- The AP reports that the U.S. Education Department scolded states that had applied for the first round of NCLB waivers for not ensuring to ED’s satisfaction that schools would be held accountable for student performance. As Mike wrote last week, the folks in Washington are all about flexibility—until it’s time to be flexible. If Duncan & Co. keep this micromanagement up, education may yet become a campaign issue for their boss.
- Apparently sick of stalled negotiations with the union over teacher evaluations, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is asking Andrew Cuomo to revamp state law to make firing low-rated teachers easier. Turns out New Yorkers will find out whether the self-styled “lobbyist for the students” in Albany is serious about fixing schools sooner rather than later. And whether he can get anywhere with a famously union-dominated legislature.
- Philly “Chief Recovery Officer” Thomas Knudsen, a newly-appointed turnaround whiz from the corporate world, was warned by the city controller last week that he needs to cut $400,000 from the district budget—each and every day through June. Districts in tough straits have turned to MBAs for help before, but it will take painful and fundamental changes, not just business acumen, to fix the situation in the City of Brotherly Love.
- The New York Times feature on a Montana school district with a single student—and a budget of $83,000—was Gadfly’s weekly reminder of the absurdity of so much in the U.S. public-education governance system.
