Education

California

California Ignores Parents, Empowers Reactionaries

Many states are passing progressive legislation to empower parents and students with choice in education. California, on the other hand, is considering legislation that ignores the needs of students and makes the most powerful anti-choice force in the state even more powerful. In the nation’s capital, Congress has revived the ...
Commentary

Education theft versus pension theft: lessons for California

In Ohio and Connecticut, two African-American single mothers have been charged with “stealing education” for enrolling their children in a school district where they didn’t live. California can learn from these cases, but must proceed with caution. Tonya McDowell used the address of a baby sitter to register her 6-year-old ...
Commentary

Virtual School Plan Praised

A virtual school would give students in rural and low-performing schools access to honors, enrichment and remediation courses, improving achievement and graduation rates at a lower cost than traditional classroom instruction, according to a report by the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy. Virtual schools offer other advantages over bricks-and-mortar ...
Commentary

Look for Alternatives to Tuition Hikes

Tuition at the University of California could be going up again. At the system’s recent Board of Regents meeting, reported the Contra Costa Times, “Administrators presented four budget scenarios … to help the Board of Regents plan future budgets. Under the rosiest scenario – which is unlikely, given the state’s ...
Commentary

Teachers Unions using our kids as props to take home more pay

Last week teacher union activists descended upon the Capitol, but education reform was not on their agenda. The priority was lobbying legislators to vote in favor of Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax extensions‚ and avoid a vote of the people on the tax increases. The activists also targeted two education reform ...
Commentary

Unions say, ‘Shut up and pay us’

Yet another report confirms the enormous liabilities that California taxpayers must endure to pay for pensions for public employees. The study, released May 5 at a Pension Boot Camp for elected officials held near Sacramento by the reform group Californians for Fiscal Responsibility, echoed the points made by the watchdog ...
Commentary

Lesson from Wisconsin

As Wisconsin government-employee unions protested against Gov. Scott Walker’s budget-balancing proposals, teachers union members walked out of class, depriving thousands of children of their right to an education.The teachers’ callous, selfish actions demonstrate the need to give parents the ability to bypass the unionized government-monopoly school system. Mr. Walker wants ...
Education

Short-Circuited

The book can be purchased online at amazon.com here. To learn more or request an interview the author please contact Kelly Gorton at 415/955-6136. Thanks for listening!
Commentary

Military model works for students

President Barack Obama has highlighted the need to improve student achievement, and a recent report finds that U.S. military programs are doing just that. The report by the National Association of State Boards of Education notes that education officials are amazed at the military’s ability to take at-risk young people ...
Commentary

PRI’s Vicki Murray Applauds U.S. Supreme Court Decision Upholding Arizona Scholarship Program

San Francisco—The Pacific Research Institute’s Vicki Murray applauds the ruling issued Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court reversing the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn, a legal challenge aimed at ending Arizona’s tax credit scholarship program. A recent study by Vicki Murray, Education Studies Associate ...
California

California Ignores Parents, Empowers Reactionaries

Many states are passing progressive legislation to empower parents and students with choice in education. California, on the other hand, is considering legislation that ignores the needs of students and makes the most powerful anti-choice force in the state even more powerful. In the nation’s capital, Congress has revived the ...
Commentary

Education theft versus pension theft: lessons for California

In Ohio and Connecticut, two African-American single mothers have been charged with “stealing education” for enrolling their children in a school district where they didn’t live. California can learn from these cases, but must proceed with caution. Tonya McDowell used the address of a baby sitter to register her 6-year-old ...
Commentary

Virtual School Plan Praised

A virtual school would give students in rural and low-performing schools access to honors, enrichment and remediation courses, improving achievement and graduation rates at a lower cost than traditional classroom instruction, according to a report by the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy. Virtual schools offer other advantages over bricks-and-mortar ...
Commentary

Look for Alternatives to Tuition Hikes

Tuition at the University of California could be going up again. At the system’s recent Board of Regents meeting, reported the Contra Costa Times, “Administrators presented four budget scenarios … to help the Board of Regents plan future budgets. Under the rosiest scenario – which is unlikely, given the state’s ...
Commentary

Teachers Unions using our kids as props to take home more pay

Last week teacher union activists descended upon the Capitol, but education reform was not on their agenda. The priority was lobbying legislators to vote in favor of Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax extensions‚ and avoid a vote of the people on the tax increases. The activists also targeted two education reform ...
Commentary

Unions say, ‘Shut up and pay us’

Yet another report confirms the enormous liabilities that California taxpayers must endure to pay for pensions for public employees. The study, released May 5 at a Pension Boot Camp for elected officials held near Sacramento by the reform group Californians for Fiscal Responsibility, echoed the points made by the watchdog ...
Commentary

Lesson from Wisconsin

As Wisconsin government-employee unions protested against Gov. Scott Walker’s budget-balancing proposals, teachers union members walked out of class, depriving thousands of children of their right to an education.The teachers’ callous, selfish actions demonstrate the need to give parents the ability to bypass the unionized government-monopoly school system. Mr. Walker wants ...
Education

Short-Circuited

The book can be purchased online at amazon.com here. To learn more or request an interview the author please contact Kelly Gorton at 415/955-6136. Thanks for listening!
Commentary

Military model works for students

President Barack Obama has highlighted the need to improve student achievement, and a recent report finds that U.S. military programs are doing just that. The report by the National Association of State Boards of Education notes that education officials are amazed at the military’s ability to take at-risk young people ...
Commentary

PRI’s Vicki Murray Applauds U.S. Supreme Court Decision Upholding Arizona Scholarship Program

San Francisco—The Pacific Research Institute’s Vicki Murray applauds the ruling issued Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court reversing the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn, a legal challenge aimed at ending Arizona’s tax credit scholarship program. A recent study by Vicki Murray, Education Studies Associate ...
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