Another year, another reminder that the National Education Association (NEA) is a far-left organization that is grossly out of step with the views of millions of teachers and works diligently to maintain the failed status quo for children. At the union’s convention this year, labor leadership endorsed resolutions, amendments, and new business items that seem far from benefiting their members or improving education.
During his Twitter Town Hall yesterday, President Obama vastly underestimated the size of the bloated Department of Education budget. The nice thing about the defense budget is it’s so big, it’s so huge, that, you know, a 1 percent reduction is the equivalent of the education budget. I’m exaggerating. But it’s so big that you can make relatively modest changes to defense that end up giving you a lot of headroom to fund things like basic research or student loans or things like that. That’s a pretty gross exaggeration. A …
Moments ago in his Twitter Town Hall chat, President Barack Obama said he “wouldn’t be president if someone hadn’t helped provide some scholarships for my school.” At age ten, President Obama received a scholarship to attend the prestigious Punahou School in Hawaii. President Obama’s remarks today underscore the life-changing significance of school choice—an opportunity most students trapped in failing and often violent public schools never get. (To hear the stories of a few who have had their horizons expanded by the school choice, watch our documentary Let Me Rise.) Sadly, the President …
It’s hard to forget former National Education Association (NEA) General Counsel Bob Chanin’s farewell address during the 2009 NEA national convention. “It is not because we care about children; and it is not because we have a vision of a great public school for every child,” Chanin boasted. “The NEA and its affiliates are effective advocates because we have power.” To kick off this year’s conference, the NEA had several plenary sessions from Monday through Wednesday in advance of the main convention. The sessions were designed to “explore actions that …
Forty-five kindergarten children sit attentively in a cold classroom in a poor school on the outskirts of Santiago, Chile. Bundled in blue and white uniforms, they patiently wait on their teacher’s next instruction, a child occasionally moving across the small room to access materials in his personal cubby-hole. In a neighborhood plagued with drugs and violence, the private voucher school is a sanctuary for the low-income children who reside there. For many, their home life is one full of neglect: out-of-work parents (if any), unsanitary living conditions, and a familiarity …
On Tuesday, Senator Mike Enzi (R–WY) took a stand against the Department of Education’s (DOE) assault on the for-profit college sector, walking out of a hearing on the DOE’s new regulations limiting access to higher education. The new “gainful employment” rule issued by the DOE on June 2 restricts access to student loans for students attending for-profit universities. Enzi noted in a statement released after the hearing: Many of these affected schools provide important training for those who choose to become mechanics, plumbers and electricians. This rule uses a heavy …
The Obama Administration is pushing hard for a reauthorization of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) before the start of the 2011–2012 school year. Education Week reports that on Tuesday, Education Secretary Arne Duncan told an audience that NCLB reauthorization “can’t be done on Washington time. It needs to happen on real people’s time.” But the push is as foolhardy as it is ambitious. In a statement Tuesday, Representative John Kline (R–MN), chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, expressed concern about Duncan’s rush to reauthorize the largest federal …
On Saturday, President Obama used his weekly radio address to call for the quick reauthorization of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Obama lauded the progress of Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis, Tennessee—his inaugural Race to the Top Commencement Address winner—and showcased the low-income school as an example of how to reverse course and get positive results: We need to encourage this kind of change all across America. We need to reward the reforms that are driven not by Washington, but by principals and teachers and parents. That’s how …
Tennessee could soon become the latest state to deal public-sector collective bargaining a major blow. The Tennessee state House has just passed a measure that limits collective bargaining for teachers. Education employees would no longer be able to bargain over performance pay and school assignment policies, such as teacher compensation and layoffs. The Senate version of the bill eliminates collective bargaining altogether. The two bills will now have to be reconciled in conference committee before heading on to Governor Bill Haslam’s (R) desk for approval. Tennessee is working to curb …
Earlier today, President Obama delivered a commencement speech to students graduating from Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis, Tennessee. Booker T. Washington high school won the president’s Race to the Top Commencement Challenge, designed to have high schools demonstrate their commitment to college readiness as part of a competition to have President Obama speak during their graduation ceremony. The school was chosen because of performance gains and increases in graduation rates. President Obama spoke to the graduates about the value of hard work and the importance of education. But …
