WUI (Writing under the influence)

Somebody once said we are all Americans, sometimes born in the wrong places.
On a warm autumn day in 1986, while enjoying beer with my college buddies,
I decided to join my new homeland.

I've come to appreciate the ideals that helped create this great country.
Liberalism, political-correctness, multiculturalism and moral equivalence
are destroying it.

This old house Grovenet Wal*Mart Visiting Poland American wine better than French.

Friday, June 10, 2005

 

Chalkboard report

Oregonians support school choice. But the Oregonian conveniently omits this part of the Chalkboard Project report and instead quotes false statistics:
As long as Oregon chooses to spend less per child than the national average on public education, schools need to invest their money very, very carefully.
A while ago, I mentioned that it's a pretty stupid goal. First, some school districts, like D.C. for example, increase the national average by burning money faster than some startups during the dot-com boom. Second, as soon as Oregon starts spending more, the national average will go up and some other state may come to the same conclusion. Pretty soon, we'll have a full-blown arm school budget race on our hands.

Then, the Oregonian comes up with this:
This is something most people in Oregon can agree on, whether they think K-12 schools are starving for money or bloated with cash.
How can most people in Oregon agree on this if they think schools are bloated with cash?

But it you read the first quote more carefully, you will notice that the Oregonian doesn't say what the national average is and how much less the state of Oregon actually spends.

So I went back to my post from January and found this:
Here, in Oregon, we spend almost $8,000 per pupil, which is slightly higher than the national average of $7,734.
OK, I will give the Oregonian the benefit of a doubt. Maybe the numbers have changed slightly since January and now Oregon really spends below the national average. But we can't be much off so I really think the Oregonian makes too big a deal out of the numbers to cover up what's really important:
[I]n a 2004 statewide poll of 1,800 Oregonians, residents strongly supported more school choice options [so] [the Chalkboard Project] also proposes expanding Oregon's charter schools law, to allow universities, community colleges and neighboring school districts to charter a nontraditional public school.
Only then can you come back and ask me for more money.

Comments:
I ead your post on Oregon wine thinking you had visited, but you live here? Very cool indeed. I'll have to Blogroll you. You might want to check out our joint Blog at http://rednorthwest.blogspot.com
 
Post a Comment



<< Home

Archives

October 2004   November 2004   December 2004   January 2005   February 2005   March 2005   April 2005   May 2005   June 2005   July 2005   August 2005   September 2005   October 2005   November 2005   December 2005   January 2006   February 2006   March 2006   April 2006   May 2006   June 2006   July 2006   August 2006   September 2006   October 2006   November 2006   December 2006   January 2007   February 2007   March 2007   April 2007   May 2007   June 2007   July 2007   August 2007   September 2007   October 2007   November 2007   December 2007   January 2008   February 2008   March 2008   April 2008   May 2008   June 2008   July 2008   August 2008   September 2008   October 2008   November 2008   December 2008   January 2009   February 2009   March 2009   April 2009   May 2009   June 2009   July 2009   August 2009   September 2009   October 2009   November 2009   December 2009   January 2010   February 2010   March 2010   April 2010   May 2010   June 2010   July 2010   August 2010   September 2010   October 2010   November 2010   December 2010   January 2011   February 2011   March 2011   April 2011   May 2011   June 2011   July 2011   August 2011   September 2011   October 2011   December 2011   January 2012   February 2012   March 2012   April 2012   May 2012   June 2012   August 2012   September 2012   October 2012   November 2012   January 2013   February 2013   March 2013   May 2013   July 2013   September 2013   October 2013   November 2013   December 2013   January 2014   March 2014   April 2014   May 2014   June 2014   July 2014   August 2014   September 2014   October 2014   November 2014   December 2014   May 2015   September 2015   November 2015   December 2015   March 2016  

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?