The education BLOB, made up of teachers' unions, parent-teacher associations and school bureaucrats, is embarrassed by schools that perform better than the BLOB. Maybe that's why the BLOB in Oakland, California voted to shut the highly successful American Indian Public Charter Schools. In this week's syndicated column, I explain how the schools' egotistical founder, Ben Chavis, gave the BLOB an excuse by running the schools like a business... continue reading »

The education BLOB--- that immovable jelly-like ball of teachers' and janitors' unions, the school board bureaucrats, PTAs, etc.---just keeps growing. As the number of students increased 96%, the number of administrative staff has increased 702%.... continue reading »

I blame teachers unions a lot for our failed education system. But they aren't the only ones responsible. In this week's syndicated column, I take on the education "Blob".

The Blob includes the teachers unions, but also janitors and principals unions, school boards, PTA bureaucrats, local politicians and so on... continue reading »

Public schools do a lousy job... and reformers who try to make improvements run up against the "BLOB." It's this Jabba-the-Hutt like thing that can barely be budged - the teachers' unions, janitors' unions, the school board bureaucrat, etc. The BLOB says: "We don't do that here. We have to requisition downtown. We got to get 4 or 5 people to sign off, the deputy director of curriculum has to say this is OK, etc."

The BLOB insists education needs more money, but as the chart shows, America has tripled spending, but math, reading and science scores haven't improved... continue reading »

Exciting things are happening in education suddenly. In some places, charter schools bucked the unions, and got results. Inner-city kids do well on benchmark tests. They are excited to learn! When I told fourth graders that school is boring, they yelled, "No, it's not!" Says one boy: "Reading is rockin' awesome!"... continue reading »

Tonight on The O'Reilly Factor, Bill O'Reilly and I discuss the current strike by public school teachers in Chicago.

Researching the topic, I am amazed by the data... continue reading »

A blog post in the Washington Post criticizes states like Michigan and Tennessee for supporting the spread of charter schools, because that diverts money from the government schools:continue reading »

Obama's new budget is 1,470 pages long. On page 1,318, Obama announces he will end funding for the DC "Opportunity Scholarship" program, which gives poor kids the option of going to a private school instead of being stuck in the government monopoly. [HT: Fox News' Ed Henry]... continue reading »

America's government-managed schools are a mess. On international math tests, U.S. students rank behind countries like Hungary. It's one reason I called my special "Stupid in America." The bigger reason is that it is stupid to trust something important like education to a government monopoly.

But, as I write in the my syndicated column this week, there is good news:

Cool things are starting to happen in classrooms... continue reading »

A just-retired public school principal writes me after my special:

You nailed the problems and issues in today's public education... with the current teacher unions, textbook companies, and especially teacher TENURE... teacher "tenure" is all but stopping 21st Century educational reform all over the United States... continue reading »