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March 29, 2007

Morning Shots

Education Week: Vouchers Eyed for Students With Disabilities

More than half a dozen states are considering legislation to offer private school vouchers for students with disabilities.

They are looking to join the ranks of four others—Arizona, Florida, Ohio, and Utah—that already offer that school choice option.

Supporters say that such vouchers are an important safety valve for parents when public schools don’t offer programs to meet those students’ specialized needs.

But opponents warn that parents who take advantage of those vouchers may be giving up procedural protections guaranteed to their children under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Philadelphia Inquirer: Seismic changes in the Phila. School District

What a decade it’s been for the Philadelphia School District.

The 174,000-student system has undergone a state takeover, launched the largest experiment of private management of public schools in the country, and presided over a proliferation of charter schools, new thematic-based small high schools, and a burgeoning system of disciplinary schools.

It has gone from a district known for its lack of technology to the home of one of the nation’s most technologically advanced high schools, opened in September in partnership with the Microsoft Corp. The district has seen a significant rise in test scores in the last five years, although high school performance continues to lag.

And despite a boost in public confidence ushered in by the can-do style of its chief executive officer, Paul Vallas, the district still is viewed largely as a system in academic crisis and, more recently, in fiscal crisis. It has seen a loss of nearly 20 percent of its student population as children flee for charters and other schools.

“Scores have gotten better. Some schools are better resourced, but we still have a very, very long way to go,” said Debra Kahn, who has been a school board member, city education secretary, and education advocate over the last decade.

LA Times: Schwarzenegger names education chief

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday appointed David Long, Riverside County's superintendent of schools since 1999, as the new state secretary of education.

Long, a 67-year-old Republican who lives in Canyon Lake, will be paid $175,000.

Schwarzenegger said Wednesday, "David shares my values when it comes to education: improving student achievement, bringing up low-performing schools, hiring quality teachers, building new facilities."

In Riverside, Long oversaw 23 school districts and more than 400,000 students. He came to that elected position, where he was in his third term, from the Lake Elsinore Unified School District.

He has also served as chairman of the U.S. Education Department's Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Advisory Committee, which reports to President Bush's secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings.

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