Alabama: A bill advances to increase the individual tax credit for donations to private scholarship organizations (Montgomery Advertiser).
Alaska: Vic Fischer, a former delegate to the Alaska Constitutional Convention, opposes any amendment that would allow public funds for private and religious schools (Alaska Dispatch). A bill to allow the public to vote on such an amendment is pulled from the Senate (Alaska Dispatch).
Arizona: A plan to expand Education Scholarship Accounts advances in the legislature (Arizona Republic, Fox News). A special needs parent says public schools work great for her child and she worries that giving options to parents who aren't satisfied will make her child's education worse (Arizona Daily Star).
California: The court rules against Rocketship Education, arguing the Santa Clara County School Board cannot override local zoning ordinances to place charter schools (San Jose Mercury News). The CEO of the California Charter School Association says completion rates for college preparatory coursework is twice as high in Oakland-area charter schools than in local district schools (Contra Costa Times). A CREDO report reveals LA area charter schools outperform traditional district schools (KPCC 89.3).
Colorado: School choice critics in Jefferson County might want to tone down their rhetoric, according to columnist Vincent Carroll (Denver Post).
D.C.: Eight education groups apply to open new charter schools (Washington Post).
Florida: The Tampa Tribune editorial board argues in favor of expanding tax credit scholarships. The Miami Herald editorial board says tax credit scholarships drain public school funding. Columnist Frank Cerabino says tax credit scholarships don't help the poor (Palm Beach Post). The Ocala Star Banner editorial board says the state should increase funding to public schools before funding private scholarships. Doug Tuthill, president of Step Up for Students, says tax-credit scholarships help poor students and are functionally no different to a neighborhood school's budget than a magnet or IB school (Palm Beach Post). Watchdog writes up the proposed expansion bill. The Jewish Leadership Coalition lobbies for tax credit scholarships for Jewish Day Schools (Jewish Journal). Nan Rich, a Democrat candidate for governor, blasts current Gov. Rick Scott and primary challenger Charlie Christ over their support for school choice (Sunshine State News). The state Senate advances a bill that would encourage military bases to explore charter schools (redefinED, Tampa Bay Times). Duval County School District may soon allow open enrollment for all public schools in the district (Florida Times-Union, First Coast News, Florida Times Union). Florida Virtual School holds a demonstration at the state Capitol (WCTV). A charter school in Miami-Dade opens a junior college on the campus (Miami Herald). The League of Women Voters draws criticism for opposing school choice and other issues (Tampa Tribune). Tax Credit Scholarships, ESAs and charter schools are among the bills being considered by the state legislature (Miami Herald). The Florida Tax Credit Scholarship cap may triple in size over the next five years and if it does, so will the state allowances to scholarship granting organizations (Palm Beach Post).
Idaho: The House passes a tax credit scholarship bill (The Friedman Foundation). (more…)
Alabama: Unused education tax credits will be used to pay down the state's debts (The Piedmont Journal).
Arizona: The Arizona Court of Appeals rules education savings accounts (ESAs) are constitutional (Arizona Daily Star, Education Week, New York Times, Sonoran News).
California: A husband and wife operating a charter school misappropriated more than $200,000 in school funds. The husband is sentenced to 4 years in prison while his wife receives 45 days (LA Times). San Diego's school district is selling off excess property but the market rate is too high for area charter schools (Voice of San Diego).
Colorado: Denver area public schools collect millions in additional fees from parents (Denver Post).
D.C.: Charter school operators are being accused of setting up for-profit corporations to serve charter schools with high prices (Washington Post).
Florida: Enrollment in Miami-Dade is up thanks to charter schools (Miami Herald). School districts want more control over charter schools, including more power to deny charter applications and restricting where school's open or whether they serve a specialized need (Sun Sentinel). Some Florida Catholic schools will be using modified Common Core standards while others wait and see what becomes of the initiative (RedefinED). Charter school advocates and supporters disagree on whether or not to have a standardized contract between schools and districts (RedefinED).
Hawaii: Charter school enrollment grows by 2.1 percent, more than double the state's public school enrollment growth (Big Island Now).
Illinois: Chicago wants more charter schools in overcrowded school zones (Chicago Tribune).
Indiana: Demand for vouchers have doubled as more than 20,000 families have applied for school vouchers, though nearly 600,000 are now eligible for the expanded program (One News Now, Associated Press). (more…)
Bill de Blasio New York City’s bizarre Democratic primary for mayor left Bill de Blasio as the party’s official candidate. His hardline stance against charter schools has school operators wondering if he's declared war on school choice.
De Blasio wants to stop charter schools from sharing locations with public schools and believes charter schools should pay rent for using city/district property. De Blasio also wants to maintain the cap limiting the number of charter schools in the city, stating, “We don’t need new charters.”
De Blasio justifies his views because he believes charter schools are better funded than traditional public schools. He bases this assumptions off a bogus report by the city’s Independent Budget Office which clearly tosses out many expenditure items associated with public education (like special education, pensions and apparently even capital expenditures) while adding or overstating additional costs to charter schools. Based on true educational expenditures, U.S. Census Bureau data shows NYC spent $23,996 per pupil in 2011 (p. 19 includes capital expenditures and debt payment). The NYC Department of Education says charter schools receive $160 to $3,100 less than traditional public schools, but even this estimate excludes billions in public school expenses found by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Charter schools already have a hard time finding suitable school locations (thanks to building code requirements for schools, which, in turn, makes finding good property prohibitively expensive in some cases). To make it even more difficult, charter schools don’t get capital funds to pay for school buildings, so rent has to come out of normal operating expenses.
There is no good reason to end location sharing with charter schools while there is a property shortage and high demand. Charging rent would be fair if de Blasio also gave charters access to capital funds, but he seems more interested in talking tough than being fair.
