Free Republic

Parents from around the state - including several area towns - plan to file suit against New Jersey and several poor-performing school districts today for the right to let their children transfer to other schools, public or private. The lawsuit includes parents from at least four Camden County districts: Camden, Clementon, Lawnside and Woodlynne. The lawsuit is a proposed class action on behalf of 60,000 students in 96 failing schools in 25 districts where most students have missed the mark on state exams for at least two consecutive years. If the suit is successful, students in such schools could switch...

827 Seattle students informed they will be freshmen again... Nearly one in four Seattle Public Schools sophomores is missing required credits and has been reclassified as a freshman, potentially delaying graduation. The move, effective this semester, was part of a package of changes the district announced in October to help better prepare high school students to pass the Washington Assessment of Student Learning and graduate. Under district policy, high school students have to complete five credits a year to advance to the next grade. At some schools, the rate was far higher than one in four students. At Rainier Beach...

DEMOCRATS TRAP BLACK CHILDREN IN FAILING SCHOOLS For Immediate Release Contact: Frances Rice National Black Republican Association 601 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 900-S Washington, DC 20004 (202) 638-6940 (202) 639-8238 Fax NBRA websiteDEMOCRATS TRAP BLACK CHILDREN IN FAILING SCHOOLS Washington, D.C. - January 7, 2006 - On the heels of a protest rally by Democrats in Florida to shut down a privately funded program that gives school choice vouchers or "opportunity scholarships" to black parents, the liberal Florida Supreme Court ended the state-sponsored opportunity scholarship program, slamming the door in the face of black parents. The National Black Republican Association...

Steve Helber/Associated Press Denise Armstrong, who chose to teach her children at home, helps her son Timothy pick out a library book. RICHMOND, Va., Dec. 10 (AP) - When Denise Armstrong decided to teach her daughter and two sons at home instead of sending them to public school, she said she did so thinking she would do a better job than the school of instilling her values in her children. At the time, Ms. Armstrong was the only black parent at gatherings of home-education groups. But she said that has been changing. "I've been delighted to be running into...

As devastating as Hurricane Katrina has been, it now presents New Orleans officials with an opportunity. The city's 60,000 public school students have been trapped in a failing system for decades. There is no reason why the public education bureaucracy and other obstacles to real reform should now follow them as they move temporarily to Texas and elsewhere. In many respects New Orleans was a failing city long before the levees gave way. Even while other major cities got a handle on crime in the 1990s--most notably New York under Rudy Giuliani--New Orleans remained somewhat lawless. It's worth noting that...

San Francisco schools Superintendent Arlene Ackerman's recent demand that the school board guarantee its support of her in writing was prompted largely by the district's testy labor negotiations and Ackerman's fear for her own safety. The deteriorating atmosphere in the school district, which has included a sick-out of union members on the first day of classes Monday and an earlier attempt by workers to storm her office, prompted Ackerman to contact Police Chief Heather Fong to request tighter patrols of the district's headquarters. School district sources said police had advised the superintendent to take volunteer escorts with her when she...

New Jersey, Maryland Need School Choice, Studies ShowIf high per-pupil spending and widespread underachievement are two of the qualities that make a school system an ideal testing ground for vouchers, then Paterson, New Jersey and Baltimore, Maryland are two prime candidates, according to a pair of recently released studies.State Control of Schools Has Failed to Help Paterson, New Jersey Children: Why Not Choice Instead? by Don Soifer and Robert Holland of the Lexington Institute, and A School Voucher Program for Baltimore City by Dan Lips of the Maryland Public Policy Institute show how vouchers could help solve problems in the...

Urban Parental Disinterest May Cause Our Children's Educational Destruction By Kevin Fobbs March 14, 2005 Twenty three years ago, as officers in the Detroit Chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists we began to craft a way to start building a farm team of young minority journalists. But we noticed something very alarming as we worked to create the weekend journalism workshop series for those students. What we encountered was the fact that far too many young minority minds were only receiving a marginal education. Many of the young minds we were seeking to enhance were instead barely performing...

<p>WASHINGTON — Students at more than 8,600 public schools nationwide will have the right to transfer to better schools in their districts when classes start in the fall, the Department of Education said Monday.</p> <p>The new education law signed by President Bush in January requires low-income students whose schools don't meet state academic standards for two years to be allowed to transfer, and states must help pay the cost of transportation.</p>

<p>A survey of equality in California's public schools has found "a sure formula for failure" in schools with the highest percentages of high-risk students, the poll's sponsor said.</p> <p>Problems that tend to impede learning -- particularly, uncredentialed teachers and run-down buildings -- are clustered on campuses that serve families who receive public assistance or those who are non-English-speaking, according to the survey report released Tuesday by pollster Lou Harris, in conjunction with a pending lawsuit against Gov. Gray Davis.</p>

Like many parents in poor neighborhoods around Atlanta, Shankia Towers is frustrated with her children's chronically failing school, but she can't afford to send them anywhere else. Next fall, Towers and other parents at 436 low-performing Georgia schools will get federal help. Their children will be able to transfer to another school in the district at the failing school's expense in one of the first attempts by a state to take advantage of President Bush's education reform package. Towers, 24, said the plan is exactly what she is looking for. "I don't have the money to send them to private...