Bar to Hit No Child Law Rising
Athens Banner Herald, GA, May 21, 2008
Georgia is one 23 states that likely will be hard-pressed to make needed improvements under the No Child Left Behind Act before the law’s 2014 achievement deadline, according to a report released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Center on Education Policy.

Meet the New School Board
Washington Post, D.C., May 21, 2008
This meddlesome piece of legislation runs counter to the council’s wise decision to let the mayor run the schools, and, more important, it’s not in the best interest of schoolchildren.

D.C. Needs School Choice
D.C. Examiner, D.C., May 21, 2008
There is cause for some optimism: A growing number of District children are benefiting from the opportunity to attend a school of their parents’ choice. … More than 20,000 children — about a quarter of the city’s public school students — now attend one of D.C.’s 72 public charter schools.

Schools Make Headway
Baltimore Sun, MD, May 21, 2008
The success of these high schools, the principals, teachers and students say, lies not in a quirky educational fad but in something as simple as a faculty that has bonded with the 400 or so students who attend each school.

Ruling Is Right, But Issue Not Over
East Valley Tribune, AZ, May 20, 2008
We have long urged judges to honestly apply the state and federal constitutions to cases that come before them, rather than invent fanciful interpretations to carry out political agendas or to craft new policies that should be determined by the other branches of government.

More Schools to Face Law’s Consequences
New York Times, NY, May 20, 2008
Schools are increasingly looking at those kind of consequences for failing to raise math and reading scores. The federal No Child Left Behind law says that by the 2013-14 school year all students must pass state tests in these subjects.

What Separates Charter Schools from the Rest
Denver Post, CO, May 20, 2008
I strongly disagree with letter- writer Rosalie Goldman. She writes: “Charter schools are very selective as to the students they admit and can ‘exit’ students who are not ‘making the grade.’ ”

School Expands Teaching Program
Colorado Springs Gazette, CO, May 19, 2008
An experiment at The Classical Academy went so well, school officials are expanding the program.

Voucher Deception on Ballot
St. Petersburg Times, FL, May 20, 2008
If the actual purpose eluded you, then the Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission would be pleased.

Rewriting the Locke High School Story
Los Angeles Times, CA, May 20, 2008
Once a beacon of hope in a neighborhood blighted by the Watts riots of 1965, for too many years now Locke has been a poster child for everything wrong with education in Los Angeles’ poor neighborhoods.

Ruling Casts a Cloud Over Private School Tax Credits
Tucson Citizen, AZ, May 20, 2008
Last week’s appeals court decision on funding for private schools should cast doubt on the privatization of education at public expense.

Bills to Give La. More Charter Schools
The Advocate, LA, May 20, 2008
Legislation that would allow for an increased number of charter schools in Louisiana passed through the state House of Representatives on Monday.

Democrats for School Choice
Wall Street Journal, May 19, 2008
Our guess is that low-income parents in Florida have gotten a taste of the same school choice privileges that middle- and upper-income families have always enjoyed.

Devontez ‘Tez’ Blackwell
Washington Post, D.C., May 19, 2008
There are many ways to make the world a better place, and Tez, a junior at Cesar Chavez Public Charter School for Public Policy, is making his contribution one child at a time.

Florida Teachers Union to Fight Move to Revive Vouchers
Orlando Sentinel, FL, May 18, 2008
The state’s powerful teachers union is launching a two-pronged attack on two constitutional amendments designed to restart former Gov. Jeb Bush’s controversial school-voucher program.

Charter Schools Want More Funding
Hudson Reporter, NJ, May 18, 2008
Charter schools throughout New Jersey plan to rally this Monday, May 19 in the front of the State House in Trenton.

No Argument on This Charter
Vero Beach Press-Journal, FL, May 18, 2008
"Free" public education in buildings constructed without a dime of local tax dollars is a great deal. That’s a defining benefit of charter schools, and the power of educational choice at work.

City Charter Schools Should Be Able to Recruit Students
Sacramento Bee, CA, May 19, 2008
Sacramento parents and students have access to more high school options than ever. But there’s a flaw in this panoply of choices: Some of the public schools authorized by the school district are shut out of the recruiting pipeline.

Public Alternatives: Fully Fund Charter Schools
Union Leader, NH, May 19, 2008
SOME of New Hampshire’s public charter schools are sinking financially through no fault of their own. As the state considers whether to throw them a lifeline, some misperceptions about charter schools apparently persist.

New Course for Charters?
Philadelphia Daily News, PA, May 19, 2008
The SRC this week is expected to turn thumbs down on the new charter school applicants but ask them instead to bid on converting some of the district’s most academically troubled schools into charters.

Closed Catholic School May Become Charter School
KPRC Local 2, TX, May 17, 2008
The Houston Independent School District may have a plan to keep students together even after their campus closes for good, KPRC Local 2, Your Education Station, reported Friday.

Tucson School ‘Best in Nation’
Arizona Daily Star, AZ, May 17, 2008
Tucson’s BASIS Charter School is heralded as the top public school in the United States in the new issue of Newsweek magazine.

Teach for America
New York Times, NY, May 16, 2008
The results suggest that states that want students to do better in math and science need to focus recruitment on more selective colleges instead of on traditional teacher education programs, which are often little more than diploma mills.

Take a Stand for Choice
Press-Register, AL, May 16, 2008
On the issue of school choice, however, he has given hints that he might depart from liberal orthodoxy and make common cause with his ideological opponents. We urge him to make that leap, for the sake of millions of children trapped in failing public schools.

Rhee Offers Plan To Improve D.C.’s Troubled Schools
Washington Post, D.C., May 16, 2008
D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee detailed plans yesterday for overhauling 26 academically troubled schools, saying she will replace principals and teachers, hire private education-management firms and install instructional programs to boost student achievement.

Ariz. School Voucher Programs Ruled Unconstitutional
The Arizona Republic, AZ, May 16, 2008
It is unconstitutional for the state to give parents money to help pay private-school tuition for their disabled or foster children, the Arizona Court of Appeals decided Thursday.

Senate Passes Reprieve for NH Charter Schools
The Union Leader, NH, May 16, 2008
The New Hampshire Senate threw charter schools a lifeline yesterday, agreeing to a bill that could bring money they need to stay open.

Cumberland Charter School Plan Criticized
Providence Journal, RI , May 16, 2008
The state Department of Education and the Rhode Island League of Charter Schools say that legislation authorizing “mayoral academies,” or schools run by municipal administrators, would create an unequal, “two-tiered” system of charter schools.

Charter School Graduates Every Child
Twin Cities Planet, MN, May 15, 2008
YES is a sixth-12th grade public charter school in Houston, Texas, that boasts a 100 percent graduation rate. Melanie Singleton, a product of YES, is a Columbia graduate who has returned to teach.

Suit vs. Charter Law in Works
Atlanta Journal Constitution, GA, May 15, 2008
With Gov. Sonny Perdue’s signing this week of a controversial new education law, local public school systems appear ready to head to the courts to fight it. "We will be a part of the lawsuit," said Decatur City Schools board Chairwoman Valarie Wilson.

Celebrating Colorado Charter Schools
Denver Post, CO, May 15, 2008
On May 7, the Denver Post ran a great story called "Charter-school fans want more." The article gave three Denver charter schools much-deserved attention and credit for the strides they are making with traditionally underserved students.

D-11 Just Wants Meat in the Seat
Colorado Springs Gazette, CO, May 15, 2008
Leaders of District 11 need to stop trying to protect yesterday’s monopoly and start worrying about the needs of students and families in Colorado Springs.

Fla. to Consider Key Church-State Question
Washington Post, D.C., May 15, 2008
The potential repeal of a century-old Florida law barring state funding for religiously affiliated organizations is to be put before the voters there this fall,…

New Charter Schools Law a Double-Edged Sword
Athens Banner-Herald, GA, May 14, 2008
With the deadline for signing or vetoing the handiwork of this year’s state legislative assembly looming, Gov. Sonny Perdue signed into law Tuesday a potentially problematic bill allowing charter school applicants rejected by their local school systems to submit the application to a new state charter school commission.

Commission Asked to Delay Approving New Charter Schools
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, May 15, 2008
No new charter schools will open in Philadelphia if the School Reform Commission heeds the advice of its Office of Charter Schools.

Lifting the Cap on Charter Schools
Chicago Tribune, IL, May 14, 2008
The report, "Achievement and Attainment in Chicago’s Charter Schools," shows that where it counts most - high school graduation and college enrollment - charter public schools are substantially ahead of the curve.