Should tax money be used to fund religious charter schools?

A school opening this month is named for a Jewish high priest, is directed by a rabbi, will have kosher food and will teach Hebrew. It's also a public school, funded by public tax dollars and following state curriculum guidelines.

Ben Gamla Charter School, billed as the nation's first publicly funded Hebrew-English school, has prompted fears of religion creeping into public schools and has even drawn criticism from groups that defend Jewish causes. Similar criticisms have been raised against Arabic-language charter schools elsewhere, with some saying those schools teach Islam.

Organizers insist that while Ben Gamla will teach Hebrew language and culture, it won't cross the divide between church and state.

Read the rest in The Sun Herald.

Underage drinking takes place in charter school

An Ohio charter school that emphasizes African history and culture served gin to sixth graders at a graduation ceremony and state education officials said they plan to investigate.

Four students were given a teaspoon of gin mixed with water in a ceremony modeled on a Ghanian rite of passage event, said Kwa David Whitaker, a Phoenix Village Academy official.

Excuse me, isn't serving alcohol to a minor against the law?

Educational News

Homeschool Freedom points out the dangers of Home Based Instruction (virtual schools) to "independent homeschoolers".

Having laid the PR background in step 4, anti-homeschooling activists are poised to get legislation passed that requires all homeschoolers to enroll in these programs, effectively outlawing independent homeschooling.

Parents at UPPER ARLINGTON HIGH SCHOOL worked to provide their children with Christian-based classes as an independent study option (the parents pay for the classes and the textbooks used). Critics (mainly the ACLU) see it as public schools endorsing religion.

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The Ohio Federation of Teachers say Brennan’s Charter Schools Dodge Ohio’s Testing Requirements

Either these young people are enrolled and simply not being tested, or maybe they don’t really attend these Life Skills Centers,” said OFT President Tom Mooney. “At a minimum, taxpayers have no idea whether the vast majority of students for which Brennan is funded are learning anything. We could be looking at massive fraud. How do we know these students actually exist?” The state paid Brennan $109 million last year for his company, White Hat Management, to run 31 charter schools in Ohio. Based on claimed enrollment, Brennan’s chain of charter schools would be the ninth largest school system in Ohio.

And in Mississippi The Superintendent of Education Hank Bounds accused some homeschoolers of child abuse and threatened to scrutinize homeschooling; even though the public schools he is in charge of have plenty of problems he should be scrutinizing instead.

Educational News

Educator urges mobility for degrees, proof of skills

So instead of just saying a student got a B+ in "environmental design," for example, an electronic card would summarize the course requirements, highlight special projects the student did outside class and mention her study abroad. Adelman said the system would give students a lifelong transparent and certified summary of accomplishments for employers and other schools.

In Philadelphia


The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers plans to call for a moratorium on the creation of charter schools in the district to help ease the budget crunch.

"I think it's a bad idea because charters are working," Hardy said. "The parents like them. The kids like them. I think charters are something that's here to stay. And every time there's a financial hiccup, you can't put charters on the table. Why don't they close some of these bad [traditional] public schools?"

Study: Virtual-school enrollment explodes NACOL symposium states the case for online learning By Corey Murray, Senior Editor, eSchool News

Virtual schooling, and its potential to increase student achievement, was the focus in Plano, Texas, as more than 500 educators from across the nation gathered for the annual Virtual School Symposium Nov. 5-7. The three-day event featured the release of a study detailing a dramatic surge in online enrollment among school-age children--up to a 50-percent increase in some states, researchers said--as well as a new guide for teaching online courses, among other resources.

Charter Schools are Not the Same as Homeschooling

The director of school communications said virtual charter schools are not the same as home schooling. "We supply the computer, printer, we reimburse for the internet connection and we supply the curriculum, the text and that sort of thing," explained Joe Lyons.

California Threatens Homeschoolers

The information provided by the school district regarding their investigatory powers has been considered by some homeschoolers as an implied threat, and the conclusion is, you should enroll your children in a public-school-at-home program.