The latest issue of School Reform News hit my mailbox yesterday. If you're interested in education, it's worth a look.

The good news:

Moratorium on Charter Schools Expires in R.I.

At the behest of teacher unions, the state enacted the measure in 2004. There are 11 charter schools already in the state, with a waiting list of 5,000 students.

Charter School Students Are Outperforming Their Public School Counterparts in California.

A study that compared charter schools in Los Angeles with their counterparts in the district showed that the charter schools (70% of them, at least) did better in promoting student growth.

Scholarship Program Offers Chicago Parents School Choice. A small scholarship program that requires student accountability, parental involvement, and a commitment of individual funders to support children throughout high school is bringing praise--and even sending some of them to West Point.

The bad news:

Charter School Progress Halted by Delaware Legislature, which enacts a moratorium on new schools.

Legislature Strips Funding from Two Arizona Voucher Programs. This isn't surprising, given that a state appellate court ruled that the programs, which give money to disabled students and foster children, are unconstitutional on religious grounds.

And the this-could-lead-to-something news:

Rev. Al Sharpton, Other Prominent Democrats Break with Unions, Join Choice Movement

They're not all-out supporters of vouchers of tuition tax credits, but members of this group support charter schools and "maximizing parents' options."There's enough status-quo language in the statement of principles to cause any fan of full-throated market competition refrain from being too optimistic about the prospects of the group. Still, the premise--that school choice is the civil rights issue of our time--and the support for school choice, even limited to charter schools, is encouraging.

This is a sample of the articles in thie September issue. Check out the full collection.