A face-off with the Goldwater Institute in the comments

by David Safier I'm pleased to say that Matthew Ladner of the Goldwater Institute found my first column about some of his assertions (Fool's Gold: Cut teachers, improve schools) provocative enough he was moved to answer me in the Comments section beneath the post. Then I commented on his comment. Then he commented on my comment-on-his-comment. … Read more

Budget update from Rep. Steve Farley

by David Safier Tuesday's Farley Report hit my email. It's all budget, all the time this week. Here are some excerpts. Speaker Adams just confirmed on the floor that we will likely be calling a special session by tomorrow in which all normal committees are cancelled and we will focus on the adoption of the … Read more

Time to join Education Anonymous?

by David Safier The NY Times has an article about $150 billion for education in the stimulus plan. Frederick Hess, a conservative educator with the American Enterprise Institute, doesn't like the idea. School districts have to learn to live with less cash for schools, he says. If property tax revenues are down, schools need to … Read more

More Fool’s Gold: Schools don’t need money. Kids don’t need pre-K

by David Safier Here are more gems from the Goldwater Institute: money doesn't matter much in education, and providing early childhood education doesn't have much lasting educational value. In Dan Lips' words, from a Fool's Gold email blast: · Past experience shows that more K-12 spending does not significantly improve educational performance. · Federal early childhood education programs have not … Read more

Arizona budget woes make Huffington Post

by David Safier Beginning with the headline, Napolitano Departs, AZ GOP Cannibalizes Education to Meet Budget Shortfall, Dawn Teo tells the saga of the Arizona budget on HuffPo in detail, all the way to Paul Eckerstrom's becoming Chair of the AZ Dem Party. She ends the story with this quote from Eckerstrom's speech: As Democrats, … Read more