The Week of Extreme Busyness continues (though the weekend has gotten slightly less busy), but here’s a semi-random LinkSwarm to end your work week with.
Have a great weekend!
Posts Tagged ‘education’
Quick Notes from the TPPF Gun Control Conference Call for February 11, 2013
Monday, February 11th, 2013I sat in a Texas Public Policy Foundation teleconference on the current state legislative session, the main topic of which was Texas efforts to fight Democrats gun control agenda at the national level. On hand were Arlene Wohlgemuth, Mario Loyola and James Golsan, though I believe all the gun control points were from Loyola. Here are a few very brief notes on the call:
There are three main legislative to avoid federal gun control laws being enacted in Texas:
- Nullification: Refuse Cooperation. “We don’t think this approach is constitutional or can prevail.”
- Keep state employees from becoming agents of the federal government. “Printz vs. United States struck down part of the Brady Act that forced state officials to enforce federal law.” Make it illegal to cooperate.
- Gun control version of TSA Groping bill, Rep. Otto sponsored (HR 553). “Arrest those trying to enforce unconstitutional laws, sort it out in court. High risk, high reward.”
Some Republicans losing their nerve against fighting ObamaCare.
Loyola: There’s a difference between setting up exchanges and Medicaid expansion. Later is holding a gun to our heads and will bankrupt our country. It’s important for Texas to hold the line rather than giving into blackmail with their own money. Republican governors need to hold the line to prevent Texas from going it alone.
Once again a federal judge wants Texas to spend more money on education ($2,000 more per student). Smart play is to appeal and take no legislative action while the issue works its way through the court.
Another Law School Dean Leaves Over Slush Funds
Wednesday, August 8th, 2012Hey, remember when UT’s Dean stepped down because he had a $500,000 slush fund?
Well, there’s been another law school dean stepping down because of a slush fund. Only this time it’s St. Louis University School of Law Dean Annette Clark and she’s stepping down not because of her own slush fund, but because University President Father Lawrence Biondi transferred more than $1 million in law school funds into his own slush fund. Without asking her. Or consulting her on the new law school building. And refusing to meet with a law school reaccreditation team.
I am very far indeed from intimate knowledge of St. Louis University, but if even half of what Clark alleges is true, something stinks to high heaven.
(Hat tip: Tax Prof Blog, via Instapundit.)
When Looking for Primary School Qualifications, “Founded by Mimes” Should Not Be a Plus
Wednesday, June 27th, 2012“Parents are yanking their kids out of the ‘progressive,’ $32,000 per-year private school founded by the Blue Man Group—which has no books and no tests—because their kids are barely learning to read.”
You mean that “progressive” education doesn’t work, even in a school founded by mimes? Who knew?
Well, guess I’ll have to cancel my graduate school application for The Marcel Marceau School of Advanced Particle Physics…
(Hat tip: The Daily Caller via Jim Treacher’s twitter feed.)
LinkSwarm for April 27, 2012
Friday, April 27th, 2012Working on a major senate race post, so enjoy another Friday LinkSwarm:
Interview With Texas Senate Candidate Craig James
Wednesday, March 28th, 2012After much back and forth with his campaign trying to find a date, I was finally able to interview Texas Senate candidate Craig James on March 21 at the Rudy’s on South 360 here in Austin. This was, alas, not an ideal atmosphere for an interview (it got better when one of his staffers asked Rudy’s to turn off their piped in music for the area, which is something I should have thought of asking for), and the first part of the interview makes it hard to hear. After the first question, I stopped the camera and moved it closer to James so you can hear his answers, so the audio gets much better about 1:35 in, though I seem to have cut off the top of his head in the process. So let me apologize in advance for the less-than-sterling sound and video quality for various parts of the interview, but the vast majority of the interview is intelligible. I filmed this with my Mino Flip camera and did a light edit in iMovie, so the crappiness is 100% my fault (or that of the environment it was filmed in).
Thoughts:
I’d like to thank Craig James for taking time out of his busy schedule to speak with me, and his staff for their assistance in setting up the interview.
Now I’ve interviewed all the major Republican Senate candidates but David Dewhurst. If his campaign would get in touch with me to set a convenient date in the next few weeks, I’d like to correct that oversight…
UT Law Dean Resigns Over Slush Fund Payouts
Friday, December 9th, 2011Keep in mind that’s not what the headline says, which is a more neutral “UT law dean forced to step down.” But what else do you call “a $500,000 forgivable loan” to UT Dean Larry Sager “at a time when deans, vice presidents and other top university officials were under a salary freeze”? When you give people money they don’t have to pay back, that’s not a loan, that’s a gift. (I also wonder whether Dean Sager declared this money on his taxes. Or did he not have to, because it was a “loan”?) And slush fund seems to be the proper term for a fund from which sums can be doled out without administrative accountability.
Or, to put it another way: If it were revealed that University of Texas head football coach Mack Brown had such a fund, to receive funds from or to dole out at his discretion, not only would we be calling it a slush fund, he would be fired, National Championship notwithstanding. Should the UT Law School be held to a lesser standard than the UT Athletics Department?
No wonder the Texas Public Policy Foundation continues to advocate for lower administrative costs in higher education, among many other needed reforms. This most recent incident shows such reform is still badly needed.
(Hat tip: Tax Prof Blog via Instapundit.)
Round Rock ISD School Board Elections Tomorrow
Friday, May 13th, 2011Those of you in RRISD should be aware that school board elections are tomorrow, Saturday, May 14. A list of voting locations can be found here.
Holly Hansen, who follows RRISD far closer than I, has endorsed Brian Sellers and David Dziadziola.
If you’re a homeowner like me, RRISD takes a good amount of taxes from you every year, which is reason enough to vote if you’re eligible…
Iowahawk Strikes Again!
Tuesday, March 8th, 2011Evidently I wasn’t the only one struck by Iowahawk’s masterfully takedown off Paul Krugman and The Economist on the middling (at best) performance of Wisconsin’s unionized education system. Now Iowahawk strikes again to confirm that, yes, he was right the first time. He also goes into more detail of the various dropout statistics, ACT/SAT scores, etc.
Also, Iowahawk reader Michael Pollard helpfully supplied statistics showing the comparison between Texas and Wisconsin also held generally when comparing the other maligned non-union states to Wisconsin. Sayeth Iowahawk: “Wisconsin is a (1) middling performer for white students; (2) below middling for Hispanic students, and (3) an absolute disaster for black students.”
Read the whole thing.
Iowahawk Defends Texas (And Slaps Paul Krugman and The Economist Into Next Sunday)
Monday, March 7th, 2011Iowahawk took time out from his busy schedule as the web’s premiere political satirist to evaluate some claims Paul Krugman and The Economist made about the educational achievements of Texas.
Wait, did I say “evaluate?” I meant “demolish like a bulldozer ripping through a condemned shantytown” (or an “Obamaville,” if you prefer). Kruggers and the EcoMen (which, I have to point out, would be a good name for a rock band) have been as thoroughly pwned as a hungover frat boy waking up after a late-night kegstand to find male genitalia Magic Markered across his face. It’s an epic take-down.
Let’s start with assertions that started the whole thing, and which exemplify a specific type of liberal desire to wish away Texas’ deeply inconvenient economic success. From Krugman:
And in low-tax, low-spending Texas, the kids are not all right. The high school graduation rate, at just 61.3 percent, puts Texas 43rd out of 50 in state rankings. Nationally, the state ranks fifth in child poverty; it leads in the percentage of children without health insurance. And only 78 percent of Texas children are in excellent or very good health, significantly below the national average.
Next comes the bit from The Economist:
Only 5 states do not have collective bargaining for educators and have deemed it illegal. Those states and their ranking on ACT/SAT scores are as follows:
South Carolina – 50th
North Carolina – 49th
Georgia – 48th
Texas – 47th
Virginia – 44thIf you are wondering, Wisconsin, with its collective bargaining for teachers, is ranked 2nd in the country.
With that background, you’re now ready for Iowahawk to demolish the subject like Charlie Sheen demolishes an ounce of cocaine. First, the necessary context:
A state’s “average ACT/SAT” is, for all intents and purposes, a proxy for the percent of white people who live there.
Actually this is not strictly true; it’s more accurate to say its a proxy for the percent of white and Asian people who live there. But close enough for government work.
Iowahawk goes on:
In fact, the lion’s share of state-to-state variance in test scores is accounted for by differences in ethnic composition. Minority students – regardless of state residence – tend to score lower than white students on standardized test, and the higher the proportion of minority students in a state the lower its overall test scores tend to be.
But don’t take his word for it. Take his facts for it, as he provides grade-by-grade comparisons of each of the two sates students broken down demographically (by white, black and Hispanic students). Go over and take a look at the data if you haven’t already. His conclusion:
To recap: white students in Texas perform better than white students in Wisconsin, black students in Texas perform better than black students in Wisconsin, Hispanic students in Texas perform better than Hispanic students in Wisconsin. In 18 separate ethnicity-controlled comparisons, the only one where Wisconsin students performed better than their peers in Texas was 4th grade science for Hispanic students (statistically insignificant), and this was reversed by 8th grade. Further, Texas students exceeded the national average for their ethnic cohort in all 18 comparisons; Wisconsinites were below the national average in 8, above average in 8.
Perhaps the most striking thing in these numbers is the within-state gap between white and minority students. Not only did white Texas students outperform white Wisconsin students, the gap between white students and minority students in Texas was much less than the gap between white and minority students in Wisconsin. In other words, students are better off in Texas schools than in Wisconsin schools – especially minority students.
He does the same job for Krugman’s dropout rates:
White and Hispanic Texas students indeed seem to dropout at a higher rate than their counterparts in Wisconsin, although in both cases (a) the difference is not statistically significant; and (b) in both cases, both states are significantly below the national average. Among black high school students, Texans have significantly lower dropout rates than their national cohort and Wisconsinites. Black high school students in Wisconsin have significantly higher dropout rates than national.
Your first question is probably, “why do the union teachers in Wisconsin hate black students?” Sorry, can’t help you there, I’m stumped too.
Ouch! You know that’s going to leave a scar…