Howard Dean Phones In From Planet Mongo

What could Howard Dean be thinking?! (courtesy of Mike Antonucci of the Education Intelligence Agency)

Howard Dean Phones In From Planet Mongo

http://www.eiaonline.com/intercepts/2011/05/19/howard-dean-phones-in-from-planet-mongo/

Former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean appeared on MSNBC and dropped this bombshell:

"There was a battle between charter schools and teachers unions for years and years. That battle is coming to an end," he said.

I'm pretty sure the Planet Mongo – where Alfie Kohn has lived for years and Diane Ravitch is reportedly househunting – has Internet access, so it's strange that Dean hadn't seen this story:

In a 4-to-3 decision, the Georgia [supreme] court struck down a law empowering a special statewide commission to approve and finance charter schools even over the objections of local school boards.

In a Freudian slip of a headline, the NEA-affiliated Georgia Association of Educators (GAE) issued a press release:

GAE lauds GAE Supreme Court's decision on charter schools

The Court's decision reaffirms GAE's belief that public charter schools should remain under the management and control of their local school boards. We believe the Georgia Supreme Court's Majority opinion echoes the constitutional and statutory analysis focused on in GAE's Amicus Brief to the Court regarding the historical, constitutional, and statutory meaning of "special schools."

Apparently on Mongo the Emperor Ming the Merciless has decreed teachers' unions will no longer expend time and money to eliminate, cap and regulate charter schools. Here on Earth, however, the Hundred Years' War continues.

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Bombs Keep Falling After End of War on Charter Schools

http://www.eiaonline.com/intercepts/2011/05/20/bombs-keep-falling-after-end-of-war-on-charter-schools/

Yesterday we heard the battle between charter schools and teachers unions "is coming to an end."

So, as charter schools tentatively creeped out of their bunkers, they were hit on both flanks with artillery fire.

The California Assembly passed a new cap on the number of charter schools – a bill sponsored by the California Federation of Teachers – and the recent United Federation of Teachers lawsuit would prevent the Upper West Success Academy charter school from moving to a public school campus.

Stay in the trenches, troops.