By Perry Stein November 6 at 11:04 PM D.C. voters had a philosophical question about public education to answer at the polls Tuesday: Did they want candidates who would more likely be fervent advocates of the traditional public school system, or those who would bolster public charter schools? The usually sleepy races for the D.C. State…
Tag: Tax
School support workers vote to strike in rural district in Washington state
By Hector Cordon 6 November 2018 School support staff in the North Thurston Public School (NTPS) district in Washington state voted to authorize strike action last week against the refusal of the district to provide adequate wage increases and a state law prohibiting public employees from striking. With nearly 15,000 students the district encompasses 74…
From South Carolina to California, charter school-loving billionaires are plowing money into midterm local and education races
By Valerie Strauss November 5 at 4:44 PM In Charleston, S.C., advocates for the public school district are worried. They have watched some of the state’s wealthiest people — including billionaire financier Ben Navarro — form a coalition this year to back school board candidates who support a broad expansion of charter schools. The Charleston Coalition…
Public schools’ struggle correlates directly to state voucher support
November 6, 2018 Tony Lux Tony Lux, a board member for the Indiana Coalition for Public Education, is the retired superintendent of Merrillville schools. The recent promulgation of eight indicators of financial health for school systems glaringly ignores the state’s role in the worsening financial condition of many public school districts. Since the 2008 recession,…
State releases official public school ACT results
BRANDON PAYKAMIAN The Tennessee Department of Education released the official 2018 ACT test results Wednesday, noting a small improvement from last year’s state average composite score of 20.1 to 20.2, a record-breaker. Throughout the state, the 63,104 public school graduates increased their average score in most areas, according to state officials. The average scores in…
State’s new school report cards at odds with CPS’ own ratings
By Lauren FitzPatrick The state’s new report cards for public schools around Illinois, released Tuesday, pose a conundrum for parents of kids at Chicago Public Schools, which unveiled its own ratings last week: Which metric should they believe? CPS, for example, gave its highest rating — Level 1+ — to 185 schools — but 30 of…
How are America’s public schools really doing?
It’s hard to find a public official today who, when talking about public schools, doesn’t talk about what a mess they are. Failing. Some of them are, in fact, failing kids. This piece, written by Jack Schneider, an assistant professor of education at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and the author of “Beyond Test Scores: A…
Arizona Could Be a Case Study for Turning Teacher Protest Into Power
“I realized I wouldn’t be able to look my students in the eyes if I didn’t do everything possible.” EDWIN RIOSOCTOBER 12, 2018 6:00 AM In 2016, newly minted Arizona Teacher of the Year Christine Porter Marsh criss-crossed the state, giving speeches and listening to the concerns of her fellow educators. The Arizona Legislature had been slashing school…
Why Texas public schools are suffering. [Opinion]
David S. Knight Oct. 11, 2018 Texas is a prosperous state, but lawmakers are failing to adequately finance public education, and communities and students are suffering the academic, physical and economic consequences. The upcoming legislative session provides a unique opportunity for our state’s elected leaders to right past wrongs, but a preliminary budget request from the…
Pasco schools seek class size solutions
Jeffrey Solochek October 2, 2018 Nearly two months into the academic year, several Pasco County schools continue to struggle meeting state class size requirements. A recently created report indicates hundreds of classrooms across the district that exceeded the constitutional caps by at least one student. School Board members said they had received calls of classes with…
Standing Strong for Public Education! 