Featured Stories
A charter school report card from Minnesota
December 4, 2008
by David Safier Minnesota was the birthplace of charter schools 20 years ago (Yes, they're that new). The Institute on Race and Poverty produced a report on the state's charters. The results weren't encouraging. Orfield's research team gathered test scores and other data from all traditional public and charter schools in the Twin Cities. That
Public school tax credit suggestions
December 4, 2008
by David Safier In an earlier post, I explained how you can give $200 for an individual or $400 for a couple to a school of your choice (or a combination of schools) and get a 100% tax credit on your state taxes. It won't cost you a penny. I said I would post suggestions
Department of Environmental Irony
December 4, 2008
by David Safier I was playing tennis this morning at Fort Lowell Park, well away from the street. I noticed a heavy smell of car exhaust wafting over the court and turned toward the parking lot. A large government vehicle — enclosed, about twice the size of a pickup — was sitting there, idling. Five
More on seed corn eating
December 3, 2008
by David Safier The Wall Street Journal tells us that universities are freezing enrollment levels and even cutting back on their total number of students: Florida's state universities, squeezed early by the slumping economy's effect on tax revenues, instituted a three-year cap on freshman enrollment last year. The mammoth California State University system — with
Eating our seed corn
December 3, 2008
by David Safier (TASL) State colleges and universities nationwide are becoming less affordable, meaning that families have to spend an increasing percentage of their incomes to pay for tuition. The increases include community college tuition, which is a crime. Community colleges should be as close to free as we can make them. Meanwhile, to cut costs,
Dobson: “Center right, you’re dead to me”
December 2, 2008
by David Safier James Dobson of right-wing-Christian Focus on the Family is unhappy with conservative columnist Kathleen Parker for jumping ship over the Sarah Palin nomination and bemoaning the stranglehold the Christian Right has on the Republican Party. Dobson: Whatever she once was, Ms. Parker is certainly not a conservative anymore, having apparently realized it’s
Public school tax credit
December 2, 2008
by David Safier Give money to a public school for free! Really! It won't cost you a penny! Do it before December 31 and get 100% back when you file your state taxes! This is for real. All of you who believe schools are underfunded should do it. Remember, it won't cost you a penny,
Urge legislators not to cut education funding
December 1, 2008
by David Safier Here's part of an email I received today from Voices for Education: Please call your legislators and urge them to NOT cut any funding to publicschools. Cuts to K-12 Education shouldn't be the first place we look toaddress the budget shortfall. The Arizona Legislature is going into special session on the state's
