Justin Katz

Re: RI School Performance

By Justin Katz | February 15, 2008 |

My word won’t be taken on this, but I would love to learn that impressions of Rhode Island’s public education are unjustifiably poor. The ax that I grind is with the amount that we pay for the results that we get, and mathematics proficiency of 50% or less is simply not acceptable in a state…

A Note Between Elections

By Justin Katz | February 14, 2008 |

Amazingly, I’m still getting accused of being a Chafee supporter — this despite my having voted for Laffey in the primaries and Whitehouse in the general, just to get rid of the guy. Granted, I had my reservations about Laffey, mainly because I thought it unwise to export his proclivities and skillset to the national…

“We Have Been This Young Before”

By Justin Katz | February 14, 2008 |

Some interesting reading from Leon Wieseltier in The New Republic: All this even before we attend to the elimination of poverty. And into this unirenic environment strides Obama, pledging to extract us promptly from Iraq and to negotiate with our enemies. What is the role of a conciliator in an unconciliating world? You might think…

Breaking Campaign News at the Katz Household

By Justin Katz | February 13, 2008 |

John McCain just became the first candidate of the season to turn me off with an automated political telemarketing call just as we were succeeding in getting all the children to bed. Couldn’t McCain-Feingold at least have done the good deed of preventing that?

For the Record

By Justin Katz | February 13, 2008 |

I didn’t make as directly a causal argument as Nandini Jayakrishna makes it sound in her Brown Daily Herald article as her final rendering makes it sound: Though Maselli and Ucci said the bill is consumer-friendly, others think it might end up harming shoppers. “Businesses are not just going to eat the cost of this…

Sharing the Pain in Tiverton

By Justin Katz | February 13, 2008 |

I don’t support residency requirements for such public employees as teachers. It’s nice to think that your children are being taught by your neighbors (as inaccurate as that characterization of fellow townspeople may be), but schools should find the best teachers they can, and teachers should be free to decide where to live. That said,…

Letting Them Open the Door to Correction

By Justin Katz | February 13, 2008 |

Dan Yorke was livid, yesterday, about attempts by General Assembly leaders to grease the legislative chute for the next budget. From the relevant Providence Journal story: Although [House Majority Leader Gordon] Fox [D, Providence] withdrew one provision, the rule changes scheduled for House Rules Committee review following this afternoon’s House session will contain several proposals…

Tough Decisions for the Tiverton School Committee

By Justin Katz | February 12, 2008 |

Superintendent William Rearick of the Tiverton school district just announced that federal grant funding is being reduced $200,000. He’s gone back through the budget and found $27,513 in reductions (e.g., $4,000 from high school textbooks). Another $77,464 can be saved by reducing a middle school Math Literacy position by 4/5. Now begin the pleas for…

Destination, Heaven

By Justin Katz | February 12, 2008 |

Apparently, it presents a particularly acute public safety hazard to cause discomfort among those walking by abortion clinics, per these “legislative findings” (PDF): Preservation of public safety is a fundamental obligation of state government. Pedestrians have a right to travel peacefully on Rhode Island streets and sidewalks. Clearly defined boundaries around reproductive health care facilities…

Taking Care of Rhode Island (In the Hit Man Sense)

By Justin Katz | February 11, 2008 |

The business section of the Providence Journal was full of discouraging words, yesterday. Consider this from the dangerously clueless Senate Finance Committee Chairman Stephen Alves (D., West Warwick): When I asked him afterward about his remarks, Alves said that state tax collections were down last month, compared not only with January 2007, but also with…