If you had the ear of some of the education world’s biggest funders, how would you recommend their spending focus be targeted? Where would you steer the philanthropic priorities of the Broad, Gates, Mott or Ford Foundation? Where are the holes in education reform? What is getting too much money? What is not getting enough?

We posed these questions in the latest edition of our weekly Center for Education Reform Newswire. Take a minute to share your recommendations via this short (I promise) survey. We’ll reveal the common wisdom in next week’s issue.

Obama’s Long Education To-Do List Awaits Action
National Public Radio, April 30, 2009
Obama’s education proposals would make any local school board member dizzy, says Jeanne Allen, who heads the Center for Education Reform and is an advocate of charter schools and vouchers. Besides, she says, Obama’s agenda is nothing more than a wish list.

Using "Civil Rights" to Sell Charter Schools
Socialist Worker, April 30, 2009
Before we answer the obvious question–what’s their angle?–we need to acknowledge that the "civil rights/social justice" message has worked brilliantly for the charter school movement. Charter schools are making converts of students and parents all over Harlem, where I am a teacher in a traditional public school.

Education is the Key
The Carolinian, NC, April 29, 2009
Understanding President Obama’s stance on an assortment of policy issues has proven to be quite difficult. In regards to education reform, it is uncertain whether his fascination with big government and big bureaucracy will truly stick.

Charter Schools Offer Solution
Black Star News, NY, April 29, 2009
Nothing has shaken up the national education pot as much as the hotly contested debate over the role of America’s charter schools.

State Wants New Charter Schools to Serve Low Income
Providence Journal, RI, April 30, 2009
As expected, education officials agreed Wednesday to change the way they approve applications to open public charter schools, giving a higher priority to proposals that serve low-income and disadvantaged students in low-performing school districts.

Charter Schools Face New Rules
Orlando Sentinel, FL, April 30, 2009
Florida’s 360-plus charter schools face greater accountability after the state House passed a bill Wednesday that would, among other things, prevent charters from hiring relatives and also cut their business ties with administrators and directors.

3 Local Charter Schools are Honored
Miami Herald, FL, April 30, 2009
Three South Florida charter schools will be the first to be recognized for overall excellence by the state charter school association.

Number of Students Leaving School Early Continues to Increase, Study Says
New York Times, NY, April 30, 2009
Almost six years after a lawsuit forced the city to pledge to keep better track of students who leave public schools without graduating, the number leaving high schools has continued to climb, according to a report to be released Thursday by the public advocate’s office.

A Charter for Reform
The Cornell Daily Sun, NY, April 30, 2009
Charter schools are "laboratories of innovation," according to the Obama Administration. And with the president set to lift limits on charter schools across the country — as part of a necessary overhaul of the national education system — we support the State University of New York Charter School Institute’s decision to grant a charter to the New Roots School here in Ithaca.

Mass. Advocates Urge End To Cap On Charter Schools
Boston Globe, MA, April 29, 2009
Advocates are urging Governor Deval Patrick and state lawmakers to lift a cap on the number of public charter schools.

Charter School Staff Face Dilemma on Benefits
Los Angeles Times, CA, April 29, 2009
Three local charter schools, including two that are widely acclaimed, face a potential exodus of teachers and others who are fearful of losing generous Los Angeles Unified School District health benefits.

Charter School Firm to Open More L.A. Campuses
Los Angeles Times, CA, April 29, 2009
One of the nation’s most highly praised charter-school operators has landed another sizable donation to open campuses in the Los Angeles area.

Californians Want Change in Public Schools
Central Valley Business Times, CA, April 30, 2009
Californians worry that the state’s budget gap will hurt public schools, but they are also increasingly likely to say that spending money more wisely — rather than just spending more — will lead to better quality K-12 education, according to a survey released tonight by the Public Policy Institute of California.

Senate Bill Gains Partial Victory
Charleston Post Courier, SC, April 30, 2009
Sen. Robert Ford lashed out at fellow legislators Wednesday who don’t support his proposal to use tax credits toward private school tuition, accusing them of benefiting from high-quality public schools that play favorites with the rich and powerful

House Committee Rejects Term Limits for School Boards
The Times-Picayune, LA, April 29, 2009
The House Committee on House and Governmental affairs voted 11-6 today against a bill to impose term limits on local school boards.

Mayor Asks Legislature to Expand Charter Schools
Nashville Scene, TN, April 29, 2009
Mayor Karl Dean came to the legislature this morning to plead for expanding the number of children who can attend charter schools. Under present law, failing students or students who attend failing schools are eligible.

Oklahoma’s Senate Gives Final OK to Major School Bill
The Oklahoman, OK, April 30, 2009
The state Senate on Wednesday narrowly approved a bill stripping away regulations placed on public schools by a landmark 1990 reform and tax act known as House Bill 1017.

Ohio House Democrats Push Through Budget
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, April 30, 2009
…Tackled school funding by trying a new approach with all-day kindergarten and a longer school year, as well as a different funding model that had the net effect of helping suburban districts by reducing the local share the state assumes a district can raise by itself. Slashed funding to charter schools and banned for-profit charter schools.

Proposed Bill Would Change Special Education Funding Formula
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, April 30, 2009
In the wake of a study saying most school districts don’t spend enough money on special education, state representatives have proposed a bill that would change the state formula for allotting special education money to try to make it fairer.

Hearing Slated for Proposed Charter School Legislation
Republican Journal, ME, April 30, 2009
The Legislature’s Education Committee has scheduled the public hearing for "An Act to Permit Charter Schools in Maine," for 1 p.m. Tuesday, May 5, in room 202 of the Cross Office Building.

Colo. Senator Calls For National Teacher Merit Pay
cbs4denver, CO, April 29, 2009
Colorado’s newest senator wants to make pay-for-performance teaching a national standard. Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet said in a speech before the Senate in Washington Wednesday that current teaching pay models are outdated, and that teachers should be paid more when their students do well.

Growing Pains in the Advanced Placement Program: Do Tough Trade-Offs Lie Ahead?
Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, April 29, 2009
In 2002-2003, 1 million students participated in AP by taking at least one exam. Five years later, nearly 1.6 million did—a 50+ percent increase. But is growth all good? Might there be a downside? Are ill prepared students eroding the quality of the program? Perhaps harming the best and brightest? To find out, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute commissioned the Farkas Duffett Research Group to survey AP teachers in public high schools across the country.

Charter Schools Not as Bad or as Good as Hyped
Kennebec Journal, ME, April 27, 2009
Allowing charter schools in Maine will siphon off good students from struggling schools. It will take much-needed money away from public schools already suffering from budget constraints.

Court Weighs Funding For Special Education
Washington Post, D.C., April 27, 2009
The Supreme Court will consider a question this week that has riled parents, cost local school boards here and across the country hundreds of millions of dollars, and vexed the justices themselves: When must public school officials pay for private schooling for children with special needs?

Teach for (Some of) America
Wall Street Journal, April 25, 2009
Here’s a quiz: Which of the following rejected more than 30,000 of the nation’s top college seniors this month and put hundreds more on a waitlist? a) Harvard Law School; b) Goldman Sachs; or c) Teach for America.

Dems’ School Reform Takes Page out of GOP Book
Orlando Sentinel, FL, April 26, 2009
I’ve had little success selling Jeb Bush’s education reforms to my liberal friends and colleagues. So I am trying something new. I’m calling them Barack Obama’s education reforms.

Demise of School Choice Program Shows Absurdities of U.S. Budget
Kansas City Star, MO, April 24, 2009
The president has set an example for his Cabinet. He has ladled a trillion or so dollars ("or so" today meaning "give or take a few hundreds of billions") hither and yon, but while ladling he has, or thinks he has, saved about $15 million by killing, or trying to kill, a program enabling 1,715 District of Columbia children (90 percent black, 9 percent Hispanic) to escape from the district’s failing public schools and enroll in private schools.

Demand, Not Supply Drives Educational Achievement
American Thinker, April 26, 2009
Free market conservatives passionately insist that school choice will solve America’s education woes. So as schools proliferate and competition heats up, academic achievement will soar just as fierce market competition has delivered better and cheaper computers and TVs. This seductive analogy is, unfortunately, hardening into unchallenged dogma.

A Catholic Digest Special Report: Do Catholic Schools Have a Future?
Catholic Digest, April 2009
Keeping Catholic education affordable and available to all children, especially those in urban areas, has long been part of the mission of Catholic schools. Today, more than 40 percent of Catholic schools are located in urban and inner-city areas, though the number of suburban Catholic schools continues to increase.

Poor Neighborhoods, Untested Teachers
Washington Post, D.C., April 27, 2009
Students in the region’s poorest neighborhoods are nearly twice as likely to have a new or second-year teacher as those in the wealthiest, a Washington Post analysis has found.

School Vouchers Are Unfair to D.C. Children
Washington Post, D.C., April 25, 2009
Of course, students who receive vouchers can be expected to do better than similar students from the same socioeconomic backgrounds. This is partly because the private schools they attend are often superior to public schools, but it is also because their parents have taken a more involved and aggressive approach to their children’s education.

No Decisions Yet on School Reforms
Athens Banner-Herald, GA, April 25, 2009
Gov. Sonny Perdue hasn’t yet decided what to do with some sweeping education reforms proposed by a task force he appointed - recommendations that began gathering criticism almost as soon as they were announced last week.

Some Charter Schools Cutting Ties with for-Profit Partners
The Times-Picayune, LA, April 25, 2009
A New Orleans charter school board’s recent move to end its partnership with the company that managed a pair of schools marks the latest soured marriage between a charter board and a for-profit operator.

Three Broward Charter Schools May Be Given One Year To Shape Up
South Florida Sun-Sentinel, FL, April 27, 2009
It is contract renewal time for four Broward County charter schools, but three of the new agreements come with this stipulation: You have one year to get your act together or close.

Move On: Tulsa Should Let Charter Ruling Stand
The Oklahoman, OK, April 26, 2009
The ruling last week turned away the Tulsa school board’s argument that the law was unconstitutional because it only applied to some school districts based on their size and location. The lawsuit was a bad idea from the beginning. Despite the legal argument, the beef with charter schools is really about power and money.

Private Schools Remain Strong In Tough Times
The Oklahoman, OK, April 26, 2009
The struggling U.S. economy does not seem to be hurting enrollment at Oklahoma City’s private schools as significantly as it is the rest of the country, area private school leaders said recently.

Parents, Schools Must Work Together
Chicago Tribune, IL, April 26, 2009
Chicago Public Schools administrators have employed various measures to raise academic achievement and create better education outcomes for CPS students, with somewhat spotty results. Nevertheless, for the most part, parents and community members remain hostile toward CPS changes. Why? This is largely because the community has been left out of the process.

Raising the Bar on Charter Schools
Chicago Sun Times, IL, April 25, 2009
Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman is preparing to turn up the heat on Chicago’s charter schools just as four charter operations here have been hit with the toughest level of federal sanction.

Smart with Education Stimulus Funds
Boston Globe, MA, April 27, 2009
It may be tempting to see the stimulus funds as a well-timed panacea to help us get through the current economic downturn. But as a state, we must think beyond the next several years and use as much of the funding as possible to strategically invest in initiatives that will serve our students not just now but for years to come.

State Should Meet Demand For Charter Schools
Worcester Business Journal, MA, April 26, 2009
The well-earned distinction illustrated the president’s call for strong standards and accountability (such as our MCAS system), innovative schools (including charter and pilot schools) and professional development.

Charter Schools Cheered By Funding
Buffalo News, NY, April 27, 2009
Sixteen local charter schools will be able to avoid or minimize program reductions next school year thanks to the restoration of up to $30 million in state funding, school officials said Friday.

Private Schools Continue To Lure Students Despite Economic Woes
Longview News-Journal, TX, April 27, 2009
Despite the rough national economy, private school enrollment is holding steady in Longview. Officials with most local private schools said enrollment for the 2009-10 school year seems on track to meet or exceed current enrollments.

New Tests Sought For Arizona’s Charter Schools
Arizona Republic, AZ, April 26, 2009
Owners of some of Arizona’s best charter schools are taking unprecedented steps to strengthen the oversight and quality of the charter-school system, which could lead to the closing of more schools.

Orange County Catholic Schools Vow to Stay Open
Los Angeles Times, CA, April 27, 2009
A group of Orange County Catholic educators and businessmen faced a tough decision last fall: Do they close six struggling local parish schools or take aggressive steps to keep them open?
It is a scenario confronting church leaders throughout the nation who are beset by shrinking enrollments that threaten to decimate urban parochial schools.

School Gives Merit Pay an ‘A’
Sacramento Bee, CA, April 27, 2009
Heritage Peak, a public charter school, teaches kindergarten through 12th-graders from throughout the region, using a hybrid model of independent study, home schooling and classroom instruction. The school also has satellite offices in Vacaville and Lodi.

Charter-school Crackdown Advances in Tallahassee
Orlando Sentinel, FL, April 25, 2009
Prompted by reports of nepotism and lax financial controls, the Florida Senate unanimously passed a plan Friday to make Florida’s more than 360 charter schools more accountable in their classrooms and on their financial statements.

Charter School Rally Set for State House
Boston Globe, MA, April 27, 2009
Parents who want to lift the cap on charter schools in Massachusetts are taking their case to the State House. More than 500 people are expected at a rally Wednesday to urge Governor Deval Patrick and state lawmakers to allow more charter schools.

Charter-school Cap, Safety Measures Top Lawmaker’s Talk
Rockford Register Star, IL, April 24, 2009
Illinois has a self-imposed cap limit of 60 charter schools: 30 in Chicago, 15 in the Chicago suburbs and 15 in the rest of the state.

Stimulus Money May Fund Summer School, Teacher Pay
New York Times, NY, April 24, 2009
Education Secretary Arne Duncan has some suggestions for how schools can spend their windfall from the economic stimulus law, including summer school and extra pay for teachers to coach struggling colleagues.

Straight A’s for Performance Pay
Washington Times, D.C., April 24, 2009
If there is one thing the lords of Wall Street and their most hapless victims agree on these days, it is that there was a disastrous misalignment between the incentives of bankers and traders and the interests of their clients and shareholders. It should not be so surprising that much of the failure of our public schools can be traced to a similar misalignment…

Where the Jobs Are: Teaching
Forbes, April 23, 2009
Many school districts across the country, particularly in Florida and California, are contending with budget cuts and the threat of layoffs, but people in the field expect them to start hiring again, and heavily, before too long. "We will need almost 4 million teachers by 2014, because of retirements and modest projected increases in enrollment," says Susan Carmon, associate director of the teacher quality department at the National Education Association…

Talkin’ About Charters
Columbus Dispatch, OH, April 23, 2009
Zimmer made a couple of policy recommendations that touch on long-running debates in Ohio’s charter-school movement. First, he said policymakers should examine whether there is a better way to authorize charter schools. Our state allows all types of organizations to oversee charters, but that’s not true in every state.

Summit to Focus on Cleveland’s Dropout Rate
Cleveland Plain Dealers, OH, April 24, 2009
Cleveland’s high school graduation rate — one of the worst in the country — isn’t showing signs of getting better, according to a report issued this week by America’s Promise Alliance. But the group, founded by retired Gen. Colin Powell and his wife, Alma, will help attack the problem next month at a dropout-prevention summit at the Cleveland Convention Center.

Ed. Analysts: Choice Is The Real Issue
Philadelphia Bulletin, PA, April 24, 2009
"Instead of giving money right to schools, attach it to the students and their parents, so they can choose what school to attend. "Mr. McCluskey said charter schools often fall prey to politicians who threaten to close them if they do not comply with certain rules and regulations. "Take that to private schools, then you have real competition," he said. "If everybody has choice, you can’t say [the decision] was for political reasons."

Georgia Should Be Proud of Its Schools’ Achievements
Atlanta Journal Constitution, GA, April 24, 2009
Our schools aren’t as good as they used to be, and they never were,” joked Will Rogers. I wonder whether he was talking about Georgia. ost folks don’t know it, but Georgia schools are on an impressive run. Believe it or not, Georgia is now ranked No. 1 in the nation in educational technology, according to Education Week.

Oklahoma Charter Schools Pass a Judicial Test
The Oklahoman, OK, April 24, 2009
Oklahoma’s charter schools get to stay open — for now — because they won the first step in a legal case against them. On Thursday, an Oklahoma County judge ruled the 1999 charter school law is constitutional. District Judge Carolyn Ricks rejected complaints about the law by the Tulsa School District.

Education Reform: Big Promises and Big Price Tag
Yakima Herald-Republic, WA, April 24, 2009
Without question, improvements must be made in the way this state handles the basic requirements of public education.

Charter Schools Get $30M Windfall
New York Daily News, NY, April 24, 2009
The restoration of millions of dollars in charter school funding was icing on the cake for the parents of the 475 kids who won coveted seats at the Harlem Success Academy Thursday night. State Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith told them Albany is sending the charter schools a one-time-only $30 million grant to ease the pain of a surprise $51 million funding cut in the budget freeze.

Public Is the New Private
Huffington Post, NY, April 23, 2009
The Emerald City had lost its glitter. Thousands of children are without schools and waitlists for both public and private schools are approaching triple digits. Let me tell you, parents are panicking. It feels like all of my ideals and dreams have abandoned me. The public school education that promised to be so nourishing, and that should be an inalienable right, is now out of reach.

Bennett: I Represent A Union, The Children’s Union
Indianapolis Star, IN, April 23, 2009
I am going to stand up every day and say that I represent a union, and I represent the union of Indiana children. And every day I am going to represent my membership. And I am going to represent my membership by talking to this state and saying to this state if we don’t become nationally and internationally competitive…

Charter Schools May Create Second-Class Neighborhood Schools
San Jose Mercury News, CA, April 23, 2009
As elected members of the Santa Clara County Board of Education, we are very concerned about a pending tsunami of charter schools coming to our valley, in many cases through our county Office of Education authorizing process.

Asian Methods Mold Chandler Charter School
East Valley Tribune, AZ, April 23, 2009
Taking a few successful teaching methods and lessons from around the world, two women have co-founded a charter school with international flavor for students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

For Fifth Term As Mayor, Menino Must Earn It
Boston Globe, MA, April 24, 2009
Although Menino has done a fair job with the schools, he hasn’t been a persistent, high-profile prod for progress… And despite President Obama’s call for lifting caps on charter schools, Menino opposes more such schools.

Public, Private Schools Have Their Say
The State, S.C., April 24, 2009
Thursday, parents, teachers, education leaders and others clashed over whether a controversial tax credit proposal would help more of the state’s students succeed, especially students who are poor, have learning disabilities or disciplinary problems.

House Measure Fortifies School Vouchers
Sarasota Herald-Tribune, FL, April 24, 2009
A private school voucher program for children from low-income families would be strengthened by a bill the House passed Thursday, but critics say it would be another financial blow for public education.

Minn. House Passes Legislation To Hold School Funding Flat
Minnesota Public Radio, April 24, 2009
The House education bill also relieves school districts from several costly state mandates. It establishes new accountability and oversight rules for charter schools, and sets new standards for online learning.

We seem to be more concerned today with the physical treatment of terrorists than the health and welfare of our most impoverished children. While the president works hard to compensate to our international friends for what he perceives as American arrogance, he is missing the biggest opportunity to show this nation really cares by permitting a small but successful lifeline for 2,000 Washington, DC poor children to die a slow death.

That lifeline is a scholarship program providing children from low-income homes a ticket to attend a private school of their choice, with the cost being borne by the government, in lieu of attending a neighborhood school near drug dens, pollution and barbed wire fences.

We have been talking to real people in Washington, DC about this program. We have gone to the same neighborhoods that produce the appalling statistics paraded daily in the news. Most residents do not know about this program. Those that do, do not understand why Congress — or anyone — would oppose it. There must be something else to it, they say? Why is it only 2,000 kids?

The reality is that they expect their leadership to know what’s good for kids. And most loyal DC citizens believe that, indeed, they have a friend in the White House. That may be the case on some issues, but not with respect to real education reform.

In the last few days alone, Mr. Obama has taken a pretty bad beating from friends and pundits in the news media. NPR/Fox News contributor Juan Williams has taken him to task. Staunch supporter and advisor, Kevin Chavous in partnership with Anthony Williams, former City Councilman and Mayor, respectively, challenged him to accept the program, and the notion of choice, for all needy children. Perhaps a little farther from home but just as sane was George Will’s column pointing out the one-two punch to the program thrown by Duncan. “Not content with seeing the program set to die after the 2009-10 school year, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (former head of Chicago’s school system, which never enrolled an Obama child) gratuitously dashed even the limited hopes of another 200 children and their parents.”

Bloggers are working overtime on this issue, and parents are out day by day in the city rallying and talking about how best to get Congress’ attention.

Wouldn’t it be great if they could be focused more appropriately on the needs of their families, their jobs or the next big community issue of concern? These people don’t have the hundreds of paid staff that the opponents of this program employ at various education groups, unions, and government offices. The time they spend on this is entirely their own – and on their own dime –  as they are so enormously frustrated and upset that this program is, for all intents and purposes, gone.

Their only hope is that Congress will take it up again in May, and maybe in the fall they will see the fruits of their labor. We will see.