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Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed two new competitive education grants during his State of the State address today.

Two more Races to the Top could be coming to New York — this time courtesy of Governor Andrew Cuomo.

In his first State of the State speech today, Cuomo proposed creating two new competitive grant funds for state school districts, worth $250 million each.

The first grant would reward districts that boost students’ academic performance. The second would go to districts that find ways to cut costs that don’t affect the classroom.

It’s not yet clear if the addition of the grant competitions would alter the state’s current formula-based education model. But the governor was critical of the model, which he said gives districts no incentives to improve.

“Competition works,” Cuomo said, pointing to the state legislature’s passage of a charter cap lift bill as part of its (eventually successful) bid to win Race to the Top funds.

Cuomo’s plan would follow the lead of the federal government, which the governor said has “actually been more innovative in this area.” The U.S. Department of Education still doles out most of its money to states according to formulas, but under President Barack Obama has also begun granting billions of dollars based on the outcomes of competitions. (more…)

As a former high school history teacher in the South Bronx, I rallied my students with the necessarily optimistic classroom motto of “Anything is possible.”

Just before Christmas, the U.S. Senate effectively told some of my former students, “No, it’s not.”

By voting 55-41 to block advancement of the DREAM Act, the Senate slammed the door shut on thousands of students’ futures and threw away the key for at least another two years.

The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act would have provided a way for children who were illegally brought to this country by relatives to gain citizenship. The reward — citizenship — was to be dangled as a carrot for children who have been in this country for five years, graduate from high school, pursue college or the military and have no criminal record.

As a teacher and in my current capacity as a college preparation program director, I have worked with several such upstanding students who would have qualified for relief under the act, and it’s crushing to hear them talk about what their futures look like without this legislation. (more…)

• Columbus HS is offering extra credit to students whose parents support its charter conversion. (Post)
• City English teachers explain how they are changing instruction to meet new demands. (CNN)
• A teacher with a heart condition is among those at PS 234 fighting a student’s deportation. (Daily News)
• N.J. Gov. Chris Christie wants districts to be allowed to to hire non-educators as superintendents. (Times)
• Budget cuts have put a longstanding equity case back on the docket in New Jersey. (WSJ)
• Schools across the country are thinking of new ways to use iPads in class. (Times)

• Former Chancellor Joel Klein stands to make more than $4.5 million this year at News Corp. (Reuters)
• Take a tour of the sleek Hearst office tower Cathie Black left for Tweed Courthouse. (Business Insider)
• Black’s focus on Mandarin instruction is “starting to look like an obsession.” (City Room)
• NYC has purchased more than 2,000 iPads for its public schools, spending $1.3 million. (NYT)
• Deborah Ball says the fight over teacher quality isn’t innovative, but it might be destructive. (HuffPo)
• There’s little recourse for parents upset by the all-work-and-no-play style of kindergarten. (Insideschools)
• The average NYSUT employee makes much more than the average New York school teacher. (Nyfera)
• Meet three more of the colorful characters in Ruben Brosbe’s classroom. (Bronx Teach)
• Wayne Barrett, a critic of Bloomberg’s school policies, is leaving the Village Voice. (Runnin Scared)
• A new version of “Huckleberry Finn” will omit words that have gotten the book banned. (The Two-Way)

A Manhattan charter school in danger of closing is suing the city, arguing that officials violated state law and their own guidelines when they recommended that the state not renew the school’s charter.

In a report sent to the State Board of Regents last month, city officials documented a long list of academic and operational problems at Ross Global Academy Charter School. The Regents will vote next week on whether to renew the school’s five-year charter.

Among the complaints in the suit is that the city failed to provide the school with enough time to respond to its recommendation and failed to hold a meaningful hearing on the fate of the school — both included in the city’s guidelines for charter renewal.

Additionally, the charter school argues that it does not meet the legal criteria for not renewing a charter.

The school has struggled for years with questions of student safety and high teacher turnover. This year, the school received the lowest progress report rating of any school in the city. Last year, however, the school received an A, and the school is arguing that state law requires the city to base its recommendation on three years’ worth of academic performance.

City officials publicly announced that they hoped to close the school before they formally told parents or issued their final report, a move the school contends violates the city’s own standards of conduct.

The lawsuit marks the first time a city charter school has challenged a recommendation against its renewal in court, and could set precedent for future charters.

Department of Education officials would not comment today on the suit. (more…)

Department of Education officials cleared up confusion today over whether new Chancellor Cathie Black has visited any of the city’s lowest-rated schools: she hasn’t. But she intends to, they said.

During her five-borough tour of some of the city’s successful schools yesterday, reporters asked Black to talk about her visits to any of the city’s D or F-rated schools, assuming she’d seen them. Black responded:

“I’ve been to every kind of school. I will continue that, I don’t have any desire to only visit one kind of school or another.”

As of today, it appears that Black misspoke. DOE spokeswoman Natalie Ravitz said that while Black has not visited any D or F schools, she has scheduled visits to them. Ravitz would not say which struggling schools Black will visit or when.

The city announced plans last month to begin closing 26 public schools next year based on their low progress report grades and the graduation rates and test scores that form the bulk of what determines those grades. The citywide school board, called the Panel for Educational Policy, will vote on the school closures next month and meetings at some of the schools to explain their likely closure to parents will begin this week. If Black attends any of these meetings, it may be her first time in a struggling school.

The GothamSchools Community section spent 2010 constantly growing, in the end featuring more than 220 posts from dozens of writers trying to elevate the conversation about public education.

On our Community page, editor Philissa Cramer rounds up the ground covered by our contributers last year. Teachers gave insights into daily classroom life, parents and teachers discussed how their schools affect their lives, and edu-wonks of all stripes dug deeply into policy questions and offered suggestions to improve the city schools.

Among the calls for change we published in 2010:

• Lawyer David Bloomfield advocated for an independent review of school closures.
• Teachers —  Arthur Goldstein and James Eterno at Jamaica HS and Alex Jones at Metropolitan Corporate Academy — made cases for keeping their schools open,
• High school student Khaair Morrison explained why he couldn’t handle looming Metrocard cuts.
• Mom Ebony Brown outlined her controversial reasons for supporting charter schools.
• Former CUNY dean John Garvey made an equity case for changing specialized high school admissions.
• And week after week, parent Elizabeth Puccini offered lessons for greening city schools.

If you — or your students — have something to say about the schools, e-mail us. We’re looking forward to a new year full of even more dispatches from classrooms and insightful takes on education policy.

2010 was a banner year for the GothamSchools Community section, which boasted more than 220 posts from dozens of parents, teachers, students, principals, and policy wonks.

Here’s what last year’s contributors added to GothamSchools, and what you can add, too — let us know if you’re interested in elevating the dialogue about education by writing for the Community section.

Community contributors provided regular views into everyday life at city schools:

• Diarists included Ruben Brosbe, who started his fourth year of teaching discouraged;
• C.W. Arp, a new teacher who left the classroom in June;
• Dana Lawit, who boosted her students’ performance by asking them to respond in complete sentences;
• Arthur Goldstein, who was stumped by a parent who demanded bad news;
• Lizzie Hetzer, who learned to loosen up;
• Stephen Lazar, who surprised himself by seeing value in “Waiting for ‘Superman’”;
• and Collin Lawrence, a former teacher who is recounting his four years at a chaotic Brooklyn high school.
• The newest diarist, theater teacher Kate Quarfordt, considered the real meaning of student engagement.
• Harlem Link Charter School head Steven Evangelista wrote about finding a long-lost student in jail.
• And iSchool principals Mary Moss and Alisa Berger explained how their school uses technology differently.

They offered unorthodox takes on current events: (more…)

• Charter school backers topped the rolls of state election campaign donations. (Post)
• On her first day as chancellor, Cathie Black visited good schools. (GS, Times, Post, Daily News, NY1)
• We live-blogged Black’s five-borough school tour. (GothamSchools)
• The Daily News says Randi Weingarten is right about the value of videotaping classroom instruction.
• Aaron Pallas outlines the teacher data reports’ many blind spots. (Daily News)
• Police charged a shop teacher at Aviation HS with fondling a female student. (Post)
• Detroit will use stimulus funds to give new computers to 40,000 students. (Detroit Free Press)
• Lawmakers in Illinois opened talks about dramatically changing tenure rules. (WSJ, AP)

• Cathie Black will be gone by Easter, predicts Mike Petrilli. (Flypaper)
• Black’s management history might not bode well for her chancellorship. (Politics Daily)
• Read the student play about NYC school reform that Jamaica HS banned. (Answer Sheet)
• Race to the Top flip-flops lead a list of politically significant education events. (Politics K-12)
• A dad says he’s finally come to terms with the fact that his daughter is good but not great. (Insideschools)
• The difference between starting and finishing college might be skills to read boring texts. (Mike Goldstein)
• Brooklyn High School for Leadership and Community Service helped steer a dropout to college. (Times)
• Jason Glass of Iowa tops a list of state education leaders to watch in 2011. (Christian Science Monitor)
• Leonie Haimson: Joel Klein’s departure was thing to happen last year. (NYC Public School Parents)
• A blogger’s wish list for the UFT in 2011 brooks no compromise. (Chaz’s School Daze)
• 2010′s best education articles include Elizabeth’s “Building a Better Teacher.” (Educated Reporter)
• A Bronx teacher who started as a Teaching Fellow says she wasn’t “highly qualified.” (HuffPo)