If you ride the T, you already know this: decades of underfunding are really starting to take a toll on the level of service. The red line is essentially always delayed, and even previously more reliable lines are now delayed on a regular … [Read more...]
Liberals Who Hate Poor People
It's hard for an old left-winger to agree with anything that appears in the Herald, but this article in today's Herald crystallized a few things for me. She's absolutely right to call Brookline on the carpet. I just don't think she's … [Read more...]
Follow the (Walton) Money
As soon as John Connolly had renounced the Stand for Children money he (and Conley and Barros) attempted to get to influence the Boston mayoral race, local pundits began suggesting that the whole controversy was just political theater and … [Read more...]
On The Extended School Day
The other day, I wrote about lifting the charter school cap. Today I'd like to address the other education "reform" being pressed in the Boston mayoral race: extending the school day. It's worth noting that after twenty years of … [Read more...]
On Raising the Charter School Cap
Two agenda items of the "Education Reform" crowd are showing up as issues in Boston's mayoral race. I'd like to look at the first one: raising the cap on charter schools in Boston. And I can see why this is at the top of the agenda. … [Read more...]
Charter School Attrition
Well, with Scot Lehigh once again burnishing the charter school myth in today's Globe, it's time once again to go to the numbers. Charter schools like to tout their test scores and long waiting lists, especially when advocating for more … [Read more...]
The Real Charter School Agenda in Boston
This is what Carol Johnson's school closing plan amounts to. The city is already in talks with charter schools to lease the closed school buildings to charter schools. It's about union busting, of course, but it's also something … [Read more...]
Chuck Turner and James Michael Curley
I was interested to read in the Globe today that Chuck Turner talked about James Michael Curley at the hearing to expel him from city council yesterday. Both Turner and Wilkerson have clearly used part of the Curley playbook--loudly invoke … [Read more...]
For Neighborhood Schools in Boston
Whenever the idea of neighborhood schools is floated, the progressive community gets all up in arms about the resegregation of the Boston Public Schools. News Flash: resegregation has already been accomplished. White people have voted … [Read more...]
Lift The Charter School Cap
This is not because I've suddenly realized that charter schools are a good idea. It's because they've distracted us long enough, and because the story of heroic entrepreneurs saving education has stubbornly resisted the facts, the … [Read more...]