Latest News and Comment from Education

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Cortines calls on warring factions to work together on behalf of L.A. students - LA Times

Cortines calls on warring factions to work together on behalf of L.A. students - LA Times:

Cortines criticizes Broad, calls on warring factions to work together for L.A. students

Supt. Cortines talks with Steve Lopez

LAUSD Supt. Ramon C. Cortines, right, in conversation Wednesday with L.A. Times columnist Steve Lopez in the Chandler Auditorium at the Los Angeles Times. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)


 his first public criticism of a massive charter-school expansion plan, outgoing Los Angeles schools chief Ramon C. Cortines on Wednesday referred to philanthropistEli Broad, who spearheaded the proposal, as "ill advised."
In an hourlong conversation at The Times with columnist Steve Lopez, the L.A. Unifiedsuperintendent also said that he supports offering choices to parents, including charter schools, and said that warring factions need to learn to work together in the interest of students.
"Parents do need choices," Cortines said. "It’s not just one way.... We need to be collaborating together. Schools are struggling. Charter schools are struggling, parochial schools are struggling…. We need to get on a plan to work together.”
Lopez asked Cortines if the Broad plan, outlined in a confidential draft obtained by The Times, would result in harm to the district and its students. That proposal talked about raising $490 million to move half of Los Angeles students into charter schools. Some critics say that such a migration could threaten the solvency of the nation's second-largest school system.
Cortines did not directly address the fate of L.A. Unified. But he did briefly take on Broad and the proposal. 
"I think he was ill advised," Cortines said of Broad. "I think somebody brought him an elixir without having it be tested to see if it will really do what it is promised to do.”
The superintendent noted, however, that after the plan became public, Broad’s foundation toned down its pro-charter rhetoric.
The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation has characterized the leaked proposal as a draft meant for discussion purposes. The Broad plan has led to the creation of a nonprofit that officials said will work to create high-quality schools of any kind, charter or otherwise.
Cortines defended traditional schools and the dedication of their employees. 
"We are doing some things right," he said. "This district, this school system, does not get a fair shake."Cortines calls on warring factions to work together on behalf of L.A. students - LA Times:

CURMUDGUCATION: NEPC: How Charter$ Ca$h In

CURMUDGUCATION: NEPC: How Charter$ Ca$h In:

NEPC: How Charter$ Ca$h In



Today the National Education Policy Center released a new report, "The Business of Charter Schooling: Understanding the Policies That Charter Operators Use for Financial Benefit." 

In other words, what policies are helping charter operators cash in, and how?

The report, by Bruce Baker (Rutgers University) and Gary Miron (Western Michigan University) is a valuable and useful read, filled with actual scholarly research (unlike, say, a typical blog post). The findings are not surprising, but they are stark and clear. This is a resource that will be invaluable in a thousand little charter skirmishes across the country. I'm going to just hit some highlights here, but I strongly recommend you read the whole thing.

The paper opens with a good pocket history of charters and the charter movement.This leads to an examination of the structural and governance differences of charters, and that leads to a discussion of how charters finance themselves. Baker and Miron that charters can only "find" money one of two ways-- either by revenue enhancement strategies, or by cutting costs.

The paper is rich with detail, data, and illustrative examples. The four basic concerns they express are:

1) Much of the money intended for educating children never makes it to the classroom. Instead, somebody is making money.

Charters can only make more money by increasing revenue or cutting costs. Revenue enhancement 
CURMUDGUCATION: NEPC: How Charter$ Ca$h In:


Wasting No Time: Obama to Sign ESSA into Law on December 10, 2015. | deutsch29

Wasting No Time: Obama to Sign ESSA into Law on December 10, 2015. | deutsch29:

Wasting No Time: Obama to Sign ESSA into Law on December 10, 2015.



On November 30, 2015, the public first saw the 1,061-page final draft of the next Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization, now named the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).
On December 02, 2015, the House passed ESSA by a vote of 359-64.
On December 09,2015, the Senate passed ESSA by a vote of 85-12.
ESSA is not officially law until President Obama signs the bill.
That is scheduled to happen in short order, on the morning of December 10, 2015.
Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), who joined Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) to head up the Senate version of the ESEA reauthorization, offered this glowing statement that was published in The Redmond  Reporter (Washington State) within hours after the Senate vote. In her statement, Murray confirms Obama’s plan to sign ESSA into law one day after the Senate vote:
Today (12/09/15) at 10:32AM (Pacific Time)
Submitted by Sen. Patty Murray
Today, by a vote of 85-12 the United States Senate overwhelmingly passed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), Sen. Patty Murray’s (D-WA) bipartisan legislation to rewrite No Child Left Behind.
After hearing from parents, teachers, school administrators and local and state officials in Washington state about how No Child Left Behind is badly broken, Sen. Murray worked with Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Republicans for almost a year to craft this bipartisan legislation. ESSA takes Wasting No Time: Obama to Sign ESSA into Law on December 10, 2015. | deutsch29:

S.1177: Student Success Act - U.S. Congress - OpenCongress

S.1177: Student Success Act - U.S. Congress - OpenCongress:


S.1177 - Student Success Act

An original bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to ensure that every child achieves.view all titles (8)

Bill’s Views

  • Today:45
  • Past Seven Days:261
  • All-Time:1,278
 
Introduced
 
Senate
Passed
 
House
Passes
 
President
Signs
 

 
04/30/15
 
07/16/15
 
 
 
 
 

Sponsor

A000360
Senator
Lamar Alexander
R-TN
No Co-Sponsors
 

Latest Vote

Result: Passed - December 02, 2015

Roll call number 665 in the House

Question: On Agreeing to the Conference Report: S 1177 To reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to ensure that every child achieves
 

Official Summary

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.) Every Child Achieves Act of 2015 This bill reauthorizes and amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). The bill addresses issues such as accountability and te...Read the Rest


Latest Letters to Congress

See All Letters (4)
 



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YESTERDAY

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