Here's Why Dennis Van Roekel Isn't On The Sunday Talk Show Circuit:

[Dinger]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/state/stories/DN-neaprez_28tex.ART.State.Edition1.35e7bf4.html



AUSTIN – Texas will be headed down the wrong path if it invests more money in its network of independent charter schools, the president of the National Education Association said Friday, citing mixed student achievement results in those schools.

NEA president Dennis Van Roekel said efforts to expand the charter school program in Texas and other states ignore the track record of those schools and their lack of success with many students.

"If you look at the research for charters, the results are not there. You cannot make a case that we ought to invest more money in charter schools based on the research," said Van Roekel, a former math teacher from Arizona who heads the 3.2 million-member teacher union. He visited schools in Austin and San Antonio on Friday as part of a multistate back-to-school tour this week.

"We still have advocates who say it is the silver bullet for what's wrong in education. But the record shows many of those schools are not delivering for kids," he said. "We also have public schools that are not delivering for kids, and that is where we need to focus our attention."