Friday, January 4, 2019
Let's see, what are the most important education issues facing the legislature this year? Fulfilling its promise to continue raising teacher salaries is definitely on the list. So is increasing charter school transparency and oversight to weed out rampant corruption and profiteering. And decreasing teacher shortages. And decreasing class sizes. And increasing education budgets so old buses can be replaced, old schools can be maintained and old textbooks and technology can be updated. And let's not forget ridding the state of its destructive English Immersion model for ELL students.
Other problems could be addressed as well, like, say, updating the Department of Education's computer data systems and fully funding the oversight and management of the ESA voucher program (Yes, those are important).
Any more? I know I've left stuff out, like increasing access to preschool and who knows what else. In a state that has shortchanged its children for so long, the list is almost endless.
But I know one issue that doesn't even make the top one hundred: getting politics out of the classroom.
So what has the media talked about nonstop for weeks? A proposed bill to get politics out of the classroom.
Yes, such a bill has been proposed. Yes, it would be a travesty if it passed. But no, it doesn't deserve all the attention it's been getting. (And yes, I'm fully aware that I'm giving it more attention by writing about it.)
Giving that much press coverage to a non-story uses up all the oxygen in the room. Substantive educational issues struggle to get the media attention they deserve.
Tags: Arizona schools. Teacher salaries. State budget. Politics in the classroom. RedforEd. , Image
Tags: comics , cartoons , politics , Claytoonz , congress , women , diversity , change , Image
Thursday, January 3, 2019
Tags: comics , politics , cartoons , Claytoonz , Government shutdown , Democrats , Republicans , fire , Image
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
The problem was, after declaring in November I was hanging up my blogging hat ("Pretty much, anyway," I added in the headline, just in case) and I had a no-pressure month during which I enjoyed the freedom from deadlines and putting the right words in the right order, I found myself reading something and thinking, "OK, I have to write about that." Then I remembered, "Nope, you can't." I shrugged and moved on. Still, I kept adding new links to my long list of stories I might want to write about. Old habits die hard.
I interrupted my blogging hiatus in December to post about the TUSD decision to get rid of the Freedom Center-created high school course, Ethics, Economy, and Entrepreneurship, for good and all. I mean, I wrote the piece that brought the course to the public's attention, so I should be the guy who writes about its demise. However, the course is still being taught in three local school districts, so the battle isn't over.
Meanwhile, stories about charter problems in Arizona and around the country kept popping up on my desktop, along with items about curriculum, federal spending on education and bills proposed for the new state legislative session. Since I stopped blogging two months ago, I added more than fifty new entries to my list of links.
The tips of my fingers began itching. My keyboard beckoned. So I'm back.
But I've decided, instead of a steady output of two to four posts a week, I'll post on a "Need to write" basis — only when I say to myself, "I really need to write about this." Right now that sounds like once a week, maybe twice a week if the spirit moves me.
That means it'll be harder to find my posts among the steady stream of postings on The Range. If you're a Regular Range Rover (Nice turn of phrase. Maybe I should trademark it), that's no problem. But if you mainly drop by to look for my posts, it can be an issue.
One solution is to bookmark my page on the Weekly which lists all my posts starting with the most recent. You can check occasionally to see if I've posted something new. Also, I usually link to my posts of Facebook or Twitter, so you might find them there. Or if you know how to create an RSS feed (I've never done it, so you'll get no help from me), you can get an email notification when I post something new.
Monday, December 31, 2018
Happy new year, everyone! If you're wondering what lies ahead in 2019, I joined Yellow Sheets editor Hank Stephenson and Green Valley News editor Dan Shearer to talk about issues to watch in the coming year on Arizona 360, AZPM's new public affairs show with host Lorraine Rivera.
Tags: AZ360 , politics , roundtable , 2019 , Image
Tags: comics , cartoons , politics , Go Fund Me , wall , border , holidays , funding , gifts , Image
Friday, December 28, 2018
We will be forced to close the Southern Border entirely if the Obstructionist Democrats do not give us the money to finish the Wall & also change the ridiculous immigration laws that our Country is saddled with. Hard to believe there was a Congress & President who would approve!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2018
Eric Levitz at New York magazine notes that Democrats have little incentive to cave to Trump:
Donald Trump entered the holiday season with a bulletproof plan for advancing his electoral and legislative goals: He would sabotage the basic functioning of the government that he presides over, so as to draw attention to the fact that the Democratic Party does not support an extremely unpopular immigration policy. Or, more concretely, he would refuse to fund the federal government until congressional Democrats agreed to appropriate upwards of $5 billion for his border wall (even though the Republican Senate had already signaled that it was willing to fund the government without such an appropriation, and Democrats would only need to wait a matter of days before they assumed control of the House).
And yet, somehow, the government has been (partially) shuttered for six days now — and the Democrats have yet to surrender.
Friday, December 21, 2018
Tags: cartoon , comic , politics , Claytoonz , Mattis , salute , Trump , resignation , Image
Thursday, December 20, 2018
Tags: Center for Judaic Studies , live stream , Khashoggi Aftermath , Simon Henderson , journalist , Washington Institute , Image
Tags: comics , politics , cartoons , Claytoonz , Clinton Foundation , Trump , fraud , Image
