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Archive of posts filed under the Education category.

Newsletter – June 15, 2010

15 June 2010, 4:41 pm

It’s been an active month for the Sharf campaign. We’re embarked on an aggressive walking schedule, and in spite of some weather-related difficulties, we’ve knocked on over 1,500 doors already, and completed walking through four precincts.

We’re starting a busy season of neighborhood meet-and-greets and fundraisers. We have three already scheduled, and have at least twice that many in the works over the next couple of months. I can’t tell you how heartening it is for me and all the volunteers to see such enthusiasm for the campaign. We’ve also been coordinating these events (and our walking) with Fallon for Congress, making good on the need for teamwork among all our candidates.

I want to welcome two new volunteers to our campaign staff. Anne Nichting has agreed to be our scheduler, keeping track of walking and making sure I always have something to do. Anne’s new to politics, and her enthusiasm has been a real boost. Kathy Bashari has taken on coordinating events and helping me reach out to donors. Kathy is the development director at the Denver Academy of Torah, and will be a splendid addition to the team.

Money remains the mother’s milk of politics, and any contribution you can make helps us get our message out to the district’s voters. Please click on here, and contribute $5, $10, $25, or whatever you can afford (although not more than $400) to help us win in November!

I’ve added another plank to the campaign platform – one of the most important: Education. Instead of the traditional approach, we need to be thinking creatively from government’s point of view, and encouraging our education providers to do the same in their role.

We’re continuing our new addition to the Backbone Radio franchise, Backbone Business. This week, we’ll be looking at financial bubbles. Be sure to listen to the Backbone Business broadcast this Sunday evening (June 20) at 7:00 PM, on 710AM KNUS in Denver, or 1460AM KZNT in Colorado Springs.

See you on the trail,

Joshua

Filed under Appearances, Education, Events, Newsletter, Walking the District.
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The Cartel

30 April 2010, 1:22 am

Where does all the money we spend on schools go? And why do we continue to sink tens of thousands of dollars per student into a district school system that is clearly failing our kids?

Those are the questions that Bob Bowden, in the new tour through the house of horrors that is public school funding the US, The Cartel, opening Friday at the Chez Artiste here in Denver.  I was lucky enough to attend the press screening, courtesy of the Colorado League of Charter Schools, and there’s a reason they sponsored the screening.  The film is a powerful indictment of how our schools are funded, and the politics of how those funds are allocated.

The public schools and public school teachers in this country have unfathomable reservoirs of goodwill. I myself spent all but one year of my primary and secondary education in the northern Virginia public schools, and think they did a pretty good job. Up until recently, public schools routinely got capital building bonds they requested, and when polled, most Americans still don’t think we spend enough on schools. In large part, that’s because the teachers’ unions have done such a good job of equating teacher salary with overall school spending, when fact, it’s only a fraction of classroom spending.

But there are signs that some of that goodwill needs to be written down. The so-far successful campaign of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to put a spotlight on the NJEA, the popularity of charter schools here in Colorado, as well as the progress of tenure reform through the state legislature, are all evidence that dissatisfaction is turning into action.

Continue reading ‘The Cartel’ »

Filed under Education, Events.
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