Category Archives: Issues Blogs (2011-2014)

So You Want Evidence of Choice and Charter Problems?

closed charter schools
This is from an auctioneer’s web site announcing a real treasure trove of bargain basement prices for equipment bought at full price by a charter school with state taxpayer’s money.

So, you think that you want to expand “school choice” for parents by passing proposed legislation that would allow charters and private schools to take tax money with little of the financial or quality safeguards that publicly controlled schools now have? 

Continue reading So You Want Evidence of Choice and Charter Problems?

Cynical School Choice Stunts Ramp Up In Oklahoma

Booker T. Washington School
Booker T. Washington School in Tulsa was one of the first magnet schools in the state. The main purpose was to entice Tulsa Schools parents and students to desegregate the schools there. It has been an outpost of racial inclusion and quality since. Photo by one of the early graduates of the Booker T magnet school.

Once upon a time in Oklahoma, magnet public schools were the “choice” that allowed for much more creativity and freedom. They helped to break years of racial/economic segregation. But that’s not the point of a huge “school choice” push today.  Continue reading Cynical School Choice Stunts Ramp Up In Oklahoma

Does School Choice Mean that You Choose the School?

Newark parents and students wait in long lines to find out their school assignment. Next, they stand in line at another location to actually enroll. Credit: myfoxtampabay.com
Newark parents and students wait in long lines to find out their school assignment. Next, they stand in line at another location to actually enroll. Credit: myfoxtampabay.com

This is “school choice” week for those who propose that all parents just take a certain amount of tax money and choose whatever school they want their child to be in. But it doesn’t always work that way. Continue reading Does School Choice Mean that You Choose the School?

Bait and Switch with “Parent Choice”?

charter schools public schools education
A new legislature will be seated soon and will be pressed to push through new charter-friendly legislation including “choice” bills.

A sweeping charter school bill was defeated last year in the Oklahoma Legislature. If passed, they would have allowed investor-owned charters to spring up in direct competition to public schools everywhere, even in the smallest of towns.

The “reform” argument was the same as it has always been when selling “education reform”: Continue reading Bait and Switch with “Parent Choice”?

Education Reformers Engineer a Teacher Brain Drain

fired teachers protest
Two teachers who were fired along with every other teacher in their Rhode Island High School because the school was rule “failing”. Photo by Sharon Schmidt

Even though experienced teachers as a group have a high degree of love for their students and their work, they are leaving education in large numbers. The teacher brain drain has been happening for about ten years now, and very little grief expressed. Why? Continue reading Education Reformers Engineer a Teacher Brain Drain

Killing for A Faith Reveals that You Have No Faith

Hebdo Charlie
Paris est Charlie” (Paris is Charlie) is projected onto the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, on January 9, 2015. Credit: AFP: Matthieu Alexandre

The terrorist murders this week in Paris, France in the name of defending Islam and the Prophet Mohammed revealed individuals who actually have no faith as they used a Faith to exercise their own evil personal power through violence.

Actual trust in the truth of a faith does not have to kill in order to defend it. Functional atheism demands violent remedies to supposed offenses. Continue reading Killing for A Faith Reveals that You Have No Faith

Sorry, the Kingdom Will Not Come for Education on Monday

Joy Hofmeister, Superintendent, education, tests,
Joy Hofmeister is the newly elected State Supt. She won in a state-wide election Nov 4th.

We are always looking for lesser messiahs than The Messiah. A new President will fix it. Yeah, a new governor will make it right. If we can just elect a new attorney general, then…. But it seldom works that way.
Continue reading Sorry, the Kingdom Will Not Come for Education on Monday

Education Reform is Not Disruptive Innovation

reformers, Jobs, Gekko,
Are education reformers like Steve Jobs (L) or more like movie character Gordon Gekko?

Education reformers love to strike a heroic pose as they refer to themselves as engaging in “disruptive innovation”. Thing is, that’s not what they are doing. It’s more like what corporate raiders did in the 1980s.  Continue reading Education Reform is Not Disruptive Innovation