Fewer districts say they’re in trouble | Thoughts on Public Education

Fewer districts say they’re in trouble | Thoughts on Public Education

Fewer districts say they’re in trouble

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Sleepless nights ahead for Joel Montero of FCMAT

Posted on 1/19/11 • Categorized as Revenue and taxes

By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

Ten school districts have acknowledged that they’re headed toward insolvency this year or next. An additional 91 districts say they won’t be able to make ends meet two years from now, based on current projections.

The combination represents about 10 percent of the state’s school districts. It’s preliminary and may rise after county offices of education review districts’ financials over the next month.

But the totals are considerably lower than the 174 districts that last spring said they were headed for fiscal trouble. That’s surprising to Joel Montero, CEO of Fiscal Crisis and Management Advisory Team (FCMAT), the state agency that straightens out districts’

More turmoil at Montbello High School | DeFENSE

More turmoil at Montbello High School | DeFENSE

A shiny new building for friends of Hoyt Why would you divert bond money to expand Slavens K-8 when the middle-schoolers should be going to Merrill…and then tell people that there’s no money to renovate the old Byers building? Is this just a gift to Bruce Hoyt’s friends? DPS has argued ...

A DSST at the old Byers building? Community seems to say yes. This email went out today: Dear DPS Board Members: The former Byers Junior High building I am writing in support of bringing the nationally acclaimed Denver School of Science and Technology (DSST) to the empty Byers Junior High building at 150 S. ...

More turmoil at Montbello High School A mom from Montbello writes: The students of Montbello were going to have a walk out the week after the vote on the school turnaround. The admin and police of the school stopped them from doing it. They blocked doors and made their presence known ...

DPS releases “call for new schools” Tonight, the district presented its “Call for Quality Schools,” which is the open call for proposals from (mostly) new charter schools. There are a couple new developments, like asking for evidence of English-language learner support. They’re also

NYC Educator: Mayor Bloomberg's Dream

NYC Educator: Mayor Bloomberg's Dream

Mayor Bloomberg's Dream

by NYC Educator

Following up on Miss Eyre's post of yesterday (which was quoted in the New York Times, mistakenly attributed to me), Mayor Bloomberg indeed has a dream. Essentially, it entails firing anyone he wants, whenever he wants, for whatever reason he wants.

Likely it will be the principal making such decisions. Goodbye, chapter leader. Goodbye, delegates. Goodbye, pain in the ass loudmouth who's always telling everyone about the unsafe conditions in the auditorium. Hello, teacher willing to rendezvous with principal Tuesday afternoons at the Comfort Inn. In a merit

SFUSD Board Member Questions Turnaround Policies « InterACT

SFUSD Board Member Questions Turnaround Policies « InterACT

SFUSD Board Member Questions Turnaround Policies

by David B. Cohen

In my last post, I reacted to news from San Francisco, where a number of “persistently low-performing” schools will receive a federal school improvement grants (SIG) as part of the government’s “turnaround” policy. There are only four approved models or methods for school turnarounds, and the rigidity of the policy based on so little research and prior success has generated considerable criticism. My fellow InterACT blogger, Martha Infante, recently set about answering a question about schools in California: “The Affluent, Failing, Public School: Does It Really Exist?” And to no one’s surprise, the answer is no. Those of us in the profession are well aware that the ends of the school rankings spectrum reflect differences in circumstances and resources much more than they reflect differences in educators and their practices. Yet, school turnaround models approved by the government

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Colbert was brilliant last night.

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Colbert was brilliant last night.

Colbert was brilliant last night.

Made a mockery of Wake County's T-Party rollback of deseg

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - Disintegration
www.colbertnation.com

The Shriver Brief : Poverty Law Commentary & Insights : Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law : Affordable Housing, Healthcare Reform

The Shriver Brief : Poverty Law Commentary & Insights : Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law : Affordable Housing, Healthcare Reform

The Affordable Care Act Is Working! Turning Back the Clock Would Hurt Millions of Americans

POSTED ON JANUARY 18, 2011 BY ANDREA KOVACH

The House of Representatives is going to vote onH.R. 2 and H. Res. 9, which would repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (collectively referred to as “the Affordable Care Act”). These two laws are already providing critically important benefits and protections for individuals and families across the country. Turning back the clock by repealing these vitally important laws would harm millions of Americans, and would once again allow insurance companies to put profits first.

Repeal would allow unfair and discriminatory insurance practices to continue. Repeal would eliminate important measures that hold insurance companies accountable. Repeal would once again impose lifetime or annual dollar limits on covered services, or rescind insurance coverage when an individual gets sick. Repeal would allow insurers to deny women coverage if they’ve had a Cesarean section, breast or cervical cancer, or received medical treatment for domestic or sexual violence.

Repeal would allow insurance companies to continue to deny coverage to those with pre-existing conditions. Members of Congress are guaranteed access to health coverage even if they or family members have a pre-existing

Shanker Blog » Policy And Research: A Shotgun Wedding In New Jersey

Shanker Blog » Policy And Research: A Shotgun Wedding In New Jersey

Policy And Research: A Shotgun Wedding In New Jersey

by Matthew Di Carlo

Earlier today, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced his plan to open 23 new charter schools in his state. Just hours before this announcement, the NJ education department issued an analysis of new data on the performance of charter schools in the state (during the 2009-10 school year). In an accompanying press release, the department claims that “the data affirms [sic] the need for Governor Christie’s reform proposals to grow the number of high-quality charter schools…”

The release also contains several other extremely bold assertions that the results support expanding the state’s charter sector. The title of the actual report, which contains only tables, is: “Living Up to Expectations: Charter Schools in New Jersey Outperforming District Schools.”

Unfortunately, however, the analysis could barely pass muster if submitted by a student in one of the state’s high school math classes (charter or regular public).

It seems that the department compared the overall proficiency rates of each of the state’s 70 or so charter schools with the rates of the district in which they are located, as well as with the overall state average (for the

Mike Klonsky: If You're Looking for Change, Rahm Is Not Your Guy

Mike Klonsky: If You're Looking for Change, Rahm Is Not Your Guy

Mike Klonsky

Educator, Author of "Small Schools: Public School Reform Meets the Ownership Society"

If You're Looking for Change, Rahm Is Not Your Guy

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Read More: Chicago Public Schools , Mayor Daley , Miguel Del Valle , Rahm Emanuel , Wasserstein Perella ,Chicago News

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If you liked the scandal-ridden Daley machine, you will love Rahm Emanuel as mayor. And why not? Daley and Rahm both move in the same inner circle politically and financially. Rahm's campaign offers voters little more than a continuation of Daley's policies and management style, including management and control over the city's public schools.

Bill Clinton's Chicago fund-raising visit to pump the Emanuel campaign ("there's no better role model") highlighted both Daley's and Rahm's connections to the same family of political and financial interests. Candidate Miguel del Valle was quickest to point out the fallout from Rahm's brief term on the board of directors of Freddie Mac. it was Clinton who appointed Emanuel to the board in 2000. Rahm earned $320,000 for his 14 months of service, but

Casting former chancellor as villain, students’ play goes on | GothamSchools

Casting former chancellor as villain, students’ play goes on | GothamSchools

Casting former chancellor as villain, students’ play goes on

by Anna Phillips

A play written by Queens high school students finally came to the stage last Friday, after igniting controversy for its criticism of former Chancellor Joel Klein.

Administrators at Jamaica High School, which the city plans to close next year, initially banned the play. They then reversed their decision, permitting students to put on their adaptation of the Greek tragedy “Antigone.”

In the play, Klein assumes the role of King Creon, who in the original story favors one brother over another and refuses to give the one he dislikes a proper burial. But in the students’ play, the two brothers are Jamaica High School and the schools that now share its building. The adaptation’s authors are clear: Jamaica is the unpopular one.

In this scene, the prophet Tiresias comes to visit Klein to advise him against closing the school: