As the new year unfolds, governors are beginning to outline their education plans for 2012. Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell (R) called for changes to teacher tenure in his State of the Commonwealth speech: Our teachers are well educated and motivated professionals who deserve to be treated as such. Just like workers in most other jobs get reviewed every year, and are therefore able to be more accurately promoted and rewarded for their success, so too should our teachers. Last year, Virginia introduced a pilot merit pay program for teachers. This …
Catching you up on clips, commentary and news of the day. Sign up for the daily email update from Scribe. Leave Google Alone – Bob Barr, The Daily Caller Obama jobs plan: More bureacrats – The Washington Times Warren Buffett Does Not Endorse White House’s “Buffett Rule” – Real Clear Politics Al-Awlaki Is Dead, But Terrorists’ Unholy War Is Far From Over – James Jay Carafano, FoxNews.com China’s Space Lab Launch Closes Gap With U.S. Dependent on Russian Rockets – Ben Richardson and Simone Baribeau The green jobs fallacy – …
In the name of balancing his state’s budget, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) has taken a strong stand against union bargaining privileges, braving weeks of protest and relying on the Republican majority in the state legislature to eventually override the 14 Democratic state senators who retreated to Illinois to dodge a vote on his budget-repair bill. In a new video by Reason.tv, Heritage labor analyst James Sherk said the protests in Wisconsin — strictly speaking — have never been about Walker’s bill. “The real purpose of the protests in Wisconsin …
Wisconsin. Ohio. Michigan. New Jersey. New York. Budget-battle showdowns are coming soon to a statehouse near you. Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) has provoked the ire of labor union leaders in Wisconsin, but he’s not alone. Governors across America are confronting budget shortfalls — and looking to public employees to help make up the difference. Walker’s budget repair bill asks government workers to make a 5.8% pension contribution (about the national average) and 12.6% health insurance contribution (about half the national average). In New Jersey, Republican Gov. Chris Christie proposed that …
Would you like a $14-billion taxpayer-funded tunnel in your town? How about a $500 million light rail train to nowhere? As state and local governments are under crushing budget constraints, mega-sized infrastructure boondoggles are cropping up all over the country. With the promise of “free money” from the federal government, these projects are proving too tempting for state governments to turn down. In the City of Detroit, a $500 million light rail train is being built to connect the downtown area with outlying suburbs. Critics say that the train is …
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Newark Mayor Cory Booker appeared on the Oprah show last Friday to accept a $100 million gift from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Derrell Bradford, executive director of Excellent Education for Everyone in New Jersey, told the New York Post that “the mayor has a very compelling vision about what should be done with the schools. He was able to convince Mark to be part of it.” But will Zuckerberg’s first foray into philanthropic giving result in more money being thrown into the black hole …
Funding for public education amid budget cuts and a tight economy is creating a political pressure cooker in New Jersey, as Gov. Chris Christie (R) and the New Jersey Education Association butt heads over education spending. In this must-watch video, the plain spoken Christie stands his ground when a local teacher complains about the governor’s budget decisions. Christie says teachers’ jobs could have been spared if the state’s teachers unions would have come to the table and made some small sacrifices. Watch the video and tell us what you think …
When Education Secretary Arne Duncan first unveiled his Race to the Top (RttT) program in July of last year, he admitted that “when I was superintendent of the Chicago Public Schools, I did not always welcome calls from the U.S. Department of Education. That’s because the department, from its inception in 1980, has traditionally been a compliance-driven agency.” But, he continued, that was all about to change because his RttT program, funded by $4.35 billion of economic stimulus cash, would be a “competition” that scrutinized “state applications for a coordinated …
What happens when parents have the opportunity to exercise choice and send their children to private schools? Children get an education that best meets their unique needs, and taxpayers get to put some hard-earned dollars back in their pockets. Per-pupil annual expenditures in New Jersey public schools now average $17,000, eclipsing school spending in other states. But the Governor’s Study Commission on New Jersey’s Nonpublic Schools recently determined that New Jersey private schools save the Garden State $2.7 billion annually. Yet in the past five years, non-public school enrollment has …
Last month, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) gave the keynote address to the American Federation for Children Policy Summit in Washington, DC. You can see his whole speech here and you can read about the studies Christie mentions demonstrating that school choice programs work, here.
