Group items tagged

"Over the objections of some public school advocates, the Louisiana Senate voted 22-16 Monday to allow corporations to sponsor charter schools in exchange for controlling up to half of the enrollment slots and half of the governing board seats. "

"N.E.A. is and always will be opposed to high-stakes, test-driven evaluations," said Becky Pringle, the secretary-treasurer of the union, addressing the banner-strung convention hall filled with the 8,200-member assembly that votes on union policy.

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg made quite a splash last year when he donated $100 million to help fix Newark's troubled schools not only because of the size of the gift but its promise of involving Newark residents in deciding how the money would be spent-funds that the city would match.  According to Joan Whitlow of the Star-Ledger's NJ.com, that promise of "citizen-centered" involvement has fallen by the wayside with the announcement that the Foundation for Newark's Future will be dispensing Zuckerberg funds.  Whitlow reports that the foundation's board has three voting and one nonvoting members, only one of whom is from Newark, and that's Mayor Cory Booker.  The only way to get on the board, according to Gregory Taylor, the foundation's president and CEO, is to donate at least $10 million because the foundation has to "raise enough to match the original $100 million."  

In a repudiation of the segregationist policies that have caused turmoil in Wake County, NC for the past two years, voters have returned a pro-diversity majority that we can only hope will vote to restore the most successful socioeconomic integration plan in the U. S.  

When they vote on their legislative agenda on Tuesday, New York State's top education officials will focus for the first time on the contentious topic of illegal immigration.

The votes won't be cast and counted for weeks but several candidates for Louisiana's Board of Elementary and Secondary Education already hold big leads when it comes to raising money, evidence that the usually low-key BESE elections are drawing new attention from self-styled reformers and business interests. Those interests typically back charter schools and an accountability system that has seen the state take control of failing schools from local officials in New Orleans and other parts of Louisiana.

The push for school choice cleared its first major legislative hurdle - but not its last - when the state Senate voted Wednesday to provide taxpayer-funded tuition vouchers for impoverished students in failing public schools.

The Panel for Education Policy (or PEP), enacts policy for the New York City Dept. of Education. The PEP replaced the Board of Education when Mayor Bloomberg took control of the schools in 2002. It is intended to be a democratic forum where people voice concerns, prior to the panel's vote on educational policy. Today the panel is convening to discuss new standards being implemented in schools. 200 parents, teachers staff and students are in attendance.

"Battles between charter school operators, like Eva Moskowitz, and public school parents and education advocates are nothing new to the mass media. Recently The New York Times ran an article on this topic, featuring Moskowitz and her Success Academy schools. However, too often this kind of media coverage does not accurately portray our side of the story. The SUNY board of trustees recently voted to approve 17 charter applications, 14 of them by Moskowitz, in New York City. It is more important than ever for the public to understand the reality of the charter movement."

A major test of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's cap on property taxation looms on Long Island, where at least 16 school districts will seek voter overrides of new tax limits set by the state.

A state House Committee agreed to lift the cap of charter schools, a move backers said will offer more choices to families in failing schools. But Democrats, who sought to make 17 amendments to SB 618, said it's a mistake to allow schools to rapidly expand without a better system of accountability and making sure charter school students are achieving academically.

Meet the new education lobby. It's ambitious, expansive and, in some cases, modeling itself after sprawling single-issue lobbying organizations like the National Rifle Association and AARP. The groups, which have in large part been created by hedge fund managers and lapsed government officials, count political operatives inside state legislatures and even the Democratic National Committee among their ranks. And they're using the power of their fundraisers' purses and sophisticated messaging outfits to push their agendas in local and school-board elections across the country.

Hawaii teachers delivered a stunning message Thursday. By a 2-1 margin, they rejected a proposed six-year deal that had the unanimous backing of union leadership. The turnout was huge, with 9,000 of the state's 12,500 teachers voting. "Obviously we're disappointed," said Donalyn Dela Cruz, spokeswoman for the governor. "We have some concerns. Race to the Top was a big motivator in making sure there was a fair, tentative agreement and tomorrow we'll see what are our next steps. The state will move forward and look at all of our options to ensure that our focus remains on Hawaii's children."

Imagine our surprise. Rethinking Schools learned today that for the first time in its more-than-20-year history, our book Rethinking Columbus was banned by a school district: Tucson, Arizona. According to journalist Jeff Biggers, officials with the Tucson Unified School District ordered that teachers pull the book from their classrooms, evidently as an outcome of the school board's 4-1 vote this week to abolish the Mexican American Studies program.

The Christie administration's slowdown in approving charter schools in the suburbs hasn't slowed the push by Assembly Democrats to tighten controls on all charters -- possibly imperiling a slew of schools awaiting their final OK. The Assembly education committee yesterday moved a bill that would give local voters the right to approve new charters in their home districts. If passed by both houses, the law would make New Jersey only the third state to require charter schools to face a local referendum.

"A new report by ProgressNow focuses on how the ALEC education task force has used a state-by-state report card to fabricate failure in state public education systems in order to create a sales opportunity for their corporate membership."

Missouri education officials revoked the accreditation of the Kansas City School District on Tuesday after it failed for several years to meet most of the state's academic performance standards, an embarrassing blow to the beleaguered district that is again trying to find a superintendent.