The CotoBuzz Journal, Community Journalism

Posted By CotoBlogzz 12-30-2010 Updated April 11, 2011

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA - this page is a central repository for education-related articles.

An Argument for Privatizing Public Education: K-12 & Beyond.Rancho Santa Margarita, CA -Franklin Roosevelt thought public-sector unions were a lousy idea, President Reagan thought public sector unions are an anachronism in the 21st Century - What are you going to do about it? Consider that the California Teachers Association, (CTA)the most power union in California and arguably the country, own the lawmakers in Sacramento - and to be meritorious of that deed, the CTA, in conjunction with the SEIU, have spent more than $500 billion over the last then years lobbying Sacramento. One reason why we have characterized the union as on of the stools in California's Triple Threat: 1) Unions, Lobbyists, Parasitic Bureaucracies

An argument for a Paradigm Shift in Public Education – One in a series
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA - Arguably, there is a need for a paradigm shift in public education. That is, a radical transformation, as opposed to the continuous partisan bickering, such as the one going on in CAPO.To be clear, “radical transformation” means different things to different people - not in the words must mean something demagoguery sense: visionary leaders see what others can’t see, for example.

Franklin Roosevelt thought public-sector unions were a lousy idea. President Reagan thought public sector unions are an anachronism in the 21st Century - What are you going to do about it?Public employee unions funnel public money to Dems
By: Michael Barone
Senior Political Analyst
October 26, 2010

When the HUFF has anti-Teachers Unions Pieces, you KNOW there is trouble in paradise

Since the theatrical release of The Cartel, I've hosted countless director Q & A's about public education policy and become quite familiar with the establishment's talking points. One of them is that there are thousands of great public schools and great teachers. I know that. I went to public schools, and my mother was one of those great public school teachers. But I also know that there are many cases of abject educational dysfunction, rarely acknowledged by the "throw more money at the problem" crowd.

In business, if you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it. Likewise in education
Note from Bill Evers: (1) Lasken & Evers did not call for looking only at students' test scores. We praised the non-test Stull evaluations for judging certain aspects of teaching. We said the law (EC 44662) must be followed and test scores included in evaluations. (2) Mr Sanchez says that using test scores is optional and can be included or not, based on the outcome of local collective bargaining. No, Lasken & Evers say, the law must be followed.
Teachers must be evaluated by what students learnDoug Lasken,Bill EversSAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLESUNDAY INSIGHT section Sunday, March 13, 2011Students in California public schools are not achieving at the levels they should.

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA - The President of the United States invariably uses the phrase " I won, that is what elections are for," to respond to critics of the President's socialized approach to governance.

You can deal with this $$$ or you can deal with that :-(
By ROBERT A. GUTH And MICHAEL CORKERY Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates will step into the national debate over state budgets Thursday with a call for states to rethink their health care and pension systems, which he says stifle funding for public schools.

Teachers Union Offers to Lead on Tenure Reform Friday, 25 Feb 2011 12:00 PM Article Font Size By Charles J. Little The American Federation of Teachers announced a plan this week to sharpen the process of weeding out the worst in its classroom ranks, The New York Times reports. Some education experts greeted the tenure-reform proposal warily, calling it a start but also a potential delay tactic to defuse public anger over incompetent, hard-to-fire teachers. Read more on Newsmax.com: Teachers Union Offers to Lead on Tenure Reform

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA – The more Washington DC politicians talk about the need for an adult conversation to tackle out-of-control spending, the more they sound like spoiled teenagers - on both sides of the aisle.

Opinion: Midwest unrest: The view from Washington By Chester E. Finn, Jr. As union protests in Madison, Columbus, and elsewhere loop continuously on cable TV, it cannot be easy to be an education-reform-minded Democrat. They’re honorable folks; their commitment to bold education reform seems genuine; and they’ve generally been willing to push for a host of promising changes in policy and practice that rub teacher unions the wrong way. (Well, not vouchers!) They’ve been reasonably candid in fingering those same unions as obstacles to programs and initiatives that put kids’ interests first.

Bozell Tackles Media Bias in Wis. Protest Coverage, Slams Media for Ignoring Docs Handing Out Fraudulent Sick Notes By NB Staff | February 21, 2011 | 12:30 "The mainstream media was late to the party when it came to covering" the Wisconsin budget protests, Fox Business Network's Stuart Varney noted as he introduced NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell earlier today on the February 21 edition of "Varney & Co." But are the media now skewing coverage in favor of the perspective of the public sector labor unions, Varney asked. Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb-staff/2011/02/21/bozell-tackles-media-bias-wis-protest-coverage-slams-media-ignoring-docs-h#ixzz1Ex57p8yq

The Education Dashboard, Like the President's Engine out of Airplane Metaphor, is Flawed
Airplane is heading to China to borrow more money, is out of fuel and is spewing toxic fumes....EDUCATION WEEKJanuary 28, 2011CommentaryFlaws in a Less Rigorous Education 'Dashboard'By Ze'ev Wurman & Williamson M. EversOn Monday [Jan. 24], U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan released an online “Education Dashboard” that is supposed to show how American schools and students are performing and to encourage public debate and discussion. The dashboard offers Web pages full of numbers, charts, and arrows meant to provide us with a meaningful picture at a glance of where we are and where we are heading.

SFUSD Teachers all deserve an A - to build up their self-esteem, no doubt?
HE BAY CITIZENRethinking Evaluations When Almost Every Teacher Gets an ‘A’By JENNIFER GOLLANPublished: January 20, 2011
Grade inflation — a term normally associated with students — is widespread among Bay Area teachers, who receive so many favorable evaluations that it is impossible to tell how well they are performing, some educators say.

A nightmarish picture of monstrous disorder in a public schools comes to Los Angeles - a Special Screening of The Lottery
esday, January 25 at the Silent Movie Theater, 611 N. Fairfax Ave. 90048, Los Angeles, CA. The Lottery is director Madeleine Sackler's documentary about the Harlem Success Academy. Reason Foundation is a nonprofit organization advancing free minds and free markets. Its nonpartisan public policy research promotes choice, competition, and a dynamic market economy as the foundation for human dignity and progress

First DC's Chancellor Michelle Rhee resigns http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/District_Dossier/2010/10/michelle_rhee_resigns_as_dc_sc.html

Now it Joel Klein's turn: New York City schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein said Tuesday that he was resigning and planned to return to the private sector, ending his eight-year reign at the helm of the nation's largest school system.

GM's Profit Outlook Includes Pension Gains - WSJ.com online.wsj.com General Motors told investors about $2 billion of its estimated $11 billion to $13 billion in future annual profit would come from gains generated by its pension fund, not from auto operations.

Luntz: Voters Will Turn on Unions Next By PAUL BEDARD Posted: November 8, 2010 Congress got whacked by voters who felt they were being ignored or abused. Now it might be Big Labor's turn to face the ire of its audience: dues-paying union members. "The trend is the same," says pollster Frank Luntz. "Union employees feel their representatives just don't represent them." Luntz's group, The Word Doctors, has completed a new poll that finds union members angry with their labor bosses over several issues. Sixty percent say it's a "wasteful and unnecessary use" of union dues to support Democrats; 72 percent say union leaders must be held more accountable; big majorities disagreed with union leaders backing health reform, Wall Street's bailout, and stimulus spending; and 52 percent said the best days of unions in America are "behind us."

Brian Calle: It's time to shrink union clout at Capo Unified By BRIAN CALLE THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

ancho Santa Margarita, CA -Franklin Roosevelt thought public-sector unions were a lousy idea, President Reagan thought public sector unions are an anachronism in the 21st Century - What are you going to do about it? Consider that the California Teachers Association, (CTA)the most power union in California and arguably the country, own the lawmakers in Sacramento - and to be meritorious of that deed, the CTA, in conjunction with the SEIU, have spent more than $500 billion over the last then years lobbying Sacramento. One reason why we have characterized the union as on of the stools in California's Triple Threat: 1) Unions, Lobbyists, Parasitic Bureaucracies.

Public employee unions funnel public money to Dems By: Michael Barone Senior Political Analyst October 26, 2010

Well, the left and the mainstream media came to bury James O’Keefe. And I guess they failed. His latest Project Veritas ‘Teachers Gone Wild’ — New Jersey teachers union members exposing their institutional arrogance and lack of seriousness and accountability — is now a huge story in New Jersey politics, according to straight-talking Governor Chris Christie’s own mouth.

In Project Veritas’s latest video, Wayne Dibofsky, the associate director of the New Jersey Education Association, candidly tells a story about voter fraud in NJ. We did our due diligence to see if the story is tied to poll results. But unfortunately the Hudson County Clerk’s office’s division of elections only keeps records going back five years, the Daily Caller has reported. So the video is circumstantial evidence against a growing suspicion that many states’ voting fraud is institutionalized and rampant.

Liberals admit that “liberalism is still on trial.” Especially when it comes to education. Walter Mondale now believes that “we should weed out teachers who are unsuited to the profession” and that teachers’ union rules “must have flexibility.” There’s a great struggle under way today within the Democratic Party between Obama and the reformers on one side and, on the other, hidebound adult interest groups (especially the National Education Association) that have until recently dominated the party. If liberalism is about practical problem solving, then establishing the high standards and accountability necessary to rescue a generation of poor minority youths and train the American work force of the future must move to the top of the progressive agenda. Education reform is emerging as the first important social movement of the 21st century, a perfect cause for a new generation of idealists

CTA's Mission Statement, Prop 8 and Globalization - The California Teachers Association recently lobbied for what can best be described as an oxymoronic "responsible budget by increasing taxes" argument. Then they turn around and pump $1,300,000.00 to obsolete traditional marriage, arguably placing a good number of children at risk, while at the same time opposing Proposition 4 with similar consequences.

Taking Don Corleone to (CUSD) School
A preview of the 2010 Elections now playing at your Local Capo. - The Teacher’s Union CAPORancho Santa Margarita, CA - It is an understatement to say that the teachers’ union dislikes the transformation going on in the Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD) aka CAPO. – What with the last three elections placing Seven Republican trustees, dubbed the Lucky Seven, on the board. On day one of the Lucky Seven, union members threatened to recall the new board members from office. Local union bosses called in reinforcements from Then California Teachers Association (CTA).

CAPO Teachers are Nice - CUSD board not Nice
A Capo teacher opines that CAPO teachers are nice - the problem is with the fiscally responsible CUSD board members. We agree - CAPO teacher are nice:Teachers are nice and want everyone else to be nice, this is the main reason teachers endorse criminalizing home schooling - Parents are NOT nice - they teach hateful thinks such as values, work ethics, commitment and g

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA - Ed Meese today announced his endorsement for Anna Bryson for Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD) Board because Bryson’s rhetoric and actions demonstrate that she believes that public schools should be operated for the sake of the students, and not primarily for the public employees' unions.

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA - At the February 6th Tea Party Convention in Washington DC, when speaking about President Obama’s campaign words of hope and change, Governor Sarah Palin asked rhetorically: “How’s that hope-y, change-y thing working out for you?” succinctly illustrating how Washington DC promised to drain the swamp; that wealth re-distribution, if done quickly would not raise unemployment rate to more than 8%; that passing ObamaCare would allow taxpayers to keep its insurance carrier, would not result in an increase in premiums, that abortions would not be funded by tax payer money; that Financial Reform needed to be done quickly, but not touching Parasitic Bureaucracies such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – largely responsible for the toxic mortgage spill.

The Misguided DOE’s Gainful Employment Rule & Public Education Reform
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA - Larry Sand, the president of the non-profit California Teachers Empowerment Network – a self-described non-partisan, non-political group dedicated to providing teachers with reliable and balanced information about professional affiliations and positions on educational issues—information teachers will often not get from their school districts or unions, recently made the argument that the Los Angeles Times may have started a revolution in teacher accountability by measuring teacher performance and posting it in its Los Angeles Teacher Ratings web page using a technique called value add, where value add is the difference between a student’s expected growth and actual performance.

California Teachers Association pulling a Gloria Allred on Education Funding
California Teachers Association pulling a Gloria Allred on EducationRancho Santa Margarita, CA – The California Teachers (CTA) Union is pulling a Gloria Allred – a scare tactic claming that Meg Whitman is not good for California – let’s be clear. Whitman is what California needs, but certainly not good for the CTA. Just ask New Jersey teachers’ union.

CUSD Anna Bryson Nabs Anti-Tax Leader Endorsement
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA - Anna Bryson, the current president of the Capistrano Board is running for re-election on Nov. 2 on a slate backed by the Committee to Reform CUSD announced today the personal endorsement of Grover Norquist, the creator and promoter of the no new taxes Taxpayer Protection Pledge.

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