August 20, 2018 – SACRAMENTO— State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson has announced that he is creating an Action Team on Charter Schools to review laws governing California’s charter schools, and provide recommendations about any needed changes to the next State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Governor, State Board of Education, and State Legislature. The guiding…
Category: Higher Education
California’s missing information about public education
Dan Walters Aug. 16, 2018 Knowledge, it’s been said, is power. It’s especially true in politics, whose insiders joust constantly among themselves and with outsiders, including the media and the voting public, over access to information. One of California’s more important arenas of info-war is public education. We Californians spend at least $100 billion in taxpayer…
(HBCU’s)- Black Colleges Have to Pay More for Loans Than Other Schools
And there’s no factor that can explain it other than racism. ADAM HARRIS 1:06 PM ET It’s expensive to be poor. And few places in higher education feel that more acutely than historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), where endowments are typically smaller and enrollments have fluctuated wildly over the past decade. Now, to be clear, the financial misfortune…
As public education stumbles, democracy falls
By Wendy Lecker Sunday, August 5, 2018 There is a disturbing trend in American policy where a powerful few use government to benefit themselves at the expense of the many. The most recent example is Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s proposal to implement a $100 billion tax cut that would primarily benefit the 0.1 percent of…
Time to reinforce the building blocks of the American dream
BY MIKE TAMOR, 07/30/18 02:30 PM Successful nations, just like successful businesses, are built on three things: people, education and ideas. By opening our nation’s doors to people ready to build new lives and abide by the Constitution, the U.S. has become a stronger, more vibrant nation. By investing heavily in public education, the nation…
This effort is Utah’s chance to improve public education
Less than 50 percent of Utah students are currently proficient in key subjects. That’s not good enough to prepare the workforce of the future. Especially at risk are students who don’t have strong family support or are otherwise disadvantaged. By A. Scott Anderson July 25, 2018 I’ve long been convinced that improving public schools is the…
No, private schools aren’t better at educating kids than public schools. Why this new study matters.
By Valerie Strauss July 26, 2018 Despite evidence showing otherwise, it remains conventional wisdom in many parts of the education world that private schools do a better job of educating students, with superior standardized test scores and outcomes. It is one of the claims that some supporters of school choice make in arguing that the…
Report slams Texas’ underfunding of public schools
By John Austin Jul 29, 2018 AUSTIN — Texas’ school-age population is the nation’s fastest-growing, with about 850,000 new pupils in the past decade, but over the same period, the state cut public-education spending by $2.5 billion. The cuts are second only to Florida’s, according to a new report from the American Federation of Teachers,…
If you have a kid in public school (or know one), you need to follow this race
If you care about public education, about what Arizona students are learning and how well prepared they are to succeed in college and beyond, you should care who wins the election for superintendent of public instruction. Even if the office is largely administrative. The education superintendent alone can’t change what we pay teachers, what we teach…
Iowa’s public education advocates hope to extend the state sales tax for school facilities, classroom technology
As they call for more money for classrooms, Iowa school advocates hope legislators will extend a sales tax levy that pours millions of dollars each year into infrastructure and technology for the state’s public schools. Bipartisan negotiations over the past couple years have resulted in a plan to extend a statewide 1 cent sales…
Standing Strong for Public Education! 