Lily Eskelsen García, president of the National Education Association (NEA), visited Rogers High School in Spokane, Washington last week. While she was there, she sat down for an interview with Wilson Criscione of the Pacific Northwest Inlander, in which she made several outlandish claims that had absolutely no connection to the truth. Here’s a summary […] More
Anyway you slice it, last week was pretty disastrous for the education reform movement. On Election Day, two closely watched and fiercely contested ballot initiatives backed by reformers in Massachusetts and Georgia went down in defeat. The former was an effort to lift the Bay State’s charter school cap, while the latter was a proposition […] More
Post-Script: 11/01/2016 Wonders never cease! It appears that David Alvarez has finally filed his missing campaign finance reports, albeit three weeks late. His 30-P report, along with his 10-P report, simultaneously appeared on the Louisiana Board of Ethics website this afternoon. – PCC It’s November 1st – All Saints Day – and for aspiring officeholders […] More
It’s official. The American Federation of Teachers has become a major player in the upcoming races for the Orleans Parish School Board. A recent filing with the Louisiana Board of Ethics reveals that the union has given a whopping $225,000 to Orleans Future PAC, a political action committee AFT launched in September to support candidates […] More
On Thursday, the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools (AROS) held “walk-ins” in cities across the country to call for an increase in education funding, a reduction in standardized testing, and limits on charter school expansion. The Alliance’s “Day of Action” drew plenty of media coverage, most of which portrayed the walk-ins as a genuine expression […] More
A recent filing with the Louisiana Board of Ethics suggests that the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is seeking to influence the upcoming Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) elections. On September 16th, an AFT-affiliated political action committee called Orleans Future PAC filed a statement of organization with the state ethics board. Meladie Munch, former president […] More
Democrats For Education Reform Louisiana (DFER) released a poll today from the firm Anzalone Liszt Grove that has U.S. Senate candidate Caroline Fayard ahead of fellow Democrat Foster Campbell. If the Senate race were held today, Fayard is the only Democrat with support in the double-digits at 13%, while Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell and […] More
Given the myriad challenges facing Louisiana these days, it’s clear we need a bold, forward-looking leader fighting for us in the United States Senate. Apparently, LFT believes that no one embodies bold, forward-looking leadership like a 69 year-old white man who has held elected office longer than I’ve been alive. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen: […] More
Last week, U.S. District Judge Rebecca Doherty dismissed a 47-year old desegregation lawsuit against the St. Landry Parish School Board, ending court oversight of the district after nearly half a century. The dismissal marks the conclusion of a five-year monitoring period agreed to by the district in 2011, in which St. Landry Parish school officials […] More
Over the past several weeks, Governor John Bel Edwards has made a flurry of appointments to various boards and commissions, including his Advisory Council on the Every Student Succeeds Act, a new committee the Governor established through an executive order in late May. The Every Students Succeeds Act (ESSA), of course, is the latest iteration of the Elementary and […] More
I’ll be on Garland Robinette’s radio show, “The Think Tank” on WWL AM 807/FM 105.3 on Monday to discuss the ongoing legal battle over a new funding plan for New Orleans schools. Earlier this week, attorneys for Lusher and Lake Forest, two selective-admissions charter schools under the Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB), argued in federal […] More
I noticed something curious on Twitter the other day. Two state chapters of the Badass Teachers Association (BATs), the rabble-rousing teacher activist organization founded by Mark Naison that fights “corporate education reform,” tweeted the exact same tweet about a study on the opt-out movement at the exact same time. This had to be more than a […] More
Peter Cook