Campus Talk: Washington State Supreme Court Rules Charter Schools Unconstitutional

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WASHINGTON STATE SUPREME COURT RULES CHARTER SCHOOLS ARE UNCONSTITUTIONAL: The Washington State Supreme Court ruled late Friday afternoon (Sept. 4) that charter schools in that state are unconstitutional, the first such decision of its kind in the country, according to a story by The Seattle Times.

The ruling overturns the law voters narrowly approved in 2012 allowing publicly-funded, but privately-operated, schools. Eight new charter schools are opening in Washington this fall in addition to one that opened in Seattle last year.

It was not immediately known what would happen with the schools that are already running. The parties have 20 days to ask the court for reconsideration before the ruling becomes final.

MCGRAW-HILL EDUCATION PLANS TO ‘GO PUBLIC’: Education content maker McGraw-Hill Education, announced on Friday (Sept. 4) plans to go public (IPO) with a filing of Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering (IPO) of common stock. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined.

McGraw-Hill Education bills itself as a learning science company that delivers personalized learning programs that help students, parents, educators and professionals improve educational results. The New York-based company says it provides learning solutions, digital learning tools and platforms to the students in the classrooms of nearly 250,000 higher education instructors, 13,000 K-12 school districts and a wide variety of academic institutions, professionals and companies in over 135 countries.

In January 2013, the McGraw-Hill Companies completed the $2.4 billion sale of McGraw-Hill Education to Apollo Global Management LLC, which has over $163 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2015, SEC filings show. McGraw-Hill Education reported $1.86 billion in revenue in 2014, but reported losses of $330.7 million. The company’s IPO is expected to value the company between $5 billion to $6 billion, Reuters has reported.

JOHN BROWN MAKES RANKING OF TOP 50 CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITIES: John Brown University of Siloam Springs made the list of top 50 Best Christian Colleges and Universities in the U.S. for 2015-2016, according to the most recent ranking by Christian Universities Online of Durham, N.C.

Coming in at No. 40 on the list, the private Christian school in Northwest Arkansas was spotlighted for high retention and graduation rates, offering over 40 undergraduate majors, and attracting a diverse international student body.

College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Mo., claimed the top spot on the list. Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego and Columbia (S.C.) International University were ranked second and third respectively. The rankings can be viewed here.

U.S. EDUCATION DEPARTMENT UNVEILS PROPOSALS TO IMPROVE STUDENT LOAN SERVICING PRACTICES: The U.S. Department of Education recently issued recommendations from an interagency task force on best practices in performance based contracting to better ensure that servicers help borrowers make affordable monthly payments.

As part of the Student Aid Bill of Rights unveiled by President Obama in March, the task force reviewed input from its members in July and will now inform the upcoming process of rebidding Federal Student Loan contracts prior to the expiration of the existing contracts.

Even ahead of that process, the Federal Student Aid arm of the Department of Education has been taking steps to improve borrower service as it continues to implement the Obama administration’s landmark student loan reform directives, officials said. To view the task force recommendations, click here.