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…

Families of public school students with disabilities win legal battle

By BEN CHAPMAN AUG 29, 2018  Families of public school students with disabilities won a legal battle Tuesday when a federal court judge dismissed the city’s attempt to throw their suit out on procedural grounds. The lawsuit filed in October 2017 by three city families with the advocacy group Advocates for Children charged the city Department…

Plans to improve public education advance in Annapolis

BY MICHAEL B. JEFFERSON AUG 27, 2018 There was good back-to-school news for Baltimore students and families in the work session held last week in Annapolis by the Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education, better known as the Kirwan Commission. Under the recommendations of the panel’s working group, pre-K would become much more accessible to…

Detroit schools shutting off drinking water because of lead, copper

Lori Higgins, Aug. 29, 2018 The Detroit school district is shutting off drinking water to all of its schools after test results found elevated levels of lead or copper in 16 out of 24 schools that were recently tested. “Although we have no evidence that there are elevated levels of copper or lead in our other…

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…

Arizona Supreme Court boots educational funding proposal off Nov. ballot

AUGUST 29, 2018 David Schwartz PHOENIX (Reuters) – The Arizona Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday to remove a proposal from the November ballot that, if passed, would have pumped $690 million into Arizona’s public education system by raising taxes on the state’s highest earners. The court found the proposition’s description of the change in tax…