When I asked readers to tell me about the reforms in their own state, I received dozens of replies.
It is hard to say which state has the most destructive reforms. By destructive, I refer to legislation that is anti-teacher, anti-public education, anti-education, and anti-child. This means legislation that strips teachers of any job protections and that prohibits them from bargaining collectively, as well as legislation that bases teacher evaluation on student test scores and that hands public school dollars over to private interests, whether for profit or for private management.
This writer describes what is happening in Pennsylvania, under Tea-Party governor Tom Corbett, who seems determined to rid the state of public education:
In Pennsylvania Governor Corbett has been following the ALEC script to the letter. This year he cut education funding by $1 billion and raised funding for prisons by $700 million. This includes what will be three new privately owned, for profit prisons. School districts throughout the state are cutting programs and laying off teachers.In Philadelphia, public schools are under full scale attack. The School Reform Commission has announced plans to turn over 65 public schools to charters and a goal of have 40% of Philadelphia’s students be in charters by 2017. All blue collar workers are in the process of being laid off and replaced with a low paid, non-union workforce.The School Reform Commission is the state body (three members appointed by the Governor and two appointed by the Mayor) that has been running Philadelphia schools for ten years. It ostensibly took over the Philadelphia School District due to mismanagement, but in the last ten years has made the District’s financial situation much worse.After repeated attempts to privatize schools over massive community opposition, the agenda of a series of SRC’s to privatize Philadelphia’s public schools was greatly advanced during the tenure of Dr. Arlene Ackerman. At the same time as she was Superintendent, she was serving on the Board of the Broad Foundation. After she was forced to resign in August, 2011 after getting into a turf war over proposed charters with Mayor Nutter, her appointments, most who received training from the Broad Foundation, continue to advance the privatization agenda. They have brought in the corporate raider the Boston Consulting Group and a group of corporate privatizers calling themselves the Great Schools Compact to oversee the transfer of public schools to charters.
Here is another report from Pennsylvania:
In my state, Pennsylvania, we have a Governor who is deliberately underfunding true public education while actively seeking to privatize education using Charter managers and vouchers. In my district, Philadelphia, things are even worse: ten years of State Control through a ‘School Reform Commission’ have left with a horrible budget crisis and ‘solutions’ that only make the problem worse. They are cutting us to the bone marrow and then decrying our ‘failure’ with the poorest children in our city. They are closing or turning over neighborhood school that serve as refuges in the community to charter companies. Companies that exist to make money for CEOs and ‘counsel’ the neediest at every turn. Sixty million dollar district buildings are given free to millionaires (Kenny Gamble’s Universal Company), major charter operators (Mastery) are allowed to say educating Special Ed students is ‘too expensive’ and get monetary help from a broke district. All this is done without votes or transparency!
http://thenotebook.org/blog/124936/district-mastery-reach-agreement-serving-disabled-students-clymer-elementary http://thenotebook.org/blog/124911/district-price-tag-audenried-and-vare-year-18-million |
Is Pennsylvania the first victim of education reform via privatization? (Personally, I think we would claim Louisiana’s public school system as the first victim, Pennsylvania as 2nd. And what about Detroit?)
Regardless, here’s the killer’s MO:
1. Under-fund/STARVE the schools financially
2. Overcrowd the classrooms, reduce programs, supplies
3. Fail the public school using NCLB and/or Race to the Top laws leaving the public school in death-throws
4. Sell the school to private charters
5. Public school, Dead On Arrival
Who is the criminals?
Corporate Education DeFormers, privatizers, Democrats for Education Reform, and the GOP. Neo-Liberals and Neo-Conservatives have joined together to tag-team as partners in the killing of public education. We know the list.
Here’s what Pennsylvania is doing about it:
(In case WordPress doesn’t make that link live, here it is: http://youtu.be/Y-n0B5B4g6Q )
Parents, students, and teachers need to look at Pennsylvania and take preventative action. If we don’t work together and if unions don’t lead stronger actions against the Corporate DeFormers, the entire American public school system will die out. It’s up to us.
Louisiana is usually last in every thing. But, you’re right, Louisiana certainly is a number one victim in regards its destruction of public education. 😦
Philadelphia may not be the first city or even the worst city in this country, but it could very well be the largest American city to lay waste to its school district. Its a $2.5B system with 147,000 public school students and 46,000 charter students. It’s a move that is being orchestrated as much by local political and private forces, as it is by national organizations who are providing a supporting role but are not the sole drivers.
In terms of PA, 25 school districts could qualify as “recovery school districts” within a few years under a proposed bill moving through the state legislature. What PA is experimenting with is not just limiting the restructuring of public ed to simply large, underfunded, urban districts but destabilizing school systems all across the state.
All of us need to share lessons not just in what is happening but as Jaisal Noor is writing about above, the local strategies on pushing back that help us develop a broader movement and strategic alternative agenda and process.
Maybe I can keep my job for another year at South Philadelphia High school. All bets are off after that. I would like to see a general strike of all state and municipal workers. Teachers are not allowed to strike in Philadelphia. It’s time to look at who is telling us what to do and start telling them ( the state legislature and governor) what to do. I’m tired of privatization and the destruction of the teaching profession.
We are rapidly entering a state of 1984 style double speak fascism. Totalitarian rule for profit is a formula for death of democracy. Take away local rule (SRC), take away the right for poor people to vote (ID card voting), take away public education (School District of Philadelphia), build prisons to house the poor (Corbett), allow the death of the environment while a few get very rich (fracking). Pensions for nobody, 401K’s for all. What kind of Orwellian nightmare has Pennsylvania become?
We can be Republican right wingers (moderate Republicans are gone) or we can be center right Democrats (no leftists allowed). Even Obama hates public education. There is nobody for me to vote for. I have no representation in city hall, Harrisburg or Washington.
The only thing left is to take to the streets.