States Renew Efforts As Second Round of “Race To The Top” Begins
All News Headlines, March 30, 2010
The second round of the administration’s $4.3 billion “Race to the Top” program has begun. Delaware and Tennessee won the first phase, beating states that otherwise would have fared better, according to pundits, if they had stronger support from teachers unions.

Race to the Top: Do California, Florida Have a Chance?
Christian Science Monitor, MA, March 30, 2010
The Education Department has released the scores and reviewer comments from Round 1 of the Race to the Top competition. One aim is to help states improve their applications in the next round.

FROM THE STATES

Florida

Blame Game Begins After Florida Loses Out in Race to the Top
Orlando Sentinel, FL, March 30, 2010
Unions blame the state, lawmakers blame the unions, after Florida is passed over for federal grant. Florida education leaders, stung in their attempt to win $1 billion in education-reform money, will try again even as lawmakers, business leaders and union officials blame each other for being passed over Monday for the historic federal grant.

Georgia

‘Race to the Top’ Stalls In Its Own Verbosity
Athens Banner-Herald, GA, March 31, 2010
Georgia’s third-place finish is fueling some optimism that the state might claim a share of the grant dollars later this year - a few months into a new fiscal year that, in the ongoing economic downturn, promises to be a challenge for the state’s public schools.

Indiana

Charter School Misunderstanding
Indianapolis Star, IN, March 30, 2010
I am a strong proponent of parental choice in education. We in Indiana, in my opinion, are blessed to have authority within the office of the mayor of Indianapolis and Ball State University to grant educational charters. Other states should be so lucky.

Louisiana

Jefferson Preparing To Open Charter High School For At-Risk Teens
The Times-Picayune, LA, March 30, 2010
With a principal chosen and a location found, the Jefferson Chamber Foundation Academy, the second charter school in Jefferson Parish, is preparing to welcome its first class of students on Aug. 9.

Maryland

Reforming Too Slowly
Baltimore Sun. MD, March 31, 2010
By contrast, Maryland’s efforts have been tepid. The General Assembly is considering Gov. Martin O’Malley’s legislation to make it somewhat harder for teachers to achieve tenure, better connect teacher evaluations with student performance and provide incentives for teachers to work in low-performing schools.

Michigan

Parents Pin Hopes On Charter School Lottery
Michigan Education Report, MI, March 30, 2010
All of the adults are here on this warm spring afternoon for the same reason: to find out if their children will gain admission to South Arbor Academy, a Washtenaw County public charter school that has become so popular that it conducts a public lottery each spring to divvy up any openings in its K-8 program.

Mississippi

Charter Schools Are Worth A Shot
Greenwood Commonwealth, MS, March 30, 2010
Charter schools are not going to miraculously turn around every failing school in Mississippi. Certainly, though, they are an innovation worth trying, since very little else has seemed to work in those schools which have proven themselves chronically unable to deliver a basic education to their students.

New Jersey

A Crossroads For New Jersey Charters
The Record, NJ, March 30, 2010
IN 1995, New Jersey became one of the first states in the union to pass legislation for public charter schools. As public schools, all 68 of New Jersey’s charters are completely tuition-free and publicly funded. And, like all public schools - except for application-based magnet public schools - all charters must select their students via random lottery regardless of student performance.

New York

State’s Race to Top Application Rejected
Finger Lakes Times, NY, March 31, 2010
The U.S. Department of Education rejected New York state’s Race to the Top application for $830.7 million in school funding Monday. Delaware was awarded $100 million and Tennessee $500 million.

Dysfunctional State Government Dooms Chances for Race to the Top Education Dollars In Near Future
New York Daily News, NY, March 31, 2010
New York is unlikely to improve its bid for Race to the Top dollars anytime soon - because state lawmakers have already won their own race to the bottom.

Oklahoma

Lost Race
Tulsa World, OK, March 31, 2010
The first round of the Race to the Top competition for a federal education jackpot has ended, and Oklahoma wasn’t much of a factor. Forty-one states competed and Oklahoma placed 34th, well out of the money.

Pennsylvania

City Controller Questions Payments To Charter-School Accountant
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, March 31, 2010
An accountant was paid $700,561 over four years by three city charter schools and claimed to have worked more than 365 days in each year, City Controller Alan Butkovitz disclosed yesterday.

14 Phila. Schools To Get Radical Makeovers
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, March 31, 2010
Fourteen low-performing Philadelphia public schools will undergo radical transformation in the fall, opening as charters or schools run directly by Superintendent Arlene Ackerman or outside managers.

Rhode Island

Providence Plan Replicates Sections of N.Y. Program
Providence Journal, RI, March 31, 2010
The local effort, the Providence Children’s Initiative, is modeled in part on the Harlem Children’s Zone, a program that combines charter schools with community services to help minority students and their low-income families.

Virginia

McDonnell Presents $25,000 Check to Richmond Charter School
Richmond Times Dispatch, VA, March 31, 2010
Richmond politicians rallied last night around the Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts, a South Richmond project struggling to attain its goal of becoming the state’s only charter elementary school.

(Originally posted to the National Journal’s Education Experts blog)

‘Race to the Top’ meaningful? Serious education reform? To the contrary, the choice of Delaware and Tennessee to be the first demonstration of the Obama Administration’s commitment to breaking the status quo is not a choice at all, but an echo of the establishment’s stranglehold on our leadership in Washington today. That establishment goes far beyond the unions. It includes the chiefs, the principals groups, the administrators associations, school boards, the before school groups, the after schools, the publishers, et al — all groups who have praised the recent policy prescriptions led by Arne Duncan. Why? Why would the Blob back real reform? Maybe because it’s not real reform…

Read the entire post HERE.

A Disappointing Race to the Top
Wall Street Journal, March 30, 2010
The Obama Administration yesterday awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in education grants to only two states, which we’re glad to say made good on its promise to set a high bar for its $4.35 billion Race to the Top competition. Less reassuring are the reasons the Administration chose Delaware and Tennessee, as opposed to other worthy states.

Delaware, Tennessee Win Education Awards in First Race to the Top Competition
Washington Post, DC, March 30, 2010
But on the 500-point scale used to assess applications, the District lost support because of lack of union support, poor data collection and questions about the sustainability of its test-score gains.

Our View On Education Standards: Changes To ‘No Child’ Ease Up On Middle-Class Schools
USA Today, March 30, 2010
But while Duncan proposed an impressive toughening of consequences for failing schools (often the poorest) and their teachers, he left significant room for merely ailing schools (often in middle-class areas) to get off the hook.

FROM THE STATES

California

L.A. Charter School Supporters Austin and Arkatov Nominated To State School Board
Los Angeles Times, CA, March 29, 2010
Two Los Angeles residents with deep roots in local battles over education reform are among four nominees to the state Board of Education, it was announced Monday

Charters are Feeling Spaced Out
Los Angeles Daily News, CA, March 29, 2010
Two years after settling a lawsuit was supposed to give them access to Los Angeles Unified campuses, local charter schools are bracing for another legal battle that would force the district to turn over the facilities.

Florida

Opportunity Knocks
Florida Times-Union, FL, March 29, 2010
Florida’s first KIPP charter school debuts this fall in Jacksonville, but its doors of opportunity are opening for potential students now.

Iowa

Controversial Race to Top Rule Remains in Legislation
Des Moines Register, IA, March 30, 2010
Leaders of Iowa’s lowest-rated public schools will be forced to negotiate reforms with teacher unions, despite a last-ditch attempt by some lawmakers to scrap the requirement.

Illinois

Illinois Loses Race For Federal Education Money
Chicago Tribune, IL, March 30, 2010
Illinois ranked fifth among the 16 finalists, earning 423.8 on the 500-point scale. Forty states applied for the grant.

Louisiana

Louisiana Loses Out In First Round of Race to the Top
The Times-Picayune, LA, March 29, 2010
In Louisiana, one of the two statewide teachers unions supported the state’s application for $315 million. More than half of the state’s traditional school districts did not sign up, although nearly all of the state’s independently operated charter schools agreed to the plan.

Maryland

Md. Lawmakers Consider Tax Credit To Aid Private Schools
Washington Post, DC, March 30, 2010
A long-sought measure that could channel millions of dollars in tax credits to struggling Catholic, Jewish and other private schools is making inroads in the Maryland House of Delegates for the first time. It would be a major shift of public money toward private education.

Mississippi

Education Grant Must Bring Results
Jackson Sun, MS, March 30, 2010
Gov. Phil Bredesen and state lawmakers are excited and proud that Tennessee was chosen to receive a $500 million federal grant to improve public education.

Nebraska

Bill Promotes Performance-Based Pay Plans for Teachers
Lincoln Journal Star, NE, March 29, 2010
A financial carrot — perhaps as much as $10 million — will be dangling in front of teachers and school boards as an enticement to work out performance-based pay plans, under a bill that received first-round approval Monday.

New Jersey

School Choice Is A Civil Rights Issue
The Trentonian, NJ, March 30, 2010
It’s not hard to understand why. School choice is largely a civil rights issue. Many children from low-income families are stuck in dysfunctional public schools. Inferior, segregated, separate-but-supposedly-equal education was a key battleground of the Civil Rights Movement.

New York

Officials Bicker as New York State Nearly Finishes Last In Federal Race for Top Education Money
New York Daily News, NY, March 30, 2010
Education officials and charter school backers on Monday lashed out at teachers unions and the Legislature after New York failed to get $700 million in federal Race to the Top money.

Charters, Caps and Federal Money
Gotham Gazette Blog, NY, March 29, 2010
Prepare for another round in the battle to raise the state charter school cap. New York State - along with 14 other finalists - found out today it would not receive grants in the first round for of Race to the Top school funding. The state will almost certainly try again, with applications for the second round of funding due in June.

A Great Day in Harlem
The Economist, March 30, 2010
Most of the children arrive at Harlem Village well behind their grade levels; some can barely read. But thanks to high-level learning, tutoring (if needed), an emphasis on accountability and good behavior, and a ten-hour school day, its students look not only toward graduation, but toward college.

Oklahoma

Expanding Charter Schools to Logan County
The Edmond Sun, OK, March 29, 2010
The House of Representatives recently approved an important education reform measure that I believe could have a significant impact on education in Logan County. House Bill 2753 is sponsored by Rep. Lee Denney, who represents part of eastern Logan County, including the town of Langston. Her legislation would enable Langston to play host to a charter school.

Pennsylvania

Pa. a Long Shot to Secure Race to the Top Money Today
York Dispatch, PA, March 29, 2010
Pennsylvania is considered one of the long shots to nab federal Race to the Top funding by a nonprofit education advocacy group who analyzed the strengths and weakness of each of the 15 state and Washington D.C.’s finalist applications.

Virginia

McDonnell Inaugural Fund Gives $25,000 to Charter School
Richmond Times Dispatch, VA, March 29, 2010
In addition to lending his political weight to Richmond’s Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts, Gov. Bob McDonnell plans to give the fledgling charter school $25,000 from his surplus inaugural funds.

Why Freer Schools Are Better Schools
Wall Street Journal, March 25, 2010
The charter school movement is succeeding because it liberates teachers and principals from rules and regulations and holds them accountable for results.

Ravitch’s Consistent Confusion
National Review Online, March 25, 2010
Ravitch is disappointed because she thought accountability and charter schooling were supposed to make schools better, and now sees that they don’t. Duncan promises that they will make schools better. They’re both missing the central point: These structural reforms are means, not ends. Choice and accountability can only make it easier to create schools and systems characterized by focus and coherence, where robust curricula, powerful pedagogy, and rich learning thrive.

FROM THE STATES

Connecticut

Parent Trigger Bill Passes Its First Test
The Hartford Courant, CT, March 25, 2010
A package of education reforms, including the so-called parent trigger provision, was voted out of committee and sent to the General Assembly for debate Wednesday, but it faces daunting opposition on several fronts.

District of Columbia

Will D.C.’s New Teachers Contract Pass Muster?
Washington Post, DC, March 25, 2010
Ms. Rhee has made no secret of her desire to make D.C. teachers among the nation’s highest paid in return for more flexibility in removing ineffectual teachers. And — to her credit — she has apparently persuaded outside groups to pick up much of the cost of these reforms.

Florida

School-reform Bill Advances
Miami Herald, FL, March 25, 2010
Teacher tenure legislation was among three education measures passed by the Senate on Wednesday in a push that may transform schools if it becomes law.

Senate Passes Voucher Expansion Bill, While Supporters Rally
Tampa Tribune, FL, March 24, 2010
The Florida Senate passed a bill this morning that would expand a private school voucher program. The bill, which would increase the amount of money the state would allocate per child, cleared the Senate on a 27-11 vote while. The bill now goes to the House.

Illinois

Landmark School Choice Bill Could Get Vote Soon
Chicago Now, IL, March 24, 2010
SB 2494 passed out of committee just moments ago. This bill, sponsored by the Rev. Sen. James Meeks, would create a pilot school voucher program for students in struggling Chicago public schools.

Michigan

Outside Executives Offer Innovative Thinking And Management
Detroit Free Press, MI, March 25, 2010
Highly effective education leaders who serve children and parents with success come from all backgrounds, areas of expertise and walks of life. Very often, they don’t come from the education arena, and that’s OK.

Bring in Talented Teachers to Detroit Regardless of Teacher Union Opposition
The Detroit News, MI, March 25, 2010
Top-notch young teachers are enthusiastically waiting to pitch in and help rescue Detroit’s school children. The city should open its doors and invite them in.

Missouri

Missouri Home-Schooled Students Could Benefit From Sports Bill
Columbia Missourian, MO, March 25, 2010
Sen. Jim Lembke, R-St. Louis County, has sponsored a bill creating what the legislation calls a “right” for a home-schooled students to apply to play sports at the public high school in their attendance area. It would also allow eligible 19-year-old students to play, increasing the age limit currently set at 18.

New York

Serving Students with Special Needs in Charters
WNYC, NY, March 24, 2010
Critics of charter schools often complain they get higher-than-average test scores because they don’t take a fair share of special education students. More than 16 percent of city public school students receive special education services, compared to about 11 percent of those in charters. But one charter is going out of its way to prove it can educate the neediest pupils alongside their non-disabled peers.

Ohio

Make It Better
Columbus Dispatch, OH, March 25, 2010
The blueprint that President Barack Obama delivered to Congress last week for an overhaul of the No Child Left Behind law is sure to kick off a robust national discussion about the course of the nation’s uneven efforts to improve public schools.

Oklahoma

OSSAA Hears Proposals On Private-Public Debate
Tulsa World, OK, March 24, 2010
OSSAA classifications for private, Native American, magnet and charter schools would increase under a proposal made to the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association at a board of directors meeting today.

Pennsylvania

Propel McKeesport is Top Charter School
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, March 25, 2010
There are no excuses. It’s a philosophy that permeates the hallways of Propel McKeesport charter school and is embraced by its 385 students along with teachers, aides, administrators, custodians and cafeteria workers.

Tennessee

Charter Schools Essential to Miss. Reform
Memphis Commercial Appeal, TN, March 25, 2010
Lawmakers and citizens must realize that the schools are only a part of a wider effort that is needed to improve public education.

Protesters Warn of Voter Fallout If Charter School Funds Cut
Memphis Commercial Appeal, TN, March 25, 2010
More than 100 charter school supporters sat quietly in the City Council chambers with homemade signs that said “Parents of MBA Want Funds” and “We’re Watching.”

Vermont

School Choice Threatened
Rutland Herald, VT, March 25, 2010
With education finance increasingly under state control and legislators seeking ways to curb state spending to avoid enormous deficits, the issue of school district regionalization is once again on center stage in the Statehouse. The House Education Committee has reported a clever bill (H.782) that offers incentives for neighboring school districts to voluntarily form unified union school districts.

Chiefs Press Education Secretary on ESEA Issues
Education Week, MD, March 24, 2010
Even as they posed tough questions about government flexibility on overhauling low-performing schools and the disadvantages of having to compete for federal dollars, the states’ top education officials today expressed general support for how the Obama administration aims to rewrite the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Lower Enrollment Spells Closure for City Schools
Washington Times, DC, March 24, 2010
Closing and consolidating schools, and laying off teachers, because of shrinking enrollments are nothing new for urban districts from Washington, D.C., to San Antonio. Kansas City, Mo., joined the list in early March, when authorities there voted to shutter nearly half its schoolhouses and lay off hundreds of employees. Detroit became the headliner last week, when the state’s financial overseer announced dozens of schools will close this school year.

Charter Schools: An Antidote to One-Size-Fits-All Education
Los Angeles Times, CA, March 23, 2010
The nontraditional public schools give poor families the educational choices once reserved to wealthier students.

Fired Teachers Defend Their Positions
Providence Journal, RI, March 24, 2010
More than a dozen teachers who were fired a month ago spoke Tuesday night about the upheaval in leadership and curriculum the struggling Central Falls High School has experienced for many years.

FROM THE STATES

Florida

Florida’s GOP-led Senate Seeks Wide-Reaching School Reform
Miami Herald, FL, March 24, 2010
Measures would eliminate teacher tenure, increase academic requirements, and direct more money to religious schools

Louisiana

Enrollment Period Renews Voucher Debate
Daily Comet, LA, March 23, 2010
More than a thousand new applicants for state-funded private school tuition in New Orleans pleases supporters of the voucher program, which drew fewer participants than first expected in its first two years.

Charter Change Pushed
The Advocate, LA, March 24, 2010
Angered by a recent vote, charter school backers are crafting a bill that would strip most of the power from Louisiana’s top school board to authorize charter schools.

Maryland

Proposed Charter Schools Move Step Closer To Becoming First In County
Business Gazette, MD, March 24, 2010
Two proposals for charter schools slated for Wheaton or Kensington have passed the first round of reviews by the county’s public school system this month, moving them a step closer to becoming the first charter schools ever approved in Montgomery County.

Wisconsin

Time to Lift the Cap
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI, March 23, 2010
Wisconsin online schools are getting good marks from parents and students. The Legislature should lift the enrollment cap so others can learn in this non-traditional setting.

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