With voters in charge, high anxiety about teacher layoffs [California Watch, 1/18/11]: School districts are grappling with an excruciating dilemma: whether to plan for the coming school year based on the assumption that taxpayers will approve tax increases in a special election in June, or on an equally uncertain assumption that they will reject it.

In Florida, Virtual Classrooms With No Teachers [New York Times, 1/18/11]: There are over 7,000 students in Miami-Dade County Public Schools enrolled in a program in which core subjects are taken using computers in a classroom with no teacher. A “facilitator” is in the room to make sure students progress. That person also deals with any technical problems. These virtual classrooms, called e-learning labs, were put in place last August as a result of Florida’s Class Size Reduction Amendment, passed in 2002. The amendment limits the number of students allowed in classrooms, but not in virtual labs.

Young: While they’re still in training, intern teachers are not yet highly qualified [Thoughts on Public Education, 1/18/11]: The recent posting “Alternate Route, Same Destination” by Catherine Kearney presents one perspective on the recent congressional action to reestablish California’s teachers who are still in training through an alternative program of preparation as “highly qualified.”

How will Calif. schools implement "parent trigger" law? [Los Angeles Times, 1/17/11]:] California’s "parent trigger" law, which allows parents to force changes at failing schools. New members of the state's school board say they need more time to consider proposed regulations, which were set to be approved last week. Key concerns include whether parents outside a school could trigger a transformation and whether parents should be able to choose a charter operator without first gathering community input. Parents at a Compton school already have moved to turn over management to a charter

Moment of silence may be back in Illinois; State superintendent tells schools to prepare for observance [Chicago Tribune, 1/14/11]: Many school principals and superintendents were caught off guard this week when the state's top educator cautioned that they soon might need to observe a dormant state law requiring a moment of "silent prayer or silent reflection" to start the school day. In his weekly message, Illinois schools Superintendent Christopher Koch alerted school districts that the federal injunction that banned the moment of silence could be lifted in the next few days.