Daily Clips for July 21, 2009
NATIONAL
Who Will Congress Put First?Dickinson Press, July 21, 2009
If any story this year deserved page 1 coverage - but didn’t get it - it was Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s challenging speech July 2 to the nation’s largest teachers union.
Merit Pay For Public School Teachers Would Lift Student Achievement
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, July 21, 2009
In nearly every sector of the American economy, human nature and financial incentives combine to produce better widgets or improve service. Unfortunately, common-sense performance standards are not fully used in education, where an arcane approach to salary distribution and teachers unions concerned more with status quo than quality education has created a system that is failing both the students in it and the country around it.
TARGET STATES
ILLINOIS
Expand Charter School Efforts in SpringfieldThe State Journal-Register, IL, July 21, 2009
A decade ago, Chicago opened its doors to a new breed of public school, called charter schools, which are open to any student and relatively free to innovate with curriculum, student performance incentives and the length of the school day. The experiment has been a success, by all measures.
MARYLAND
Successful Charter School Cuts Staff, Hours Over Union ContractBaltimore Sun, MD, July 21, 2009
Baltimore’s most successful middle school is laying off staff and shortening its school day to meet demands of a teachers union contract in what is one of the first major disputes over teacher pay between a charter school and a union.
MASSACHUSSETTS
Charter School Framework Is Widely MisunderstoodCape Cod Times, MA, July 21, 2009
The opposition to Gov. Patrick’s proposal to expand enrollment in charter schools reflects people’s misunderstanding of how charter schools operate - particularly the belief that charter schools “take” money from school districts and, more specifically, from teachers’ salaries.
MICHIGAN
A Barrier For Detroit Charter Schools FallsDetroit Free Press, MI, July 21, 2009
State Attorney General Mike Cox released an opinion Monday stating that Detroit Public Schools is no longer a so-called first-class school district, giving the green light for more charter schools in the city.
Detroit Schools on the Brink
Wall Street Journal, July 21, 2009
Detroit’s public-school system, beset by massive deficits and widespread corruption, is on the brink of following local icons GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy court.
OHIO
Charter Schools EndureColumbus Dispatch, OH, July 21, 2009
In a bright spot in the grim and untidy two-year state budget approved last week, legislators fended off Gov. Ted Strickland’s efforts to starve charter schools and wrote some new rules that will make charters stronger and better.
PENNSYLVANIA
Budget Fight Shouldn’t Harm Children’s FuturePhiladelphia Inquirer, PA, July 21, 2009
As a former teacher and current vice chairman of City Council’s education committee, I feel that I have a civic duty to speak out about the state budget battle in Harrisburg. Every rational citizen of our city and state understands that the longer this impasse continues, the more we lose hope for our children’s future, and faith in the democratic process.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Latest Fenty Budget Cuts Funds for Schools EvaluationWashington Post, DC, July 21, 2009
Mayor Adrian M. Fenty has eliminated funding for an independent evaluator assigned to assess the progress of public school reform under Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee, according to the revised 2010 budget he submitted to the D.C. Council late Friday.
WISCONSIN
Just 3 New Voucher Schools ApprovedMilwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI, July 20, 2009
A board authorized by the state Legislature to control the entry of schools into Milwaukee’s controversial private school voucher program is beginning its life with a powerful statement that it will stop any school it doesn’t think is prepared to provide a quality education from getting off the ground.
