EducationComic-book villainy on display in San Diego UnifiedSunday, June 16th, 2013 June 16, 2013 By Chris Reed It's time for a tale of comic-book villainy from San Diego Unified, the state's second-largest school district and one in which voracious unions so dominate decision-making that a stunning 92 percent of the operating budget goes to employee compensation. When 11 ... Lavish UC scholarship program again ignored by mediaSaturday, June 15th, 2013 June 15, 2013 By Chris Reed The Sacramento Bee has a long story up on its website about an unpublished Legislative Analyst's Office analysis that pooh-poohs Assembly Speaker John Perez's plan to help middle-class families afford college. "A massive middle-class scholarship program in the prop... School budget changes: 3 reasons to hold the champagneWednesday, June 12th, 2013 June 12, 2013 By Chris Reed The news that Gov. Jerry Brown appears to have mostly gotten his way on school funding changes is likely to be presented as a dramatic victory for the people who believe helping struggling English learners is the key challenge facing California education. But it'... Rebellion: Heroic valedictorian stands up to school regimeThursday, June 6th, 2013June 6, 2013 By John Seiler I love it! Americans finally are standing up to the tyrannical governments that rule, and ruin, our lives. The latest: "A South Carolina valedictorian garnered wild applause after he ripped up his pre-approved speech and delivered the Lord’s prayer at his high sc... Oblivious journos still ignore public employee step raisesWednesday, June 5th, 2013 June 5, 2013 By Chris Reed One of the worst failings of journalists who cover California government is their failure when writing about budgets to always mention the automatic "step" raises that many public employees get each year, including most teachers, just for accumulating time on the job... Worthless ‘step’ teacher pay raises scrapped in San JoseMonday, May 27th, 2013 May 27, 2013 By Chris Reed For decades, it's been common in K-12 public education to award raises to teachers for accumulating graduate school credits -- even if the coursework has nothing to do with the subject that the teacher teaches. There has never been any evidence that this practice hel... Jerry Brown disguises fear of CTA with pretentious babbleSaturday, May 25th, 2013 May 25, 2013 By Chris Reed James Fallows of The Atlantic has written a long and entertaining essay about Gov. Jerry Brown that is miles better than the usual East Coast journo's take on California politics, probably helped by the fact that he grew up in Southern California. Fallows praises ... Prediction: CTA to play good cop/bad cop on Brown school $ planThursday, May 23rd, 2013May 23, 2013 By Chris Reed The California Teachers Association has taken a lot of hits of late. It tried to sell its 2012 decision to fight bills to make it easier to fire pervert teachers as about basic fairness to employees. That blew up, leading it to go along with legislation this year tha... On schools, Gov. Brown chooses ‘subsidiarity’ over realityWednesday, May 15th, 2013 May 15, 2013 By Chris Reed Has Gov. Jerry Brown simply not been reading the newspaper for 40 years? Does he not see all the wars that the CTA and CFT fight on behalf of their members? Is he unaware of ACLU lawsuits targeting school districts for policies that help unions but hurt minority stud... The awful behavior that CTA’s affiliate enabled in LAUSDMonday, May 13th, 2013 May 13, 2013 By Chris Reed I have frequently referred to the Mark Berndt/Miramonte Elementary School case while blogging, including just yesterday. Los Angeles Unified officials concluded protections for teachers were so strong that it couldn't get rid of Berndt without first paying him $40,00... |