Spellings continues push for No Child renewal - Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said Tuesday the next phase of the federal No Child Left Behind law should focus on schools that chronically underperform.

Why Johnny can’t read very well and what to do about it - Opinion: Juan/Sean/John doesn’t read too well because we don’t teach him how very well.

Charter schools would feel pinch of uncollected taxes - Indiana State Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, found initial support Monday for a plan to make charter schools share the pain of uncollected property taxes.

Ousted Chicago Teachers Union President to Take On Her Successor (Edweek.org subscription required) - Former President Deborah Lynch, who lost the last election by just over 500 votes, has thrown her hat into the ring to unseat her successor, Marilyn Stewart, in the May election.

Center for Education Reform: Philadelphia’s Multiple Provider Model Makes Progress - Press release: Five years after the state of Pennsylvania took over the financially and educationally bankrupt school system of Philadelphia, five years after the new, dynamic CEO Paul Vallas was given oversight of the new system, and five years after the new School Reform Commission turned over the worst-performing schools to numerous education service providers to fix, educational progress across all schools in Philadelphia is at a record high.

Charter, choice debate hits district’s wallet - With the combined charter and choice schools’ cost to the Shrewsbury, Massachusetts school district for 2006-07 at $324,254, officials are asking questions about why students are leaving and what they can do to prevent it.

Make school cool: Give dropouts a choice - Editorial: The best way for New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch to realize his goal of reducing the dropout rate is not to spend millions on remedial programs. It is to give these kids an attractive alternative to their regular public schools. He can do this by letting parents take struggling students out of schools where they are falling behind and move them to schools — public or private — that might excite them.

Leaving Children Behind - To solve problems of education, you need to be willing to go the whole way down difficult roads, and to do this will require a far greater commitment than the federal government and civic leaders have given any indication they are willing to make.  Our teachers and inner-city schools are facing overwhelming and heartbreaking odds, and we are letting them down.

Committee passes school-vouchers bill - As expected, the House Education Standing Committee on Tuesday OK’d what would be Utah’s first general government voucher program for private school tuition, costing the state $9.2 million up front.

Voucher bill raises potential for special needs students - Opinion: A look at two students who could benefit from a special needs scholarship program currently under debate in Georgia.  (Opposing view here.)

Educators get foot in door at state Capitol - Florida lawmakers, lobbyists and political observers say a new tone — more cordial, more cooperative, maybe even bipartisan — has emerged in the days following the inauguration of Gov. Charlie Crist and preceding the first legislative session in nine years that won’t be dominated by former Gov. Jeb Bush.

Study: Metro Detroit teachers earn most - Public school teachers in Metro Detroit have the highest hourly pay among 66 metropolitan areas, according to a study released today by a New York think tank.

Educators blast No Child Left Behind changes - Two key proposed Bush administration changes to the No Child Left Behind law drew criticism from local public school education officials and union leaders.

Romanoff kicks off school-reform tour - On Tuesday, Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff visited Denver’s Hill Middle School, 451 Clermont St., the first stop on a year-long, statewide school tour to find out what works in public education and what should change. It’s part of a plan to mobilize revolutionary reform in Colorado.

Education secretary pushes for ‘No Child’ reform renewal - Given President Bush’s slumping approval ratings, Margaret Spellings is touching all the bases in pushing through Bush’s signature domestic-policy measure, even though it has bipartisan support.

School choice as business - Letter to the editor: There has been much talk lately about tuition tax credits and how they will allow parental choice. This is not true. Parental choice exists now. What is involved here is a behind-the-scenes move by conservative Republicans to support private schools.

Parents brave bitter cold for hot school zone talk at forum - The fight to replace limited school choice with neighborhood schools isn’t over, Rockford, Illinois Superintendent Dennis Thompson told about 40 parents and residents who Tuesday night braved bitter-cold weather to attend a community forum.

Education chief makes pitch for consolidation - Education Commissioner Richard Cate debated his proposal to consolidate school districts in front of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, reiterating his claim that the current system is not sustainable as statewide enrollment declines.

Legislature: Vouchers one step closer - Utah’s school voucher bill was so sure to earn a committee’s approval Tuesday that House leaders had already scheduled a floor debate for Thursday. Yet more than 100 people turned out to register their opinions on the divisive issue.

KIPP Foundation gets $14.6M grant - Atlantic Philanthropies has made a $14.6 million, five-year commitment to San Francisco’s KIPP Foundation. It is the largest single grant to the nonprofit since Doris and Don Fisher invested $15 million to start the charter school foundation in 2000.

Charter school system plan moves closer to a vote - A Georgia plan that would give entire school systems the same freedoms as existing charter schools moved one step close to passage on Tuesday, clearing a Senate committee on a party-line vote.

Charter schools face limit in Gary - Charter school backers vow to lobby against a bill authored by Indiana state Rep. Vernon G. Smith, D-Gary, that would reduce their funds and temporarily ban more charters in Gary.

Streisand donates $10,000 to St. Paul charter school - She charged up to $450 per seat last fall for her concert at the Xcel Energy Center, but Barbra Streisand is leaving some money behind in St. Paul as well.

Acrimony engulfs school plan - Opinion: For the sake of any Topeka kid who’s struggling in school, here’s hoping supporters of the proposed Sumner charter school projects don’t give up.  But unless the movement’s point women, Betty Horton and Sandra Lassiter, find a way to work more constructively with Topeka Unified School District 501 staff and board members, hoping might be pointless.

Report gives edge in pay to teachers - The typical public school teacher in Iowa City earns 27 percent more than the average white-collar worker when wages are calculated per hour, according to a new national report that the state teachers union immediately dismissed.

Can a monolithic school system serve the common good? - Opinion: Decentralizing and expanding the concept of public education is a radical approach to reform, but it is also an honest attempt to reconcile two very different perspectives in two otherwise irreconcilable reports. The alternative is the same old debate that inherently produces conflict over who gets final control of education policy. That is not good for children. That is not good for the republic. It’s time to be bold.

College Scholarships for All No Myth in El Dorado - A city of 21,530 just north of the Louisiana border, El Dorado, Arkansas now boasts a program that guarantees that high school graduates from the area can afford college courtesy of a $50 million gift from its own local benefactor, Murphy Oil Corp.

Audit Finds Financial Problems - An independent audit of the D.C. government has found serious problems with the public school system’s financial controls, alarming District officials who say that the city’s fiscal health could be at risk if the lapses are not corrected.

Small Schools to Be Added by September - New York City’s Education Department yesterday announced that it would open 20 small secondary schools in September, including five schools for students at serious risk of dropping out. But the department, which has struggled to find sites for new schools, did not announce the locations for 10 of them.

UPDATE:

The case for vouchers and school choice in Illinois - Opinion: Lawmakers have failed to reach a consensus over how to simultaneously improve urban and rural education. Yet there are a number of reforms which will instantly improve all Illinois’ schools - reforms that revolve around school choice. 

Senate approves private school vouchers for disabled students - Students with disabilities would get state tax money to attend private schools under a bill approved Wednesday in the state Senate. 

Senate approves special needs scholarship - After nearly three hours of debate, the state Senate today approved Senate Bill 10, which would allow state-funded vouchers for disabled children to attend schools outside their resident districts. 

An Age-Old Debate Continues - Citizens packed a House Education Committee meeting yesterday to speak out on a bill that would give funnel tax dollars into private school scholarships. Kathy Tenney is a mother of five who supports the bill. 

Here’s what 2007 voucher bill would, would not do - The Utah House is expected to debate this year’s voucher bill Thursday, less than one week after legislators got their first look at it. The bill’s speedy journey through the House has left lawmakers and the public little time to study the particulars.  

Carcieri: Budget, education, transportation and environment top of mind - Carcieri suggested lifting the moratorium on new charter schools, which he said are getting “good results.” And the governor proposed a new initiative focused on one troubled school district. 

Report: Focus on learning, not testing - Maine’s system of using local assessments to evaluate students’ progress should be replaced with a method that emphasizes learning over testing, Education Commissioner Susan Gendron said on Thursday. 

State reading and math scores rise - New Hampshire elementary and middle school students statewide made gains in reading and math last year, but their writing scores worsened, according to test data released yesterday.