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Daily Headlines for February 23, 2011

Court Won’t Hear ‘No Child’ Challenge
Boston Globe, MA, February 23, 2011
The US Supreme Court decided against hearing Connecticut’s challenge to the federal No Child Left Behind law yesterday, ending the state’s six-year lawsuit over how to pay for the stepped-up student testing considered one of the law’s cornerstones.

Education System Should Be Privatized
Faribault Daily News, WI, February 23, 2011
My solution is to privatize the whole education system. If teachers in a private school want to unionize while competing with other private schools, that’s fine with me. Government teachers should not be allowed to unionize because they don’t have to compete for anyone’s business. We taxpayers are their captive customers.

FROM THE STATES

California

Compton School Board Rejects Parent Trigger Effort
Los Angeles Times, CA, February 23, 2011
A unanimous vote by the Compton school board rejects McKinley Elementary parents’ petition seeking to turn the struggling campus over to a charter operator.

Charter School Approval Should Be Easy
Chico Enterprise-Record, CA, February 23, 2011
A crowd of almost 400 supporters packed the Chico Unified School District board meeting chambers last week, overflowing into the hallways to be present for the hearing of the new charter for Blue Oak School.

Florida

Lawmakers to Take Up Decisive Ed Issues In Session
Miami Herald, FL, February 23, 2011
Major cuts to school budgets as federal stimulus funding dries up. Tying teacher evaluations to student performance on standardized tests. Expanding vouchers and virtual school programs.

New Jersey

Christie Budget Helps Charters And Choice
The Jersey Journal, NJ, February 23, 2011
Something is better than nothing. That was the reaction in many New Jersey school districts yesterday to Gov. Chris Christie’s proposed $249.3 million increase of state school aid, one year after the governor slashed spending for schools by $820 million,

Newark School Plan Would Clear Space For Charters, Shift Scores Of Students
Newark Star-Ledger, NJ, February 22, 1011
Newark school officials are considering a plan to move out, or consolidate, several of the city’s public schools to make space for 11 charter schools in a massive reshuffling that could affect thousands of students, according to a document obtained by The Star-Ledger.

New York

Charters Charting A Course In Excellence
New York Post, NY, February 23, 2011
Charter-school kids continued to outperform their traditional public-school classmates in three of the four categories tested in social studies and science, new data obtained by The Post show.

Political Point A Costly Decision
Albany Times-Union, NY, February 23, 2011
Albany’s Capital Resource Corporation Board recently voted 4 to 3 against issuing bonds to finance the Albany Leadership High School , Brighter Choice Charter Middle School for Girls and Brighter Choice Charter Middle School for Boys.

North Carolina

Charter School Bill Returning to NC Senate Floor
WLOS, NC, February 23, 2011
A rewrite of North Carolina’s charter school law headed for a floor vote in the legislature incorporates a Republican promise during the campaign — ending the current 100-school limit.

Ohio

Cleveland Students Hold Their Own With Voucher Students On State Tests
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, February 22, 2011
The push is on to expand school voucher programs in Ohio, but new state data suggests that students who attend private schools with the help of taxpayer-funded vouchers don’t necessarily fare better academically than the children they leave behind.

Oklahoma

Proposal Would Change Teacher Due Process System in Oklahoma
The Oklahoman, OK, February 23, 2011
An Oklahoma House panel approved a measure that, if it becomes law, would do away with the practice of tenured teachers having the right to appeal a school board’s termination to district court. The state’s largest teachers union supports the bill.

Texas

Legislature Should Help Texas’ Charter School Movement Grow
Dallas Morning News, TX, February 23, 2011
Two realities limit the growth of Texas’ charter schools, the public campuses that the state has given ample freedom to innovate with classroom approaches. And legislators must deal with both realities if the state is going to offer students, especially those from disadvantaged families, enough pathways to a rigorous education.

Wyoming

House Changes Tenure Provision For Teachers
Laramie Boomerang, WY, February 22, 2011
Wyoming school districts would have more time to decide whether to bestow employment protections on new teachers under changes the state House made to a proposed bill.

VIRTUAL EDUCATION

Lt. Gov. Cawley Explores Virtual Learning

PR Newswire, February 22, 2011
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley yesterday toured The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School’s Harrisburg facility, where teachers and school administrators demonstrated a virtual class and discussed how their innovative approaches and use of digital learning tools are improving educational opportunities for students across the commonwealth.

Shepherd School Balances Classroom, Online Learning With Blended Solutions
The Morning Sun, MI, February 22, 2011
Shepherd High School is bridging the gap between traditional classroom teaching and the growing world of online instruction.

Virtual Classrooms Stay Open Even In Worst Weather
St. Louis Post Dispatch, MO, February 22, 2011
Blogs, podcasts and other tech tools are helping keep local kids “virtually” in class despite interruptions like recent snow days.