Category Archives: Independence Institute

Last night’s House Education Committee hearing on Senate Bill 191 went really late. My mom made me go to bed, so I missed a lot of it. But my Education Policy Center friends tell me it was quite the show. And given the reports I’ve seen, I have to agree. Kudos goes to three reporters (along with legislative staff and others) who stayed late to burn the midnight oil until the hearing ended at 12:37 AM. They have a strong case for earning overtime — if not combat — pay. Oh, the melodrama their stories just begin to tell….

A couple weeks ago I brought your attention to the fact that it was THE week for Senate Bill 191, the monumental effort to reform Colorado’s teacher evaluation and tenure system. Well, now that THE week is over and the bill passed the senate, this week really is THE week — as it goes up for a critical House Education Committee vote on Thursday. In the meantime, the heated debate over SB 191 has brought attention back to a locally-negotiated special perk for many teachers unions — tax-funded release time from the classroom for teachers to lobby against the bill. I have asked the question before: Where is the accountability for school employee union leave activities? In an op-ed published three (count ’em, three) places since Friday, my Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow says the latest experience with release time to rally against SB 191 makes the issue as relevant and as significant as ever. Take your pick:

Last Friday I told you that a great new education movie called The Cartel is coming to town. In fact, on this coming Tuesday at 7 PM, at Denver’s Chez Artiste Theatre, my Independence Institute friends are co-hosting a special screening event with a brief Q & A following the movie. Given the events of this week, in which thousands of New Jersey students walked out in protest at proposed K-12 education budget cuts, watching the film takes on all the more fresh relevance. As edublogger Matthew Tabor points out, the adult organizers who incited the event are doing a disservice to students by showing no interest in truly solving the Garden State’s education problems. Had they watched The Cartel with an open mind first, they might have taken a different perspective on quite possibly the most fiscally bloated and corrupt state education system in the nation. Got your attention yet? If you’re still not sure about whether to come, I invite you to read a brand new review of the film written by local blogger Joshua Sharf. It provides a refreshing and insightful perspective, coming from someone smart and thoughtful who isn’t enmeshed in the finer points of the […]

Break out the heavily-buttered popcorn, and don’t forget the Kit Kats and Junior Mints. Movie night is coming! And not just any movie… My Education Policy Center friends are co-hosting a special screening of The Cartel on Tuesday, May 4, at 7:00 PM, at Denver’s Chez Artiste Theatre. Besides the special screening event — at which Pam Benigno and Ben DeGrow will follow the movie with a brief Q&A — The Cartel is scheduled to show at Chez Artiste four times a day from April 30 to May 6. (Tickets for all screenings are available online or at the box office.) The new, award-winning documentary focuses on New Jersey to offer a fresh inside look at the K-12 public school system and opens eyes to the need for significant reform. Click the play button below (or follow this link) to listen to a new iVoices podcast as The Cartel producer/director Bob Bowdon gives a sneak peek at his film and shares what it’s all about:

Happy Earth Day. Remember a couple weeks ago when I told you how parents here in Colorado and elsewhere could help put Earth Day education back into balance? The nice lady Carrie Lukas explained it all on an iVoices podcast. Well, since we posted the information, a couple Colorado parents have chimed in with their stories on the Balanced Education for Everyone website. Here’s what a dad named Kevin from Denver had to say: It’s about time this topic is approached in our schools. My kids come home and I usually have to reeducate them about what they have learned in school that day. The liberal attention global warming attracts in schools needs to change. As a father of three, I am rallying for a balanced education in the classroom. Also, a Littleton parent spoke out:

As far as education reform issues go, this year’s Colorado legislative session has been kind of humdrum. Until now. Yes, this week is THE week. Senate Bill 191 — the proposal I’ve told you about that will overhaul our state’s evaluation and tenure system for the better — will be heard in the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday and Thursday. If you’re not too familiar with SB 191, or you want a better sense of what exactly it will do and which groups are lining up to support or oppose the bill, then click the play button below (or follow this link) to listen to lead sponsor Senator Michael Johnston, D-Denver, discuss it with Ben DeGrow on a new iVoices podcast: Stay tuned. My Education Policy Center friends and I have just begun to cover this issue. (And if there happens to be another “THE week” after this one, don’t blame me for my youthful exuberance and excitement.

Do individual teachers have a right to decide how their money is spent on politics? A few years ago the U.S. Supreme Court upheld common sense and unanimously ruled in the Davenport case that the answer is Yes. The case originated from a lawsuit by the state of Washington and a group of teachers whose funds were being misused by the union. The Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF) in Olympia, Washington, did the hard work and led the charge in filing the complaint that brought the abuses to the state’s attention. Last week EFF won final victory (and closure) in the case, as the Washington Education Association officially signed off on a settlement that “will pay $1.2 million in penalties and restitution, not to mention the attorneys fees spent to defend itself.” You know that’s a big deal, because the case has been going on longer than little old me has been alive … Wow! EFF’s Mike Reitz, a recurring favorite iVoices guest, sat down with my Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow to talk about the basic facts of the case, the cause for celebration, and what lies ahead in the fight for union accountability and public employees’ free speech […]

My friends at the Education Policy Center recently ordered a couple of new books by big names in the field: Diane Ravitch’s The Death and Life of the Great American School System and Paul Peterson’s Saving Schools: From Horace Mann to Virtual Learning. If you want to whet your appetite for one or both books, or just to get a flavor of what their argument is, you need to check out the authors debating on the Eduwonk blog. I’ll boil down their arguments for you with excerpted quotes (or you can read Marci Kanstoroom’s summary at Education Next):

Easter is just over, and I’m still working on all that candy. So it’s hard to think about another holiday coming up soon. But in two weeks it will be Earth Day (April 22). What does that have to do with education? Well, a nice smart lady from the Independent Women’s Forum named Carrie Lukas wants you parents out there to be alert to what will take place in your child’s classroom for Earth Day. Click the play button below (or follow this link) to hear Carrie explain why our public school classrooms need to bring Earth Day education into balance and what parents can help to do about it, in a 9-minute iVoices podcast with my Education Policy Center friend Pam Benigno: How much does the scare tactic approach to environmentalism go on in Colorado schools? I don’t know for sure, but I’d be naive to believe it doesn’t happen. Colorado parents, what are you waiting for? Do you need some more information, resources or inspiration from kids and parents who are already standing up for balanced learning over one-sided alarmism? Then I urge you to visit the special website Balanced Education for Everyone. Maybe, just maybe, it’s time […]

For the real Independence Institute groupies out there (like those who watched my friends Ben and Marya DeGrow this past Friday on Mike Zinna’s Tough Love TV show… Thanks for the plug, guys!), you know that Ben is a frequent writer and contributing editor to the national publication School Reform News. On this Monday morning back from spring break and Easter holiday, wouldn’t you just rather read Ben’s latest School Reform News article? Yeah, I thought so. This one is really good. It profiles a successful “hybrid” — and I ain’t talkin’ about a green Toyota Prius — charter school network that effectively reaches poor students through a mixture of individualized learning technology and intensive teacher intervention. Go on, read it: