Thursday, August 12, 2010

Chicago News Cooperative - Many Chicago Charter Schools Run Deficits, Data Shows - NYTimes.com

Chicago News Cooperative - Many Chicago Charter Schools Run Deficits, Data Shows - NYTimes.com

Many Chicago Charter Schools Run Deficits, Data Shows




Even as the Obama administration promotes charter schools as a way to help raise the academic performance of the nation’s students, half of Chicago’s charter schools have been running deficits in recent years, an analysis of financial and budget documents shows, calling into question their financial viability.
José Moré/Chicago News Cooperative
Teachers heading to their classrooms at Perspectives Calumet High School, a charter school on the South Side of Chicago.

Chicago News Cooperative

A nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization providing local coverage of Chicago and the surrounding area for The New York Times.
José Moré/Chicago News Cooperative
Charter teachers may do more than teach. Ryan Beaudoin, an 11th-grade teacher at Perspectives Calumet, painted his room.
On Monday, Chicago Public Schoolsreleased a bare-bones budget that included a cut of about 6 percent in per-pupil financing for charter schools — to $5,771 from $6,117 per pupil for elementary school students and to $7,213 from $7,647 per pupil for high school students. The cuts are a result of shrinking tax revenue and lagging support from the strapped state government. The city’s 71 charter schools, which enrolled 33,000 students last year and expect to enroll another 10,000 in the 2010-11 school year, stand to lose $15 million under the cuts.
It is difficult to compare the cuts with those that are being made at traditional schools because those schools do not receive money on a per-pupil basis, but district officials said they tried to make the amount of cuts comparable to those being made at traditional schools.
As a result, charters will become more dependent on private donors to provide the extras — more counselors, smaller classes, longer school days and up-to-date




Gina Garcia teaching a summer school class with 34 students.
Ruby Washington/The New York Times
Gina Garcia teaching a summer school class with 34 students.
Amid a statewide fiscal crisis, Yonkers has laid off 90 teachers, which will force it to increase class sizes.
Marc Hauser is one of Harvard's most visible academics and is frequently quoted in articles about language, animals' cognitive abilities and the biological basis of morality.

Inquiry on Harvard Lab Threatens Ripple Effect

Harvard’s slow-motion inquiry about the laboratory of Marc Hauser has cast a shadow over the several different fields in which he and his students published papers.

School Tech Connect: Go To Helsinki!

School Tech Connect: Go To Helsinki!

Go To Helsinki!

Illinois colleagues, the next time your Tea Party relative out in Wheaton (or wherever) tells you that Illinois is just spending too much money and has to come to terms with reality (meaning, convert your pension to a 403B), be prepared with the facts. The Center For Tax and Budget Accountability has a nice little document out that explains even for the math-challenged that Illinois is very near the bottom of the barrel in terms of spending relative to its GDP. 43rd, to be precise. We're 13th in real relative wealth, 43th in relative spending.

If I were a local association leader, I would start

Disperse!

Get this man out of government before he completely destroys the city. I've taken a lot of courses at Truman College-- I've had some really brilliant instructors. I've been in classes with kids who could barely communicate in standard English. They learned what they learned; I learned what I learned. We all got


Actually, I Just Want The Jameson

There's a pretty good letter to Robert Gibbs right here. I'd like to add my name to it. I'd also like to recognize that even though I think the President is actually worse

San Diego schools drop fees ACLU says are illegal | News10.net | Sacramento, California | Education

San Diego schools drop fees ACLU says are illegal | News10.net | Sacramento, California | Education


San Diego schools drop fees ACLU says are illegal

San Diego schools drop fees ACLU says are illegal

The San Diego Unified School District has rescinded an array of extracurricular school fees after a group alleged the charges violate the state Constitution's guarantee of free public schools.

California adopts new academic standards

California adopts new academic standards

The California Board of Education Monday voted unanimously to adopt the Common Core Standards for English language arts and math developed by a national commission.

Feds block Schwarzenegger's plan to sell EdFund

Feds block Schwarzenegger's plan to sell EdFund

Federal officials are blocking Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to sell the state's student loan guarantee operation to help fill California's deficit.

City tells charter applicants to file again with the state | GothamSchools

City tells charter applicants to file again with the state | GothamSchools

City tells charter applicants to file again with the state


The city has told nearly 20 prospective charter school leaders who originally asked the city for charters that they need to start the process over with the state.
The move begins to fill in the hazy picture of how the city’s role in granting and overseeing charters is changing as a result of charter school legislation passed in May. It suggests that the city might be losing some of its autonomy in authorizing charters, but still plans to stay involved in the chartering process.
The new law doubled the number of charters allowed in the state. It also created some confusion over jus


Question on Test Scores Is Tweaked on the Common Application College Admissions Advice - The Choice Blog - NYTimes.com

College Admissions Advice - The Choice Blog - NYTimes.com

Question on Test Scores Is Tweaked on the Common Application

Common Application Web site

1:54 p.m. | Updated See below for an additional way to get further information on this change.

This year’s version of the Common Application, which went live on the Web late on the evening of July 31, includes something of a tweak on the section in which applicants are asked to self-report their standardized test scores to the colleges they are applying to. (Official reports will, of course, be sent to those colleges directly by the scorers of the SAT and ACT, respectively.)

Applicants are now given the option on the Common Application to report

61 special ed school heads make more than NJ gov - Boston.com

61 special ed school heads make more than NJ gov - Boston.com

61 special ed school heads make more than NJ gov

By Beth DeFalco
Associated Press Writer / August 12, 2010
Text size +
TRENTON, N.J.—It's not clear whether salary caps that Gov. Chris Christie wants for New Jersey's school superintendents would apply to private schools funded with tax dollars.
An analysis by The Record newspaper found more than 60 administrators for the state's 152 private special education schools earn more than the $175,000 cap.
None of the state's special education private schools had more than 460 students last year.
Education Department spokesman Alan Guenther said the rules still are being drafted and will be presented in September, but the governor's spokesman

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HISD bond program is $39 million over budget | School Zone | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

HISD bond program is $39 million over budget | School Zone | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

HISD bond program is $39 million over budget

Houston ISD Superintendent Terry Grier told the school board this week that an initial review shows the district's $805 million bond program is $39 million over budget. He said it appears that the initial budget for the 2007 bond did not include funding for land and portable buildings — those expensive trailers used to house students during the construction process — and that the scope of some projects has grown without board approval.
"I'm sitting here stunned," board member Larry Marshall said.
Grier's new chief business officer, Leo Bobadilla, said he is reviewing documents for each school project to find out the initial scope and cost estimate, what changed, and whether the budget is in the black or the red. Bobadilla, who used to work with Grier in Guilford County Schools in North Carolina, replaced Dick Lindsay.