The Center for Education Reform
CER Newswire
Vol. 9, No. 13
April 3, 2007
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A weekly report on education news and commentary you won't find anywhere else, spiced with a dash of irreverence, from the nation's leading voice in school reform. See our Newswire Library for an archive of back issues.
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FROM THE BIG APPLE AND ALBANY
LET'S MAKE A DEAL. Can art change the world? Well, just days after CER released a special version of "Gee, Officer Krupke," the New York legislature reached a budget agreement that will lift the cap on charter schools by 100. Coincidence? Whether the change was initiated by CER's brilliant reworking of the classic West Side Story piece (which is still a great read no matter what) or the political wrangling of Governor Spitzer and the dedication of the entire education reform community, the future looks a lot brighter for the Empire State's charter community. After years of fighting with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who has been a thorn in the side of Mayor Bloomberg and all reformers in New York, parents in the state will finally have the new schools they have been demanding. The deal, however, is not free from compromise. Under the agreement, the state will be able to open 50 new charter schools statewide and 50 new schools in New York City. Unfortunately, schools chancellor Joel Klein will not have the authority to open 50 schools as originally planned, as chartering authority for the new charter schools will lie solely with the Board of Regents. Probably the two biggest compromises of the deal state that any charter school that exceeds 250 students within two years of opening must unionize, and that certain districts can draw funds for kids even after they've been gone for a couple of years. But that said, it's a win and one that is owing to the hard work of the New York Charter Schools Association and the schools it serves.
UNIONS
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Almost daily the education empire in South Carolina has been sending out screaming alerts to administrators urging them to contact their reps to vote against school choice measures. They provided a record of votes on the voucher bill and told recipients, "We are asking that you check the tabulation sheet and review how your House member voted. If the vote says nay, it was not a vote for public education." They ratcheted up the rhetoric on Wednesday night when state Rep. James Smith, a captain in the Army National Guard preparing for deployment to Afghanistan, flew back to the state capital to vote against the voucher bill. The lobbying power of the education empire proved too powerful for the parents in the Palmetto State who are demanding school choice. The voucher program, which would have provided low-income kids in failing public schools with $4,500 to attend a private school of their choice, was defeated by a 63-56 vote. It's up to the parents of South Carolina, whose children have been deprived of a quality education, to come together (use the force) and defeat South Carolina's education empire.
CHARTER SCHOOLS
WHAT FREEDOM? How is it that a group working under the umbrella of "freedom and democracy" co-hosts a forum in which only ideologically-driven opponents of educational freedom spew negative opinions about programs that allow such freedom? How is it that the same organization and others that sound equally American (Open Society, The Center for Community Change) provided a venue for the policy advisor to the anti-reform Governor of Ohio Ted Strickland to claim public charter schools "raped and pillaged" public schools? How, without offering equal, open or democratic time to people who have a different point of view, was policy advisor and former Minority Leader of the State Senate C.J. Prentiss allowed to viciously attack charters? Such was the setting at "Charter Schools: Keeping the Promise, or Dismantling Communities," a "forum" held in Washington, DC last week. Devoid of any first-hand knowledge of the needs of the parents and children served by popular public charter schools and other schools of choice, the groups used every trick they knew to denounce charters. They even dragged students from New Orleans to the event to claim charters aren't working. Despite all that "freedom and democracy," it's clear it was a collection of organizations that have no substantive knowledge, merely their own opinions.
NOLA'S BACK. While New Orleans students were being exploited in Washington, DC by groups bent on upholding the status quo, newspapers across the country were putting the city's reform efforts back in the spotlight. Rising violence in the city and students who have missed over a year of school have not been enough to deter charter schools and education reformers from transforming the school system. Rather than get caught up in the BLOB's campaign against reform, the media is on the ground with the real story in the Crescent City. The Times Picayune highlighted New Orleans Charter Science and Math High School, which outperformed even the city's selective admissions schools and has taken in some of the city's most at-risk students since Katrina hit. The Los Angeles Times and others highlighted the work of New Leaders for New Schools in New Orleans, a group focused on reforming the education system that was dismally failing students before the storm hit. It has not been an easy road for any school in New Orleans this year, but it's nice to see the success stories back in the morning paper.
BLOG REPORT
ALLIES ETCHED IN GRANITE. It's already that time - when the sleepy state of New Hampshire awakens to a steady stream of presidential politics. New York Senator and Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton made one of the early visits to the Granite State last week, appearing before 300 delegates of the National Education Association (NEA) - New Hampshire at their annual meeting. It marked the first good chance to get an idea of her education agenda, and she didn't disappoint her crowd. Clinton called for universal pre-school (something the union has been vocal about), called for a shift away from George W. Bush's "test-based" approach to education ("teaching to the test" sound familiar?), and called the No Child Left Behind Act underfunded (where have we heard that before?). "Teachers of New Hampshire, you are not going to be invisible to the next President of the United States," she pledged. "We've got to change the attitude from the top to the bottom, about what we expect from our schools, what we're going to do to help our schools and how we're going to teach our students." With the first real glimpse of Senator Clinton's education agenda coming before a union crowd, how can she be the reform president we need? Lend your opinion in CER's Election 2008 Blog.
DANTE'S BLOB INFERNO. For all those literature buffs out there, Colorado House Education Committee Chairman Mike Merrifield is offering a refresher course on Dante Alighieri's Inferno. Or his own interpretation. Rep. Merrifield (D-Manitou Springs) sent an email last week to Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Sue Windels that said, "There must be a special place in hell for these privatizers, charterizers and voucherizers. They deserve it." Within hours, and after protests from the education reform community in Colorado, Merrifield stepped down as Chairman of the Education Committee. Merrifield claimed that he sent the email from a personal account and didn't know it would ever be seen. As they say, the devil's in the details. Care to comment? The EdReform Blog is standing by...
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