And yep--Cantwell and Obama can whine all they want, but they prop up the very organization (NEA) that is gumming up the works for everyone. They make THEMSELVES the priority instead of kids. You're so right that until Cantwell and her ilk get honest with themselves and quit propping up the troublemakers, nothing will change. Except for the families that get smart and pull their kids out of public school so they can GET an education either at home or in private school.

If you missed this, take a look for yourself and tell me that the bulk of these people are underpaid, which we hear about every day in Queen Gregoire's court.

And their retirement is based upon their top two years to boot!

Instead, we get her typical: "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help" spiel. According to our man R.R. those are the ten most dangerous words in the English language, yet Cantwell likes to use them (or some version thereof) frequently.

PS - Anyone notice Cantwell's campaign website doesn't have a news function? Instead, she posts all of her partisan posturing on her official Senate site..

She's also on record at her own Senate website as trying to get "tough" on the national debt, yet she's pushing a ton of new programs and new spending.

What was up with Robert Jamieson's critical column on Cantwell? Sheesh, she's not catching any breaks these days...

PS - Anyone notice that Cantwell's campaign website doesn't have a news function? Nope, instead, she has the benefit of a paid staff at her office that pumps out all of her political posturing and hackery...

Education has been a problem for the past 30 years and NEA is still beating the drum that money solves all problems.

As Bill pointed out just spending the most money does not produce the best students.

NJ had the same problem where Newark was spending the most per pupil and school districts that spent less were having higher test scores.

I don't know if Stefan's idea of a free market economy in elementary thru secondary education will work. The downside is the public system gets stuck w/ everyone the private/charter schools don't want.

But can it get any worse.

The current situation is akin to taking your car to the mechanic who cannot fix it. After a while you change auto mechanics.

BTW one of Maria Cantwell's first jobs after college was working on the failed gubernatorial campaign of ex-Cincinnati mayor Jerry Springer in his pre-TV days.
http://usliberals.about.com/od/2006ussenateraces/p/SenCantwell.htm

At least Jerry is honest and admits his show is pure entertainment

Is the Republican moniker of Senator Can't-smile"
unfair or simplely a statement of fact?

They won't like your plan. Your plan might not allow for all children to be indoctrinated with an altruist/ socialist ideology from early childhood onward. How else are the Progressives going to get more voters?

What really caught my eye was the photo of Cantwell marveling at Sims' mandible extension as he does his Gore-like best to shout down the anti-war protestors. It's a classic--right up there with the Times photo from Cantwell's senate campaign where she's giving Bill Clinton a hand (job).

Of course we should move schools to the free market.

Instead of more money, we'd find out what works. Those education plans that don't will die off, those that do will thrive.

Sigh! It really is a pain being so simple minded, I guess I just don't get all the nuanced implications that the socialist agenda brings to our education system.

Stefan--The reason is because no one does a smackdown on non-profits that participate politically or testify on bills in the legislature.

I was down for in Olytown for hearings on shared parenting, which volumes of published, peer-reviewed research says is good for kids. The NW Wimmin's Law Center (501-C-3) was there boldly testifying. What will it take to make these guys straighten up and fly right? Rat them out to the IRS?

As far as your school Pell Grant program, I was one of the few school board members to say "bring it" when we were talking about the competition of school choice, and that competition raises quality. Perhaps that is why I am no longer--the government doesn't like competition.

Mark

"I’ve been hearing a lot about the WASL test, and here’s my solution to the debate: make the test voluntary. Let the kids that want to take the WASL do so, and those that don’t can choose not to take it. All kids that successfully complete the required course work would still get their diplomas, as before. The only difference is for the kids that pass the WASL: their diplomas would indicate they had successfully mastered the test. This is win-win alternative because it gives people choice – take the test or not"

That is one of the benefits of the free-market approach ("The downside is the public system gets stuck w/ everyone the private/charter schools don't want"). The public school has these kids now. In the current system these kids do not and cannot get the attection they need because of all the other kids. If these schools could cater to and concentrate on the "undesireables", I bet we would find that most of these kids can do very well with the right attention and encouragement. What a win for everyone!

In any event, I was bussed to Garfield in the 1980's, when it was not the beacon of academic achievement it is today (and when white students did not actually outnumber black students). White students are apparently thriving at Garfield, but the black students are still being left behind, thanks in large part to a school district that focuses more on racial political corectness than academic rigor and achievement.

The main reason parents don't have much to say about their child's education is because they're voice was taken away from them years ago.

Education is a state issue, not a national issue. Give the control back to the local governments and the parents.

4500 people working in the Department of Education are wasting our money. Lots of it.

patrick, funny you should comment on fund-raisers. I got a request from Elizabeth Dole to fill out a survey since I was the selected one from my district. A buddy and I thought it was cool, so we kept reading. You could tell the agenda the GOPs were hoping to articulate through the survey.

Now, the funny part. At the end, I was given three choices and three choice only (though I took the fourth). One was to submit the survey and give money- $500 was the preferred, the second was not to submit the survey, but just submit the money and the third was to send the GOP $11 to defray the cost of them sending the survey to me unsolicited. If I gave them $11 I got the impression they didn't want the survey.

So, now the survey is in recycling. We had a blast reading through it.

First:

The senator was making other stops in town Saturday to raise money for Sen. Maria Cantwell, who sponsored the "Innovations in Education" event.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002874923_obama19m.html

So the 501 (c)3s were not involved in the campaign. The event at Garfield may have been political, (as any event a Senator, Congressperson or President attends is), but that doesn’t mean it is a campaign event. Or are you advocating for the GOP to pick up all those Air Force One trips of the President?

Second, let’s look at the first three paragraphs of the story for context:

Of course, the schools need more money. And, yes, the system needs reform.

But if you ask U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, who stood onstage at the Garfield High School gym Saturday, parents also need to take stronger charge of their children's education.

"That money's not going to make a dime's worth of difference if, when your child comes home from school, you don't turn off that television," he said, to applause.

So, in fact, the Times is being dismissive of the normal liberal call for more money for schools and showing that Senator Obama was going beyond that. Unless you really expected Senator Obama and Cantwell to agree with you, your post makes as much sense as me saying that your post should have started with “Of course this blog would be much better if the author actually knew what he was talking about, actually did some research, and didn’t just spew out his Party’s talking points, usually crudely.”

So, since you are so big in to retractions, and assuming you care more about the truth than propaganda, how long until your slander of Seattle Scores, Friends of the Children and Making Connections are posted?

Kids in private schools usually have less academic problems, not because the teachers are so much better than their public school counterparts, but because the parents have taken an active role in their education. School is not publicly funded daycare and I think you're doing education a disservice to lay the entire blame on the teachers and the institution.