NATIONAL

Obama Administration Must Embrace Real Education Reform, Not Just Rhetoric
Reuters, November 4, 2009
As admirable as the Obama administration’s policy on charters may appear to be, the President and his Education Secretary are, too often, giving states credit for talking about charter schools rather than actually changing laws to improve the likelihood that children will have real school choice.

Election Offers Varied Impact for Education
Education Week, MD, November 4, 2009
The results from yesterday’s state and local elections around the country offer some potentially significant implications for K-12 education, as voters sent two big-city mayors with authority over their school systems back for another term and replaced Democrats with Republicans in two governors’ mansions.

School Choice in America 2009: What it Means for Children’s Futures
The Heritage Foundation, November 4, 2009
School choice — what does it mean for American’s daily lives? It means that more and more parents are able to send their children to safer, better schools. It means that low-income and special-needs children across the country are attending a public or private school of their parents’ choice.

Obama Sets Markers On School Reform
Washington Times, DC, November 5, 2009
President Obama sent an unmistakable message to the nation’s teachers unions and school administrators Wednesday during a speech at a Wisconsin charter school: Don’t stand in the way of education reform.

FROM THE STATES

California

California Senate OKs School Changes To Seek Federal Funds
Sacramento Bee, CA, November 5, 2009
Senate Bill X5 1, approved by the Senate Tuesday, would make the state more likely to get a piece of the $4.35 billion in Race to the Top federal stimulus funds offered to the nation’s schools.

Colorado

Dougco Elects GOP-backed School Board Slate
Denver Post, CO, November 5, 2009
Voters turned out in record numbers for the school-board election in Douglas County, electing four new members who had been endorsed by the Republican Party.

End of Denver’s School Reforms
Denver Post, CO, November 5, 2009
By adding two new members to the Denver Public Schools board who are backed by the teachers union, voters may have delivered a disheartening blow to the struggling district’s nascent yet promising reform efforts.

District of Columbia

Md., Va. Dip Toes In Charter School Waters
Washington Post, DC, November 5, 2009
The number of charter schools in the District has skyrocketed over the past decade, and charters are on track to claim 38 percent of public school students in the city. The charter scene is a comparative desert in Virginia and Maryland, but that might be changing.

Georgia

More Public Input for School Systems Opting Out of State Mandates
Atlanta Journal Constitution, GA, November 5, 2009
The Georgia Board of Education approved changes Wednesday that give parents more say when local school systems seek to free themselves from state mandates.

Charter Schools Rally at State Capitol to Draw Close to 1,000
Atlanta Journal Constitution Blog, GA, November 4, 2009
A crowd of nearly 1,000 students, parents, educators, politicians and others will show their support for public charter schools in Georgia at the first ever “Rally at the Capitol for Charter Schools,” Friday, Nov. 6, 10 a.m. - noon, on the steps of the Georgia State Capitol building.

Illinois

School Options
Chicago Tribune, IL, November 5, 2009
This is in response to “Charter success story” (Editorial, Oct. 15). I commend the Tribune for so ardently supporting school choice. As one of the founders of the first charter school proposed in Illinois in the mid-1990s, the Tribune’s support of our efforts during the ordeal of continued rejection was very helpful to its ultimate approval by the Illinois State Board of Education.

Chicago May Open Charter School Near Altgeld Gardens
Chicago Tribune, IL, November 5, 2009
Chicago Public Schools is seeking to place a new charter school near the Altgeld Gardens housing complex for sixth- to 12th-grade students, a move that could quell tension in a community that has been vocal about wanting a neighborhood option for its high school students.

Louisiana

Charter Advocates Seek To Persuade School Board
The Daily Advertiser, LA, November 5, 2009
Lafayette Parish School Board members have said they would not be in favor of allowing a charter school to use Moss, nor would they be in favor of a charter school.

New Jersey

NJ Gov.-Elect Renews Pledge To Improve Education
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, November 4, 2009
New Jersey’s next governor, making his first post-Election Day appearance at a thriving charter school in the state’s largest city, renewed a campaign pledge to reform urban education.

West Virginia

Teaching May Evolve to Meet New Needs
Charleston State Journal, WV, November 5, 2009
Roughly 50 to 60 teacher-led schools exist throughout the nation, most of them charter schools. No charter schools currently exist in West Virginia, thanks in large part to opposition from teachers’ unions and because of no clear rules for setting them up in state law.

Wisconsin

CHARTER SCHOOLS: See the Whole Picture
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI, November 5, 2009
Milwaukee has 51 charter schools. The large majority of these schools are highly performing, and in fact many of them are among the best performing schools in the city. This includes schools authorized by the City of Milwaukee.