The Daily Signal on AZ ESA

December 15, 2014

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

It warms my heart every time I get to visit a school like the one in the video above.

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For Sale: Awesome Mix Volume 1

December 14, 2014

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

Got that impossible to shop for science fiction fan who already has everything? Well he or she doesn’t have this.

You’re welcome.

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Posted by matthewladner

Reason Foundation: Will Regulation Ruin School Choice in the Big Easy?

December 11, 2014

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

Well worth watching…similar tensions exist in all choice programs to some degree.

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Party at the Moontower…err…I mean Texas Bowl

December 11, 2014

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

So the Razorbacks and the Longhorns are renewing their ancient gridiron hatred this year in the Texas Bowl in Houston. Two teams will enter and one team will leave with (insert drumroll) a winning record on the season!

Ah how the mighty have fallen-the records of both teams stand at a lowly 6 wins and 6 losses. Sigh. At least this provides 14 badly needed additional days of practice for the rebuilding from scratch Longhorns.

My prediction: Texas 6, Arkansas 3. University of Texas at Austin cultural ambassador at large Matthew McConaughey promises to close the windows before engaging in the traditional post-victory bongo naked ritual.

What is your prediction?

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Posted by matthewladner

Wanderers

December 6, 2014

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

Really cool short film-more information here. All of this may come to pass, and if it does, I predict that it will be merchant-adventurers having all the fun. I’m jealous of the future.

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Posted by matthewladner

Weissmann: Look for Law Schools to Start Closing

December 3, 2014

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

It’s not just at the pump where people are saving: law school applications have declined 24% and prices are dropping.

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The Anti-Testing Zombie Apocalypse

December 1, 2014

Grrrrrr….testing ruin flavor of BRAINSSSZZZSSSS!!!!

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

While some of the strongest supporters of standardized testing have allowed their minds to wander to counter-productive uses of overstretched waiver authority in the already dying days of a lame-duck administration, rumors have reached my ears of growing support for eliminating annual testing as a requirement under NCLB in Congress.

This may seem implausible to some, but after watching a 30+ year bipartisan consensus on transparency fold like a house of cards in Texas, nothing seems impossible. Discuss among yourselves…

The hour is later than you think…

9 Comments | NCLB, school accountability | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by matthewladner

SNL brings back School House Rock

November 23, 2014

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

Congratulations Bill…now you are irrelevant!

 

 

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King of the Road

November 21, 2014

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

I’m on the plane back to Arizona having spent the entire week in Austin and then at the Excel in Ed National Summit.  I had the opportunity to provide invited testimony to the Texas Senate Education committee, chaired for the last time by Senator/Lt. Governor-elect Dan Patrick.

The focus on the hearing was on the crushing enrollment growth in Texas. Texas adds a Wyoming public school system sized number of students per year. The percentage of total spending going to capital outlay and debt service has doubled since the turn of the century up to 20%, and there is no end in sight.

For instance, the Austin Independent School District passed an almost $500m bond issue in 2013. The district has approximately 76,000 students, 20,000 of whom spend at least part of the day in a portable building. The district estimated that passage of the bond would reduce portable building use by 16%– at least for a while.

I may or may not have used the technical term “boogeyman story” to describe the fearful narrative that removing charter school caps, creating voucher, tax-credit or ESA programs would leave the Texas public school system in ruins. The truth of the matter is that they don’t have spaces or teachers for the kids they already have, and far more arrive every year than would ever wind up going into any combination of private choice programs.

You can’t stop Texas enrollment growth, you can only hope to contain it.

You can’t stop Texas enrollment growth, you can only hope to contain it.

Next on the agenda was a stop over in DC to present at the Excel in Ed National Summit on ESA programs. The conference had 900+ attendees and some outstanding presentations, all of which will be available on the interwebs soon. It is always energizing to get to spend time with my colleagues and with K-12 reformers from across the country and the world. I always come away from these meetings exhausted and energized (yes it is odd) but the energy is still there after some sleep dispels the exhaustion.

Finally, I was honored this week to join Arizona Governor-elect Doug Ducey’s transition team along with reform champion Lisa Graham Keegan and Great Hearts Vice President Erik Twist. We will be looking for outstanding candidates to fill critical K-12 policy roles.

 

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The Walls of Gold Entomb Us, the Swords of Scorn Divide

November 13, 2014

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

If you are in the mood for a quick and handy reminder about why most of the country despises the limousine liberal set, this video should do the trick. The media is paying the most attention to the fact that this guy holds the American public in contempt (the feeling is mutual) but the far bigger story emerges from this video. In it, one of the architects of the President’s signature domestic initiative more or less admits that the “Affordable” part of the “Affordable Care Act” was a deliberate fraud of the “yeah, yeah- we’ll get to that later” sort.

Given that we live in a nation with trillions of dollars in unfunded liabilities related to preexisting entitlement programs and 10,000 new baby-boomers qualifying for these programs a day, this represents recklessness on a stunning scale. William F. Buckley once sagely noted that he would rather be ruled by the first 1,000 people in the Boston phone book than the faculty of Harvard. It’s time to add MIT to the list.

UPDATE

Obamacare supporter Ron Fournier turns in a must-read critique in the National Journal. Money quote:

And so even I have to admit, as a supporter, that Obamacare was built and sold on a foundation of lies. No way around it, unless you’re willing to accept a political system that colors its lies—the reds, the whites, and the blues.

 

 

 

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