Vicki E. Murray

Commentary

My Word: Insanity in San Mateo County school funding

The San Mateo County Times, (CA), September 11 2009 Greenwich Time (CT), September 11, 2009 CALIFORNIA’S FISCAL outlook continues to worsen. Concern is now mounting over the impact the state’s budget deficit will have on education funding. The California Teachers Association (CTA), along with state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack ...
Commentary

A Follow-Up Question for Arne Duncan:What Does D.C. Know About Education that Works?

Well, in California’s case it’s the equivalent of “a football stadium [full] of students,” about 70,000 Duncan explained, who drop out of school. This should matter to people outside of the not-so-Golden State because California educates around 1/8 of all American students-so our dysfunction is the country’s dysfunction. Despite an ...
Commentary

The “Obama Effect:” A Help or More Hot Air for D.C. Schoolchildren?

Specifically, the study found that the “Obama effect” can move public opinion polls by 11 to 13 percentage points on issues such as charter schools and merit pay for teachers-in spite of union opposition. Yet when “informed of the President’s opposition to school vouchers,” public support dropped 12 percentage points. ...
Commentary

D.C. Parents for School Choice Demands Answers from Obama Administration

Independent Women’s Forum, August 21, 2009 School will start in the nation’s capital in just two weeks, but 216 D.C. schoolchildren still don’t know where they’ll be going because Education Secretary Arne Duncan rescinded their Opportunity Scholarships. And, in spite of promises to do whatever works in education, the Obama ...
Commentary

Making Digital Textbooks a New Chapter in School Choice

he digital books are standards-aligned and may be viewed on a big screen or a computer, downloaded, or printed for classroom use so schools can take advantage of them using existing hardware – even if they do not have laptops for students. This week the Governor released the results from ...
Commentary

Money doesn’t give the whole picture in evaluating schools

Reason Foundation, August 17, 2009 Flash Report, August 17, 2009 UCLA Education News Roundup, August 20, 2009 California’s fiscal outlook continues to worsen. Concern is now mounting over the impact that the state’s budget deficit will have on education funding. The California Teachers Association, along with state Superintendent of Public ...
Education

Down but Not Out in D.C.: Bi-Partisan, Bi-Cameral Efforts to Continue the Opportunity Scholarship Program

This Policy Brief was co-authored by Evelyn B. Stacey, Education Studies Policy Fellow at the Pacific Research Institute in Sacramento, California. Executive Summary This June, dozens of students who had used D.C. Opportunity Scholarships graduated from their chosen private high schools. “We stand as examples of just how successful this ...
Commentary

Save the D.C. 216

A new campaign from D.C. Parents for School Choice called SaveThe216 launched today calls that a “slap in the face.” As one scholarship mother asks, “Congressmen and people in the [Obama] Administration get to choose the best school for their kids, why can’t I?” Despite efforts by Education Secretary Duncan ...
Commentary

Cash-for-Clunkers: Education Edition

Reported per-pupil funding figures peg the average D.C.-regional area public school amount at more than $14,000. D.C. public schools actually get much more, exceeding $27,000 per pupil, yet they rank lowest nationally in reading performance (see the “at or above basic” columns for 4th grade reading, 8th grade reading). In ...
Commentary

Slimming Down the Waste-Watchers Way: A Radical New Diet Plan for California

Today, California formalizes the budget deal struck Monday night between the governor and California lawmakers to close the state’s $26.3 billion budget deficit without raising taxes. The Governator has also launched a new Waste Watchers website, where he urges visitors to “report wasteful practices in state government.” As yet, there ...
Commentary

My Word: Insanity in San Mateo County school funding

The San Mateo County Times, (CA), September 11 2009 Greenwich Time (CT), September 11, 2009 CALIFORNIA’S FISCAL outlook continues to worsen. Concern is now mounting over the impact the state’s budget deficit will have on education funding. The California Teachers Association (CTA), along with state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack ...
Commentary

A Follow-Up Question for Arne Duncan:What Does D.C. Know About Education that Works?

Well, in California’s case it’s the equivalent of “a football stadium [full] of students,” about 70,000 Duncan explained, who drop out of school. This should matter to people outside of the not-so-Golden State because California educates around 1/8 of all American students-so our dysfunction is the country’s dysfunction. Despite an ...
Commentary

The “Obama Effect:” A Help or More Hot Air for D.C. Schoolchildren?

Specifically, the study found that the “Obama effect” can move public opinion polls by 11 to 13 percentage points on issues such as charter schools and merit pay for teachers-in spite of union opposition. Yet when “informed of the President’s opposition to school vouchers,” public support dropped 12 percentage points. ...
Commentary

D.C. Parents for School Choice Demands Answers from Obama Administration

Independent Women’s Forum, August 21, 2009 School will start in the nation’s capital in just two weeks, but 216 D.C. schoolchildren still don’t know where they’ll be going because Education Secretary Arne Duncan rescinded their Opportunity Scholarships. And, in spite of promises to do whatever works in education, the Obama ...
Commentary

Making Digital Textbooks a New Chapter in School Choice

he digital books are standards-aligned and may be viewed on a big screen or a computer, downloaded, or printed for classroom use so schools can take advantage of them using existing hardware – even if they do not have laptops for students. This week the Governor released the results from ...
Commentary

Money doesn’t give the whole picture in evaluating schools

Reason Foundation, August 17, 2009 Flash Report, August 17, 2009 UCLA Education News Roundup, August 20, 2009 California’s fiscal outlook continues to worsen. Concern is now mounting over the impact that the state’s budget deficit will have on education funding. The California Teachers Association, along with state Superintendent of Public ...
Education

Down but Not Out in D.C.: Bi-Partisan, Bi-Cameral Efforts to Continue the Opportunity Scholarship Program

This Policy Brief was co-authored by Evelyn B. Stacey, Education Studies Policy Fellow at the Pacific Research Institute in Sacramento, California. Executive Summary This June, dozens of students who had used D.C. Opportunity Scholarships graduated from their chosen private high schools. “We stand as examples of just how successful this ...
Commentary

Save the D.C. 216

A new campaign from D.C. Parents for School Choice called SaveThe216 launched today calls that a “slap in the face.” As one scholarship mother asks, “Congressmen and people in the [Obama] Administration get to choose the best school for their kids, why can’t I?” Despite efforts by Education Secretary Duncan ...
Commentary

Cash-for-Clunkers: Education Edition

Reported per-pupil funding figures peg the average D.C.-regional area public school amount at more than $14,000. D.C. public schools actually get much more, exceeding $27,000 per pupil, yet they rank lowest nationally in reading performance (see the “at or above basic” columns for 4th grade reading, 8th grade reading). In ...
Commentary

Slimming Down the Waste-Watchers Way: A Radical New Diet Plan for California

Today, California formalizes the budget deal struck Monday night between the governor and California lawmakers to close the state’s $26.3 billion budget deficit without raising taxes. The Governator has also launched a new Waste Watchers website, where he urges visitors to “report wasteful practices in state government.” As yet, there ...
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