The Teachers' Unions gave millions of dollars to Obama during the Election now they want something back.
The following story appears on Townhall.com.
Cathy
Spelling and grammar errors as well as typos are left as an exercise for my readers.
Union challenges Obama work with teachers
By LIBBY QUAID
A teachers' union challenged the Obama administration Monday to live up to its promise of working with teachers and not against them.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said her union will post a "collaboration meter" on its Web site to judge whether reforms are happening with teacher involvement.
"When it comes to making the changes that will make our schools better, do it with us _ not to us," Weingarten said in a speech prepared for delivery to an AFT meeting in Washington.
She was playing off the words of Obama's education secretary, Arne Duncan. Duncan told the National Education Association last week that change would be made with teachers and for teachers, not to them.
The AFT planned to remind Duncan of his words by wearing "with us, not to us" buttons when he appeared Monday at their meeting. More than 2,500 people were attending the meeting.
It was a friendly challenge from a union leader who makes a point of reaching out to the administration. Weingarten was meeting at the White House before her speech and was joining Duncan onstage for a town-hall style forum during his appearance Monday.
President Barack Obama has education goals that put him at odds with many teachers, even though their unions make up an important segment of the Democratic Party base. The AFT has 1.4 million members, and NEA has 3.2 million members.
Obama supports performance pay, the idea of linking teacher bonuses to student achievement, using measures that include test scores. He is asking Congress for a huge spending increase, from $97 million to $717 million next year, to spur schools to adopt performance pay.
Many teachers don't want test scores to be used because tests can be deeply flawed, and because kids aren't tested in every subject.
Obama also wants to expand charter schools, which are more autonomous schools that teachers have resisted because they usually aren't unionized and because critics think they drain money and talent from traditional schools.
The AFT is pushing for a bigger role in charter schools and has signed contracts with teachers at a few of them, most recently with Green Dot New York Charter School in the Bronx, a high school run by Green Dot, a nonprofit group that operates charter schools.
About 40 unionized charter school teachers from 10 states attended the AFT meeting.
During her speech, Weingarten showed members her new "collaboration meter," saying a series of questions would decide where it moves from "`Kumbaya' hot to I-never-want-to-speak-to-you-again cold."
"When education reform is done to teachers and their unions, it is doomed to fail," she said. "But when education reform is done with teachers, it is destined to succeed ."
Monday, July 13, 2009
What a great, simple, way to explain socialism.
What a great, simple, way to explain socialism.
An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before but had once failed an entire class.
That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism. All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A. The Class agreed!
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.
The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.
As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.
The second test average was a D! No one was happy.
When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.
The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.
All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward and shares it with those not earning it, no one will try or want to succeed.
It just doesn't get any simpler than this.
This came to me via one of Anastasia's Grandmothers. I have not located the original source as of yet.
Cathy
An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before but had once failed an entire class.
That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism. All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A. The Class agreed!
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.
The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.
As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.
The second test average was a D! No one was happy.
When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.
The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.
All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward and shares it with those not earning it, no one will try or want to succeed.
It just doesn't get any simpler than this.
This came to me via one of Anastasia's Grandmothers. I have not located the original source as of yet.
Cathy
Friday, July 10, 2009
RIP Eagle Times
I was surprised to read last night that today would be the last day the Eagle Times would be published. With both the Argus Champion and the Eagle Times gone we will not have adequate coverage of meetings, school board meetings and events here in Croydon. This is a sad day indeed.
Cathy
Cathy
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
School Board Meeting This Wednesday
Please be sure to attend the school board meeting Wednesday night. It will be interesting to see just how the Newport crowd will try to scare Croydon residents out of school choice Wednesday night? More than anything the want our money they do not care about the wishes of Croydon parents and taxpayers.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Obama's Education Secretary is Doing at Least One Thing Right.
Obama's Education Secretary Arne Duncan is doing at least one thing right. In the story below Arne Duncan tells the teachers' unions correctly "But to remove student achievement entirely from evaluation is illogical and indefensible."
The following article appeared on CNSnew.com.
Cathy
Spelling and grammar errors as well as typos are left as an exercise for my readers.
Education Secretary Challenges NEA on Teacher Pay
Thursday, July 02, 2009
By Libby Quaid, Associated Press
Washington (AP) - Education Secretary Arne Duncan challenged members of the National Education Association Thursday to stop resisting the idea of linking teacher pay to student achievement.
It was Duncan's first speech at the union's annual meeting, a gathering at which President Barack Obama was booed when he mentioned the idea of performance pay last year.
"I came here today to challenge you to think differently about the role of unions in public education," Duncan told the 2.7 million-member union in San Diego.
"It's not enough to focus only on issues like job security, tenure, compensation, and evaluation," he said in a speech distributed by the Education Department. "You must become full partners and leaders in education reform. You must be willing to change."
Unions are an important part of the Democrats' political base of support. Duncan, even as he challenged NEA members, promised to include teachers in his decision-making.
"We're asking Congress for more money to develop compensation programs with you and for you, not to you," Duncan said.
Duncan described how, as CEO of Chicago public schools, he negotiated a performance pay program with the Chicago Teachers Union, which is part of the 1.4 million-member American Federation of Teachers, the other national teachers' union.
The program is still very small; it will be in only about 40 of Chicago's more than 600 public schools next fall.
The Chicago program started with federal dollars from the Teacher Incentive Fund, which the administration is trying to drastically expand. The administration wants Congress to boost spending on the program from $97 million this year to $717 million next year.
But Obama may face resistance. Washington Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, a member of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, challenged Duncan at a hearing last month on whether there is any evidence of performance pay having improved student achievement.
Critics worry that pay might be based mostly on test scores, even though tests can be flawed, and all subjects are not tested. Some states prohibit student test scores from being used to evaluate teachers.
Duncan said Thursday that test scores should never be the driving force.
"But to remove student achievement entirely from evaluation is illogical and indefensible," he said.
Duncan has made a series of speeches to promote Obama's priorities, though Thursday's was the first where he faced a potentially hostile crowd.
He told charter school supporters last week they should do a better job of closing bad schools and opening good ones. Last month, he urged the nation's governors to agree on common, internationally measured academic standards for students.
(Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
The following article appeared on CNSnew.com.
Cathy
Spelling and grammar errors as well as typos are left as an exercise for my readers.
Education Secretary Challenges NEA on Teacher Pay
Thursday, July 02, 2009
By Libby Quaid, Associated Press
Washington (AP) - Education Secretary Arne Duncan challenged members of the National Education Association Thursday to stop resisting the idea of linking teacher pay to student achievement.
It was Duncan's first speech at the union's annual meeting, a gathering at which President Barack Obama was booed when he mentioned the idea of performance pay last year.
"I came here today to challenge you to think differently about the role of unions in public education," Duncan told the 2.7 million-member union in San Diego.
"It's not enough to focus only on issues like job security, tenure, compensation, and evaluation," he said in a speech distributed by the Education Department. "You must become full partners and leaders in education reform. You must be willing to change."
Unions are an important part of the Democrats' political base of support. Duncan, even as he challenged NEA members, promised to include teachers in his decision-making.
"We're asking Congress for more money to develop compensation programs with you and for you, not to you," Duncan said.
Duncan described how, as CEO of Chicago public schools, he negotiated a performance pay program with the Chicago Teachers Union, which is part of the 1.4 million-member American Federation of Teachers, the other national teachers' union.
The program is still very small; it will be in only about 40 of Chicago's more than 600 public schools next fall.
The Chicago program started with federal dollars from the Teacher Incentive Fund, which the administration is trying to drastically expand. The administration wants Congress to boost spending on the program from $97 million this year to $717 million next year.
But Obama may face resistance. Washington Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, a member of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, challenged Duncan at a hearing last month on whether there is any evidence of performance pay having improved student achievement.
Critics worry that pay might be based mostly on test scores, even though tests can be flawed, and all subjects are not tested. Some states prohibit student test scores from being used to evaluate teachers.
Duncan said Thursday that test scores should never be the driving force.
"But to remove student achievement entirely from evaluation is illogical and indefensible," he said.
Duncan has made a series of speeches to promote Obama's priorities, though Thursday's was the first where he faced a potentially hostile crowd.
He told charter school supporters last week they should do a better job of closing bad schools and opening good ones. Last month, he urged the nation's governors to agree on common, internationally measured academic standards for students.
(Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Saturday, July 4, 2009
One Huge Reason Not to Have an Income Tax in New Hampshire
Once you give the State your tax dollars there is no guarantee you will get them back or get them back in a timely manner. It is best not to have an income tax in the first place.
The following story appears on Breitbart.com. I found the picture on Pay no taxes.org.
Cathy
Spelling and grammar errors as well as typos are left as an exercise for my readers.
Much-needed tax refunds delayed from Ga. to Calif.
ATLANTA (AP) - Colin Daymude was out of work last year after his business failed and eagerly filed his taxes in mid-January, figuring he'd get his refund sooner. He was wrong.
It took the 44-year-old entrepreneur more than six months to get his $1,300 check—money that he needed to pay living expenses while he worked a few side gigs.
Tax day—April 15—has long since come and gone, but sharp budget cuts and falling revenues have forced many states to delay income tax returns for months—and left taxpayers longing for their money.
"I'm just trying to get my money back," said a frustrated Daymude. "It's my money anyways."
Some states say plummeting tax collections drove them to hold on to the money so they can make ends meet. Others complain of not being able to keep up because the economic downturn has forced staffing cuts in revenue departments.
But critics worry governments are withholding funds that rightly belong to taxpayers when they need the extra cash the most. And some of the tardy states are fast approaching a stiff deadline of their own: The longer they wait, the more likely they'll have to pony up interest from thinning state coffers.
That prospect could soon become a reality in Georgia and Alabama, where tax officials are racing to beat a mid-July deadline to send hundreds of thousands of tax refunds or risk racking up millions of dollars in interest.
"I know some of the taxpayers are wondering if the state is going to pay the refund," said Carla Snellgrove of the Department of Revenue in Alabama, where more than 120,000 taxpayers are waiting for at least $63 million in income tax refunds.
"You talk with them and assure them they'll get the refund, it's just much slower this year," she said. "And if we don't meet the July 15 deadline, then the state will pay interest—that provides them some assurance."
In Georgia, tax officials say that more than 320,000 returns still need to be processed. If they are not completed by July 16, the state may have to dish out 1 percent interest for each month it is late.
State tax officials say it's not an issue of money, but an issue of staffing. Georgia Revenue Commissioner Bart Graham said the department had to cut about 280 jobs since October, including more than 150 processors who helped file refunds.
The funding problems have become familiar in cash-squeezed states.
California, which faces a deficit that could top $24.3 billion, may have to issue about $3 billion worth of promissory notes this month to state contractors, college students and taxpayers owed refunds unless there is a budget-balancing agreement.
Smaller states have also had trouble. Freda Warfield of the Kansas Department of Revenue said tax officials are hoping to send out $31 million in refunds by next week—but she knows residents are getting anxious. The returns average $500 a person.
"The revenue receipts have just been down," she said. "There's not enough coming in to issue all of our refunds. Tough decisions needed to be made, and one of the things that we could do is to hold our refunds."
It quickly became a touchy subject there, where thousands of people still haven't gotten refunds. Republican state Sen. Jeff Colyer said he raised the alarm that the state may not be able to make the payments back in August.
"It's unfair to taxpayers," said Colyer, a surgeon from Overland Park. "It's creating a cash-flow concern for these people. They rely on tax refunds for a big purchase, or to make a house payment. People have already budgeted how that money will be spent."
Other states have had to be a bit more inventive.
Missouri, which delayed issuing income tax refunds earlier this year, ultimately used $250 million of federal economic stimulus money to pay hundreds of thousands of refunds.
And Maryland, which still has about 3,000 filings left, dipped into a $366 million reserve account that many lawmakers didn't even know existed. Legislators hope to pay it back in 10 years.
Meanwhile, analysts say the delays essentially rob the poor of what had become an extra paycheck.
"Low-income families rely on that money getting reimbursed to them in the spring," said Mike Herald, a lobbyist for the Western Center on Law and Poverty, a Los Angeles-based advocacy group for the poor. "They pay bills with that money, they buy furniture—a lot of people rely on that income."
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Cap and Tax
The Cap and Tax Bill passed the house a week ago Friday without any legislator reading the Bill. Essentially this Bill is taxation without representation. There is a lot of BS (that is the only way to put it) in this Bill. Homeowners when selling their home will have to re-roof their home, costing them upwards of 10,000 dollars.
The following is from Boortz.com.
The bottom line is that you put your home on the market, and as part of the closing process, you will have to cough up some sort of certificate to say that your home is compliant with green guidelines as promulgated by the federal Department of Energy. For example, does your home have roofing materials that reflect solar energy? That will be a requirement if you want to sell your home under green guidelines. That means that you as a homeowner will have to put a new roof on your home before you can sell it, and not just a new roof but one that reflects solar rays. How much does a new roof cost nowadays? Maybe $9,000 or $10,000. Yeah, and that's just one of the mandates. The government is going to test air quality around your home, take infrared readings of your house. How much is all of this compliance going to cost you when you try to sell your home?
To read the full post go to Boortz.com.
Any representative who supported this Bill be they Democrat or Republican should be voted out of office.
Cathy
Spelling and grammar errors as well as typos are left as an exercise for my readers.
The following is from Boortz.com.
The bottom line is that you put your home on the market, and as part of the closing process, you will have to cough up some sort of certificate to say that your home is compliant with green guidelines as promulgated by the federal Department of Energy. For example, does your home have roofing materials that reflect solar energy? That will be a requirement if you want to sell your home under green guidelines. That means that you as a homeowner will have to put a new roof on your home before you can sell it, and not just a new roof but one that reflects solar rays. How much does a new roof cost nowadays? Maybe $9,000 or $10,000. Yeah, and that's just one of the mandates. The government is going to test air quality around your home, take infrared readings of your house. How much is all of this compliance going to cost you when you try to sell your home?
To read the full post go to Boortz.com.
Any representative who supported this Bill be they Democrat or Republican should be voted out of office.
Cathy
Spelling and grammar errors as well as typos are left as an exercise for my readers.
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