Archive for the ‘The Bad and Shameful’ Category

For students to achieve the best outcomes, they need teachers and principals to be as effective as they can be. To make that happen, we first need a clear and fair way to know which teachers are effective. We need to do more to invest both teachers AND principals in student academic success. And we [...]

On consecutive days this week at the State Capitol, Colorado lawmakers once again killed two private school choice bills. HB 1295 and HB 1296 would have provided tax credits so families could choose a non-public school.
Even the fact that both bills would have saved public schools money on a per-pupil basis during these hard [...]

When it comes to public performance audits, there’s a difference between good governance and oversight on one hand, and a far-reaching fishing expedition on the other. The latter SHAMEFUL act is what a handful of Democrat state legislators (Rep. Mike Merrifield, Rep. Judy Solano, Sen. Bob Bacon, Sen. Evie Hudak) put into motion last month. [...]

June 30, 2009 was a GOOD day for thousands of Indiana children in the home state of the Friedman Foundation and the GEO Foundation, two long-time school choice advocates. Governor Mitch Daniels signed into law a 2.5 million corporate and individual scholarship tax credit program.  The program gives companies and individuals a 50 percent tax credit in return for their donation [...]

Acting like spoiled children, over a three-day period, several hundred Boulder Valley teachers held a collective temper tantrum.  Our government-run education system has trained teachers to expect a raise whether or not the money is available and whether or not they are good teachers.
When a spoiled child misbehaves, who must share in the blame?  (Usually it’s the parents, but in this case it is [...]

To realize the impact of yesterday’s Arizona Supreme Court decision watch this video about a little girl named Lexie. Also, read the media release from the Institute for Justice. Lexie has multiple disabilities. Her public school was not able to meet her needs, but the state-funded scholarship program for children with disabilities gave her the opportunity to attend a private [...]

Yesterday the Joint Budget Committee cut the printing of next year’s School Accountability Reports (SAR). Also, a bill going through the legislature that will make major changes to Colorado’s accountability system does not include printing of the new reports. Not sending home a SAR (aka school report card) keeps parents in the dark about a school’s student performance. [...]

In today’s Denver Post there is a story by Jeremy P. Meyer  about the parents of 67 students from Hanson PreK-8 School located in Adams 14 School District. The parents are boycotting the CSAP because they are unhappy that the principal has been placed on leave for undisclosed reasons, the elimination of the year-round schedule, and changes to [...]

Today is a really bad day for education reformers. Today’s edition was the last edition of the Rocky Mountain News.
For many years, the paper has provided readers with high-quality and in-depth stories about education issues. The editorial page has voiced commonsense opinions about needed reforms.
Colorado is a leading state in the area of public school choice and [...]

According to an article in the Boulder Daily Camera, Boulder Valley School District is going to take a couple of weeks to decide if they continue with the lawsuit against the Charter School Institute. School district superintendent, Dr. Christopher King was quoted saying, “…the decision to pursue the lawsuit was made in more plush times.  [...]