Charting New Course For Education
Philadelphia Daily News, PA, March 16, 2009
Most people agree that a charter school is a publicly-funded school providing education independent from the established system in a way that encourages innovation and results. As the extensive reports from the Center for Education Reform attest (www.edreform.com), every state has its own laws regulating charters, and those laws vary widely in strength and effectiveness. And according to ten states, charters don’t even exist as an option.

In Idaho, Charter and Conventional Schools Compete For Students
The Canadian Press, March 15, 2009
But nationwide, efforts to stymie the growth of charter schools have largely failed and there are now 4,600 of them in 40 states with 4.5 million students, said Jeanne Allen, president and founder of the Center for Education Reform, a school choice advocate based in Washington, D.C.

Obama’s Education Opening
Wall Street Journal, March 14, 2009
President Obama laid out his education agenda in a well-received speech this week that had him siding, in the main, with school reformers. He called for higher standards, more charter schools, merit pay, increased accountability and eliminating bad teachers. The question is whether and how Mr. Obama will back up his ambitious rhetoric.

Putting Some Straight Talk Into Obama’s Education Speech
Washington Post, D.C., March 16, 2009
Yet advocates of public schools say that educators often haven’t gotten the credit they deserve when the economy does well. And they note that speechwriters often oversimplify when they pluck a fact out of a long, nuanced study to help a politician make a rhetorical point.

Invest in Education, Ensure A Better Future
Miami Herald, FL, March 14, 2009
President Barack Obama wants to rewrite the national playbook on public education — and if he gets his way America could turn the corner, finally, on educational achievement. Success will depend on how well Mr. Obama runs the gantlet on each side of the political divide.

Why is NEA Cheering Obama’s Education Ideas?
The Oregonian, OR, March 14, 2009
The union clearly heard what it wanted to hear (more money) and ignored much of Obama’s talk. Merit pay, charter school expansion and more school accountability are not what the union has been advocating.

One Principal Knows What to Do With Stimulus Money. Do Others?
Washington Post, D.C., March 16, 2009
I doubt we will get much school improvement out of the roughly $100 billion in stimulus funds the Obama administration is about to spend on education. The windfall will save the jobs of many hardworking educators, which is good, but we already know that dumping big pots of money on schools tends to help adults more than kids.

School Vouchers Leave Too Many Children Behind
Christian Science Monitor, MA, March 16, 2009
There’s another side to the school voucher story that needs to be told if we ever expect to create educational equity in this country. It has to do with the disconnect between what we say we want for children and what we’re willing to settle for.

Sweden’s Choice
New York Times, NY, March 14, 2009
Why the Obama administration should look to Europe for a school voucher program that works.

Christmas is Here Early For Teacher Unions
Washington Times, D.C., March 15, 2009
Christmas has come early for teacher unions (not that they believe in religious holiday traditions). President Obama’s education plans give them almost all of their long wish list, and here it is only March.

President Obama Says Let Charter Schools Bloom; So Should Gov. Ted Strickland
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, March 15, 2009
Gov. Ted Strickland ought to follow his leader and stop trying to destroy charter schools. President Barack Obama laid out a sensible position recently that focuses on schools’ effectiveness, not on their labels: States should allow innovative charter schools to flourish…

‘Merit Pay’ For Teachers Garners Praise From Obama and Local Schools
The Times-Picayune, LA, March 14, 2009
When Barack Obama delivered the first education policy speech of his presidency last week, including a plug for paying teachers bonuses based on student achievement, he struck a chord with Karen Bucher.

Merit-Pay Party Poopers
Boston Globe, MA, March 16, 2009
PRESIDENT OBAMA is standing up for merit pay for high-performing teachers. But his words aren’t resonating with the right audience in Massachusetts, where union leaders are resisting an innovative pay-for-performance program designed to expand the number of students taking Advanced Placement courses, especially in urban schools.

D.C. School Voucher Program Provokes Strong Feelings
Wall Street Journal, March 14, 2009
Mr. Durbin, your colleagues represent us, the taxpayers, and many of us support helping underserved students escape failing government-run schools.

Vouchers on the Line
Washington Post, D.C., March 14, 2009
IN A MAJOR speech this week outlining his vision for education, President Obama exhorted Washington to get beyond partisanship and petty bickering and to forgo old debates for ideas that really work for children.

Rhee and Weingarten Face Off in Battle of D.C. Teachers Unions
Washington Examiner, D.C., March 14, 2009
Do teachers deserve to keep their jobs forever, regardless of whether their students learn? Should good teachers get paid more than mediocre ones? Would students benefit from national standards, and should teachers be judged on whether their students meet those standards in regular testing?

Wrong Time To Let Up
Lexington Herald-Leader, KY, March 15, 2009
While our new president talks about raising standards and holding teachers more accountable, Kentucky is giving them a three-year pass. Par-ty! With no whisper of objection from Gov. Steve Beshear, lawmakers last week kicked the ladder out from under the many educators who have been working hard to pull their students and schools up. (On the lower rungs, less accomplished teachers were gleeful.)

Cuts, Economy Threaten Many Parents’ Choices
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, GA, March 16, 2009
About 1,600 students statewide receive vouchers under Georgia’s Special Needs Scholarship Program, up from nearly 900 in 2007-08, the program’s inaugural year. Although the enrollment has nearly doubled, the funding, which is based on a student’s diagnosis and individual educational plan, hasn’t.

Cash-Strapped Charter Schools Struggle
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, GA, March 15, 2009
As bad as the economy is for Georgia’s traditional public schools, it’s even worse for charter schools.

Tenure Tremors
New Orleans City Business, LA, March 16, 2009
Embedded within a package of proposed changes to the state’s school board system is a shift in wording that opponents say will effectively eviscerate teacher tenure and leave them vulnerable to unfair persecution.

N.O. School Voucher Program Taking Applications Again
The Times-Picayune, LA, March 16, 2009
Starting this week, New Orleans families can apply for the second year of a voucher program that has allowed them to send their children to private schools using public money.

DPS Presses Reform Agenda
Denver Post, CO, March 16, 2009
Two events today will offer a glimpse into the changing landscape for Denver Public Schools and also might foreshadow conflicts to come as the district’s reforms take hold. This morning, the Denver School of Science and Technology charter school will announce that it plans to open four new schools over the next five years.

New Debates Over Church, State, School and Charters
Gotham Gazette, NY, March 16, 2009
With an increasing number of charters and some small conventional public schools focusing on one ethnic group and the Supreme Court allowing the spending of more public money for religious education, some see a dangerous erosion of the separation of church and state in education.

Where Education and Assimilation Collide
New York Times, NY, March 14, 2009
In the last decade, record numbers of immigrants, both legal and illegal, have fueled the greatest growth in public schools since the baby boom. The influx has strained many districts’ budgets and resources and put classrooms on the front lines of America’s battles over whether and how to assimilate the newcomers and their children.

Catholic Education Foundation Provides Opportunities to Underprivileged Youths
Los Angeles Times, CA, March 16, 2009
The foundation this year provided more than $11 million in scholarship awards to 9,000 students in the Los Angeles Archdiocese.

Charter School Supporters Head to Springfield to Lobby For Money
Rockford Register Star, IL, March 15, 2009
Charter school supporters are heading to Springfield to lobby Tuesday for all the money the Rockford School District is supposed to receive when a district opens a charter school.

School Bill Ignites Debate
Tulsa World, OK, March 15, 2009
Do local school boards know what’s best for their students and act accordingly? That’s the question at the heart of the controversy over a state Senate bill that would free most districts from state education mandates.

Straddling the Democratic Divide
Hoover Institute, Education Next, Spring 2009
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s Senate confirmation hearing in January was thick with encomiums. He was praised by Democrat Tom Harkin of Iowa for the "fresh thinking" he brought to his post as Chicago schools chief for seven years.