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Education Policy Center Newsletter

From The Independence Institute
MAY 12, 2010
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In this issue
-- SB 191 Teacher Tenure Reform Passes in Colorado
-- SB 191 Debate Highlights Need for Union Release Time Accountability
-- Denver Crowd Comes Out for Special The Cartel Movie Screening Event
-- Maranto Discusses The Politically Correct University
-- Mixed Results for School Choice, Spotlight on California’s Rocketship Education
-- Roundup: Open Negotiations, Charter Autonomy, School Funding and CSAP
Scores

Dear Friends,

We hope you enjoy our latest update from the Education Policy Center.

Pamela Benigno, Director

Ben DeGrow, Policy Analyst
Marya DeGrow, Research Associate
Raaki Garcia-Ulam, School Choice Website Outreach Coordinator

SB 191 Teacher Tenure Reform Passes in Colorado

It’s a landmark day in Colorado, as our legislative session comes to a close today
with the highly-touted and intensely-debated Senate Bill 191 successfully
crossing the finish line. Much of the last month has been dominated by this
year’s most prominent education legislation, a bill that will align evaluated
teacher and principal effectiveness more closely with student academic growth
and weaken tenure protections for consistently ineffective teachers. Having won
final approval from the legislature today, a more modest (but still important)
reform version of SB 191 is on its way to Governor Ritter—who along with his
three predecessors has publicly stated his support for the bill.

The Education Policy Center recently has focused a great deal of attention on SB
191 and related issues of tenure reform and quality teaching. A few weeks ago
Ben DeGrow interviewed Senator Michael Johnston for an iVoices podcast
discussion of his legislation. More recently, Ben switched roles and explained the
SB 191 debate to a national audience on a new School Reform News podcast. In
case you’re wondering just how significant the topic is, our young blogger Eddie
has published seven posts on the topic in the past month!
For more:
Go Bash, CEA Shamefully Opposes SB 191 and Effective Teaching
Ben DeGrow, Ed News Colorado, Illuminating CEA opposition to SB 191
Ben DeGrow, Ed News Colorado, SB 10-191 compromise: A thought experiment

SB 191 Debate Highlights Need for Union Release Time Accountability

The intense debate over SB 191 has brought attention to a separate issue: the
use of tax-funded union release time. Many teachers were able to take special
union leave days from the classroom to lobby against SB 191 at the State
Capitol. Ben wrote a May 1 op-ed for the Summit Daily News (also appearing in
two other papers) arguing that greater accountability is needed for the practice.
Ben and Pam also discussed on a 9-minute iVoices podcast the need for local
and state reform of union release time policies.

For more:
Ben DeGrow, IP-1-2010, Colorado Schools and Association Release Time (PDF)

Denver Crowd Comes Out for Special The Cartel Movie Screening Event
On the evening of Tuesday, May 4, more than 50 people turned out for a special
movie screening event co-hosted by the Independence Institute and Liberty on
the Rocks. A viewing of the award-winning, education reform documentary The
Cartel was followed by an informative question-and-answer exchange between
Pam and Ben and the movie-going audience. If you missed the event, you still
can listen to a 10-minute iVoices podcast interview with The Cartel’s
producer/director Bob Bowdon.

For more:
Ed Is Watching, Pass the Popcorn: Come to Special Denver Screening of The
Cartel Movie on May 4
Ed Is Watching, Giving You More Good Reasons to See The Cartel Movie While
It’s Here in Denver

Maranto Discusses The Politically Correct University

Professor Robert Maranto from the University of Arkansas’s Department of
Education Reform has co-edited a fascinating new book published by the
American Enterprise Institute titled The Politically Correct University. While in
town last week, he dropped by the Independence Institute offices to record an
iVoices podcast conversation on the overwhelming Left-leaning bias of faculties
in the humanities and social sciences and ideas to restore some balance.

Mixed Results for School Choice, Spotlight on California’s Rocketship

Education
Most of the big education reform news outside Colorado during the past month
came from Florida, as Governor Charlie Crist signed into law an expansion of
the state’s school choice tax credit program but vetoed a far-reaching tenure
reform bill. In the Land of Lincoln, Illinois made great strides toward enacting a
new voucher program, but the bill was defeated in the state’s house of
representatives. Farther west, our own Ben DeGrow wrote a feature story for the
May edition of School Reform News on Rocketship Education’s successful hybrid
charter school model launched in California.

Roundup: Open Negotiations, Charter Autonomy, School Funding and

CSAP Scores
In an issue backgrounder published last month titled Colorado Education and
Open Negotiations, Ben DeGrow sheds some new light on the issue of collective
bargaining between school districts and employee groups. He argues that
guaranteed public access to these negotiation sessions promotes transparency
and good government.

Finally, here are a few other odds and ends from our last month of blogs and
podcasts that we thought you might find interesting:
iVoices, Union Pays Up for Violating Teachers’ Free Speech Rights
Ed Is Watching, New Fordham Report: Colorado Charters Lacking in True
Autonomy
Ed Is Watching, One Small CSAP Reading Step, One “Giant Leap” of Logic in
Education Journalism
Ed Is Watching, Thanks to Colorado Supreme Court, Tax-Funded School Finance
Case Drags On

Contact Information
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email: pam@i2i.org
phone: 303-279-6536
web:http://www.independenceinstitute.org
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