Free Republic

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 While agreements at those schools were rescinded, expansion of a fourth school was also blocked.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...

Cesar Chavez Academy in southwest Detroit received an "A" on the Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s high school report card and was the second-highest rated high school in the state. The Center For Michigan rated the charter school as the 65th best in the state out of 560 traditional public school districts and charter public schools. It had Detroit Public Schools ranked 493rd overall. Yet this month, the Michigan Education Association used a study to claim Cesar Chavez Academy is failing and should not be allowed to expand. How is there such a discrepancy? The study the MEA trumpets was...

School boards are sometimes held as shining examples of democracy at its finest — where constituents’ and children’s best interests are truly represented. This is in contrast to the simplistic narrative of what happens in Lansing and Washington, D.C., where rich lobbyists and power-hungry politicians rule the day. A recent story from a mid-sized Michigan school district, however, demonstrates that even at the local level, political self-interest can and does drive decision-making. The Oakland Press reported that the board of the Brandon School District decided to demolish a vacant school to prevent a local group of residents from buying the...

The depths of depravity into which school officials are actively leading kids seem to have no bounds. This weekend a charter public school in South Hadley, Massachusetts is presenting a play that is so depraved and offensive that it's already gotten national attention. The school is performing the play, "The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told," by Paul Rudnick. It's billed as a "comedy." But it's described by many as "blasphemous and hateful." The play retells stories from the Bible using homosexual characters in a pornographic and mocking fashion. The play begins with a retelling of Genesis using a homosexual couple,...

On a National Assessment of Educational Progress test given to urban students a few years ago, Detroit Public Schools students scored the lowest ever measured in the nation. Or, in the words of one urban education expert: "They are barely above what one would expect simply by chance, as if the kids simply guessed at the answers." But thanks to school choice, there may finally be hope. Detroit school children are learning at a rate of an extra three months in school a year when in charter public schools compared to similar counterparts in conventional Detroit Public Schools, according to...

Students and parents eagerly awaiting opening day Monday at Portland's new recording arts-centered charter high school expressed astonishment Friday that the school has been shut down. Sisters Gabby and Maya Vertner were ready to start their junior and freshman years at REAL Prep Charter Academy, whose personalized, hands-on philosophy was just what their mother, Patty, thought they needed. An open house at the school's Pearl District location two weeks ago kindled that feeling, with nothing seeming amiss. So they were among dozens of students shocked Friday to learn the hip-hop-themed school is dead, felled by its planners' failure to have...

By day, the Balere Language Academy is an A-rated charter school, home to children in kindergarten through middle school. But when the kids are tucked into bed, Balere apparently becomes a playground of a different kind. Party fliers, printed and on the Web, indicate that the campus at 10875 Quail Roost Dr. has been hosting raunchy, booze-soaked bashes into the wee hours (SNIP) The school district received complaints from parents who wondered why there were empty beer bottles at their child’s school. They also complained about a lingering smell of smoke...

A federal grand jury has indicted two former top officials at a charter school in Northwest Philadelphia on charges of stealing $522,000 in taxpayer funds. The 27-count indictment charges Hugh C. Clark, 64, and Ina M. Walker, 58, with conspiracy, wire fraud, and theft from a federally funded program, U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger announced Thursday. The pair, both from Philadelphia, allegedly used the money slated for New Media charter school to pay expenses at Lotus Academy, a small private school they controlled; to fund personal businesses, including the Black Olive health-food store and the Black Olive restaurant in Mount...

Hillsdale College Launches Charter School Initiative Hillsdale, Mich. — Hillsdale College announced today it has launched a K-12 charter school initiative to have a positive and lasting effect on the education of young Americans. The school will be based on a classical liberal arts model and will have a strong civics component that will equip students to understand and defend the principles of the American Constitution. “Reform of American public education, to be successful and good, must be built on a foundation of classical liberal arts learning,” said Phil Kilgore, Director of Hillsdale College’s Barney Charter School Initiative. This is...

More than Choice Bethany Stotts, May 6, 2010 At a recent book forum at the American Enterprise Institute, AEI scholar Frederick Hess argued that education reform should move beyond whole-school conceptions of school choice and focus on the dynamics of “supply.” “Now, like I just said previously, opening new schools is only one part of the solution but they’re a useful part of the solution and they’re an important part of the solution but choice doesn’t tell you anything about what’s gonna happen to the supply,” said Hess, discussing his new book Education Unbound: The Promise and Practice of Greenfield...

For the first time since the charter school movement began, the Utah State Charter School Board moved Thursday to shut down an operational school. The vote to revoke the Beehive Science & Technology charter, a state contract that grants the independently run school public education dollars, was unanimous. Beehive's troubles came to the board's attention in July 2009, when a former board member accused the school of having clandestine ties to a controversial Turkish Muslim preacher. Fethullah Gülen, who doesn't recognize al-Qaida as a terrorist organization, was exiled from Turkey in 1998 for reportedly working to overthrow the secular government....

The Kern High School District on Wednesday morning will hold a public hearing and consider a petition for a new charter school named after the nation's president. The Barack H. Obama Leadership Academy aims to teach disadvantaged, at-risk teenagers and at the same time provide mental health services and substance abuse treatment, according to the petition. The school board may vote on Wednesday to approve or deny the charter's petition. The district would not comment on the petition pending the hearing and board discussion.

LARRY SAND We’re All Right-Wing Bastards Now —that is, if the NEA’s logic is to be believed. 20 November 2009 On the last day of the National Education Association’s convention this summer, its outgoing general counsel, Bob Chanin, gave a speech for the ages. After sharing fond recollections of his 41 years as the NEA’s top lawyer, he switched gears and started lobbing grenades at “conservative and right-wing bastards,” including Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and Forbes. The NEA and its affiliates, by contrast, were “the nation’s leading advocates for public education and the type of liberal social and...

More city kids are graduating from high school, but that doesn't mean they can do college math. Basic algebra involving fractions and decimals stumped a group of City University of New York freshmen - suggesting city schools aren't preparing them... "These results are shocking," ... "They show that a disturbing proportion of New York City high school graduates lack basic skills." During their first math class at one of CUNY's four-year colleges, 90% of 200 students tested couldn't solve a simple algebra problem... Only a third could convert a fraction into a decimal. The lack of math skills means the...

TiZA is for Trouble by: Bethany Stotts, September 03, 2009 This August, Minnesota Department of Education [MDOE] officials said they will be investigating the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy’s use of state “lease aid” grants. The charter school has been paying rent to Muslim religious organizations. Chas Anderson, deputy commissioner of MDOE told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that the inquiry was sparked by a January American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit, reported Tony Kennedy on August 29. “TiZA spokesman Darin Broton said the school will cooperate, but he accused officials of conducting a politically motivated investigation,” he wrote. “[Broton] said the department...

Governor Signs House and Senate Bills House Bill 137 and Senate Bill 57 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 09-120 Governor Palin Signs House and Senate Bills May 15, 2009, Anchorage, Alaska - Governor Sarah Palin today signed two bills into law that will provide a grace period for charter schools experiencing decreased enrollment and authorize the state to enroll in the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children. “It is so important Alaska’s parents have opportunities to choose what's best for their children’s education,” Governor Palin said. “I appreciate the hard work of all the legislators who spearheaded these bills...

Obama's Tired of Being in the White House Tue, Feb 3, 2009 He’s only been there for two weeks, but already Barack Obama is “tired of being in the White House.”Probably the first President in history to utter those words. WASHINGTON (AP) - On the rockiest day of his young administration, President Barack Obama did what surely made him happy for a while. He left. With little notice, the president and first lady Michelle Obama bolted the gated compound of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in their tank of a limousine on Tuesday. They ended up at a Washington public school, greeted...

Obama Makes Surprise Trip to Read to Children Updated 3:44 p.m.By Michael D. Shear and Hamil HarrisAs a sense of crisis engulfed his White House Tuesday with the withdrawal of former senator Tom Daschle as HHS Secretary-nominee, President Obama made an unannounced trip to a school to read to kids.His motorcade was seen heading north on 15th Street, and local sources soon reported he was at The Capital City Public Charter School. There was no mention of a trip on the schedule sent out to reporters the previous day.At the school, the president and Michelle Obama read to a group...

In a scene that's becoming frustratingly familiar to supporters of predominantly black charter schools, two Raleigh charters are in danger of being closed by the state.

Last week, Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA) and the Minnesota Department of Education appeared to reach an understanding in the controversy over whether Islam is being promoted at this public school. But behind the scenes, a storm may be brewing. TiZA officials have "taken a confrontational road" in discussions with the department, according to Deputy MDE Commissioner Chas Anderson, the department's No. 2 official. Anderson says that the two sides have not yet reached an agreement on one key issue and that MDE will be closely monitoring TiZA's performance in future months.