Kevin Huffman Huffs and Puffs: Nashville School, Stand Strong
Tennessee has been at the forefront of backwards thinking on education for the past 20 years, and it now has a governor and General Assembly that promises to push the state deeper into the past if possible.
Bill Haslam, the quiet oil executive billionaire who serves as governor, continues a tradition begun during the Alexander Administration for using education as the whipping boy when the Business Roundtable gets riled up or when a public display of its raw power is required to bring things back along the the lines approved by the social antiquarians who run things politically in the State.
Comments on Fordham's Adam Emerson's latest pro-CCSA screed
The driving assumption for the pro-charter side, of course, is that market competition in education will be like that for toothpaste — providing an array of appealing options. But education, like healthcare, is not a typical consumer market. Providers in these fields have a disincentive to accept or retain “clients” who require intensive interventions to maintain desired outcomes—in the case of education, high standardized test scores that will allow charters to stay in business. The result? A segmented marketplace in which providers compete for the “good risks,” while the undesirables get triage. By design, markets produce winners, losers and unintended or hidden consequences. — Christopher Bonastia
Fordham troglodyte Adam Emerson stepped up on behalf of the billionaire funded California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) today with an essay attacking the Los Angeles Unified School District's mulling a charter
Fordham troglodyte Adam Emerson stepped up on behalf of the billionaire funded California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) today with an essay attacking the Los Angeles Unified School District's mulling a charter