Charter caps, charter block, and Klein on pay

Great post railing on Indiana charter caps by Matthew Tully, IndyStar.com 

“But when it comes to public education, common sense often flunks out in favor of union contracts, turf-protecting school administrators and the rest of the entrenched education establishment. In Indiana, Statehouse Democrats from Indianapolis, backed by that establishment, have been working for months to weaken a charter schools movement they complain is grabbing kids and money from traditional public schools.

Ds block TN charters

An attempt to expand charter school eligibility for urban poor students appears to be delayed until next year as Democrats banded together Wednesday to oppose the bill, against the wishes of at least one party member. 

The bill would open charter schools to students on free and reduced-lunch programs in the state’s 12 largest school districts. About three-fourths of the 70,000-student Metro school system would qualify under the bill.

After weeks of discussion, the House Education Committee moved to close today without voting on the bill, which would typically delay the bill until next year.

Joel Klein on comp systems to the Washington Post

We should be looking at rational career opportunities and not locking into a seniority-driven, life-tenure-driven, across-the-board salary-driven model of compensation, which fundamentally leads to length of service as being the dominant criterion. In any [major] organization, while length of service matters, excellence matters most. It’s true at The Washington Post. It’s true at Microsoft. And it should be true in public education.