Free Republic

Mayor de Blasio brought down the hammer Thursday on three charter schools operated by his nemesis Eva Moskowitz, leaving hundreds of kids without classrooms this fall. “This has to be the saddest day for the Success Academy’s children, family, teachers, school leaders,” Moskowitz said after meeting with stunned charter parents in Harlem. “Right now, our kids are being evicted. Evicted out of their school. It’s wrong and we need an explanation. You’re going to have to ask Mayor de Blasio what the motivations are for a decision that will hurt so many children now and, frankly, forever.”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio took off the gloves in his battle with education reformers, rescinding an agreement for the city to share space with several public charter schools. The move undercuts educators, parents and some 700 students at four schools, including Harlem Success 4, one of the public charter school movement’s top success stories, and two set to open in the fall. While agreements at those schools were rescinded, expansion of a fourth school was also blocked. The schools were to operate rent-free in city-owned facilities under deals backed by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an ardent supporter...

A 2013 study on Michigan charter public schools done by Stanford University and a recently released study by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy showing that charter schools do a better job serving low-income students than public schools was disparaged by US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan as “off target.” The studies indicated that charter schools enroll a larger proportion of students from low-income families (70%) than public schools (55%). On top of this, the Stanford study found that black and Hispanic students did significantly better in reading and math when in charter schools than their peers in conventional public...

(subtitled, "Many Upset Over Proposals By Dem. Mayoral Candidate Bill de Blasio") As many as 17,000 parents, students and educators took part in a rally Tuesday in support of New York City’s charter schools. Wearing shirts that said “Charter Schools Are Public Schools” and “My Child, My Choice,” protesters marched across the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall. Many charter school parents and teachers are upset over some proposals by Democratic mayoral nominee Bill de Blasio, which include ending the practice of allowing charter schools to share space in buildings with traditional public schools... “I’m here to fight for the charter...

A new study done by policy group Save Our States has discovered that publicly funded charter schools cost taxpayer less money in New York than traditional public schools - by a margin of more than $3,000 per student. Why the 24-27 percent discrepancy between charter schools and public schools? The report points to teacher benefits: Pensions and health costs for teachers and other staff are substantially higher for the traditional, unionized public schools compared to charters, which offer their employees 401ks rather than more generous defined benefit plans. The group's study directly challenges a New York City Independent Budget Office...

administrator, Millard Jones told FOX23 that Terrance Parker was fully aware what was expected. However, for his young daughter, it just hurts. "They didn't like my dreads," said Tiana. FoX23 reviewed the school's dress code. It states, "hairstyles such as dreadlocks, afros, mohawks, and other faddish styles are unacceptable."

Turkey | An aging but popular exile in the United States, Fethullah Gulen is considered by many behind moves to Islamicize his native land After weeks of demonstrations in 76 cities, police forces in Turkey made one final sweep through Istanbul’s Taksim Square, arresting the remaining protesters and wiping out their tent city. That appeared to be the end of nationwide protests that injured 4,000 and left at least four dead—until a local performing artist arrived on the night of June 17 and peacefully planted himself in the square. With his hands in his pockets, the “standing man” stared solemnly...

Education: The president of the Chicago Teachers Union charges that racism and "rich white people" are to blame for the immense financial and educational crisis facing the Chicago Public Schools. Tbe Chicago Public Schools (CPS) represent everything that is wrong with public education in America. They are in thrall to the unions that run the system and bankrupt it through bloated salaries and pensions while too many of the students trapped inside graduate as functional illiterates, if they graduate at all. Poor academic performance generally, a huge budget shortfall and poorly attended schools in declining neighborhoods recently forced CPS to...

On May 15, 2013, the Turkish Prime Minister, Erdogan, an anti-Semite, attended a ceremony a stone’s throw from our nation’s capital celebrating what he claims “will likely become the largest and most striking example of Islamic architecture in the Western Hemisphere.” Next year, when completed, the Turkish American Culture and Civilization Center, in Lanham, Maryland “US of A,” a project of the Islamist Turkish government, will be the grandest Islamic site in the Western Hemisphere. Allah Akbar! The 15-acre neo-Ottoman empire inspired complex will have five buildings and a mosque capable of serving over 750 faithful Muslim worshipers. I have...

I wrote recently how teachers unions, parent-teacher associations and school bureaucrats form an education "Blob" that makes it hard to improve schools. They also take revenge on those who work around the Blob. Here's one more sad example: Ben Chavis, founder and principal of the American Indian Public Charter Schools, got permission to compete with the Blob in Oakland, Calif. Chavis vowed, "We'll outperform the other schools in five years." He did. Kids at the three schools he runs now have some of the highest test scores in California. His schools excel even though the government spends less on...

<p>SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. (AP) — The head of a western Massachusetts charter school says a student production of a play that retells the biblical story of Genesis with gay characters will go on as planned despite objections from some who say it's offensive to Christians.</p>

One of the most highly compensated superintendents in the state is from a charter public school whose high school received an “F” on an academic performance report card in 2012. Alison Cancilliari had a gross salary of $250,000 with a total compensation of $339,850 in 2011-12 for overseeing Summit Academy in Flat Rock and Summit Academy North in Romulus. Cancilliari oversees just over 2,000 students in five buildings. Summit Academy North High School was ranked 543rd overall out of 592 high schools and was given an “F" on the Mackinac Center report card. The report card measures student academic scores...

<p>ATLANTA (AP) — Campaign finance records show that supporters of Georgia's charter school amendment have outspent opponents by a significant margin.</p> <p>Voters will decide Tuesday whether to approve the proposed constitutional amendment, which would expand state influence over charter schools.</p>

SUBJECT: Conservative Case Against "Charter School" Amendment I am a fan of our local Milton representatives in the Georgia legislature and their passion to reform public K-12 schools. School choice, competition and other reforms are long overdue, and more "funding" for status quo won't solve anything. Having said that, no conservative leaning voter who believes in local control and real reforms should be voting for the proposed constitutional amendment on charter schools. It is fundamentally against principles of conservatism. State government take over of decisions away from "elected" local school boards is just wrong, no matter the stakes. While defeating...

School boards are not permitted to use taxpayer money to oppose the charter schools amendment, Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens wrote in a letter to Superintendent John Barge Wednesday. His letter – which followed complaints about boards’ actions on that issue — doesn’t appear likely to end the argument. Rather than provide clarity, the letter itself became a sort of political Rorschach test, with amendment supporters and opponents interpreting it in starkly different ways. And superintendents and board members said they plan to press the case against an amendment they believe will lead to more charter schools and less money...

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis walks, talks and barks like a rootsy Occupy Wall Street activist. But this Big Labor loudmouth who's leading the abandonment of nearly 400,000 schoolchildren in the Windy City is just another power-grabbing union fat cat. Instead of academic excellence, she rails about "social justice." Instead of accountability, she fumes about "profits" and curses merit pay. Lewis has marched with the Occu-clowns denouncing capitalism and promoting "socialism (as) the alternative." She raves: "Occupy Wall Street and the whole concept of the 99 percent is an extraordinarily important movement." And she earned praise as a "fist-in-the-air,...

Is it possible for charter schools to increase educational options and diversity in the public school system but decrease diversity overall; to spend less money than regular public schools but cost taxpayers more overall, and to outperform regular public schools but decrease achievement overall? Unfortunately, it is not only possible but is happening in cities across the nation. This mix of intended and unintended outcomes is what’s known as the “charter school paradox,” which hints at the uneasy place these relatively new educational options have in our society. But it is only a paradox if we take a narrow view...

Fethullah Gülen is a Turkish imam, considered one of the most influential imams in the world, no doubt due to his brilliant creation of taxpayer funded chartered schools with more than a whiff of Islam in the curricula - in the United States. The experiment started with full U.S. taxpayer funding. Gülen Charters is the largest charter school network in the U.S. There were 134 U.S. Gülen charter schools in 2010, in 26 states with 45,000 students. They continue to receive taxpayer dollars and have the distinction of being the nation's largest users of H1B visas. Teachers with poor English...

Two thousand years ago, somebody (like the future Alexander the Great) who wanted to learn from a famous philosopher (like Aristotle) had to visit him in person, or vice versa. Written correspondence was of course possible, but every letter had to be written by hand, and it could take months to reach its destination. It was hardly possible to have an ongoing, two-way exchange of ideas under these conditions. With the invention of the printing press, it became possible for one teacher’s ideas to reach hundreds or thousands of students, and the mass production of books increased literacy rates enormously....

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has openly invited Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen to Turkey in a speech he delivered during the closing ceremony for the 10th Turkish Olympiads amid a standing ovation from a crowd of over 50,000. Erdoğan, who spoke after he was granted a special award by the organizing committee of the Olympiads, implied that Gülen, without directly mentioning his name, should return to Turkey as soon as possible. The well-known scholar has been residing in the US for nearly 13 years. “We want this yearning to end,” he said, receiving a lengthy standing ovation from...