Here’s a link to a great write-up about NYSUT’s efforts to fight the tax cap. Thanks NEA! One thing they left out. It’s really a 0 percent cap for those districts that don’t pass a budget. Here’s a link to a Southern Tier report about budgets that would have failed if a tax cap were [...]

If anybody knows examples of union members going beyond the call of duty, it’s the treasurer. Jon Hickey serves as treasurer for the Rochester Teachers Association, which has had its hands full with a former Superintendent and now with proposed layoffs of nearly 700 district employees, more than 400 of them teachers. With a lot [...]

Commencement speeches come and go. This one by Linda Darling-Hammond is sure making the rounds. It’s interesting that she titled it “The Service of Democractic Education.” One line that chills me is “We live in a nation that is on the verge of forgetting its children” and she follows it up with lots of statistics [...]

And would you please buy one for $1? In case you don’t hear it on your radio, above is the NYSUT radio ad, trying to give the other side to those pushing a “hard” property tax cap. Here’s a letter that Dick Iannuzzi wrote about how local choice workers better than a tax cap. Call [...]

A busy start to a busy week. At 11 a.m. today, eight of the teachers the state Board of Regents have chosen as the state’s best will meet with reporters at the State Education Building at 89 Washington Ave. to meet with reporters about why they disagree with the boards recent changes to the evaluation [...]

So, now all but the Big Five school districts have their budgets in, here’s analysis about what a $1.2 billion cut means. The State Council of School Superintendents has put together their analysis. Below are three paragraphs but if you have time to go to their site, find their chart that shows what the proposed [...]

Is it appropriate to be so dark out at 9 a.m. that car headlights are on? Since it’s Worker’s Memorial Day, I think it most fitting. Much was made yesterday of the first-ever press conference of a Federal Reserve chairman. Not only did he talk about the challenges local governments are facing but he also [...]