The Hill’s Walter Alarkon reports today on the fight within the Democrat Party on education funding. The Obama administration’s Department of Education– in the person of Secretary Arne Duncan–is counting on the competitive grant program Race to the Top (RttT) to reform education. But not all the Dems in Congress are on board. The intra-party [...]
The National Education Association (NEA) convention (July 2-11) is underway in New Orleans. There’s plenty of goings-on to interest political junkies- even those who don’t care all that much about education issues. Neither President Obama, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan—nor anyone from the current administration for that matter– is scheduled to speak to the delegates [...]
Sam Dillon at the NYT reports on the cost of trying to turn around a failing school. Readers of Donna Foote’s Relentless Pursuit: A Year in the Trenches with Teach for America will remember the problems at LA’s Locke High School, a school that has been described as the worst of the worst high schools [...]
You’ve no doubt heard about the massive upcoming teacher layoffs and that $23 billion is need right now to save public education. Chris Lane at the Washington Post says you can calm down. It’s just hype. For one thing, the predicted “as many as” figure of 300,000 teachers affected is misleading: Start with that scary [...]
Here’s P.J. O’Rourke‘s answer to the problem of bloated public schools: O’Rourke cites a plethora of school statistics to support his argument to “end them, don’t mend them.” You’ll have to decide for yourself whether his alternative-to-what-we-have-now proposal for educating kids has any merit. But whether you agree with him or not, there’s no disputing [...]
The Wall Street Journal reports today on the tough task many schools– like the Downe Township School in New Jersey– face when it comes to cutting their budgets. The struggles at Downe Township School illustrate the challenges public schools face across America as a convergence of factors—ravaged state and local finances, tapped-out taxpayers and a [...]
Michael Van Beek at Michigan Capitol Confidential makes a strong– irrefutable, it seems to me– argument that the idea that public schools are underfunded is a myth. He’s talking about the state of funding in Michigan, but most of what he says can be applied to schools in any state: The underfunding myth rests on [...]