Free Republic

Students earn way by sweat of brow in new program . Bruce Randolph's bold decision last fall to end social promotion, to inform parents that students who fail core academic classes will not be passed on to the next grade. "We're changing the culture," said Principal Kristin Waters. "You can't not pass anymore; you have to do the work." It's an unprecedented stance by a neighborhood school in Denver. DPS, unlike other metro districts, allows parents to decide whether their children are held back a grade until they reach high school. Few choose to hold them back. Not until grade...

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sidestepped the superdelegate controversy as she opened the California Democratic Party convention tonight in San Jose, instead taking aim at likely Republican presidential nominee, John McCain. Pelosi noted that McCain campaigned alongside Governor Schwarzenegger during the polarizing special election the governor called in 2005. Schwarzenegger tried to pass ballot measures aimed at weakening the power of public employee unions, changing teacher tenure rules and clamping down on state spending. Californians rejected those reforms and she predicted they'd reject McCain as well. The gathering at the San Jose Convention Center continues through...

Thursday, June 21, 2007 If the Washington Education Association truly put teachers and students first, they'd be cheering a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision along with the rest of us. The court stood up for teachers' free speech rights. Instead, the union is decrying last week's 9-0 ruling, calling the state law that was before the court "seriously flawed," and vowing to pursue more ways to get its way, despite what individual teachers want. There is nothing flawed about getting permission from educators before spending their paychecks on politics with which they might disagree. Only a bully would see things...

A union representing professors, librarians and coaches at Sonoma State and 22 other California State University campuses has voted overwhelmingly to approve a strike, which could occur over several weeks beginning in April.Because of the size of the CSU system, Travis said, "if we strike, it will be the largest strike in the history of higher education in this country."New CSU tenure-track faculty start at about $50,000 a year, the average salary for tenure-track is $71,000, and the average for faculty with 20 years of experience is $86,000.Instructors, who teach 60 percent of CSU classes, earn an average of $58,000...

AUSTIN - Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs lambasted teacher unions Friday, claiming no amount of technology in the classroom would improve public schools until principals could fire bad teachers. Jobs compared schools to businesses with principals serving as CEOs. "What kind of person could you get to run a small business if you told them that when they came in they couldn't get rid of people that they thought weren't any good?" he asked to loud applause during an education reform conference. "Not really great ones because if you're really smart you go, 'I can't win.'" In a rare joint...

By BRAD CAIN / Associated Press The Oregon Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld most of a $2.5 million racketeering judgment against anti-tax activist Bill Sizemore stemming from a lawsuit filed by two teachers unions. The court, however, said Sizemore can continue to promote initiatives, such as the one he placed on Oregon's Nov. 7 ballot to prohibit insurance companies from raising customers' rates based on their credit history. The court agreed with a jury's 2002 ruling that Sizemore's education foundation and political action committee committed fraud and racketeering in handling petition-gathering for a pair of anti-union ballot measures in...

The smart young are, of course, already trending conservative -- they've grown up with the hash my generation has made of love and marriage, and they have soldiered their way through the nonsense we have made of education. But way-left boomers turning right in middle age? Come on. But it's true. A woman around my age, a stalwart, a pillar, a lodestone of the ultra left-wing literary world on Canada's West Coast told me last week, that this year she was going to embrace her Inner Republican. An adorable new friend, Howie Siegel who spent the '70s naked and stoned...

To quote the old Mercedes Benz airbag commercial: “Some things in life are too important not to share.” The National Education Association’s national convention begins today at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL. Outside, the Evergreen Freedom Foundation (a Washington State think tank) is parking a truck with a billboard highlighting some of the expenditures the NEA listed on its 2004 federal financial disclosure forms. The billboard is too important (and good) not to share:

Arriving at the Bolger Conference Center on Millersville University’s campus to listen to Pennsylvania state House committee hearings on academic freedom, I spotted yellow papers on windshields across the parking lot. When I picked one up it read, “Stop the Academic Bill of Restrictions. Free Exchange on Campus. Do you want free speech? Make sure the legislature hears your opposition to the Academic Bill of Restrictions.” During the hearings, Free Exchange on Campus had a couple of people lined up to testify as well as several people to speak during the public comment portion. My question however was, “what is...

Last month, 500 angry schoolteachers assembled outside my office. The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) was furious that "Stupid in America," a "20/20" show I did on education, suggested that some union teachers were lazy. They shouted that I didn't understand how difficult teaching was, and chanted, "Shame on you!"Randi Weingarten, head of New York City's union, took the microphone and hollered, "Just teach for a week!" She said I could select from many schools. "We got high schools, we got elementary schools, we got junior high schools!" I accepted. I even said I'd let the union pick the school....

DetroitROBERT THOMPSON wanted to give away $200 million to help children escape some of America's worst public schools. But for three years the successful businessman turned education philanthropist suffered the wrath of Michigan's Democratic establishment for his politically incorrect charter-school proposal. Then finally in August, Thompson found an ally willing to accept his charity. The nonprofit Skillman Foundation will join him in creating the first of 15 planned charter high schools in Detroit. The schools' goal is a "90/90 system"--that is, a graduation rate of 90 percent (up from the city's current 50 percent) and a college admission rate of...

The embezzlement trial of former Washington Teachers' Union officials opened yesterday with prosecutors describing three top leaders as a team that stole from the union's bank accounts until they were nearly empty. Prosecutors said former president Barbara A. Bullock, former office manager Gwendolyn Hemphill and former treasurer James O. Baxter II cashed union checks for personal expenses, went on lavish spending sprees with union credit cards and then hatched various plans to conceal their theft. The three schemed to keep the union afloat so they could continue stealing, prosecutors said, getting caught after they conspired to deduct $16 in dues...

"He's the perfect choice at this critical time for education," Schwarzenegger said of Bersin, who served two years on the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. Bersin, 58, offered a glimpse of his hard-hitting approach at the news conference. Standing next to the governor and speaking in a relaxed but firm tone, Bersin did not shy away from taking on teachers unions. "It's very important that we find common ground for what our kids need, not what's good for the union," he said. "This has to be premised on what's good for children." Barbara Kerr, president of the California Teachers Assn.,...

Two news events in other states pose a warning to Nebraskans who are determined to never let our public schools sink this low: An ex-principal in Rockford, Ill., outside Chicago has sued the superintendent who demoted her and had her transferred after she blew the whistle on some bogus reading programs the district was using that were ineligible for federal grants. Meanwhile, a group of parents are protesting a sex ed video to be shown to 10th graders in a district near Washington, D.C., with a woman stretching condoms over cucumbers and talking about oral and anal sex, transgenderism, and...

State's discount loan program for teachers, police, firefighters going fast $2.5 million in low-rate mortgages claimed in a month By AMY RINARD arinard@journalsentinel.com Posted: Jan. 2, 2004 Madison - Announced just a month ago, a new state program to grant special mortgage assistance to teachers, firefighters and police officers has already approved or is reviewing applications for $2.5 million in home loans, which officials say proves the program was needed. By the Numbers 5% Current 30-year mortgage rate in the Homes for Our Heroes program. 5.73% Average 30-year mortgage rate nationally. But critics argue that the new Homes for Our...

New Forms of School Choice: The Real McKaysSchool Choice Forces Emboldened by Recent String of Judicial and Legislative Victories By Robert Holland Printer Friendly   Email a Friend The fastest-growing voucher program in the land is the McKay Scholarship, which three years ago emerged in the choice-friendly climate of Florida. As of July 2003, more than 9,200 Florida special-education students were using McKays to attend private schools equipped to accommodate them. (Special education is education lingo for  individualized instruction developed  to meet the needs of each student judged to have a disability.) McKays predate the June 2002 Zelman decision. But the...

GO TO THIS THREAD FOR TONIGHT'S SHOW. Marsha Richards of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation will give juicy details about evil teachers unions and sexual misconduct. FReeper Jonathon Stein will discuss the whistleblower and the Treason Memo by the RATS in the intelligence committee.

Please goto http://www.protectfairfaxschools.org/guide/school_summary.htm online and view the school board candidate ratings. Rita S. Thompson, Stephen M. Hunt and E.J. Hurley are Republicans and got rated BOTTOM OF THE CLASS. Ilryong Moon, Janet S. Oleszek and Lynn G. Terhar are Democrats and got rated TOP OF THE CLASS. The Democrats on the school board were the ones who hired the Superintendent Dr. Domenech. Our local school PTA newsletter contained a full-page free advertisement of this website telling parents to check it out to find out who is pro-school and deserves the vote. What I need urgently is FREEpers to go visit...

NEA State Affiliates File a Lawsuit Department of Labor Over Disclosure Ruling * The NEA dispute with the U.S. Department of Labor broke onto the national scene in a big way over the weekend as the union announced a lawsuit against the federal agency on behalf of 32 state affiliates. As reported here over the last two weeks, the Labor Department has ruled that these affiliates fall under the jurisdiction of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 - in addition to the affiliates already covered by the Act. The law, also known as the Landrum-Griffin Act, affects...

<p>With graduation nearing, State Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll is asking the federal government to give access to financial aid for college to some high school seniors who are denied diplomas because they failed MCAS.</p> <p>His move comes amid growing public anxiety over the denial of diplomas to potentially thousands of students and growing pressure on state education officials from opponents of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System. The federal support would add credibility to Driscoll's effort to award students who fail MCAS - but meet other graduation requirements - a ''certificate of attainment.''</p>

As a bill backed by the California Teachers Association seeks to expand union power, PRI’s new study, Contract for Failure, reveals that teacher union contracts already control the majority of California classrooms, restrict the ability of elected school boards and principals to manage schools, and harm student achievement. Data is available for 460 California school districts.

THIS LINK WILL LEAD YOU TO THE SHOW - 6:00 pm Pacific Yes, tonight Evergreen Freedom Foundation's Marsha Richards and I will have some kind words to say about the NEA and other teachers unions. We really appreciate how they take in all that money and kids can't pass basic tests. We really like how they honor the letter and spirit of the Beck decision and use money for political purposes without permission. We really like how they are an arm of the RAT party. We really like how they want to blame the United States for 9-11 and...

Yes, ladies and gentleman, Evergreen Freedom Foundation's Marsha Richards has agreed to make a return visit to the DFU RADIO HOUR this Thursday, 8-22. Marsha was the guest on my inaugural show and did a great job. The appearance turned her into a FReeper. EVERGREEN FREEDOM FOUNDATION. For those who are unaware, EFF has been driving the teachers union nuts in the state of Washington. They have won court verdicts of over a million dollars. The union finally got caught using member's dues without permission for political purposes. EFF President Bob Williams has done a tremendous amount of research and...

The Supreme Judicial Court yesterday cleared the way for the state to test math teachers in some underachieving schools, a decision that educators denounced as shortsighted and disrespectful. The unanimous ruling upholds a vote by the state Board of Education, which two years ago decided to administer competency exams to math teachers in schools where at least 30 percent of the students failed the math portion of the statewide MCAS exam, with some exceptions. The state's two teacher unions had sued to block the teacher test, arguing that it illegally expanded the Board of Education's authority and amounted to an...

<p>THE FORCES that want to dumb down public schools never rest. Failure never cows them; success never hinders them.</p> <p>After years of producing poor readers, California has returned to recommending phonics-rich reading programs. As more new schools adopt the program each year, reading test scores have risen modestly as a result.</p>

<p>NO ONE can argue with the notion that teachers should be involved in selecting textbooks, shaping curriculum and setting educational goals.</p> <p>The teachers should have a major voice, but not the only voice, in these critical decisions.</p> <p>It is equally important that these decisions be made in a public process with an opportunity for input from everyone with a stake or expertise in public education. And the decisions must be based on what is best for the students.</p>