Press
May 10, 2010
Charter Schools' New Cheerleaders: Financiers
(From The New York Times, May 9, 2010)
By TRIP GABRIEL and JENNIFER MEDINA
When Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo wanted to meet certain members of the hedge fund crowd, seeking donors for his all-but-certain run for governor, what he heard was this: Talk to Joe.
That would be Joe Williams, executive director of a political action committee that advances what has become a favorite cause of many of the wealthy founders of New York hedge funds: charter schools.
Wall Street has always put its money where its interests and beliefs lie. But it is far less common that so many financial heavyweights would adopt a social cause like charter schools and advance it with a laserlike focus in the political realm.
Hedge fund executives are thus emerging as perhaps the first significant political counterweight to the powerful teachers unions, which strongly oppose expanding charter schools in their current form.
After hearing from Mr. Cuomo, Mr. Williams arranged an 8 a.m. meeting last month at the Regency Hotel, that favorite spot for power breakfasts, between Mr. Cuomo and supporters of his committee, Democrats for Education Reform, who include the founders of funds like Anchorage Capital Partners, with $8 billion under management; Greenlight Capital, with $6.8 billion; and Pershing Square Capital Management, with $5.5 billion.
Continue reading "Charter Schools' New Cheerleaders: Financiers"....
May 7, 2010
Back to School for Newark's Booker
(From The Wall Street Journal, May 7, 2010)
By BARBARA MARTINEZ
NEWARK, N.J.--Mayor Cory Booker travels the country talking about education reform and his wish to transform this city's few high-performing schools from "islands of excellence into hemispheres of hope."
Some of his biggest fans wish he'd spend more time at home trying to fix Newark schools.
Mr. Booker, 41, is up for re-election Tuesday, and right after his widely expected win, "some of us are prepared to call the mayor to task and call on him to become more vocal and more hands on" in the public schools, said Rev. Reginald Jackson, executive director of the Black Ministers Council, which represents about 600 churches in New Jersey. "He ought to become the visionary that he talks about," added Rev. Jackson.
"Mayor Booker clearly hasn't made education reform a top priority in his first term," said Joe Williams, executive director of Democrats for Education Reform, an advocacy group. "But we're confident that it will be a cornerstone of his next."
Some register disappointment in the mayor's decision to single-mindedly target crime reduction rather than making as aggressive a push on schools. These people point to the mayors of Washington and New York, who immediately battled for mayoral control of the schools and won, and have since installed school chancellors who have made great strides in increasing school choice and closing failing schools. Newark's schools are controlled by the state.
Continue reading "Back to School for Newark's Booker "....
Colorado latest battleground for teacher performance
(From The Christian Science Monitor, May 7, 2010)
By STACY TEICHER KHADAROO
Colorado is the latest battleground for changing the way public school teachers are evaluated and protected in their jobs.
One provision in a controversial, fast-moving bill there: Teachers deemed ineffective for two years in a row could be put back on probation, losing the right to a hearing before being dismissed.
The bill has passed in the state Senate and will be up for a vote early next week in the House if it passes through the appropriations committee Friday. It would base part of teacher performance reviews on how well their students improve each year academically. Teachers would earn nonprobationary status by being judged effective for three years in a row.
Colorado is vying for a share of more than $4 billion from the US Department of Education's Race to the Top competition. States can earn points for meeting a range of criteria, including creating links between teacher evaluations and measurable student progress. Education experts credit the competition for accelerating statewide education reforms that could barely get a foothold a few years ago.
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May 6, 2010
Smaller teachers union backs Colo. reform bill
(From The Denver Post, May 6, 2010)
By JEREMY P. MEYER and COLLEEN O'CONNOR
Legislation that has drawn the ire of Colorado's largest teachers union has been endorsed by a separate, smaller union that has a large influence on national teacher-labor issues.
The American Federation of Teachers, the nation's second- largest teachers union, which has 2,500 members in Douglas County, on Wednesday announced its support of Senate Bill 191 -- the controversial measure that seeks to tie student academic growth to teacher evaluations and change the way teachers obtain and keep tenure.
The AFT, vocal in labor issues across the country, is led by outspoken president Randi Weingarten, who has become a celebrity in the education world for her views and high-profile media exposure.
Weingarten on Wednesday said AFT threw its support behind Colorado's legislation after the bill's sponsors agreed to introduce amendments that "included the voice of teachers."
"What has happened here is that the bill sponsor worked with us to try to create a better bill," she said. "They have totally worked, in terms of the amendments, to ensure evaluations are done with teachers, not to teachers."
Weingarten and AFT's support shocked the education world, spurring tweets throughout the nation.
Continue reading "Smaller teachers union backs Colo. reform bill"....
May 5, 2010
Reformers' secret weapon: Class-act lobbyist
(From The New York Post, May 5, 2010)
By CARL CAMPANILE
ALBANY -- The charter-school movement has a potent weapon in its quest to persuade the state Assembly to lift the cap on charter schools: powerhouse lobbyist Patricia Lynch.
Lynch -- the former communications director for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver -- has deep ties in the Legislature.
Her firm -- Patricia Lynch Associates -- has 175 clients and is the second-highest-paid lobbying firm in New York with $8.5 million in fees and expenses last year.
Lynch has been retained by three pro-charter-school organizations: the Harlem Success Charter School Network, Democrats for Education Reform and Teach for America.
Each outfit is paying Lynch's firm $5,000 a month -- or $15,000 combined -- to help boost charter schools.
"It's all about the children in the classroom and the opportunity that education provides," Lynch said.
Charter-school supporters will need all the help they can get to try to get a charter-school bill through the Assembly, where the teachers unions hold considerable sway.
Continue reading "Reformers' secret weapon: Class-act lobbyist "....
May 1, 2010
Reformers pumping money into School Board race
(From The Buffalo News, May 1, 2010)
By MARY PASCIAK
A national education reform group based in New York City is pouring more than $50,000 into Buffalo's Board of Education elections this year.
Education Reform Now has identified three candidates it believes would support its agenda, which includes increasing the number of charter schools and linking teacher compensation to performance.
The group's financial support appears likely to eclipse the money spent by the other two key players in the race, the Buffalo Teachers Federation and the Buffalo Niagara Partnership. Each of those groups estimated they would be spending about $10,000 this year, although final tallies will not be publicly disclosed for several weeks.
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April 28, 2010
Tensions Flare in Race to Top's Second Round
States, Teachers' Unions Clash Over Contest-Driven Reforms
(From Education Week, April 26, 2010)
With the second-round deadline for federal Race to the Top Fund grants less than six weeks away, states are rushing to raise the stakes on their education reform plans as they fight over the remaining $3.4 billion in prize money.
But in doing so, states from Massachusetts to Colorado are tangling with their teachers' unions as they test how far they can go to meet federal officials' demands that they be aggressive, yet inclusive, in devising a road map to dramatically improve student achievement.
"On one hand, the federal government is saying, 'Be bold,' which implies significant challenge to the status quo, which then tends to be disruptive and generate resistance," said S. Paul Reville, the education secretary in Massachusetts, where the American Federation of Teachers affiliate has revoked its support of the state's second-round application over teacher issues. "Yet at the same time, the federal government is asking us to get full [district and union] support," he said. "That's the dynamic tension."
In Florida, legislation that would have revamped teacher evaluations, potentially positioning the state for a better Race to the Top score, sparked an outcry from teachers; Republican Gov. Charlie Crist ended up vetoing the legislation.
Continue reading "Tensions Flare in Race to Top's Second Round"...
