Category Archives: Education Politics

Have I mentioned how glad — how really, really glad — I am that the elections are almost over? Just when little old me thinks I’m done writing about topics related to the election, I find a story like this one at Face The State about a highly deceitful group’s campaign flier: Accountability for Colorado, which paid for the glossy mailer sent to District 50 households, quotes McGee as telling Boswell, “You weren’t good for jobs in Greeley.” Boswell, who until recently owned a Western Sizzlin’ restaurant franchise near the Greeley Mall, was a guest on McGee’s September 28 show. Problem is, that quote is a paraphrase of an allegedly biased report in the Greeley Tribune, which McGee moments earlier in the broadcast slams as the “Greeley Pravda.” “You weren’t handled very favorably when the restaurant closed,” McGee said, setting up his question. Listen to a clip of the broadcast using the player above. [link added]

Keep saying it to yourself: The election is almost over. Last week I told you about the low-profile contests for Colorado State Board of Education and the Denver Post endorsements in those races. My takeaway: Wouldn’t it be cool to have more education transformers on the Board? If you have State Board members on your ballot and you’re not sure how to vote, or you just want to be a more informed citizen, I commend to you the profiles posted today at Education News Colorado. Candidates in the 2nd, 5th and 6th District — the three seats up for grabs in 2010 — responded to questions about school funding, selecting a new commissioner, common core standards, testing and Race to the Top. Check it out. So all you big people out there, arm yourselves with the information you need. While you’re filling out your ballots for those big races and issues, don’t forget to get educated on the people who want to represent you in overseeing our state’s K-12 public education. One other resource: an iVoices podcast you can listen to with current State Board chair Bob Schaffer explaining what it is the Board does and how it works. You […]

How many days left ’till we all can stop talking about these political campaigns? Every time one of those ads comes on the TV or radio, I swear my mom is going to go berserk. My dad? Well, even worse. That’s why it’s so disturbing to learn that nearly $2 million worth of Colorado’s latest negative political ads have been paid for by the National Education Association using automatically-collected teacher dues money: The National Education Association (NEA) has reported spending nearly $1.9 million in independent expenditures to purchase ads to attack U.S. Senate candidate Ken Buck. The money is drawn from general dues funds collected from education employee members in Colorado and nationwide. The NEA’s new $547,000 radio ad purchase follows a $1.35 million anti-Buck television campaign rated by the Denver Post as “leans deceptive.” “Many teachers don’t like their money used this way,” said Independence Institute education policy analyst Ben DeGrow. “Besides leaving the union, there really isn’t anything they can do about it.”

My friends at the Independence Institute yesterday filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission after a local teachers union small donor committee reported giving $2,000 to Congresswoman Betsy Markey’s campaign. As the Longmont Times-Call reports: The teachers’ union committee is not registered with the Federal Election Committee, so it is prohibited from contributing more than $1,000 to candidates for federal offices. “It was an oversight; it’s been corrected,” said Trip Merklein, president of the SVVEA [St. Vrain Valley Education Association]. One of my Education Policy Center friends chimed in about the complaint:

It sure looks like Denver’s education reform backlash has made some noise of late. As the editors of the Denver Post explain today, what’s really absurd is the venomous propaganda being launched at successful charter schools in the district’s proposal to expand them into the northeast region of the city’s troubled education system: DPS has produced a thoughtful blueprint for reforming schools in northeast Denver, using programs and tools that have proven successful in other parts of the city. DPS board members ought to publicly disavow the misinformation campaign that says charter schools “perpetuate the school-to-jail track” and also alleges that the reforms will “force hundreds of high school students out of their neighborhood.” It is unbelievable that anyone who cares about education, even if they disagree with DPS policy, would use such blatantly false rhetoric.

Look, I’m going to admit up front that little Eddie isn’t inherently balanced, not when it comes to discussions education issues anyway. I have a point of view. It’s no secret. I try to back up my arguments with evidence as much as I can, but in the end I have some pretty strong beliefs of which I also try to persuade my readers. But then again, I’m not a public affairs television program on PBS. If I were, then maybe you could add Studio Eddie to your regular boob tube viewing routine. Instead, PBS viewers last week were treated to this hour-long Studio 12 panel discussion, inspired by the new film Waiting for Superman, about current, pressing education issues:

It’s a dreary day outside. Maybe fall has finally fallen. Rather than pontificate and show off my brilliant vocabulary, I decided today just to point your attention to a new report by The New Teacher Project (PDF) on six key design principles for teacher evaluations (H/T Eduwonk): Annual process Clear, rigorous expectations Multiple measures Multiple ratings Regular feedback Significance Some of these principles definitely have been advanced in Colorado by Senate Bill 191. We need to keep our eye on the Governor’s Council of Educator Effectiveness as they implement the legislation. Stay tuned.

It’s been a long time since I’ve written about the federal government’s “magical money tree.” Funny how we forget so quickly about $100 billion of borrowed taxpayer funds shipped around the country to prop up the K-12 status quo. Or have we forgotten? Rich Lowry at National Review writes a column today that takes a big-picture view of stimulus education funding from the perspective of someone outside the education field. Sometimes it takes that kind of perspective to provide needed wisdom: The stimulus bill devoted $100 billion to education (about $80 billion of it for K–12). As Reason magazine notes, that’s twice the Department of Education’s annual budget. “Race to the Top” is less than 5 percent of this staggering gusher of money. It’s not “Race to the Top” that is the Obama administration’s signature education initiative, but spending that the teachers’ unions would only have dreamed of two short years ago. These funds have kept school systems from having to undertake wrenching changes, or any changes at all….

Flash back to last September. Remember the big brouhaha about President Obama’s speech to schoolchildren? I commented on it a few times. To me the big deal was the creepy notes created by the Department of Education for teachers that promoted a sort of worshipful, service-oriented attitude toward the President. But no need to rehash the past. Did you even notice President Obama spoke yesterday to school children across the country? Probably not, and that’s a good sign. Look at a copy of his remarks (H/T Sean Cavanagh, K-12 Politics). I like the heart of the President’s message, delivered at Philadelphia’s Julia R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School: But here’s your job. Showing up to school on time. Paying attention in class. Doing your homework. Studying for exams. Staying out of trouble. That kind of discipline and drive – that kind of hard work – is absolutely essential for success.

Back in March I pointed out how school teachers and other union members who belong to the National Education Association (NEA) have financially supported Obama Care whether they like it or not. This week brings an important update to the story. The NEA donated $50,000 to the committee opposing Colorado’s Amendment 63 “Right to Health Care Choice” Initiative, which would: Write into the Colorado Constitution that the State of Colorado cannot force its citizens to purchase a public or private health insurance product, either on its own, or on behalf of the federal government. In other words, Colorado would not be able to implement a Massachusetts-style insurance mandate (otherwise know as Romney Care). Interesting. Especially when the same kind of mandates in the federal health care legislation have had this sort of impact: