“She’s a good girl. She helps me a lot. She has big, big dreams. I don’t have the money, but she has big dreams. I hope she’s going to get everything, but she works so hard. She works so hard in school.”
“Our family is needing to make some really big sacrifices because we believe this is important, and so, we’re basically going to do whatever it takes… Sometimes we look at each other and go ‘I don’t know if I can do it again another month…’”
“A lot of the families have to sacrifice and work multiple jobs… And just scraping together enough money to just make tuition, just the basics.”
“It is discriminatory, that parents who want to choose an alternative to public school for their children, would not in any way receive any compensation for that, whether it be tax credit, whether it be a voucher…”
In the 1840s, nativist movement leaders formed official political parties and local chapters of the national Native American Party (later the American Party), although they continued to be commonly known as the Know-Nothing Party. Politicians sought to insert provisions into state constitutions against Catholics who refused to renounce the pope. The Know-Nothing movement brought bigotry and hatred to a new level of violence and organization.
The party’s legacy endured in the post-Civil War era, with laws and constitutional amendments it supported, still today severely limiting parents’ educational choices. A federal constitutional amendment was proposed by Speaker of the House James Blaine prohibiting money raised by taxation in any State to be under the control of any religious sect; nor shall any money so raised or lands so devoted be divided between religious sects or denominations. These were then named the Blaine Amendments of 1875.
in recent decades, often in response to challenges to school choice programs, the U.S. Supreme Court has demonstrated great interest in examining the issues of educational alternatives and attempts limit parental options. Massachusetts plays a key role in this debate. The Bay State was a key center of the Know-Nothing movement and has the oldest version of Anti-Aid Amendments in the nation, as well as a second such amendment approved in 1917. Two-fifths of Massachusetts residents are Catholic, and its Catholic schools outperform the state’s public schools, which are the best in the nation.
What Problem Are They Trying To Solve
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byBureaucracies have a wonderful, self-sustaining way of letting rules and regulations evolve. They are less skilled at pulling back from their day-to-day existence and asking “why do we do this?”
I bring this up to frame a story of one particular family’s experience registering with the Boston Public Schools (which have seen enrollment decline over the past 10 years). And from anecdotal evidence, I can assure you that no one from outside Boston is sneaking their children into Boston’s kindergartens.
Yet, upon presentation of proof-of-residency that included a copy of their property deed, multiple utility bills, proof of mortgage payment, and car registration, they were informed that additional documentation would be needed. (And as a sidebar, all this information is kept by BPS in files.)
What problem are they trying to solve?
Will the Guv hit a homer on charters or more ho-hum
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byThe Governor is making an announcement on charters. He has taken a lot of heat on his opposition subsequent to the Boston Foundation report that clearly demonstrates their success. The question is whether he will come out and target attention on charters to the urban districts, which we believe should be the compromise, or whether he will come up with an unworkable finance scheme? If the latter, if he underfunds charters, then he is essentially making the argument that we should have a separate and unequal funding stream for charters.
He doesn’t want to do that now, or does he? Remember: Ed reform in 1993 came out of a court case that insisted on a fairer use of funds for all students. After all the flubbing on this issue subsequent to the Boston Foundation report, where the Governor misrepresented the caps, does he really wanted to stake out a position on that?
Let’s hope not. He will get skewered.
Jeremy Piven?
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byToday’s Globe has a well-meaning op-ed that uses Jeremy Piven’s alleged mercury poisoning as its lead.
This would be the ‘mercury poisoning’ that required him to go to Thailand to recuperate. For those of you with great interest in the topic, the NYPost recaps a variety of Mr. Piven’s exploits during his illness, including boozy late night parties and using mass text messages as a way of…ahem..meeting new friends.
And a fisheries trade group took the liberty of posting Mr. Piven’s recent Good Morning America appearance on you-tube, with their own running commentary.
In their defense, the op-eds authors do clear their throats two paragraphs into the piece, noting that Piven is widely discredited at this point. So don’t use him as the lead.