by David Safier On the one hand, Arizona exercises far too little oversight of its charter schools. The good schools don't need much in the way of oversight, but charters that slight the students through poor educational practices, misuse of funds or both need to be improved or shut down. And by far the worst … Read more
by David Safier I finally got around to watching last week's debate on Prop 100, which aired on KUAT, between Ann-Eve Pederson from the Arizona Education Network and Farrell Quinlan, the Arizona State Director of the National Federation of Independent Businesses. I'm not going to comment on the debate itself except to say Pederson handled … Read more
by David Safier This is a shocker to me. Florida's legislature passed a bill that "would have abolished tenure for new teachers and instituted strict merit pay guidelines," which teachers and many others oppose mightily. And Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed it. The bill is similar to the one Arizona teachers and others are fighting that … Read more
by David Safier From the Arizona Education Association, the provisions of HB 2227 that just passed Arizona's House and Senate: Permits school districts to reduce the salary of any teacher in any manner and at any time. Prior law said that continuing teachers’ salaries may be reduced only if there is a general salary reduction … Read more
by David Safier Today's Fool's Gold edition isn't about the iron pyrite the Goldwater Institute usually tries to pass off as the real thing — ore that glitters like gold but is actually worthless. This is so blatant, it borders on the comical. Matthew Ladner has taken a garden variety stone and glued on a … Read more