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Pastorek Files Intervention In School Funding Lawsuit Parents of Special Needs Students Demand Immediate Adoption of Weighted Funding Plan

by Peter Cook 4 April 2016, 12:45

Former Louisiana State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek has filed a petition in federal court to intervene in the lawsuit brought by Lusher and Lake Forest charter schools against the Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) over looming changes to the district’s school funding formula. Pastorek, who is a lawyer by trade, filed the intervention on […] More

in LaLege

Governor Unveils K-12 Legislative Agenda Edwards Wants To Chip Away At Accountability and School Choice

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by Peter Cook 18 March 2016, 03:16

Ever since John Bel Edwards’ upset victory in the gubernatorial race last fall, education reform supporters have worried that the Governor would try to roll back many of the policies that have helped raise student achievement across the state. After all, during his tenure in the Louisiana House of Representatives, Edwards opposed Common Core and […] More

in NOLA

Lusher vs. The World Charter's Leaders Decide To Fight Equity At All Cost

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by Peter Cook 27 February 2016, 14:24

It’s official. This morning, Lusher’s board of directors unanimously voted to file a lawsuit to block the implementation of a new school funding formula if the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) proceeds with a vote on the matter next week. Robert Morris of the Uptown Messenger live-blogged Lusher’s emergency board meeting – you can read his […] More

in NOLA

School Funding: An RSD Principal’s View A Guest Post from Julie Lause

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by Peter Cook 25 February 2016, 09:13

Julie Lause is the co-founder of Crescent City Schools and the principal at Harriet Tubman Charter School, a Recovery School District charter school in Algiers. I first got to know Julie ten years ago, when we worked together setting up a charter school in Houston to serve New Orleans students displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Not […] More

in NOLA

Quick Take: Lusher’s Big Lie Financial Reports Reveal Surpluses in 2014 & 2015

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by Peter Cook 24 February 2016, 17:03

It appears that officials at Lusher Charter School are doubling down on their promise to fight a proposed change in the way public schools are funded in New Orleans. Up to now, the Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) and Recovery School District (RSD) have used different formulas to fund their respective schools. The new proposal […] More

in OPSB

Quick Take: A Conspicuous Absence OPSB Superintendent Declines Invite to RSD Press Conference

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by Peter Cook 17 February 2016, 19:33

On Tuesday, Recovery School District Superintendent Patrick Dobard held a press conference to announce a series of new test security measures in the wake of ongoing investigations into allegations of cheating at Landry-Walker High School and ReNEW Sci Tech Academy. Beginning this spring, outside monitors will oversee the administration of the state’s annual tests at […] More

in NOLA

RTS Podcast: Landry-Walker and Success Academies Citizen Stewart and I talk about recent scandals in NOLA & NYC

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by Peter Cook 17 February 2016, 10:10

I hopped on the phone yesterday with my friend Chris Stewart (a.k.a., Citizen Stewart) to record another episode of his podcast, Rock The Schools, focused on two recent scandals involving charter schools in New Orleans and New York. In the first half of our conversation, we discuss recent disturbing revelations at two charter schools in […] More

in Policy

A Failing Grade for Takeover District Critics A Closer Look at a Biased Commentary in Ed Week

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by Peter Cook 30 January 2016, 11:05

On Wednesday, Education Week published a commentary criticizing plans to create state takeover districts in Georgia and Pennsylvania. The piece – “A Failing Grade for K-12 State Takeovers” – was written by Kent McGuire and Katherine Dunn of the Southern Education Foundation and Kate Shaw and Adam Schott from Research For Action in Philadelphia. The […] More

in NOLA

Check Your Privilege Lusher Officials Stoke Fears Over Proposed Funding Formula

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by Peter Cook 26 January 2016, 13:10

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post that called out Lusher Charter School officials for making misleading, alarmist claims about an upcoming change to their school funding formula. Now, unfortunately, it appears that Lusher officials have decided to take their misinformation campaign a step further. On Monday, Lusher CEO Kathy Riedlinger and Board […] More

in Charters

The Problem With Independent Authorizers Keeping a Tight Rein on Charter Authorizing Is Essential For Success

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by Peter Cook 8 January 2016, 15:07

Although I like Jennifer “Edushyster” Berkshire personally, it’s safe to say that when it comes to education policy, we agree to disagree on most points. However, I think I finally found an education issue on which we are more-or-less aligned: independent charter school authorizers. On Tuesday, Salon published an interview Berkshire conducted with the authors […] More

in NOLA

Which New Orleans Schools Made The Grade In 2015? LDOE Releases Letter Grades & SPS Scores

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by Peter Cook 17 December 2015, 17:33

Just in time for Christmas, the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) released 2015 school letter grades and School Performance Scores (SPS) earlier today. Schools were assigned grades on a curve again this year, based on a temporary policy adopted to ease the transition to the higher demands of the Common Core standards. LDOE calculates elementary […] More

in NOLA

Quick Take: Kathy Riedlinger’s Pre-Emptive Strike Lusher Officials Exaggerate Impact of Changes to Funding Formula

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by Peter Cook 10 December 2015, 15:57

Dear Lusher Parents: No, the sky is not falling. Contrary to what you might have read on Saturday in the Uptown Messenger, Lusher is not about to be pushed off the edge of a $1.2 million fiscal cliff. Lawmakers in Baton Rouge have not conspired to punish New Orleans with a law all its own. […] More

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