ICYMI: Banned Edition (10/11)

I have deliberately waited until after Banned Books Week this year to talk about banned books because it's a topic I hate to see relegated to just one week where we all wring our hands with concern and then, come Sunday, sigh "Well, now that's over with" and move on. But the attempts to curtail reading of certain Naughty Texts is a 52 week project for those who are determined to try to keep certain ideas away from human brains, so let's stay alert all the time.

Plenty of reading from the week. Remember to share the pieces that speak to you.

Banned Books Week: The Florida Law That Opened the Floodgates

It is, of course, the Free State of Florida that leads the nation in book banning. Sue Kingery Woltanski recaps the tale of how it got that way. 

A ‘Gold Rush Moment’ for Private Education

The federal voucher program is ripe for profiteering and discrimination, but some states are signing on anyway. Jacob Goodwin explains the issues at The Progressive. 

Trump’s School Choice Program Could Push Public Schools to Charge New Fees

Mark Liebrman at EdWeek tries to sort out what federal vouchers will mean for public school finance. 

What We Mean When We Say “Good School” (pt. 3)

Jose Luis Vilson continues his series examining what expect from good public schools (and who we expect them to welcome).

Billionaires Love This School Policy. Many Regular Parents Hate It.

Jessica Grose at the New York Times starts to catch up to Jennifer Berkshire, noting that the Texas GOP is having trouble because they sold out public schools. (Should be a gift link)

Merging school districts was supposed to save taxpayers money. It didn’t, a 20-year study in Arkansas found

Jill Barshay at Hechinger with a counter-intuitive study from Arkansas about how combining tiny school districts might not actually save any money.

How Texas Helped a Private School Chain’s AI Tool Get Into Public School Classrooms

The folks behind Alpha School have been very generous with political donations in Texas, and it seems to be paying off with some sweet side contracts.

Efficiently Mediocre: Why Measuring School Efficiency Requires Measuring Cost

I really appreciate Bruce Baker's ability to render school finance comprehensible, and I recommend his blog. Here's a quick tutorial in how to chart "efficiency" in non-garbage ways (as well as a debunking some garbage charting).

Is AI Being Oversold in Schools? A Quick Look Back to the 1990s and 2000s Would Say Yes Because Teachers Are AI-ed To

John Robinson reminds us that the ed technobaloney of earlier decades is still baloney.

Information vs. Knowledge vs. Application

Nancy Flanagan picks up some ideas from one of my posts and runs with them. I do like it when posts become a conversation.

Department of Education denies Freedom of Information Act request for school voucher data

Steve Nuzum is trying to get information out of the South Carolina Department of Education regarding the state's voucher program. It's not going great.

Fascism Warning Play “The Wave” Silenced at Ocean County Vocational in New Jersey

The Downstage Center blog has been tracking the censorship of high school theater productions. In New Jersey, administration has axed a production of The Wave, a play about that famous classroom experiment about the rise of fascism.

What Happens At TFA 35 In Vegas …

Gary Rubinstein went to Teach for America's 35th birthday party and brought us all an account of the events. Things I learned include that TFA is still tight with reformsters, that they can command quite the roster of entertainers, and that Michelle Rhee is still full of it.  Fascinating read.

Reclaiming a Vision of Humane Schooling

Ben Riley hosts a column by Alicia Stoller arguing for actual human values in schooling.

MAGA fraud hunting account targets money going to Ohio Islamic charter school

Ohio, like many other choice states, gives taxpayer money to some Islamic schools, and yet MAGA voices insist that such a thing is Very Bad and money should only go to religions they personally agree with. Stephen Dyer reports.

At the Bucks County Beacon, I make one more plea to Josh Shapiro to reject the federal school vouchers.