Tag: K-12

Double-standard in defining poverty could limit educational opportunities for some

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May 14, 2013 at 3:36 pmCategory:NC Budget and Tax Center | Poverty and Policy Matters

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Education is perhaps the most promising public investment for promoting long-term economic prosperity. That’s why providing low-income children access to preschool and providing a high-quality education to all students in North Carolina’s public schools is vital to our state’s future.

Yet, policymakers have introduced education bills that inconsistently define “poverty” and “at-risk” in ways that would reduce access to early learning for low-income 4-year olds and divert needed public school funding to private schools. Read More…

Expert unenthusiastic about McCrory’s new education advisor

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May 14, 2013 at 8:20 amCategory:Uncategorized

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Diane RavitchDiane Ravitch, the nation’s leading spokesperson for preserving public education has some scathing words for the latest developments in North Carolina’s education wars. The post is entitled “North Carolina: Public Schools and Students Endangered by Radical Agenda” and it lists the bills to introduce vouchers, reduce teacher due process rights, slash pre-K, and  increase class sizes.

The post also includes the following less-than-ringing endorsement of Governor McCrory’s new education advisor: Read More…

Education sharks continue to circle

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May 10, 2013 at 8:36 amCategory:Uncategorized

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K12 logoThe Wall Street sharks who want to buy up our public education system do not appear inclined to go away quietly. After being rebuffed by state education officials and failing thus far to get what they want in the courts, K-12, Inc. (the troubled, for-profit, “virtual” charter school company) has turned to what it undoubtedly expects will be a more hospitable  forum — the General Assembly.

As N.C. Policy Watch reporter Sarah Ovaska reported yesterday afternoon, K-12 lobbyists have prevailed upon a state lawmaker to enter legislation that would put the company on the path to open its proposed online charter in North Carolina. For people who care about public schools, this should be a very worrisome development. This is from Ovaska’s report: Read More…

Hundreds of Chicago students boycott standardized tests

April 25, 2013 at 6:35 amCategory:Uncategorized

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North Carolina lawmakers may be moving to put more stock than ever in high-stakes, standardized testing, but around the country, the momentum is growing to de-emphasize the tests.

As reported yesterday at the website Common Dreams, hundreds of Chicago students are even taking things to the next level by organizing a boycott of the doggone things:

“Over 300 students from over 25 different Chicago public schools boycotted the second day of a state-wide standardized test.

Ahead of a school board meeting, at which the demonstrators were banned from speaking, the students rallied outside the district headquarters carrying placards and forming a human chain. Read More…

Not everyone’s buddy, apparently

April 1, 2013 at 4:33 pmCategory:Uncategorized

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Last week’s Policy Watch profile of state Board of Education nominee A.L. “Buddy” Collins by Education Reporter Lindsay Wagner was enough to cause a believer in public education to have some real concerns about Collins’ appropriateness for the position. Collins admitted in the interview to essentially supporting the entire far-right school privatization agenda.

Over the weekend, however, came more damning news: As reported by Amanda Terkel at the Huffington Post, Collins is also apparently a loyal trooper in the ongoing social conservative effort to oppose laws and policies that protect LGBT kids from bullying.

This is from the HuffPo article:

“A. L. “Buddy” Collins is an attorney and a longtime member of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School Board of Education. He has clashed with the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) over the years surrounding the group’s efforts to stop bullying on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

‘Buddy Collins has always been a retrograde voice, inimical to the interests of youth, on the school board,’ said GLSEN Executive Director Eliza Byard. Read More…