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Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Budgets and bilinguals | Being Latino Online Magazine

Budgets and bilinguals | Being Latino Online Magazine

Budgets and bilinguals

by Ryan Almodovar

It’s a scene that’s unfortunately become all too familiar across the United States. The ubiquitous and ever infamous ‘budget cut’ has become an integral part of our economy, not just on a federal level, but at the state and city level as well.

In my native Pennsylvania, we saw the reigns of governance handed from Democrat Ed Rendell to Republican Tom Corbett, and with that the ‘B.C’ word is a part of our daily vocabulary. Since Corbett took office, one of his large targets has been education, with funding being cut to the state university system and public schools like never before, facilitating a broken education system that rewards schools that have the ability to help themselves, and punish the ones that are barely hanging on.

My city school district is one of these. Board meetings were held, the public complained, and as predicted, the school board kept a sympathetic ear, presumably only because these cuts were long coming. The final count

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: SOS March supports collective bargaining rights for teachers and public employees

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: SOS March supports collective bargaining rights for teachers and public employees

SOS March supports collective bargaining rights for teachers and public employees

Join me in D.C. July 28-30

I am happy to see this statement of support for teachers' collective bargaining rights coming from the organizers of the July 30th Save Our Schools March & National Call to Action in D.C. I am even more excited to see this early list of union endorsements for the March. There's room on it for lots of other union locals, state and national endorsements.

I hope you will meet me in D.C. Here's the SOS statement and list:


Unions of all kinds are currently under political attack. Public employee unions are especially

Queens Teacher: Education "Reformers" Plan

Queens Teacher: Education "Reformers" Plan

Education "Reformers" Plan

The education “reformers” are trying to dismantle the teaching profession as we know it:

The first item is eliminating as many teachers as possible with tenure. We wouldn't want anyone with a right to a hearing in case they are terminated.

They are trying to eliminate anyone over age 50. We can't have teachers making big salaries and might know more than their 27 year old boss.

They are making the job as miserable as possible so younger teachers don’t last long enough to collect higher salaries and pensions.

Next they will be getting rid of requirements for teacher certifications. Why would you need certification when they don't want teaching professionals in the first place?

They want teaching to not be a profession but a JOB and one that you do for a couple of years and then leave.

Schools Matter: The Lawless Christie

Schools Matter: The Lawless Christie

The Lawless Christie

Had there ever been a horse big enough to support his groaning girth, Chris Christie would have been quite the old West figure. He uses a spicy campfire kind of abusive humor to mask an all-consuming hostility toward others, and with a little twist of the unexpected in his practiced delivery, he is effective in making our long-held prejudices seem like brilliant insights into the nature of things. He is dependably anti-intellectual and gross enough to never be suspected of having a feminine side (if you know what I mean). And he is literally and figuratively gutsy enough to bulldoze his way through any government agency hiding behind the Law! Indeed, he is the Koch Brothers dream candidate to use government to end government, so there is no wonder why the old whore, John Boehner, is recruiting him to roll run for the Presidency. A round-up from Jersey:


Paul Tractenburg
NJ Spotlight
In at least three recent instances involving the state's public education system, Christie has

Big Education Ape:5-11-11 AM Why Won't 'Reformers' Listen? Edition

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now

njspotlight.com - Acting Commissioner of Education Chris Cerf How much should local school districts have a say about the presence of charter schools in their midst? It was a topic that dominated the Senate budget h...

leoniehaimson
blogs.edweek.org - Dear Deborah, We have had fun as a traveling team, debating the issues and engaging in free-flowing conversation about the current state of school reform. People call it "live blogging" and seem to...

DianeRavitch
blogs.app.com - Acting Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf TRENTON — The state’s acting education commissioner, Christopher Cerf, told a panel today that he wants to revamp teacher certification so that the pr...

DianeRavitch
suntimes.com - BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter/fspielman@suntimes.com May 9, 2011 07:18PM The federal investigation of the Newark Police Department is an ill-timed embarrassment to Chicago’s next police super...

mikeklonsky
forbes.com - COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Students graduating from the growing ranks of online high schools are running into a hurdle if their goal is to join the military: The Pentagon doesn't want many recruits with non...

leoniehaimson

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coopmike48 Corbett makes case for school vouchers in Washington speech - Philly.com -http://goo.gl/O9qvf2 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 Layoff update and Oakland teachers of the year | The Education Reporthttp://bit.ly/lPlCeP #Eduabout 1 minute ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 Through exotic produce, Chicago schoolkids learn to eat healthy - Chicago Sun-Times - http://goo.gl/cVvehabout 1 minute ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 Sacramento Press / Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Speaks At The Mondavi Center - http://goo.gl/U1EYw7 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - School Tech Connect: So Perky, So EffectiveSo Perky, So Effectiveby effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)This was so me back in the early 80's, except that I had an education degree. RIF'd by Mesa Unifie...

coopmike48
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Joint - Dear Colleague LetterParents’ Bulletin On May 6, 2011 the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, and the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division issued a joint “...

coopmike48
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: HUNTINGTON PARK HIGH SCHOOL 'RECONSTITUTION' AND STUDENT WALKOUTWHITE HOUSE PROGRAM AIMS TO BOOST ARTS EDUCATION WHILE LAUSD'S PROGRAMS FACE AX + Presid...

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mikeklonsky
crooksandliars.com - Yesterday 'liberal school reform crusader' Michelle Rhee went to Washington DC alongside Wisconsin governor Scott Walker to accept accolades for their joint crusade against public schools from righ...

leoniehaimson
schooltechconnect.com - This was so me back in the early 80's, except that I had an education degree. RIF'd by Mesa Unified. I was so perky, so much better than people with more experience. So popular, so effective, so al...

tbfurman
washingtonpost.com - Read the following fundraising letter, which was sent to, of all people, education historian Diane Ravitch by Michelle Rhee’s organization. Ravitch recognized the name of the group sending out the ...

leoniehaimson
online.wsj.com - CHICAGO—A sweeping state education bill that passed the Illinois state Senate unanimously and had the support of teachers unions and education-advocacy groups could be derailed by claims it was alt...

mikeklonsky
hispanicallyspeakingnews.com - Published at 12:04 am, May 11, 2011 Photo Credits: Dream Act Coming Again to Senate Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Senator Robert Men...

coopmike48
slate.com - By Eliot SpitzerPosted Monday, May 9, 2011, at 1:59 PM ETIs there less recourse now for the little people?Three recent Republican efforts, each one critical to the conservative agenda: 1) the attem...

mikeklonsky
npr.org - Enlarge Jose Luis Magana/AP Indiana Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels signed a bill Tuesday to prevent Planned Parenthood from receiving any government funding. Jose Luis Magana/AP Indiana Republican G...

mikeklonsky
english.aljazeera.net - Secret filming conducted by Al Jazeera has revealed shocking evidence of the brutal crackdown against anti-democracy protesters in the Gulf state of Bahrain. An undercover investigation conducted b...

mikeklonsky
hispanicallyspeakingnews.com - Published at 2:25 am, May 11, 2011 Photo Credits: No English only The MO state legislature has less than a week before they adjourn, but House Bill 167—the bill that would make it next to impossibl...

coopmike48
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - En educación, los últimos deben ser los primeros - El Diario La Prensa NY - noticias de Nueva York - impre.comEn educación, los últimos deben ser los primerosJosé Vilson / es maestro de escuela púb...

coopmike48
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - NYC Educator: Get Out Your ShovelGet Out Your Shovelby NYC EducatorJoel Klein has a piece in Atlantic magazine that reeks to high heaven. I'm not linking to it as I think it's bad enough that I had...

coopmike48
democraticunderground.com - Source: The New York TimesPHOENIX — Christopher S. Linder has had many monikers over the years: Big Slim was his gang nickname, 151011 was his inmate number, and he has been mayor-elect since voter...

coopmike48
preaprez.wordpress.com - A comment to my blog post this morning included a reference to an article by Rebecca Solnit. I hadn’t read it before, although it was published in 2008. Wrote my reader, “I agree. All these yahoos ...

fklonsky
blog.angryasianman.com - A couple of weeks ago, I posted about fundraising for American Revolutionary, Grace Lee's documentary on legendary Detroit activist and philosopher Grace Lee Boggs. I'm happy to relay the news that...

coopmike48
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - To the barricades and to the mall | Thoughts on Public EducationUpcoming forums on state budget - by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess Perplexed over how California finances its schools? Exasperate...

coopmike48
blogs.forbes.com - InnovationMay. 10 2011 - 3:34 pm | 0 views | 0 recommendations |By OSHA GRAY DAVIDSON Japanese PM Naoto Kan "Back to the drawing board" on energy policy. (Image by AFP/Getty Images via @daylife)Jap...

mikeklonsky
theonion.com - RICHMOND, VA—Executives at Philip Morris USA this week unveiled Marlboro Earth, a new eco-friendly cigarette that gradually eliminates the causes of global warming and environmental destruction at ...

coopmike48