US Schools Chief Says Kids Need More Class Time
Associated Press, April 7, 2009
American schoolchildren need to be in class more — six days a week, at least 11 months a year — if they are to compete with students abroad, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Tuesday.

Recession Stalls State-Financed Pre-Kindergarten, but Federal Money May Help
New York Times, NY, April 8, 2009
One of the most drastic expansions of public education in recent American history unfolded quietly in this decade, as dozens of states added free pre-kindergarten classes to their traditional kindergarten to high school offerings.

Vouchers: Not Dead Yet
National Review Online, April 8, 2009
The pall has extended to voucher programs around the country. If our legislators can terminate the D.C. program without too much political cost, might they decide to become serial killers, targeting vulnerable programs in Milwaukee, Ohio, and elsewhere?

School Choice
American Chronicle, April 7, 2009
To condemn so many children to failing schools is an act of oppression. As Christians and citizens of a representative democracy we have a compelling moral obligation to speak out. Our Bishops are correct. Parents have a fundamental right to choose. We should all demand they get it.

Online Charter School Rings Bell With Parents, Students
Chicago Tribune, IL, April 8, 2009
The school, the city’s only online program for kindergarten through high school, has become an alternative to traditional public schools for parents such as Brown who believe regular schools often don’t challenge children enough or don’t give slow learners the extra time they need.

Charters Are Big Draw
Columbus Dispatch, OH, April 8, 2009
As Ohio families continue to choose public charter schools, officials at traditional public schools need to become nimble in adjusting their budgets to match shrinking enrollments.

Founder of Charter School Operation Resigns to Satisfy Sponsor
Akron Beacon Journal, OH, April 7, 2009
The chief executive and founder of one of Ohio’s largest charter school operators, Peter DiMezza, resigned March 17 to satisfy broad-based fiscal and administrative reforms demanded by the operator’s state-authorized sponsor, according to documents provided to the Ohio Department of Education.

Parents Opt to Gamble on Charter School Lotteries
Providence Journal, RI, April 8, 2009
In an ideal world, Rob Rude would send both of his sons to their neighborhood school. But this is Providence, where not all schools are created equal.

Florida Virtual School Works
Gainesville Sun, FL, April 7, 2009
What if the state was a leader in an innovative, cost-saving initiative that fostered thousands of loyal students and parents? Well, we have that, but if the Florida legislature has its way, it will be eviscerated.

Teach for America Eyes Boston Role
Boston Globe, MA, April 8, 2009
I’m sure that many Teach for America candidates are caring people who really want to educate and nurture children, but to give these candidates such a short training and then to throw them into a roomful of children is unfair to the teacher and the students.

All Charter Schools Not Equal
Ithaca Journal, NY, April 8, 2009
New Roots supporters cite President Obama’s recent comments as evidence of his support for schools like New Roots. However, all charter schools are not "created" equally; individual states vary as to how charter schools are approved and come to fruition.

City Hall Show Trial: Scripted by UFT, Council Slanders Charter Schools
New York Daily News, NY, April 8, 2009
Fueled by loaded questions provided by the teachers union, the City Council conducted an inquisition against charter schools - replete with conspiracy theories and offensive racial rhetoric.

Parents, Children Cross Fingers For New York Charter Schools Lottery
New York Daily News, NY, April 8, 2009
When the lottery drawings are completed later this month, 8,500 students will get seats in a charter school out of 39,000 who applied for the schools.

An Arts School for All of L.A.
Los Angeles Times, CA, April 8, 2009
If somebody told you that a public agency had spent years constructing one of the most expensive secondary schools in the world without any precise idea of what would be taught there or who the students would be, you’d say, "Don’t be ridiculous." Then you’d remember that the Los Angeles Unified School District really does exist.

Reigniting S.C.’s School Choice Debate
Charleston City Paper, SC, April 8, 2009
The black community has a healthy dose of skepticism of public schools, and rightly so — the struggle to bring equality to minority students only began with desegregation. Even now, school district decisions are met in some communities with presumptions that race played a role.

Bad Politics Get In Way of Good Educational Policies
Atlanta Journal Constitution, GA, April 8, 2009
So many people devoted time, energy and effort to this legislation that in the end, there were no real disagreements. Gov. Sonny Perdue even introduced the bill as his own. Unfortunately, this well-written, badly needed bill got caught up in politics.

Evers Wins Education Post
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI, April 8, 2009
Staving off a spirited run by a political newcomer, Tony Evers went from understudy to Wisconsin’s next schools chief Tuesday with the backing of the state’s largest teachers union and other professional educators throughout the state.

Senate Pitch Strikes Nerve
Denver Post, CO, April 8, 2009
State senators united last week under the banner of education reform and in the hope that unprecedented changes in the proposed school finance act would help net Colorado a $500 million federal grant.

Schools Bills Go to House
Sun-Sentinel, FL, April 8, 2009
Three bills that address education issues were advanced by a House appropriations committee on Tuesday.

Unions Object to Charter School Provisions in Budget
Providence Journal, RI, April 8, 2009
As hundreds of parents pinned their hopes on winning a spot in Rhode Island’s charter schools Tuesday, teachers union leaders rushed to the State House to protest a plan that would give the alternative public schools more leeway in how they do business.

SB 834 Bad for Students, Parents and Teachers
Tahlequah Daily Press, OK, April 8, 2009
As written, SB 834 would give every school district in the state the right to deregulate. The bill would allow school districts to fall under the Charter School Act and pick and choose the mandates they want to meet. That’s right – no accountability and no transparency for patrons. Remember how deregulation got us into trouble on Wall Street? Why would we want that in our schools?

Senate OKs Tightening School Choice Law
Arkansas News, AR, April 7, 2009
Legislation to tighten residency requirements for school attendance under Arkansas’ school choice law won final legislative approval in the Senate Tuesday.

Vouching for D.C.
Goldwater Institute, Center for Educational Opportunity, April 6, 2009
Unless the administration lives up to Obama’s ideal, the president will have aided and abetted a decision to rip opportunity away from some of the nation’s most disadvantaged students. Moreover, Obama will have done so in the face of high-quality evidence that the D.C. voucher program is benefitting these students.

State Legislators Consider Bill to Restrict Florida Virtual School Despite Growing Enrollment
Hoover Institution, Education Next, April 7, 2009
Legislation to limit course offerings and funding for the state-run Florida Virtual School (FLVS) is making its way through the state Senate despite the fact that the online education program continues to see dramatic increases in enrollment, especially among minority students, according to a new article published in the summer issue of Education Next and available online.