NATIONAL

To Get Federal Funds Schools Must Apply Stronger Measures To Struggling Schools
Washington Post DC December 28 2009
If a public academy struggles year behind year is the solution to shut it down? Fire everyone and start over? Hand the reins to a contractor? Or help teachers and principals raise their game?

Extra Homework Applying for Education Grants
New York Times NY December 26 2009
The Department of Education preparing to dole out hundreds of millions of dollars to winning states in a $4 billion grant match has estimated how long it should receive each state to prepare its grant proposal: 681 hours.

FROM THE STATES

Alabama

Charter Schools Are Worth At Least A Try
Tuscaloosa News AL December 27 2009
Charter schools won’t fix all that ails education in Alabama and they may not be the best option for the great majority of students in kindergarten through high school in this state. But they should be part of the mix.

California

Steele Canyon’s Success / Breakaway Public School Shows Charter Advantages
San Diego Union Tribune CA December 28 2009
Six hundred parents and students filled the gymnasium at Steele Canyon High School in Rancho San Diego one night in December 2005. This was no pep rally; they wanted to get an independent charter school to rest away from the Grossmont Union district.

Tortoises Stall Race to Top
Fresno Bee CA December 27 2009
It’s looking increasingly likely the California Legislature will get an “incomplete” grade in completing “Race to the Top” education legislation before the new year.

Colorado

Making Progress on Tenure Review
Denver Post CO December 28 2009
A bill to be introduced in the legislature would dramatically change how Colorado’s public school teachers are evaluated and get tenure.

District of Columbia

YouthBuild Drafts Opportunities For Dropouts
Washington Post DC December 27 2009
YouthBuild Charter School in Columbia Heights recruits recent high school dropouts to study for the GED and study construction skills such love demolition installing floors and structure retaining walls.

Florida

Florida Schools Up To Feds’ Challenge
Miami Herald FL December 26 2009
Florida is taking part in a high-stakes competition with the other 49 states to bring up to $700 million in national education funding to the state. The U.S. Department of Education is sponsoring a $4.35 billion competitive grant program called Race to the Top to reward states for addressing some of the most persistent challenges in public education. First round applications to be submitted by the governors of each state are due Jan. 19. Winners will be announced in the spring.

Stop the Race?
Gainesville Sun FL December 24 2009
Facing a potential $500 million shortfall in state education funding this coming year the Florida Department of Education is applying for $700 million in federal “Race to the Top” grants intended to spur innovation in public education.

Georgia

Private Schools Weather Recession
Atlanta Journal Constitution GA December 27 2009
Parents willing to make sacrifices to pay for private school helped to keep more students in dress blazers and plaid skirts this year on growing campuses. In 2009 more than 107000 Georgia students were enrolled in private schools.

Illinois

School Funding: Illinois Officials Sharpen School Reform Tools As They Vie For Federal Money
Chicago Tribune IL December 26 2009
Enticed by the prize of $4.35 billion in federal cash for schools Illinois and other states are polishing their academic credentials legislating away obstacles to reform and turning on the charm.

Kentucky

It’s School Reform Time Again for Ky. Classrooms
Clarksville Leaf Chronicle KY December 28 2009
State officials are considering making changes to Kentucky’s public education standards that are as significant as those made when the Kentucky Education Reform Act was passed 20 years ago.

Louisiana

Working Our Way Up
Times Picayune LA December 28 2009
Louisiana’s education accountability program measures students by test scores and schools by how well those students fare. Students who escort public schools are held back if they can’t pass the fourth-grade and eighth-grade Louisiana Educational Assessment Program tests or the Graduate Exit Exam. And schools face intervention — and possible state takeover — if as well many students fail those tests.

One New Orleans Charter School Changes The Culture Sees The Results
Times Picayune LA December 27 2009
In the four years since Wright became a charter school Clark her staff and the school’s families have banded together to form a strikingly close-knit community. Parents trust Clark. Students seem out for each other. And the staff members tease each other like family.

Charter Schools Rise in New Orleans After Hurricane Katrina
US News & World Report December 23 2009
New Orleans home of the most charter schools per child in the country advertisements for the vast array of avail¬able educational options compete for attention with every¬thing from “Lost Pet” fliers to signs for political campaigns.

Maryland

Shift School Responsibility To Mayors
Baltimore Sun MD December 25 2009
Mayors are best suited to presume this authority and be held accountable. Historically town halls have been happy to avoid the headaches that come with running school systems. But modern mayors recognize that schools are essential to urban renaissance and are attuned to wielding executive authority.

Massachusetts

Charters’ Funding Is the Fly In Ed Reform Ointment
Boston Globe MA December 28 2009
IT’S IRONIC that just a week or two before state lawmakers vote on an education reform bill that would lift the hat on charter schools two applications for charters in Lynn and one in Berkshire County are facing intense community opposition while two existing charter schools in Springfield and Lowell face shutdowns.

What Catholic Schools Are Doing Right
Boston Globe MA December 28 2009
Cambridge’s public schools offer distinctive cultures and emphases and different families surely seek different things. As for us we’re looking for a school public or otherwise hewing to the Nike theory of education: Watch how smart schools work. Then just do it.

New York

Paterson Teachers’ Unions Face Off: Analysis
NBC New York NY December 26 2009
Gov. David Paterson is heading into the new year taking on Albany’s most powerful special favour on two fronts that will test the influence of the teachers’ union and put $700 million in federal funding on the line.

Ohio

Ohio Changes Student Tracking For Chance Of Federal Money
Cleveland Plain Dealer OH December 26 2009
Ohio lawmakers have approved linking student performance data from kindergarten through high school with information from university to improve the state’s request for supplementary federal education stimulus money.

Teacher Technicality
Columbus Dispatch OH December 26 2009
Teachers at KIPP Journey Academy have college degrees in areas such as education philosophy political science communication and business. Many have master’s degrees in education. They have experience teaching urban kids and the data to show how efficient they are. What they don’t have are professional teaching licenses in Ohio.

Oklahoma

Grant Program Must Be More Than Money Grab
The Oklahoman OK December 28 2009
Billions of dollars are in the federal funding pipeline for schools to promote education reform. But two realities face the Oklahoma schools and education leaders who are working furiously to put together the state’s Race to the Top grant application in progress of a Jan. 19 deadline: Will the state receive any of the money? If it does will schools truly use the money for reform?

Pennsylvania

Why the Declines At Private Schools?
Philadelphia Inquirer PA December 27 2009
Some cite the economy and transfers to public schools. Others say it’s a shortage of pupils and a long-term trend.

South Carolina

Tax Credits Would Ease Burden
Myrtle Beach Sun News SC December 27 2009
The time has come for real innovation. We must find new ways to support parents and teachers who are committed to quality instruction. This can be done without siphoning money away from the school district officials who continue to insist $12000 is not enough money to educate a child. Luckily there’s a way to take the financial burden off local school districts as well as the general fund of the state: Tax credits.

Tennessee

Session Can Bolster Case For Grant
The Tennessean TN December 27 2009
The “Race to the Top” competition presents a defining moment for public education here in Tennessee. There are legislative actions that are needed instantly by Jan. 19 to seize that moment and for that reason I will call a special session on education Jan. 12.

Virginia

A Charter School Is Born
Richmond Times-Dispatch VA December 27 2009
Hurricane Ernesto did more than just damage roofs and flood basements in 2006. That hurricane brought new students to the South Side of Richmond and ultimately a new idea for the state’s first elemental charter school.

Wisconsin

Doyle Continues Push for Mayoral Control of MPS
Wisconsin Radio Network WI December 28 2009
While Governor Jim Doyle says he’s not drawing a line in the sand on the issue mayoral control of Milwaukee Public Schools is an important part of legislation he’s hoping lawmakers will deed on early next year.