NATIONAL

Duncan Hosts Meeting with Rural School Superintendents As He Continues to Seek Input on Education Reform
US Department of Education, November 17, 2009
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan met today with a group of rural school superintendents from nine states to listen and learn about their needs and to discuss ways the Education Department can be a partner in helping to find solutions to their educational challenges.

FROM THE STATES

Florida

School Board Votes To Take Gates Grant
Tampa Tribune, FL, November 18, 2009
The district, the eighth-largest in the nation, is the biggest of the four being considered by the Gates foundation.

Maryland

Officials Debate Charter School Tax Problem
Frederick News Post, MD, November 18, 2009
The Frederick County Commissioners have granted a one-year tax waiver to the Monocacy Valley Montessori Public Charter School. Commissioners would like to see a permanent solution to the school’s problem, which is that the school is paying property tax despite a state law exempting school buildings.

Massachusetts

Senate Passes Sweeping Changes For Underperforming Schools
Boston Globe, MA, November 18, 2009
The state Senate last night passed a sweeping education bill, the most significant in more than 15 years, giving Massachusetts an edge in a scramble to compete for $250 million in federal education grants.

City Takes Aim At A Dozen Lagging Schools
Boston Globe, MA, November 18, 2009
At least a dozen Boston schools - many in neighborhoods with high rates of crime, poverty, and teenage pregnancy - are being targeted for dramatic overhauls, reinvention, or closing, under a plan that Superintendent Carol R. Johnson is scheduled to present at tonight’s School Committee meeting.

Union Blocks Teacher Bonuses
Boston Herald, MA, November 18, 2009
Grinchlike union bosses are blocking at least 200 of Boston’s best teachers from pocketing bonuses for their classroom heroics in a puzzling move that gets a failing grade from education experts.

Missouri

Teacher Salaries
Columbia Daily Tribune, MO, November 17, 2009
The very mention of merit pay for public school teachers gives most people inside the academy the fantods. Unions and worker groups most likely to organize therein generally oppose the idea of pay increases based on any hint of discrimination among members.

Nevada

Gibbons Wants Law Changed To Enable Nevada To Get Education Stimulus Money
Reno Gazette Journal, NV, November 18, 2009
If the state’s worsening fiscal woes force a special legislative session, Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons said Tuesday he’d likely ask lawmakers to change a law that prevents Nevada from competing for part of $4.3 billion in federal education funding.

New York

Finally Getting Real On Training Teachers
New York Post, NY, November 18, 2009
On Monday, New York state started taking education re form seriously: The state Board of Regents took up the topic of teacher preparation — with new Education Com missioner David Steiner as the star witness.

Pennsylvania

City Council Questions Limits On Charter School Growth
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, November 18, 2009
At a time when the state legislature is mulling placing more restrictions on charter schools, City Council held an unusual hearing last night to question whether the Philadelphia School District has too much oversight over charters.

Gates Foundation Awards $40 Million To City Schools
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, November 18, 2009
In what officials said would be the largest grant ever made directly to the Pittsburgh Public Schools, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has offered the district $40 million for sweeping initiatives to maximize teacher effectiveness.

South Carolina

Shiny Apple
Charleston Post Courier, SC, November 18, 2009
Patricia Williams doesn’t like seeing such a vast number of local students score basic and below on the state’s standardized exams. It’s a problem she’s been talking about for years, and she decided to do something about it. Williams is executive director of The Apple Charter School, a new charter school that will open in Charleston County in the fall of 2010.

Virginia

Education Legacy: Schools Must Improve Under McDonnell . . .
Richmond Times-Dispatch, VA , November 17, 2009
ARLINGTON Bob McDonnell faces a daunting workload as Virginia’s 71st governor. The budget crisis and transportation are headliners, but Virginia faces other serious challenges. A key one is improving our schools.