By Carol Lloyd

My hubby woke me up early, not for breakfast in bed or anything like that, for me to clean poop up from our puppy. He didn’t get the “chance” and didn’t have the “bucks” to get me anything – then he saw how upset I was( i lied saying it was ok) and left me home with the kids and poop to get me some cards and a gift; so that meant I had to clean the house myself to get ready for both of our families coming over for lunch…

So begins one of hundreds of sagas evoking the misery of Mother’s Day on chat boards (this one courtesy of BabyCenter.com) across our virtual nation.The disappointments, the hurt feelings, all those DHs who don’t see the point in pampering the mother in their midst. “You’re not my mother,” allegedlyquoth said hubbies.

For many years, I’ve been among those who try to ignore the cellophane trappings of Mother’s Day. Not just the sign

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This is the calendar of education-related bill hearings and events for May 2-6. Schedules are subject to change or delay.

MONDAY

10 a.m. House preliminary consideration
– Senate Bill 11-076 PERA contribution rates

10 a.m. Senate final consideration
– Senate Bill 11-109 Tax form check off for state preschool program
– Senate Bill 11-080 School turnaround plans
– Senate Bill 11-052 Higher education performance funding
– Senate Bill 11-265 Change in Mesa State name
– Senate Bill 11-245 Teacher preparation programs

Senate preliminary consideration
– House Bill 11-1121 Employment of felons in schools

Senate consideration of memorials
– Senate Joint Memorial 11-004 Calling for repeal of NCLB

1:30 p.m.

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by Connie Matthiessen

Teachers are expected to reach unattainable goals with inadequate tools. The miracle is that at times they accomplish this impossible task.– educator Haim G.Ginott

Ive always enjoyed working at my kids school – helping out in the classroom or the school library — but when I leave the building after an hour or two, its hard to keep from breaking into a run. Its not that I dont love the kids, its just that being surrounded by quick, demanding, little people — all with different questions and moods and levels of understanding — is like being pecked by adorable but persistent chicks.

So I marvel that teachers do it all day every day — and that so manymanage to keep their patience, inspiration, and sense of humor. This is just one of the manyreasons Im gratefulforall thegreat teachers in my childrens lives.

Next week is Teacher Appreciation Week (May 2 – 6), and its a great opportunity to celebrate your teachers.

There are many ways torecognize Teacher Appreciation Week. At

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So now there is a go-to piece of legislation for the “get the feds out of the buisness of K-12 education” crowd: The A-Plus Act.

Introduced in the Senate last week by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., the measure would give states way more leeway in using federal funding and building systems for holding schools accountable for student achievement.

In a nutshell, the bill would give states the option of setting their own targets for student performance. The states’ plans would have to be approved by the U.S. Department of Education. Then states could pool money from a few, or all, federal ed programs and spend the funds more or less how they see fit. They could also set up their own accountability system. If states didn’t meet their performance goals, they’d have to revert back to the accountability system prescribed under the No Child Left Behind Act.

So far the bill has seven co-sponsors, all Republicans.

This bill has been around before, it was introduced in previous Congresses.

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The University of Colorado this week launched the public phase of a $1.5 billion fund-raising campaign intended to support scholarships, provide faculty and program improvements, pay for buildings and support research at CU’s four campuses.

As is the practice with such campaigns, the effort has been in a “silent” phase since 2006, and some $900 million already has been raised. The effort continues until the full $1.5 billion goal has been reached.

CU President Bruce Benson was quick to note at a Monday announcement that such gifts aren’t a substitute for ever-dwindling state funding. Such outside support “will not make up for the steep declines in state funding,” Benson said, noting that CU depends on state funds and tuition for operating revenue and that gifts generally are restricted in their use.

Gov. John Hicken

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In an era of cuts, cuts, and more cuts, the Obama administration scored a big victory when it secured $700 million for a new version of Race to the Top in the budget deal that funds the government through September.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan & Co. are not spilling the details yet as to what the next iteration of this popular competition will look like. (And we’ve asked!) But that’s not going to stop Politics K-12 from speculating anyway.

First off, it’s important to remember that the law creating Race to the Top—the economic-stimulus package—is the law that governs the new version, too. The stimulus gave Duncan a nearly blank check worth $4.5 billion, and he ran with it and created what we all know now as Race to the Top. Earlier this month, Congress essentially wrote him another $700 million blank check. So we shouldn’t assume Duncan is going to create the same competition again, especially given the compressed timeline. The fiscal year ends on Sept. 30,

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Summer internship time is approaching. Any college student worth his/her salt is shoving down thoughts of freedom and beaches and all the beautiful things summer break used to mean, and is working any angle he/she can think of in order to land a sweet summer internship gig. Seriously, no one has a summer job delivering pizza any more. There seems to be some theory in the offing that insists theres a direct correlation between ones future trajectory and ones summer break activities.

Lindsey Pollak has some advice about how to turn an internship into a job, and Hack College has a new and improved way to .

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