It's not about you, it's them/ How Bill Gates misinterprets ed facts/ Hardy Williams Academy joins Mastery Charter Schools network/ Impact of Cuts?

It's not about you, it's them

By Bill White, Allentown Morning Call, March 9, 2011

You're probably familiar with the five-word phrase that is oft-used to defuse hurt feelings during romantic breakups.  "It's not you, it's me."
This was immortalized in "Seinfeld," where George was outraged to hear his girlfriend dumping him by using his own favorite line. "I invented 'it's not you, it's me,'" he tells her angrily. "Nobody tells me it's them, not me. If it's anybody, it's me." 

As it happens, "It's not you, it's me" has other applications, and I was reminded of this phrase as I considered Gov. Tom Corbett's budget presentation Tuesday

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/white/mc-bill-white-corbett-20110309,0,1771857.column

Posted at 5:00 AM ET, 03/11/2011

How Bill Gates misinterprets ed facts

By Valerie Strauss, Washington Post Answer Sheet Blog

This was written by Richard Rothstein, a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute, a non-profit created in 1986 to broaden the discussion about economic policy to include the interests of low- and middle-income workers

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/school-turnaroundsreform/fact-challenged-education-poli.html

Posted on Fri, Mar. 11, 2011

Hardy Williams Academy joins Mastery Charter Schools network

By Martha Woodall, Inquirer Staff Writer

In a move that's a first for Philadelphia, one troubled charter school has handed over its operations to a successful charter organization.

The board of the Hardy Williams Academy Charter School in Southwest Philadelphia voted Thursday night to join the network of Mastery Charter Schools.

The Hardy Williams Academy, which was founded in 1999 by State Sen. Anthony Williams (D., Phila.) and originally called Renaissance Advantage Charter School, has a history of low test scores and has not met the academic benchmarks of the federal No Child Left Behind law in five years.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/20110311_Hardy_Williams_Academy_joins_Mastery_Charter_Schools_network.html

Impact of Cuts?

Please help us out with this request: Could you ask the Keystone State Education Coalition list to provide brief examples/anecdotes of how some of the money that is being cut has been used in the past (what has it paid for, in a clear and easy to understand manner; no BS please), as opposed to just dollar amounts, and/or what the shape of some of the cuts will take (like: "our options will be This or That")?

Please email me specific examples of measures your district is considering in response to the Governor’s proposed budget.