Here's an interesting announcement of a contest out of Washington, D.C. The Center for Union Facts put up an 80-foot billboard in Times Square announcing its "Ten Worst (Union-Protected) Teachers contest. The contest is part of a campaign to "educate Americans about how teachers unions protect incompetent teachers, demoralize good teachers, block reform, and ultimately hurt our public education system."

The Times Square billboard, along with today's full-page ad in the New York Times, unveils the contest, which will allow anyone 13 and up to nominate the worst union-protected teacher in America. Once CUF identifies the 10 worst, they will offer each of them $10,000 to quit the profession forever.

For more information, go to their web site, www.teachersunionexposed.com.

Can you imagine the phone calls to the teachers who "won"? Awkward, much?

Posted by Naush Boghossian at 2:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The governor stopped by the Daily News' offices this morning to talk about the budget, redistricting and education. He acknowledged the difficulty the budget presents to public education, but said he believed the answer was in changing the system.

The nation's second largest school district, Los Angeles Unified, is looking now at making $460 million in cuts.

Can a school district that already lags far behind the state and nation on standardized achievement tests and has a dropout rate anywhere from 20 to 50 percent, really pull itself up in these financial straits? Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he believes the answer is for school districts to get creative. He cited the move last year by three school districts in northern Sacramento County to merge as a creative answer to pooling their resources to provide a better service to students in difficult budget times.

Posted by Naush Boghossian at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)