As mentioned in my previous diary, school districts in Washington State are suffering under a 12.7% population cap in Special Education funding. As a community with strong medical and social services, Spokane Public Schools has frequently been several hundred students above this cap with no way to make up the slack.

After years of begging from legislators and making cuts to make ends meet, we joined several other school districts in a last-ditch effort to get the funding we need by taking the state to court.

We originally filed suit in September, 2004.  A decision has been made at last!

Perhaps you clicked on the title thinking, "Oh, another NCLB post."  No.  I wish it were.  NCLB issues tend to get more media play.  This problem long preceded NCLB... and despite having Democrats in control of every aspect of the Washington State government, this one shows no sign of being resolved.

In the school district I work for, Unfunded Mandates has been the catch phrase of the past several years.  It has been a polite way for our Superintendent to say, "We're not getting enough Special Education funding, and it's sucking the life out of everything else."

The problem has become so severe that our school district and 10 others in the state filed suit.  We argued that the Washington State Legislature has habitually violated its constitutional duty to provide adequate funding for educating Special Education students.  This suit was filed September 30, 2004...   after several delays the case finally came to a close this past November, 2006.  What was the result?

I visited MSNBC.com at approximately 8:40pm PST. The front page carried a story about mental health resources for American troops. When I clicked on the page, I was directed AWAY from MSNBC to a negative editorial about MSNBC Editor-in Chief Jerry Nachman on http://www.sharkonline.org/...

The link is now fixed.

My husband and I constantly debate Net Neutrality.  I am of the opinion that the internet is much larger than anyone anywhere thinks it is.  It is an emergent property of our society.  It is the nervous system of an evolving social organism.  I don't think the telcoms could control it if they tried.  

My husband, a counterpoint to my internet evangelism, feels that the internet is in mortal peril.  

I work for the 2nd largest school district in Washington State, specifically in the Special Education department.

I am a secretary who, under the category of "other duties as assigned" handles a great deal of tech support for our department.  Friday I learned that our federally mandated internet filtering software is going to cost us thousands of dollars because of one blocked web site.

Unfortunately over the last week we have been shown how impotent our government can be at its primary job, that of protecting its citizens.  The stark pictures on television are the only warning we will get: As long as this administration is in office, we must count on ourselves when disaster strikes.

Knowing this, my husband suggested that we draft a family disaster plan.

The problem:  Every time anything on my computer tries to access the internet it fails on the first attempt.  I must refresh the page (if I am browsing the internet) or re-attempt the connection (if I am using FTP, an online game, AVG virus update, etc).

from Common Cause Blog

I did what I felt was a thorough search but I was unable to find any diaries on this topic.  I apologize if it has already been posted.

Last night I watched a chilling episode of Nova's World In the Balance program.  

The focus was on population flux.  Once when I thought about population concerns my mind would travel to India or China.  Yet, Nova outlines the real hot spot in illuminating the plight of Africa.  Africa is an example of the most macabre imbalance, where population continues to explode as the AIDS epidemic rages on.

Incensed by KWeberLit's diary entry regarding pharmacists seeking the right to refuse to dispense birth control, I started looking into the origins of Pharmacists for Life.

The Australian site, The Age, included an article today about the (edited link) disenfranchisement of the world.

And, naturally the request for representation follows...