Posted on Sun, May. 15, 2011
Area schools bracing for austere new era
Widespread program cuts and layoffs are expected, along with tax hikes in many districts.
By Dan Hardy and John P. Martin, Inquirer Staff Writers
Facing what some see as the most dire funding crisis in decades, school districts across the region are proposing cuts that could drastically reshape their programs and communities.
In district after district, officials have proposed budgets notable for what's missing: busing, kindergarten, athletics, librarians, languages, gym classes.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20110515_Area_schools_bracing_for_austere_new_era.html
This blog has previously highlighted voucher proponents and organizations that bankroll them including:
Here's another you should be aware of: on May 13th the Washington Post ran an article detailing the involvement of FreedomWorks in the PA voucher battle:
FreedomWorks' Dick Armey helps tea party shift and stay relevant
Washington Post, By Amy Gardner,
MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — In a meeting room of the Embassy Suites next to the Pittsburgh airport, Richard K. Armey, the chairman of leading tea party organizer FreedomWorks, spent a recent evening chatting up 300 or so activists.
Armey had flown in from his Dallas home not to talk about debts or deficits or even President Obama, but rather to extol a proposal in the Pennsylvania legislature that would allow children to use vouchers to pay for private-school. In their usual attire of tea party t-shirts, "Don't Tread on Me" pins and American flag scarves and hats, the 300 or so activists promised Armey that they would back the school choice bill.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2011/04/28/AFI8cc2G_story.html
"Shame on Senator Greenleaf for not putting children first"
Senator Greenleaf is a Republican and Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. His 12th District includes parts of Bucks and Montgomery Counties in suburban Philadelphia.
Click here to see the mailer that FreedomWorks recently funded and sent to all voters in Senator Greenleaf's district chastising him for not supporting SB1
The High Cost of Low Teacher Salaries
By DAVE EGGERS and NÍNIVE CLEMENTS CALEGARI
Published: April 30, 2011
NY Times OPED
WHEN we don't get the results we want in our military endeavors, we don't blame the soldiers. We don't say, "It's these lazy soldiers and their bloated benefits plans! That's why we haven't done better in Afghanistan!" No, if the results aren't there, we blame the planners. We blame the generals, the secretary of defense, theJoint Chiefs of Staff. No one contemplates blaming the men and women fighting every day in the trenches for little pay and scant recognition.
And yet in education we do just that
NEWSWEEK: Back to School for the Billionaires
They hoped their cash could transform failing classrooms. They were wrong.
NEWSWEEK investigates what their money bought.
This story was reported and written by Center for Public Integrity.
The richest man in America stepped to the podium and declared war on the nation's school systems. High schools had become "obsolete" and were "limiting—even ruining—the lives of millions of Americans every year." The situation had become "almost shameful." Bill Gates, prep-school grad and college dropout, had come before the National Governors Association seeking converts to his plan to do something about it—a plan he would back with $2 billion of his own cash.
The richest man in America stepped to the podium and declared war on the nation's school systems. High schools had become "obsolete" and were "limiting—even ruining—the lives of millions of Americans every year." The situation had become "almost shameful." Bill Gates, prep-school grad and college dropout, had come before the National Governors Association seeking converts to his plan to do something about it—a plan he would back with $2 billion of his own cash.
NY Times OP-ED COLUMNIST
Reading, 'Riting and Revenues
By GAIL COLLINS, Published: May 11, 2011
Today, let's take a look at the privatization craze and the conviction that there is nothing about molding young minds that can't be improved by the profit motive.
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