Willow Public School receives $250,000 grant

Brenden Koch Sep 26, 2018 Willow Public School has been granted $250,000 by the NewSchools Venture Fund. The Walla Walla charter school was one of 19 schools across the nation to receive money from the California-based philanthropic firm, which uses donations received to support teams of educators and entrepreneurs “who are re-imagining public education to…

“This is a Struggle to Save Public Education”

AN INTERVIEW WITH ARLENE INOUYE The teachers strike wave has reached Los Angeles: teachers there recently voted overwhelmingly to strike. They are fighting against school privatization, wage and benefit cuts, and the nationwide project to dismantle public education. he education strike wave initiated by West Virginia’s wildcat has reached the coasts. Teachers in Washington and Pennsylvania have walked off the job…

Public Schools Question Special Education Funding Fairness As Voucher Program Expands

September 26, 2019 EMILY FILES Is state special education funding in Wisconsin unfair? School districts from Eau Claire to Oak Creek say it is. They see inequity between public schools and a relatively new voucher program. The Special Needs Scholarship Program is another chapter in Wisconsin’s storied school choice movement. It provides an approximate $12,000 scholarship — or…

Poll: 2 in 3 say public school teachers underpaid

By Laura Meckler / Washington Post Posted at 11:21 AM Most Americans say public-school teachers are underpaid and say they would support them if they went on strike for better wages, a new poll shows, offering backup for newly assertive educators. At the same time, the poll found American confidence in teachers at a low point. Also,…

We Can’t Just Sue Our Way To A Better Education System

Aug 29, 2018, Natalie Wexler Frustrated with a lack of progress—especially for poor and minority students—some education activists are resorting to lawsuits. But courts aren’t equipped to address obstacles that are deeply rooted in the American approach to teaching. A lawsuit filed in 2016 charged that conditions in Detroit schools—including a lack of teachers, books, pencils, and…

Poll: GOP support for school choice growing

By Maria Danilova / The Associated Press August 23, 2018    WASHINGTON — Support for charter schools and private school voucher programs has gone up over the past year, with Republicans accounting for much of the increase, according to a survey published Tuesday. The findings by Education Next, a journal published by Harvard’s Kennedy School…

Charter schools are big business. Who’s making money off public education?

THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC REVEALS WHAT CHARTER SCHOOLS DON’T TELL PARENTS. SEE THE ONGOING INVESTIGATION HERE Arizona Republic Aug. 22, 2018 With Arizona public schools struggling to raise students’ standardized test scores, the Legislature in 1994 began a grand experiment: charter schools. They were exempted from state procurement or conflict-of-interest laws and the oversight of elected boards. With less regulation, charters could…

Charter School Amendment Removed From Florida Ballot

 AUGUST 21, 2018 By Tom McLaughlin Circuit Court Judge John Cooper clearly didn’t agree with the wording of the last of the constitutional amendments to be put before voters this November. Cooper on Monday ordered Amendment 8 stricken from the ballot, calling both the amendment language and the title it would have been introduced under…

California State Superintendent Torlakson Creates Team to Recommend Updates in Charter School Law

August 20, 2018 – SACRAMENTO— State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson has announced that he is creating an Action Team on Charter Schools to review laws governing California’s charter schools, and provide recommendations about any needed changes to the next State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Governor, State Board of Education, and State Legislature. The guiding…