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.