In this blog post, I summarize a number of issues I’ve addressed in the past. In my previous post, I discussed general reformy myths about school spending. In this post, I address smokescreens commonly occurring in DC beltway rhetoric about school funding equity and adequacy. School funding is largely a state and local issue, where even that “local” component is governed under state policies. So I guess that makes it a state issue, really. Occasionally, the federal government will dabble in the debate over how or whether to intervene more extensively in state and local public school finance. Now is one of those times where the federal government is again at least paying lip services to the question of equity – with some implication that they may even be talking about school funding equity. The federal government has created an equity commission!
One of my fears is that this current discussion of funding equity will be typical of recent beltway discussions of
Russlynn Ali, assistant secretary for the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Education, will address Mayor Kevin Johnson's "State of Schools" education forum Monday at Sacramento's historic Guild Theater.
Ali will discuss OCR's vision for equity and diversity in schools, providing statistics on disproportional distribution of resources, and stressing why equal access is vital to promoting excellence in education.
The 'State of Schools' event is an opportunity to engage the community in a conversation on the condition of public schools in Sacramento and inform citizens about what can be done to change it. Monday’s meeting is co-sponsored by local African American organizations, including the Sacramento NAACP and Greater Sacramento Urban League in honor of Black History Month.
| Who : | Assistant Secretary Russlynn Ali, Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education |
| What : | Address to Mayor Kevin Johnson's "State of Schools" education forum |
| When : | 5:30 p.m. PT Monday, Feb. 28, 2011 |
| Where : | Guild Theater, 2828 35th St., Sacramento |
Walker devoted 20 minutes to Koch call. Why?
Billionaires back conservative causes, issues
By Thomas Content of the Journal Sentinel Feb. 23, 2011 |
When a prankster called pretending to be billionaire David Koch, Gov. Scott Walker took 20 minutes out of his packed schedule to provide an unguarded briefing on the political stand-off in Madison.
No wonder: Koch is one of the biggest financial backers of conservative causes in the country, including Walker’s campaign for governor.
David Koch (pronounced “coke”), the man impersonated in the phone call to Walker, and his brother Charles control Koch Industries Inc., a privately held company with estimated revenue of $100 billion a year.
Last year, Koch Industries’ political action committee contributed $43,000 to Walker, the largest donation the Republican candidate received from a corporate committee, and the group’s largest gift in Wisconsin.
In addition, David Koch, executive vice president of the company, wrote a check for $1 million to the Republican
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| Join a panel of Democrats convinced that putting the public back in PUBLIC education is the only way to save our youth in Los Angeles, throughout California, and across the nation. This will be a serious look at what we all must do to fix our public schools before it is too late. Whitney Tilson will give a short presentation on the twin achievement gaps and will join leading education reformers from California in a salon style discussion, with Q&A’s from the audience, on how we can engage in collective, smart action to save this generation from demise in the global economy. This will be an evening to supply you with the facts and the knowledge needed to act for change. Monday, February 28, 2011 6:30-8:30 pm Frederick Douglass High School 3202 W. Adams Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90018 Get Directions Here Whitney Tilson is a well-known education reform writer/blogger. He has been featured in the documentary, A Right Denied: The Critical Need for Genuine School Reform, was one of the founding members of Teach for America, and is a Board member of KIPP charter schools in NYC, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools and Democrats for Education Reform. Gloria Romero is a former California State Senator and is currently California Director of Democrats for Education Reform Corri Tate Ravere is President of the Inner City Education Foundation network of public charter schools (ICEF), Founder of Families That Can, and serves on the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) Member Council Gabe Rose is Deputy Director of the Parent Revolution Tara Roth McConaghy is the founder of LAEdupreneurs and the Executive Director of the Goldhirsh Foundation, as well as the former COO at GOOD and a social strategy adviser to GOOD/Pepsi Refresh, DonorsChoose.org, and Participant Caprice Young (moderator) is the CEO of ICEF, founder of CCSA, and former LAUSD School Board President Questions? Just come or call Caprice at (323)290-6904 or email her atcapriceyoung@rocketmail.com. |
We believe that educators, school support staff, nurses, firefighters and other middle class workers are essential to the well-being and safety of our families and communities.
We believe that working Americans need to use the strength of our numbers to fight for better wages and benefits, job security and safer workplaces.
We believe that the attacks happening in state after state are more of the same old partisan politics in which whatever party is in power tries to hurt the other side.
We believe that while we suffer, the same politicians support tax breaks for corporations and CEOs. Politicians know unions are a check on corporate power, so they are working to weaken or eliminate them.
To fulfill the promise of workers’ role in restoring balance to our economy, protecting and growing the middle class, and sustaining our communities, we urge governors and politicians to:
From Tom Hoffman:
It is a little difficult to keep the outrages straight, so I should probably update you on RI. The 100 Central Falls teachers have gotten layoff notices. 11 of these were laid off for performance reasons, which seems like a particularly ambiguous status, and I’m not going to speculate on even what it actually means legally. But otherwise, sending out a lot of layoff notices doesn’t necessarily mean they’re even contemplating laying off that many people. Basically, anyone who might get laid off in any scenario needs to be notified by March 1.
I’m not saying things are rosy in CF, and fiscally they’re going to get constantly worse now, because it is a small district that’s going to steadily lose enrollment to encroaching charters. Probably what will happen is that within
Rally to Save the American DreamIn Wisconsin and around our country, the American Dream is under fierce attack. Instead of creating jobs, Republicans are giving tax breaks to corporations and the very rich—and then cutting funding for education, police, emergency response, and vital human services. On Saturday, February 26, at noon local time, we are organizing rallies in front of every statehouse and in every major city to stand in solidarity with the people of Wisconsin. We demand an end to the attacks on worker's rights and public services across the country. We demand investment, to create decent jobs for the millions of people who desperately want to work. And we demand that the rich and powerful pay their fair share. We are all Wisconsin. We are all Americans. This Saturday, we will stand together to Save the American Dream. Be sure to wear Wisconsin Badger colors—red and white—to show your solidarity. Sign up today to join in! Events in your area: click on an event name to sign up
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It is hard to be surprised by the comments of AFT President Randi Weingarten any more.
She does more caves than a hibernating bear.
Yesterday she functioned as the enabler for those who think the biggest problem in education is that we don’t
On Wednesday, Michelle Rhee’s new organization, Students First, rolled out its first big policy campaign: It’s called “Save Great Teachers,” and it is focused on ending so-called “seniority-based layoffs.”
Rhee made several assertions at the initial press conference and in an accompanying op-ed in the Atlanta Constitution Journal (and one on CNN.com). At least three of these claims address the empirical research on teacher layoffs and quality. Two are false; the other is misleading. If history is any guide, she is certain to repeat these “findings” many times in the coming months.
As discussed in a previous post, I actually support the development of a better alternative to seniority-based layoffs (as does the public), but I am concerned that the debate is proceeding as if we already have one (most places don’t), and that there’s quite a bit of outrage-inspiring misinformation flying around on this topic. So, in the interest of keeping the discussion honest, as well as highlighting a few issues that bear on the layoff debate generally, I do want to try and correct Rhee preemptively.
First, she claims that seniority-based layoffs hurt the least advantaged students most (she made this assertion
This is an email written by a Wisconsin native and former school administrator to residents of her home state about the labor protests now rocking Madison over Gov. Scott Walker's effort to take away collective bargaining rights of labor unions. The author is Jo Koebert. It was first posted by a Washington D.C. area teacher, Kenneth Bernstein, who wrote a piece on the plight of teachers and unions at CNN.
From Jo Koebert:
I am a Wisconsin resident who was born and raised in Milwaukee. I come from a working class family, and although I am lucky enough to spend some of the winter in Arizona, I am deeply connected to my Wisconsin roots. As I watch what is going on in Madison right now,
