NATIONAL

Obama Coaxes States to Change With School Dollars
Associated Press, November 4, 20009
One year after his election, President Barack Obama is coaxing states across the country to rewrite education laws and cut deals with unions as they pursue his vision for school reform. Obama is visiting Wisconsin, where lawmakers are poised to change a law to boost their state’s chances at $5 billion in education grants, the most money a president has ever had for overhauling schools.

No Child Left Behind
Wall Street Journal, November 4, 2009
Opponents of school choice are running out of excuses as evidence continues to roll in about the positive impact of charter schools.

FROM THE STATES

Colorado

Denver School-Board Election Seen As Neighborhood Schools Vs. Charters
Denver Post, CO, November 4, 2009
In a school-board election framed around the debate over charter schools, Denver voters were giving a mixed answer Tuesday.

Florida

More Private Firms Want To Run Charter Schools
Florida Times-Union, FL, November 4, 2009
The number of private companies running public schools in Georgia could jump next month if a state panel approves.

Illinois

Program Based On Harlem Initiative Shows Promise
Chicago Tribune, IL, November 4, 2009
3 city areas looking at zone-based plan similar to New York City’s, which focuses on increasing access to various social services and has reported success among children

Kentucky

Recharging State’s Education Reform
Lexington Herald-Leader, KY, November 4, 2009
The intense competition among states for $4 billion in federal education grants is forcing Kentucky to think seriously about a couple of missing links in education reform: how to improve teaching and how to turn around chronically failing schools.

Louisiana

Louisiana has a Fighting Chance For School Grants
The Daily Advisor, LA, November 4, 2009
Over the last decade, Louisiana has made considerable progress in K-12 public education, particularly in our efforts to narrow the achievement gap between races and classes. Undoubtedly, our gains are due to the commitment of students, educators and policy makers across the state.

Massachusetts

Charter Schools: Doing Right by Our Kids
Cape Cod Times, MA, November 4, 2009
Massachusetts can boast a long tradition of leadership in education - after all, the very idea of public education was invented here. Today, the commonwealth stands poised to build on that heritage, reasserting its role as a national leader of school-based innovation.

Menino Needs To Make the ‘Future’ Now
Boston Globe, MA, November 4, 2009
One of those problems is an area where Flaherty showed more urgency in this campaign: the public schools. Menino needs to stick forcefully by his newly minted pro-charter-school stand, even if he doesn’t get his preferred version, in-district charters.

Michigan

State Ignores $600M for Schools
Detroit News, MI, November 4, 2009
Michigan’s school funding debate has been cast as a choice between two ideas: Budget cuts or tax hikes. Yet there is a $600 million alternative that has been ignored by key players in the debate.

New Jersey

Private Schools Entitled To Government Funds
Asbury Park Press, NJ, November 4, 2009
Private education in New Jersey is a more complex issue than simply favoring or opposing school vouchers. It is about the right of parents to choose where they send their children to school, and the state’s responsibility to ensure that they have equal access to education funding. Apart from school voucher programs, there are a variety of simple ways New Jersey could improve private education for more of our children.

Texas

Charter Schools Could Expand Under Rule Change
Austin American-Statesman, TX, November 4, 2009
State Education Commissioner Robert Scott announced Tuesday that he intends to make it easier for high-performing charter schools to expand in Texas.

Island a Charter School Laboratory
Galveston Co. Daily News, TX, November 4, 2009
After Hurricane Ike, Galveston became a laboratory for those who are interested in charter schools. Across the state, 3 percent of the students in public schools are in charter schools. In Galveston, that number exceeds 10 percent.

Wisconsin

State Deserves National Attention
Green Bay Press Gazette, WI, November 4, 2009
While it’s great the president has chosen Wisconsin to test the waters on important issues of our time - health care in Green Bay and now education in Madison - we hope his visits are a way to include us in the national dialogue and not simply be a backdrop for it.

Wisconsin School Boards Oppose Teacher Evaluation Bill
FOX 21, WI, November 3, 2009
A bill that would lift Wisconsin’s ban on using test scores to evaluate teachers is racing through the state legislature. And while it has the backing of the state’s teacher’s union, school boards say it’s too weak.