House Dems to Detroit Parents: No New Charter Schools For You

In the debate about a state bailout for the Detroit school district, the greatest divide may be the future of charter schools in the city. Democratic lawmakers have often shown a bias against charter schools, and did so again this week.
Read more at Michigan Capitol Confidential Read More......

Utopia’s Jailers

Necessity drives invention. In the field of military innovation, all sorts of inventions — the Maginot line, the flame fougasse, trench warfare, the Vickers machine gun — were rooted in the same urgent necessity: keeping Germans out. War is evil and ugly, but Europe experienced a worse horror when that necessity was inverted, and the totalitarian movement that controlled half of the continent decided it needed a way to keep Germans in. And so utopia’s jailers built the Berlin Wall and any number of similar fortifications. The ideologue may say that a wall is a wall is a wall, but in the case of a wall, intent matters: A society with barriers to keep out invaders is protected; a society with barriers to prevent exit is imprisoned.

Read more at National Review Read More......

SB 255 will weaken Oregon's Charter Schools

Oregon Conservatives/fb, 3/16/2011 posted by Jeff Reynolds - Statement from Rob Kremer - Don't be deceived by OR SB 255, which will WEAKEN CHARTER SCHOOLS IN OREGON.

Don't be deceived by the Education Lobby's "less controversial" charter school bill! ∴ SB255, a bill that makes some changes to the charter school law, passed out of committee yesterday. ∴ This bill is the product of interim meetings held by all the usual education lobby groups, who want to change the charter school law in ways that further empower school districts and further tie the hands of charter schools. ∴ On the House side, Rep. Wingard sponsored HB2287, which went down on Monday 32-28. THAT bill was the one that would empower charter schools and parents and children. ∴ The two bills are basically opposites, but the media is calling the Senate bill the "less controversial charter bill." Sure. Less controversial, because it does what the OEA, OSBA, COSA and ODE want it to do - make life harder for charters. ∴ Don't criticize the Republicans who voted for the bill in committee, because they were not lobbied on the bill. That was my fault - I was tied up and did not know the bill was being heard. I should have told them the truth about the bill. ∴ But if you have a chance, let everyone in your circle of influence know that SB255 is a bill that hurts charter schools. We need to kill this bill on the House side.

Thanks!
Rob Kremer

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Oregon's Charter School Laws Should Work for Children, Not Bureaucrats

Rep. Matt Wingard (R-Wilsonville) rose on the House Floor today to observe the formation of a panel charged with reviewing Oregon's charter school laws. He noted of the 15-member committee, 12 members represent organizations that have been openly hostile to these alternative schools that educate 16,000 Oregon kids. As the committee reviews the laws and makes recommendations to the next legislature, Rep. Wingard urges the House to remember who they are really working for. Read More......

Education Revolt

Drew Carey goes to Locke High School in Watts to examine the charter school education revolt that's erupting across the nation (2008). What's happening in Oregon with Virtual Schools?

Older video but the point is timeless. Read More......

Educating the Public (on Education)

HOOVER INSTITUTION, by William G. Howell and Martin R. West - The 2008 Education Next-PEPG Survey found that providing respondents with accurate information about teacher salaries decreased support for raising them; providing information about charter schools increased support for them among liberals but lowered it among conservatives. Read more at Hoover... Read More......