Excerpt:
So the next time you’re feeling down, or exhausted, or unappreciated, or at the end of your rope; the next time you turn on the TV and see yourself called “overpaid;” the next time
The NY Daily News reports that News Corporation, the media and news conglomerate owned and run by Rupert Murdoch, has gamed the political system to get a no-bid contract for its educational division:More than a dozen private firms wanted to work on a project like the one the state Education Department is set to award to a Rupert Murdoch-owned company in a $27 million no-bid contract.
Agency officials have cited "an extremely challenging time line" in their decision to partner with News Corp. subsidiary Wireless Generation to build a data system of student test scores and other information.
The Daily News has learned that the agency has explored the project for at least two years - proof,
 LAUSD and charter school community to celebrate the opening of Jose Castellanos Charter School, which will be operated under the Public School Choice Program. A recent UC Berkeley study showed that charter schools have high teacher turnover rates. (Los Angeles Times) |
 Teachers and supporters protest planned layoffs in Philadelphia. Similar scenes are playing out across the country in a year of especially brutal cuts to education funding. (Matt Rourke, Associated Press / July 31, 2011) |
Advocates from all across the education spectrum spoke out on the south steps of the Statehouse on Saturday, declaring their support for Kansas school-children and their disdain for legislators who have cut state aid for public schools over the past several years.
"It's hot outside now, but we need to turn up the heat on the people in this building come January," said House Minority Leader Paul Davis, D-Lawrence. "They give lip service to the public, but they vote against public school funding over and over and over again. This has to end. It's time for us to fund our schools for our children whether they come from Johnson County or Johnson City."
The state’s largest teachers’ union made a similar call for action to the estimated 300 teachers, local
Joseph K reporting from D.C. on S.O.S. That would be Washington, D.C. and Save Our Schools. I went in for the whole nine yards: the two day conference, the march, and the day-after symposium to figure out where we go from here. It is not all wine and roses, so be prepared. There is a lot of bad news out there regarding public education and the more you learn about the news, the worse the news gets.
First things first. I follow the news, so I have a pretty good idea how bad the news is. Second, I spent two days
STATE LAWMAKERS have pushed the California teacher pension fund toward a financial cliff and are now standing on the side of the road, apparently hoping divine intervention will stop the ensuing plunge off the edge.
Under its current funding structure, the question is not whether the pension plan of the California State Teachers' Retirement System will go broke, but when. The system's latest estimate is about 2040.
While most pension systems in California -- including the largest, the California Public Employees' Retirement System -- are irresponsibly manipulated with unrealistic actuarial assumptions, at least they are making small efforts to reduce their debts in the coming decades. They aren't talking about insolvency.
That's because they control their destinies -- they have authority to require more contributions from employers and
You know about the Save Our Schools march Since you read this blog. But if you have friends who rely on the traditional corporate news media, they don’t know a thing about it.
Nothing in the NY Times.
Nothing on the networks.
There was reporting by CNN and the ever-reliable Valerie Strauss at the Washington Post.
Not even celebrities like Matt Damon speaking (and introduced by his mom who is a teacher) got any attention
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