White House promises, then retracts, 400,000 teachers

When is 400,000 not 400,000? When the president is on the campaign-trail, of course, says the Daily Caller. The 400,000 number is included in a Tuesday White House report titled “Teacher Jobs at Risk.” It was released a few hours before President Barack Obama was scheduled to use a campaign trail speech in Texas to demand GOP support for his $447 billion “American Jobs Act” stimulus-bill. But administration officials quickly backtracked on the 400,000 number once they were quizzed by reporters during the press conference. The money would only support 400,000 teachers for one year, leaving state and local government to pick up the tab every subsequent year, admitted Katharine Abraham, a member of Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers…

Click here for the full story

…Read More

Ind. vouchers prompt thousands to change schools

Under a law signed in May by Gov. Mitch Daniels, more than 3,200 Indiana students are receiving vouchers to attend private schools.

Weeks after Indiana began the nation’s broadest school voucher program, thousands of students have transferred from public to private schools, causing a spike in enrollment at some Catholic institutions that were only recently on the brink of closing for lack of pupils.

It’s a scenario public school advocates have long feared: Students fleeing local districts in large numbers, taking with them vital tax dollars that often end up at parochial schools. Opponents say the practice violates the separation of church and state.

In at least one district, public school principals have been pleading with parents not to move their children.…Read More