By Valerie Strauss July 3, 2018 Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) launched a war on labor in 2011, enacting a law called Act 10 that decimated the power of public employee unions to bargain, and it also cut pay for most public sector workers. It was clear that the law was largely aimed at the teachers…
Category: School Choice
Vermonters React To Education Agency’s Statewide Merger Proposal, Required By Act 46
By HOWARD WEISS-TISMAN & AMY KOLB NOYES JUN 5, 2018 A nearly 200-page report was released by the Vermont Agency of Education on Friday, and school districts around Vermont are going through the state’s school consolidation recommendations. Acting Education Secretary Heather Bouchey found it doesn’t make sense for 22 school districts to merge. But the proposal does point…
Obama education secretary slams Trump administration moves on affirmative action
By Jennifer Hansler, Updated 10:51 AM ET, Mon July 9, 2018 Former Education Secretary John King Jr. expressed dismay that the Trump administration is “going backwards on civil rights issues” following the rollback of Obama-era policies on the use of race to promote diversity in higher education. Last week, the administration rescinded this guidance, which provided examples…
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos visits Toledo, northwest Ohio
By JAVONTE ANDERSON and | ADELAIDE FEIBEL Published on July 9, 2018 | Updated 6:18 a.m. As the nation’s highest ranking education official toured a northwest Ohio career center on Monday, a small contingent of protesters gathered outside to voice their frustration with her policies. U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos couldn’t hear the protesters’ chants nor see…
Feds say Texas illegally failed to educate students with disabilities
Vanessa Tijerina addresses the panel about her 13-year-old special needs child who has been denied special education for four years on December 13, 2016. U.S. Department of Education officials held a meeting in Edinburg on their tour of Texas to hear community members’ experiences with special education, continuing an investigation of whether Texas is capping…
Charter Takeovers Erode San Antonio’s Public School System
SCOTT BALL June 26, 2018 San Antonio Independent School District’s narrative about charter school integration into the district radically simplifies reality in the service of private power. Superintendent Pedro Martinez says public schools and charter schools should work together. In doing so he seeks to transform a complex, deeply political discussion into a one-dimensional misrepresentation in…
There is a movement to privatize public education in America. Here’s how far it has gotten.
By Valerie Strauss June 23, 2018 (iStock) Education Secretary Betsy DeVos says her mission is to expand alternatives to traditional public schools — and a new report assesses how far she and her allies across the country have succeeded in the movement to privatize public education. The report — issued by the Schott Foundation for Public Education…
Flurry of education-related action expected this week
By KIMBERLY HEFLING 06/25/2018 10:00 AM EDT BUSY DAYS AHEAD: This week, a revamp of the federal career and technical education program, a Trump administration proposal to merge the Education and Labor departments and Education Department funding will all get air time on Capitol Hill. — Multiple school safety-related events are scheduled in Washington and outside the Beltway….
Teachers join coalition of leaders to improve Michigan education
Jennifer Chambers June 20, 2018 A diverse, never-before assembled group of statewide business, education, labor, philanthropic and other leaders on Wednesday announced a campaign to create a thriving public education system in Michigan. On Wednesday, the group announced “Launch Michigan,” an initiative to create a thriving public education system in Michigan. Officials with the group said countless reports…
Teachers Need More Training Than Rules Allowed, Judge Says
By Elizabeth A. Harris June 20, 2018 A New York state judge on Tuesday overturned new rules that would have allowed some charter schools to decide on their own who was qualified to teach. The rules, enacted last year by the State University of New York, one of the two entities that grants charters in the state, were…