Hard-Hit Schools Try Public-Relations Push
Wall Street Journal, August 17, 2009
Public schools in the U.S. have added professional marketing to their back-to-school shopping lists. Financially struggling urban districts are trying to win back students fleeing to charter schools, private schools and suburban districts that offer open enrollment.

Obama Pushes States to Shift on Education
New York Times, NY, August 16, 2009
Holding out billions of dollars as a potential windfall, the Obama administration is persuading state after state to rewrite education laws to open the door to more charter schools and expand the use of student test scores for judging teachers.

Do Teachers Need Education Degrees?
New York Times, NY, August 15, 2009
Should the public schools reduce the weight they give to education school credentials in pay and promotion decisions? Is this happening already, and, if so, what is replacing the traditional system for compensating teachers?

FROM THE STATES

District of Columbia

D.C. Student Scores Show Fluctuations
Washington Post, DC, August 15, 2009
Forty D.C. elementary schools logged double-digit gains in pass rates on the citywide spring math exams. But 19 had double-digit losses.

Georgia

Money Woes Test Some Start-Up Charter Schools
Augusta Chronicle, GA, August 17, 2009
The red ink on many charter schools’ report cards aren’t from poor academic grades but from money challenges, though recent legislation is easing some of those difficulties just as dozens of groups try to start new ones.

Idaho

Lawmakers Work On Lifting Charter Cap
The Olympian, ID, August 15, 2009
Four months before the 2010 Legislature is slated to begin, Idaho lawmakers are working on a bill that would amend state law to lift the cap limiting the number of new charter schools each year. At stake are federal grants from a nearly $5 billion fund made available by President Barack Obama.

Illinois

At Troubled Schools, More Reform
Chicago Tribune, IL, August 17, 2009
Harper is one of two city high schools that just completed the first year of a controversial, expensive and experimental program called turnaround. It’s what it sounds like: Chicago Public Schools leadership fires the entire staff and injects money, a new curriculum and extra security to try to reform troubled schools.

If Illinois Blows This …
Chicago Tribune, IL, August 17, 2009
Competition for Race to the Top money will be fierce. And Illinois has plenty to do if it wants to qualify. According to The New Teacher Project, a non-profit organization that works nationally to improve teacher quality, Illinois now is only “somewhat competitive” for Race to the Top funding.

Louisiana

States to Vie For Share Of $4.3 Billion Grant
The Times-Picayune, LA, August 17, 2009
A national education group has deemed Louisiana one of the two most competitive states in the hunt for a share of $4.3 billion in discretionary money that the U.S. Department of Education will award over the next year.

Massachusetts

Business Gets Behind Charter School Push
Worcester Business Journal, MA, August 15, 2009
Business groups are gearing to support a proposal by Gov. Deval Patrick to lift the cap on the number of charter schools in the Bay State. On the side of more charter schools are groups like the Massachusetts High Technology Council and the Associated Industries of Massachusetts. Private businesses have also been vocal about supporting the plan, including Hopkinton-based EMC Corp.

Missouri

Subtle School Reforms Add Up
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, August 15, 2009
New principals. New after-school programs. Community services in open classrooms. A marketing campaign. Student recruiting. Staff training. At first, it doesn’t seem like much. Mostly, a return to basics. But this restart is the most significant package of reforms to arrive since a business executive was brought in to slash the district’s budget six years ago.

New York

Gates’ $4 Mil Lesson
New York Post, NY, August 17, 2009
America’s richest man chipped in to help preserve mayoral control of New York City schools.

Ohio

Don’t Limit Opportunity
Columbus Dispatch, OH, August 16, 2009
Ohio has come a long way in the regulation of charter schools, and if a moratorium on new ones ever was justified, it isn’t any longer. What’s more, the cap could hurt Ohio’s chances of sharing in the biggest federal education-grant program ever offered.

Catholic Schools Struggle With Public Cuts
Cincinnati Enquirer, OH, August 15, 2009
Harrmann, like thousands of Ohio parochial and private school principals, in recent weeks learned that he’ll get 17.5 percent less in state money than expected this year and next due to last-minute cuts in the state’s new budget.

Tennessee

Urban Districts Share Reform Successes With Nashville Schools
The Tennessean, TN, August 15, 2009
Leaders of some of the nation’s most challenging urban school districts were in Nashville on Friday to share their ideas and strategies on reforming public schools at an education summit hosted by Mayor Karl Dean.

Wyoming

Charter School Advocates Speak Out
Billings Gazette, WY, August 16, 2009
Charter school advocates claim it is time to rewrite the state laws governing such schools. “We simply need to replace our old statutes with comprehensive, next-generation charter law,” Rep. Sue Wallis, R-Gillette, said in a media release.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Undermining a Success Story
Washington Post, DC, August 15, 2009
APPARENTLY not content with their part in stifling needed change in traditional schools, teachers unions are now setting their sights on undermining public charter schools. A case in point is the high-performing KIPP Ujima Village Academy in Baltimore.

Paying For Grades
Worcester Business Journal, MA, August 15, 2009
In the wake of Gov. Deval Patrick’s filing of legislation to double the number of public charter schools in the state, the American Federation of Teachers has resumed its push to unionize charter schools.