March 14, 2008

Home-schooling in California Facing Extinction

$125,000 Pay for Teachers in One New York City School

Gov. Jindal Proposes a Host of Education Reform Measures in Louisiana

Practices of Teacher Unions Revealed

House Subcommittee Hearing on After School Programs

$100 Million-Plus Schools

New Study Lauds the Benefits of Physical Education

Home-schooling in California Facing Extinction

Home-schooling in California may end up being a thing of the past as a result of the Second District Court of Appeal ruling stating that parents “do not have a constitutional right” to home-school their children. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has denounced the ruling but unless the ruling is overturned on appeal, 166,000 home-schooled students in California will need to enroll in public or private schools to avoid being truant and protect their parents from the possibility of prosecution.

The state’s laws do not specifically allow home-schooling, but it has been permitted in the state for decades. The only state laws regarding home-schooling is a law from 1953 that does not allow for home schooling. As a result, the court ruled that children need to be taught by credentialed individuals either at full-time public or private schools or by a credentialed tutor at home.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell assured parents that “California Department of Education policy will not change in any way as a result of this ruling.” California is facing large education budget cuts so adding more than 150,000 children in classrooms is not welcomed news.

“We’re happy,” said Lloyd Porter, who is on the California Teachers Association board of directors. “We always think students should be taught by credentialed teachers, no matter what the setting.”

The ruling against home-schoolers was a result of a complaint by a child of physical and emotional mistreatment by a parent. The child was home-schooled. A lower court refused to place the child in a school outside the home stating that the parents had the right to home school their child.

Nationally there are roughly 1.1 million to 2.5 million home-schooled students; however, the exact number is hard to know as a result of 10 states that do not require reporting. “I could see this ruling being a real strong impetus for home-schoolers in California to get the legislature to change their laws… Or I see it being perhaps the beginning of other states wanting to look more closely both at their laws and current enforcement,” said Kimberly Yuracko, a professor at Northwestern University’s Law School in Chicago.

If the ruling is not overturned Gov. Scharzenegger has stated that he will go to the legislature.

For more information about the courts ruling regarding home-schooling in California, please read the following article titled, “Home-Schoolers Reel from California Court Blow,” at http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0310/p01s03-ussc.html.

Also please read the article titled, “Homeschoolers' Setback Sends Shock Waves Through State,” at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/07/MNJDVF0F1.DTL.

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$125,000 Pay for Teachers in One New York City School

Many school districts across the country have implemented merit pay programs for teachers who raise student achievement. One charter school in New York City is going one step further and starting teacher salaries at $125,000, almost two and a half times the national average for teachers.

“I would much rather put a phenomenal, great teacher in a field with 30 kids and nothing else than take the mediocre teacher and give them half the number of students and give them all the technology in the world,” stated ZekeVanderhoek, the school’s creator and principal.

To make ends meet, teachers at the school will be asked to take on additional responsibilities such as attendance coordinators and discipline deans. The teachers will also work longer days and school year.

The school will start with seven teachers and 120 students with the hope of eventually having 28 teachers and 480 students. Most of the students will come from low-income Hispanic families and will be chosen through a lottery system. Underperforming children and those who live near the school will have a greater chance of being admitted.

Michael Thomas Duffy, the city’s executive director for charter schools, acknowledged that the school could have a “tremendous impact” on the nation. “If the department and the chancellor didn’t feel that this had likelihood of success, we wouldn’t have approved it,” he stated.

For more information about the charter school please read the article titled, “At Charter School, Higher Teacher Pay,” at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/07/nyregion/07charter.html?ex=1362546000
&en=8a1a38df43de7549&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss.

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Gov. Jindal Proposes a Host of Education Reform Measures in Louisiana

Louisiana’s new governor Bobby Jindal (R) has not lost any time since becoming governor in working on education reform efforts in Louisiana. He has proposed pay raises for teachers so that Louisiana teachers remain at the Southern Regional Average in pay, funding for a merit pay program, a dropout prevention program and the Teach for America program that recruits college graduates into the field of teaching.

“The Governor’s budget reflects the beginning of what we believe is a long-term commitment to support our mission to improve academic performance for all students, eliminate achievement gaps between race and class and prepare students to be effective citizens in a global market,” the Louisiana Department of Education along with the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education stated.

In a special legislative session that started on March 9, the House and Senate are considering a bill supported by Gov. Jindal that would give parents that send their children to private schools a tax credit to offset the price of tuition. Families would be able to deduct as much as 50 percent of the cost of private school tuition up to $5,000 per student.

“We want to make sure that every family is able to find a school that best fits their needs,” Jindal stated. A similar bill was passed by the legislature last year and vetoed by former Gov. Kathleen Blanco.

For more information about the tax credit, please go to http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/capital/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1205299256221150.xml&coll=1.

For more information about Gov. Jindal’s education proposals, please read the following press release from the governor’s office at http://www.gov.state.la.us/index.cfm?md=newsroom&tmp=detail&catID=2&articleID=81&navID=12.

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Practices of Teacher Unions Revealed

On March 11, a new website was launched uncovering the many secrets of union practices, finances, and collective bargaining agreements much to the chagrin of teacher unions. The new website, www.teacherunionexposed.com, was launched by the Center for Union Facts in an effort to make the public aware of teacher union practices and their impact on education.

One of the main focuses of the website is to shed light on the amount of money it takes to fire a tenured teacher and the rarity of this practice. On the website is a quote from a New Jersey union representative that admits, “I’ve gone in and defended teachers who shouldn’t even be pumping gas.”

According to the website, only 78% of tenured teachers in Dallas are fired annually; in Illinois, not including Chicago, only two out of 95,500 teachers have been terminated and it has cost school districts roughly $219,504 in legal fees to fire an incompetent teacher; and in Los Angeles 112 tenured teachers out of 43,000 have been fired in a ten year period. Center for Union Facts admits that most teachers certainly deserve to keep their jobs but they believe they number of teachers fired does not accurately portray the number of bad teachers protected by tenure.

In response to allegations that teacher unions protect bad teachers, Reg Weaver, president of the NEA stated, “This union does not support a person's incompetence. This union supports a person's right to due process.”

In conjunction with the launch of the website, the Center for Union Facts has announced a contest to find the worst unionized teachers in America. Parents, students and other teachers are able to nominate teachers for the contest. The ten worst unionized teachers will receive $10,000 to quit or retire from teaching completely.

“We’re not trying to humiliate anyone,” Rick Berman, executive director of the Center for Union Facts. “We’re trying to jump-start a conversation that maybe people need severance packages to find themselves another line of work.”

Not everyone whole-heartedly agrees with Berman, however. Rick Hess, an education researcher from the American Enterprise Institute, stated in response to the new website, that unions are “not doing a good job of identifying ineffective teachers and removing them, so publicity which casts a light on that is helpful. But that kind of stunt is not what I have in mind when advocating a more informed and honest debate, or seeking to raise the level of debate.”

For more information about the website, please read the article titled, “Anti-Union Group Offers ‘Worst’ Teachers $10G to Quit,” at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,337014,00.html.

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House Subcommittee Hearing on After School Programs

Recently the House Elementary and Secondary Education Subcommittee held a hearing to discuss funding for after school programs in the 2009 budget. In President Bush’s 2009 budget, he has called for cutting funds for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, one of the main programs supported by federal funds for after school programs, by 26% which equals $280 million. “As a former teacher, I know first hand the difference that good after school programs can make in the lives of children and their communities,” stated the chairman of the subcommittee, Rep. Dale Kildee (D-MI).

Witnesses at the hearing discussed different ways after school programs benefit students. Priscilla Little, associate director of the Family Research Project, stated at the hearing “we have learned a lot about the enormous potential after school programs have to support a range of positive learning and development outcomes, outcomes that can help young people succeed in school and in their community and prepare them for postsecondary success, including attending college, getting competitive wage jobs, and being engaged community and family members.”

In President Bush’s proposed budget, this program would be changed to an after-school and summer-school scholarship program, giving parents more options for after school programs. Competitive grants would be awarded to public or private nonprofit organizations to be given to low-income families who have students enrolled in schools identified for school improvement, corrective action, or restructuring under Title I, or have a graduation rate less than 60 percent. The U.S. Department of Education would require states to ensure that the programs students use the scholarships for would have high quality academic components.

For more information about the hearing, please go to http://www.house.gov/apps/list/speech/edlabor_dem/rel031108a.html.

To read more about the President’s plans for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program in his 2009 proposed budget, please go to http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget09/summary/edlite-section2a.html#clcs.

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$100 Million-Plus Schools

Some schools from Los Angeles to Boston are now costing $100 million-plus with amenities such as black-box theaters for small stage production, classrooms with soaring ceilings and glass walls, and contemplation gardens. The most expensive school so far is a $149 million school in Los Angeles. Some of these schools are designed for students in affluent areas while others function as asylums from neighborhood violence. One California high school was referred to as “Bloodbath High” because of its location on violent gang turf. It was remodeled in 2006 and has become a place students are proud of and protect and in return are safe behind the school’s gates.

With regard to raising student achievement, there is little evidence to support that the $100 million-plus schools are playing an instrumental role. “There is some research on it that says it’s relevant. But there is very little that…says if you have these kinds of conditions, you get these types of results with students,” Mary Filardo, executive director of the 21st Century School Fund, a non-profit that promotes urban school improvement.

For more information about some of the more expensive schools in the nation, please read the article titled, “These Aren’t Your Parents’ Schools,” at http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-costly-schools-mar11,0,7607230.story.

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New Study Lauds the Benefits of Physical Education

As a result of No Child Left Behind many schools’ main focus is on reading and math. A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports, however, that physical education can help raise academic achievement in girls. The reading and math skills of over 5,000 students in grades kindergarten through fifth grade were tracked and it was found that girls who received 70-300 minutes a week of physical education scored higher on reading and math tests than girls who received 35 minutes or less a week of physical education. According to Susan Carlson, a CDC epidemiologist, increased exercise may foster positive classroom behaviors that could result in better classroom participation and concentration skills. Most students, however, only receive physical education once or twice a week.

For more information about the study from CDC, please go to http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-03-04-phys-ed-study_N.htm.

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