What you are also seeing is the federal -- what I call fascist -- takeover of AmeriKa's indoctrina..., I mean inculcatin...., no, um, ejerkashun system, that's what I meant.
My feelings now and forever are GET the FEDS then the STATE OUT of EDUCATION! Local, local, local!!!!
"Education chief offers cash incentives to develop standards; Up to $350m would help 46 states" by Justin Pope and Libby Quaid, Associated Press | June 15, 2009
RALEIGH, N.C. - Education Secretary Arne Duncan is offering federal cash incentives to achieve one of his priorities: developing national standards for reading and math to replace a hodgepodge of benchmarks in the states.
Where I come from its called a bribe. That's the way my momma raised me, anyway.
The common, internationally measured standards for student achievement would be bolstered by as much as $350 million in federal funds to help them develop tests to assess those standards....
Reeks of globalism.
Education decisions generally are controlled by the states, and the federal government cannot mandate national standards. That makes for wide variation from state to state. Students and schools deemed failing in one state might get passing grades in another. It will be up to states to adopt the new standards. Duncan said spending as much as $350 million to support state efforts to craft assessments would be Washington's largest-ever investment in encouraging a set of common standards.
The money will come from the federal Education Department's $5 billion fund to reward states that adopt innovations the Obama administration supports.
"Historically, this was a third rail. You couldn't even talk about" standards, Duncan said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press. "What you've seen over the past couple years is a growing recognition from political leaders, educators, unions, nonprofits - literally every sector - coming to realize that 50 states doing their own thing doesn't make sense."
Any tests developed for the new standards would probably replace existing ones. Asked to explain the money's focus on developing more tests, Duncan said developing the standards would be relatively inexpensive.
More tests?
Everyone already hates the ones we have now, and our kids are getting fat because of them.
Developing assessments, by contrast, is a "very heavy lift financially," Duncan said, expressing concern that the project could stall without federal backing....
Good.
--more--"Okay, now the lesson:
"Patrick wants more charter schools; Students would nearly double; districts fear huge loss of funds" by James Vaznis, Globe Staff | July 16, 2009
Governor Deval Patrick’s push comes as President Obama is threatening to withhold millions in federal stimulus dollars from states that hinder charter school growth. The US secretary of education, Arne Duncan, will join the governor at a press conference today unveiling the legislation, which will be filed today.
That's his friend and good buddy?
The governor’s office declined to comment yesterday through a spokesman for the state’s secretary of education. The legislation was immediately applauded by charter advocates, who trumpet the independent schools as laboratories of innovation that provide an alternative for disadvantaged children seeking refuge from failing schools.
They are that -- except they take money away from the public schools, making them that much worse (while still receiving private donations).
Leaders of many of the state’s leading education groups said the proposal would be economically devastating for school districts. Students who leave a public school district to attend a charter school take with them a slice of state aid, generally $9,000 to $15,000 per student.
Why are our kids so damn dumb?
See: No Apple For This Teacher
Oh.
Education leaders said the scope of the proposed charter expansion is far more dramatic than the Patrick administration had discussed with them as recently as earlier this week. “I’m surprised and disappointed,’’ said Thomas Scott, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, contending that the state needs to overhaul charter school funding. “We are stripping the neediest districts of necessary resources.’’
The state’s 62 existing charter schools, authorized under the 1993 education reform act, generally operate independently of local school districts and are not unionized. That has earned them the ire of local education leaders, who lose money to the schools, but have no control over them, and of the teacher unions, who have been key allies for Patrick.
Well, MAYBE NOT NEXT ELECTION! Goodbye, guv!
Thank God we are going to get a Republican back in the corner office.
While many legislators see value in charter schools, some are reluctant to support expansion without changing the way charter schools are funded so it is less harmful to local districts, said Representative Martha Walz, cochairwoman of the Joint Committee on Education. She said the committee is researching methods used by other states to fund charter schools and is considering whether to require a change in the formula for funding schools before the limit on charter schools can be lifted.
“If too much money leaves the district for charter schools, students who remain in the district could be disadvantaged,’’ said Walz, who has not taken a position on the governor’s proposal....
Earlier this year in his state budget proposal, Patrick attempted to link raising the charter school cap to changes in the funding formula, such as creating a separate pool of state aid for charters. But charter school advocates objected, fearing it could put them at greater risk of state budget cuts, and the governor later abandoned the plan.
That was not the only concession Patrick made to charter advocates in the revised legislation, showing just how much he has warmed to charter advocates, a group that includes several prominent business and civic leaders.
He's learnin'!
Initially, Patrick had proposed quotas for certain groups of students, such as those who are in special education or are English language learners, but he is now settling for establishing guidelines. Charter advocates worried that quotas would compromise the fairness of its open lottery system for student admission; they still have some concerns about the guidelines.
Glenn Koocher, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, said Patrick is conceding far too much to charter school supporters. “What can it possibly be but another indication that the charter school lobby is dictating state policy?’’ Koocher said. “Districts will lose more money, and the charter schools will laugh all the way to the bank.’’
They have been around here for years while our locals tolerate leaky roofs and other such nonsense.
--more--"
And I guess the governor wasn't paying attention because for some reason the Globe felt the point needed repitition:
"Education secretary lauds state initiatives
Education Secretary Arne Duncan is coming to Massachusetts to tout the state’s education initiatives. The Obama administration’s chief education advocate will appear with Governor Deval Patrick at the Museum of Science today.
Oh, maybe they will go to the 9/11 Exhibit!
Patrick announced shortly after taking office an ambitious Readiness Project to revamp public education in Massachusetts from prekindergarten through college. Yet the dreams collided with the economic reality of a recession and massive state budget cuts.
Need $$$$, state?
Governor Guts State ServicesPigs at the State Trough
A Slow Saturday Special: Statehouse Slush Fund
Biotech Giveaway Was Borrowed Money
Massachusetts Residents Taken For a Ride
Slow Saturday Special: Day at the Movies
Instead, the governor has focused on changes that can be implemented with little or no cost. Most recently, he has also proposed a state takeover of 30 failing schools (AP)."
Time for the test, guv:
"Test scores drove charter decision; Patrick denies aid changed his mind" by James Vaznis, Globe Staff | July 17, 2009
For years, Governor Deval Patrick had expressed skepticism, if not downright opposition, to expanding the number of charter schools allowed in Massachusetts. As recently as January, he went so far as calling the issue a “total red herring’’ because there was still room to launch more of the schools under state law.
He can't just tell the truth, huh?
Well, now I know never to believe his s*** mouth again.
But yesterday, Patrick and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, another critic, appeared together to officially unveil a proposal to effectively double the number of charter schools in the state’s worst-performing districts. Standing by their side was President Obama’s education secretary, Arne Duncan, who well may be credited with moving the charter school movement forward in Massachusetts after years of dissension, using stimulus money as the carrot. Duncan and Obama are threatening to exclude states that do not expand charter schools from more than $4 billion in federal funding.
I don't even want the damn money anymore. Why loot the rest of the nation's taxpayers? Maybe home schooling is the answer after all.
“Politically speaking, leaving money on the table is not a good idea,’’ said Jim Stergios, executive director of the Pioneer Institute, a supporter of charter schools. Patrick denied that the Obama administration had any influence on his change in position, saying that he was instead swayed by the persistently bad test scores coming out of several school districts. “I love our president and our administration, but I make up my own mind,’’ Patrick said.
He's such a puke-shit liar.
It's going to feel good marking the ballot against this guy next time.
Menino, on the other hand, said in an interview yesterday that Duncan’s strong push for more charter schools, which could better position the city for more federal aid, played a key role in shifting his view, which differs somewhat from Patrick’s. Menino wants the city to control new charter schools in Boston, rather than having the state oversee them.
AT LEAST the MAYOR told the TRUTH on that one!
“I would like to apply for that money,’’ said Menino, adding that those dollars “would be very handy in Boston.’’
Massachusetts is among a handful of states that have jumped onto the bandwagon in the months since the Obama administration first began its push for more charter schools. Both Illinois and Tennessee have decided to expand charter programs....
Duncan does not view charter schools as a panacea for the ills of urban education, where failing schools often flounder for years, losing generations of students. But he believes they hold great promise.Patrick, who enjoyed strong support from teachers unions during his gubernatorial run three years ago, initially resisted calls for more charter schools, which have been opposed by the unions and enmeshed in controversy over funding. Every student who leaves a district for a charter school takes with them a certain amount of state aid, creating a budget drain for some districts.
The teachers must feel SOOOOO BETRAYED!!
Say GOOD-BYE to ANOTHER VOTING BLOC, guv!
Of particular concern are low achievement levels for black, Latino, low-income, and special education students, as well as those who are learning to speak English.
Yeah, SCREW YOU, average American kid! And you wonder why I'm angry?
Just a few weeks after Patrick made his “red herring’’ comment, he included a modest increase in the charter school cap in his budget proposal. But it ultimately went nowhere. Yesterday, the governor unveiled a more radical proposal that enjoys support from charter advocates, but opposition from teacher unions and other educator groups. The Legislature will hold hearings on the bill and is likely to raise questions about how the schools are funded.
Duncan applauded the charter legislation yesterday, as well as the creation of the readiness schools, particularly Patrick’s plan to orchestrate a state takeover of some of the worst schools. He said the state could emerge as a national model for aggressive public education overhaul, fitting nicely with the state’s long tradition of having the highest academic standards nationally.
And fuck it up like the health care model?
“You have a chance to make history in the next few years,’’ Duncan said....
That's OMINOUS coming from a globalist puke!
--more--"
You would think the guy had learned:
In a slap at Governor Deval Patrick, a state finance authority board has moved to replace its chairman, who helped engineer the governor’s politically clumsy attempt to award a political supporter a $175,000-a-year job.
See: Slow Saturday Special: No Purchase and Governor Patrick's Phibs
The board of the Massachusetts Health and Educational Facilities Authority, which provides government financing for nonprofits’ capital projects, denied Allen R. Larson a second term as chairman this week and instead chose Christine C. Schuster, an appointee of Governor Mitt Romney.
Awww, Mitt, we hardly knew ye, ya' carpetbagger!
See: It's My Party and I'll Cry If I Want To
Marvin A. Gordon, a Republican appointee who served on the nominating panel, said Larson’s involvement in helping Patrick try to place state Senator Marian Walsh in an agency job was partly the reason. He said his colleagues on the board felt that Larson had concealed from them the governor’s maneuvering to put Walsh in the job.
“It was determined by the nominating committee that a change was in order,’’ Gordon said. “There was a lot of unhappiness among the Patrick appointees that the board had been blindsided by the Walsh and merger fiasco.’’
The change in chairman does not necessarily mean big changes in how the agency operates, but it represents a public rebuff to Patrick by members of a board he appointed, and it revives the controversy over the Walsh appointment earlier this year that damaged the governor’s standing with voters....
--more--"Gonna retake the test, guv?
