@jerseyjazzman.bsky.social
Education policy analyst, teacher, musician. Lecturer, Rutgers University Grad School of Education. @njpolicy.bsky.social @shankerinst.bsky.social NEPC Fellow. Jazz pianist and composer. Music educator.
Arizona taxpayers funded ESA travel and excursions in at least 45 states and 14 countries (newest additions are Nebraska and Kenya).
🇦🇹Austria
🇧🇪Belgium
🇪🇬Egypt
🏴England
🇫🇷France
🇩🇪Germany
🇬🇷Greece
🇮🇹Italy
🇯🇴Jordan
🇰🇪 Kenya
🇲🇽Mexico
🇳🇱Netherlands
🏴Scotland
🇪🇸Spain
To help prep for budget day, take a look at what @njpolicy.bsky.social will be looking for in the gov's budget proposal:
www.njpp.org/publications...
1) There are states other than California and Mississippi.
2) There are nationwide tests that measure things other than Grade 4 reading.
3) There are measurable education outcomes other than test scores.
"Rising charter school costs were cited by 67% of respondents among the most significant pressure on their school budgets."
It's time for Democrats to stop focusing on issues that only elites care about, like unemployment and the price of gas, and start talking about things that matter to regular Americans, like Black mermaids and the genders of the characters on Paw Patrol.
I blame the teachers unions...
"Yeah, but I didn't like her laugh..."
Rep Tom Kean Jr's weekly #NJ07 newsletter comes, as usual, from his own dream world where:
-the fight over funding DHS has nothing to do with ICE/CBP lawlessness & violence;
-the war against Iran is about stopping a nuclear weapons program that was already obliterated.
Wake up, Tom!
#VoteKeanOut2026
Rocketship!
OBBBA will provide $1 trillion in tax cuts for the richest 1% over a decade while cutting Medicaid by almost as much.
Combined with Trump's tariffs, the average household in nearly all income groups will see a tax hike this year except the richest 5%.
itep.org/trump-obbba-...
People DON'T plan vacations on spreadsheets?!
On Earth 2, President Harris is being blasted for the price of gas ($2.49/gal), not fixing the housing shortage in a year, refusing to separate immigrant families, and spending billions arming Ukraine with the latest drones.
If you're at the airport and Kristi Noem is doing the ominous little message from the TSA screens, you no longer have to do anything she says. Leave your laptop in the case, whatever.
Find me a winning Dem primary challenger & I'll find you an opponent of school vouchers as a hand-out to the wealthy. But opposition to vouchers also factored in GOP races like this upset in NC where powerful senate prez, a darling of the school choice lobby, is down by 2 votes
Who among us hasn't subsidized a European vacation, or visited Petra, on the state of Arizona's taxpayers?
Two different account holders. This is outrageous, and fully allowable under Arizona's ESA policy.
[Dates are dates submitted, not dates on which expense happened.]
Imagine you are a Lego fanatic. In ~3 years (Aug22-Nov25), how much could you spend on Legos alone?
AZ's winner-this is one ESA account-spent $15,944.59 of AZ taxpayer money on Legos*
(*May be more: WalMart Target Michael's etc purchases aren't disaggregated. Waiting for those data.)
New report: 99% of Iowa private school students are now funded by taxpayers.
Most of those were already in private schools.
But also new pop-up schools are rising to up draw students and dollars from public schools.
Entirely as predicted.
www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/e...
“In other words, the Mahmoud opinion was the low-water water mark for the ways this court plans to use religious freedom to wash away any protections and policies that might be opposed by religious parents.”
God bless Sotomayor.
Having actually talked to Fetterman about this before he was a US Senator this is such a flip flop but let me give you the documentary evidence.
Thanks for the link. What's missing in this convo is any acknowledgement that accountability and oversight ain't free. How much are taxpayers supposed to pony up so parents can have their "choice" subsidized?
One huge problem here is that the child, or children who were deprived of education (because this is how the money was spent) have no legal recourse for those damages - quantifiable, life long damages due to deprivation of education. All in the name of "parent empowerment"
Nine months ago, the United States "completely and totally obliterated" Iran's nuclear program.
Tonight, we're attacking Iran to disrupt their nuclear program.
A sizable percentage of this country thinks that's normal.
My statement on Trump's strikes on Iran.
Baller ESA account: By day, I girlboss in an executive chair. By night, I’m wrapped in faux-fur blankets, mood-lit by a jellyfish lamp & hydrating from 1 of 2 Stanleys. I carry my life in a series of increasingly expensive black leather bags. With a Coach charm, obv. I own a neck air conditioner.
Kristi Noem is in charge of stopping terrorist attacks on the US. Think about that.
What makes the data recently obtained by AZ 12 News’ Craig Harris a new chapter in the ESA debate is the presence of unique IDs. Earlier data allowed statements about overall purchases; now you can see the set tied to a single account.
This account holder bought estrogen, progesterone & a pool.
Not petty at all. Accountability.
