Arizona Charter Schools: The Good, The Bad, and The Costly, Part 6: Rep. Lujan Responds
by David Safier (Here are parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.) Advertisement I emailed State Representative David Lujan (D-Phoenix) about HB2816, since he is the only Democratic sponsor of the bill, and said I would give him a chance to respond to my concerns. He wrote back within a few hours (I love my … Read more
Arizona Charter Schools: The Good, The Bad, and The Costly, Part 5: What’s $6.4 Million Between Friends?
by David Safier (Here are parts 1, 2, 3 and 4.) “Six-point-four million? Safier is making this big deal about six-point-four million? I know that sounds like a lot, but as a percent of the state budget . . .” The Tucson School District just put its reputation and its standing with the citizenry on … Read more
Arizona Charter Schools: The Good, The Bad, and The Costly, Part 4: The 6.4 Million Dollar Question
by David Safier (Here are parts 1, 2 and 3) (Note: I plan to use a blogger’s prerogative in my posts on Cyber Schools to jump to conclusions before I know the whole story. As I continue blogging on the topic, I’ll get more information and correct any errors I’ve made. I’m an honorable man … Read more
Al Melvin Throws Down in Pima County
"It’s like Hitler just invaded France," said a source in the moderate wing of the Pima County Republican Party of Joe Higgin’s likely primary challenge of Ann Day for Supervisor in District 1. That’s not just Godwin’s law in effect; my source only meant that a war that everyone knew was coming, and that many … Read more
Arizona Charter Schools: The Good, The Bad, and The Costly, Part 3: Cyber Schools Fight to Protect Funding
by David Safier (For background on this post, link to Part 1 and Part 2 of this series.) Last Tuesday, 800 Charter Cyber School advocates gathered in Phoenix to demand, “Don’t cut our funding!” There has been a move afoot, they were told, to cut some 20% from funding for Cyber Schools. The event was … Read more
Increasing Hispanic Students’ Interest in Tech Careers
by David Safier An interesting article in CNN/Money: IBM Launches Effort to Address Shortage of Hispanic Students in Technology Careers. This program, if it’s more than just talk, can have an important impact on Arizona and other areas with large Hispanic populations. A few excerpts: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today convened an inaugural summit titled “America’s … Read more
Mule Train Mail: Mickey Duniho Writes an Open Letter to C. Huckelberry on Elections Security
Mr. Huckelberry: I got wind of your latest memo on election security [pdf download] by reading about it in a Tucson Citizen article. Given that you mentioned my name in the memo, I would have expected to receive a courtesy copy of the memo. Maybe my copy went astray. On page 14 of your memo … Read more
