Category Archives: Education Politics

Remember about six weeks ago when I told you that the Colorado Springs Education Association (CSEA) was blackballing the District 11 Board of Education’s decision to open collective bargaining negotiations to public observation? CSEA president Kevin Marshall told the Colorado Springs Gazette that the decision was made to “protect the integrity of the collective bargaining agreement between teachers and safeguard the future of children by keeping the negotiations private.” The Gazette reported last night that a new chapter has begun in the struggle over whether to keep negotiations open or closed. It appears that the union reluctantly has agreed to jeopardize “the future of children” — well, maybe just a little bit, since only one of many sessions has been opened: The open session will be 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday at the Jefferson Education Center, 1801 N. Howard Ave., off Leleray Street. People may stay for the entire 12 hours, or they may come and go as they wish said District 11 board President Tom Strand.

So I hear the federal government came really close to shutting down this past weekend. Bigger people than me can tell you whether the last-minute deal to avert a shutdown was in total a good deal or not. But I do know one aspect of the deal that is definitely praiseworthy: namely, that the SOAR Act reauthorizing and expanding the D.C. school voucher program was adopted. How happy do you think I am? Bet you can only imagine. But giving myself an opportunity to restrain my childish exuberance, here is a roundup of encouraging, uplifting, and insightful reactions: The Eduwonk unpacks some of the politics and says to pay attention to how the program’s infrastructure is reassembled to serve student’s needs during the implementation process… Paul Peterson, writing at Education Next, reminds us that the political victory was made possible by the high-quality research in Patrick Wolf’s official evaluation of the D.C. voucher program — causing me to nod in approval… Lindsey Burke from the Heritage Foundation makes me smile, saying the adoption of the SOAR Act represents “a monumental win”… When Flypaper’s Chris Tessone calls it “a big win for school choice and all kids in DC,” I squirm […]

Baseball season’s Opening Day means it’s not only time to start rooting for my Colorado Rockies. It’s also a great opportunity to introduce you to a relatively new baseball-themed website created by the Center for Education Reform, The Media Bullpen: The Media Bullpen is a dynamic, virtual newsroom that covers the news and the news of education. It’s a sophisticated and unique technological environment that allows everyone to get in the game on the greatest discussions of our day. To understand those discussions, we need great information and reporting on all the issues relating to education—all the time. Each day nearly 500 stories—and sometimes many more—are produced in the media about education, but they often lack the context for the public to get engaged. The Bullpen will empower the public to put in context what they see and hear. The problem is not that education is under-reported; the larger issue is that all too often, it is misreported. Balance, context, sound data, and an institutional knowledge of the many issues are often missing. What I like about the site is how they rate the stories — anywhere from a strikeout to a home run based on “objectivity, proper context” and […]

Tomorrow is a big day in Washington, D.C. I’m not talking about any big speeches by the President regarding overseas kinetic military actions or about Republicans and Democrats fighting it out over federal spending cuts. On Wednesday the U.S. House of Representatives is slated to vote on the SOAR Act, which would restore and expand the popular and successful D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (DCOSP). The Obama administration and many members of Congress began shutting down private school choice in the nation’s capital in 2009. But it’s never too late to keep hoping. (Update, 3/30: Flypaper’s Mike Petrilli highlights the disingenuous nature of the Administration’s opposition to reauthorizing the D.C. voucher program, while redefinED points to a new Washington Post editorial in support of the effort to bring back private school choice to the nation’s capital.)

It’s Friday morning. I’m ready to go out and play, so not a lot to blog about today. But I just wanted to bring a couple of developments to your attention. What about Colorado’s neighbors to the east? Their legislators seem to be giving serious consideration to a couple different good, commonsense reform ideas: More than 3,000 parents, students and other supporters came out to show support for a private school tax credit scholarship bill in Nebraska’s unicameral legislature, LB50. After House Bill 2229 passed a key committee (H/T Intercepts), Kansas public school teachers are one step closer to being allowed to hear from unions and associations that don’t have monopoly bargaining privileges: you know, free choice and competition is good for teachers, too! Speaking of competition… Hey, Colorado, let’s not allow these other states to catch up or pass us when it comes to choice-based school reform. If we can’t beat them in football (Nebraska) or in basketball (Kansas), here’s one area where we all can win!

Today I’m trying not to think about the past and focusing instead on the future. By the past, I’m referring to yesterday’s vote in Colorado’s House Education Committee that killed the “Parent Trigger” bill (aka HB 1270). This blogger Victor from the Education Action Group says the “education establishment won their fight.” Disappointed only begins to describe how I feel. Also sad for the kids trapped in the lowest-performing schools. But it’s time to look ahead. Not that far, either. As in tonight, a huge vote is taking place in Douglas County to approve the Blueprint for School Choice — including a first-of-its-kind choice scholarship pilot program for private school students. Please note: School choice supporters need a show of force for important Douglas County Board choice scholarship vote: 5 PM, Dougco Admin Building, 620 Wilcox St, Castle Rock, Board of Ed room (upstairs).

Indiana is one of those states where an ambitious education reform push is underway. Interestingly, the Indianapolis Star reports today on some new evidence (H/T American Federation for Children) bolstering part of the legislative package supported by Governor Mitch Daniels and State Superintendent Tony Bennett: The Star looked at charter schools’ scores on ISTEP [Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress] and new end-of-course exams in math and English for high school students last year and compared them with scores in Indianapolis Public Schools. The comparison showed: Charter schools’ overall performance on ISTEP very closely matched that of IPS, but charters ranked somewhat higher on year-over-year improvement for their students compared with those who had similar scores in English.

A couple weeks ago I told you that the “parent trigger” idea was coming up soon for consideration in the Colorado legislature, and dispelled any idea that it might have something to do with guns or horses. Remember? We’re talking about empowering parents to change low-performing schools so they can improve them. Ok, so now it’s finally here, and it has a number: House Bill 1270 (PDF). If you live around Denver like I do and have the alternative of being bored this evening (and 8:30 isn’t past your bedtime!), then I truly hope you’ll tune in to tonight’s Devil’s Advocate show on Channel 12, as HB 1270 sponsor Rep. Don Beezley and my Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow talk about the “parent trigger” with host Jon Caldara. An Ed News Colorado story earlier this week gave a nutshell explanation of what HB 1270 would do:

Last week I told you that the Colorado Springs District 11 school board had voted to open union contract negotiations up for public observation. Today, the Colorado Springs Gazette reports that the CSEA (the local teachers union) has blackballed the idea: The board of the Colorado Springs Education Association voted unanimously to turn down a request by the D-11 school board to hold the meetings in public. In a letter to the D-11 board Wednesday, CSEA President Kevin Marshall said Tuesday’s vote was to “protect the integrity of the collective bargaining agreement between teachers and safeguard the future of children by keeping the negotiations private.” “Safeguard the future of children”… from whom: Parents? Taxpayers? Journalists? “Protect the integrity of the collective bargaining agreement”… so that’s the priority? Let’s not be surprised here. Besides the obvious seniority-based salary and benefits, what kind of items in the CSEA-D11 master agreement (PDF) might they be trying to protect? Here’s a list of examples all found in Article III under “Association Rights”:

I guess that United Federation of Teachers political director Paul Egan is too old to get sent to his room without dinner. Because if I tried his attitude with my mom, that would be the least of my problems: