that we should not compromise.

Filed Under: Opinions

Despite Success, Charters Still Face Inequity

January 2, 2013 By

January 2, 2013

Charters still suffer inequity despite great success, a point reinforced in a recent piece by Peter Roff.

Chester, Pennsylvania, has more than 3,000 students in charter schools, with a better success rate than local public schools. As Roff puts it:

Creating what it calls a “Private, Public School” culture, the Chester charter school offers a 10-1 student-teacher ratio as well as academic programs created in partnership with nearby colleges and universities, which the regular public schools, by contrast, simply cannot match.

…despite 50 percent of the school’s funding being withheld, forcing drastic cuts in student services, its students “outperformed the rest of the Chester Upland School District in the Pennsylvania System of School Assessments in reading and math by 20 percent.”

This supports what CER found in our Annual Survey of America’s Charter Schools and other research on charters and performance:

· Inequity in funding is not exclusive to PA. On average nationally charters receive about 30% less per pupil than their traditional public school counterparts.

· Charters do more with less funding and serve predominantly disadvantaged students.

· Charters in high demand because, as Mr. Roff points out, they typically operate very differently than the traditional system.

But even with those spectacular results (or, perhaps – perversely – because of them) freedom and flexibility is under attack with calls for more regulation and less autonomy.

Especially, though not only, in Pennsylvania.

Filed Under: Commentary, Edspresso

New Year Kicks Off Voucher Expansion

January 2, 2013 By

“Expansion of state’s school-voucher system takes effect today”
by Anne Ryman
The Republic”
January 1, 2013

One out of every five Arizona students in public schools becomes eligible today to apply for public money to attend private schools this fall under an expansion of a controversial voucher-type program.

The program, Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, allows parents to receive a debit card from the state preloaded with money to pay for educational expenses, such as private-school tuition, with state funds.

A recent change in state law expands the program to include children at the state’s lowest-performing public schools.

If schools receive a D or F letter grade from the state, their students can apply for the scholarships, estimated to be worth an average of $3,000 to $3,500 for the 2013-14 school year.

Also eligible are children of active-duty military and children in foster care who have been adopted or are being adopted. The original law provided scholarships only for disabled students.

The additions are likely to be popular with parents who are looking for other options for educating their children. But public-education groups are already suing the state over the scholarships. They contend the program is bad public policy because it takes money from public schools and gives it to private schools that don’t have the same state-mandated academic requirements.

State and school officials say that it’s hard to say how many families may apply for the scholarships and that any estimates are guesses.

The state has about 1million students in public schools. Until now, only about 125,000 students with special-education needs had been eligible for the scholarships; 302 use them this school year, or less than 1 percent of eligible students.

State officials say about 90,000 students in Arizona attend schools that received D or F letter grades and could be eligible for a scholarship. About 14 percent of schools, or 272, received D’s or F’s. Letter grades are based mainly on how much growth a school’s students showed on a state-mandated test in math, reading and writing.

The idea behind offering scholarships to children at poorly performing schools is to provide parents with more options if they want to move their children to better schools.

The additions to the Arizona law boost eligibility to more than 200,000 students this fall. State officials predict that fewer than 1,000 will apply, or as many as 6 percent of eligible students, which would be roughly 12,000.

“I would not predict a mass exodus (from public schools),” said John Huppenthal, Arizona’s superintendent of public instruction. But he added that as word-of-mouth spreads, “I think it will start picking up pretty quickly.”

Huppenthal, a former Republican state legislator, is a proponent of school choice and oversees the Arizona Department of Education, the agency that administers the scholarships under state law.

Private-school groups plan to publicize the program through workshops this spring.

“I think there will be tremendous interest, but the dollar value is pretty low, so that will be the challenge,” said Sydney Hay, executive director of Arizona’s Council for American Private Education, a group that advocates for private schools. Tuition at some private schools can run more than $10,000 a year.

Arizona’s scholarship program is a type of voucher because parents can withdraw their children from public schools and apply that public money toward private schools. The program also allows parents to spend money on educational expenses besides private school. They can purchase tutoring, curricula, online classes and even pay for tuition at the state’s public colleges.

Aaron and Heather Totman of Glendale are using scholarship money this year for their 12-year-old son, Ellis, who has autism. Their son previously enrolled at a public school. But the family felt he needed a smaller classroom and more individual services.

“I was getting reports about my son getting into tiffs with other students and being made fun of,” Aaron said. “As a parent, that just breaks your heart. I don’t want to deal with that. I want a place where my son can thrive.”

The family put the scholarship money toward a private school for students with special needs.

Students with special-education needs receive more state money on average than those who don’t require special services. Even so, the scholarship doesn’t cover all the costs. The Totmans still have to pay $5,000 of their own money toward the school’s $22,000 yearly tuition.

Then, there is the commute to the Scottsdale school to consider. The Totmans must provide their own transportation. From Glendale, it’s a 52-mile round trip. Carpooling with other families helps.

Despite the expense, the personal attention their son receives is worth it, the Trotmans believe. “He’s in a much better place,” Aaron said.

School choice

Besides Arizona, 11 other states and the District of Columbia have voucher programs. Many of them started in the past decade. The idea, though, has been around more than 100 years, since Maine and Vermont began allowing students in rural areas without public schools nearby to use state money to attend private schools.

Wisconsin started the country’s first modern school-voucher program in 1990 for low-income families in the Milwaukee Public Schools. A few years ago, the state removed the cap on the number of families who could enroll. Vouchers also were expanded to the nearby city of Racine.

Indiana launched the nation’s first statewide voucher program in 2011 for low-income students. This school year, 9,324 students enrolled, more than double the first year.

Although voucher programs vary by state, there are some common themes. States usually limit vouchers to specific groups such as students with disabilities or from low-income families. A few states allow vouchers for students in schools labeled as failing. Families usually have to try public schools first to get vouchers to pay for private school.

Arizona’s voucher program is part of a larger school-choice movement that has been under way since the 1990s. Championed by Republicans, the goals of the movement are to give parents more options and increase academic achievement.

The 1990s saw the introduction of charter schools, which are public schools that are independently run. That same decade, the state passed an open-enrollment law, allowing students to apply for admission to any public school as long as space is available.

The school-choice movement has its critics, including some school-district officials who oppose voucher-type programs because public money is going to the private sector.

Supporters of vouchers contend that allowing more choice increases competition among schools. This leads to better student achievement and lower education costs, they say.

The Goldwater Institute, a conservative watchdog group, has been a big supporter of Arizona’s program. Jonathan Butcher, the institute’s education director, said the scholarships give parents more options for educating their children. Some students do very well in their neighborhood public school, he said. Others don’t.

“I feel like we’ve expected public schools to be all things to all people, and frankly, that’s not really fair to public schools. Let public schools focus on what they do well,” he said.

Criticism

Vouchers are unpopular, though, with many public-school officials. In Arizona, public-education groups have sued the state, saying the scholarship program violates the state Constitution because public money is flowing to private schools.

Last year, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge ruled that the scholarships did not violate the law because the money is first going to parents, who can decide where to spend the funds. The ruling has been appealed.

Critics, including Tim Ogle, executive director of the Arizona School Boards Association, say the program has no accountability for educational quality. For example, he said, unlike students in public schools, students in private schools aren’t required to take state tests that measure their achievement.

Private schools can set special admission requirements, he said, unlike public schools. So, while the school-choice movement is supposed to be about parents getting more choices, the schools are really the ones choosing the students, he said.

“You have created an elitist environment using taxpayer money,” he said.

Public-school officials also worry that allowing vouchers for specific groups of students is the first step in eventually letting everyone use them. This could create an unpredictable financial nightmare for school districts.

Ogle said that although school-district officials are generally confident in the education their schools provide, there is concern about the possible budget impact if children leave for private schools. State school funding is based on student-enrollment numbers.

Supporters of the program predict the numbers leaving public schools will be modest, at least in the first year.

“It’s going to take some time for parents to get used to the idea,” said Butcher, of the Goldwater Institute. “Parents have been used to sending their child to school down the street. It’s a real shift for a parents to think, ‘Wow, we don’t have to send the child to the school down the street if we don’t want to.’”

Filed Under: Breaking News

Daily Headlines for January 2, 2013

January 2, 2013 By

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

Education Should Be Customized To Meet Students’ Needs
Washington Times, DC, January 1, 2013
America has become the great nation it is because of its traditions, its values and its constitutional foundations. It is also great because, though the Constitution does not specifically mention it, the people decided at one point to make a priority out of giving every child access to education.

FROM THE STATES

ARIZONA

Expansion Of State’s School-Voucher System Takes Effect Today
The Republic, AZ, January 1, 2013
One out of every five Arizona students in public schools becomes eligible today to apply for public money to attend private schools this fall under an expansion of a controversial voucher-type program.

CALIFORNIA

School Uses Laptops To Enable Learning
Stockton Record, CA, January 2, 2013
On a normal day at the Academy of Business, Law and Education charter school in Stockton, students will enter their classrooms and perform a 10-minute warm up assignment as part of a 90-minute course block.

Why California Must Lead The Way In Closing Underperforming Charter Schools
Ed Source, CA, January 1, 2013
Many of California’s charter schools are among the best public schools in the state, if not the nation, but some are also among the worst. It is time for the charter community to fix the failings in the sector so that more children have the chance to attend a great school.

Brown Plans Extensive Changes For School Funding In 2013
Los Angeles Times, CA, January 2, 2013
He says he wants more of the state’s dollars to benefit low-income and non-English-speaking students. ‪‪He would also scale back dozens of rules that districts must abide by to receive state funds.

CONNECTICUT

Input Sought From Parents On City Schools
CT Post, CT, January 1, 2013
For the first time since Bridgeport jumped headfirst into the national debate over school reform, parents will have a chance to tell Mayor Bill Finch what changes they would like to see.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

D.C. Parents Develop Alternatives To Chancellor’s School-Closure Plan
Washington Post, DC, January 1, 2013
When D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson outlined a plan this fall to close 20 city schools, she did not call it a plan. Instead she said it was a proposal, a pliable draft meant to be refined with input from parents, teachers and community members.

Charters And Traditional Public Schools Compared
Washington Post, DC, December 31, 2012
I read with interest Mark Schneider and Robert Cane’s Dec. 30 Local Opinions commentary, “Why charters shouldn’t be ‘neighborhood schools.’ ” What has been missing is a study on the differences between the families of the children who are successful in charter schools and those of children failing in traditional D.C. public schools.

FLORIDA

Charter High School Closes, Dreams End
News Press, FL, January 1, 2013
The grade 9-12 charter school has 149 enrolled students ranging in age from 15 to 21 years old. The seniors were just a few credits from getting their high school diploma. Open for five years, the school has gotten a bad rap, according to Principal Tim Butts, who’d only worked there since the beginning of this school year.

Less Than 5 Months In, Charter School Closes, Upending Parents, District and County
Flager Live, FL, January 1, 2013
Open less than five months, Global Outreach Academy, the charter school at the Flagler County Airport, won’t open its doors when school resumes Wednesday morning. The school is short of money, and is behind on its rent due Flagler County government, which owns the building it’s occupying.

Charter, Voucher, Online Schools Campaigning For Bigger Role In Florida
Palm Beach Post, FL, January 1, 2013
Charter school, voucher and online education companies poured more than $2 million into this fall’s political campaigns, primarily those of Republicans who are again demanding more alternatives to traditional public schools.

GEORGIA

New Year Brings In New Laws
My Fox Atlanta, GA, January 1, 2013
Last November, charter school supporters celebrated the passage of a new constitutional amendment. That amendment goes into effect on Tuesday. It calls on the governor and lawmakers to establish an independent committee to oversee state sponsored charter schools.

KENTUCKY

Congressman John Yarmuth Previews Spot on House Education and Workforce Committee
WFPL, KY, January 1, 2013
Democratic Congressman John Yarmuth says reauthorizing the expired No Child Left Behind Act should be a priority of the incoming Congress.

MARYLAND

On Charter Schools
Star Democrat, MD, January 1, 2013
On Sunday, Dec. 28 in The Star Democrat there was an editorial, “Research Makes Clear Value of Charter Schools,” that is, to establish that Charter Schools bring more success than the Public Schools. The study was done by a group at Stanford University.

MASSACHUSETTS

More Boston Schools Need Flexible ‘Turnaround’ Rules
Boston Globe, MA, January 2, 2013
MAYOR MENINO may appear to be using his 2013 legislative agenda to pick an unnecessary fight with the city’s teachers’ union. But the mayor, in calling for a dramatic increase in the number of schools with flexible staffing rules, is making a strong statement by choosing school improvement over labor peace.

MICHIGAN

Parents File Suit Over School District Fees
Detroit News, MI, January 2, 2013
A class-action lawsuit filed by the parents of a Birmingham sixth-grader alleges the Oakland County district is violating state policy by requiring students’ families to buy specific items for use at school.

2013 Is The Time For Year-Round School
Detroit News, MI, January 2, 2013
Gov. Rick Snyder is looking at legislation to replace the School Aid Act of 1979. The proposed Michigan Public Education Finance Act includes a number of education reforms: broader online learning opportunities, more flexibility for students, and scholarships to students who graduate early. It also has language to encourage year-round schooling.

MISSISSIPPI

Gov. Phil Bryant Says Education Is Top Issue
Hattiesburg American, MS, January 2, 2013
Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant said education dominates his 2013 legislative agenda, from merit pay for teachers to charter schools that will receive public funding but be free of some state regulations.

Charter Schools At Issue
Desoto Times Tribune, MS, January 1, 2013
Lobbyists ranging from powerful Washington D.C. area law firms, former Gov. Haley Barbour and others who have been pushing hard to get charter school legislation passed in the upcoming 2013 Mississippi legislative session are gearing up for another fight.

Public Education For Sale? Big Money Pushing Charter School Legislation
Clarion Ledger, MS, December 31, 2012
Is our children’s education for sale to the highest bidder? Indications are that it could be.

NEW JERSEY

The Coming Year in Education — Bigger Questions, Higher Stakes
New Jersey Spotlight, NJ, January 1, 2013
Tenure reform, teacher evaluation, charters, school turnarounds, state oversight . . . There was no shortage of education news in 2012, but it’s the coming calendar year that will see those issues put to their first real tests.

NEW MEXICO

School Overhaul Results Mixed
Albuquerque Journal, NM, January 2, 2013
In fall 2009 — when Arciniega was starting her freshman year — Albuquerque Public Schools began an effort to turn around the two historically under-performing South Valley schools.

NEW YORK

Deadline Nears For Teacher Evaluation Plans
Utica Observer Dispatch, NY, January 1, 2013
School districts statewide were given homework. It’s due Jan. 17.

OREGON

Teacher Evaluations: Plenty Of Potential For Oregon In 2013
The Oregonian, OR, January 1, 2013
Mildred Rogers, an Oregon teacher about 40 years ago, was said to have been fired for ridiculing her young students, failing to provide lesson plans and ignoring years of advice to improve. Her case, formally known as “In the Matter of the Dismissal of Mildred Rogers, “joined educational lore and helped form Oregon’s legal notions of bad teaching.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Grading Teachers: Plan Stirs Protests
Hilton Head Island Packet, SC, January 1, 2013
State education superintendent Mick Zais and educators are fighting bitterly over a proposal to give letter grades to teachers based, in part, on how students improve on standardized testing.

Education Superintendent Mick Zais Should Stand His Ground
Anderson Independent Mail, SC, January 2, 2013
I strongly support teachers. However, the recent fervor about State Superintendent of Education Zais’ proposed teacher evaluation system, I suspect, is primarily promoted by unions for teachers and administrators. Dr. Zais should stand his ground.

WEST VIRGINIA

State Must Develop, Reward, Retain Great Educators
Montgomery Herald, WV, January 2, 2013
The research is clear: Teachers matter most when it comes to improving student learning. The most effective teachers can teach even the most disadvantaged students up to high standards. Facilities, technology, work experiences, extracurricular activities and many other school-based factors are important, but nothing surpasses the teacher — nothing.

ONLINE LEARNING

‘Virtual Classrooms’ Close To Reality In NH
New Hampshire Union Leader, NH, January 1, 2013
School officials are confident their plans for “virtual classrooms” in the high schools will be ready in time for the Jan. 22 start of the winter quarter.

State Should Call Time-Out On Cyber Charters
Patriot News, PA, January 1, 2013
The Department of Education has the opportunity to make a meaningful New Year’s resolution in raising standards for performance and accountability

Filed Under: Daily Headlines

The Charter Blob: Jeanne Allen with John Stossel (Video)

December 31, 2012 By

“The Charter Blob”
by John Stossel
Fox Business News
December 6, 2012

Please jump to the 21:00 mark to see “Charter Blob” story.

Filed Under: CER in the News

Daily Headlines for December 31, 2012

December 31, 2012 By

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.

The Flaws In The NRA’s School-Security Proposal
Washington Post, DC, December 30, 2012
Politicians, political commentators and many others greeted with derision the National Rifle Association’s proposal that armed security guards be posted in all U.S. schools.

Charter Schools Now Big Business Nationwide
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, December 30, 2012
The early charter schools in Pennsylvania were largely the product of passionate parents or community groups, who sometimes planned their dream schools around the kitchen table.

FROM THE STATES

CALIFORNIA

California Misses School Improvement Opportunity
San Francisco Chronicle, CA, December 31, 2012
It is now almost certain that more than half of California’s low-income schools will be labeled “failing” by the U.S. Department of Education. Federal officials have signaled in a conversation that the agency will reject the state’s bid for a waiver from the No Child Left Behind requirements.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

DC School Documents Reveal Expulsion Gap In Charter System
Washington Post, DC, December 29, 2012
An analysis of documents by the Washington Post shows the District’s charter schools expel dramatically more students than its traditional public schools.

FLORIDA

Education in 2013: Merit Pay Outlook Unknown
Tallahassee Democrat, FL, December 30, 2012
Next year could be the year teachers in Leon County Schools get a raise. The district and the Leon County Classroom Teachers Association, the local teachers union, are negotiating the details now, schools superintendent Jackie Pons said.

INDIANA

Charter School Won’t Take Bank Building
Post-Tribune, IN, December 30, 2012
A local charter school operator has turned down the donation of the former Gary State Bank building at 504 Broadway.

During 2012, School Districts Work To Developing Marketing Plans
Evansville Courier Press, IN, December 28, 2012
Something different this year for the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. was developing a marketing strategy to promote the school district. It was in response to Indiana’s school voucher program, which allows parents to receive tax money to supplement the cost of sending their children to private schools.

MICHIGAN

Unfunded Mandates Could Cripple State
Detroit News, MI, December 31, 2012
State lawmakers are rightfully proud the state enters 2013 relieved of about one-third of an estimated $45 billion in unfunded liability for post-retirement benefits it has promised to teachers and other public school employees.

MISSISSIPPI

Charter School Column Misleading
Clarion Ledger, MS, December 31, 2012
Jackson Public Schools teacher Darien Spann wrote an opinion article recently (“Governor’s plan bold first step, but certain ideas questionable,” Dec. 17) in which he made the vague claim that statistics he had seen “show that only 17 percent of charter schools in the country work.” Mr. Spann went on to insinuate that 83 percent of charter schools nationwide are failing.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

School Choice Tax Credits: Scrap Or Expand?
New Hampshire Public Radio, NH, December 29, 2012
On January 1st businesses can start getting tax breaks for donating to organizations that give public school students money toward going to a private school. But before that law has even taken effect, there are proposals to change it.

NEW YORK

Staten Islanders Concerned As UFT, City At Impasse In Negotiations
Staten Island Advance, NY, December 30, 2012
The so-called fiscal cliff isn’t the only big deadline facing government. If the city’s teachers’ union and the Department of Education don’t come to an agreement on teacher evaluations by Jan. 17, city schools could lose $250 million in state education aid.

Teachers Union Spends Millions From Membership Dues On Parties And Conferences
New York Post, NY, December 31, 2012
At least their union dues are working overtime. While city public-school teachers have gone without a new contract or regular pay raises for three straight years, their union, its staffers and political cronies have been living large off their union dues, a Post review found.

NORTH CAROLINA

Wake Continues To Weigh Role Of Year-Round Schools
News & Observer, NC, December 30, 2012
Year-round schools were the most controversial part of the last Wake County school-construction bond referendum and will likely be just as contentious in the proposal that could go before voters in late 2013.

NORTH DAKOTA

Let Massachusetts Be Model For N.D. School Reforms
Grand Forks Herald, ND, December 30, 2012
North Dakota schools remain very good. But once upon a time, North Dakota schools ranked more often than not as America’s best. They no longer occupy that top spot; in a number of other states, achievement has surged, while in North Dakota, students’ performance has remained relatively flat.

OHIO

A Waiting List? Catholic Schools Shout Hallelujah
Cincinnati Enquirer, OH, December 28, 2012
The revelation struck Sister Anne Schulz last year on a day she had to turn away 90 students who wanted to attend Mother Teresa Catholic Elementary School.

OREGON

Charter Schools Can Be A Welcome Alternative
The Oregonian, OR, December 29, 2012
“More than anything, it’s taking the resources that are already so meager and spreading them to other places,” said Ellen Joslin for a November story in The Oregonian. She’s a critic of Washington’s new charter school law and the president of the Battle Ground Education Association. Initiative 1240 just authorized formation of 40 pilot charter schools in the state.

PENNSYLVANIA

Philadelphia School District Plans to Close Dozens of Schools
New York Times, NY, December 31, 2012
Facing deep financial problems, Philadelphia’s school district proposed an unprecedented downsizing and other changes that would affect 17,000 students.

Catholic School Year Of Transition
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, December 30, 2012
Janet Dollard was a few months into her first year as president of Conwell-Egan High School in Fairless Hills when the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced in January it planned to close the school as part of a broad restructuring of Catholic education.

Pittsburgh Schools Readying Teacher Evaluation Plan
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, December 31, 2012
Pittsburgh Public Schools is poised to become the first district to seek state approval for its teacher evaluation plan under a new state law.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Lead Charter Making A Difference
Greenville News, SC, December 28, 2012
Charter schools are one way our government gives parents free educational choices for their children. Unlike a “typical” neighborhood public school, a public charter school is organized around certain key principles, and parents who embrace those values support the school by enrolling their children and volunteering their time, and maybe even donating money.
http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20121231/OPINION/312310010/Lead-Charter-making-difference?gcheck=1

TENNESSEE

Education Tops 2012 Newsmaker List As State, Metro Grapple Over Schools
Nashville City Paper, TN, December 30, 2012
Between high-stakes elections, an epic brawl over a charter school and a never-ending battle with state education officials, the Metro Nashville school board at the center of the city’s politics this year.

ONLINE LEARNING

Education Collaborative Exploring Idea For Virtual School
Metro West Daily News, MA, December 29, 2012
With a new law on the way opening the door for more virtual schools in the state, a local education collaborative could be among the first to try to start one.

Info Sessions Planned About Lake Virtual School
Central Florida News 13, FL, December 30, 2012
School leaders in Lake County are reaching out to homeschool families with information about online classes.

More Schools Add Online Courses
Dayton Daily News, OH, December 28, 2012
More Miami Valley school districts are offering blended learning, a combination of traditional classes and online learning.

More Creative Thinking About Oklahoma’s A-F Grading System For Schools
The Oklahoman, OK, December 31, 2012
RELEASE of A through F grades for state schools has led to some creative thinking. Sadly, much of that creativity has been expended explaining away bad grades rather than improving school performance.

Online Academy Classes To Be Tested In ID Schools
KTVB, ID, December 29, 2012
A worldwide online education academy may soon be offering classes in a few select Idaho public schools.

Filed Under: Daily Headlines
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