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Only
one month is left until the 7th
Annual Quality Education Conference.
Register
now!
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Success
and Better Funding Draw Voucher Lawsuit
Lawyers
for the State of New Jersey and over two
dozen New Jersey school districts tried
to stave off a lawsuit seeking to redirect
school funds to vouchers, in a hearing on
a motion to dismiss the suit, held in April.
The lawsuit, brought by a coalition of pro-voucher
organizations, marks a new strategy for
national voucher proponents in seeking to
find in the New Jersey Constitution a right
to school vouchers for all students in low-performing
schools. These organizations are trying
to achieve through the courts what they
have failed to achieve at the ballot box,
and, in an ironic twisting of legal precedent,
are using the very arguments that other
plaintiffs have used to strike down state
school funding formulas in lawsuits across
the country. Read
Full Story
|
| In
California, “Getting Down to Facts”
Requires Gearing Up for Change
This
editorial by Molly A. Hunter, Managing Director
of the National Access Network, is part
of our continuing opinion series
To
reform its school funding system in ways
that create and sustain good schools, California’s
policy makers need to mine the set of 23
studies recently released in the “Getting
Down to Facts” report, which points
out the need for a major infusion of funds
and concludes that the current funding system
is profoundly inequitable. They must also
reject the cautionary tone in the executive
summary about the need for more data, because
we already have good examples of what programs
and practices can boost student achievement.
Policy makers rarely have absolute knowledge,
but that has not prevented major educational
progress in other states. Read
Full Story
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| Public
School Supporters Fight Utah Voucher Plan
A
political battle in Utah that raged through
this winter and early spring has demonstrated
the broad popular support for public schools
among the state’s registered voters.
In February, the state legislature passed
and Governor Jon Huntsman signed into law
the nation’s most sweeping school
voucher program. Lawmakers, however, were
met in response with a dramatic outpouring
of opposition to the law, led by the grassroots
organization Utahns for Public Schools.
Read
Full Story
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Join
Us In June!
For
six consecutive years, the National Access
Network’s Quality Education Conference
has brought together litigators pressing
for fair and equal opportunity, organizers
advocating for quality education in good
schools, policy experts researching education
programs and finance, and educators working
to improve classroom results – and
this year is no exception. The
7th Annual Quality Education conference
on June 7-8 at the Westin Washington DC
City Center Hotel will include plenary sessions,
discussion break out sessions, workshops,
and exciting speakers. Co-sponsored by the
Public Education Network, the Education
Law Center, and the Rural School and Community
Trust, this year’s event will feature
sessions on overcoming achievement gaps,
cost studies, statewide organizing, English
Language Learners, facilities and an array
of other issues. Read
Full Story
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| Courting
Failure Fails to Impress
Kevin
Carey at
Education Sector writes a critical review
of Courting Failure, the recent
book edited by Eric Hanushek that attacks
the quality education movement. Whether
you’ve read the book or not, the review
is valuable, well-written and even entertaining.
From
Education Sector:
"Enough
Already? School Funding and the Courts"
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| Consolidation
Harms Students and May Not Save Money, Studies
Find
In
several states, lawmakers intent on keeping
taxes down are focusing on school district
consolidation as a potential cost-saving
measure. In recent years, consolidation
pressures have been felt keenly in rural
areas losing population, most commonly in
the Midwestern farm belt. Proposed consolidation
was a highly controversial issue in Arkansas
in 2003 -2004, where advocates successfully
pushed back against a massive consolidation
proposal, and only the state’s smallest
districts were ultimately consolidated.
A proposal this winter to consolidate districts
in Maine met with strong opposition from
the public. Recently, Governor Mark Sanford
has called for district consolidation in
South Carolina. Read
Full Story
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