UPDATE: a life-saver for SB1? + Students against high stakes testing + Ben Joravsky and the “parent penis theory.” | Fred Klonsky

Ben Joravsky and the “parent penis theory.” | Fred Klonsky:

Will an Illinois judge’s ruling on retiree health care be a life-saver for SB1?

by Fred Klonsky

A Sangamon County judge has ruled in a case not directly involving the state’s teachers that the state can demand higher payments from retirees for health care.
While retired teachers already pay almost all of the premium for their health care through TRIP, the Teacher Retirement Insurance Program, the ruling suggests that health care is not a benefit that is protected by the Illinois constitution’s pension protection clause.
The ruling will be appealed, of course.
There is a concern that the ruling by the judge gives new life to Senate President Cullerton’s SB1.
SB1 is a mash-up of the Cross/Nekritz/Biss pension bomb (which almost everybody believes will not survive a legal challenge) and Cullerton’s own forced choice option. It would force retirees to choose between their COLA 

The in box. Students against high stakes testing.

by Fred Klonsky

PopoutMalcom X London at 2011′s Louder than a Bomb.

STUDENTS AGAINST HIGH STAKES STANDARDIZED TESTING
SATURDAY, MARCH 30TH, 3 P.M.
AT YOUNG CHICAGO AUTHORS, 1180 N. MILWAUKEE
For info:  malcolmxlondon@gmail.com   or info@morethanascorechicago.org
Students for Organizing, Not Students being Organized by Standardized Tests
• Join other students to understand the role high stakes testing is playing in undermining great 

Ben Joravsky and the “parent penis theory.”

by Fred Klonsky

Nobody explains things morel clearly than Ben Joravsky in the Chicago Reader:

Central-office officials have not clarified who brought Persepolis to Byrd-Bennett’s attention. But it’s widely assumed that it all began with a complaint from a parent about the book’s interrogation scene, which features a drawing of