Horne gives Supes, charter holders the bad news

by David Safier Tom Horne sent a memorandum to Superintendents and Charter Holders this week telling them the current revenue shortfall means third quarter payments for some programs will be delayed until fourth quarter. We have been informed that due to the state’s revenue shortfall, the third quarter allotment (January – March) for state non-formula … Read more

A plea to help save Tucson Access TV

by David Safier Friend of the blog Steve Gall, whose laudable work building the state's awareness of the importance of recess in schools has received positive press lately, is concerned about the fate of Tucson Access TV. Here is what he has to say: Because of the budget crisis, the Tucson City Council has proposed … Read more

Horne investigates ed crime of the century

by David Safier You may recall in December, Horne sent an employee or two with a video camera down to Lukeville on the border to film kids getting on a school bus. Some of them may have been crossing over from Mexico, and Horne wanted it all on tape. The timing of the video, a … Read more

NYC charters better than traditional schools? Probably, yes

by David Safier A study  from a Stanford researcher a few months ago claimed students at New York City's charters outperformed the equivalent students at traditional district schools. Another Stanford research group questioned the methodology and did its own study. It ended up coming up with similar results. If 2 reputable studies come to similar … Read more

Fool’s Gold Redux: phony per student numbers

by David Safier Sigh. We've been down this road so many times before — the Goldwater Institute making a fool of itself with its purposeful misstatements about Arizona's per student spending numbers. And yet, if the media accepts the numbers and parrots them, and if Republican legislators like Al Melvin continue to quote them, the … Read more