Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush was in town today to kickoff the A+ Arkansas education rally. Afterwards, he spoke with reporters. Below is a little video I snagged of the Q&A. He had some very interesting things to say, including some comments about the 2014 gubernatorial race (sorry for the poor audio quality -- if you makes you feel any better, I was standing right there and could barely hear): … [Read more...]
Let’s Make Arkansas #1 in Education!
January 26, 2013 3 Comments
I know we’re already “5th in education” in Arkansas, so we should probably just declare victory and move on to other more meaningful tasks, like entrapping 35% of Arkansans in the Medicaid program. But, just in case that ranking is wrong and, I dunno, we’re actually 34th in achievement, maybe we should talk about some ideas for improving Arkansas’ edukashion sistem? Ya know, jest in kase. Good news: the folks at the Arkansas Reform Alliance are on it! In fact, they’re hosting an … [Read more...]
Time for School Choice in Arkansas?
November 30, 2012
A recent news report detailed a widespread cheating ring that included three southern states, including Arkansas. But it wasn’t the students who were cheating this time -- it was the teachers. A federal investigation uncovered 15 years of mass fraud in the public school licensing system. Apparently, teachers were hiring stand-ins to take their licensing exams for them -- and many of these teachers were in Arkansas. In response to the news, The Daily Caller’s Robby Soave sat down with … [Read more...]
Promoting Responsibility: A Closer Look At Lottery Scholarship Reform
May 2, 2012
After Rep. Nate Bell floated his proposal to reform state lottery scholarships last week, I contacted Professor Robert Steinbuch of Little Rock’s Bowen School of Law. Steinbuch is an expert on student loan policy, and he had a great deal to say about the lottery’s financing of higher education as well. Steinbuch generally supports the idea that we are wasting some money in higher education—that we need more accountability, and when a lottery scholarship student drops out of school, … [Read more...]
Nate Bell’s Weird Idea: Let’s Stop Wasting Taxpayer Money!
April 27, 2012
State Representative Nate Bell is working on legislation that would require Arkansas lottery scholarship recipients to repay their scholarship money if they do not finish school. He has not officially released a draft of the bill, but that didn’t deter Max Brantley from immediately attacking Rep. Bell’s proposal as soon as Bell mentioned it on Facebook. Brantley says “there is a lot wrong with this idea.” Curiously, he only mentions one thing: a small percentage of folks might have … [Read more...]
Will Nationalizing Education Solve Our Problems?
April 26, 2012
Over the years, as the failures of local schools became evident, states took more active roles in ensuring that children received an adequate education. As the failures of states have become more prevalent over the last several decades, the federal government has now decided that they in fact have the answers. In fact, just recently, the Obama Administration has made a renewed push towards federal involvement, promoting their “Common Core” standards for states. This approach has received … [Read more...]
Beebe Keeps Pushing Dubious Education Ranking—And He Should Stop!
February 14, 2012
Recently we cast a questioning glance at the claim peddled by Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe that the state's K-12 education system is "the fifth-best in the United States." The governor bases the claim on the annual Education Week Quality Counts ranking released in January. Trouble is, it's not really true. The University of Arkansas Office of Education Policy issued a whiz-bang assessment of the problems with the rankings. They note that the overall state ratings, like the one Beebe … [Read more...]
Report: Arkansas #45 In Education? But Gov. Beebe Said We Were #5! (Updated!)
January 27, 2012
Hey, how was your National School Choice Week? Why, mine was lovely, thanks so much for asking! We round out the week with a look at the latest Report Card on American Education from the good folks at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), ranking these 50 states for their performance on a variety of measures related to K-12 education. OK, let's take a look here (turns pages, turns pages, jesus this thing is long). Hmmm, Arkansas lands at number 45...But wait! Weren't Gov. … [Read more...]
