Press
October 2, 2009
Charter Advocates To Bloomberg: More Schools Fine, But More Money Needed
(From the New York Daily News, October 2, 2009)
By RACHEL MONAHAN
A day after Mayor Bloomberg vowed on the campaign stump to open 100 more charter schools if reelected, leading charter advocates said there won't be room for them unless more money is pumped into construction.
"A hundred more charter schools - the challenge there is just going to be space," said New York Charter Schools Association's Peter Murphy.
"It's going to take a facilities aid stream from the state," he added.
Unlike public schools, charters don't receive funding for facilities from the state. They must rely on finding space in public school buildings - or raising private dollars.
The mayor said there is more than $200 million in funding for charters, but that's a 41% drop since the last capital plan five years ago, noted Democrats for Education Reform's Joe Williams.
Two-thirds of charter schools now share space in public school buildings.
"Even if you could put all 200 [the mayor's 100 plus those already open] in public school space, you're going to need facilities funding to fix those places up and make them work for multiple school campuses," said Harlem Success founder Eva Moskowitz.
City Controller William Thompson, Bloomberg's rival in the upcoming election, questioned whether he could add more charters if there isn't space or money available for them.
Continue reading "Charter Advocates To Bloomberg: More Schools Fine, But More Money Needed"....
How Teachers Unions Lost The Media
(From The Wall Street Journal, October 1, 2009)
By RICHARD WHITMIRE and ANDREW J. ROTHERHAM
Quick: Which newspaper in recent editorials called teachers unions "indefensible" and a barrier to reform? You'd be excused for guessing one of the conservative outlets, but it was that bastion of liberalism, the New York Times. A month ago, The New Yorker--yes, The New Yorker--published a scathing piece on the problems with New York City's "rubber room," a union-negotiated arrangement that lets incompetent teachers while away the day at full salary while doing nothing. The piece quoted a principal saying that union leader Randi Weingarten "would protect a dead body in the classroom."
Things only got worse for the unions this past week. A Washington Post editorial about charter schools carried this sarcastic headline: "Poor children learn. Teachers unions are not pleased." And the Times weighed in again Monday, calling a national teachers union "aggressively hidebound."
In recent months, the press has not merely been harsh on unions--it has championed some controversial school reformers. Washington's schools chancellor, Michelle Rhee, who won't win any popularity contests among teachers, enjoys unwavering support from the Post editorial page for her plans to institute merit pay and abolish tenure.
Continue reading "How Teachers Unions Lost The Media"....
September 25, 2009
Duncan Sounds Starting Gun On ESEA Renewal
(From Education Week, September 24, 2009)By ALYSON KLEIN
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan signaled this week that the U.S. Department of Education is poised to launch reauthorization efforts for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as he used a packed meeting here to underline his likely priorities to a broad range of key stakeholders.
He said the new version of the law will need to ensure effective teachers and principals for underperforming schools, expand learning time, and devise an accountability system that measures individual student progress and uses data to inform instruction and teacher evaluation.
He repeated his assertion, made in a number of speeches since he took office this year, that the federal government "should be tight on the goals--with clear standards set by states that truly prepare young people for college and careers--but ... loose on the means for meeting those goals."
And he assured more than 200 representatives from education associations, think tanks, and community groups at the Sept. 24 meeting that his administration would be attentive to their concerns during the reauthorization process.
Continue reading "Duncan Sounds Starting Gun On ESEA Renewal"...
Unions Criticize Obama's School Proposals as "Bush III"
(From The Washington Post, September 25, 2009)By NICK ANDERSON
To the surprise of many educators who campaigned last year for change in the White House, the Obama administration's first recipe for school reform relies heavily on Bush-era ingredients and adds others that make unions gag.
Standardized testing, school accountability, performance pay, charter schools -- all are integral to President Obama's $4.35 billion "Race to the Top" grant competition to spur innovation. None is a typical Democratic crowd-pleaser.
Labor leaders, parsing the Education Department's fine print, call the proposal little more than a dressed-up version of the No Child Left Behind law enacted seven years ago under Obama's Republican predecessor.
"It looks like the only strategies they have are
charter schools and measurement," said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of
Teachers. "That's Bush III." Weingarten, who praises Obama for massive
federal aid to help schools through the recession, said her 1.4 million-member
union is engaged in "a constructive but tart dialogue" with the administration
about reform.
Continue reading "Unions Criticize Obama's School Proposals as "Bush III""....
September 14, 2009
Hot Topics Show Party's Division
(From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, September 12, 2009)By ALAN J. BORSUK
Democrats sit on both sides of debates on mayoral control, performance pay
What does it mean to be a Democrat when it comes to education? Does it mean you stand for sticking pretty much to the way things are now, except for adding more money? Or does it mean calling for some big changes in the way things are done?
Those aren't just philosophical questions. They point to one of the most interesting and significant things to watch as the political thunderstorms build over Milwaukee Public Schools, the state Capitol and the national education world.
In the debate over mayoral takeover of MPS, so far, it's Gov. Jim Doyle and Mayor Tom Barrett against an array of Milwaukee political and community figures. Almost all of the people on both sides are Democrats.
Use of student performance data in evaluating teachers is almost sure to be a hot issue in the fall session of the Legislature. It's a good bet Doyle will be on one side and the teachers unions on the other. Again, all Democrats.
The nationwide push for performance pay for teachers, for more charter schools, and for stiffer accountability - it's President Barack Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan doing the pushing, with resistance from the education establishment, especially teachers unions. And almost all of the cast are Democrats.
Continue reading "Hot Topics Show Party's Division"....
September 11, 2009
Obama's Right On This Reform
(From The Indianapolis Star, September 11, 2009)By RUSS PULLIAM
He has made a mess of health-care reform, but President Barack Obama also has opened a wide door to real educational reform, in a manner that is startling for a Democrat.
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is using federal grants to link better teacher pay with improved student test results. With the Race for the Top program, Duncan has $4.3 billion to encourage states to promote charter schools and remove barriers to merit pay.
It's sweet encouragement to top Republicans in Indiana, including Gov. Mitch Daniels and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett.
"When it comes to education, I think they clearly have it right," Bennett says.
"Arne Duncan is the right person for the right job," he adds, citing Duncan's leadership of the Chicago school system. "He brings an incredible amount of integrity and credibility to the task. He is very student-centered. He is inserting competition, freedom and accountability into the system."
Continue reading "Obama's Right On This Reform"....
Sen. Taylor Featured In Calendar
(From The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, September 2, 2009)By AMY HETZNER
State Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee) is being honored as one of "10 Champions of America's Students" in an upcoming calendar by Democrats for Education Reform.
Taylor, who is pictured in the calendar with students from Holy Redeemer Christian Academy, is in impressive company. Other honorees in the calendar are Washington D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, Newark Mayor Cory Booker and U.S. Rep. George Miller, the California Democrat who heads the House's education and labor committee.
Wonder how Taylor came to the attention of Democrats for Education Reform? It may have something to do with the fact that the group's executive director is none other than former Milwaukee Journal Sentinel education reporter Joe Williams.
DFER says it selected the honorees because they are committed to offering education opportunities to all students have had made education reform a leading civil rights issue for children in urban communities.
Continue reading "Sen. Taylor Featured In Calendar"....
