Education
Commentary
Lessons from Virginia to California
Sacramento Union, January 28, 2009 Last week, the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy, along with the Black Alliance for Education Options, released a new survey on parents’ views about educational choice. The survey was given to residents throughout Petersburg, Norfolk and Richmond, Va., but the results speak volumes to ...
Commentary
The CTA’s radio ads: Don’t believe a word of ’em
I was going to do a post dissecting the CTA’s absurd radio ads claiming that schools had faced billions of dollars in cuts in recent years — not true — and saying state schools had the worst funding in the nation — not true. But Vicki Murrary of the Pacific ...
Commentary
Reform, Not Report Cards, Will Cure Schools
In an effort to show greater accountability for results, school districts across the country from Florida to Missouri to California are issuing so-called school report cards, which contain data on various indicators of student and school performance. Ray Cortines, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), recently announced ...
Business & Economics
Mixed-bag of recommendations
Which state policies would California’s small-business owners like to change? To find out, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently convened a two-day conference in Los Angeles. The first-ever “Governor’s Conference on Small Business and Entrepreneurship” included small-business owners, community-college administrators, state employment and development officials, trade-group representatives, and policy researchers, including me. ...
Commentary
The CTA’s Latest Ads: A Dishonest Defense of a Dysfunctional Monopoly
Flash Report (CA), January 23, 2009 Public school funding is plunging to the bottom of the national spending barrel, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s latest budget “attack” on education is to blame—or so the California Teachers Association claims. In their latest statewide radio ad campaign, the CTA claims California “sank” to ...
Commentary
The Unseen Culprits in America’s Financial Crisis
To the long list of villains in America’s unfolding economic crisis … the politicians who encouraged risky lending, the bankers who bundled questionable mortgages into marketable securities, and the ratings agencies that gave inflated grades to sub-par debt … add the thousands of supposedly responsible citizens who served as volunteers ...
Commentary
California School Days
Education: California Gov. Schwarzenegger is at odds with his school superintendent over how long the academic year should be. But is educational success, key to global competition, a matter of time, money or choice? The argument over what to do about America’s struggling schools is still raging. Programs such as ...
Commentary
Kids Need More School Choice
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposes shortening the school year by five days to save $1.1 billion and help shrink the state’s $42-billion deficit. State superintendent Jack O’Connell opposes the idea, declaring that a longer school year is needed to prepare students for “the competitive global economy.” International evidence, however, overwhelmingly ...
Commentary
Reform Our Schools Mr. President Elect
Honorable President-elect Barack Obama: In nominating Arne Duncan to serve as Secretary of Education, you stressed the need for school reform. In accepting the nomination, Duncan said, “Whether it’s fighting poverty, strengthening our economy, or promoting opportunity, education is the common thread. It is the civil rights issue of our ...
Commentary
Why Money Can’t Be the Answer for Obama’s New Education Secretary
For Secretary of Education, President-elect Barack Obama recently named Arne Duncan, whose seven-year record as head of Chicago schools includes some noteworthy improvements. Duncan now faces significant challenges that require deeper reforms than those he pursued in Chicago. Under Arne Duncan the graduation rate in Chicago schools rose from 47 ...
Lessons from Virginia to California
Sacramento Union, January 28, 2009 Last week, the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy, along with the Black Alliance for Education Options, released a new survey on parents’ views about educational choice. The survey was given to residents throughout Petersburg, Norfolk and Richmond, Va., but the results speak volumes to ...
The CTA’s radio ads: Don’t believe a word of ’em
I was going to do a post dissecting the CTA’s absurd radio ads claiming that schools had faced billions of dollars in cuts in recent years — not true — and saying state schools had the worst funding in the nation — not true. But Vicki Murrary of the Pacific ...
Reform, Not Report Cards, Will Cure Schools
In an effort to show greater accountability for results, school districts across the country from Florida to Missouri to California are issuing so-called school report cards, which contain data on various indicators of student and school performance. Ray Cortines, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), recently announced ...
Mixed-bag of recommendations
Which state policies would California’s small-business owners like to change? To find out, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently convened a two-day conference in Los Angeles. The first-ever “Governor’s Conference on Small Business and Entrepreneurship” included small-business owners, community-college administrators, state employment and development officials, trade-group representatives, and policy researchers, including me. ...
The CTA’s Latest Ads: A Dishonest Defense of a Dysfunctional Monopoly
Flash Report (CA), January 23, 2009 Public school funding is plunging to the bottom of the national spending barrel, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s latest budget “attack” on education is to blame—or so the California Teachers Association claims. In their latest statewide radio ad campaign, the CTA claims California “sank” to ...
The Unseen Culprits in America’s Financial Crisis
To the long list of villains in America’s unfolding economic crisis … the politicians who encouraged risky lending, the bankers who bundled questionable mortgages into marketable securities, and the ratings agencies that gave inflated grades to sub-par debt … add the thousands of supposedly responsible citizens who served as volunteers ...
California School Days
Education: California Gov. Schwarzenegger is at odds with his school superintendent over how long the academic year should be. But is educational success, key to global competition, a matter of time, money or choice? The argument over what to do about America’s struggling schools is still raging. Programs such as ...
Kids Need More School Choice
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposes shortening the school year by five days to save $1.1 billion and help shrink the state’s $42-billion deficit. State superintendent Jack O’Connell opposes the idea, declaring that a longer school year is needed to prepare students for “the competitive global economy.” International evidence, however, overwhelmingly ...
Reform Our Schools Mr. President Elect
Honorable President-elect Barack Obama: In nominating Arne Duncan to serve as Secretary of Education, you stressed the need for school reform. In accepting the nomination, Duncan said, “Whether it’s fighting poverty, strengthening our economy, or promoting opportunity, education is the common thread. It is the civil rights issue of our ...
Why Money Can’t Be the Answer for Obama’s New Education Secretary
For Secretary of Education, President-elect Barack Obama recently named Arne Duncan, whose seven-year record as head of Chicago schools includes some noteworthy improvements. Duncan now faces significant challenges that require deeper reforms than those he pursued in Chicago. Under Arne Duncan the graduation rate in Chicago schools rose from 47 ...
