Obama and Our Schools
New York Times, NY, November 13, 2008
President-elect Barack Obama and his aides are sending signals that education may be on the back burner at the beginning of the new administration. He ranked it fifth among his priorities, and if it is being downplayed, that’s a mistake.

Teacher Pay Plan Has Merit
The Star-Ledger, NJ, November 12, 2008
Education lacks a means of advancement for good teachers who want to stay in the classroom. Merit pay could be one way to do that, and it seems more than fair that those who do the best job should be rewarded.

Children Trapped In Lousy Schools Merit Real Choices
San Antonio Express, TX, November 12, 2008
… the Obamas have the ability to make a choice for their children, a choice the president-elect would deny to every other American who cannot afford to pay private school tuition. This is not the vaunted fairness for which Obama campaigned. This is not spreading the educational and intellectual wealth around.

A School Chief Takes On Tenure, Stirring a Fight
New York Times, NY, November 13, 2008
Michelle Rhee, the hard-charging chancellor of the Washington public schools, thinks teacher tenure may be great for adults, those who go into teaching to get summer vacations and great health insurance, for instance. But it hurts children, she says, by making incompetent instructors harder to fire.

D.C. School Reform: The Backlash
Washington Post, D.C., November 12, 2008
When Michelle Obama visits town and stops by two private schools without so much as a rolling glance at any D.C. public school, and when Barack Obama takes a moment in a presidential debate to lament that Washington’s schools are “in terrible shape,” the message received in the city school system cannot be a happy one.

Cost of Phila. Charter Schools: $105M
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, November 13, 2008
Charter school advocates and the Philadelphia School District have long been at odds on the cost of charter schools.

Scholarships Offered to Phila. Children for Non-Public
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, November 13, 2008
The Children’s Scholarship Fund Philadelphia this morning is scheduled to announce that will be offering 1,300 new, four-year scholarships to help low-income families send their children to nonpublic elementary schools in 2009-10.

Public Charter High School Proposal to be Reviewed
Waukegan News Sun, IL, November 13, 2008
Among the issues that Waukegan Public Schools officials will consider when reviewing a proposal to open a public charter high school in the city are the charter’s goals, pupil performance standards and economic feasibility.

Private Schools Incorporate Technology in A Big Way
Tampa Bay Business Journal, FL, November 13, 2008
Berkeley Preparatory School, a preK-12 grade private school, issues laptops to students through an initiative called Anytime Anywhere Learning that began in 2000.

Schools of Choice in Kansas City
Kansas City Star, MO, November 13, 2008
Thousands of families living in the Kansas City School District should be congratulated for empowering themselves and choosing the public schools their children will attend.

School District to Ask For State Research Grant
Athens Banner-Herald, GA, November 12, 2008
Clarke County School District administrators may apply for up to $10,000 from the state Department of Education while they decide what kinds of charter schools would work best here.

The Challenges of Choice
Catalyst Chicago, IL, November 2008
At the heart of Renaissance 2010 is the belief that opening new schools will benefit families and students. But a Catalyst Chicago analysis finds that a surprising number of black students are choosing lackluster schools.

Supt. Brewer’s Failings
Los Angeles Times, CA, November 13, 2008
But along with much of California, the district is heading into troubled times — largely financial — that threaten its classrooms and students, and that will test its management and educational skills.

The Year for School Choice
Orangeburg Times Democrat, SC, November 13, 2008
For years, parents in South Carolina have been clamoring for school choice. Low-income and minority parents want something like the HOPE scholarships that grant them access to better classrooms.

The Private Side of Education
State Journal, WV, November 13, 2008
Time and again the message from business is that privatization works, and in West Virginia education, private school supporters agree.

Charter School Should Be Given A Chance To Work
Eagle Tribune, MA, November 12, 2008
It is time — past time — for a minority of the Haverhill School Committee to end its sour-grapes effort to undermine the new Silver Hill Horace Mann charter school.

Green
Green Bay Press Gazette, WI, November 13, 2008
Green educational programming is flourishing in public charter schools because these schools can break the mold of traditional school, which is bound by bricks-and-mortar, industrial-era ideas about classrooms and instruction…

Growing Charter School Eyes
The Jersey Journal, NJ, November 13, 2008
One of the first charter schools in the state when it opened in 1997, LCCS has long wanted “a more traditional school building” with the facilities it currently lacks, including a library, cafeteria and auditorium, she said.