Month: <span>May 2011</span>

A dangerous time under the Capitol dome

While most Texans in the real world will be enjoying a long, holiday weekend, those who work in and around the Legislature will be doing a lot of hurrying up and then waiting between now and midnight Monday, the adjournment deadline for this session. To an outsider, the next few days will be about as […]

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When budget cuts start to hit home

Senate Bill 1581, the legislative aircraft carrier on which school finance cuts and a bunch of other bad legislation were being readied for landing, never sailed on the House floor. Instead, it was torpedoed last night and sank, thanks to a parliamentary technicality raised by a Democratic opponent. In truth, though, many Republican legislators also […]

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Bill Gates: Astroturf huckster

The next time you hear an education “reformer” promoting such unproven changes as removing seniority from teacher layoff policies or making teacher evaluations heavily dependent on student test scores – sound familiar? – think Bill Gates. According to an excellent article in The New York Times, Gates has emerged as the biggest huckster of Astroturf […]

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“Appreciating” teachers out of a job

Teachers deserve appreciation, which is why TSTA supports HCR152, a resolution declaring the first full week in May as “Texas Teacher Appreciation Week.” It was approved this morning by the House Public Education Committee and is headed to the House floor, where it probably will receive another routine endorsement. But teachers also deserve more than […]

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