GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

• 15 states (plus DC) have made it to the Race to the Top finals, but only a handful will win.
• New York is among the finalists, but Mayor Bloomberg said being a finalist isn’t good enough.
• Peter Murphy imagines a worst-case-scenario: NY wins RttT, but with so little money, it can’t do much.
• The number of semi-finalists was both tough and fair says Education Sector’s Chad Aldeman.
• Of the states that got Gates Foundation RttT planning grants, most made it into the finals.
• Every school bus trip costs $19, while the city and state pay pennies for students to get free metro cards.
• Some city schools were mistakenly told they were failing and, of them, many are being closed.
• Charter school teachers who backed the union’s RttT bill were applauded at a union meeting.
• A recent LaGuardia High School grad is starting a music program at his little sister’s school.
• Teachers in NY and CA echoed the Gates teacher study findings on the Takeaway.
• Teachers union caucus New Action lists all the reasons its different from everyone else at the UFT.

New York’s education officials and politicians reacted with shock to news today that their dark-horse state was named a finalist in the competition for Race to the Top funds.

But the unexpected good news did little to instill confidence among lawmakers, who cautioned that the state is still a long-shot for a win.

Many officials and advocates said the state legislature’s failure to act on several key elements of the application — namely, its cap on charter schools and teacher tenure laws — could hobble the state’s chances at the badly-needed funds. And they urged Albany to enact those changes immediately, before the state makes its final pitch to the grant program’s judges in two weeks. The winners of the competition will be announced in April.

Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch said she was “thrilled” that the state’s application, which centered on proposals to build a new data tracking system and to overhaul how teachers are trained and certified, was judged strong enough to make the finals. But she added a note of caution.

“Now we need to make sure that the possibility doesn’t slip away,” Tisch said. (more…)

New York parents may soon have a new advocacy group to help them press for change in the city schools, led by Public Advocate Bill de Blasio.

De Blasio announced the group, which will be known as the “Parent Advocate Coordinating Team,” or PACT, at a town hall forum on education his office held last night in downtown Brooklyn. The public advocate’s staff began collecting contact information for parents last night, and de Blasio said that he hoped to mobilize parents across the city.

At the meeting, De Blasio specifically mentioned organizing against the proposed MTA student Metrocard cuts, and he has called for a moratorium on giving charter schools space in city school buildings. De Blasio’s office hasn’t yet determined what topics the parent group will tackle first, de Blasio spokeswoman Maibe Gonzalez said. (Gonzalez is a former spokeswoman for the Department of Education.) (more…)

The big questions about charter schools are not the real issue in current fights over co-location with traditional public schools. Charter schools with their own buildings are being left alone. Like most wars, the dispute is about territory, not policy. This is not about long-simmering disagreements about charters’ instructional strengths, whether they cream more able students, lack of services for English language learners and students with special needs, segregative effects, and other important if wonky questions. This is about real estate.

In its zeal to support charters and other small-school alternatives, the Bloomberg administration has opened the doors of neighborhood schools to entities without community roots, an imposition understandably resented by many already housed there. Though Department of Education capacity estimates tend to be wildly inflated and the space needs of current schools undervalued, there might very well be room for two or more coexisting programs in some buildings. But the mayor’s and chancellor’s heavy-handed actions, treating current occupants like squatters and shunting them aside in favor of preferred institutions, create unnecessary antagonism between students, parents, and administrators.

This resonates with the old New York story of class warfare engendered by developers and landlords clearing out tenants. In schools, issues of gentrification, perceived religious school encroachment on public school space, and redrawing of district and attendance boundaries have long set off political fireworks. There were only sparks when the DOE moved regular public schools into these spaces. But with charters, these sparks are fanned into flames because of their association with moneyed interests and managerial profiteering. (more…)

• Even before the end of kindergarten registration, some popular schools are already full. (Daily News)
• The custodian at Thurgood Marshall Academy is accused of embezzling $30,000. (Daily News, Post)
• Budget watchdog Charles Brecher: NYC should “stop paying teachers who do not teach.” (Daily News)
• Page Six questions why the Times’ Diane Ravitch article didn’t mention her ex-husband, Richard. (Post)
• A handful of city public schools are among the holdouts who haven’t given up class pictures. (Times)
• New York is not likely to be among the first-round Race to the Top winners announced today. (Post)
• Chicago is making space at elite schools for top students from struggling schools. (Chicago Sun-Times)
• The Obama Administration appears to be starting with a blank slate in rewriting NCLB. (Times)
• The House approved a bill that would limit some forms of physical discipline in schools. (Times)
• A national survey found that students are reporting a big drop in bullying. (Wall Street Journal)
• Officials and teachers in Central Falls, R.I., have agreed to restart negotiations. (Providence Journal, AP)