Morning News

Culture Wars Anyone? The NYT looks at sex-education and The Washington Post looks at character education. Also, NYT readers respond to Michael Winerip’s flush ’em out approach to class size.

The NY Post weighs in on school finance in NY and the release of a school finance plan later this week. Big Unspoken Variable: New test scores from NYC, first that can be attributed to the Bloomberg-Klein regime also coming later this week…

A new bill may reignite the affirmative action debate in California. Link via Kaus who has more analysis.

George Archibald writes up the recent non-partisan General Accounting Office study concluding that No Child Left Behind is not an unfunded mandate in The Washington Times. That’s true, it’s conditional aid. Critics say that the GAO study is based on, “a strict and complicated legal definition” of what constitutes an unfunded mandate. Hmmm…”isn’t strict and complicated legal definition” synonymous with “law”, those pesky things we follow here? For more, see Eduwonk on NCLB funding here. Incidentally, in a letter last year to senators who tried to suspend NCLB’s accountability provisions, civil rights leaders argued that: “Federal education reform is a strategy for equal opportunity, not an ‘unfunded federal mandate’.”

Important Play, Important Cause: City at Peace will be performing its 2004 production “MegaHurtz” at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., on June 19 at 2pm and 8pm. The play, performed by young people from the D.C. Metro area, discusses forthrightly the challenges and issues kids face today. Tickets and info here.

Virtual Fontainebleau: Can’t make the junket to Miami Beach Fontainebleau for the National Charter Schools Conference? Don’t despair…next week from June 7-10 U.S. Charter Schools is hosting interactive online forums to discuss various aspects of charter schooling. It’s not Miami but hey, no tipping or sunburn. You can log on and participate too, more info here.

Great Book for Picky Parents: Bryan Hassel and Emily Ayscue Hassel have produced a great book about choosing a school for your child. It’s not a book about traditional public schools, private schools, charter schools, or any other singular option but instead a book about finding the right school that is the right fit for your child. They also have a terrific website with even more information.

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