Public education update

The juxtaposition of these articles is too ironic not to mention: first, here’s Jeff Jacoby taking on the NEA in the Boston Globe – “The Bottom Line for Teachers Unions”

According to the Department of Education, the number of public school teachers in Massachusetts soared from 33,629 in 1991 to 70,236 in 2002, a 108 percent rise. During roughly the same period, public school enrollment in Massachusetts grew by only 17 percent. The explosion in teacher payrolls may not have led to better grades or more effective schools, but it certainly gave a boost to the union's bottom line.

Teachers unions, like all unions, want to make money and amass power. Those are the motives behind everything they say and do. They're not in business ''for the children.'' They're in business for themselves.

And now this: Home-schooler wins National Geography Bee

WASHINGTON -- The competition went to a second tiebreaker before James Williams, a 14-year-old from Vancouver, Wash., claimed victory Wednesday in the 15th annual National Geographic Bee.

It was the second straight year a home-schooler has won the bee.

Now about those vouchers……