Alabama: The Alabama Education Association runs attack ads against a pro-school choice candidate during Republican special election primaries (AL.com).

California: L.A.'s public school choice initiative became more about collaboration than competition (Huffington Post). San Fernando Valley Charter schools form an advocacy group (Daily News).

Colorado: School choice candidates win a majority on the Jefferson County School Board (Denver Post).

D.C.: Parents will be able to use one application to apply to many different schools of choice (Education Week, Washington Post). Bureaucracy, not school choice, was the problem in D.C. (redefinED). The district approves two Texas-based charter school operators to open new schools (Washington Post).

Florida: A bullied student finds a new home using a tax-credit scholarship to attend a private school (redefinED). With charter and private school options on the rise, the Pinellas County School District markets magnet schools to attract students back to the district (Tampa Bay Times). Robin Gibson, a prominent Democrat with close ties to former Govs. Bob Graham and Lawton Chiles, defends charter schools from critics (The Ledger). The superintendent of the Hillsborough County School District has reservations about allowing a competing charter school on MacDill Air Force Base (Tampa Bay Times).

Georgia: Parents choose private schools for many reasons other than high test scores (One News Now).

Hawaii: A charter school fires its principal after he is charged with the theft of more than $150,000 from the school (Hawaii News Now).

Indiana: Gov. Mike Pence wants to increase the number of charter schools in the state (Post Tribune).

Louisiana: Gov. Bobby Jindal and school choice supporters may be declaring victory against the DOJ's anti voucher suit but the fight isn't over yet (Education Week, Times Picayune, National Review, Wall Street Journal, Bayou Buzz, The Town Talk ). The judge in the DOJ's anti voucher suit ordered both sides to come up with a plan to prevent racial segregation (Associated Press, Bloomberg, New York Times). A former Democrat and state legislature turns from voucher foe to voucher supporter (The Advocate). (more…)

Pennsylvania: The CREDO study finds Pennsylvania charter school students lagging behind traditional public school students (Tribune Review). York City School District officials are going door to door in an effort to convince parents, who enrolled their kids in charter schools, to come back to the city's schools (York Dispatch).

Washington: Spokane Public Schools is taking steps to open the state's first charter school (Spokesman-Review).

New York: The Max and Marian Farash Charitable Foundation is awarding up to $1 million in seed money for new charter school sites (Democrat & Chronicle). Recent data shows graduation rates on the rise for students using Opportunity Scholarships (Southern Maryland News Net). Former Congressman and mayor hopeful Anthony Weiner wants to expand school choice by giving private schools equal standing with other options in the city's education department (Gotham Schools). During New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg's tenure, charter school funding has grown from $32 million to $659 million (New York Daily News).

California: Three American Indian charter schools will be allowed to remain open while awaiting an appeal to the state's Board of Education (San Francisco Chronicle). FBI and Internal Revenue Service agents seize records, phones and computers during a raid at the home of the former director of three Oakland charter schools (San Francisco Chronicle).

Hawaii: The state's 32 charter schools have signed performance contracts aimed at improving accountability (Star Advertiser).

Mississippi: KIPP schools inspire charter school advocates to look for nonprofits as operators (Jackson Clarion Ledger).

Florida: Charter schools are becoming an increasingly popular choice in Pinellas County, where district officials expect four more to open in the fall for a total of 22 (Tampa Bay Times). The state looks to have more students taking online classes (Tampa Tribune). The state's tax credit scholarship program is growing rapidly (News Service of Florida). Lee County schools is yet another district grappling with a new law that cuts funding to their schools when students sign up Florida Virtual School (WGCU). The state's chancellor of public schools tells district superintendents not to steer away students from Florida Virtual School (redefinED). Private school enrollment continues to grow (redefinED). Miami-Dade schools are investigating cheating allegations at the district-run charter school, Academy for International Education (Miami Herald).

Louisiana: Seven private schools barred from the state's voucher program were the most reliant on the assistance (Times-Picayune). (more…)