We The People of Longview, TX » Get The Facts

The Quiet Education Overhaul

Cindy — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 10:55:38 +0000

The Department of Education is using that windfall of funding and power to stage a significant overhaul of local schools; dangling grant money before cash-strapped states on the condition they adopt key pieces of the Obama education agenda. And this is all happening without public consideration, even though it means that parents [...]

The Quiet Education Overhaul

Cindy — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 14:04:24 +0000

Yesterday, President Obama delivered a major speech on education in an effort to garner support for his Race to the Top grant program and his push for national education standards and tests. The President’s remarks came on the heels of a speech delivered by Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Tuesday at the National Press [...]

Update on PTISD Bond for new Stadium

Cindy — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:33:33 +0000

As discussed at Pine Tree ISD School Board Meeting on July 12, 2010…

No decisions were made tonight as to the issue of Pirate Stadium. Pretty good crowd went home with nothing decided. There is a big push to reopen the stadium for this football season. It seems they will decide at a meeting next Tuesday whether to [...]

A Chart of Unemployment since 1995

Cindy — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 22:28:43 +0000

Source for the unemployment figures: a spreadsheet taken yesterday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics website. Republican period: January 1995-December 2006. Democrat period: January 2007-June 2010. Click here [...]

Arrogant Washington threatens Rick Perry and Texans’ right to Govern Themselves

Cindy — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 22:22:08 +0000

In one of the most outrageous displays of arrogance by Washington in recent memory – which is saying a lot, of course – the House Democrats have inserted specific language on top of $10 Billion in funding for education included in a War Supplemental bill targeted directly and solely at Texas – language that demands the money [...]

Prolonging Education’s Race to the Bottom

Cindy — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 02:57:22 +0000

In perhaps the President Obama’s most stealth campaign to date, the federal government has been slowly tightening its grip on the education sector to little fanfare. Rather than working through the democratic legislative process, this Administration has circumvented Congress to enact an ill-conceived education agenda that will weaken accountability, reduce transparency and minimize choice while only adding to [...]

Why National Standards Won’t Fix American Education: Misalignment of Power and Incentives

Cindy — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 22:05:18 +0000

American education needs to be fixed, but national standards and testing are not the way to do it. The problems that need fixing are too deeply ingrained in the power and incentive structure of the public education system, and the renewed focus on national standards threatens to distract from the fundamental issues. [...]

NEARLY HALF OF US HOUSEHOLDS ESCAPE FEDERAL INCOME TAX

Cindy — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:55:38 +0000

About 47 percent of U.S. households will pay no federal income taxes for 2009. Either their incomes were too low or they qualified for enough credits, deductions and exemptions to eliminate their liability. That is according to projections by the Tax Policy Center, a Washington research organization.

In recent years, credits for low- and middle-income families have [...]

INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM FOR TEXAS?

Cindy — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 11:46:53 +0000

What is the right of Initiative? It is the right of citizens to propose state laws or constitutional amendments which after they have collected enough signatures, the proposed legislation is placed on the geneal election ballot for the approval (or rejection) by the Texas voters.

What is the right of Referendum? It is the right of citizens [...]

WHY FREER SCHOOLS ARE BETTER SCHOOLS

Cindy — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 15:29:30 +0000

President Obama’s proposed overhaul of No Child Left Behind is long overdue. Over the past decade the regime’s rigid metrics and penalties transformed schools into testing factories. Unfortunately, the White House proposal — which replaces NCLB’s legal sticks with new legal carrots — won’t come close to fixing America’s schools, says Philip K. Howard, chair of [...]