It isn't just the New York City Department of Education that has some suspicious and very expensive contracts, the New York State Department of Education has some curious deals of its own. Like the $27 million no-bid contract the Daily News reports on which was recently given to a News Corp. company that just happens to be overseen by former city Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. Nothing fishy about that at all! more ›

A lot of people have been complaining about new Schools Chancellor Cathie Black and her lack of experience in education, but now a school board member is actually trying to do something about it. Mayor Bloomberg plans to submit a waiver request to the New York State Department of Education because Black has no education experience, and Panel for Educational Policy member Patrick Sullivan is asking the state DOE to deny Bloomberg's requests. He wrote that her appointment was "simple cronyism," and believes the panel should review her case. Civil Rights lawyer Norman Siegel said, “Today we begin a people's campaign to say no, no to the waiver for Cathleen Black." more ›

The State Education Department released its annual list of "persistently dangerous" schools, and out of the 19 schools, 16 are in New York City. Which is progress, because last year there were 25 schools on the list. Mayor Bloomberg, who recently touted an 11% drop in felony crimes in schools, said, "Our schools' safety agents, teachers and principals should be proud, but we will push to keep the progress going.'' One school, Jamaica High School, is glad to be off the list--a teacher said, "I'm elated that we're off the list, but we should have never been on there in the first place." But UFT president Randi Weingarten believes there are more than 19 schools on the list--and more needs to be done to help them. Students are allowed to transfer from listed dangerous schools; here's a list (XLS). more ›