Good Morning, Mr. Gekko

Governing.com reports on a new program that is transforming Wall Street’s laid off traders into the math teachers of the future. Very interesting concept, and hopefully some good can come of it. It should also make for some useful cautionary tales for the kids, although hopefully PG’ed down for young ears. (I’ve seen "Boiler Room" and "Wall Street"; I know what goes on.)

Moody’s Economy.com is predicting that 70,000 financial workers in the New York area will lose their jobs by the middle of 2010. New Jersey, which is home to many laid-off Wall Street bankers and is facing a looming shortfall in math teachers, launched Traders to Teachers, an accelerated program at Montclair State University to retrain laid-off financial services employees as math teachers. The full-time, three-month program, which starts in September, puts applicants through intensive math classes and requires them to spend one day each week observing and teaching math in a middle school or high school. Upon completion, they are placed in a paid teaching position at a public school, and over the next two years, the program provides teachers with professional support and mentoring. To be an applicant, individuals must have been laid off from the financial industry, have a bachelor’s degree and pass a math test — which is tough enough that only 69 of the first 146 applicants passed. A commitment to teach at least through June 2012 is expected, and the cost of the program for participants is funded by a federal grant administered through the New Jersey Department of Labor. The university will begin accepting applications for the Spring 2010 program this summer. If successful, the program may be expanded to retrain laid-off pharmaceutical workers as science teachers.

This Agreement is Certainly Not All Wet

If there is a state battle over water supplies, there are only three potential solutions, writes Jonathan Walters of Governing.com. The options: Congress makes the call, the U.S. Supreme Court rules or the states work it out themselves.

The Great Lakes Compact (Indiana was the first of eight states and two Canadian provinces to sign on early this year) goes one better — protecting a most valuable natural resource before a squabble erupts. Walters says such agreements have a history of working well.

Check out this national perspective of an issue important to Indiana and the region. It’s an example of good policy coming before any politics, just what we like to see. Let’s hope Congress gives a quick approval and the Great Lakes stay that way.