Friday, August 13, 2010

Nice Tax Graphic In The Post

Did you see this chart from the Washington Post?

I saw it on Ezra Klein's page. I'm pretty sure that if we bring back some sanity to our taxation policies, then we won't have to be raiding the breadboxes of poor people just to keep teachers in the classroom.

Disperse!

Get this man out of government before he completely destroys the city. I've taken a lot of courses at Truman College-- I've had some really brilliant instructors. I've been in classes with kids who could barely communicate in standard English. They learned what they learned; I learned what I learned. We all got something good out of the experience

How ridiculous is too ridiculous? QUICK Hits � The Quick and the Ed

QUICK Hits � The Quick and the Ed

QUICK Hits

by Forrest Hinton

Quick Hits is a short compilation of question-raising news stories, blog posts, and video clips that Education Sector team members are reading or viewing each day.

Is your student loan debt > your credit card debt? It is for Americans in toto. (The Wall Street Journal)
How ridiculous is too ridiculous? (College Guide)
Are we still experiencing the distortional effects of an 18th century political compromise on the national legislature? Check the unemployment numbers, says Matthew Yglesias. (Yglesias)
Jay Greene dissects a Wa Po column by a local school board member in Maryland. And he asks: Who represents school districts’ interests in negotiations with teachers unions? (Jay P. Greene’s Blog)

#UCDavis reports $112 million in philanthropic support - Yolo County News - sacbee.com

UC Davis reports $112 million in philanthropic support - Yolo County News - sacbee.com

UC Davis reports $112 million in philanthropic support

By Bill Lindelof
blindelof@sacbee.com

Published: Friday, Aug. 13, 2010 - 12:42 pm

Philanthropic support to UC Davis for fiscal year 2009-10 totaled $112 million.

The amount marks the fourth year in a row giving to the university surpassed $100 million.

More than 41,000 donors gave to the university, most of the donations being for less than $1,000.

There were some notable large contributions:

Susan Sawyers: Education Department tells schools to spend $10 billion NOW, maybe

Education Department tells schools to spend $10 billion NOW, maybe

With state and local budgets still in flux, it's hard to know exactly how many teachers will or won't lose their jobs this year. As Congress prepared to pass a $10 billion measure to prevent thousands of teacher layoffs, some people asked if the money would bespent wisely. Nonetheless, the bill passed and on Tuesday President Obama signed into law the $26 billion plan to help states pay for medicaid and preserve an estimated 161,000 education jobs.

When should schools, which have until September 2012 to spend new federal funds, use the money? "This school semester. Now," U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told reporters at a press-conference, after Congress approved the measure to preserve teachers' jobs. "We do not want people to wait until January or February. We want

Catalyst Notebook :: In Depth: Searching for equity under Renaissance

Catalyst writers and editors share their perspectives, analyses and the news behind the news on improving Chicago area public schools. Our on-the-ground reports will tell you what’s happening in schools and education circles here and elsewhere. Our views will tell you what to make of it.

In Depth: Searching for equity under RenaissanceIn the short time Sharisa Lee’s children have been enrolled at Wendell Smith Elementary School in Pullman, she’s seen the hallways become sparse and classrooms left with empty chairs and desks.

Continue Reading In Depth: Searching for equity under Renaissance »

Posted By: The Staff of Catalyst On Fri Aug 13, 2010 In New Schools
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In the News: Charter schools in the red; CTU rejects CPS concessionsHalf of Chicago’s charter schools have run an average of $700,000 in deficits in recent years, according to an analysis by Catalyst Chicago of financial and budget documents. Data show that two-thirds of the schools could not cover core expenses without private money.

Continue Reading In the News: Charter schools in the red; CTU rejects CPS concessions »

Posted By: Cassandra West On Fri Aug 13, 2010 In In the News
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In the News: CPS, CTU and a $105 million windfall; suburban districts rehiringChicago schools stand to get a $105 million windfall from the recently passed federal jobs bill — enough to restore high school class sizes, bilingual education and other program cuts, but the money appears to be undermining the district's effort to persuade the Chicago Teachers Union to forfeit a 4 percent pay raise or agree to other concessions, the Sun-Times reports. CTU delegates voted unanimously Wednesday evening to reject CPS' proposed concessions.

Continue Reading In the News: CPS, CTU and a $105 million windfall; suburban districts rehiring »

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS: Chicago charter schools

Chicago charter schools

by The Perimeter Primate

MANY CHICAGO CHARTER SCHOOLS RUN DEFICITS, DATA SHOWS, August 13, 2010, New York Times (NY)

Even as the Obama administration promotes charter schools as a way to help raise the academic performance of the nation’s students, half of Chicago’s charter schools have been running deficits in recent years, an analysis of financial and budget documents shows, calling into question their financial viability…
But even though Chicago’s charter schools brought in $21 million in private money from foundations, corporations and wealthy individuals in 2007 — the last year for which complet

The Best Sites For Learning About Meteor Showers | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

The Best Sites For Learning About Meteor Showers

by Larry Ferlazzo

The annual Perseid meteor shower peaked last night, and I thought I’d pull together a few related resources.
Here are The Best Sites For Learning About Meteor Showers (and are accessible to English Language Learners):

This Week In Education: Diagram: Charlatans. Martyrs. Hustlers.

Diagram: Charlatans. Martyrs. Hustlers.

by Alexander Russo

Based on this diagram I am a hustler -- or maybe a charlatan. How about you?
Charlatans talk a lot but don't do much work. Martyrs work a lot but don't talk. Hustlers do

Watch: Noon This Sunday - Two Hour Education Special - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

Watch: Noon This Sunday - Two Hour Education Special

"Making The Grade" on MSNBC

Now Is "The Most Important Moment In History For Education"
-- Hill Harper

We'll be watching the two-hour special hosted by Brown and Harvard grad, activist, author and actor Hill Harper, covering topics including parenting, teachers union, standardized testing, national standards, top down vs.bottom-up influences in education, spending and China's "drill and kill' (see related stories, "The Chinese Curse: Is America Next

Sitting at the table, collective bargaining and the IEA’s straw man. � Fred Klonsky's blog

Sitting at the table, collective bargaining and the IEA’s straw man.

by preaprez

Thanks to NEA Director Jim Grimes in his email and NYC Educator in his comment for focusing in on the issue of sitting at the table.
Our IEA leadership has tried to make the debate over IEA’s support for Race to the Top an issue of whether or not we should sit at the table to negotiate.
Not since Ray Bolger followed the yellow brick road with Dorothy has there been more of a straw man.

Eduwonk � Blog Archive � Funding Cuts in the News

Funding Cuts in the News

by smead

Guest post by Jim Ryan
Seems one day there’s a story about a new federal funding program, and the next day a story about another round of budget cuts at the state or local level. We should be approaching equilibrium at some point, no?
Today and yesterday were about cuts. There’s a story in today’s NYT about funding for charter schools in Chicago, which is being cut. The story also reports that many charter schools run at a deficit.
Picking up where yesterday’s post left off, charter school funding seems ripe for litigation. Most charter schoolsreceive less public money than traditional public schools. Whether that’s a good idea or a bad, a state court

Democurmudgeon: After 3 Years, Most of the Milwaukee Voucher Students Left.

Democurmudgeon

Democurmudgeon: After 3 Years, Most of the Milwaukee Voucher Students Left.

After 3 Years, Most of the Milwaukee Voucher Students Left.

by Democurmudgeon

It's funny how bits and pieces of research keep shredding away the idea that vouchers will improve our system of education. All we're really doing is creating a parallel system with its own problems, similar to the public system, and hoping it doesn't get worse.

Jsonline: A long-range study evaluating voucher schools in Milwaukee is finding little difference in academic achievement between their students and those in public schools, state auditors said … But the study is complicated by the fact that three years into the research, most of the private school students selected for it are no longer attending schools in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program.

Only 1,097, or 40.2%, of the 2,727 voucher school students selected for the study in the 2006-'07

Under Pressure, UC Berkeley Won't Tell Students Gene Test Results : Shots - Health News Blog : NPR

Under Pressure, UC Berkeley Won't Tell Students Gene Test Results

by SCOTT HENSLEY
In what struck us a little like one of those old Mickey Rooney movies where he organizes the neighborhood kids to put on a show, the University of California, Berkeley has a bold plan to convene a campus discussion about genetic testing by having incoming freshmen submit saliva samples for a DNA assay.

The genetic truth won't be set free for some college freshmen in California."We wanted to spark the interest of these students because, whether they like it or not, their genetic information will be used in their medical treatment in their future — and that future is only a few years a way," a university spokesman tells KQED's Sarah Varney.
Now, the plan is being trimmed back a bit.

Under pressure from state health regulators, the university won't

This Week In Education: Media: Chicago Nonprofit Sneaks Into The NYT

Media: Chicago Nonprofit Sneaks Into The NYT

by Alexander Russo

Kudos to Catalyst Chicago and reporter Sarah Karp for getting this story (Many Chicago Charter Schools Run Deficits, Data Shows) into the New York Times (online nationally and in the Midwest print edition) via the Chicago News Cooperative. Right now there are a lot of foundation-funded nonprofit news outlets (ProPublica, Hechinger to

The U.S.-Mexico Border Is Safer Than You Think | California Progress Report

The U.S.-Mexico Border Is Safer Than You Think *By Elena Shore* Crime along the U.S.-Mexico border has been cited to justify everything from Arizona’s new immigration law to Congress’ decision Tuesday to spend another $600 million on border enforcement. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has referred ...

Cowards vs. Hypocrites: Why Democratic Politicians Despise the “Professional Left” *By Randy Shaw* Obama Press Secretary Robert Gibbs caused the biggest blogosphere firestorm of 2010 by publicly condemning the “professional left” during an August 10 interview. Many observed that while Republican politicians fear their base, ...

Blakeslee's Waffling on Prop 23 and Negative Ads Bites Him Again in Senate Race *By Steven Maviglio* California Majority Report It seems that since Sam Blakeslee can't seem to make up his mind on issues, he's resorting to a new round of attacks on John Laird that are without any foundation in truth. Blakeslee's hometown ...