Thursday, December 9, 2010

District restructures debt amid concerns about future | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

District restructures debt amid concerns about future

by Dale Mezzacappa on Dec 09 2010

A few hours before the marathon afternoon meeting on Wednesday dominated by passionate discussion of minority contracting, the School Reform Commission held a short, businesslike session to approve a resolution restructuring its debt. And while everything was presented as routine, pro-forma, and in the District's best interest, it drew attention to some jaw-dropping information that is hardly secret but is not often discussed.

For instance, the District carries $3 billion in debt, and 10 percent of its operating budget goes to debt service - its annual pricetag has soared to $253 million of $2.4 billion. State law guarantees that the District pay off this debt no matter what; it has no option to delay doing this so it can, say, keep qualified teachers in every classroom.

And both Chief Financial Officer Michael Masch and the commissioners said it is likely that the District's overall revenues will decline precipitously next year, given the expiration of the federal stimulus funds and Harrisburg's takeover by Repubicans promising more austerity and no new taxes.

I will not pretend to have read the resolution, which is more than an inch thick. Masch said, in an understatement, that the restructuring was a "complicated

The Answer Sheet - Teachers: What we need to do to fix schools

Teachers: What we need to do to fix schools

This is the companion piece to the previous post, in which teachers expressed their frustrations about the attacks on their profession. This piece is about a new report by 14 teachers from high-needs urban schools around the country about how to effectively improve conditions in these schools. The following was written by Larry Ferlazzo, an English teacher at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, Calif. He is the author of several books on education policy and practice, including English Language Learners: Teaching Strategies That Work, and maintains a popular resources blog for teachers. This appeared on the Teachers Magazine space at Education Week's website. By Larry Ferlazzo Few things in our world are helped by looking through an either/or lens. Reality, in my experience at least, is far too ambiguous to be seen as all one color or another. Unfortunately, many “school reformers”—often with little teacher consultation—come across as having

Teachers: How much more can we take?

This powerful piece and the one that follows will give flip sides of what teachers are living with today: deep frustration at being scapegoated, and determination to continue to find ways to improve schools and educate children. The post was written by John Norton, co-founder of the Teacher Leaders Network and first published on Teachers Magazine’s space on Education Week’s website. Norton, a former education journalist and vice president of the Southern Regional Education Board, is currently a communications consultant for the Center for Teaching Quality and the Alabama Best Practices Center. This is long but well worth the time to read every word. You can find more comments from teachers at the site. By John Norton During a recent chat in the Teacher Leaders Network daily online discussion group, it became apparent that many established, expert teachers who once planned to teach well into their 60s are now rethinking

Tuition fees: government wins narrow victory | Education | guardian.co.uk

Tuition fees: government wins narrow victory

• Plans to raise cap on tuition carried by 323 votes to 302
• Protesters clash with police outside parliament
• Read how the day's student protests unfolded
• All the day's political developments as they happened

Hélène Mulholland, political reporter
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 9 December 2010 19.40 GMT
Article history

The motion on student funding passed narrowly with majority of 21, with six Tories and 21 Lib Dems rebelling Link to this video

Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat business secretary, insisted tonight that his party remained united despite a 21-strong rebellion by backbench MPs in a crucial vote over plans to allow universities to raise the cap on tuition fees to £9,000.

The coalition plans faced bitter criticism not only from Labour MPs but from Lib Dem and Tory backbenchers too before the move was carried by 323 votes to 302 in what has proved to be the most testing

"Parent Trigger Law" Could Trigger Change Around The Nation | Education | Change.org

Parents at McKinley Elementary are fed up. Their children have gone to a dismal school for years, they say, and the district has done nothing about it. So they're taking matters into their own hands with help from a new California law that allows parents to take control of a failing school.

It's called the "Parent Trigger law," and it was narrowly passed by the California legislature earlier this year. It applies to the lowest performing schools in California, allowing parents to make drastic changes to a school if they can get over 51 percent of all the parents to sign a petition.

Marlene Romero is one of those parents who's trying to change McKinley, where only 19 percent of 3rd graders read at grade level.

"We are completely fed up," said Romero. "We’ve been told to wait every year and nothing changes."

Sixty-one percent of McKinley's parents voted to have the school taken over by a local charter school, just one of the options the Parent Trigger law allows. In addition, parents can vote to have the school closed, have it "transformed" by hiring a new principal, do a "turnaround" where much of the staff is hired and

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS: The Arts Academy

The Arts Academy *6 CHARTER SCHOOLS SPONSORED BY ASHE CULTURE CENTER DECLARED UNAUDITABLE*; November 24, 2010; The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH) The financial records of six Cleveland-area charter schools are in such bad shape that the Ohio auditor's office says they ...

Marcus Garvey Academy *6 CHARTER SCHOOLS SPONSORED BY ASHE CULTURE CENTER DECLARED UNAUDITABLE*; November 24, 2010; The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH) The financial records of six Cleveland-area charter schools are in such bad shape that the Ohio auditor's office says they ...

Lion of Judah Academy *6 CHARTER SCHOOLS SPONSORED BY ASHE CULTURE CENTER DECLARED UNAUDITABLE*; November 24, 2010; The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH) The financial records of six Cleveland-area charter schools are in such bad shape that the Ohio auditor's office says they ...

Elite Academy of the Arts *6 CHARTER SCHOOLS SPONSORED BY ASHE CULTURE CENTER DECLARED UNAUDITABLE*; November 24, 2010; The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH) The financial records of six Cleveland-area charter schools are in such bad shape that the Ohio auditor's office says they ...

Arts Academy West *6 CHARTER SCHOOLS SPONSORED BY ASHE CULTURE CENTER DECLARED UNAUDITABLE*; November 24, 2010; The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH) The financial records of six Cleveland-area charter schools are in such bad shape that the Ohio auditor's office says they ...

Greater Heights Academy *CLEVELAND CHARTER SCHOOL GREATER HEIGHTS ACADEMY ABRUPTLY CLOSES*; November 17, 2008; The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH) CLEVELAND -- About 750 students were left scrambling on Monday after money troubles -- including a lawsuit over payments owed to a ...

Central PA Digital Learning Foundation Charter School *U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE TAKES A DIM VIEW OF CYBERSCHOOL DIPLOMAS*; November 28, 2010; The Patriot-News (Harrisburg, PA) All diplomas awarded to Pennsylvania public school students are not equal in the eyes of the military. Students attending any ...

Arizona charter schools (attendance tracking problems) *AZ’S CHARTER SCHOOLS OVERSTATE ENROLLMENT*; September 4, 2007; The Arizona Republic Steve Chavez tried for four years to get an accurate count of the 250 or so students attending his five small charter schools in northern Arizona. He can’t say ...

Minnesota charter schools (authorizers getting out of business) *ONE-THIRD OF STATE'S AUTHORIZERS ARE GETTING OUT OF CHARTER SCHOOL BUSINESS *; December 1, 2010; Minnesota Public Radio St. Paul, Minn. — Dozens of charter schools in Minnesota are looking for new homes. Not physical homes, but homes with an ...

Democracy Prep Blackstone Valley *5 TEACHERS AT CUMBERLAND CHARTER SCHOOL NEED EMERGENCY CERTIFICATION*; November 26, 2010; Providence Journal (RI) Five teachers at Democracy Prep Blackstone Valley, a public charter school in Cumberland, have received “emergency” teaching permits ...

BlueSky Charter School *STATE THREATENS SANCTIONS AGAINST CHARTER SCHOOL*; November 2, 2010; Minnesota Public Radio St. Paul, Minn. — The Minnesota Department of Education is threatening significant fines against an online charter school if it doesn't fix problems with its ...

Harlem Village Academies *CATHIE BLACK CLAIMS TO HAVE EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE WITH CHARTER SCHOOL BOARD POST, BUT IT'S MOOT*; November 28, 2010; NY Daily City schools chancellor nominee Cathie Black insists she's connected to public education via a highly touted charter ...

West Houston Charter School *PROBLEMS CONTINUE TO MOUNT FOR BELEAGUERED WEST HOUSTON CHARTER SCHOOL, HEADMASTER CALLED ‘PUPPET’* ; June 23, 2010; Instant News Katy (Houston, TX) First of a Two-Part Series Problems for the beleaguered West Houston Charter School continue to ...

School of Tomorrow *WITHOUT WARNING, CHARTER SCHOOL SUDDENLY CLOSES; PARENTS, KIDS, TEACHERS SAY IT BREAKS THEIR HEART; TEACHERS WHO LOST JOBS LEFT STUNNED*, October 8, 2010, WEWS5 (Cleveland, OH) Parents, teachers and students were left stunned and searching for a ...

CARE Charter School of Excellence *CHARTER SCHOOL APPEAL SHOT DOWN BY STATE COMMISSION,* November 4, 2010, WCTV News (Tallahassee, FL) A Jefferson County charter school is fighting to stay open, but today they experienced a setback when a state commission shot down their request ...

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: ICEF: L.A. charter school group secures $10.5-million bailout

ICEF: L.A. charter school group secures $10.5-million bailout -- Howard Blume – LA Times/LA Now | http://lat.ms/ewmwIu December 9, 2010 | 8:05 am -- A struggling nonprofit that runs 15 Los Angeles charter schools announced Thursday it had secured $10.5 million in donations that will enable it to remain open. ICEF ...

JUDGE TENTATIVELY OK’s LAUSD LAYOFF CHANGES The Associated Press | http://bit.ly/ic8VWF Posted: 12/09/2010 08:09:30 AM PST - (AP) - A judge has tentatively approved changes to a layoff policy that forced young teachers out of inner-city schools in Los Angeles. A Superior Court judge this week ...

This Week In Education: Reform: Rhee, Dunbar High, & California's Parent Trigger

Teachers: "Glee", "Mad Men" Names Soon To Be In Kindergarten [image: ScreenHunter_12 Dec. 08 12.54] In five years, every kindergarten classroom will have at least two Sophias, probably an Isabella, and perhaps four boys whose name rhymes with the Gulf of Aden. BabyCenter reports that 2010's most popular names ...

Reform: Rhee, Dunbar High, & California's Parent Trigger [image: 2hrpldy] What a strange week it's been for education -- from the announcement of Michelle Rhee's new advocacy organization (joining SFC and DFER among others), the first use of California's parent trigger at a Compton elementary school, and ...

Thompson: The "Earned Autonomy" Fallacy [image: Respect] The original sin of data-driven "reform" was the concept of earned respect "earned autonomy." In New York City, for instance, an "inspectorate" determined which schools had earned the right to provide holistic, respectful, and ...

Shanker Blog » Lyndon Johnson: Education Reformer

Lyndon Johnson: Education Reformer

by Matthew Di Carlo

Underlying virtually all contemporary education policy debates is the question of poverty. Certainly, high poverty and inequality do not mean we shouldn’t improve schools. On the other hand, the standpoint of some in the debate today evolved from an inarguable, commendable notion (poor kids can learn too) to an ideological brick wall, behind which those who dare speak poverty’s name are accused of “making excuses.”

Anyone who reads history (or who has lived through it) knows that the tension between poverty and equality of educational opportunity is nothing new, nor is the debate about how to address them. For example, these same issues arose during the campaign to pass the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in 1965, as President Lyndon Johnson cajoled everyone he could to push the bill through Congress.

Unlike most of the political leaders who are the self-proclaimed education reformers of today, Johnson had been a teacher. His teaching experience, at a small segregated school for Mexican Americans in the impoverished town of Cotulla, Texas, convinced him that poverty and educational inequality must be tackled in tandem.

Full disclosure: I have a minor obsession with Lyndon Johnson (it feels good to say that out loud), and I have read all of the released transcripts of the phone calls and White House meetings that LBJ recorded. In one of

The Answer Sheet - How poverty affected U.S. PISA scores

How poverty affected U.S. PISA scores

Stephen Krashen, professor emeritus at the University of Southern California, wrote the following, which was posted on the Schools Matter blog. The results of the 2009 administration of the Program for International Student Assessment, known as PISA, were released this week, and showed American 15-year-olds doing generally average in reading, science and math as compared to 65 other countries [including members and non-members of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, which puts out PISA] and other education systems. There was angst in education circles, with calls for even more of the same kind of reforms that we've been implementing for nearly a decade (which haven't done anything to help U.S. PISA scores). Krashen takes a different look at the numbers. By Stephen Krashen “Two countries with similar levels of prosperity can produce very different results,” Ángel Gurría, the O.E.C.D. secretary general, said in a statement on Tuesday. “This shows

Immigrant dreams. Give Mark Kirk a call. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Immigrant dreams. Give Mark Kirk a call.

by Fred Klonsky

Anne was working late last night. I got home. I ordered some sushi delivered and went upstairs to put on CSpan.

Wednesday night TV is not usually engrossing. But I wanted to catch the House vote on the Dream Act.

In case you have not been paying attention, the Dream Act will give legal status to those immigrants who were kids when they came to the US and who may be undocumented. There are a bunch of requirements. You can look them up. But the essence of the law is fairness.

I was finishing my sushi when Anne came home. She walked into the room, and asked what was going on?

Dictators are bold, all right… « Failing Schools

Dictators are bold, all right…

DECEMBER 9, 2010

by Sabrina

Yesterday, Van Schoales of Education Reform Now published a piece in EdNews Colorado imploring local candidates for mayor to consider “bold” ideas like mayoral control of DPS.

Mayoral control is particularly challenging for Denver because of the Colorado constitution but it seems worth more of a public discussion given the increasing dysfunction of the Denver school board, which is likely to get worse, and the ever-increasing need for more quality public education in Denver…
One possible step for the next Denver mayor to consider, short of controlling DPS,

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Thursday, December 9, 2010