Posts Tagged: Schools


29
Sep 10

Christine O’Donnell’s Resume Has Two Schools She Didn’t Attend

A lot of us wish we had better resumes. Tea Party movement idol and GOP Senate candidate in Delaware Christine O’Donnell has been proactive about it: her resume lists two schools she didn’t attend. Gary Scott:

Greg Sargent at the Washington Post’s Plum Line has a story today that says Christine O’Donnell, Republican Senate candidate in Delaware, embellished her online resume to say she’d studied at Oxford University, when she’d actually taken a course from an outfit called the Phoenix Institute in a space rented from Oxford.

The same resume lists O’Donnell as having attended Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California. The claim seemed suspicious since O’Donnell had yet to receive her undergraduate degree, from Farleigh Dickinson University, until last summer. So I asked CGU’s public relations officer, Rod Leveque, if the school had any record of O’Donnell attending classes there. His response:

In short, no. Claremont Graduate University has no student or education record for an individual named Christine O’Donnell.

In 2002, O’Donnell was listed as a “Lincoln Fellow” at the Claremont Institute, a conservative think tank also based in Claremont. However, the institute is not affiliated with the Claremont Graduate University or any of the other Claremont Colleges. One of the Claremont Institute’s fellows, Harry Jaffa, did teach at the Claremont Graduate University back when it was known as Claremont Graduate School.

Of course the issue here is about honesty and transparency, but since when did this matter in 21st century American mega-partisan politics?

Will Sean, and Rush and Glenn cover this story and demand an explanation as they would if it had been someone with a “D” in front of their party label? (Will a furry Easter Bunny hide eggs in your house this April?)

Or will they and others circle the partisan wagons and/or play defense attorney, PR representative or will they spin it? (Will the sun shine some day this week?)

Will O’Donnell refudiate the entries?


The Moderate Voice


27
Sep 10

Drugs, Gangs, and Public Schools in America: A Call to Action

style=”float: right; margin-bottom: 1px; margin-left: 1px;”> class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-6391″ title=”schoolchoicesign” src=”http://blog.heritage.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/schoolchoicesign.jpg” alt=”schoolchoicesign” width=”340″ height=”240″ />

Would the discovery that, every day, nearly 6 million youths in America are immersed in abusive environments create a shock wave and a call to action?

That is, in essence, the finding of a href=”http://www.casacolumbia.org/upload/2010/20100819teensurvey.pdf”>report recently released by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University: The public href=”http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/09/24/bennett.drug.abuse/index.html”>outcry remains to be heard.

The results of two concurrent surveys, each of 1,000 students aged 12 through 17, revealed that 27 percent of those in public schools reported that their schools were infected with both gangs and drugs. As would be expected, youths in such schools were far more likely to use drugs and alcohol, and tobacco. id=”more-43756″>

Alarmingly, the current numbers reflect a substantial rise in the presence of drugs in schools in recent years. One in three middle-school students reported that drugs are used, kept, or sold at their schools (nearly a 40 percent rise from 2009) and, among high-school students, 66 percent said their schools were drug-infected (compared to 51 percent in 2006).

Fortunately, an escape hatch exists. The CASA survey also revealed a vast difference between the environments of public and private schools. For example, while 46 percent of teens in public schools reported gang activity, only 2 percent in private and religious schools did. Likewise, 78 percent of youths in private schools can pursue their studies in a drug-free environment, compared to just 43 percent of their counterparts in public schools (a gap that has more than doubled in the past 10 years).

Currently, a number of href=”http://www.heritage.org/applications/schoolchoice”>states and the District of Columbia have incorporated vouchers and tax credits to empower parents to send their children to the private schools of their choice. While continued funding for the href=”http://www.heritage.org/Events/2009/10/Let-Me-Rise-The-Struggle-to-Save-School-Choice-in-Our-Nations-Capital”>D.C. school voucher program hangs in the balance, there’s hope that href=”http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2009/04/How-Members-of-the-111th-Congress-Practice-Private-School-Choice”>Members of Congress—38 percent of whom have at one point sent a child to private school—will extend that opportunity to low-income youths in our nation’s capital as well. The tragic scenario portrayed in the CASA survey should serve as a clarion call to other states to provide America’s young people with the href=”http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2009/11/School-Choice-in-America-2009-What-it-Means-for-Childrens-Futures”>hope and opportunity that access to safe and effective schools can provide.

The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.


27
Sep 10

Schools Won’t Improve Without Labor Reform

There is common agreement between education reformers and the status quo protectors that the most important element to a good education is a good teacher.

Teachers unions suggest that the way to retain “good” teachers is to pay them all more.  The collectivist mentality is that every teacher is equal, works equally hard and should be compensated equally.

Many reformers believe that the way to spur improvement and innovation is to reward success, hard work and hold the adults accountable for student achievement.  That, of course, flies in the face of collectivism because it incentivizes individual teacher achievement.

This is a result of organized labor having such an iron grip on many American public schools.  Weak-kneed school boards and administrators have allowed Big Labor to be the gate-keepers of reform efforts.

And worse, apathetic taxpayers allow Big Labor to call the shots.  Just ask Washington, DC Mayor Adrian Fenty.

Fenty has been aggressive at reforming DC Public Schools, which has frittered away hundreds of millions of dollars over the years and produced some of the worse results in the country.  Fenty hired Michelle Rhee, a reformer that pushed for performance pay for teachers, making it easier to remove ineffective teachers and other reforms that are an affront to labor leaders.

According to Politico, the American Federation of Teachers plopped $ 1 million down to defeat Fenty and thus Rhee.  It was successful and now Rhee’s DC days are limited.

So labor unions know if they can’t knee-cap the reform initiatives, they can defeat the leaders pushing the ideas.

School employee unions have been steadfast in their defense of their members.  The end result?  Bad teachers stay in the system.

A New York City principal was quoted in New Yorker magazine as saying Weingarten “would protect a dead body in the classroom.”

One has to wonder what type of quality education a “dead body” could deliver to students.

With “Waiting for Superman,” a new documentary on the state of public education, as well as NBC’s Education Nation taking center stage this week, a serious debate over labor reform must accompany any discussions about the education system.

If teachers want to take the credit for pockets of success, they must also share the blame for widespread failure.


Big Government


26
Sep 10

George Will Schools This Week Panel on Tea Party Causing GOP Civil War

George Will on Sunday gave a much-needed education to the entire "This Week" panel about how the Tea Party is moving the GOP in a positive direction that could alter politics in this nation for years to come.

As Christiane Amanpour and her Roundtable guests – Democrat strategist Donna Brazile, National Journal’s Ron Brownstein, and Republican strategist Matthew Dowd – all fretted about the so-called Civil War brewing in the GOP, Will was once again the voice of reason. 

"At the beginning of the year, the question was, will the Tea Party people play nicely with others and will they obey the rules of politics? Who’s sort of not playing nicely?" asked Will.

"Mr. Crist starts losing the primary to a Tea Party favorite Rubio. He suddenly discovers that he’s an independent and changes all his views overnight," he continued.

"Mrs. Murkowski loses a primary and suddenly discovers that she has a property right in her Senate seat and she’s going to run as a write-in. Senator Bennett thought of that in Utah, Senator Castle in Delaware is thinking of a write-in candidate. Who are the extremists?" (video follows with transcript and commentary): 

DONNA BRAZILE, DEMOCRAT STRATEGIST: But, you know, the Republicans have a great story right now to tell. Excuse my voice. I was up watching the LSU game, clearly.

But the — the problem I have — and the Republicans should — should understand — is that there’s still an eternal civil war going on within the Republican Party. In Washington state, in Delaware, and Colorado, many of the mainstream Republican candidates have not endorsed the Tea Party candidates.

They’ve provided enthusiasm, they’ve provided a lot of energy and organization for the Republican Party, but we don’t know yet if the Republicans can heal those wounds and provide the kind of turnout they need to beat the Democrats.

MATTHEW DOWD, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think that if you gave most Democrats truth serum and they said who’s place would they rather be in, they would pick the Republicans’ place in this year’s election as opposed to their own place in this year’s election. The problem I think for this class that’s coming in for the Republicans is for Mitch McConnell, who just talked to, is his ability to herd them is going to be like herding quail, because these folks are coming to Washington and think, "I’m not going to be part of this. I’m not going to listen to the leaders. I’m going to do what the voters want me to do," and they’re not going to be — they’re not going to be acquiescent to what the leadership wants.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, HOST: And that’s what I actually — I wanted to ask, because in today’s newspaper, there’s a quote by a senior Republican, you know, consultant that, after the elections, it’s going to be basically all-out war, a struggle for the heart and the soul of the Republican Party. You’re shaking your head.

GEORGE WILL: They’ve been writing this story for eight months about what a problem the Tea Party is for the Republican Party. You know what the problem…

(CROSSTALK)

AMANPOUR: Well, Tom Ross basically told us that they lost because of that and they might lose.

WILL: On balance across the country, the Tea Party is enormous help for the Republicans. At the beginning of the year, the question was, will the Tea Party people play nicely with others and will they obey the rules of politics? Who’s sort of not playing nicely? Mr. Crist starts losing the primary to a Tea Party favorite Rubio. He suddenly discovers that he’s an independent and changes all his views overnight.

Mrs. Murkowski loses a primary and suddenly discovers that she has a property right in her Senate seat and she’s going to run as a write-in. Senator Bennett thought of that in Utah, Senator Castle in Delaware is thinking of a write-in candidate. Who are the extremists?

(CROSSTALK)

RON BROWNSTEIN, NATIONAL JOURNAL: Donna, I would say, look — I mean, I think clearly this class of Republicans do not feel they are being sent here to Washington to compromise with Barack Obama or to follow the Republican leadership. So in that sense, there’s going to be tension. And I quote Ken Buck in my story as saying so.

But if you look at what they are actually going to be voting on, in all likelihood, over the next two years, there is remarkable unanimity in this class. And despite all the focus on the civil war, I think that is kind of a — what the long-range vision of what the federal government should be doing or not doing is where you will see diversity.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWNSTEIN: But in the near term — in the — in the near term, I think — in terms — the main thing that the Republicans, I think, are being sent here to do is to block and try to roll back whatever they can what Obama did. I think the spending thing will continue to be a challenge for them, because if you want to reduce the deficits and extend the Bush tax cuts, that does point you back toward cutting Medicare and Medicaid, which is exactly the problem they got into in ’95, and they may end up in that same cul-de-sac next year.

But I actually believe there is more commonality in this class than is often assumed. And in the near term, they are going to be a very formidable and, I think, cohesive force.

WILL: And look at the not-so-near term. In the next two cycles, 2012 and 2014 combined, the Democrats are defending 43 Senate seats, Republicans 22. So the Republican wave that’s now starting is just starting.

Indeed.

As Will accurately stated, the media have been "writing this story for eight months about what a problem the Tea Party is for the Republican Party." The liberal press are always trying to figure out a narrative that paints the GOP in the most negative light.  

First we were told the Tea Party represented an inconsequential fringe of racists and homophobes that will have no impact on elections.

Now that its candidates have produced shocking results across the fruited plain, and have reinvigorated conservative voters like nothing we’ve seen in many years, the movement is going to produce a Civil War within the Republican Party that will either hurt it in November or make it impossible for it to govern if its successful at the polls.

This is clearly why you could see Will either shaking his head or seemingly laughing to himself as his colleagues waxed philosophically about some as yet unrealized though oft-predicted calamity associated with this movement.

Less than two years after Barack Obama and the Democrat Party won a landslide victory that had the potential of being a political realignment shifting the balance of power in this country to the left for many years nay decades, the Republicans are on the precipice of shocking the world by taking back the Congress.

Is it any wonder the media are doing their darnedest to figure out a way to undermine it or that Will is getting such a kick out of watching them try?

NewsBusters.org – Exposing Liberal Media Bias


25
Sep 10

Are Your Children Being Indoctrinated? Examining What Schools Give Them To Read

By Barry Rubin

Are your children being indoctrinated? In past Rubin Reports I pointed out that almost the entire social studies’ curriculum of my son’s fourth grade class last year consisted of three topics:

-America has not kept its promises and has been a racist and often bad country. The main example was the World War Two internment of Japanese which was the focus of reading material.

-Immigration is always good (with no mention of illegal immigration or any resulting problems).

-Man-made global warming is a serious threat to human survival.

Other viewpoints—indeed other issues generally—weren’t presented on any of these issues. There was little positive about America.

My son was upset at the portrayal of Israel in Junior Scholastic magazine of September 6, 2010, given to his fifth-grade class to read. So I gave that issue a thorough evaluation, trying to be fair and reasonable in doing so.

Main Article: “Obama’s In-Box” pp. 6-8. An article about challenges facing the President. Most of the short items are balanced—immigration, oil spill, terrorism (domestic only), Iraq and Afghanistan, Iran and North Korea- in that they present more than one side and avoid partisan language.

There are three exceptions, however:

-The Middle East: This is seriously slanted. After being told Obama wants to make peace the kids are instructed:

“Muslim extremists often use U.S. support for Israel as an excuse to commit terrorist acts. But some Israeli policies, Obama says, work against peace.”

While the first sentence is certainly true, in this context (with no other factors being presented) the kids are being taught that U.S. support for Israel threatens their lives. (Obvious answer: Protect yourself by ending support for Israel.)

As for the second sentence, Obama’s considerable prestige is thrown in to blame Israel for the lack of peace. That’s it. No criticism of the Palestinians. Nothing about Hamas or any hint of anti-Israel terrorism or the goal of wiping Israel off the map.

Do I think this was conscious and deliberate? Probably not. Is it damaging and dangerous? Definitely yes.

-Jobs and the Economy: There’s still a recession, the kids are told, but good news! “In the last two years, the federal government has spent billions of dollars to try to save and create jobs. This has helped pull the nation out of a recession. But unemployment is still nearly 10 percent, and the housing market remains shaky.” An unnamed expert explains: the economy is growing but still slowly.

While the third and fourth sentence provides some balance, this is an endorsement of government high-spending policy. Has this really worked? No contrary view—Stimulus failed; cut spending, recession far from over- is given. Moreover, it should always be pointed out that money being spent doesn’t come from government but from taxpayers.

-Climate Change: This is presented as a major threat to the world. It quotes Obama as saying the United States must act before “the effects of climate change become `irreversible.’” There is no hint that anyone might disagree even with the proposition that minor human actions like cutting auto emissions would make a difference.

Article pp. 2-3: “Beyond the Cleanup: What’s The Long-Term Impact of the Gulf Oil Disaster”

[Important Note: This article is partly balanced by a debate on page 9 over off-shore drilling between the presidents of the National Resources Defense Council and the American Petroleum Institute.]

Message: We must reduce oil use even if this means lower living standards and go to alternative fuels(often unproven) even if they cost more.

Not mentioned: The blow-out was exceptional, deep-drilling was a response to environmental demands. This is almost like saying that the crash of an improperly maintained airplane shows Americans must reduce their dependence on air travel.

Quotes:

“What’s less clear [is] whether this disaster will finally get Americans to reduce their dependence on oil.”

While BP is mainly to blame “Americans also bear at least some indirect responsibility. The U.S. consumes more oil than any other country….This has led to drilling in riskier areas, including ever-deeper sites offshore.” That argument is simply untrue. There are vast areas closer in to shore and elsewhere where drilling has been forbidden by the U.S. government.

Your living standards are too high: “An estimated 71 percent of the oil we use fuels transportation. Most of the rest goes into making products that we often toss out in massive quantities. ”

Quote from fisherman—on National Public Radio (of course)—saying “I don’t see a future for us to catch fresh fish ever again—oysters, crabs.” This is clearly alarmist and is not matched by less extreme quote (terrible damage but we will come back).

Only one proposed solution offered: “President Barack Obama has called for the development of alternative fuels as one way to reduce our dependence. But much more will be needed. Are Americans willing to change their energy habits?”

Article: “We Are Americans Too!” Pages 16-19:

Important Note: The one quote from the play that is arguably balancing is also published as a large cut line prominently displayed: “They don’t know what’s in our hearts. They don’t know that we are loyal.”

Oh no, the Japanese internment story seems to be the main theme of American education. In the play, the father of the family is falsely accused of using his fishing boat to spy and smuggle in supplies for the Japanese army? This is NOT a true story but a PBS play and I doubt that anyone was specifically accused of espionage like this.

The focus is on how badly they are treated, insults, etc. I’m not going over the issue in detail here, only to say that while the action seems wrong and unnecessary from the perspective of almost 70 years later, at the time it was a reasonable thing to do given the lack of information about Japanese immigrant views, genuine fear of a Japanese attack on the Pacific coast, the fact that extensive spying had been done to prepare the Pearl Harbor attack (we now know mainly by the Japanese consulate in Hawaii), the existence of militant Japanese nationalist societies, the legitimacy of the existing Japanese government (in contrast to the usurper regimes in Germany and Italy), and the centrality of obedience to the emperor in the Shinto tradition. None of these points is mentioned in the article and these are never explained in the study of the issue in elementary schools.

I was puzzled by this obsession until I read what Daniel Pipes wrote on the subject. He explains that the subject is deliberately intended as a parallel showing why the main threat is Islamophobia and not Islamist terrorism and similar things. His article also shows additional reasons why authorities implemented an internament policy.

I should also note that the point is never explicitly made that not a single internee was killed, injured, or tortured, adding to the credit accruing to American behavior in the past. Finally, students are never taught about how Americans and others were tortured and mistreated in Japanese internment camps. This would NOT justify similar behavior by Americans, of course, but shows something vital for students to learn: Other peoples often behave badly, Americans and those in democratic countries almost always behave better.

My conclusion is that Junior Scholastic editors are partly trying to be balanced and do a better job of it than much of the mass media but that there are still serious examples of indoctrination on some issues.

Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His latest books are Lebanon: Liberation, Conflict, and Crisis (Palgrave Macmillan), Conflict and Insurgency in the Contemporary Middle Eastand editor of the (seventh edition) (Viking-Penguin), The Israel-Arab Reader the paperback edition of The Truth About Syria(Palgrave-Macmillan), A Chronological History of Terrorism (Sharpe), and The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley).




YID With LID


25
Sep 10

Taliban blow up two more girls’ schools in Pakistan

The total number of schools that the Taliban has bombed is now approaching 1,000. And despite the singularity of this barbarity, there are still many in the U.S. who dare to label the political opposition, which has never bombed any school or anything else, or even the anti-jihad movement, which is working in defense of human rights against precisely this sort of thing, as the equivalent of the Taliban. “Two girls’ schools blown up in Peshawar,” from the Daily Times, September 24 (thanks to all who sent this in):

PESHAWAR: The Taliban on Wednesday blew up two more girls’ schools in the provincial capital amid a security operation against the terrorists in the bordering area of FR Peshawar, police and locals said.

The Taliban bombed five schools in a week’s time in the capital, spreading terror in the school-going children and their parents. Badha Bair Police Station Muharrir Mukamil Shah told Daily Times that the Taliban blew up two girls’ schools at Sulmankhel village of Bada Bhair, a suburb area of Peshawar.

He said the Taliban bombed Girls High School Sulman Khel and Girls Primary School Sulman at around 1am and both schools were situated alongside each other. About the damage, he said six classrooms were destroyed in the girls’ high school and four classrooms were destroyed in the primary school.

Schools have been consistently targeted by the Taliban’s for the past five years and according to officials, the Taliban have bombed more than 1,000 schools, mostly in Swat….

Jihad Watch


24
Sep 10

Schools Need a Hero

National attention has been focused on education reform at unheard-of levels in the last weeks, with the release of the new documentary “ href=”http://www.waitingforsuperman.com/”>Waiting for Superman” and the launch of NBC’s week-long href=”http://www.educationnation.com/”>Education Nation series. Education reformers from across the political spectrum are calling even louder than ever for much-needed measures akin to progress made by href=”http://blog.heritage.org/?p=43173″>DC Schools Chancellor Michele Rhee and href=”http://blog.heritage.org/?p=42641″>New Jersey governor Chris Christie.

In this week’s Heritage in Focus podcast, Heritage Visiting Fellow and executive director of DC Parents for School Choice Virginia Walden Ford discusses education reform in the context of “Waiting for Superman.” href=”http://www.heritage.org/Multimedia/Audio/2010/09/Virginia-Walden-Ford-Podcast-9-20-10″>Listen here.

To get regular updates of Heritage in Focus podcasts, subscribe to our href=”http://www.heritage.org/static/rss/audio-podcasts.xml”>RSS feed or href=”http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/audio-podcasts-the-heritage/id377031033?ign-mpt=uo%3D4″>visit us on iTunes.

The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.


24
Sep 10

Booker to Gain Control Over Newark Public Schools Thanks to Facebook Donation

File:Cory Booker 1

I feel like this is something out of a joke, but as Richard Pérez Peña reports, Mark Zuckerberg is not only going to give $ 100 million to the Newark Public School system, that donation is going to drive a substantial overhaul in the school system’s governance:

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive and a founder of Facebook, has agreed to donate $ 100 million to improve the long-troubled public schools in Newark, and Gov. Chris Christie will cede some control of the state-run system to Mayor Cory A. Booker in conjunction with the huge gift, officials said Wednesday.

The three men plan to announce the arrangement on Friday on the “Oprah Winfrey Show.”

The changes would not formally relax the legal power the state seized in 1995, when it declared Newark’s schools a failure and took control of the system, replacing the elected school board with a mostly toothless advisory board. Rather, Mr. Christie plans to give the mayor a major role in choosing a new superintendent and redesigning the system, but to retain the right to take control back.

State takeovers of really dysfunctional school districts can drive improvements just based on the reality that if something is “really dysfunctional” any kind of change might lead to improvement. But generally I think that direct mayoral control aligns the political incentives correctly. If Corey Booker is really in charge of Newark’s schools then the voters can hold him accountable for whether they improve, and if he gets booted then the voters can hold is successor accountable as well. And that’s probably as it should be. Of course from a distance I’d kind of assumed Booker was likely to run against Chris Christie in 2013 which would seem to be made more difficult by the two of them collaborating on a high-profile initiative.

But what I think is really interesting here is Zuckerberg, who’s young to be getting into the “giving it away” portion of his life and also being kind of idiosyncratic about what cause he’s supporting. Both seem worthy of applauding to me. There’s a lot that can be said or not said about the wisdom or lack thereof of a specific policy crackdown on the super-rich, but there’s also just the separate point that billionaires have a moral obligation to give that money away and find ways of doing so that help people. People generally find the “with great power comes great responsibility” message of Spider-Man to be pretty intuitive. But we don’t have anyone in the world today bitten by radioactive bugs and blessed with the proportional strength of a spider. We do have people who through a combination of luck and skill stumbled into fortunes worth well over 10,000 times the average household income and those people have an obligation, morally speaking, to do something useful with that money and not just throw lavish birthday parties.


Matthew Yglesias


23
Sep 10

Public Schools Have a Spending Problem

When the Congress passed the Public School Bailout, it was akin to slapping a band-aid on a bleeding head wound.  American public school systems spend somewhere around a half-trillion dollars a year, and another $ 10 billion is going to make everything alright?  Hardly.

Public schools have a serious spending problem.   When a local teachers union bargains with the school district over a new teacher contract, the new contract typically includes all kinds of hidden expenses.  Collective bargaining agreements typically put school districts on the hook for sick leave pay, cash payouts for unused sick days, release time to conduct union business, and other embedded costs that cause school districts to hemorrhage huge amounts of money.

News coverage of teacher contracts, if there is any, is rarely controversial or in-depth.  It usually covers the general raise every employee receives, as well as the modest increase in health insurance co-pays.  But dig beneath the surface, and a different story emerges.

Education Action Group is dedicated to pointing out the huge spending problems plaguing our schools.  We recently conducted an analysis of nearly 20 teacher contracts in southwest Ohio and uncovered some shocking numbers.  For example, Cincinnati Public Schools spent $ 7.5 million on sick leave in last year.  How many teacher salaries would that cover?

And how about this?   The state of Ohio has an unfunded mandate requiring every school employee be given 15 sick days per year.  Last year, an Ohio school district that has 308 teachers used 4,187 sick days last school year. Once the costs for substitute teachers are factored in, paying for those sick days becomes a major expense.

Using these themes, the Education Action Group recently posted 25 billboards in the greater Cincinnati area to draw attention to some of the most egregious examples of wasteful spending that are written into teacher contracts through the collective bargaining process.

Our most provocative message:  “Did you get a raise for not dying this summer?”  This refers to “step raises” – pay increases given simply because a teacher has another year of experience, not because any sort of improvement was made.  Step raises cost Cincinnati schools over $ 3 million last year alone.

Of course, that is just a microcosm of what’s going on across the country.

Milwaukee Public Schools spends nearly $ 24,000 per employee on health insurance.  The union sued to put Viagra coverage back in the plan, and that will cost the district another $ 700,000 a year.

Indianapolis Public Schools spends nearly $ 25,000 a month on cell phones.

If that is how school districts are spending precious tax dollars, it’s little wonder why districts nationwide are being forced to lay off teachers, delay the purchase of new textbooks, and strip classrooms of necessary supplies such as Kleenex.

EAG will continue to raise awareness of the wasteful spending plaguing our public schools until they stop putting the needs of adults ahead of the children, get their spending under control and live within their means.


Big Government


21
Sep 10

Pubic Schools … A Billboard is worth a Thousand “Misspelled” Words

WOW, a ringing endorsement for PubicPublic Schools

You just can’t make this stuff up. South Bend, IN posted a billboard boasting about the “15 best things about our pubic schools.” As Don Suber states, spelling isn’t one of them. Or is it speeling?

If you ever wondered how much difference just one letter can make when it comes to a message, ask the thousands of people who drove by a digital billboard near the intersection of Ironwood and State Road 23 between Thursday and Monday morning.

The ad urged people to go to the “southbendon.com” website for a look at the “15 best things about our pubic schools.” That’s right, the billboard said “pubic” instead of “public” schools. The letter “L” had been left out of the word public.

Lee MacMillan of South Bend said his wife spotted the error on Saturday while sitting in traffic.

“She got home and said, ‘I can’t believe it said what I think it said,’” MacMillan recalls.

“So we were out driving around yesterday and sure enough, it had that typo in it. So we took a picture and the rest is history, as they say,” MacMillan adds.

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