LAS VEGAS – While the Great Recession has affected almost all Americans, Nevadans may be the hardest hit. The state leads the nation in unemployment (13 percent) and home foreclosures (three times the national average).
Because of the faltering economy and slowed tax revenue, the Clark County School District needs to cut $78 million [...]
As a previous story demonstrates, being the leader of a national teachers union requires a refined skill set. For instance, one must be able to publicly speak the language of education reform, even while thwarting meaningful change at every turn.
It’s bad public relations to be appear hostile to taxpayers, reformers and parents. To [...]
The “education experts” that are giving leadership to the National Education Association have come out in favor of tougher testing measures for prospective teachers. The NEA, the nation’s largest labor union, announced last week that it favors “national standards for teacher preparation and licensing.”
“All teacher candidates should have one full year of teaching [...]
Remember back in August 2010 when Congress passed the $10 billion “Education Jobs Bill” to create or save some 300,000 teaching, police and firefighter jobs?
Then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the legislation “has a direct relationship to the strength of our communities, the education of our children, the safety of our neighborhoods, the stability of [...]
Two thousand miles away in Maine’s School Administrative District 59, officials are discussing the possibility of using private companies to handle the district’s transportation and custodial needs.
The district currently employs 25 bus drivers and custodians. Those individuals would stand a good chance of being rehired by the private companies, but at reduced wages [...]
HAINESPORT, New Jersey – The Hainesport Township School District needs to cut expenses, and officials think outsourcing the school’s custodial, maintenance and groundskeeping jobs to private, for-profit companies might be one way of doing so.
This has caused Hainesport’s school employee unions to launch a scare campaign against the concept of privatization. At a recent [...]
WASHINGTON D.C. – There’s no question that 2011 has been good for charter schools.
And if lawmakers in Michigan, New Jersey, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania can get pro-charter school legislation across the finish line in the next few weeks, 2011 could be a banner year for the taxpayer-funded public schools that are generally operated by independent organizations.
The [...]
