Dirty Play

I was just sent this article and it made me laugh and cry. Well, not literally, but perhaps you get my point. Children play. Yay. Children get dirty. Ok. School apologizes. Huh?

Taxes and School Fees

Reportedly, in England they are about to start levying taxes on non-public school fees. While I have no views on taxes on school fees, or on whether school fees are appropriately targeted as "value-added", I do take issue with a couple of the points which have been raised in the accompanying discussion. And full disclosure, none of the states in which I have worked have taxed school fees, although as far as I know those schools still paid sales and transaction taxes on whatever they bought.

Costs and New Hires

Over coffee with a former colleague the other day, I heard an interesting story. A school we both know has negotiated the exits of several of its senior faculty. By negotiated, I mean paid them something to resign. I also mean implicitly threatened them with termination (it's a right-to-work state) and negative references. The reason? Replacing them saves about a quarter of a million dollars a year, and even with the payouts, the school is better off in about six months.