D.C. Teachers Make Nearly $9K More Than U.S. Average
D.C. Examiner, December 13, 2007
Teachers in the nation’s capital are pulling in nearly $9,000 more a year than the national average, putting them toward the top of the salary list when compared to other states…

GOP Candidates Avoid Rancor In Last Debate Before Iowa Vote
Philadelphia Inquirer, Pennsylvania, December 13, 2007
Most of the other candidates voiced support for giving parents more choices among public schools, private schools, charter schools, religious schools and home schooling.

Increases in Education Aid Range From 2 to 20 Percent Under Corzine Plan
New York Times, December 13, 2007
Each of New Jersey’s 615 school districts would receive 2 percent to 20 percent more in state aid next year under a new financing formula officially unveiled by Gov. Jon S. Corzine on Wednesday,

Firing the District of Columbia’s Central Office - Or Turning it Into a Political Fiefdom?
Education Week, December 12, 2007
It would not be surprising for a new Chancellor like Michelle Rhee to decide that some central office staff should be removed - fired - because they don’t do their jobs, don’t buy into the new program, or are in some way corrupt.

Volusia Pushing 2 Charter School Issues In Court
Daytona Beach News-Journal, Florida, December 13, 2007
At issue are two state decisions — one denying Volusia’s request to retain exclusive authority to approve charter schools in the county and the other overturning Volusia’s denial of a charter school application.

Groff Proposes More Autonomy For Top, Lowest Schools
Rocky Mountain News, Colorado, December 13, 2007
Some of the state’s highest- and lowest-performing schools would get to control their budgets, hire their own faculty and staff and design their own curriculum under a bill proposed by a top Democratic lawmaker.

Program Allows Students To Transfer From 831 Deficient Schools
D.C. Examiner, December 13, 2007
Students at 831 Texas public schools will be allowed to transfer to other campuses next school year because their schools were among the lowest rated in the state, the Texas Education Agency said.

SRC Keeps Charter Policy On Track
Philadelphia Inquirer, Pennsylvania, December 13, 2007
The Philadelphia School Reform Commission’s chairwoman expects a vote next week on a new policy to increase oversight of charter schools, even though some charter operators have asked for a 90-day delay to help craft an alternative.

Longer School Day Bears Fruit
Boston Globe, Massachusetts, December 13, 2007
One of the reasons charter schools were created more than a decade ago was to implement reforms that could be adopted in district schools.

School Programs Prevent Dropouts With Flexible Hours
Houston Chronicle, Texas, December 13, 2007
The young mom is enrolled in a special program at Houston’s Furr High School, which allows her to attend class in the morning and work in the afternoon.

Charter Accord Rejected
San Gabriel Valley Tribune, California, December 13, 2007
Negotiations are expected to continue now that school board members rejected a proposed management contract 3-2 Tuesday night for the district’s top performing school, San Jose-Edison Academy.

Judge Rules Race-based Admissions in L.A. School District OK
Education Week, December 12, 2007
The Los Angeles Unified School District’s practice of using race as a factor in enrolling students for its popular magnet programs doesn’t violate an anti-discrimination law, a judge has ruled.

Millions Headed For N.O. Schools
The Times-Picayune, Louisiana, December 12, 2007
Three national philanthropic organizations will announce a $17.5 million investment today to bolster public education in New Orleans, the largest private donations yet aimed at improving the city’s post-Katrina public school system.

Report Finds Better Scores in New Crop of Teachers
New York Times, December 12, 2007
Teaching is attracting better-qualified people than it did just a few years ago, according to a report released Tuesday by the Educational Testing Service.

D.C. Charter Schools Gain 2,000 Students
D.C. Examiner, December 12, 2007
Enrollment in D.C.’s public charter schools is believed to be 2,000 higher than last year’s, with almost half the schools registering more than their projected number of students and the other half below projections, based on preliminary reports from the charter system’s board.

17th charter school gets closer to approval
Indianapolis Star, Indiana, December 12, 2007
An advisory board voted Tuesday to recommend that a Near-Northside charter school be approved by Mayor Bart Peterson.

Budget, Council Put Snags in Fenty’s Plans
Washington Post, D.C., December 12, 2007
Fenty (D) and Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee announced at a morning news conference that they would delay a planned expansion of art, music and foreign language classes to help close a budget gap of more than $100 million.

One School Shows Prevention Requires More Than a Health Class
Washington Post, D.C., December 12, 2007
While students at the public charter elementary are learning basic skills, they are also being inoculated with heavy doses of self-respect, integrity, discipline, responsibility and teamwork.

Get It Together On Graduation Rates
TC Palm, Florida, December 12, 2007
Wildly different figures make it impossible to tell exactly how Florida high schools are performing.

Poll: Private Education Preferred
Peoria Journal Star, Illinois, December 12, 2007
A poll released Tuesday found that most Illinoisans would send their children to private, parochial or charter schools if they had the choice, according to an education think tank.

Charter Enrollment Up
The Detroit News, Michigan, December 12, 2007
Public districts feel the impact as more of Michigan’s children transfer to alternative schools.

Got Bus? Transportation Is A Big Issue For Utah’s Charter Schools
Deseret Morning News, Utah, December 11, 2007
The Center for Education Reform, a pro-charter school nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., gave Utah a C grade for its laws and policies regarding charter schools.

More Time In Class Equals Better Math Skills
USA Today, December 11, 2007
The idea that more time in school produces better results could get a small boost today with the release of international data from the Brookings Institution.

School Tests: Testing Has Value, But ‘No Child’ Should Be Kept In Perspective
Lansing State Journal, Michigan, December 11, 2007
The real concern with NCLB isn’t with the concept of testing, but with how school districts are labeled and dealt with.

Charter Schools Not A Cure-All, Just An Option
Atlanta Journal Constitution, Georgia, December 11, 2007
In a second editorial expressing skepticism about the growth of charter schools in Georgia, the AJC editorial board continues to beat a dead horse with the proclamation that "Charter schools are not a panacea." (Dec. 9).

Living the ABCs of Running a School
Washington Post, D.C., December 11, 2007
The New Leaders for New Schools program is built on the idea that leadership like Nicholson’s is essential to improving achievement at urban schools.

Charter Schools Safer, Quieter, Report Says
San Mateo Times, California, December 11, 2007
Charters are "quieter and less disruptive than traditional public schools" that serve students of similar backgrounds and have the same population size, according to the report by the National Charter School Research Project …

Online Education Vital For Wisconsin
Badger Herald, Wisconsin, December 11, 2007
In the state of Wisconsin, parents are allowed a great many options on how to educate their children from kindergarten through 12th grade.=

The battles over accountability, autonomy, fiscal equity and academic excellence continue in the weekend news roundup in today’s Morning Shots. Oh, and mandating instruction on collective bargaining and the history of unions for Wisconsin’s k-12 school children. There oughta be a law…

Closed Charters Revived Inside Public Schools
Voice of San Diego, California, December 10, 2007
San Diego schools have capitalized on charter closures, importing fizzled charters and one private school into public schools as special programs this year.

Getting Past ‘No Child’
Washington Post, D.C., December 9, 2007
No Child Left Behind, supposedly an antidote to the "soft bigotry of low expectations," has instead spawned lowered standards.

In Gaps at School, Weighing Family Life
New York Times, December 9, 2007
The study, "The Family: America’s Smallest School," suggests that a lot of the failure has to do with what takes place in the home…

Feds to Give States Slack on Education
Washington Post, D.C., December 8, 2007
The Bush administration on Friday granted new flexibility to states on how they track student progress under the No Child Left Behind education law.

Dropout-Prevention Program Sees to The Basics of Life
Washington Post, D.C., December 10, 2007
In the struggle to improve schools in the poorest neighborhoods, experts say no problem is more challenging than the high dropout rate.

Parents On Prowl For The Best High School
Columbus Dispatch, Ohio, December 10, 2007
In Franklin County, parents can choose from 31 private, religious and charter high schools, not to mention traditional public schools.

Charter Argues For Tax Funds
St. Petersburg Times, Florida, December 10, 2007
Dayspring Academy joins other charter schools across Florida that are taking a hard stance that as public schools, they are entitled to all aspects of public education funding including money for capital improvements.

Proposed School Funding Plan To Draw From State Taxes
D.C. Examiner, December 9, 2007
A proposed constitutional amendment that would dedicate a portion of state taxes and proceeds to fund Ohio schools is drawing praise from statewide education groups and open ears from lawmakers.

The Regulation Of The State’s Charter Schools Is Way Too Loose
Orlando Sentinel, Florida, December 9, 2007
When parents turn to a Florida charter school to find a niche for their child, they might just as well be rolling the dice in a Vegas crap game.

Charter Schools Not A Panacea
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia, December 9, 2007
At the end of Harvey’s impassioned speech, lawmakers were sitting up straight and declaring that the solution to Georgia’s education woes were more inspired charter schools like Path.

A School Where Autistic Kids Aren’t Alone
Star Tribune, Minnesota, December 10, 2007
A charter school that will serve students with autism-spectrum disorders in grades 6 to 10 is being hailed as a haven for teens with special needs — and their families.

Charter Funding May Get Shake-Up
Desert Morning News, Utah, December 10, 2007
Charter schools and traditional district schools alike may not be pleased with draft legislation that would shake up how charters are funded, but lawmakers say it’s a necessary change.

Villaraigosa Pushes School Partnership As Vote Nears
Los Angeles Times, California, December 10, 2007
Teachers and parents at seven low-performing middle and high schools will decide Tuesday whether to join Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in his effort to dramatically remake their schools.

A School Gets an F, and Parents Worry About What Comes Next
New York Times, December 9, 2007
The city’s Department of Education had announced the previous day that P.S. 79 and four other institutions that had received an F on the Bloomberg administration’s new school report cards would be closed.

Reading, ‘Riting, ‘Rithmatic And Labor? Bill Would Require It
D.C. Examiner., December 9, 2007
The bill, by Sen. Dave Hansen, D-Green Bay, would require every school board to incorporate the history of organized labor and the collective bargaining process into its curriculum.

Unions In Charters
Chicago Tribune, Illinois, December 9, 2007
Union schools create stability among staff reducing costs, keeping quality teachers while improving student scores.

Charter Schools Should Be Separate From Public Schools
Sheboygan Press, Wisconsin, December 9, 2007
The inclusion of public charter schools under the direct control of the Sheboygan Area School District detracts from the original intent of publicly supported schools in Wisconsin.

Unleash Online Schools
Wisconsin State Journal, December 8, 2007
The state Court of Appeals just handed the Legislature an important assignment: Update state laws governing public education to take advantage of the opportunities presented by online learning in virtual schools.

Principals’ Pay, Performance Gaining New Policy Attention
Education Week, Maryland, December 6, 2007
The spotlight that has focused on ways of measuring and rewarding teacher effectiveness may now be turning to school principals.

Charter School Moratorium
Review Journal, Nevada, December 7, 2007
State board decides not to handle its obligations Charter schools — alternative schools run under government auspices — are a baby step toward true education reform. They’re not nearly as dramatic a break with the status quo as, say, tax credits that help parents afford to home-school or send their kids to private schools, instead of forcing them to subsidize a one-size-fits-all public school system they choose not to use.

Some Say No Child Left Behind Has Gone Too Far
Southeast Missourian, Missouri, December 7, 2007
Attempts to reauthorize No Child Left Behind have come to a near standstill, delayed by fervent opponents seeking a loosening of requirements and supporters trying to salvage the no-excuses backbone.

Archdiocese Forms Nonprofit To Help Catholic Schools Convert To Charters
D.C. Examiner, December 7, 2007
The Archdiocese of Washington on Thursday announced that a newly formed nonprofit agency will help seven D.C. Catholic schools apply to become public charter schools, a conversion parents and members of the local religious community have been fighting for months.

Teachers, Supporters To Protest City’s Proposed School Closures
D.C. Examiner, December 7, 2007
Teachers, social workers and parents from across the District will be rallying this morning to signal their displeasure with city leaders’ proposed closings of nearly two dozen elementary and middle schools next fall.

School Districts Gird For Charter Fight
St. Petersburg Times, Florida, December 7, 2007
School district officials around Florida believe local school boards - and only local school boards - should have the right to decide what charter schools operate in their counties.

Concerns Expressed Over Academy Building
Wyoming Tribune, Wyoming, December 7, 2007
Wyoming would have its fourth charter school if the Cheyenne Classical Academy is approved.

Best Charter In Pasadena
Pasadena Star-News, California, December 7, 2007
I am so delighted to be teaching at a school that is designed to truly meet the needs of students as individuals and not as numbers. Rhythms of the Village Charter High School is like no other school I have ever known.

Virtual Schools Offer Flexible Education
Duluth News Tribune, Minnesota, December 7, 2007
Operating as a charter school in partnership with Minnesota Transition School in Minneapolis, the academy opened in 2005 with two grade levels and an enrollment of eight students statewide, including one from Duluth.

A Blow To Innovation
Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin, December 6, 2007
Wisconsin kids may be locked out of the virtual schoolhouse after a state Court of Appeals decision Wednesday that threatens the future of online learning for public schoolchildren.