Laura Waters

Laura Waters is the founder and managing editor of New Jersey Education Report, formerly a senior writer/editor with brightbeam. Laura writes about New Jersey and New York education policy and politics. As the daughter of New York City educators and parent of a son with special needs, she writes frequently about the need to listen to families and ensure access to good public school options for all. She is based in New Jersey, where she and her husband have raised four children. She recently finished serving 12 years on her local school board in Lawrence, New Jersey, where she was president for nine of those years. Early in her career, she taught writing to low-income students of color at SUNY Binghamton through an Educational Opportunity Program.

Posts By Laura Waters

If You're Looking for a Robust Democratic Debate About Education, This Ain't It

“At last,” I exulted, as I peered at a Slack message from a colleague. The Democratic presidential candidates are going to finally discuss America’s public schools! We’ll witness (it’s live-streamed)...

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IEP

Don't Take Us Back to the Days When Our Children With Disabilities Could Be Denied an Education

We barely survived my son Jonah’s adolescence. One evening in Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station he pushed me so hard I fell to the ground and a woman leaned over and whispered in my ear, “that child...

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public schools

Top Democratic Candidates’ Disrespect for Parents of Color Has Me Wondering If I Fit Into This Party Anymore.

Politico reports today that Elizabeth Warren’s support among Democratic and left-leaning Independent primary voters “plunged 50% over the past month, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.”...

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School Choice

I Spit Out My Coffee When I Read Cory Booker’s Op-Ed: Nine Theories That Explain His Change of Heart.

I gasped as I opened the op-ed section of the New York Times and read Senator Cory Booker’s column repudiating his regressive stance on public charter schools. Until he entered the Democratic...

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Charter Schools

'I Want to Talk About Better Academic and Life Outcomes for Black and Brown Kids. Period.'

If we have really well-prepared young people who are going to the exact college they want to go to, who will graduate from college within six years with little to no debt and who are willing to take...

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Teaching

I'm Celebrating Teachers But I'm Not Celebrating Their Unions

When I was a teenager, the greatest honor my dad bestowed was the chance to help him grade multiple-choice questions. Up in his bedroom on a Sunday afternoon, he’d sit at his desk preparing lesson...

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