Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Md Troopers Assoc #20 & Westminster Md Fire Dept Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts

Saturday, July 01, 2017

Breakfast at Applebee’s supports Carroll Co NAACP education fund

Breakfast at Applebee’s supports Carroll Co NAACP education fund

July 29th fundraising event at the Applebee’s in Westminster supports Carroll County NAACP education fund

Westminster, June 30, 2017 - - Attached please find a flyer of our annual Carroll County NAACP “Continuing Education Grant” fundraiser at Applebee's in Westminster on Saturday, July 29th at 8 a.m. until 10:00 a.m.

Every year, along with the Pehl Foundation, the Carroll County NAACP gives at least one $1,000 Continuing Education Award to a high achieving student in Carroll County Public Schools planning to go to a trade school, college, or university. The money raised from the Applebee’s event goes directly into the CC NAACP continuing education fund.

Tickets are only $10/person – and children under 12 are $5.00 apiece.

Please mark your calendars now and begin informing your family and friends.

The GPS address is: Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar, 634 Baltimore Boulevard, Westminster, MD 21157

I have attended several fundraisers at Applebee’s over the years for a number of different community organizations. It is actually a really unique experience in that the community organization that benefits from the fundraiser actually takes over the restaurant. Essentially every booth is filled with a family that you either know or want to get to know because you share a common interest in supporting an organization that supports the greater community. It’s like a big extended family get together.

Looking forward to seeing you on July 29th, 2017



*****

Wednesday, April 08, 2015

9-year-old destroys Florida’s new standardized test in front of school board - The Washington Post

9-year-old destroys Florida’s new standardized test in front of school board - The Washington Post:

 April 7, 2015

"Meet Sydney Smoot, a 9-year-old fourth grader in Hernando County, Fla., who has more confidence than many adults. Smoot wrote (with help from her mom) and powerfully delivered (all by herself) a speech about Florida’s new standardized test, the FSA, or Florida Standards Assessment that drew loud applause from the audience."  

Read more - this is fascinating... and well-written...  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/04/07/9-year-old-destroys-floridas-new-standardized-test-in-front-of-school-board/?wpisrc=nl_evening&wpmm=1

'via Blog this'

9-year-old destroys Florida’s new standardized test in front of school board - The Washington PostBy Valerie Strauss   http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2015/04/9-year-old-destroys-floridas-new.html
*****

Monday, March 09, 2015

Some parents across the country are revolting against standardized testing - The Washington Post

Some parents across the country are revolting against standardized testing - The Washington Post

 March 7, 2015 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/some-parents-across-the-country-are-revolting-against-standardized-testing/2015/03/05/e2abd062-c1e1-11e4-9ec2-b418f57a4a99_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1

"A growing number of parents are refusing to let their children take standardized tests this year, arguing that civil disobedience is the best way to change what they say is a destructive overemphasis on tests in the nation’s public schools. 

The resistance comes as most states roll out new tests aligned to the Common Core academic standards and as Congress struggles to rewrite the federal law that has defined the role of testing in schools for the past decade.

[...]

 “What I’m hearing from the opt-out parents is maybe this is the last chance to get the legislature’s attention,” said Mark Neal, an Ohio superintendent who is an outspoken critic of the new Common Core tests. 

 Neal pulled his son, a third-grader, out of PARCC testing this year — one of the Common Core exams — as did the parents of about 20 percent of students who were supposed to take tests in his small district east of Columbus.

“We’ve never had anything like this before,” Neal said. “We’ve never had this many tests, we’ve never spent this much time testing.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/some-parents-across-the-country-are-revolting-against-standardized-testing/2015/03/05/e2abd062-c1e1-11e4-9ec2-b418f57a4a99_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1

'via Blog this'

Kevin Dayhoff is an artist - and a columnist for:

Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff

Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net


Smurfs: http://babylonfluckjudd.blogspot.com/

Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/

E-mail: kevindayhoff(at)gmail.com

My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/


See also - Kevin Earl Dayhoff Art www.kevindayhoff.com: Travel, art,artists, authors, books, newspapers, media, writers and writing, journalistsand journalism, reporters and reporting, music, culture, opera... Ad maioremDei gloriam inque hominum salutem. “Deadline U.S.A.” 1952. Ed Hutcheson:“That's the press, baby. The press! And there's nothing you can do about it. Nothing!”- See more at: http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/#sthash.4HNLwtfd.dpuf
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Thursday, November 06, 2014

Teaching pre-K: Higher standards, not enough training, and the importance of purposeful play.

Teaching pre-K: Higher standards, not enough training, and the importance of purposeful play.:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/schooled/2014/11/06/teaching_pre_k_higher_standards_not_enough_training_and_the_importance_of.html?wpsrc=slatest_newsletter&sid=5388f43add52b8e41100cd7e

[...]

"As public prekindergarten expands in New York City and other parts of the country, teachers face competing tensions: On the one hand, there’s new pressure to teach more challenging academic material at younger and younger ages.

On the other, there’s mounting concern about the wisdom of shoehorning kindergarten and even first-grade content into the preschool years. Today’s pre-K instructors, for instance, feel much more compelled to teach children their numbers up to 100 or how to begin sounding out words than they used to.

Increasingly, early education experts agree that the best solution is to follow Markarian’s model: Mold and challenge young minds, but do it through purposeful play.

That’s not as easy as it sounds.

“That kind of teaching is much more difficult, and it takes a lot of training,” said Deborah Stipek, a professor of education at Stanford University. It’s much easier to lecture and pass out worksheets or to let kids engage in nonpurposeful and disorganized play—simply ensuring “they don’t beat each other over the head with blocks,” she says. “Really effective teaching is both playful and organized.”"

'via Blog this'
*****

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Salisbury News: This is a "Good" example of Education 2014 style

Salisbury News: This is a "Good" example of Education 2014 style:

This is so sad... just saying. http://sbynews.blogspot.com/2014/04/this-is-good-example-of-education-2014.html

'via Blog this'
+++++++++++++++
Kevin Dayhoff is an artist - and a columnist for:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoffTwitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff
Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net

Tumblr: Kevin Dayhoff Banana Stems www.kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/
Smurfs: http://babylonfluckjudd.blogspot.com/
Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/

E-mail: kevindayhoff(at)gmail.com
My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/
+++++++++++++++

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Lemon the Duck Banned from Classroom

Lemon the Duck Banned from Classroom

Superintendent says therapy duck is no longer allowed in classroom after finding feathers in the ventilation system.


At least one popular member of Hathaway Elementary Schoolwill not return to the classroom this year.
Lemon the Duck, the well-known Pekin duck born with a neurological condition, will not be housed this year inside the second-grade classroom of Laura Backman.
The superintendent has asked Backman, who is the owner of Lemon and a second-grade teacher, to house the duck outside after discovering feathers in the school's ventilation system. Some of the feathers have traveled to other classrooms, said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Susan Lusi.
"It (the feathers) travels to the other rooms," Lusi said. "We would have no problem with Lemon being at the school, as long as she is kept outside."
According to Lusi, Lemon was housed several years ago in an outdoor pen at Mellville Elementary School due to another teacher's allergy to duck feathers.
At the time, Backman says, she had many opportunities to visit with Lemon and take children out at recess to visit. At Hathaway, that is simply not the case.
"I'm happy they are willing to have her outside, but that's not good enough," Backman said. "They don't understand the positives of having her in the classroom."
Lemon the Duck is not a classroom pet, but a pet-assisted therapy duck who has become an active part of the classroom curriculum, according to the second-grade teacher...  http://portsmouth.patch.com/articles/lemon-the-duck-banned-from-classroom

*****

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Democratic Advocate, February 28, 1949: Mechanicsville School PTA dinner honors public officials

Mechanicsville School PTA dinner honors public officials

Democratic Advocate, February 28, 1949.

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2010/02/democratic-advocate-february-28-1949.html http://tinyurl.com/y9pec97

On Friday evening, February 25, 1949, at 6 o'clock the Mechanicsville School and Parent Teachers' Association will give a dinner in honor of the County Commissioners, the Board of Education, the County Treasurer, the Tax Collector, the Building Committee and teachers of the school in appreciation for the new school.

The guests will be invited to the auditorium where a turkey dinner will be served by the patrons. A short program will follow the dinner when the toastmaster, Mr. J. Randle will call on the superintendent, Mr. Samuel Jenness, the President of the Board of Education, Mr. Clyde Hesson, the President of the County Commissioners, Mr. Emory Berwager, the P.T.A. President, Mrs. Clarence Dell, and the Principal, Mr. Ralph Yealy who will also give brief remarks.

Democratic Advocate, February 28, 1949.


19490225 Mechanicsville PTA dinner honors public officials
*****
Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://www.kevindayhoffart.com/ Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: http://www.westgov.net/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama Back to School Event

Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama
Back to School Event

http://www.whitehouse.gov/MediaResources/PreparedSchoolRemarks/

Arlington, Virginia
September 8, 2009

The President: Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today.
I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.
I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.
Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."
So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year.
Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility.
I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn.
I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.
I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve.
But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.
And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.
Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.
Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.
And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.
And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.
You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.
We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.
Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.
I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in.
So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.
But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.
Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right.
But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.
Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.
That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.
Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.
I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall.
And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.
Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.
That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.
Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.
I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things.
But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.
That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.
No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.
And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.
The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.
It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.
So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?
Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.
Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.
*****

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Public Schools Is A Local Responsibility

Public Schools Is A Local Responsibility

Democratic Advocate, July 23, 1948.

Public Schools Is A Local Responsibility - Federal Government Cannot Do A Better Job For Public Schools Than Local Communities Is The Belief—Washington, D. C., July

— One might almost be expected to believe that education of the youth of the country is a National political issue in 1948.

Government statistics show that in 1870 illiteracy in the United States was 20 percent. The average percent of illiteracy among native whites in the United States is less than two percent.

To say that the support of local schools is not the responsibility of the communities in which children live is dodging the issue. It is just as much the duty of parents in small districts to send their children to school as it is to put clothes on their backs and food in their stomachs.

The trouble that exists in nearly every part of the United States is the growing demand that the National Government must furnish the means and money to carry on all kinds of civic responsibilities, including paying the teachers and all the school expenses.

The Federal Government cannot—and will not—do a better job for public schools than local communities.


Democratic Advocate, July 23, 1948.

19480723 Public Schools Is A Local Responsibility Demo Advo
*****

Thursday, November 29, 2007

20071127 Kelsey Volkmann: Jail, money issues ruin chance at security access, students told


Jail, money issues ruin chance at security access, students told

BALTIMORE - Kelsey Volkmann, The Examiner 2007-11-27

Students have yet another reason to stay out of debt, avoid arrests and earn good grades.

They need clean financial, police and school records if they hope to earn the security clearances required for many of the military-related jobs coming to Maryland in the next few years as part of Base Realignment and Closure.

[…]

State education officials have met with leaders from school systems across the state to create a syllabus for a consumer literacy course called Personal Resource Management. The class, which would launch statewide next school year, would teach students about financial planning and how to maintain good credit.

Some school systems, including Carroll County, already require students to complete a financial literacy class to graduate high school.

The state also plans to launch a Web site next year that will give parents and students tips on how to attain security clearances.

[…]

Read the entire article here: Jail, money issues ruin chance at security access, students told

####

Thursday, November 15, 2007

20071112 “Schools, Union and Taxpayers” by Michael Barone in National Review On Line


"Schools, Unions & Taxpayers" - - - Michael Barone in National Review On Line

From Maryland Taxpayers Association:

MTA suggests that fellow taxpayer-advocates ask their state legislators to discuss - frequently and publicly - the perils to the taxpayer arising from the leadership of Maryland's teachers and public employee unions.

{See http://www.examiner.com/a-1024548~Time_for_Grasmick_to_go.html}

{See http://redmaryland.blogspot.com/2007/11/its-so-complicated-and-just-too-hard.html}

Related: Taxes Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) or Taxes Maryland or Taxes or Maryland General Assembly Oct. 29 2007 Special Session

Scroll down for chapter and verse from Michael Barone.

MICHAEL BARONE: "The AMT has no deduction for state and local taxes, and tends to hit high earners in high-tax states like Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and California heavily Democratic states, you’ll notice.

These states tend to have highly paid unionized public employees, and their union leaders surely understand that the AMT threatens to create political pressure to lower state and local taxes and therefore spending.

If voters can’t deduct their state and local taxes, their tax burden will go way up, and they may start a tax revolt. Better not let that happen! So eliminating the AMT is an imperative for Democrats.

Their [the union leaders] goals are to increase pay, which runs counter to taxpayers’ interests, and to minimize accountability, which runs counter to citizens. Republicans are not their reliable adversaries union leaders get cozy with Republican legislators when they can, by letting them know they wont oppose them." [Underscoring MTA's throughout.]

November 12, 2007

Leaving the Children Behind

In favor of the unions.

By Michael Barone

Education is not ordinarily thought to be in the purview of a Federal Reserve chairman. So it’s striking when Alan Greenspan in his memoir, The Age of Turbulence, raises the subject.

“Our primary and secondary education system,” he writes, “is deeply deficient in providing homegrown talent to operate our increasingly complex infrastructure.” The result: “Too many of our students languish at too low a level of skill upon graduation, adding to the supply of lesser-skilled labor in the face of an apparently declining demand.”

So if you’re concerned about widening disparities in income, Greenspan tells readers attracted to his book by its publicists’ promise of criticism of George W. Bush, then what you need to do is to “harness better the forces of competition” in educating kids.

As Greenspan concedes, we have done that to some extent. Governors Republican and Democratic have worked to make public schools more accountable, charter schools provide some needed competition, and the bipartisan No Child Left Behind Act has further prodded states and localities in those directions. But except for a few cities, notably Milwaukee and Cleveland, we have not had school-choice programs with vouchers allowing parents to choose private as well as public schools.

Vouchers are adamantly opposed by the teacher unions, which spent millions persuading Utah voters last week to repeal a voucher law passed by the legislature. No one can say for sure how much vouchers would improve education. But they are “forces of competition,” as Greenspan puts it, which we’re almost entirely prevented from harnessing because of the power of teacher unions — the power, more specifically, that they wield in the Democratic party.

[…]

The teacher unions are an incredibly important source of money and volunteers for the Democratic party — about one in ten delegates at recent Democratic national conventions have been teacher union members or their spouses. When they snap their fingers, the Democrats jump. Vouchers threaten to dry up dues money, and that is that.

Teacher unions are not the only public employee unions important to the Democrats — nearly half the union members in the country are public employees. And you can see their power exerted as well in House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel’s tax reform proposal.

Rangel, who deserves credit for raising the issue of broad tax changes, proposes vast tax increases in order to eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax. The AMT, originally designed to make sure that a few millionaires could not avoid paying income tax, has never been indexed for inflation, and threatens to engulf 20 million taxpayers next year unless Congress passes another one-year “patch” or, as Rangel wants, abolishes it.

The AMT has no deduction for state and local taxes, and tends to hit high earners in high-tax states like Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and California — heavily Democratic states, you’ll notice. These states tend to have highly paid unionized public employees, and their union leaders surely understand that the AMT threatens to create political pressure to lower state and local taxes and therefore spending. If voters can’t deduct their state and local taxes, their tax burden will go way up, and they may start a tax revolt. Better not let that happen! So eliminating the AMT is an imperative for Democrats.

Looking ahead to future fiscal burdens, many people understand that Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid threaten to consume an ever-larger share of the economy over the years. But so do state and local governments if public employee unions get their way. And to get it, they rely on taxpayer’s funds — all their dues income comes from the public fisc.

Read the entire column here: "Schools, Unions & Taxpayers" - - - Michael Barone in National Review On Line


National Review Online - http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZTU0NWM2M2Y5ZTgzNWFhODFjZWYxZTQyOWMzMDMwYTA=

Richard Falknor
Executive Vice-President
Maryland Taxpayers Association, Inc.
http://www.mdtaxes.org