Funding for Cyber Charters Up For Debate
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, March 12, 2009
Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak will renew his call for overhauling the cyber charter school law to set a statewide tuition rate and prevent charter operators from accumulating huge surpluses. A cyber charter operator and charter groups that have fought such changes in the past are expected to lambaste the secretary’s proposal.

For More Mayors, School Takeovers Are a No-Brainer
Wall Street Journal, March 12, 2009
More U.S. cities are considering scrapping a longstanding tradition in American education, the elected school board, and opting to let mayors rule over the classroom.

Ending the ‘Race to the Bottom’
New York Times, NY, March 12, 2009
There was an impressive breadth of knowledge and a welcome dose of candor in President Obama’s first big speech on education, in which he served up an informed analysis of the educational system from top to bottom.

See Obama Run With Education
Christian Science Monitor, MA, March 12, 2009
Of his three biggest projects, one is clearly closest to President Obama’s heart. On energy and healthcare, he’s leaving it to Congress to fill in the details of his ideals. (They are also the two most likely to falter.) But for education? No detail is being left behind.

On Education, Obama Has An Ambitious Vision
Denver Post, D.C., March 12, 2009
President Barack Obama this week presented his vision for reforming the nation’s education system, and we found a lot to like.

Expand Charter Schools
Clarksville Leaf Chronicle, TN, March 12, 2009
President Barack Obama’s call to expand the number of innovative charter schools is a welcome one.

Obama Has A Chance To Deliver Real Reform
Press-Register, AL, March 12, 2009
The key question is whether the new education president has something more to offer than good intentions and appealing rhetoric. The answer likely will lie in how far he is willing to go in challenging the teachers’ unions and other powerful defenders of the status quo.

Teachers, Democrats Should Adopt Obama’s School Reforms
The News Journal, DE, March 12, 2009
In Delaware, the popularity of charter schools, whatever their caliber, is seen by many as a vote of no confidence in the system. The president deserves credit for forcing the nation and his party to face this important challenge.

Obama Position On Charter Schools At Odds With Strickland’s
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, March 12, 2009
President Barack Obama strongly restated his support for charter schools on Wednesday, despite reservations by Ohio’s Gov. Ted Strickland, who wants to cut state spending for charters.

ETA Disagrees With Obama’s Merit Pay Plan
WEHT-TV, IN, March 11, 2009
The President is calling for teacher merit pay-under that plan teachers who boost student performance would get paid more. The Evansville Teacher’s Association doesn’t support the idea. NEWS 25 got this statement from the ETA executive director:

President’s Education Proposals Bring Mixed Bag of Reaction
WAVE3, KY, March 11, 2009
It’s a topic that will certainly stir up controversy in the Bluegrass: teachers’ pay based on student performance.

Off the Fence on Education?
National Review, NY, March 12, 2009
So as of the beginning of this week, the jury was still out as to where the president’s true educational loyalties lie. However, after yesterday’s major education address to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, it seems clear that he is siding with the reformers.

A Banker’s Advice To Charter Schools
Christian Science Monitor, MA, March 11, 2009
Self-Help, a non-profit community development lender, has been working since 1997 to help public charter schools solve their facility challenges. We’ve loaned over $100 million to charter schools across the nation.

How A Charter School Turns Union
Huffington Post, NY, March 11, 2009
Nelson’s experience at KIPP AMP sheds light on how teachers at the small charter school came to believe that union representation was the best way to go, and illustrates some of the challenges that charter networks like KIPP face when their numbers increase and their faculties become more diverse.

Congress vs. D.C. Kids
Washington Times, D.C., March 12, 2009
Congressional Democrats succeeded this week in crippling a school choice program operating in the nation’s capital.

White House Says Obama Will Not Allow D.C. School Vouchers To Expire
CBS News, March 11, 2009
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs insinuated today that President Obama will reverse a provision in the omnibus spending bill to terminate school vouchers for underprivileged students in Washington, D.C.

Charter Operators See Opportunity In District Restructuring
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, March 12, 2009
The two most successful charter operators in Philadelphia - Mastery and KIPP - want to expand and hope to be part of Superintendent Arlene Ackerman’s plans to change the district.

Vouchers Aren’t The Answer
Savannah Morning News , GA, March 12, 2009
Jeb Bush’s wonderful endorsement ("Critics wrong about vouchers," March 4) of State Sen. Eric Johnson’s Senate Bill 90 to provide vouchers for public school students to attend participating private schools totally ignores, like Johnson’s bill, the basic problems with vouchers.

Parents Cheer As Students Score Charter School Seats
Boston Herald, MA, March 12, 2009
For weeks, Mary Perry prayed that her 15-year-old daughter would be accepted to City on a Hill Charter School in Roxbury. But there were 519 students competing for 100 slots.

A Divided House Spars Over Charter Schools’ Growth in Harlem
Gotham Schools, NY, March 11, 2009
Despite repeated cries for a calmer debate, including one from a City Council representative who said he was dismayed by the "divided house," it was wagging fists, name-calling, and raucous shouting matches that ruled the day at a hearing last night in Harlem.

Pontiac Could Lead In Urban School Reform
The Detroit News, MI, March 12, 2009
Pontiac school leaders are taking a radical approach to fixing their low-achieving, bankrupt schools by laying off nearly all district employees. There is wisdom in this strategy — and Detroit and other districts should learn from it.

Catholic School Students Lobby for Legislation
Washington Post, D.C., March 12, 2009
Students from St. Matthias Apostle School in Lanham were among the nearly 300 youths who traveled to Annapolis on March 4 to lobby the Maryland General Assembly for legislation that would help Catholic schools.

House Passes School Testing Bill
Louisville Courier-Journal, KY, March 12, 2009
The House voted yesterday to kill the state’s current school testing system and direct the Department of Education to develop new educational standards and a new test.

Utah Legislature Winds Down
Deseret News, UT, March 11, 2009
Most notably, the education budget is still in limbo because of a House and Senate dispute about whether to fund charter school expansions in 2010.

Missouri Outpacing U.S. in Education Reform, Report Says
Springfield News-Leader, MO, March 11, 2009
Between 2002 and 2006, Missouri showed an improvement in its high school graduation rate that outpaced improvement in 40 other states, according to a news release from Johns Hopkins University.

How California Can Be a K-12 Leader Again
Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy, March 11, 2009
Heavy hitters in education reform convened here Monday for mayor Kevin Johnson’s Education Summit. The event was a microcosm of changes afoot nationwide and packed a powerful message for California.