NATIONAL

On Education, Obama Gets a Rare Response: GOP Praise
AOL News, January 28, 2010
For all of the partisan rancor surrounding President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, there was one domestic area where the president could claim legitimate bipartisan achievement: education.

Experts Say a Rewrite of Nation’s Main Education Law Will Be Hard This Year
New York Times, NY, January 29, 2010
In his State of the Union address, President Obama held out the hope of overhauling the main law outlining the federal role in public schools, a sprawling 45-year-old statute that dates to the Johnson administration.

States’ Policies Protect Ineffective Teachers, Shortchanging Students
Los Angeles Times, CA, January 28, 2010
Most states are holding tight to policies that protect incompetent teachers and poor training programs, shortchanging educators and their students before new teachers even step into the classroom, according to a new national report card.

FROM THE STATES

California

‘We Just Keep Walking Through the Fire’
Voice of San Diego, CA, January 28, 2010
Charter schools have touted their freedoms as an edge over traditional public schools. Independently run and publicly funded, they can set their budgets, choose their curricula and hire their staff. But as the state slashes budgets, charters also have headaches that other schools don’t.

District of Columbia

Attrition & Subtraction
World Magazine, January 28, 2010
In a city where public schools graduate 70 percent of students (a 20 percent increase from 2006), where students have some of the worst scores in the country, and the government spends the third-most per pupil of any state in the country, the federal government is ending one small program that has raised student reading scores and parent satisfaction in its five-year existence.

Charters Reflect Founders’ Ideas
Washington Times, DC, January 29, 2010
Yet one of the most successful modern means for common schooling is charter schools. Interestingly, states around the country are scrambling to either create or expand their charter portfolios - though their motive isn’t altruistic.

Lawmakers Implore Obama to Revive Scholarship Program for Low-Income D.C. Children
CNS News, January 28, 2010
On the same day President Barack Obama addressed the nation about putting Americans back to work, two members of Congress urged him to reverse his administration’s decision to end a small school-choice program that helps largely poor and minority children attend private schools in the District of Columbia.

Indiana

Sellersburg School Gets New Life As A Charter
Louisville Courier-Journal, KY, January 29, 2010
So Rock Creek Christian Academy will not go on. But Rock Creek Community Academy will. Come this fall, the 32-year-old religious school on U.S. 31 in Sellersburg becomes a taxpayer-funded charter school, one free to attend.

Maryland

Conditions are Right for School Reform
Baltimore Sun, MD, January 28, 2010
In plain English, should our legislative leaders tend to the political interests of an important constituency, the teachers’ union, or should they make a serious play for the hundreds of millions of education dollars on offer through the federal Race to the Top program?

New Hampshire

The Surry Village Charter School is a Contemporary Illustration Of The Proverb ‘Where There’s A Will, There’s A Way’
The Keene Sentinel, NH, January 28, 2010
The current school - now kindergarten through 6th-grade - is an unusual beast in New Hampshire: a charter school that is holding its own.

New York

Catholic School Parents Want Equal Treatment From The State
The Journal News, NY, January 29, 2010
Two issues dominated the hearing at Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains: $243 million that the educators and others say Albany owes religious and independent schools across the state for mandated costs, and a payroll tax imposed to bail out the MTA that will cost them $6 million. Public schools are being reimbursed for the tax; the religious schools are not.

Oklahoma

Charter School Foe Faces Challenger In School Board Race
Tulsa Beacon, OK, January 28, 2010
Attorney Matthew Livingood wanted to get rid of Tulsa’s charter schools and thereby limit educational choices for Tulsa families.

Pennsylvania

Yes, There’s Hope For Schools
Philadelphia Daily News, PA, January 29, 2010
Moreover, when local control repeatedly fails our children, it is time for another level of government to step in. When we are helping young children in their most formative years, we do not have the luxury of time. Nor should millions of tax dollars be squandered on mediocrity, or worse, failure.

Good Deal For Students
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, January 29, 2010
Now that the Philadelphia School District has finally reached a new contract with its teachers, it has better tools to fix the failing schools. Both the administration and teachers union described the pact as “groundbreaking.” How groundbreaking will depend on whether the new tools are used effectively.

South Carolina

Equity for Charter Schools
Charleston Post Courier, SC, January 29, 2010
Everyone seems to agree that students benefit when they can choose schools that fit their interests, abilities and learning styles. And educators for years have pleaded for parents to be involved. Charter schools provide choice and encourage parental involvement. This week’s Circuit Court ruling appears to remove some unwarranted financial obstacles to their creation and operation.

South Dakota

Charter School Plan Amended
Sioux Falls Argus Leader, SD, January 29, 2010
The state’s top education official made drastic changes to a charter schools bill on Thursday, saying the idea needs another year of study.

Wisconsin

Doyle Disputes Claim That Mayoral Control of MPS is Dead
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI, January 28, 2010
Gov. Jim Doyle vowed Thursday to keep pushing for legislation to give the mayor control over Milwaukee Public Schools - the same day opponents said the fight was over.

Obama to Promote More Education Spending in State of the Union Speech
Washington Post, DC, January 27, 2010
President Obama will propose a major increase in funding for elementary and secondary education for the coming year in Wednesday’s State of the Union address, one of the few areas that would grow in an otherwise austere federal budget, officials said.

FROM THE STATES

Alabama

3 Local Boards Will Get Charter Schools Primer
Huntsville Times, AL, January 27, 2010
Info session comes as legislators mull bill backed by Riley
For Madison County’s three school systems, tonight is going to be Charter Schools 101.

California

L.A. Groups Bid to Run 30 Schools
Los Angeles Times, CA, January 27, 2010
Groups from inside and outside L.A. Unified have been making presentations on how they would operate 12 low-performing and 18 new campuses. The school board will decide before March.

Connecticut

School Reform Still Evolving in New Haven
Yale Daily News, CT, January 27, 2010
The phrase “It takes a city” is all over New Haven - on buttons with red-and-white lettering handed out at press events, on bumper stickers displayed in the offices of New Haven Public Schools employees, even hanging above the Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School on College Street.

Florida

Liberate Education From One-Size-Fits-All Model
Tallahassee Democrat, FL, January 27, 2010
Whether Florida should pursue a constitutional amendment authorizing school vouchers is a reasonable question, but to suggest that virtually all forms of educational choice are a menace to public education, as the Democrat did in its Jan. 17 editorial (”Education ideals: If only wishing could pay the bills”) is a simple distortion.

Illinois

Why Parents Fight to Keep “Failing” Schools Open
Chicago Public Radio, IL, January 26, 2010
Chicago Public Schools begins a series of public hearings tomorrow on plans to revamp or close 14 schools. Some of them are under-enrolled. Others are being targeted for chronic low performance. Despite that stigma, many parents are fighting fiercely to keep open their children’s failing schools. WBEZ looks at why.

Indiana

Let the Best Schools Win
Indianapolis Star, IN, January 26, 2010
A recent report by the Center for Education Reform reveals that waiting lists for charter schools have grown significantly over the past several years. Data indicate that low-income and minority families make up the majority of parents seeking entrance into charters as they seek to remove their children from under-performing traditional public schools.

Louisiana

BESE Could Rethink Charters
Opelousas Daily World, LA, January 27, 2010
The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education could return Thursday to reconsider a vote last week that killed three charter schools - two proposed for New Orleans and one for Opelousas.

School Choice Must Grow in Louisiana
Greater Baton Rouge Business Report, LA, January 26, 2010
There is at least one thing President Barack Obama and I can agree on. Last week, The Times-Picayune reported that Obama again “cited Louisiana as one of the states adopting effective school reform policies.”

Maryland

Funding Reform
Baltimore Sun, MD, January 27, 2010
Our view: Regardless of whether the state applies for federal education funds, Baltimore schools are already embarked on the city’s own race to the top

Massachusetts

Bitter Debate Over Charters Resumes at BESE Meeting
Cape Ann Beacon, MA, January 27, 2010
Education Secretary Paul Reville urged stakeholders Tuesday morning to resist the “well-worn tools of political assassination” as a bitter debate over the charter school approval process resumed before the state Board of Education.

Missouri

Legislative Education Panel Briefed on Study of Charter Schools
Missourinet, MO, January 26, 2010
The Legislature’s Joint House-Senate Committee on Education has been presented with the findings of research on the performance of charter schools in Kansas City and St. Louis. Test Scores from students attending 19 schools in Kansas City and 13 in St. Louis were compared to scores from students in regular schools in those cities and with scores from across the state.

New York

Race to the Bottom
New York Observer, NY, January 26, 2010
It’s hardly a secret that the United Federation of Teachers is the most powerful force for the status quo in public education today. From charter schools to teacher accountability, the UFT stands in the way of some of the most creative reforms in public education today.

North Carolina

Parents Vie for State’s Final Charter School Spot
Sanford Herald, NC, January 26, 2010
A group of local parents and children’s advocates are pushing for a Montessori charter school in Sanford. April Montgomery, who is part of the group, said they will submit an application to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction to start a charter school, meaning it would be a public institution and would receive money from the state and county, but would be a separate.

South Carolina

Bill Would Allow Charter Students to Participate in District Extracurricular Activities
News Channel 7, SC, January 26, 2010
Should charter school and home school students be allowed to participate in their home district’s extracurricular activities? That’s an issue legislators are taking on this session. On Tuesday, the House Education Subcommittee met to discuss a new charter school bill.

Washington

Showdown at the Education-Reform Corral
Seattle Times, WA, January 26, 2010
Monday was no ordinary day of hearings in the state Senate Education Committee. The chair, Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell, presided over testimony on Senate Bill 6696, a bill on school accountability needed to make Washington competitive for a $4 billion pot of funding from Uncle Sam.

Don’t Sweep Education Reform Under The Rug This Session
Longview Daily News, WA, January 27, 2010
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire wants the Legislature to lay the groundwork for a serious attempt to snare some of the $4.3 billion the Obama administration has made available to spur school improvements. She’s proposing a number of education reforms aimed at making the state more competitive in the application process for these so-called “Race to the Top” stimulus dollars.

NATIONAL

A Quiet Revolution
Newsweek, January 25, 2010
But unfortunately, society does not generally invest enough in innovation-especially in areas where it would help the poor (who aren’t an attractive market) and where there isn’t an agreed-upon measure of excellence. In the U.S., that means we have not invested nearly what we should in innovation for education. Our education system has been fundamental to our success as a nation, but the way we prepare students has barely changed in 100 years.

Charter School Demand Continues To Rise
National Center for Policy Analysis, January 25, 2010
Parents are demanding more public charter schools according an annual survey conducted by the Center for Education Reform.

FROM THE STATES

Alabama

Local Legislators Work On Charter School Bills
Shelby County Reporter, AL, January 25, 2010
Two Shelby County legislators are at the forefront of the movement to bring charter schools to the state. State Rep. Mary Sue McClurkin, R-Jefferson and Shelby, and State Sen. Steve French, R-Jefferson and Shelby, are working on legislation to make Alabama the 41st state to allow charter schools.

Florida

Crist’s Ambitious Education Budget Draws Instant Criticism
Florida Times-Union, FL, January 25, 2010
Despite an overall budget gap that could reach $3 billion, Gov. Charlie Crist unveiled a record $22.7 billion education budget Monday that would increase per-student state spending. But the plan was swiftly criticized as a mirage even by members of Crist’s own party.

Idaho

Charter School Debate
KMVT, ID, January 26, 2010
A group of more than 500 people is urging the Idaho legislature, to lift its cap allowing only six new charter schools a year. Right now there are three dozen charter schools in the Gem State; serving more than twelve thousand students and the waiting lists are long.

Kentucky

A Choice In Public Schools
Times Tribune of Corbin, KY, January 25, 2010
Well, turning Corbin into a charter school might not be the best solution here - but bringing a new charter school to Knox County would be a great step forward for local education.

Louisiana

New Rule Links Teacher Pay, Student Work
The Advocate, LA, January 26, 2010
Major changes for some public schoolteachers could begin later this year and be operating in East Baton Rouge Parish and 27 other districts by 2012, state officials said Monday.

Massachusetts

Good News for Schools
Fall River Herald News, MA, January 26, 2010
The new law gives the state broader powers to intervene in underperforming schools and replace staff as needed to turn them around. The law also lifts the cap on new and expanded charter schools in the lowest-performing school districts. In places like Fall River and other cities with some underperforming schools, thousands of students have been stranded on waiting lists for charter schools because of the cap.

Maryland

Alonso Plan Would Give Baltimore Middle-School Students School Choice
Baltimore Sun, MD, January 26, 2010
Baltimore would begin giving students a choice of where they attend middle school next fall under a plan expected to be presented to the city school board tonight.

Minnesota

A Key First Step in Race to the Top
Minneapolis Star Tribune, MN, January 25, 2010
State education officials recently submitted a 1,000-page application for a Race to the Top federal grant — with significant help and input from Minnesota educators. The quickly-pulled-together collaborative effort paid off in a strong application.

Missouri

State Lawmakers Asked To Improve Schools
Jefferson City News Tribune, MO, January 25, 2010
Public school teachers could get extra pay, based on merit, under a bill introduced in the Missouri Senate.

New Jersey

Gov. Christie Transition Report Recommends Tougher N.J. Rules for Teacher Tenure
The Star-Ledger, NJ, January 25, 2010
New Jersey should make it more difficult for public school teachers to earn tenure, eliminate some school budget votes and provide a “robust” slate of school choice options for parents, according to the education transition committee report advising new Gov. Chris Christie.

New York

Large High Schools in the City Are Taking Hard Falls
New York Times, NY, January 26, 2010
Closing schools for poor performance, especially large high schools, has been one of the most controversial hallmarks of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s control of the school system.

New York Could Use the $700 Million
New York Times, NY, January 26, 2010
Because of a disagreement over charter schools, legislative leaders in Albany are in danger - once again - of letting hundreds of millions of federal dollars slip through their fingers.

North Carolina

Some Choice Stats, Again
Carolina Journal, NC, January 26, 2010
In my continuing mission to impress upon North Carolina readers that parental choice in education is both desirable and practical, here are some numbers to keep in mind:

Ohio

Education Reform: Reward Our Best Teachers, Let Families Choose Schools
Call & Post, OH, January 26, 2010
The strategic plan unveiled recently by Cleveland schools CEO Eugene Sanders for transforming the Cleveland Metropolitan School District has the potential to be the dynamic, visionary change we so badly need.

Pennsylvania

Reason to Hope for Real School Reform
Philadelphia Daily News, PA, January 26, 2010
But the accord reached last week by the district and the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers could go a long way toward making reform real, even in the schools most resistant to reform.

Four things you are guaranteed not to hear in Wednesday night’s SOTU:

• “While a little nerve-wracking for us around the White House, November elections by the people of New Jersey and Virginia solidified what will be an exciting opportunity for those states to break from the status quo and embrace the education reforms of their new governors and the incredibly bold leaders they have chosen to steer schools in their states. At the very least, McDonnell has kept Gerard so busy he hasn’t been able to bother me about DC scholarships.”

• “Frankly, my Education Secretary and I were disappointed with the results of special legislative sessions and bill proposals regarding charter schools. Our crack public affairs team spun things so R2TT would come out smelling like a rose, but, come on. Caps lifted when states weren’t even near them, Louisiana? Strengthening collective bargaining, Illinois? And two little guys out of New England - I’m talking to you Rhode Island and Connecticut - giving charter schools money you had already promised then taken away? Really? I hope that wasn’t used to support your applications. We went to Harvard, you know.”

• “The one real win in R2TT goes on the scoreboard for teachers. Check this out. In addition to $100 billion dollars to keep them employed through the stimulus, we figured out a way to take it a step further with R2TT and teacher evaluation methodology. You could drive a truck through the holes in state proposals regarding teachers. You should see some of the emails Arne sends me late at night with examples cut straight from the applications. It’s all I can do to keep from falling out of bed. I can’t wait for round two.”

• “I won’t be using a teleprompter this evening.”

NATIONAL

Evaluating Teachers
New York Times, NY, January 23, 2010
Re “Walking the Walk on School Reform” (editorial, Jan. 17): Children first and foremost. I wholeheartedly agree with your editorial and with the position taken by Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers. It is the responsibility of the principal/supervisor to create and foster an environment where excellent teaching is prevalent.

Do Teacher Merit Pay Programs Work?
CBS News, NY, January 22, 2010
CBS News correspondent Kelly Wallace reports that, in CBS News poll two-thirds of people polled said teachers are paid too little. Now, there are programs across the country that link teachers’ pay with their students’ performance.

Unions Within Sweep of Campaign Finance Ruling
Education Week, MD, January 22, 2010
One often-overlooked facet of the major campaign-finance case decided by a sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court last week is that the restrictions on political communications at issue applied not just to corporations, but to labor unions as well.

FROM THE STATES

Alabama

Charter-ing a New Course?
The Cullman Times, AL, January 24, 2010
Alabama is one of 11 states that has never passed charter school legislation, though Gov. Bob Riley and the state school board would like to see that changed. But, many local education officials - as well as the politically influential Alabama Education Association - have opposed charters.

No Action Yet On Bill To Enable Charter Schools
Montgomery Advertiser, AL, January 24, 2010
Gov. Bob Riley has made passing legislation enabling charter schools one of his top priorities during his final year in office.

Arizona

Sunnyside, TUSD Work To Counter Charters’ Lure
Arizona Daily Star, AZ, January 24, 2010
Nearly 900 eighth-graders have left the Sunnyside Unified School District since 2006 to attend private or charter schools - costing the district about $3 million in state funding.

Colorado

A Better Way To Grade Teachers
Denver Post, CO, January 25, 2010
Legislators must overhaul tenure laws to give districts a more advanced system to evaluate teachers and weed out bad ones.

Working Together On Colorado Education Reform
Denver Post, CO, January 24, 2010
Colorado has officially joined 40 other states in the federal Race to the Top competition with a bold education-reform proposal that will serve as a blueprint for years to come.

Florida

Local Private Schools Holding Their Own
St. Joseph News-Press, FL, January 24, 2010
The Spencers might be exceptions to the rule, according to a nationwide trend that shows many families shifting from private to public schools because of the economy. According to a U.S. Department of Education estimate, as reported in a recent USA Today article, public school enrollment grew by 1 percent from 2006 to 2009.

Why Teachers, Districts Clash Over Merit Pay
Orlando Sentinel, FL, January 23, 2010
Rift widens over idea to pay teachers in large part on student test scores. At stake: Hundreds of millions in federal aid

Indiana

Chavous Keynotes Economic Club Lunch
Wabash College, IN, January 22, 2010
During his time as a Washington, D.C. councilman, Wabash alumnus Kevin Chavous ‘78 rolled up his sleeves to work on the District’s daunting public schools problem.

Louisiana

Charter Schools Should Get A Chance
Opelousas Daily World, LA, January 24, 2010
Action by the state’s school board last week in Baton Rouge may have made the biggest news in Opelousas, but it sent a startling message to the entire state.

Maryland

Race for Education Dollars
Washington Post, DC, January 25, 2010
MARYLAND SAT OUT the first round of competition for millions in federal dollars because it has some policies that jeopardize its chances.

Charter School Gets Expansion OK
Baltimore Sun, MD, January 24, 2010
The Anne Arundel County Board of Education has approved the expansion of a charter middle school through ninth grade, despite strong reservations from Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell and his senior staff.

Michigan

Charter School Demand Continues to Rise
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, MI, January 22, 2010
Parents are demanding more public charter schools according an annual survey conducted by the Center for Education Reform

New Jersey

Education Pick Signals Reform
Cherry Hill Courier Post, NJ, January 24, 2010
Schundler the right person to push for vouchers and more charter schools. A very smart New Jerseyan, Albert Einstein, once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Support Parental Choice In Education Is Our Civil Right
The Times of Trenton, NJ, January 24, 2010
Needless to say, there is no greater government-sanctioned civil rights violation than denial of parental choice in education. Furthermore, this top-down, politburo-type system is the fundamental cause for the decline of education, especially in our urban centers, where many schools are disaster areas, producing more criminals than excellent students — at a cost to taxpayers of as much as $26,000 per year, per child!

New York

Urbanski May Stop Mayor’s Plan For Rochester Schools
Democrat and Chronicle, NY, January 25, 2010
While Mayor Robert Duffy seeks to assume control of the Rochester School District, Urbanski’s voice - and the influence he wields as one of the nation’s most powerful teachers union leaders - might represent the best chance opponents have of thwarting the plan.

H is for: Hypocrisy, One Thing At Which Anti-Charter School Legislators Excel
New York Daily News, NY, January 24th 2010
By killing a charter school expansion last week, the state Legislature blew New York’s shot at $700 million in federal aid and denied thousands of parents the ability to choose better schools for their kids.

North Carolina

Perdue Doesn’t Agree With Critics
Winston-Salem Journal, NC, January 23, 2010
Charter-school boosters said this week that North Carolina may fall short in reaching for $4 billion in federal “Race to the Top” education grants because the state hasn’t shown enough of a commitment to help the alternative schools succeed.

Ohio

Impact of Teacher Merit Pay Unclear
Columbus Dispatch, OH, January 25, 2010
The Columbus school system has spent millions to reward successful teachers, a progressive practice that could improve Ohio’s chances of receiving up to $400 million in federal education-reform money.

Pennsylvania

Plaudits for Phila. Teachers Contract
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, January 25, 2010
The Philadelphia School District’s new contract for teachers has won high marks from state and national leaders as a bold plan that could help failing schools.

Tennessee

Saving Failing High Schools
Commercial Appeal, TN, January 24, 2010
The state’s proposal to let charter school companies or other nonprofits run eight failing city high schools is a solid idea.

Vermont

Vermont Passes Up Ed Stimulus Opportunity
Brattleboro Reformer, VT, January 23, 2010
Rae Ann Knopf, Vermont Deputy Commissioner of Education, said the state realized it would have had too many strikes against it in the first round, but she said Vermont would be applying for the funding in the second round.

Washington

Kastama Proposes to Create ‘Innovation’ Public Schools
The News Tribune, WA, January 24, 2019
Puyallup Democratic Sen. Jim Kastama has introduced a bill he thinks would improve Washington ’s chance of winning both federal Race To The Top money and grants for innovation in education.

Wisconsin

Expert: Milwaukee Needs Mayoral School Control
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI, January 23, 2010
Recently, I was in Wisconsin to meet with Gov. Jim Doyle, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers to talk about improving the outcomes for students in the state’s largest school district.

Wyoming

Are Barriers to Merit Pay Finally Breaking Down?
Casper Star-Tribune, WY, January 24, 2010
The reluctance of teachers’ unions to accept a merit pay system in Wyoming may finally be dissipating. As evidence, we point to the Wyoming Department of Education’s application for $160 million from the federal Race to the Top grant program. All 48 school districts in the state backed the department’s plan.