$100,000 a year teachers in Arizona
by David SafierAccording to commmenter CCUSD Watch, Basis Scottsdale pays its teachers $100,000 per year in part from a grant from Intel's Craig Barrett and in part from its own master teacher fundraising program. The Basis schools in Tucson and Scottsdale are charter schools, meaning they can't pay their teachers 100 grand each on their … Read more
What Socialism? Putting things into proper perspective
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Conor Clarke at the Atlantic provides this invaluable perspective on the Wingnuttia hysteria that the U.S. is becoming a socialist state. It's not even worth mentioning. What Socialism Looks Like Have you heard that the United States is headed toward socialism? Jonah Goldberg says it is. Alabama Senator Richard Shelby says it … Read more
Right wing radio: Don’t buy American
by David SafierThis almost goes off the bizarre scale. Apparently a new conservative radio talking point is that we should boycott General Motors products to stop the spread of nationalization. Don't buy GM, so GM never regains solvency, so it can't function on its own without government help. Meaning the only two choices are, it … Read more
This is the best list he can come up with?
by David SafierHarold Levy, who used to be chancellor of NY City Schools, has come up with a list of Five Ways to Fix America’s Schools. He could've done much better. I'm not sure how he decided these are the most pressing issues we need to address. Only the first is interesting, but at best, … Read more
Why do Southern Arizona Republicans hate democracy? Tell them to respect the will of Tucson’s residents
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: On Monday, Sen. Jonathan Paton and his Senate Judiciary Committee will consider SB 1123 which would require the City of Tucson to conduct "nonpartisan" city council elections and elect council members by ward only. The bill is sponsored by partisan Republicans Sen. Jonathan Paton, Rep. Frank Antenori and Rep. David Gowan (LD … Read more
First ed stim money concerns, now health care
by David SafierYesterday I posted that a billion worth of fed stim money may be in jeopardy because of the sweeps of education funding written into the Republican budget — you know, the one they passed, then said, "We didn't really mean it, Guv. We'll hold onto this one. Let's do lunch, OK?" Now it's … Read more
Maybe pigs are jumping really high?
by David SafierScarpinato has a piece in this morning's Political Notebook about the Goldwater Institute's Byron Schlomach agreeing with Dem legislators about lowering and broadening the state sales tax. "The current sales tax is highly distorting because it is not broadly applied," says Byron Schlomach, director of Goldwater's Center for Economic Prosperity. "Therefore, I congratulate … Read more
