Education

by David Safier

For ALEC trackers, their next big event is the 2012 Spring Task Force Summit May 10-11 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The big push is education:

• Digital Learning Subcommittee
• Stretching the School Dollar Workshop
• Education Task Force Luncheon
• Education Task Force Meeting

No other topic gets nearly that much coverage.

Attendance by Arizona Republicans could depend on whether they can wrap up the lege session soon — could the ALEC  meeting be part of the push for early adjournment? — but we know for sure Sen. Rich Crandall will be attending. He's sponsoring the "Model Bill Discussion and Voting: Online Course Choice for Students." You can bet that model bill will be making it to a statehouse near you. Also leading not one but TWO discussions is Jonathan Butcher, the education guy at the Goldwater Institute. One is on Education Savings Accounts (ESA). G.I. wrote Arizona's ESA law, called Education Empowerment Accounts. The other is "Model Bill Discussion and Voting: District and School Freedom."

No other state has nearly the profile Arizona does at the Summit. We should be proud.

Download the official ALEC memorandum about the event

You can read the summary of the Online Course Choice for Students model legislation below the fold.

by David Safier I'm not sure exactly what this means, but the Monroe District in Washington State is laying off 15.75 teacher positions because of budget cuts. Of those, 12.3 positions are from Washington Virtual Academy (WAVA), one of the K12 Inc. network of online/virtual schools. It sounds like WAVA is overstaffed, meaning it hasn't … Read more

by David Safier The TUSD dominoes just keep falling in its battle against Mexican American Studies. In a stunning rejection of celebrated author Ana Castillo's offer to read and speak with Tucson high school students next week, Tucson Unified School District administrators added a new chapter to the nation's most troubling censorship crackdown and dismissed … Read more

by David Safier President Obama just got through delivering a speech to soldiers promising to crack down on for-profit colleges that lie to students and saddle them with huge student loans in return for little or nothing in the way of education or career advancement. He's doing it by executive order, because you're not going … Read more

by David Safier I'm sure Japan has very fine tea [See post below]. But its education? Not so good, I'm guessing. I'm just trying to be logical here. Let me explain. A few decades back, Japan looked like an unstoppable economic engine powering its way across the world and devouring everything in its path. At … Read more