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MASSACHUSETTS
By Yvonne Abraham, Boston Globe "The wrong people are telling our stories." Amatullah Mervin was sitting in a Dudley Square conference room this week with some other teenagers, talking about how invisible their work is. The State House lobbying efforts, the summer job rallies, they all seem to disappear beneath other stories from their neighborhoods — the murder on Bowdoin Street, the Carson Beach gang war that wasn't. But she and the others don’t dwell on these things. There is too much to do.
Rep. Lewis advocates for new school funding formula
June 21, 2011 “The state’s Chapter 70 education funding formula has not been updated since it was created in 1993,” said Rep. Lewis. “In light of the tremendous changes in education over the past two decades, we need to revisit this funding formula in order to ensure that funding for our public schools is adequate and equitable so that all students can receive a quality education.”
Hyde Square Task Force Receives Prestigious "Excellence Award in Advocacy" On June 13, 2011, the Hyde Square Task Force received the state-wide "Excellence Award in Advocacy" from the Massachusetts Non-Profit Network at its annual awards ceremony in the Massachusetts State House. At Gardner Auditorium, in front of a packed audience which included hundreds of non-profit leaders from across the state, Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray, Senate President Therese Murray, and State Treasurer Steve Grossman, the award was presented to the Hyde Square Task Force for its "nationally-recognized youth organizing."
Autonomous schools proponents seek commitment from New Bedford
By Steve Urbon NEW BEDFORD — The city's public schools are going to get a heavy dose of parental involvement Monday as United Interfaith Action launches a campaign to establish small, autonomous schools throughout the district.
NEW YORK Seven 50-Foot Scrolls To Mayor Bloomberg With More Than 18,000 Signatures Opposing Classroom Cuts
EDVOX Parents, students and community members delivered an enormous petition to Mayor Bloomberg, signed by more than 18,000 New Yorkers opposing city cuts to schools. The scrolls were rolled down the steps of City Hall with the names of the petition signers, and the scrolls extended across the City Hall courtyard. The groups called on Mayor Bloomberg and City Council to reject the Mayor’s proposal to slash $350 million from classrooms by eliminating more than 6,000 teaching positions as well as afterschool programs, arts programs, tutoring, sports, counseling, professional development and other essential services..
Dozens of NYC churches to hold pray-in for Mayor Bloomberg to reverse 'immoral' cuts to schools
By Rachel Monahan At roughly 60 city churches and other houses of worship this weekend, congregations will pray for Mayor Bloomberg to reverse "immoral" cuts to schools, a group of religious leaders told the Daily News. After protests and marches failed to sway the mayor, the religious leaders say they are taking their cause to a Higher Power.
At Protest Over Planned Cuts, Promises of More Protests to Come
by Javier Hernandez Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s plan to close 20 fire companies and lay off thousands of teachers has already prompted a steady drumbeat of protests across the city. But that may just be the beginning. City Council members and union officials, joined by a coalition of liberal organizers, vowed on Tuesday to conduct mass demonstrations and work stoppages if Mr. Bloomberg’s proposed budget cuts go through.
In Opposition to Teacher Layoffs, de Blasio (and Wife) Take the Lead
By Fernanda Santos The battle against Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s proposed budget cuts have spurred offensives from many corners. Add to the list a multimedia barrage unleashed by Public Advocate Bill de Blasio last month, and neatly packaged on his Web site under a banner headline that says, “Parents to City Hall: Don’t Fire Our Teachers.”
City School Funds Were Spent Elsewhere, Lawmakers Say
By Anna Phillips Did the city withdraw more than $200 million in financing for public schools after the state gave it that amount of money to help avert some of the threatened school budget cuts and teacher layoffs? A group of New York Assembly members say that is exactly what happened after legislators added $205 million to the final state budget passed in March to prevent deeper cuts that would affect the city’s classrooms.
Cuts to City Day Care Still Worry Parents
By Alshawn Rushing Protesters rallied against cuts to city daycare programs in March. Although some of the cuts have since been restored, many advocates say the Bloomberg administration's proposed reductions will have serious effects on children and families. Desiree Sadler, a beautician, planned to send her twin boys to Leggett Memorial Day Care Center in September. But then she received a letter saying she will lose that option. She has been writing to the Administration for Children's Services ever since.
More Preschoolers Test as Gifted, Even as Diversity Imbalance Persists
By Sharon Otterman The number of gifted preschoolers in New York City is on the rise, but they mostly live in the city’s middle-class and wealthier districts. That’s the picture of next year’s kindergarteners who qualified for gifted programs, according to the city’s Department of Education, which released admissions statistics on Tuesday.
Both Sides Square Off at Hearing on Charter School Suit
By Fernanda Santos The union’s lawsuit challenges the city’s attempt to close 22 schools for poor performance and to give 18 charter schools space inside buildings occupied by traditional public schools. According to the city, these initiatives are about expanding educational opportunities. But the teachers’ union and its allies in the suit say they are symbols of all that is wrong with the system.
How the Corporate Right Divided Blacks from Teachers Unions and Each Other
by Glen Ford Charter school supporters are denouncing the NAACP for filing suit, along with the teachers union, against preferential – separate but unequal – treatment of charter schools in New York City. The charter activists claim the NAACP is dividing the community, but that division was orchestrated 15 years ago, when the right-wing Bradley Foundation created the Black private school voucher “movement” out of whole cloth.
The Time is Always Right to Do What is Right
By Zakiyah Ansari In New York City, the last 10 years of educational reform has consisted of stripping parent and community voice from the system and the belief by Mayor Bloomberg that closing schools is a school reform strategy (more than 100 schools closed under Mayor Bloomberg).
Joel Klein vs. those status quo apologists
By Aaron Pallas Joel Klein is a hoot. Klein, who served as Chancellor of the New York City Public Schools from 2002 to 2010, recently took to the opinion pages of The Washington Post to crown his friends and cronies the champions of education reform.
37% of State Graduates College-Ready, Data Show
By Sharon Otterman Heightening concerns about the value of many of its high school diplomas, the New York State Education Department released new data on Tuesday showing that only 37 percent of students who entered high school in 2006 left four years later adequately prepared for college, with even smaller percentages of minority graduates and those in the largest cities meeting that standard.
PENNSYLVANIA Stanford Report Finds Good and Bad in Pennsylvania Charter Schools
By Martha Woodall Pennsylvania has a larger percentage of high-performing charter schools than the national average, but it also has more underperforming ones. As a result, Pennsylvania charter students on average are lagging behind students in regular public schools.
NEW JERSEY Fight Ensues Over Facebook Money for N.J. Schools
By Nancy Solomon Nine months ago, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced a $100 million gift to improve public schools in Newark, N.J. The plan to spend the money is now taking shape, and a new superintendent is coming on board to lead the effort. But in New Jersey, initial jubilation over the gift has turned into protests, suspicion and a belief that students will never benefit from the money.
Deserving of a pat on the back
By Star-Ledger Editorial Board With all the talk about woes in New Jersey’s public schools, let’s not forget we have one of the best systems in the country. It would be nice to hear a cheer from Gov. Chris Christie about that every once in a while. New Jersey has the highest graduation rate in the nation, according to a report recently released by Education Week, a trade newspaper. About 87 percent of our high schoolers graduate. And only four other states had greater graduation rate increases than we did from 1998 to 2008, the years of data studied.
NATIONAL
By Diane Ravitch I will be marching with the Save Our Schools coalition of teachers and parents on July 30 in Washington, D.C. I know you will be, too. I hope we are joined by many thousands of concerned citizens who want to save our schools from the bad ideas and bad policies now harming them. I am marching to protest the status quo of high-stakes testing, attacks on the education profession, and creeping privatization.
Frustrated Educators Aim to Build Grassroots Movement
By Erik Robelen Thousands of educators, parent activists, and others are expected to convene in the heat and humidity of Washington next month for a march protesting the current thrust of education policy in the United States, especially the strong emphasis on test-based accountability. Organizers say the effort aims to galvanize and give voice to those who believe policymakers, including U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and state governors, have gone astray in their remedies for improving American schools. Leaders of the march—current and former educators among them—say they’re determined to build a grassroots movement that has staying power beyond the gathering this summer and “restores” a central role for educators, parents, and communities in policy decisions.
SCHOTT HIGHLIGHT Racial divide grows wider in Buffalo's graduation rates
By Mary Pasciak There's been a whole lot of talk lately about Buffalo's 25 percent four-year graduation rate for black males, as reported by the Schott Foundation. That's the number that's probably most often cited by parents and others in the community as they outline the urgent need for school reforms.
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The Snap Schott is distributed by the Schott Foundation for Public Education. For more information, please visit www.schottfoundation.org. |
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