NATIONAL

No Dollar Left Behind
Harvard Crimson, MA, February 11, 2010
We also recognize, however, that more must be done should the United States truly aspire to offer all of its citizens a world-class education. Beyond simply throwing funds at a broken system, we urge the president to maintain his commitment to championing real reforms in tandem with the needed surge in spending.

D.C. Vouchers’ Presidential Foe
News Journal, DE, February 11, 2010
The Obama administration said it was going to respect science and respond to evidence - a contrast, many Democrats said, to the previous regime. So why is President Obama killing off the program that offers the best chance to find out whether school vouchers work?

Out of Chalk
American Spectator, February 11, 2010
All of this points to the reality that the NEA and AFT find themselves increasingly on the defensive as taxpayers, actuaries, school reformers and even legislators agree that traditional teachers’ compensation packages are neither fiscally tenable nor effective in improving student learning.

The Milwaukee Story: School Choice Works
Pittsburgh Tribune- Review, PA, February 11, 2010
Here’s a report to make school choice critics reach for the Pepto: More low-income students in Milwaukee’s 20-year-old voucher program — 18 percent more — graduate from high school than their traditional public school peers.

Performance Not Population: Why Charter Schools are an Educational and Civil Rights Solution
Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy, February 10, 2010
Last week researchers at UCLA’s Civil Rights Project released Choice Without Equity: Charter School Segregation and the Need for Civil Rights Standards. The authors contend that charter schools are more racially segregated than traditional public schools and that charter schools therefore represent a civil rights problem and should be shut down if they fail to meet federal diversity targets. This will come as quite a shock to parents and students who are benefitting from charter schools.

FROM THE STATES

Colorado

DPS Caught in Tenure Trap
Denver Post, CO, February 11, 2010
As usual, the root of the problem can be traced to the teachers union and the current tenure policy. The union doesn’t represent students, administrators, parents or taxpayers. It represents the interests of its members.

Florida

Legislature to Consider Dramatic Expansion of Vouchers
St. Petersburg Times, FL, February 11, 2010
About 25 of the 70 students at Gulf Coast Christian School in St. Petersburg have a big chunk of their tuition paid for by taxpayers, courtesy of a private-school voucher that’s worth $3,950.

Georgia

Interest in Charter Schools Grows Nationwide
Augusta Chronicle, GA, February 11, 2010
Murphey Middle Charter School is somewhat different from most other Richmond County public schools. And it mostly has to do with the charter in its name. The school’s charter, started in July 2007 at the urging of Richmond County school officials as part of a reform of Murphey, requires students to perform at least 25 hours of volunteer service each year.

State School Board Supports Approval of Seven New Commission Schools
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, GA, February 10, 2010
The state Board of Education supported the recommendation of its regulatory partner in authorizing charter schools and will allow seven new campuses to open.

Perdue: Governor Defends Teacher Pay Proposal
Athens Banner Herald, GA, February 11, 2010
Last month, I proposed a new plan that will transform the way we compensate K-12 teachers and leaders in Georgia. It will put them on the same playing field as our state’s top coaches, who are rewarded for consistently winning games.

‘Race to the Top’ Must Include Charter School Expansion
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, February 11, 2010
In mid-January, Missouri applied for nearly $750 million of the U.S. Department of Education’s $4.35 billion “Race to the Top” program.

Michigan

Detroit Public Schools Challenged By High-Quality Charter Schools
The Detroit News, MI, February 11, 2010
The evolution of charter schools and education in Detroit is no more sharply illustrated than by these facts: It was Gov. Jennifer Granholm who went to Houston to convince the phenomenally successful YES academies to open a school in Detroit, and it was the Detroit Public Schools that sold YES the school building where it will begin holding classes this fall.

Missouri

Charter Funding Ruling on The Way
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, February 11, 2010
The state is preparing to rule on a feud that could force the cash-strapped St. Louis Public Schools to surrender untold millions of dollars in back pay to schools that have lured away thousands of students from the district.

North Carolina

A Real Education Lottery
WWAY News Channel 3, NC, February 10, 2010
Usually a lottery means big bucks. But for some area families today, it was about getting their child a good education. Today was the annual lottery for Charter Day School in Leland. The lottery system is needed because the state caps the number of charter schools and the students they can teach leaving some families disappointed.

Virginia

Plan Gives State More Say on Charter Schools
The Virginian-Pilot, VA, February 11, 2010
Charter school applicants turned down by their local school boards would have somewhere else to turn under the education proposals announced Wednesday by Gov. Bob McDonnell.

Virginia Governor Wants More Charter Schools in State
Washington Post, DC, February 11, 2010
Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) unveiled an ambitious proposal Wednesday to expand the number of charter schools in Virginia as a way to offer a publicly funded, privately run education alternative.

Washington

Will Washington Miss Out On Federal Education Money?
Seattle Post Intelligencer, WA, February 10, 2010
The federal government will soon dispense billions of dollars to states that undertake serious efforts to reform their flagging school districts, and Gov. Chris Gregoire says Washington ought to be among those who get a cut. There’s just one problem. Hampered by teachers’ unions and Democratic majorities in the Legislature, state education leaders say current reform proposals put forth by Gregoire won’t pass federal muster.