Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Shades of NY Senate coup: 3 may vote no on budget - Boston.com

Shades of NY Senate coup: 3 may vote no on budget

By Michael Gormley

Associated Press Writer / June 9, 2010

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ALBANY, N.Y.—The New York senator who set off a debilitating coup in the chamber a year ago said Tuesday he is willing to vote against any more emergency spending bills even though that could likely force a shutdown of state government.

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Sen. Pedro Espada Jr., the majority leader, was joined by Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. and Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos in saying they would be willing to block weekly emergency spending bills with permanent year-round budget cuts that the Paterson administration plans to introduce to the Legislature, beginning Monday.

Espada said it no longer matters if government is shut down after living on bare-bones emergency spending for 10 weeks and with Paterson trying to force a state budget of his own design.

"This eviscerates the legislative branch if we don't stand up," Espada said. "I think if we give into this form of blackmail, it would be worse than the shut down of government."

The state has long passed its April 1 budget deadline and is operating with a $9.2 billion shortfall.

With the budget crisis, Gov. David Paterson has begun including permanent spending cuts in line with his proposed executive budget in the short-term spending bills. The Legislature must by law adopt the bills in whole, or reject

Election 2010: New leaders emerge from Sacramento City Council races

New leaders emerge from Sacramento City Council races

By Ryan Lillis
rlillis@sacbee.com

Job security on the Sacramento City Council is no longer a given.

Councilman Robbie Waters, a 16-year incumbent, was defeated Tuesday night after all precincts were reported. And Councilman Ray Tretheway, seeking a fourth term, may also be out of office. He could face a fall runoff with challenger Angelique Ashby, who gained 50.08 percent of the vote.

There are more than 20,000 vote-by-mail ballots that were turned into polling places Tuesday that still need to be counted, said Brad Buyse, Sacramento County elections spokesman, early Wednesday.

The Waters defeat marks the first time since 1992 that a council incumbent ran for re-election and lost.

For Mayor Kevin Johnson, the election results are significant.

While he is losing his closest political ally in Waters, the mayor seemed poised to gain a potential supporter in Ashby, whom he supported.

Another candidate backed by the mayor - Jay Schenirer - was the pacesetter in District 5 with 47.0 percent of the vote. And Councilman Steve Cohn, who has sided with the mayor on key issues, gained a record fifth term, with 53.9 percent of the vote.

"There's new blood on the council and the mayor will be dealing with a team that's committed to moving the city forward," said political consultant Steve Maviglio, who worked with both Ashby and Johnson. "It's not the same old clique at City Hall anymore and that's good news for everybody."

Ashby, a community activist from North Natomas, had the support of the city police and fire unions. At

Remarks by Vice President Joe Biden to University Students in Nairobi, Kenya | The White House

Remarks by Vice President Joe Biden to University Students in Nairobi, Kenya

Kenyatta International Conference Center
Nairobi, Kenya

10:58 A.M. (local)

VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: Hello, my name is Joe Biden. I work for Barack Obama. (Laughter and applause.)

Now, I know no one in Kenya is familiar with Barack Obama, but I can tell you although for years as a United States senator, I had -- I was on a committee called the Foreign Relations Committee, the chairman, and did a lot of work relating to Africa, I hear about Kenya all the time from Barack Obama. He sends his love to you, not just your love to him. (Applause.)

And, Wangari, it’s an honor to be with you. I am very accustomed these days to hanging out with Nobel laureates. (Laughter.) I work for one, I get to meet one here, our Secretary of Energy is one -- I am feeling very, very insufficient not having a Nobel Peace Prize. (Laughter.) But it’s an honor to be with you, it genuinely is. (Applause.) Thank you so much.

You are one of the great treasures not only of your country and of the world, but you’re the embodiment -- in my view -- of what I’m going to talk about today, that is the human capital that this great country has to offer. And you are -- you are one of the great pieces of that capital. It’s an honor, again, to be with you.

Now, where is Professor Freida Brown, the Vice Chancellor of United States International? (Applause.) Freida, professor -- I want you all to know we have caused this beautiful woman a lot of concern. She has been the main person in making sure that my ability to speak here was made possible. I want to personally thank you for all the cooperation and all you do. (Applause.) Helping organize us at a speech is a very difficult thing to do, and I thank you very much, Professor.

Ladies and gentlemen, students, leaders, and friends -- I can’t tell you how much I appreciate being invited to speak before you all today. And I thank you for the warm welcome. And as I said, I bring greetings and love from

Pennsylvania teacher is fired after blogging dispute | NJ.com

Pennsylvania teacher is fired after blogging dispute

Published: Wednesday, June 09, 2010, 8:06 AM Updated: Wednesday, June 09, 2010, 8:36 AM

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After several months of battling parents and the administration over the content of her blog, aPennsylvania teacher discovered the risks that come with education blogging, according to this report in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

In February, Elizabeth Collins posted her reaction to a student’s presentation in her English class at the Academy of Notre Dame de Namur, an all-girls private school in Villanova. Collins had been

Rise & Shine: Bronx school skipped required ESL for 7 months | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: Bronx school skipped required ESL for 7 months

by Philissa Cramer

Students protested against looming Metrocard cuts at Mayor Bloomberg’s subway station. (NY1)
Dozens of students at PS 212 in the Bronx didn’t get required ESL classes until March. (Daily News)
PS 163 on the Upper West Side admitted too many students but now will add a class. (Daily News)
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan praised New York State’s Race to the Top changes. (Post)
Bronx Science teachers plan to rally against their administrators at the mayor’s house. (Daily News)
A proposed law on Long Island would fine principals $1,000 if they fail to stop bullying. (Post)
Stuyvesant HS students have had to take down their lists of fellow students “to tap.” (Post)

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Power philanthropy dominating public policy

Power philanthropy dominating public policy

by Mike Klonsky

This is a case study of a much larger trend. Nationally, it's in the area of education that whatMike Klonsky calls "power philanthropy" (and Diane Ravitch calls "the billionaire boys club"), led by Bill Gates and cheered by Arne Duncan, has really come to dominate public policy. In Washington D.C., foundations are even trying to dictate who can be the city's school superintendent. --Curtis Black on Huffington

Yesterday, I focused on the role of power philanthropists like Broad and Walton, using their power to influence election outcomes in D.C. and to protect the job of their favorite teacher basher, Michelle Rhee.

In that same vein, Chicago writer and musician Curtis Black assesses the disproportionate power of big foundations over an emergent not-for-profit media. Black takes on New York Times digital editor Jim Schachter

Michael Gerson - Teach for America: Education reform in action

Teach for America: Education reform in action

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By Michael Gerson

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Not long ago, during an hour-and-a-half period, the Trinidad neighborhood of Northeast Washington hadfour shootings and a stabbing that together claimed eight victims. Among them was a 13-year-old boy killed by stray gunfire.

Trinidad's local elementary school reflected the chaos around it. "Students ran the school," says Scott Cartland, the principal of the Wheatley Education Campus. "The kids were running down the halls, roaming."
But on the morning I visited Wheatley last week, Cartland greeted each student at the front door by name, making sure no one lingered. Upstairs in Amber Smith's fifth-grade classroom, disruption is confronted immediately, with a note of the infraction put up on the white board. This morning the children sit on the carpet at the front of the room for a "read aloud" of "Bridge to Terabithia" -- a book teaching that even kingdoms of the imagination are not immune from tragedy.
Smith is a Teach for America corps member, meaning that fresh out of college, with five weeks of training, she was thrown into the deep end of the teaching profession in a low-income school. Smith is impossibly young and impossibly committed. She lives in the Trinidad neighborhood,

This Week In Education: AM News: Schieffer Replaces Thomas At Whitman High Graduation

AM News: Schieffer Replaces Thomas At Whitman High Graduation

by Alexander Russo

Education Reform Takes Center Stage in Fight for Suburban State Senate Seat PubliCola: It’s a Republican candidate for the state Senate, investor and consultant Gregg Bennett, who’s running on Democratic President Barack Obama’s education reform platform in the 48th Legislative District (Bellevue, Redmond) this year... Global firm to pay Montgomery, Md., schools millions for elementary curriculum Washington Post: Montgomery County Public Schools could soon become a global brand..Pa. district teachers set to strike for 2nd time Boston Globe: Teachers in the McGuffey School District in southwestern Pennsylvania plan to strike for the second time this school year because the school board has rejected their latest contract proposal... Fla. District Puts 1,305 on Layoff List EdWeek: The Broward school district delivered pink slips to 568 teachers and 737 noninstructional employees in an effort to close a $130 million budget shortfall... For-Profit Colleges Fight Limits On Student Loans NPR: For-profit colleges are lobbying to kill new regulations designed to hold down student debt loads... CBS's Bob Schieffer replacing Helen Thomas as Whitman High graduation speaker Washington Post: Walt Whitman High School has chosen veteran CBS journalist Bob Schieffer to replace Helen Thomas as its commencement speaker next week after the longtime White House correspondent-columnist bowed out of the engagement amid controversy over inflammatory comments she made about Israel and Palestine... Durbin wans DC probe on misuse of federal money BND.com: The district also spent that at least $200,000 on airline tickets and hotels, as well as $10,000 for original artwork, including $4,000 for a "historical quilt."

Education - Everything you need to know about the world of education.

D.C. agency to investigate Chancellor Rhee

Anti-Rhee activist alleges conflict in Rhee's negotiations with private foundations for contract funding.

VALERIE STRAUSS

The Answer Sheet

MCPS selling its reputation to Pearson

Some may call Project North Star a pretty smart deal. I would use less flattering words to describe the deal into which Montgomery County Public Schools just entered with the world’s largest for-profit educational publishing company to nationally “brand” a newly created K-5 curriculum.

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D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee. (TWP)

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Wednesday, June 9, 2010