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Spring 2004 City Journal
If Not Vouchers?

Brian C. Anderson
...
Small wonder that some school-choice supporters are touting scholarship tax-credit programs—in effect, a privately funded, though publicly subsidized, voucher system—as a more feasible alternative.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of City Journal.

June 26 2004 The Maui News
BOE approves first Molokai charter school

KEALAKEKUA, Hawaii - The Board of Education approved a plan to convert Kualapuu Elementary School on Molokai into the island's first public charter school.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of The Maui News.

June 25 2004 Honolulu Advertiser
Charter schools chief selected

By Kevin Dayton

KEALAKEKUA, Hawai'i — The Board of Education last night appointed Big Island educator Steve Hirakami as interim executive director of Hawai'i's charter schools.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of the Honolulu Advertiser.

June 25 2004 The [Vancouver, WA] Columbian
Campaign 2004 - Teachers' union backs foe of charter schools

By DON JENKINS

The state's largest teachers' union has shunned a longtime educator in favor of an anti-charter schools candidate in the 17th Legislative District.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of The Columbian.

June 26 2004 The Boston Globe
Romney vetoes freeze on new charter schools
Lawmakers considering an override

By Suzanne Sataline

Governor Mitt Romney, as promised, vetoed a freeze yesterday on the opening of new charter schools, leaving lawmakers to decide whether to override his action or accept his suggested overhaul of charter school funding.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of The Boston Globe.

June 26 2004 Lodi [CA] News-Sentinel
Charter schools: Growing success or educational fad?

By Tom Hall

Fourteen years ago, parents had only a few options and little say in their child's education.

And then City Academy in St. Paul, Minn. opened for business.

The charter movement, which is now very much alive in Lodi, was born.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of the Lodi News-Sentinel.

June 26 2004 Winston-Salem Journal
CHOICE: Black family sees value of home school

... they [Paula Penn-Nabrit and her husband] realized that with their Ivy League/Seven Sisters educations - he graduated from Dartmouth, she from Wellesley - "our educational credentials, objectively, were superior to those of any of our kids' teachers."
...

For the full story, go to the web site of the Winston-Salem Journal.

June 26 2004 [Munster, IN] nwitimes
Home is where the school is
CHESTERTON: Chesterton home schoolers want the option to take classes

BY BRIAN WILLIAMS
... They are upset the board earlier this month reaffirmed a practice of barring children not enrolled full time in the schools from taking individual courses. The decision came after another Chesterton parent, Susan Nurse, sought to enroll her home-schooled daughter in a summer geometry class.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of nwitimes.

June 21 2004 The Boston Globe
Behind the wheel of school choice
Hub bus drivers worry for future

By Megan Tench
... the grandmothers, community activists, and others who make up the blue-collar crew consider themselves more than just bus drivers who may lose their jobs.

Many say they are the enforcers of school choice.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of The Boston Globe.

June 21 2004 eSchool News
Districts balk at payments to online charter schools

From eSchool News staff and wire service reports

Two years after the Pennsylvania Legislature made the state responsible for approving internet-based charter schools, the way these "cyber schools" are funded remains a sore spot for many area school districts, which must foot the bill.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of eSchool News.

June 21 2004 [Norfolk] Virginian Pilot
State’s home-schooling laws still under debate

By PHILIP WALZER

Virginia law offers several pathways to home schooling, with differing levels of demands. A proposal earlier this year to ease the regulations drove a wedge between Gov. Mark R. Warner and the General Assembly.

The law permits home schooling under five options. Four of them require parents to submit evidence of academic progress by their children.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of the Virginian Pilot.

June 25 2004 [Muncie, IN] Star Press
Ball State sponsors three new public charter schools

MUNCIE - Ball State University has authorized new public charter schools in Carmel, Gary and East Chicago.

Based upon a recommendation of a charter school review panel and after receiving overwhelming community support at each school's public hearing, Ball State Acting President Beverley J. Pitts approved the sponsorship of the schools.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of the Star Press.

June 25 2004 [Mesa, AZ] East Valley Tribune
Charter schools have legal and moral obligation to open records

Because they have proliferated as an alternative to district schools, charter schools — and some don’t do much to correct this notion — are often seen as private schools.

They are not private. As the Tribune’s Daryl James reported Sunday, charters are virtually as public as district schools because, like district schools, they receive public funding from tax dollars.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of the East Valley Tribune.

June 22 2004 Baltimore Sun
State receives $3.8 million for charter schools
Grasmick, Ehrlich laud effort to expand alternatives to public education; Officials hope federal grant money will fund up to 30 charter programs by 2006-2007

By Stephen Manning

ARNOLD -- Maryland received $3.8 million today from the federal government to fund charter schools, money state officials hope will help increase alternatives to the public schools.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of the Baltimore Sun.

June 23 2004 [Winter Haven, FL] Polk Online
Board OKs charter schools

By KYLE KENNEDY

BARTOW - Come July 1, the state's first conversion charter school district will be born in Lake Wales.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of Polk Online.

June 23 2004 The Washington Times
Grant to fund charter schools

By Robert Redding Jr.

ARNOLD, Md. — Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. yesterday announced the state has received a $3.8 million federal grant to further its commitment to building more charter schools.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of The Washington Times.

June 23 2004 St. Petersburg [FL] Times
Malnourished girl thrusts DCF back into spotlight

By ROBERT KING and CURTIS KRUEGER
...
The agency will ask judges to ensure that foster children go to public or private schools, no longer allowing home-schooling. ...

For the full story, go to the web site of the St. Petersburg Times.

June 23 2004 Acton Institute
Southern Baptists Offer Words of Wisdom on School Choice

by Clint W. Green
... whatever the ultimate choice— government, private, or home schools—parents are empowered by God to choose.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of the Acton Institute.

June 24 2004 New York Post
CHARTER SCHOOLS EXPANDING

By CARL CAMPANILE

The Knowledge is Power Program Academy — one of the city's most successful operators of privately managed charter schools in The Bronx and Harlem — plans to open new middle schools in Brooklyn and Washington Heights.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of the New York Post.

June 24 2004 [Gaithersburg, MD] Gazette
Charter schools to draw from county resources

by Angela Swinson Lee
... the school board approved an application process for charter schools that will use school system resources.
...
With the application process in place, charter schools could open in the county by August 2005.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of the Gazette.

June 24 2004 Boston Herald
Gov to veto charter schools moratorium

By Kevin Rothstein

Gov. Mitt Romney vowed to veto a charter school moratorium yesterday as his staff scrambled to sell a compromise plan to at least allow five already approved charter schools to open as planned.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of the Boston Herald.

June 24 2004 The Salt Lake Tribune
Matheson courts GOP voters

By Dan Harrie
...He warns that diverting state income tax revenue to pay for private-school students will "take away from public education." And he says the majority of Utah residents share his view.

If true, you would never know it from the debate during the Republican convention and primary. Except for outgoing Gov. Olene Walker, every one of the eight GOP candidates in the early going of the race endorsed tuition-tax credits for private school students as part of the conservative "education choice" movement.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of The Salt Lake Tribune.

June 22 2004 The Christian Science Monitor
In a sea of school choice, a city's schools fight back
But can Minneapolis improve enough to keep more students from jumping ship?

By Amanda Paulson
...
Twelve years after America's first charter school opened in Minnesota, parents in Minneapolis face a daunting smorgasbord of options.
...
While many urban districts struggle to retain white, middle-class families, Minneapolis is also losing low-income, minority ones, primarily to charter schools. It's led to an enrollment crisis for the district, which loses state money with each departing student, and now has 800 surplus classrooms. But many observers point out that this is exactly how choice is supposed to work: better options for individual students, and a competitive educational landscape that may, in the end, force all the schools to improve.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of The Christian Science Monitor.

July 1 2004 School Reform News
Lessons for U.S. as School Choice Spreads Worldwide

Written By: Robert Holland
...
Recently, school reformers convened at the Cato Institute in Washington, DC to look at other countries' experiences with school choice and to discuss what Americans might learn from them.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of School Reform News.

July 1 2004 School Reform News
Study: School Choice Would Revitalize Ohio Cities

Written By: Krista Kafer

Establishing school choice in "education empowerment zones" would revitalize Ohio's six largest cities--Akron, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, and Toledo--according to a new study by The Buckeye Institute, a public policy think tank in Columbus, Ohio.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of School Reform News.

July 1 2004 School Reform News
Fighting for School Choice in the Courts

Written By: George A. Clowes

Having traveled across the country for more than a decade to defend state-based and city-based school choice programs, the Institute for Justice (IJ) expects soon to be defending choice legislation in its home town of Washington, DC: the recently approved D.C. School Choice Incentive Act.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of School Reform News.

July 1 2004 School Reform News
IJ's Bolick Takes Helm at School Choice Alliance

Written By: George A. Clowes

Clint Bolick, who as vice president and cofounder of the Institute for Justice (IJ) was instrumental in establishing the public interest law firm as the nation's preeminent defender of school choice programs, assumed a new role in April when he became president and general counsel of the newly formed School Choice Alliance and its companion organization, School Choice Advocates.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of School Reform News.

June 21 2004 The Heritage Foundation
Be Nice to Liberals Day

by Daniel J. Mitchell, Ph.D.

... liberals need our sympathy in these trying times. Consider the trauma they've had to deal with in recent years:
...
Educational choice is slowly spreading across America. Liberals condemn school choice as a sinister plot to de-fund government schools. Allied with the teacher unions, they vigorously resist programs to give poor parents the ability to choose better schools for their children.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of The Heritage Foundation.

June 20 2004 The [Springfield, MA] Republican
Charter schools outrank many, vie for acceptance

By NATALIA E. ARBULÚ

SPRINGFIELD - Two local charter schools outperformed a vast majority of district schools on the 2003 Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test, a finding that would seemingly justify Gov. W. Mitt Romney's plans to remove caps limiting their development and provide parents with more choice.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of The Republican.

June 20 2004 [Salt Lake City, UT] Deseret News
Duo back tuition credit
But observers say the candidates' support is unequal

By Jennifer Toomer-Cook

Both Republicans facing off in Tuesday's gubernatorial primary indicate support for a tuition tax credit bill that surfaced last Legislature.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of Deseret News.

June 17 2004 Wiscasset [ME] Newspaper
Alna Voters To Make School Choice June 23

Ryan Thompson

In addition to deciding on the $1.1 million school budget, Alna voters will choose which school system to send their students to at a June 23 special town meeting.

The town has no school and has renewed a contract with Wiscasset for another year to tuition about 100 kindergarten through eighth grade students.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of Wiscasset Newspaper.

June 18 2004 Cybercast News Service
Arizona School Choice Plan Endangered in Supreme Court

By John Turner Glliland

The U.S. Supreme Court this week dealt a jarring blow to one of the country's most successful school choice programs. The justices ruled 5-4 that the American Civil Liberties Union could sue the state of Arizona over the way it funds private schools, both secular and parochial.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of Cybercast News Service.

June 17 2004 The [Newark, NJ] Star-Ledger
Baptists reject plan for home schooling
Members support marriage amendment

BY ADELLE M. BANKS

INDIANAPOLIS -- Southern Baptists yesterday turned down a plan to remove their children from public schools in favor of home education.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of The Star-Ledger.

June 18 2004 Cato Institute
D.C. School Choice: Just Getting Started

by Neal McCluskey
...
Naturally, it will always be aggravating to hear opponents of educational freedom categorize as a failure anything less than perfection in school choice programs. But experience has shown that no matter how embattled or handicapped choice may be, it quickly becomes irresistible to parents -- exactly what the opponents of D.C. school choice are trying to avoid.


For the full story, go to the web site of the Cato Institute.

June 18 2004 The [Columbia, SC] State
Pro-school choice group backs Brady
All Children Matter sends out mailings supporting Brady over Brill in House District 78 runoff

By SHELLEY HILL

A Michigan political advocacy group that supports school choice has jumped into a hotly contested House race in Northeast Richland.

The group, All Children Matter, is running radio ads and has sent out a mailing supporting Joan Brady in the race for House District 78.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of The State.

June 18 2004 Cherry Hill [NJ] Courier-Post
Clergy, politicians rally for school choice
It's best option for troubled urban schools, leaders insist

By LUIS PUGA

Religious and city leaders rallied Thursday on the steps of City Hall in support of school choice, saying it is the best option for the city's troubled schools.

The Rev. Reginald Jackson, executive director of the Black Ministers' Council of New Jersey, told a crowd of 50 that this month's graduation ceremonies in poorer districts are fraudulent.

"The fraud is that those handing out the diplomas know that the children are going out to a world they are not prepared for," he said.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of the Cherry Hill Courier-Post.

June 18 2004 Palm Beach [FL] Post
State gives no letter grade to nearly half of charter schools

By Kimberly Miller

Nearly 50 percent of Florida's charter schools received no school grade this week, and the state has only a vague idea why.

Of 255 charter schools, 135 were rated on the A through F scale state education officials use to determine school performance.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of The Palm Beach Post.

June 18 2004 The Fort Wayne [IN] Journal-Gazette
Overseeing charter schools

Ball State University’s decision to revoke the charter of Urban Brightest Community Academy after just one school year raises serious concerns about oversight and accountability of charter schools.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette.

June 18 2004 The Salt Lake Tribune
Governor hopefuls' views in sync

...They agreed that Utah should experiment on a small scale with tuition tax credits for private school students, ...

For the full story, go to the web site of The Salt Lake Tribune.

June 2004 The [Nashville] Tennesean
Public school for Christian kids?

Are Christian children better off in private religious schools or in home-schooling than they are in the public school system?
...

For the full story, go to the web site of The Tennesean.

June 13 2004 Daytona Beach [FL] News-Journal
Florida sees jump in home-schooled children

By LINDA TRIMBLE

DELAND -- Esther Brunnig practiced for this year's Volusia County Spelling Bee, where she took second place, while rolling around her living room atop an exercise ball.
...
Fourteen-year-old Esther has never attended a traditional school. ...

For the full story, go to the web site of the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

June 13 2004 The [Durham, NC] Herald Sun
Charter schools: Pros, cons

BY MICHAEL PETROCELLI

DURHAM -- Mike Wood had seen enough of Durham's public schools to know he didn't want his 5-year-old daughter Elizabeth in one.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of The Herald Sun.

June 14 2004 The [San Jose, CA] Mercury News
Now-free charter schools don't need new shackles
LEGISLATORS SHOULD RESIST THE URGE TO TINKER

Mercury News Editorial

Having won their freedom from the state's stifling education code, charter schools must now be vigilant about legislators who want to put shackles back on. It's like battling termites that slowly and steadily eat away a strong foundation.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of The Mercury News.

June 16 2004 WKRN [Nashville, TN]
Charter schools brace for effects of No Child Left Behind law

Charter schools, designed to give students specialized attention in smaller classes, may be forced to accept more students under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Charter schools are given more leeway in how they educate students, allowing them to be more independent and individualized but still subject to public school rules and regulations because they receive local, state and federal tax dollars. Federal law supersedes any of their plans.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of WKRN.

June 15 2004 North Adams [MA] Transcript
Lawmakers leave gay marriage law on books; freeze charter schools

By Julie Mehegan,
...
The final budget also calls for a one-year moratorium on the opening of new charter schools, a controversial provision that may not stand if the two-thirds majority required to overturn a promised veto by the governor does not support it.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of the North Adams Transcipt.

June 15 2004 The [Lakeland, FL] Ledger
Charter Schools Deal With Myriad Details

By Bill Bair

LAKE WALES -- The board of trustees of Lake Wales Charter Schools continues to work on the nuts and bolts of setting up what amounts to a $24 million business.
...
Nicole Barranco, who is on the committee setting up science labs for the schools, said a list of needed supplies is being developed so the labs can be in operation when schools resume. The budget for the science labs is $100,000.

The actual charters, or contracts under which the schools will operate, are scheduled to be considered by the Polk County School Board on June 22.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of The Ledger.

June 15 2004 Newsday
New charter schools

Plans to open eight new charter schools next year reaffirm Chancellor Joel Klein's heartening commitment to education alternatives. At that rate, however, he'll miss the goal of opening 50 more of the publicly financed schools in the next five years.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of Newsday.

June 15 2004 Indianapolis Star
Baptists to take up public education
Proposed resolution for convention calls on members to seek Christian schooling.

By Abe Aamidor
...
One proposed resolution, which hasn't been approved by the resolutions committee, calls on all Southern Baptists to abandon "government schools" in favor of Christian education or home schooling.

A competing resolution, also not recommended, states that public schools are "mission fields" to spread Christianity and that children may continue attending them.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of the Indianapolis Star.

September 17, 2001 Cato Institute Policy Analysis
The Arizona Scholarship Tax Credit
Giving Parents Choices, Saving Taxpayers Money

by Carrie Lips and Jennifer Jacoby

Executive Summary

In 1997 policymakers in Arizona created a $500 tax credit for contributions to organizations that give students scholarships to attend private elementary and secondary schools. At that time there was, and there still is, much debate and uncertainty about the program's likely effect on students, taxpayers, and the education system. This analysis informs that debate by considering Arizona's experience with the tax credit and assessing its likely impact in the future.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of the Cato Institute.

June 11 2004 The [Columbia, SC] State
Education pledge about politics, not better schools

By ASHLEY LANDESS
... they do not want legislators to read reports showing school choice improves public education, or that tuition tax credits do not cost districts money.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of The State.

June 9 2004 [Chicago] Daily Herald
Reagan's Geneva visit a lasting memory

By Kimbriell Kelly
...
President Ronald Reagan was in Chicago at the National Catholic Education Association's annual convention in April 1982 pushing tuition tax credits for parochial schools.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of the Daily Herald.

June 8 2004 National Public Radio
'Rudy' Crew Takes on the Miami-Dade School District

Rudolph "Rudy" Crew is the incoming Miami-Dade County schools superintendent. He is former chancellor of New York City's schools, ...

For the full story, go to the web site of National Public Radio.

June 9 2004 Washington University in St. Louis
Opposition to charter school movement ‘misguided,’ says expert in U.S. legal, social history

By Jessica Martin

Since their creation in the early 1990s, charter schools have come under fire from many civil rights supporters. "Traditional advocates of civil rights claim that charter schools are but another opportunity for whites to escape from the public school system and gain advantage for their children at taxpayers' expense," says Tomiko Brown-Nagin, J.D., Ph.D., a legal and social history expert at Washington University in St. Louis

"This criticism overlooks the astounding fact, however, that most charter schools have been established in poor, minority neighborhoods and are attended disproportionately by poor, minority students ..."

For the full story, go to the web site of Washington University in St. Louis.

June 11 2004 Ohio News Network
District to build virtual high school as alternative to charter schools

COLUMBUS, Ohio The city school district will develop an online high school to try to retain hundreds of students it expects to lose to charter schools next year, school officials said.

Columbus Public Schools officials say the district's new school would mirror the services of Internet charter schools, which have attracted more than 1,000 students away from its public schools.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of the Ohio News Network.

June 9 2004 Melrose Park [IL] Herald
Home support boosts pupil

BY JOHN HUSTON

Months before Geoffrey Kammrath was named Walther Lutheran High School's valedictorian, his mother told him to start preparing a speech for graduation.
...
It wasn't just his straight A's or long hair that made Kammrath stand out at the school -- he was one of the few students who was home-schooled up until his ninth-grade year.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of the Melrose Park Herald.

June 10 2004 Akron Beacon Journal
Suit filed against charter schools
Teachers union claims they violate Constitution

Associated Press

COLUMBUS - Ohio's charter schools violate the U.S. Constitution by unfairly taking state funds from traditional public school students in urban districts with large minority populations, the state's largest teachers union said in a lawsuit filed Wednesday.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of the Akron Beacon Journal.

June 10 2004 WINS [New York, NY]
City Plans Eight New Charter Schools

(1010 WINS) (New York) -- New York City plans to open eight new charter school this fall as part of its plan to develop 50 new charter schools over the next five years.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of WINS.

June 2004 KLXY [Spokane, WA]
Charter Schools On Fall Ballot

The Washington State Education Association is celebrating a victory Wednesday in its fight to keep charter schools out of the state.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of KXLY.

June 2 2004 [Beaufort, SC] Carolina Morning News
Charter school application reviewed today
BEAUFORT COUNTY: Learning for Life Academy's application for operation will be examined by state education board.

By Erinn McGuire

The state-level Charter School Advisory Committee will review today a charter school application proposed for Beaufort County.

The Learning for Life Academy isn't the first charter school to attempt opening in Beaufort County.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of the Carolina Morning News.

June 1 2004 KPLC [Lake Charles, LA]
CPSB Approves School Choice Plan

Reported by Pam Dixon

Starting this fall, if a Louisiana school is deemed a school in need of improvement or academically unacceptable, parents can transfer their children to another school. The Calcasieu Parish School Board Tuesday approved its plan that will give parents a choice if their child's school is failing.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of KPLC.

June 2 2004 [Salt Lake City, UT] Deseret News
State schools chief is chosen

By Jennifer Toomer-Cook
...
Recent audits on schools supplanting textbook money and unnecessary understaffing at the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind have put lawmakers at odds with public school leaders. Some have called for more school choices for parents, even private school choices through tuition tax credits. Others want outside professionals to whip schools into shape or streamline spending.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of Deseret News.

June 2 2004 The [Easton, PA] Express-Times
Virtual school expects growth
Program can serve variety of students, area parents told.

By BETH BRAVERMAN

HANOVER TWP. -- Administrators of the Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School expect more than 5,000 students next year, said Michael Maslayak, a representative of the school.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of The Express-Times.

June 3 2004 New Democrats Online
The Highs and Lows of Charter Schooling in Arizona
PPI Releases Latest Report in a Series Examining the Nation's Charter Schools

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) today released a new report examining charter schooling in Arizona, the home of the most open charter school law in America. ...

For the full story, go to the web site of New Democrats Online.

June 3 2004 The Ball State Daily News
Charter schools get guidelines
Ball State had not given experimental programs strict standards before

by Alyssa Miller

Ball State's Office of Charter Schools has intensified accountability guidelines for the 11 Indiana charter schools it sponsors.

"Accountability is the cornerstone of what charter schools are all about," Director of Ball State Charter Schools Martin Dezelan said.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of Ball State Daily News.

June 4 2004 Rocky Mountain News
Gov. Owens signs charter school bill

By John J. Sanko
Parents frustrated by their own school districts in trying to create charter schools will be able to bypass local officials under legislation signed into law Thursday by Gov. Bill Owens.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of Rocky Mountain News.

June 4 2004 Polk [County, FL] Online
Two charter schools to pay student supplies

By KYLE KENNEDY

LAKE WALES - Dwight Chadwick was pleasantly surprised.

A letter had just arrived from Hillcrest Elementary, where his two sons attend school, informing him the boys would only need to bring backpacks to class next fall.

Hillcrest would be picking up the tab for pencils, paper and other supplies, the letter said. ...

For the full story, go to the web site of Polk Online.

June 4 2004 St. Petersburg Times
Crowding, choice at odds in schools
More than 6,300 students may be eligible to transfer out of schools that don't meet federal guidelines. But schools they choose may be packed.

By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK

School crowding and school choice are about to collide in Hernando County.

More than 6,300 children might be eligible to transfer out of their existing school in August, if their campus failed to meet federal progress guidelines for a second year in a row.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of the St. Petersburg Times.

June 5 2004 Associated Press
Democrats call for executive order from Bush on vouchers

TALLAHASSEE -- Four Democratic state lawmakers Friday said Gov. Jeb Bush should issue an executive order tightening oversight of Florida's two largest voucher programs.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of the Associated Press.

June 5 2004 The Ann Arbor News
Paige touts school vouchers
They help shrink achievement gap, visiting education secretary says

BY PATTY MAHER

U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige promoted school vouchers and charter schools at a luncheon in Ann Arbor on Friday hosted by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, yet said he is still an advocate of traditional public school systems.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of The Ann Arbor News.

June 6 2004 The Buffalo News
Unions' boycott hurts parent-teacher fund-raiser
Carnival comes up short

By PATRICK LAKAMP
...
A boycott led by the unions for Buffalo teachers and principals kept at least two dozen parent-teacher organizations from participating in Carnival in the Park, held in LaSalle Park.
...
The Buffalo Teachers Federation and the union that represents Buffalo principals urged their members not to participate because they objected to charter schools, and not just traditional public schools, taking part in the event.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of The Buffalo News.

June 7 2004 The Seattle Times
Charter-school network seeks a foothold in Washington

By Linda Shaw

NEW YORK — Sixty-nine sets of eyes follow David Levin around a Bronx classroom as he asks students, for about the 10th time, to put their math binders on the floor without a sound.
...
This boot-camp approach, applied to behavior and academics, is part of what sets KIPP apart, and part of the success that has put the organization in the national spotlight, held up by supporters as a prime example of the potential of charter schools.
...

For the full story, go to the web site of The Seattle Times.

June 7 2004 The Flint [MI] Journal
Charter school planned
Facility to take over Daystar Center Site

By Joe Lawlor

BURTON - A new charter school will replace the closing Daystar Educational Center, a private school.

John Romine of The Romine Group of Rochester Hills has secured a charter from the Upper Peninsula's Bay Mills Community College to open Madison Academy at 1291 E. Maple Ave.
...
"The only choice people had before charter schools existed was if they had money in their wallet and could send their children to a private school," Romine said. "We feel we can provide an excellent alternative."


For the full story, go to the web site of The Flint Journal.

June 8 2004 Seattle Post Intelligencer
Charter schools hit major roadblock
Foes say they have enough signatures to force referendum

By GREGORY ROBERTS

The push to open public charter schools in Washington has suffered a major setback with the apparent success of a petition drive to force a statewide vote on the new law authorizing the schools.

Under the state constitution, that law will be suspended once petition backers turn in the 99,000 signatures they need to force a Nov. 2 vote, and they said yesterday they'll do that by the deadline tomorrow. ...

For the full story, go to the web site of the Seattle Post Intelligencer.

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