Free Republic

Democrats are taking away funding for DC area kids

Democrats are once again proving that "choice" as it relates to children applies only to killing them, not to parents choosing where to educate them. Sorry, but for pro-choice politicians to argue against school choice shows that they care only about the teachers unions that elect them, and not for the lives of the people they represent. The Washington Post called congressional democrats on their hypocrisy in an editorial today: REP. DAVID R. Obey (Wis.) and other congressional Democrats should spare us their phony concern about the children participating in the District's school voucher program. If they cared for the...

Government Spending: Did anyone really think $787 billion would be enough to quench the Democratic Congress' thirst for play money from the taxpayers? Now they want $410 billion more.In addition to solar water heaters for rural Puerto Rico and the Raul Alvarez Golf Course in Austin, Texas, Obama administration sources say the U.S. is also planning to relieve taxpayers of $900 million for Gaza, much of which can be expected to land in the pockets of the terrorist group Hamas, which runs the region. To a family being foreclosed on, or a businesswoman forced by tough times to close up...

  'The mayor is like Noah, he is throwing out a life preserver and I'm going to grab it,' Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of the Brooklyn Diocese said at City Hall Saturday. In attempt to keep cash-starved Catholic schools in Brooklyn and Queens from closing, the city may convert them into charter schools, Mayor Bloomberg announced Saturday. "We are in a flood," Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of the Brooklyn Diocese said at a City Hall press conference. "The mayor is like Noah, he is throwing out a life preserver and I'm going to grab it." The diocese has identified four schools in...

WASHINGTON (AP) - On the rockiest day of his young administration, President Barack Obama did what surely made him happy for a while. He left. With little notice, the president and first lady Michelle Obama bolted the gated compound of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in their tank of a limousine on Tuesday. They ended up at a Washington public school, greeted by children who could not care less about the collapse of a Cabinet secretary nomination. "We were just tired of being in the White House," the president candidly told the gleeful second-graders at Capital City Public Charter School. "We got...

First Lady Michelle Obama told a young school girl who said she wanted to be First Lady when she grew up, "It doesn't pay much."Mrs. Obama made the remark today at the Capital City Public Charter School in Washington where she and President Barack Obama paid a visit to students. After taking turns reading from a picture book on the 1969 moon landing by the Apollo 11 astronauts whose theme was for young people to dream big dreams for their lives, the President asked the students if they wanted to be an astronaut. One student did, another wanted to be...

Obamas read to DC school children in surprise stop By BEN FELLER The Associated Press Tuesday, February 3, 2009; 2:24 PM WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama have made a surprise stop at a public school to read to children. The Obamas were at the Capital City Public Charter School in northwest Washington Tuesday. The president told a group of gleeful second-graders: “We were just tired of being in the White House.” ...snip...

U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama talk to second grade students at the Capital City Public Charter School (Lower School) in Washington February 3, 2009.

Economically disadvantaged African-American students in public charter secondary schools are twice as likely to score advanced or proficient in math and reading as their peers in the city-run schools.

Students in the District's charter schools have opened a solid academic lead over those in its traditional public schools, adding momentum to a movement that is recasting public education in the city...

Barack Obama bragged about Charter Schools in his debate with John Mc Cain. Are you curious what kind of Charter Schools he would support? No, Not ordinary ones where children can learn to read and write. Why would he support something that innocent and constructive? Obama "type" Charter schools, like the ones in Chicago will teach children on the Illinois Taxpayers dime the EVILS of white men. And how about throwing in the wonderful qualities of their HERO, Che Guevara. They can learn how to be just like him! As you watch this video, notice the Hispanic anchor woman at...

A picture of Joyce McGautha superintendent of the Urban Community Leadership AcademyUrban Community Leadership Academy 1524 Paseo Boulevard Kansas City, MO 64108 816-483-8035Principal: Joyce McGauthaGrades: 5-9Sponsor: University of Central MissouriClick Below to listen to Joyce McGaetha the school superintendent admit she knew the kids  were being taped and didn't see a problem with it. She is just upset it was posted on youtube. Joyce%20McGauthe%20on%20Stigall%20100608.mp3Here is the original video: Obama Youth Regiment LYRICS:"Alpha, Omega, Alpha, Omega, Alpha, Omega, Alpha, Omega, Alpha, Omega, Alpha, Omega, Alpha, Omega, Alpha, Omega, Alpha, Omega, Alpha, Omega, Alpha, Omega, Alpha, Omega, Alpha, Omega,""Because of Obama, I'm...

Finally, Obamas Greek pillars in Denver make sense. In the Greek story of the Trojan War, Odysseus sought to gain entrance into Troy, so he cleverly devised a large wooden horse to conceal himself along with Greek soldiers. Tricked into believing the horse would bring them good luck, the Trojans dragged the horse into Troy --ignoring two skeptics (one of whom was Cassandra, the Trojan princess). Like a modern day Odysseus, Obama is plotting to smuggle the National Education Association (NEA) into charter schools. But since charter school supporters would certainly not fall for a large wooden horse today, Obama...

<p>DAYTON, Ohio (AP) - Barack Obama is promising to double funding for charter schools and replace inferior teachers, embracing education reform proposals normally more popular with Republican candidates.</p> <p>The Democratic presidential nominee says both parties must work together to improve education, according to remarks prepared for delivery Tuesday at a suburban high school gymnasium. The pitch was an appeal to moderate voters in this presidential election swing state, where the fight over education reform has been the focus of a longtime partisan battle.</p>

The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) released their annual school report cards this week, and the results show that two taxpayer-financed Islamic charter schools operated by officials of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) have failed miserably yet again. But protected by powerful political connections, including Ohio Governor Ted Strickland and Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman, and apparently indifferent to their exploitation of the Somali children that comprise the vast majority of their students, the Islamic extremists running the operation appear to have no fear of losing their cash cows. In fact, Ohio educrats have renewed one school’s contract after five...

The District will use a $7.5 million education reserve fund to pay for the seven former Catholic schools slated to reopen as secular charter schools next month, and it will be able to find more money if necessary, officials said this week. The D.C. Council allocated $366 million in May for 63 charter schools as part of its fiscal 2009 budget. Financing for the Center City Public Charter Schools was omitted, officials said, because Center City's application was not approved by the charter school board until June 16.The Catholic school conversions are unusual, they said, because most charters spend 12...

The fact that charter schools have posted some of the highest state test scores among Buffalo schools this year speaks to the validity of what was once considered an educational experiment. As recently reported, a couple of city-based charter schools posted math and English test results among the best of any schools in Erie and Niagara counties — and charter schools significantly outperformed the city’s traditional public schools. Tapestry, South Buffalo, Elmwood Village and Buffalo United consistently ranked in the Top 10 among all Buffalo schools in the recent math and English tests. Community, Westminster and Pinnacle schools appeared in...

The Greenvilleoneline.com has a very interesting article about the **amazing** successes of charters. Charter schools deserve supportSouth Carolina was slow in creating charter schools, but Recent test results show seventh-graders scoring 80 percent proficient in math and 66 percent in reading, up from 16 percent in math and 20 percent in reading.

Education Reform: An inner-city public school in Los Angeles has a zero dropout rate and a college-bound senior class. What's the secret? Hard work, high standards, flexibility and choice. Do the candidates notice?This year's graduating class at View Park Preparatory Charter High School is impressive by any standard. Fifty-eight of the 67 seniors, all African-American, will be attending four-year universities, with one heading to the Air Force and the others going to two-year schools. Remarkably, all the students who started at View Park in the ninth grade were in the graduating class — this in an area where the dropout...

(snip) The best way to determine how students fare in charter schools is to compare them to students who applied but were not admitted by lottery (which many charter schools are required to hold when oversubscribed). Studies based on lotteries allow the comparison of apples to apples, while other studies, unable to control fully for preexisting differences between the students who attend charters and traditional public schools, end up comparing apples to zebras. The only lottery-based analyses released so far were conducted by Stanford University economist Caroline Hoxby. Examining New York City’s charter schools, she found that students admitted by...