Brian
A dad, husband, and public education supporter. Small tent progressive/liberal.
Christina School District Citizen's Budget Oversight Committee member, who knows a bit about a lot when it comes to the convoluted mess that is education funding in the State of Delaware.
Brian's Latest Posts
Pay Per Pupil?
Imagine if we paid for other government services on a per use basis. Fire companies. They can’t douse your burning home until you pay them. Paramedics can’t begin to administer emergency medical care until your form of payment clears. Police can’t come take your car accident report until they verify your credit card transaction goes through. They can’t investigate your home invasion until you remit payment. The 911 phone system. “The fee for this service is $2.99 per minute for the first minute, and $1.99 per minute thereafter, please enter your 16-digit credit or debit card number followed by the pound sign”. Transportation. I take Route 40 to work sometimes. Sometimes I take 896. Imagine if they set up EZ Pass sensors at every point where a secondary road connected.
All Education Eyes on January
During the last 10 months, the public had opportunities to contribute their thoughts, ideas, feedback, and criticisms of the plan or any part thereof. Public comment ran the gamut from helpful feedback to downright racist criticism. In my observation, the comments that tended to align closer to the racist end of the spectrum were elicited when meetings were held in suburban locations. The more supportive comments, while also showing in the suburbs, really came to the forefront in the meetings’ city locations.
Paul Ryan on Trump’s Muslim Ban
A curious statement by Speaker Paul Ryan, “This is not conservatism. What was proposed yesterday is not what this party stands for. And, more importantly, it’s not what this country stands for”…Maybe Ryan speaking out like this is exactly what is needed to start shutting down Trump’s insanity, lest he continue on and win the nomination.
Remedies for the Classroom
Often times when discussing education in Delaware, the conversation quickly turns to funding and resources which evokes a bristly response from residents and tax payers. We spend a LOT of money on our schools yet stories like the one Diane Ravitch shares here are every day occurrences up and down Delaware and all across the country.
The Hateful Ten
Ten governors have decided they don’t want to accept refugees in their states. Not because they are tending to their own needy and are thus unable provide food, clothing, or shelter for them. Or that their states are strained for space for even their own citizens. But because the refugees are Syrian and some of them might be terrorists. You may have already read their remarks explaining why they steadfastly refuse to help victims of war, but if not I want you to read them all now:
Cons Win When Dems Stay Home
In what should come as no surprise (again) to any fence sitting or left leaning person in the US, Conservatives won big (again) in off-year elections because of poor voter turnout (again) especially among Democrat supporters (again). It seems we’re too addicted to the sh!t show produced by the GOP and right wing extremists in this country to actually get up off our sofas and do something (again). This is not unlike our fascination with “Reality” TV. Except unlike “reality” TV, these election results will continue us on the path toward becoming the ultimate laughing stock in the civilized world.
LIVE from the Red Clay Consolidated School District Special Board Meeting on WEIC
Red Clay’s Board of Education has called a special session public meeting this evening. The lone topic on the agenda is WEIC.
This will be my attempt at live blogging the meeting, start to finish. You can check out the agenda and related documents from Red Clay’s BoardDocs site: http://www.boarddocs.com/de/rccsd/Board.nsf/Public
Meeting is scheduled to begin at 5:30pm.
Romney Got Trumped
The struggle was real for Donald J. Trump back in the day: “It has not been easy for me. It has not been easy for me. I started off in Brooklyn. My father gave me a small loan of a million dollars,” Trump remarked.
Parents take note, try not to make it hard on your kids. Keep your loans to them maxed out at $1 million a pop, okay? Let’s not spoil them. How else can they learn the true value of roll up your sleeves hard work?
I didn’t think it was possible to out-Romney the ol’ Mittster himself. I stand corrected. And I’m all out of popcorn. Time to hit the grocery store.
Today’s Word Is: Petulant
Petulant. pet·u·lant ˈpeCHələnt/ adjective (of a person or their manner) childishly sulky or bad-tempered. Imagine this. You’re attending or employed by a large land grant university that receives a measly 11.9% (down from 18.9%) of its funding from the State’s general fund, that was previously able to partake in the State’s group benefits purchasing power […]
It’s the Gun Free Zone’s Fault, Or Not
I know Delaware Online.com comment sections are cesspools of idiocy and ignorance, but this current top comment wins the day on this article about the threats of violence to local colleges and universities:
[this is] “Why firearm NO CARRY zones are becoming the MOST DANGEROUS public spaces.”
Um, not really.
Nobody Wins in a Zero-Sum Game
If you have been following anything related to funding public schools in Delaware, you probably know that the system is severely broken and there are major changes being talked about. The Wilmington Education Improvement Commission is talking about needs-based funding (or weighted-student funding) and reallocation of the existing money in the system. Others are talking about changes to the equalization funding formula that’s been frozen for about 20 years. Some are talking about property reassessment. So who’s right? The short answer is: everyone, partially.
Opposite Day
I thought long and hard about what topic to make my inaugural post on DL about. There were so many choices. Trump, Cruz, education, anything Delaware like the new Financial Review Committee that Markell created, the Pope. I started an education post and then thought to myself, there will be plenty of time for that, I should write about something that’s a hot topic right now and that won’t be around forever, a 15 minutes of fame type subject. I’ve got it! KIM DAVIS. Yes, she’s still “relevant” and her 15 minute BBC (Bigoted Bible-toting Christian) segment is not quite up yet.
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