March 23, 2009

Points of View

I know for many educators it is Spring Break season. You are on Spring Break, have been on Spring Break, or are about to be on Spring Break. For me, it is TAX SEASON.

This is an incredibly busy time of the year to say the least. At my firm, like many other CPA firms, we will work all of March and until April 16 (one extra day for any e-file problems). Out of 47 days, we will work 44 days. Yippee!

The good thing is March and April blow by... the bad thing is that I have never been able to take my lovely educator wife on a Spring Break vacation. One day...

Anyway, I have been busy watching the markets, reading about all of the new taxes, plans, and programs, and trying to figure out the best way to guide everyone through the current situation. I know it does not seem like it, but things are starting to look better. Really, they are.

In the meantime, I did want to pass along a few editorials that I have read recently (click on each to view the entire article). Also, later this week, I will weigh in on the current Georgia legislature proposal of furloughing teachers for 6 days next school year. This seems like a ridiculous proposal, and I hope to be able to include a letter I write regarding it.

Enjoy the editorials, thanks for the e-mails, and I hope your Spring Break is, was, or will be relaxing.

Robby

Education’s Ground Zero - By Nicholas D. Kristof - The New York Times - "The most unlikely figure in the struggle to reform America’s education system right now is Michelle Rhee. She’s a Korean-American chancellor of schools in a city that is mostly African-American. She’s an insurgent from the school-reform movement who spent her career on the outside of the system, her nose pressed against the glass — and now she’s in charge of some of America’s most blighted schools. Less than two years into the job, she has transformed Washington into ground zero of America’s education reform movement."

Opposing view: Score Choice helps everyone - By Laurence Bunin - USA Today - "New policy gives students a break if they have a bad day on test day."

Our view on college testing: Defining the SAT downward - By USA Today - "Score Choice policy reduces data, benefits affluent test takers. When thousands of high school students take the SAT on Saturday, they will have a big advantage over students in years past: If they do badly, no one has to know. No matter how many times they take the SAT, they can have only their best total score sent to their target colleges."

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