Scathing Purple Musings
Color me purple in Florida ALL Week
When Will Florida Republican Legislators Apply the Ray Sansom Standard to Charter Schools Jobs?
In 2010, Florida republican House speaker, Ray Sansom, was drummed out of the legislature by his own party amid scandal that included his acceptance of a well-paid position at Northwest Florida State College. Will this be the year Florida republicans apply the same standard to legislators who work for the for-profit charter schools and help advance legislation which benefit them. Writes Miami Hera
Michelle Malkin Rips the Common Core – Chamber of Commerce – Pearson Triumvirate of “Venture Socialism”
Columnist Michelle Malkin was one of the first conservative voices to raise the alarm on Common Core. Now she’s In yesterday’s blistering take down of the US Chamber of Commerce, she referred to them as “a politically entrenched synod of special interests” who no longer represent the best interests of American entrepreneurs, American workers, American parents and students, or Americans of any r
YESTERDAY
Are Florida’s Local School Boards Stepping Up to Oppose Standard Charter School Contracts?
Jeff Solochek writes in Gradebook that Pasco County School Board urged its congressional delegation not to move forward on charter school legislation that would create a standardized charter contract: Board chairwoman Alison Crumbley reminded the delegation that school boards have the constitutional authority to “operate, control and supervise” all the public schools within their districts, and su
JAN 23
Jeb Bush’s Idaho Chief For Change Compromises AND Field Tests Common Core Assessments
From the editors of the Idaho Press-Tribune: When Idaho’s public school educators and Emmett Sen. Steven Thayn agree that something is a bad idea, that’s the very definition of “broad opposition.” And when you’re the superintendent of Idaho’s school system, it behooves you to acknowledge and respect that level of broad opposition…..When Thayn and many school district superintendents both expressed
JAN 22
Pam Stewart’s Empty Arguments for the Status Quo
Miami Dade superintendent Alberto Carvalho presented the case to the State Board of Education this week that implementation on Common Core in Florida is best done along with a pause in school grades. “So much has changed as far as accountability that I am advocating suspending letter grades for schools for two to three years, because during a transition time, what is the value of an “A” versus a “
Revisiting Florida Tea Party Influence on Common Core
From Peter Schorsch’s ever useful Sunburn morning mail comes this William March story in the Tampa Tribune which revealed that Florida leads the nation in Tea Party membership: A study by a liberal advocacy group says Florida leads the nation in tea party members and organizations. The study, done by the Seattle-based Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights finds Florida, the nation’
JAN 21
Bragging About Broward’s Common Core Buy-In From Broad Grad Superintendent
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt released a statement last week intended to attract investors by touting how much business they were going to be getting with their Common Core products. This Business Week story focused on what Broward Schools in Florida had purchased: Florida’s Broward County Public Schools, one of the largest public school systems in the country, recently partnered with HMH to support t
Familiar Story in Tennesee: Gov, Ed Boss Want Common Core – GOP Legislators, Not So Much
Looks like a familiar story is unfolding in another republican dominated state. Joey Garrison reports in The Tennessean: Republican lawmakers are putting the final touches on legislation that would delay the implementation of Common Core education standards and the companion test in Tennessee, perhaps setting the stage for the type of fight playing out in statehouses across the country. Around a d
JAN 20
Red States Looking to Dump Common Core, So Where’s Jeb Bush Now?
Via Shane Vander Hart has this from Restore Oklahoma Public Education: The “Resolution To Protect Oklahoma’s Education System” was passed today (January 18, 2014) by the Oklahoma GOP Committee during their regular meeting. This resolution records the will of the Oklahoma Republican Party Executive Committee to direct Republican floor leaders to both slate Common Core bills for hearing in Committe
The New York Common Core Story That Frightens Florida GOP Lawmakers
It’s come to this in New York: To say John King Jr. is New York’s embattled education commissioner is an understatement. A statewide teachers’ union is making plans to take an unprecedented no-confidence vote against him. New York State United Teachers represents more than 600,000 teachers. Union president Richard Iannuzzi said King’s failure to address the problems with the Common Core curriculum
JAN 19
Common Core’s Florida “rebranding and messaging is largely political.”
Miami Herald reporter Kathleen McGrory spoke with Common Core’s opponents and she found out that they aren’t buying the FLOE spin: TALLAHASSEE — The state education department tried to distance itself from the controversial Common Core State Standards last week by recommending changes to the benchmarks and giving them a new name. “The proposed standards are truly our own,” Deputy Chancellor Mary
JAN 18
Chamber of Commerce Strikes Back at George Will For Criticizing Common Core
Boy, that was fast. It took only a few hours for US Chamber of Commerce CEO Thomas J. Donahue to respond to conservative columnist George Will’s shredding of Common Core and its proponents. Will called out the Chamber and others for engaging in “political dishonesty” intended to keep Core’s “nature and purpose to remain as cloudy as possible for as long as possible.” Writing in the Washington Pos