Whitney Tilson's School Reform Blog: Disaster in Rhode Island

In my last email, I wrote about how new Gov. Jerry Brown in California demonstrated what a gutless weasel he is by sacking the reformers on the state board of education, at the behest of the powerful teachers' union. Well, the EXACT same thing just happened yesterday in Rhode Island, which, until Gov. Lincoln Chafee was elected, was one of the leading reform states in the country, led by rock star ed reformer Deb Gist and a fabulous reform-oriented Board of Regents that included ed warrior (and my friend) Angus Davis.

Sadly, I'd be a lot of money that the reforms RI promised to win $75M of Race to the Top money don't come to pass – Chafee, for example, is seeking to halt all new charter schools (DFER is pressuring him not to: www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2011/01/29/groups_urge_ri_governor_to_expand_charter_schools) – so RI will be the first major test of what the Obama administration/Arne Duncan/the DOE will do with this RTTT money when a state doesn't deliver what it promised. Here's hoping they take a hard line!

Below are a couple of articles about Chafee's sacking, including two about the new Chair he's appointed, George Caruolo, author of the infamous Caruolo Act, which allows school committees to sue local towns to pay for the contracts they sign with the unions (I'm NOT making this up!).

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