Edison tries to shake the “ick” factor?

Dana Goldstein assesses Chris Whittle’s latest morph from Edison Schools into Edison Learning Inc.; from being a for-profit manager of urban charter schools into the hopefully-for-them, more profitable distance-learning business. Writing at American Prospect, Goldstein says of Edison’s hustle and flow:

…ultimately, for a company that never managed to get past the "ick" factor associated with for-profit public schools, diversification is probably a sensible goal, both in terms of finances and branding…Edison has always been as consumed with managing its image as it has been with managing schools, hence its very appropriate change in name. The question remains at what cost to the real bottom line -- educating kids

I may be wrong but, isn't this Edison's second round of reinventing itself in the past year? I remember reading about the first on the San Francisco Schools blog--what sounded like a half-baked attempt called E2 . It seems that profit margins were shrinking and Whittle was being handed his shorts by competing CMOs Aspire and KIPP.

The shake-out continues.

Choice a felony in Florida? Not likely...

Fordham’s Mike Petrilli is shedding crocodile tears over Broward County’s supposed criminalization of “choice.” All the district has done is what wealthier, mainly white districts have done everywhere, to keep out the poor and children of color; namely, the board gave administrators the right to report families trying to sneak children into better equipped and staffed schools in areas where they can’t afford to live. Since school boards can’t pass laws or prosecute anyone, the claim that they are making “choice a felony” is pure demagogery, and Petrilli knows it.

This backdoor attempt at school desegregation has nothing to do with criminalizing choice—at least choice the way Petrilli means it: school vouchers and privately-managed charter schools. Not only is Petrilli’s version of choice not illegal, it’s become practically a way of life in Broward and other Florida counties under Govs. Bush and Crist. And, I might add, with poor results.

…Fordham demagogy

Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick is black. He grew up poor, won a scholarship to a private school and then went to Harvard. Good going, Guv. But to Checker Finn & Gadfly, this means that Patrick is obligated to support school vouchers and privately-managed charters as part of his new school reform plan. But Finn knows full well that winning a scholarship is not the same thing as using public funding to support private schools.