Featured Stories
Significant changes in laws about teacher hiring
October 26, 2009
by David Safier This one got past me in the heat of the state budget problems. According to Pat Kossan at the Republic, significant changes have been made to rules about teacher contracts and firings. Republicans hated the idea that teachers had to be given pink slips by May 15 if the district couldn't guarantee
How AZ Imagine Schools deal with the school board issue
October 26, 2009
by David SafierThis is one of a series of posts, Peeking into Charter Schools. If you have information you wish to contribute, you can post comments or email me: safier@schooltales.net. I just posted about an email from Imagine Schools' CEO which says, basically: We own the schools. The school boards either should do what we
Imagine CEO’s “We own the schools” email makes national papers
October 26, 2009
by David Safier A little over a month ago, I made public an email sent by Dennis Bakke, the national CEO of Imagine Schools, to the principals, directors and developers of his schools around the country, 18 of them here in Arizona. Bakke's basic message: We own the schools. The school boards either should do
Dems vs. GOP ad
October 26, 2009
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee uses the style of Apple's Mac vs. PC ads to spoof the GOP in a new web ad:
Update IV: Opposition to Prop. 200 continues to grow
October 26, 2009
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Some of you may say to yourself, "oh sure, opposition to the Public Safety First Initiative (Prop. 200) is just those lefty Democrats." You'd be wrong. In two online opinions today in the Arizona Daily Star, the uber-libertarian Goldwater Institute and the uber-conservative Arizona Tax Research Association weigh in against Prop. 200.
In the interest of fairness (even [especially] to the Goldwater Institute)
October 25, 2009
by David Safier I never pretend to be objective, but I try my best to be fair. I go after G.I. regularly — fairly, I believe — but when a suspicion turns out to be wrong, I should say something. Which is what I'm doing here. Matthew Ladner put together three policy briefs comparing public
Reading Arne Duncan tea leaves on charter schools
October 25, 2009
by David Safier I'm doing my best to ferret out specifics of Arne Duncan's educational directions concerning charter schools. General directions are easy. Specifics are harder to figure out. I hear good things in a short interview the Republic's Pat Kossan had with Duncan while he was in Arizona. Shorter Duncan: We need good charters,
Sen. John McCain Threatens Net Neutrality
October 25, 2009
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: "Net Neutrality" or "Network Neutrality" is a principle for a broadband Internet network that is free of restrictions on content, sites, or platforms, on the kinds of equipment that may be attached, and on the modes of communication allowed, as well as one where communication is not unreasonably degraded by other communication
