A reader (who is not a teacher) describes the setting for the referendum this fall in Washington State that would introduce charter schools and a parent trigger into the state for the first time. An earlier post pointed out that the referendum–known as I-1240–is funded by Bill Gates and other super-rich high-tech entrepreneurs.
We’ll speak loudly and often. I promise. This is just the beginning.
BUT, we also need our teachers to stop being so quiet, so defensive, so intimidated. It’s a self-fullfilling prophecy when that happens.
The I-1240 folks are the ones who need to be on the defensive! The Privatizers are the ones who are afraid to say anything in public, knowing that the truth will sink their ship. The billionaire funders—NONE of whom have children in public schools—think they can fund these ersatz “education” groups like LEV, DFER, SFC, SF…(they’re ALL vile and funded by the same fronts)—and then sit back and just pull the puppet strings.
Do the 1% know best? Should the people who never have to choose between mortgage payments and utility bills be telling US what is best for our schools and our children?
This is NOT a battle between “reformers” and the “status quo”. Nor is it a battle between “teachers unions” and “taxpayers”.
It IS a battle between Citizens (both parents and non-parents) and Privatizers. Citizens want free and universal education for all children; privatizers want “charter” schools for some and “public” schools for everyone else who they deem “unworthy”. But the one thing all schools will have in common, if the Privatizers succeed with their awful plans—is private ownership and management, with fat profits, coming directly out of our education dollars.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
We had a long talk about this at dinner last night. Washingtonians have this “Pacific Northwest Practicality” that usually guides our decisions when it comes time to vote. We’ve said no to charters three times before, however this go around is different. It’s not just Jim and Fawn Spady beating the drums; Gates and the billionaire boys are there to hire the spin doctors and head up the advertising and pay the bills. The reader from the post above is correct: we have to be loud and organized. Those who will say we are supporting the status quo are not looking around at the bigger picture. Should this pass, they’ll be the same ones saying, “What happened? How did we lose our schools?”
A brilliant summation. I’ve used this poem by Paster Martin Niemoller with my students in the past to illustrate the dangers of not speaking up. In addition, my students would sustitute or add lines to it. Your readers could do the same.
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
We used to use the poem, “The Hangman” by Maurice Ogden to introduce a unit on the Holocaust.
One of the major claims offered to justify the charter schools initiative in Washington state is the need to encourage “innovation” in schools. I find this claim hilariously uninformed, as Washington state already has 480 “Innovation Schools”. It’s pretty clear to me that we don’t need charter schools to encourage innovation.
The only “innovation” the charters will encourage is “innovative” financing and investment products.
What really disturbs me lately is that there’s a new edreform group sprouting up every time you turn around. Take Teachers United (please – ha), a great sounding organization (aren’t they all) with many public school TEACHER members, many of whom, supposedly, are Board certified. Financially backed by LEV, cheered on by SFC, given local press coverage, they even testified at the state capitol in favor of the charter bill. Gag me.
No doubt Gates-funded
Diane