I have several thoughts about Warren Buffett’s decision to double the size of the Gates Foundation by contributing $30 billion of his fortune to it. First, it’s his money, and he can do with it as he pleases, although I wish he would support the repeal of the estate tax so that others with much […]

Recently I attended a working meeting of the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) to hear three well-known national experts discuss with board members the foundational elements of reading and the language arts, particularly as they pertain to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), which for the past ten years has been the foundation […]

Anyone familiar with the woeful state of teacher preparation in America should not have been surprised at the recent anti-American tirade by Colorado high school teacher Jay Bennish. You may wonder, where do these people come from? Well, the substantial majority of them come from our colleges of education, many of which encourage the shaping […]

Every American leader with any sphere of influence in whatever walk of life should see the recent ABC television report by John Stossel entitled “Stupid in America”, a scathing expose of the irrational perversity that is so deeply imbedded in the American public school system and the severe damage that this archaic culture and delivery […]

When we examine the education priorities of Texas’ political leadership as evidenced by the policy initiatives of the 79th Session of the Texas Legislature, we find a policy mix dominated by three priorities: property tax relief, fixing the broken “Robin Hood” system of school finance, and providing more money for public education. The first two […]

(Following is the Executive Summary of the above titled paper. For a copy of the complete paper of about 25 pages, please let me know.) There is very little doubt among sophisticated observers that Texas has led the nation in public education reform over the past decade or so and that it has served as […]

The saga continues. As the title indicates, this is the third of a series of essays on the efforts to address the overhaul of Texas public school finance and search for a successor to the flawed “Robin Hood” system crafted by a series of special legislative sessions in the mid-1990’s. In the wake of District […]

In speaking and writing about the current status of Texas public education reform, I am often torn, in the metaphor of the drinking glass, between the half full and half empty portions and sometimes criticized for my emphasis on the half empty portion. So let me start with the half full portion.There is no doubt […]

Last November, the Texas State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC), on which I was appointed to serve by Governor Rick Perry, narrowly approved a very controversial rule authorizing probationary certification to aspiring teachers who want to be licensed to teach using an alternative to the traditional certification route, typically through the colleges of education. Recently, […]

“Properly speaking, there is no such thing as education. Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to the next.”—G. K. ChestertonI am reminded of the above quote, which is among those taped to my desk, by numerous articles and commentary highlighting the debate over civic education in America’s […]