Obama Admin. Plans To Turn Around Failing Schools Or Close Them...Ed. Reform

Obama Pushes To Turn Around Failing Schools


The Obama administration will spend at least $3.5 billion to push local officials around the country to close failing schools and reopen them with new teachers and principals.

US Education Secretary Arne Duncan hopes to see the 5,000 worst-performing schools, about 1 percent of all U.S. schools, turned around in five years. The administration is beefing up the federal school turnaround program, which was created under the No Child Left Behind law championed by former President George W. Bush.

"As a country, we need to get into the turnaround business," Duncan said in a statement. "Adults need to have the courage to make these tough decisions and do right by our kids."

The president doesn't have the power to close and reopen schools himself. That authority rests with local school districts and states.

But federal officials have an incentive in the turnaround program, which gives money to states for school districts to overhaul the lowest-performing schools. Districts will have to compete for grants.

Applications for the money, made available Thursday to states, should result in a list of about 1,200 schools that states have targeted for turnaround, the Education Department said, adding that the eventual goal is 5,000 schools.

To get the money, a district must do one of four things:

-Fire the principal and at least half the staff and reopen the school with new personnel.

-Turn a school over to a charter school operator or other management organization.

-Close the school and send students to higher-achieving schools in the district.

-Replace only the principal and take other steps to change how the school operates.

A special focus will be on fixing middle schools and high schools, especially "dropout factories" where two in five kids don't make it to graduation.

Duncan, a former Chicago schools chief, has experience with school turnarounds: Chicago targeted several public schools for turnaround while Duncan was still in charge.





Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Schools receive a "D"


The John Locke Foundation rates Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools average on academics, safety and administration, and failing on teacher turnover.

The result: CMS got a D+ on the Raleigh-based group's second annual school-district ratings, which are based on data from the 2007-08 school year. Other districts in the region rated higher, with Lincoln County Schools in the Top 10 with a B.

The report released this week compiles data on topics that parents across the country say are important.

Terry Stoops, the foundation's education policy analyst, said the letter grades give families a convenient way to size up their district, and can help public officials focus on areas that need improvement.

Stoops averaged grades awarded in four categories: Administration, teachers, safety and academics. Within each area, he used data to rank the districts, giving A's to the top 10 percent, B's to the next 20 percent, C's to the middle 40 percent, D's to the next-lowest 20 percent and F's to the lowest 10 percent.

For administration, Stoops used results from the state's Teacher Working Conditions Survey to see how well teachers thought administration communicated with parents and students. He also calculated the percent of "consultants, clerical staff and 'other' professionals" as a percent of the work force to gauge bureaucracy.

Teacher turnover and vacancies were used to measure the stability of teaching, while the school crime and violence report gauged safety.

Academic achievement was measured by state test scores, SAT scores and compliance with the federal No Child Left Behind targets.

CMS got an F in the "teachers" category and C's in the others.





Lawyer: CMS owes nearly $6 million to 10 charters


The NC state Supreme Court has refused to hear Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' appeal of a ruling that said the district owes local charter schools millions of dollars.

Richard Vinroot, attorney for 10 charter schools in and near Mecklenburg County, said he sent CMS a letter Friday saying the debt comes to just over $5.9 million - with a further yet-uncalculated bump in payments for the current school year. Vinroot says the Supreme Court refusal ends a legal battle that has dragged on for 41/2 years.

"For the little charter schools, it's a huge victory and a huge amount of money," he said Monday.

CMS officials said Monday they're aware of the decision and will have their lawyers brief the school board today. Until then, the district declined comment.

Charters are independent public schools licensed by the state, which requires local school districts to pass along a per-student share of local education money. The charters that sued CMS say the district improperly pulled part of its budget out of the calculations before giving charters their share. Since the first ruling against CMS in January 2008, the number of schools suing has grown from four to 10, and the debt has gone from $1.3 million to, in Vinroot's calculation, $5.9 million.

Vinroot says the money is due immediately, with some of it dating back to 2001. The charters have not been awarded interest during the time CMS has appealed, he said.

The NC Supreme Court decision does not affect a separate lawsuit filed by the N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law against CMS and other districts this September, seeking local money for construction.




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Sources: Whitehouse.gov, CBS News, US Dept of Ed., McClatchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, John Locke Foundation, N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law, Zimbio, Google Maps