Political Control in Education

Opinion:
"'Parent trigger' laws get support from across the spectrum" By Alan Bonsteel The Sacramento Bee , Jan 3, 2012
An educational revolution is sweeping across the United States: "parent trigger" laws that offer hope to the downtrodden, give a voice to the voiceless, and that finally bring together the most lefty of liberals and the most conservative of tea partyers. (12.2 kb)

Opinion:
"Children's rights to homeschooling attacked" By Alan Bonsteel San Francisco Chronicle , March 11, 2008
Imagine the outrage that would result if someone in the California Legislature introduced a bill mandating that our credentialed public schoolteachers must come from the bottom quartile of their college classes. And yet, studies have shown that on the average, that is the case. (16.0 kb)

Opinion:
"Closing In On Closing the Black/White Educational Achievement Gap" By Alan Bonsteel , November 30, 2006
The Holy Grail of public education has always been to close the minority/white educational achievement gap. For a while, that seemed to be happening; especially after the civil rights reforms of the 1960s, black Americans’ standardized test scores improved significantly compared with those of whites. However, between 1988 and 1994, black reading scores fell dramatically, a decline that mirrored the greatest deterioration in the quality of America’s public schools, and since that time those scores have remained flat-line.(47.6 kb)

Opinion:
"Parents demand, 'Let our children go'
L.A., Compton districts accused of not allowing transfers mandated by U.S." By Alan Bonsteel , Orange Counter Register , March 24, 2006
How long should parents allow their children to remain trapped in a failed school? Five years? Two years? One year?(20.9 kb)

Opinion:
"California voters reject education reforms" By Alan Bonsteel School Reform News , vol. 10, no. 1, January 2006
In a California special election on November 8, a slate of four reform initiatives, all with a bearing on the future of California’s beleaguered K-12 schools, was voted down. Three of the initiatives had been qualified by allies of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, while a fourth, a Paycheck Protection initiative that would have required public employee labor unions to get the permission of their members before using their money for political purposes, had been qualified independently but was embraced by Schwarzenegger in October. (33.7 kb)

Opinion:
"Tide turns for school-choice forces" By Alan Bonsteel Orange County Register ,Wednesday, January 4, 2006
Last year could hardly have ended with a more resounding victory for school choice advocates. On Friday, Dec. 30, President Bush signed into law the Hurricane Katrina relief bill, which gives the families of displaced New Orleans K-12 schoolchildren receiving federal educational aid a choice of public and private schools. (17.3 kb)

White Paper:
"How CTA Policies Hurt California Children and Good Teachers" By Peter Hanley, October, 2005
California Parents for Educational Choice Foundation has often noted the heavy costs—in finances, in operational efficiency, and in student academic achievement—that the current government monopoly in public education imposes on our society. Generations of proposed or adopted reforms have been deflected and fallen by the wayside as they have attempted to penetrate this state behemoth.(654 kb)

Opinion:
"Meritless lawsuit will take money from schools to give to lawyers" By Alan Bonsteel , M.D. Orange County Register, Friday, August 19, 2005
On August 9 the California Teachers Association and its most famous employee, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, announced that they were suing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for $3.1 billion in money they think the public schools are owed under Proposition 98. (16.9 kb)

Opinion:
"Enemies of reform have a new ploy" By Alan Bonsteel, M.D.,Orange County Register December 11, 2003
The California Teachers Association is the 800-pound gorilla of California education. As the largest teachers union in the state, it has succeeded for years in blocking teacher testing, merit pay, an end to teacher tenure - and, most importantly, the right of parents to choose better schools for their children. (116 kb)

Opinion:
"Teachers union up to old tricks" By Lance T. Izumi Orange County Register Friday, March 7, 2003
Last year, the California Teachers Association sponsored a bill that would have made curriculum, testing and other education policies part of the collective bargaining process. That bill died a well-deserved death. But now the CTA is back with a proposal that would knock the teeth out of the state's school accountability system. (173 kb)

Web Article:
"Due & Forfeit: The Absorption of Charter Schools Charter schools are here to stay. Now the danger lies in the embrace of traditional opponents" By Michael Antonucci, Education Intelligence Agency, 2002
I have possess‘d your grace of what I purpose; And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn To have the due and forfeit of my bond: If you deny it, let the danger light Upon your charter and your city‘s freedom. (60 kb)

Opinion:
"Edison Parents' Revenge" By Alan Bonsteel, M.D. San Francisco Examiner, September 9, 2002
Last year, a pitched battle to save San Francisco's Edison charter school drew worldwide attention. Had San Francisco's school board been trying to shut down a low-performing school, there wouldn't have been a word in the press outside of the city's borders. (139 kb)

Opinion:
"Democrats stray from education path" by Alan Bonsteel, M.D. Los Angeles Daily News, July 2001
ON July 19, The Associated Press published previously secre documents proving that the main national teachers union, the National Education Association, had been one of the key leaders in a clandestine committee that illegally directed the 1996 election activities of the Democratic National Committee. (140 kb)

Opinion:
"There Are Kids at Edison Who Need a Break" by Alan Bonsteel, M.D. San Francisco Chronicle, February 26, 2001
San Francisco Unified School District is in chaos. Its finances have been taken over by the state's Fiscal Crisis Management Team. It doesn't have enough textbooks to go around. (7.64kb)

Opinion:
"Democracy in action: The internet destroyed Schools' Monopoly" by Alan Bonsteel, M.D. Los Angeles Daily News, April 23, 2000
The  Internet  will  transform  us  more  than  the  Gutenberg  press   and  the Industrial Revolution combined.(7.41kb)

Opinion:
"Teachers Association's big lie"   by  Alan Bonsteel and Carl Brodt,  Oakland Tribune, April 17, 2000
FOR years, the California public school establishment has been telling the public that California kindergarten through grade 12 public school spending trailed the national average by $1,000 per student. (6.68 kb)