Tuesday, January 18, 2011

The Shriver Brief : Poverty Law Commentary & Insights : Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law : Affordable Housing, Healthcare Reform

The Shriver Brief : Poverty Law Commentary & Insights : Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law : Affordable Housing, Healthcare Reform

The Affordable Care Act Is Working! Turning Back the Clock Would Hurt Millions of Americans

POSTED ON JANUARY 18, 2011 BY ANDREA KOVACH

Health Care for AllThe House of Representatives is going to vote onH.R. 2 and H. Res. 9, which would repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (collectively referred to as “the Affordable Care Act”). These two laws are already providing critically important benefits and protections for individuals and families across the country. Turning back the clock by repealing these vitally important laws would harm millions of Americans, and would once again allow insurance companies to put profits first.

Repeal would allow unfair and discriminatory insurance practices to continue. Repeal would eliminate important measures that hold insurance companies accountable. Repeal would once again impose lifetime or annual dollar limits on covered services, or rescind insurance coverage when an individual gets sick. Repeal would allow insurers to deny women coverage if they’ve had a Cesarean section, breast or cervical cancer, or received medical treatment for domestic or sexual violence.

Repeal would allow insurance companies to continue to deny coverage to those with pre-existing conditions. Members of Congress are guaranteed access to health coverage even if they or family members have a pre-existing

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Shanker Blog » Policy And Research: A Shotgun Wedding In New Jersey

Shanker Blog » Policy And Research: A Shotgun Wedding In New Jersey

Policy And Research: A Shotgun Wedding In New Jersey

by Matthew Di Carlo

Earlier today, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced his plan to open 23 new charter schools in his state. Just hours before this announcement, the NJ education department issued an analysis of new data on the performance of charter schools in the state (during the 2009-10 school year). In an accompanying press release, the department claims that “the data affirms [sic] the need for Governor Christie’s reform proposals to grow the number of high-quality charter schools…”

The release also contains several other extremely bold assertions that the results support expanding the state’s charter sector. The title of the actual report, which contains only tables, is: “Living Up to Expectations: Charter Schools in New Jersey Outperforming District Schools.”

Unfortunately, however, the analysis could barely pass muster if submitted by a student in one of the state’s high school math classes (charter or regular public).

It seems that the department compared the overall proficiency rates of each of the state’s 70 or so charter schools with the rates of the district in which they are located, as well as with the overall state average (for the

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Mike Klonsky: If You're Looking for Change, Rahm Is Not Your Guy

Mike Klonsky: If You're Looking for Change, Rahm Is Not Your Guy
Mike Klonsky

Mike Klonsky

Educator, Author of "Small Schools: Public School Reform Meets the Ownership Society"



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Read More: Chicago Public Schools , Mayor Daley , Miguel Del Valle , Rahm Emanuel , Wasserstein Perella ,Chicago News

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If you liked the scandal-ridden Daley machine, you will love Rahm Emanuel as mayor. And why not? Daley and Rahm both move in the same inner circle politically and financially. Rahm's campaign offers voters little more than a continuation of Daley's policies and management style, including management and control over the city's public schools.

Bill Clinton's Chicago fund-raising visit to pump the Emanuel campaign ("there's no better role model") highlighted both Daley's and Rahm's connections to the same family of political and financial interests. Candidate Miguel del Valle was quickest to point out the fallout from Rahm's brief term on the board of directors of Freddie Mac. it was Clinton who appointed Emanuel to the board in 2000. Rahm earned $320,000 for his 14 months of service, but

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Casting former chancellor as villain, students’ play goes on | GothamSchools

Casting former chancellor as villain, students’ play goes on | GothamSchools

Casting former chancellor as villain, students’ play goes on

by Anna Phillips

A play written by Queens high school students finally came to the stage last Friday, after igniting controversy for its criticism of former Chancellor Joel Klein.

Administrators at Jamaica High School, which the city plans to close next year, initially banned the play. They then reversed their decision, permitting students to put on their adaptation of the Greek tragedy “Antigone.”

In the play, Klein assumes the role of King Creon, who in the original story favors one brother over another and refuses to give the one he dislikes a proper burial. But in the students’ play, the two brothers are Jamaica High School and the schools that now share its building. The adaptation’s authors are clear: Jamaica is the unpopular one.

In this scene, the prophet Tiresias comes to visit Klein to advise him against closing the school:

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Sacramento City Unified School Officials Among Hundreds Gathered for Budget Workshop - Rosemont, CA Patch

Sacramento City Unified School Officials Among Hundreds Gathered for Budget Workshop - Rosemont, CA Patch

Sacramento City Unified School Officials Among Hundreds Gathered for Budget Workshop

Informational session in Sacramento provides officials from various school districts a glimpse at the potential impacts of Gov. Jerry Brown’s 2011-12 budget proposal.

By Cody Kitaura | Email the author | 4:00pm
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Gov. Jerry Brown’s 2011-12 budget proposalcontains a big “if” for K-12 schools, who may have to issue layoff notices before they know how much funding they’ll receive from the state, a school consulting and advocacy firm said Friday in Sacramento.

School Services of California, Inc., held a Governor’s Budget Workshop to explain the impacts of Brown’s budget proposal, which provides nearly flat funding to K-12 schools, as long as voters in June choose to extend a 2009 tax hike.

If the tax extension fails or doesn’t make it to the ballot at all, schools would lose $330 per student, presenters said. If it is approved, they would still lose about $19 per student. Brown’s proposal also does not include a cost of living adjustment.

“I think the governor has done a good job of providing a path where K-12 will be protected,” said Ron Bennett, president of School Services of California, Inc. “K-12 has not been protected in past years, but this governor has provided a path where it would be protected–but it’s dependent on the voters stepping up and saying, ‘That’s a

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