Reading Arne Duncan tea leaves on charter schools

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, … Read more

A win-win budget balancing idea

by David Safier Kavanagh wants to sweep money from special funds to help balance the state budget. It's a terrible idea on its face, as many people have pointed out. But one of his terrible ideas gave me a potentially good idea. Kavanagh singled out, in particular, an 80-cent-a-pack tax on cigarettes approved by voters … Read more

In praise of journalists and good journalism

by David Safier I gather most of my information sitting here behind my MacBook. If Google Search, Google Alerts and the newspapers somehow disappeared from the web, I'd probably fold up my laptop and go home. Except that I'm already home. So I'd just fold up my laptop and do something else. From this vantage … Read more

Court decision deals blow to tuition tax credits

by David Safier Wednesday's ruling by the 9th Circuit Court could hurt the tuition tax credit program, but since the wheels of justice turn slow, it could still be years before it has any effect. Basically, the 9th Circuit agreed with a previous ruling which said the tuition tax credit scholarships are too heavily weighted … Read more

Disturbing finding

by David Safier As always, I preface discussions about findings from educational studies by saying they should be taken with generous helpings of salt. That being said, studies covered in the NY Times and the LA Times indicate: . . . children of Hispanic immigrants tend to be born healthy and start life on an … Read more