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Daily Headlines for March 10, 2011

Most Public Schools May Miss Targets, Education Secretary Says
New York Times, NY, March 10, 2011
More than 80,000 of the nation’s 100,000 public schools could be labeled as failing under No Child Left Behind, the main federal law on public education, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told Congress on Wednesday.

For Teachers, Many Ways And Reasons To Cheat On Tests
USA Today, March 10, 2011
This is high-stakes testing. The standardized tests required by the federal No Child Left Behind law have become one of the most important – and controversial – ways to measure a student’s progress, a teacher’s competence, a school’s success and a state’s commitment to education. That can be a heavy load for an assessment built on paper booklets and bubble sheets

FROM THE STATES

California

El Camino Real To Leave LAUSD
Canyon News, CA, March 10, 2011
El Camino Real High School has been unanimously approved for a Charter Conversion.

Charter School Proposes More Class Time For Struggling Students
Santa Cruz Sentinel, CA, March 9, 2011
A proposed charter school would help prepare children from migrant and farmworker families for college with a longer school day and year.

Colorado

Denver Charter Schools Share National Prize For Achievement
Denver Post, CO, March 9, 2011
Two Denver charter schools will get a share of an $1.8 million national prize for student achievement gains.

District of Columbia

Gray’s Pick for D.C. Schools Chancellor Upsets Teachers Union
Washington Times, DC, March 9, 2011
D.C. parents and students may never know whether interim schools chief Kaya Henderson faced stiff competition to permanently succeed Michelle A. Rhee as chancellor, but Mayor Vincent C. Gray announced Wednesday that she now holds the $275,000-per-year job and the title.

Florida

Full Senate, House Committee Take Up Teacher Tenure Bills Today
Tampa Tribune, FL, March 10, 2011
The Florida Senate has scheduled a final vote for today on a controversial education bill that could end tenure for teachers and tie their pay to student learning gains. The bill would also require a much more stringent annual review process for teachers.

Idaho

Idaho House Approves Merit Pay System For Teachers
Spokesman Review, ID, March 10, 2011
A bill requiring merit pay for teachers cleared the Idaho House on Wednesday, sending it to the governor’s desk and giving the state schools superintendent a second big win in his push for sweeping school reform.

Indiana

Charter Bill Gets Hearing in Senate
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, IN, March 10, 2011
The Senate Education panel took up the issue of expanding access to Indiana charter schools Wednesday – the same day a flattering study on the schools was released by Stanford University.

Maryland

KIPP Is Good for Students – and for Baltimore
Baltimore Sun, MD, March 10, 2011
KIPP stands out because of the achievements of its students. We urge the school board, Mr. Alonso, the Baltimore Teachers Union and KIPP’s leaders to do whatever it takes to keep the KIPP opportunity available to Baltimore students for years to come. Our education leaders have an opportunity to serve the current and future students at KIPP by securing an agreement that enables KIPP Ujima Village Academy to continue its good work.

Massachusetts

Students Face Tough Odds To Get Charter School Seats
Boston Globe, MA, March 10, 2011
Last night was lottery night for many of Boston’s 14 independently run charter schools as well as the six new schools opening this fall. Enrollment is determined by chance, with schools drawing names from fish bowls, hats, and boxes.

Six Mass. Charter Schools Honored Nationally For ‘Dramatic’ Student Gains
Boston Globe, MA, March 9, 2011
Six state charter schools, including four in Boston, will collect nearly $700,000 from a national non-profit for making “dramatic gains in student achievement” at “high-need urban” institutions.

Pennsylvania

Western Pa. Propel Charter Schools Awarded By National Organization
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA, March 10, 2011
Two Propel charter schools — McKeesport and Montour — are among 18 charter schools honored by New Leaders for New Schools.

Vouchers Allowable Under Constitution
Centre Daily Times, PA, March 10, 2011
Pennsylvania’s General Assembly is considering a proposal that would empower parents whose children are trapped in failing public schools to choose, if they so desire, to enroll their children in a private school and receive a scholarship, or voucher, to help pay the tuition

South Carolina

Award-Winning Charter School Educators Put Kids First
Charleston Post Courier, SC, March 10, 2011
Thirty-one charter schools from across the state nominated educators for the award, and Pedings wasn’t the only Lowcountry winner. Jody Swanigan, principal of East Cooper Montessori Charter School in Mount Pleasant , was named Administrator of the Year.

Tennessee

Suburbs Vow to Fight Schools Merger
Wall Street Journal, March 10, 2011
Officials in the suburbs of Memphis, Tenn. , said Wednesday they would fight what they see as a shotgun marriage that joins its school system with that of the city, claiming the move will harm academic standards and increase bureaucracy.

Bill Altering Tennessee Teacher Tenure Advances in House
Commercial Appeal, TN, March 10, 2011
The bill that delays and alters tenure for public school teachers won its first committee approval in the House Wednesday and is set for a Senate floor vote today.

West Virginia

West Virginia Needs Parental Choice in Our Schools
WTRF, WV, March 9, 2011
If a child goes to a public school in West Virginia, the school that child attends is determined by where the child’s family lives. Thus, geography dictates which students go to which schools. Although the residence of a family determines where their children go to school, an area’s schools are not the only determinate of where a family chooses to live.

VIRTUAL EDUCATION

More Cyber Schools Await Georgia Students This Fall
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, GA, March 9, 2011
The menu of cyber schools in Georgia will grow this fall.

House Removes Controversy From Online Ed Bill
The Salt Lake Tribune, UT, March 10, 2011
The House advanced a bill Wednesday night to expand online education opportunities in Utah, but not before taking out a controversial provision that could have sent some public school money to private providers.

Lodi Unified Looking At Creating A Virtual Academy For Students
Lodi News-Sentinel, CA, March 10, 2011
Elementary students may soon be able to log onto computers to take math tests while wearing their pajamas.

Daily Headlines for March 8, 2011

Daily Headlines for March 7, 2011

PTA Wars
TIME, March 6, 2011
School budgets are so strapped these days that parent groups are not only battling to keep basics in the classroom, but some parents are even fighting one another.

Tight Budgets Mean Squeeze in Classrooms
New York Times, NY, March 7, 2011
Millions of public school students across the nation are seeing their class sizes swell because of budget cuts and teacher layoffs, undermining a decades-long push by parents, administrators and policy makers to shrink class sizes.

New School Reform Empowers Parents, But So Does ‘No Child’
Chicago Sun-Times, IL, March 7, 2011
Just as the nation is looking toward Wisconsin to discern the future of collective bargaining in that state and beyond, so the eyes of the nation are fixed on Compton, Calif. , where the future of parents’ will in their child’s education is playing out.

Pressure Mounts To Ax Teacher Seniority Rules
National Public Radio, March 6, 2011
Last week, the New York state Senate passed a bill that would end the use of seniority as the sole factor for deciding which teachers get laid off. The bill faces long odds in the state Assembly. But the vote is a sign of growing frustration with what’s known as “last in, first out” – a rule that says the last teachers hired get dismissed first when there is a layoff.

FROM THE STATES

California

‘Trigger’ Troubles
Los Angeles Times, CA, March 7, 2011
Attempts to evade the ‘parent trigger,’ such as those by the Compton Unified School District, show the need for reforms to the process.

Connecticut

Danbury Takes A Lesson At Amistad Charter School
Danbury News Times, CT, March 4, 2011
That kind of philosophy led Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton to attend the school’s visitors’ day, one of several the school holds each year to showcase its programs.

Colorado

Another Choice
Pueblo Chieftain, CO, March 6, 2011
PARENTS FRUSTRATED by the poor performance of their children’s schools would be afforded the chance to have them converted to charter schools or closed outright under legislation introduced last week in the Colorado House of Representatives.

Delaware

A New Map To Get Schools On Course
The News Journal, DE, March 7, 2001
Over the next four years, Seaford High will roll out three more academies: Seaford Military Academy, the Leadership/Dual Enrollment Academy and the International Baccalaureate Academy. Each of the academies will be aligned with an outside group to provide additional resources to the school.

Indiana

Bold Legislation For Better Education
Indianapolis Star, IN, March 5, 2011
Under the bold leadership of Gov. Mitch Daniels, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett and courageous leaders in the state legislature, Indiana is transforming education for the 21st century.

Louisiana

Charter Schools Join In The Beat Of New Orleans Marching Band Tradition
The Times-Picayune, LA, March 6, 2011
Many members just started playing their instruments last fall, when KIPP Renaissance High School opened its doors with an inaugural class of ninth-graders. There were no upperclassmen to lead by example, no established traditions to draw on. The 50 or so students were a marching band cooked up from scratch.

Maryland

KIPP in Limbo
Baltimore Sun, MD, March 6, 2011
The KIPP school and the Baltimore teachers union have reached an impasse over salaries and overtime; if all else fails, lawmakers in Annapolis should step in and break the logjam.

New Hampshire

Better Schools: Charting A New Course
Union Leader, NH, March 7, 2011
As the Legislature prepares for this year’s big education fight — whether to pass a constitutional amendment restoring legislative authority over education funding — it can make a small change that will help public school students statewide.

New Jersey

Testing Teachers
The Record, NJ, March 6, 2011
IT’S CLEAR that New Jersey’s current teacher tenure system isn’t working. Just 17 educators have lost tenure due to poor performance in the past decade, according to Governor Christie. We need a finer instrument to identify and nurture good teachers and rehabilitate or weed out poor performers. The question is, what?

New York

Analysis: Cuomo Wins Silence Of Powerful Unions
Wall Street Journal, March 5, 2011
Candidate Andrew Cuomo told fed-up voters last fall that public worker unions were among the special interests that had turned the Empire State from America’s progressive model run by titans of virtue into a boozy, bloated ” Jersey Shore ” run by insiders on the public’s dime.

North Carolina

Senator Defends Charter Schools Bill
Herald Sun, NC, March 6, 2011
The state senator who spearheaded work on his chamber’s version of a charter schools bill defended it Friday, arguing that complaints from Democrats and school boards about its provisions are a smokescreen for their true objections.

Parties Battle Over Charter School Funding, Oversight, Diversity
Carolina Journal, NC, March 4, 2011
Democrats are calling Republicans’ bill to lift the cap on charter schools racist, elitist, undemocratic, and “a direct assault” on traditional public schools. Senate Bill 8 will “create two separate and unequal school systems,” Rep. Tricia Cotham, D-Mecklenburg, said at a press conference March 3. She also claimed that increasing funding to charter schools would “bankrupt” traditional schools.

Oregon

Bills Aim To Add Education Options
The Register-Guard, OR, March 6, 2011
Supporters say the proposals give parents more choices; critics say they divert money from public schools

Pennsylvania

State Official Says Phila. District Illegally Capped Charter School’s Enrollment
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, March 5, 2011
In a decision that could have major ramifications for the Philadelphia School District ‘s fiscal woes and the city’s charter schools, a state official has found that the district illegally capped enrollment at a city charter school.

Tennessee

Question on Ballot Misses The Point: School Choice Empowers Children, Parents And The City
Commercial Appeal, TN, March 6, 2011
Ever since the Memphis City Schools board voted to surrender the district’s charter, we have been inundated with rhetoric from both sides of the school merger argument.

Wisconsin

School Choice Programs Get Boost in Walker Budget
Wisconsin State Journal, WI, March 6, 2011
Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal calls for deep cuts in most areas of public education with one notable exception – public school choice programs.

VIRTUAL EDUCATION

Florida Poised To Make Big Splash In Online Education
Tampa Tribune, FL, March 7, 2011
Supporters say expanding the Virtual School prepares children for college and work, eases teacher shortages in critical areas and helps kids learn at their pace.

Online Learning Extends Classroom
Chicago Sun-Times, IL, March 7, 2011
The Porter Township School Corp. is among the first to explore a new form of public “home schooling.” On a recent day, most of the students in the district weren’t in their classrooms. They were in their bedrooms and living rooms doing their classwork.

Sperry District to Offer Free Virtual School for K-8
Tulsa World, OK, March 5, 2011
Sperry Public Schools will partner with a Maryland company to offer full-time, free public school online next year for Oklahoma students in kindergarten through eighth grade, a Sperry spokesman said Friday.

Legislative Choices

hallwayProviding families with real school choice opportunities is top priority for several state legislatures this year. Here’s where a few of them stand:

Pennsylvania – SB1 (providing opportunity scholarships to kids trapped in the Keystone State’s lowest performing schools) flew out of the PA Senate Education Committee today on a bi-partisan 8-2 vote…

Nevada – Governor Brian Sandoval has unveiled the details of a proposed voucher program for the Silver State that would provide scholarships based on a sliding scale of financial need…

New Jersey – Gov. Chris Christie reinforced his commitment to the proposed New Jersey Opportunity Scholarship Program – now making it’s way through the hallways of Trenton – in his recent state budget announcement, saying it was a critical component to education reform in the Garden State…

Indiana – (Held up due to ongoing support of the Illinois tourism industry courtesy of Hoosier House Democrats)…