Edujobs: What Might Be Some Other Offsets? - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Edujobs: What Might Be Some Other Offsets? - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Edujobs: What Might Be Some Other Offsets?

by Alyson Klein

So, yesterday we wrote about a proposal from Rep. David R. Obey, D-Wis., to cut $800 million in Obama administration education priorities as part of a wider effort to provide $10 billion to thwart teacher layoffs and nearly $5 billion to fill a major shortfall in the Pell Grant program.
The proposed cuts include $500 million from Race to the Top, $200 million from the Teacher Incentive Fund, and $100 million intended for charters.
The U.S. Department of Education and some moderate Democrats are urging Obey to find other areas to cut instead. Even the Washington Post editorial board has weighed in.
Peter Cunningham, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Education, reiterated to me today that the department would like to help Congress identify other offsets.
The question is, will Obey and company go along with that? And if they do, what could those other cuts be?

The Compost Diaries � The Spin on Urban Agriculture

The Compost Diaries � The Spin on Urban Agriculture

The Spin on Urban Agriculture

By Spring Gillard on June 30, 2010

Can urban agriculture save the world? My friend David Tracey(Guerilla Gardening, A Manualfesto, New Society, 2007) and I did a series of podcasts that attempted to answer that question. All of our guests (there have only been three to date – a roof top farmer , an urban farmer, and a uniquely localcorner store) answered no or probably not. They are probably right.

Michael Pilarski, founder and director of Friends of the Trees Society, has explored the role of home gardens in world food production. Pilarski makes the case that 50 percent of the world’s food supply could be grown on 10 percent of the arable land. He ventures a guess that currently gardens supply somewhere between 10 and 20 percent. Guess it depends how you define home garden. He hauls out the usual urban ag precedents, the World War II Victory Gardens and Cuba after the Russians pulled out.

So just how much land do you need to feed one person? There are a lot of differing facts and figures out there. John Jeavons (How to Grow More Vegetables, 10 Speed Press, 1974) from Ecology Action in Willits, CA came up with a pretty good estimate: 10 feet by 100 feet (1000 square feet) or 1/43 of an acre. Pilarski says he can feed himself on about a tenth of an acre and puts in

This Week In Education: Business: Selling For-Profit Education Companies Short

This Week In Education: Business: Selling For-Profit Education Companies Short

Business: Selling For-Profit Education Companies Short

"Two renowned short sellers have been lobbying lawmakers and administration officials, warning that for-profit schools are positioned for the same kind of crash that recently hit the subprime mortgage industry." (Short sellers flag school stocksPolitico). Previous posts here, here, here.

Thompson: The Case For Edujobs

Rep, David Obey says, "When a ship is sinking, you don't worry about redesigning a room, you worry about keeping it afloat" so he seeks to shift $800 million from "reforms" to the pared-down bill for saving teachers’ jobs. "Obey's proposal crystallized a debate among Democrats about federal aid to schools," but that is only the first step. At times like these, we need to pull together, and even educational consultants should sacrifice. If

AM News: Jobs Vs. Reform

Moderate Democrats Push Back on Cuts to Race to the Top, TIF EdWeek: Democrats who have supported education reform efforts are pushing back against a plan to divert funding already appropriated for the Race to the Top, the Teacher Incentive Fund, and charter schools to the education jobs bill... Lawmaker wants to shift some 'Race to the Top' funds to prevent teacher layoffsWashington Post: Lawmaker wants to shift some 'Race to the Top' funds to prevent teacher layoffs...Funds for Race to the Top May Be Cut NYT: House Democrats have attached a provision to a war financing bill that would spend $10 billion to help school districts avoid teacher layoffs, paying for it, in part, with cuts to Education Department programs previously financed by last year’s stimulus bill...States, Districts Scramble on Turnaround Deadline EdWeek: Some still await federal approval—and money—for plans to overhaul poorly performing schools starting this fall... Education" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); ">Massachusetts: Psychiatrist Departs After Baby Einstein Controversy NYT: Dr. Alvin F. Poussaint is leaving the Judge Baker Children’s Center in Boston and closing his Media Center, which for 16 years fought harmful media influences on children... Math, reading gap among Native American students AP: Native American students at schools overseen by the federal Bureau of Indian Education performed significantly worse on national standardized tests in reading and math compared with those in public schools.... Rule tightened for exam schools Boston.com: The Boston School Committee tightened the residency policy last night for students applying to the city’s three exam schools to prevent out-of-towners from gaining admission.

Today's Big Education Ape Posts on Parents 4 democratic Schools

Today's  Big Education Ape Posts on Parents 4 democratic Schools 

• State budget passes, on Rendell’s desk; unknowns remain | Philadelphia Public School Notebook #edu
• Schools Matter: Hedge Funds for Education Deform #edu
• A Math Teacher’s Travel Journal To Japan – Day 5 – THE DAILY RIFF – Be Smarter. About Education. #edu
• NEA – Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly (RA) #edu
• Suit claims Calif art schools preyed on immigrants – Boston.com #edu
• Seven Reasons Why the Assessment Consortia Will Matter More than Race to the Top « The Quick and the Ed #edu
• This Week In Education: Thompson: The Case For Edujobs #edu
• Race to the Edujobs? #edu
• Op-Ed Columnist – The Most Unhappy Fellow in Washington – NYTimes.com
• Summer Break and Summer Reading – Bridging Differences – Education Week #edu
• Cyber-bullying in Schools: Clashing Expectations over the School’s Role « Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice #edu
• Education Research Report: Eight New WWC Reports Focus on Multisensory Programs for Students with Learning Disabilities #edu
• Education Week: L.A. Unified Payroll System Still Troubled, Grand Jury Says #edu
• Toddlers feel California budget pinch
• National Journal Online — Education Experts — A Funding Formula For Success? #edu

"killing an ant with a nuclear weapon."

 "killing an ant with a nuclear weapon."

You're the 'Ones Out of Touch,' responded Boehner to the criticism. "The American people want us to deal with the economy and jobs. And what have [Democrats] dealt with? They've dealt with health care. They've dealt with cap and trade. And then they've gone overboard with financial regulatory bill. Growing the size of government, taking more from the American people at a time when Americans want them to focus in on the economy."

The Answer Sheet - Why Rhee's mayoral comments are troubling

The Answer Sheet - Why Rhee's mayoral comments are troubling

Why Rhee's mayoral comments are troubling

Let’s set aside the question about whether D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee should have taken sides in the city’s mayoral race. Even if she had said nothing, everybody would know she stands firmly with Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, the man who hired her and who has given her free rein.

But her all-but-direct threat to quit if Fenty loses to D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray in September’s Democratic Party raises a question about her priorities, not to mention her reluctance to admit that she might not have all the answers to fixing D.C. schools.

My colleagues Bill Turque and Nikita Stewart wrote in a Post article that Rhee on Tuesday said in two separate interviews -- one with WAMU’s Kavitha Cardoza and one with The Post -- that she would not work for a mayor who did not share her education reform ideas, and then she made it clear that Gray doesn’t.

So Rhee is all but saying that if city residents don’t give her her way by reelecting Fenty, she is out of here.

Never mind that she really doesn’t know how Gray will approach their relationship. What political candidates say during a campaign is not always what they do if they win and take office. Considerations change.

What is more important, and of more concern, is that Rhee surely knows the importance of consistency in school leadership. She knows she was the seventh person to head the school system in a decade when she arrived in 2007, and that the constant turnover at the top was disastrous for the city’s schools.

The New Republic: Lessons From China And Singapore : NPR

The New Republic: Lessons From China And Singapore : NPR

The New Republic: Lessons From China And Singapore

by MARTHA C. NUSSBAUM

July 1, 2010

Martha C. Nussbaum is professor of law and philosophy at the University of Chicago. She is the author, most recently, of From Disgust to Humanity: Sexual Orientation and the Constitution.

American leaders, impressed by the economic success of Singapore and China, frequently sound envious when talking about those countries' educational systems. President Obama, for example, invoked Singapore in a March 2009 speech, saying that educators there "are spending less time teaching things that don't matter, and more time teaching things that do. They are preparing their students not only for high school or college, but for a career. We are not." New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof regularly praises China, writing (on the eve of the Beijing Olympics) that "today, it's the athletic surge that dazzles us, but China will leave a similar outsize footprint in the arts, in business, in science, in education" — implying his strong approval of China's educational practices, even in an article in which he decries the Chinese government's ferocious opposition to political dissent. But Obama and Kristof and all the other U.S. proponents of Singapore and China's educational systems apparently aren't thinking very hard about the

Secretary Duncan to Address National Charter Schools Conference | U.S. Department of Education

Secretary Duncan to Address National Charter Schools Conference | U.S. Department of Education

Secretary Duncan to Address National Charter Schools Conference

Contact:

Jim Bradshaw, (202) 401-1576, press@ed.gov

Event Date 1 : July 01, 2010

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will address the 10th Annual National Charter Schools Conference Thursday in Chicago, via teleconference. More than 4,000 are expected for the convention, sponsored by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. In his remarks, Secretary Duncan will challenge America's charter school community to embrace accountability and improve student performance. The secretary believes that high-quality charter schools play a valuable role in the nation's education reform movement and that the charter school community should lead the way in closing or improving low-performing charter schools.

Event 1

Who :	U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
What :	Address to the 10th annual National Charter Schools Conference, via teleconference
When :	10:55 a.m. CDT Thursday, July 1, 2010
Where :	Arie Crown Theater, McCormick Place Convention Center, 2301 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago

Quick Takes: Democrats Would Add Pell Funds to War Spending Bill - Inside Higher Ed

Quick Takes: Democrats Would Add Pell Funds to War Spending Bill - Inside Higher Ed

Democrats Would Add Pell Funds to War Spending Bill

Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives on Wednesday proposed folding money for Pell Grants into a Senate-passed spending bill aimed at providing emergency appropriations for military aid and disaster relief. The amendment by Rep. Dave Obey, who heads the House Appropriations Committee, would include $4.9 billion designed to close most of a $5.7 billion shortfall in the Pell Grant Program and another $10 billion to help states avoid layoffs of elementary and secondary school teachers. While the idea is likely to face opposition from Republicans and conservative Democrats opposed to adding funds for domestic priorities to legislation that is supposed to be limited to other purposes, House leaders have sought to blunt that criticism by offsetting the proposed new spending by redistributing money from elsewhere in the bill. College leaders are desperately hoping Congress finds some way to clear the Pell shortfall, since a failure to do so could result in a sizable cut (of as much as $800) in the size of the maximum Pell Grant next year.

Long Distance Mom: Abandoned Elizabeth Coffman

Democrats Would Add Pell Funds to War Spending Bill Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives on Wednesday proposed folding money for Pell Grants into a Senate-passed spending bill aimed at providing emergency appropriations for military aid and disaster relief. The amendment by Rep. Dave ...

Agreement on Vote for Adjunct Union at Central Michigan A union seeking to organize adjuncts has reached an agreement with Central Michigan University on an election that will decide on collective bargaining. The union, affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, has been complaining that the ...

Does the Constitution protect invocations at Saddleback College? | California Watch

Does the Constitution protect invocations at Saddleback College? | California Watch

Does the Constitution protect invocations at Saddleback College?

by Erica Perez

Erica Perez

Americans United for Separation of Church and State sued the South Orange County Community College District last fall over official prayers at public ceremonies. The lawsuit, filed in federal court on behalf of some faculty members and students, contends that officials at Saddleback College routinely opened commencement ceremonies, scholarship events and convocation speeches with Christian invocations.
California Watch got wind of a YouTube video that shows Saddleback College President Donald Wagner opening a May 2008 scholarship ceremony with prayer – and a bit of mocking – after he had received pleas from some faculty to stop the invocations. The video has been posted on several blogs, including one written by Roy Bauer, a professor at Irvine Valley College and a plaintiff in the case.

Federal website aims to cut back on improper payments

by Agustin Armendariz

Agustin Armendariz

Last year, the federal government identified $110 billion in improper payments. The money went to the wrong person, was paid at the wrong time, wasn't the right amount or went to someone that wasn't entitled or eligible to receive the money.
PaymentAccuracy.gov shows "the rates and amounts of improper payments for each agency, the targets each agency has set for reducing and recovering improper payments, and the names of the designated accountable

Rule tightened for exam schools - The Boston Globe

Rule tightened for exam schools - The Boston Globe

GLOBE EDUCATION NEWS

Changes to condom proposal promised

A week after Provincetown schools sparked a furor over a new condom policy, the superintendent has assured parents that school nurses would not dispense condoms to any student who asks, despite the open wording of the rule. (By Jack Nicas, Globe Correspondent)

Rule tightened for exam schools

The Boston School Committee tightened the residency policy last night for students applying to the city’s three exam schools to prevent out-of-towners from gaining admission. (By James Vaznis, Globe Staff)

Arlington police investigate threats over pledge vote

Arlington police are investigating threatening messages sent to School Committee members yesterday in response to a controversy surrounding reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in school. (By Brock Parker, Globe Correspondent)

School systems land new superintendents moving up, moving over from nearby districts

For Newburyport’s school system, today marks a changing of the guard, as Marc Kerble takes over as its new superintendent. (By John Laidler, Globe Correspondent)

Boston takes charter school nonprofit as a partner

School Superintendent Carol R. Johnson will tap a charter school management organization to run one of the district’s low-achieving middle schools, a first for the state, under a plan she will present tonight to the Boston School Committee. (By James Vaznis, Globe Staff)

LATEST EDUCATION NEWS WIRE UPDATES

• 1.3 million unemployed won't get benefits restored (AP, 3:20 a.m.)
• New laws for guns, smoking, drinking and texting (AP, 6/30/10)
• Alleged knife-wielding attacker indicted in Maine (AP, 6/30/10)
• Lawsuit: Church protected abusive Salesian priest (AP, 6/30/10)
• Python prohibition, bong ban among new Fla. laws (AP, 6/30/10)

LATEST K-12 EDUCATION NEWS

• Math, reading gap among Native American students(AP, 6/30/10)
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• Democrats add teacher money to war funding bill (AP, 6/30/10)
• Teen fights to put Pledge of Allegiance back in classroom (Boston Globe, 6/30/10)
• More CA school districts have trouble paying bills (AP, 6/29/10)

LATEST HIGHER EDUCATION NEWS

• Spy suspects had interests in science, finance (AP, 6/30/10)
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• Gun law challenges likely after high court ruling (AP, 6/29/10)
• More than 300 aim to be 'Promise Neighborhoods' (AP, 6/29/10)
• Dept. of Labor awards $125M in job training grants (AP, 6/29/10)