Public Schools
Commentary
Testimony submitted to the CA Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation – AB-2605
Vicki E. Murray, Ph.D. and senior fellow in Education Studies, gave invited testimony on AB 2605, the Tax Credits for Non-Public School Families bill, at a meeting of the California Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee on May 6, 2008. Non-public schools are a vibrant and integral part of California’s educational ...
Commentary
California Report Card Shows Dismal Results
School Reform News (The Heartland Institute), May 1, 2008 A February 15 report card from the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, evaluated and graded 17 aspects of California’s K-12 education system, finding the state’s performance disastrously poor. Among the factors evaluated are the state’s ...
Commentary
California Dropout Study Sparks Controversy
A study of California’s high school dropout rate has sparked a debate about the merits of nontraditional schools. According to the study, 41 percent of California’s dropouts come from nontraditional schools such as charter and alternative schools, which educate 12 percent of the state’s children. Critics of the study, released ...
Commentary
Beware ‘less-than-best’ schools
FORBES magazine recently released another popular “best” list, this one rating the top suburbs in America. The selections derive from several factors, including school quality. The indicators, however, do not necessarily guarantee a top-quality school. Forbes’ analysis looked at graduation rates, per-pupil spending, and student-to-teacher ratios. However, none of this ...
Commentary
School safety loses in Sacramento
Nine of 10 elementary and secondary students statewide, including in Orange County, attend schools reporting incidents involving violence, physical injuries or weapons. Yet, in a vote this month, the state Assembly Education Committee failed to uphold California students’ inalienable right under the state constitution to attend schools that are “safe, ...
Business & Economics
Commie Dearest
The Sacramento Union, April 17, 2008 SACRAMENTO – The Senate Education Committee held a hearing earlier this month on SB 1322, which allowed members of the Communist Party USA to teach and hold meetings in California’s public schools. This measure, authored by state Sen. Alan Lowenthal, a southern California Democrat, ...
Charter Schools
New Speaker Must Support Charter School Success
Sacramento Union, March 14, 2008 The California Charter Schools Association held its 15th Annual Meeting in Sacramento in early March. More than 2,000 charter teachers, principals and leaders from across California and the country attended. The conference came on the heels of the election of Assemblywoman Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, ...
Commentary
We’re No. 8: decoding the Advanced Placement spin
Recently, the College Board released the results of Advanced Placement tests placing California eighth in the nation, with nearly one in five public school students scoring a college-credit-earning three or better on at least one 2007 AP exam. The news came with a positive spin, but there is a lot ...
Commentary
No more Homeschooling in CA?
Boy am I lucky I got orders to Okinawa instead of California. It was really a choice between the two. If you haven’t read by now, “The Second District Court of Appeal ruled that California law requires parents to send their children to full-time public or private schools or have ...
Commentary
Monopoly players shouldn’t pass ‘Go’
ABC’s John Stossel in a “20/20” report examined America’s education system in a segment called “Stupid in America.” It wasn’t pretty. Teacher unions and bought-and-sold politicians don’t look so good when a reporter of Stossel’s ilk tells the unvarnished truth about public schools. The unions moaned, and one in New ...
Testimony submitted to the CA Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation – AB-2605
Vicki E. Murray, Ph.D. and senior fellow in Education Studies, gave invited testimony on AB 2605, the Tax Credits for Non-Public School Families bill, at a meeting of the California Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee on May 6, 2008. Non-public schools are a vibrant and integral part of California’s educational ...
California Report Card Shows Dismal Results
School Reform News (The Heartland Institute), May 1, 2008 A February 15 report card from the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in California, evaluated and graded 17 aspects of California’s K-12 education system, finding the state’s performance disastrously poor. Among the factors evaluated are the state’s ...
California Dropout Study Sparks Controversy
A study of California’s high school dropout rate has sparked a debate about the merits of nontraditional schools. According to the study, 41 percent of California’s dropouts come from nontraditional schools such as charter and alternative schools, which educate 12 percent of the state’s children. Critics of the study, released ...
Beware ‘less-than-best’ schools
FORBES magazine recently released another popular “best” list, this one rating the top suburbs in America. The selections derive from several factors, including school quality. The indicators, however, do not necessarily guarantee a top-quality school. Forbes’ analysis looked at graduation rates, per-pupil spending, and student-to-teacher ratios. However, none of this ...
School safety loses in Sacramento
Nine of 10 elementary and secondary students statewide, including in Orange County, attend schools reporting incidents involving violence, physical injuries or weapons. Yet, in a vote this month, the state Assembly Education Committee failed to uphold California students’ inalienable right under the state constitution to attend schools that are “safe, ...
Commie Dearest
The Sacramento Union, April 17, 2008 SACRAMENTO – The Senate Education Committee held a hearing earlier this month on SB 1322, which allowed members of the Communist Party USA to teach and hold meetings in California’s public schools. This measure, authored by state Sen. Alan Lowenthal, a southern California Democrat, ...
New Speaker Must Support Charter School Success
Sacramento Union, March 14, 2008 The California Charter Schools Association held its 15th Annual Meeting in Sacramento in early March. More than 2,000 charter teachers, principals and leaders from across California and the country attended. The conference came on the heels of the election of Assemblywoman Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, ...
We’re No. 8: decoding the Advanced Placement spin
Recently, the College Board released the results of Advanced Placement tests placing California eighth in the nation, with nearly one in five public school students scoring a college-credit-earning three or better on at least one 2007 AP exam. The news came with a positive spin, but there is a lot ...
No more Homeschooling in CA?
Boy am I lucky I got orders to Okinawa instead of California. It was really a choice between the two. If you haven’t read by now, “The Second District Court of Appeal ruled that California law requires parents to send their children to full-time public or private schools or have ...
Monopoly players shouldn’t pass ‘Go’
ABC’s John Stossel in a “20/20” report examined America’s education system in a segment called “Stupid in America.” It wasn’t pretty. Teacher unions and bought-and-sold politicians don’t look so good when a reporter of Stossel’s ilk tells the unvarnished truth about public schools. The unions moaned, and one in New ...
