Dan Walters: School reform duel shifts to surrogates - Sacramento Politics - California Politics Sacramento Bee:
"One of the more obscure – and probably more important – of California's many political conflicts pits an organization called EdVoice against the California Teachers Association and other school unions.
It centers on our ever-deepening education crisis, manifested in low test scores and high dropout rates, especially among black and Latino kids."
EdVoice, maintained by some wealthy Californians such as Southern California developer Eli Broad and Silicon Valley tycoon Reed Hastings, advocates charter schools, tougher teaching standards and other aggressive approaches.
The CTA and its allies, meanwhile, say California's chief education issue is money, specifically its below-average level of per-pupil spending.
It's not so much a partisan or even ideological conflict – Broad and many other EdVoice leaders are Democrats – as it is one of pedagogic philosophy, but that doesn't make it any less abrasive.
"One of the more obscure – and probably more important – of California's many political conflicts pits an organization called EdVoice against the California Teachers Association and other school unions.
It centers on our ever-deepening education crisis, manifested in low test scores and high dropout rates, especially among black and Latino kids."
EdVoice, maintained by some wealthy Californians such as Southern California developer Eli Broad and Silicon Valley tycoon Reed Hastings, advocates charter schools, tougher teaching standards and other aggressive approaches.
The CTA and its allies, meanwhile, say California's chief education issue is money, specifically its below-average level of per-pupil spending.
It's not so much a partisan or even ideological conflict – Broad and many other EdVoice leaders are Democrats – as it is one of pedagogic philosophy, but that doesn't make it any less abrasive.