Tennessee Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman is withholding $3.4 million from the Nashville public schools as punishment for the defiance of the school board. The board voted four times to deny a charter to an Arizona company called Great Hearts, even though Huffman ordered the board to approve the application.
Clearly, Huffman does not believe in local control.
This seems to be an attitude of today’s reformers. Arne Duncan decided to rewrite NCLB to meet his own specifications. He likes mayoral control, where the mayor need not listen to parents or communities. ALEC has model legislation where governors can appoint a commission to authorize charter schools and override local opposition.
One begins to suspect that the reform movement is anti-democratic to its core.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Suspect?
You took the word right out of my mouth.
these mini dictatorships are becoming increasingly disturbing.
i am hopeful that Chicago will open the eyes of the average person across the country to what is happening. It’s not just teachers.
It’s the concept of a dictatorship.
What is happening to our democracy?
This is a common tactic. Cuomo will deny increases in state aid to schools that do not implement APPR this year even though they do not need to until their contract expires. They would hold back books and supplies to children to bully through their agenda.
The Times Union reports the NYSED can’t even evaluate the plans they’ve gotten from the districts so far because they’re so understaffed. They’re hiring for $50 an hour if anybody’s looking for extra work!
Clearly Cuomo pushed through an arbitrary deadline meant to force districts and the local unions to agree to a hasty, ill-thought out evaluation system based upon VAM and standardized testing. And Cuomo is sitting on millions in hedge fund campaign cash that the Orwellian-named Cuomo SuperPAC “The Committee To Save New York” will unleash on any local union that doesn’t cower to Cuomo’s demands.
As George Carlin said, we live in a fake democracy.
We have owners and they get their way ALWAYS..
Ugh.
Isn’t this illegal in some way?
I guess it really isn’t about the children after all. It’s about Kevin’s ego. Who suffers?
It’s all about the children?
The Mayor of Nashville made a public statement suggesting that the state should punish our elected Board of Education for denying the Great Hearts Charter application. But they are taking away money that goes directly to the classrooms via a state law. Teachers use this funding, about $200 per classroom, to purchase materials and supplies. I don’t know if this $3.4 million is from that part of the BEP formula, but regardless, students and teachers will suffer. The Board was completely justified in denying this application which was supported by some very affluent and influential parents. The charter could not satisfy the Board’s concern about serving a diverse population reflecting the demographics of greater Nashville. And the “suggested donation” of $1200 per student plus additional fees for parents, certainly has raised eyebrows!
Wow! Diane asks about democracy. That appears to be a thing of the past. As Kevin’s ex once said, “Collaboration is overrated.” Kevin’s move is a new low. I hope the Mayor gets voted out the next time he’s up for reelection and you all keep the Board. They seem to be the only ones who are thinking about the children, and by that I mean ALL the children of Nashville. This suggested donation and other fees should be illegal. Otherwise, we’ll find private and parochial schools masquerading as “public” schools. Enough already!
That’s a crappy and cynical move to try to turn the parents against the board and the teachers. I hope the public can see that for what it is.
“But they are taking away money that goes directly to the classrooms via a state law.” Okay, then, where are the lawyers?
Call the ACLU? And what is the name of that famous legal center in the south?
That’s the TFA ego which his exwife Michelle Rhee clearly shares, as evident yesterday when she wrote about the Chicago strike: http://www.studentsfirst.org/blog/entry/statement-from-studentsfirst-ceo-and-founder-michelle-rhee,
“If it were about the kids we wouldn’t be negotiating the idea that increased compensation should come with more accountability for learning, not less. If it were about kids, we wouldn’t be negotiating whether principals should be empowered to choose the best teachers available regardless of fit or effectiveness.”
She just inserts herself into whatever issue she wants to take over and control. I couldn’t resist sending her the following tweet:
“we wouldn’t be negotiating” UR negotiating? Get real, imposter. UR no one in Chicago, home of 17 years of reform/model 4 the nation”
That’s 17 years of no democracy in education in Chicago: Since 1995, the top-down, mayoral control, appointed puppet school boards, high-stakes testing, massive school closings, opening of for-profit charters and no teacher representation business model of “education reform” has been in place, and the achievement gap has only widened.
THAT’S the status quo Rhee and her cohorts blame on teachers, when politicians are culpable and educators were never even invited to the table. No wonder Chicago teachers want to stay at that table now, to make sure they’ve finally had their say.
Unfortunatley no one points this out. These clowns seem to think they have a monopoly on reform. Look at what the status-quo reforms in Chicago, DC, Newark, Jersey City and other places have gotten us. Some of the results include: busted budgets, parental apathy, lucrative contracts for some, lousy schooling for children, increased achievement gaps, millions for non-sensical testing,and the demonization of teachers.
After all is said and done, we’ll probably spend billions to correct the errors of these individuals. One hopes they’re banished to some faraway place when this happens.
Nope, they’ll reinvent themselves as the reform – reformers and rake I those bucks as well.
Oh, and don’t forget the biggest of them all, the Big Apple, New York City. (Or–should we call it Bloomberg Town?)
“One begins to suspect that the reform movement is anti-democratic to its core.”
But this has always been the way of the reformers, going back over 100 years. The idea of democracy–which requires listening to and respecting the wishes of others–is an anathema to those who consider themselves to be the smartest in the room. The reformers of every age insisted they knew what was best for everyone, the facts to the contrary be damned. For them there is no alternative to their plan to deal with the crisis at hand.
And there has always been common cause among the various academic institutions, business leaders, and fringe political and religious groups to stir public sentiment using a pliant press to demand reforms. Given the immensity of American public education, it’s always easy to find a poster child for one cause of another. Given the lack of a real “science” of education, the players are free to make up their own superstitions as pass them off for knowledge. Given our cultural obsession with wealth and employment, it’s always been easy to cry that our children are not “job-ready”, as if they are nothing but machines sold to dig ditches, to terrify parents and politicians into agreeing with the reformers.
And since no one pays attention to history in America, none of the reformers has to account for their stupid ideas and corrupt administration.
We need to develop a robust definition of a liberal education that supports a democratic society. We need to accept that we have to develop our children into good citizens and human beings first; and workers second. Once we’ve done that, we can then keep ourselves and the public focused on what we need to accomplish our goal. We will have a standard by which to judge reforms and reformers. But until then, it’s a free-for-all in which the parties with the loudest voices and most money have the upper hand.
Again, selfishness, greed and ever-loving need for power. Insanity!
How nice of Mr Michelle Rhee. He punIshes the poorest students of Nashville by withholding $3.4 million because the school board denied a charter school that caters to wealthy, mostly white students. What a leader.
I hear a lot of union rhetoric in these posts (us vs. them, democracy, dictatorship). I think we need to look past our ideological bubble and decide what is best for the kids. It seems too often (I have been at the table) that the union is concerned about making sure we have a 37 minute lunch break and less about what is best for the kids. Scholars can and will argue about accountability and standards, but the bottom line is we need some level of both. The strike would not have occurred if both sides’ primary concern was educating children.
You’re commenting on the wrong post, my friend (check back on “Chicago Strike Ends.”). Then click the link to the Rev. Jackson Sun-Times article and READ IT–he lists ALL of the reasons behind and causes of the strike, and these struggles are felt on a daily basis in schools across the country, as reported by Diane and her readers.
In Illinois, Senate Bill 7 prohibits strike authorization
for reasons OTHER than salary & benefits. (This being done to hamstring teachers &, also, to make them look greedy and,
generally, selfish.) Unions give us a voice, which we otherwise would not have. THEN who would speak out for the children? Kevin Huffman?
This comes the day after we celebrated the 225th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution.
Here in Buffalo we have to deal with Dr. John.KIng ( in Albany) who does the same thing. It’s too bad that the public blames the teachers for his behavior and want us to submit to the nonsense “for the sake of the children”.
The poor kids lose out when schools are denied the money they need… for the sake of the egotistical boys having” measuring contests” in their high offices. It really is” personal “for them… this kind of stuff proves it.
Not HIS order. Order of the State Board of Education, following state law. Get your facts straight, Madam.
It’s his wish, the state board’s order, the governor’s going along–to push a publicly funded private school for affluent families.
Shameful. Shameful.
Why do conservatives prefer privatization to local control?
Gee, where have I heard that ‘local control’ complaint before? Oh yeah, segregationists were all about that back in the day. Thank goodness the Feds came in. Thank goodness the state has intervened. This diversity excuse does not serve the children of any ethnicity or economic tier. It’s a desperate fight to maintain a monopoly.
Wow, this is SO very needed for me as I sit here after a REALLY long day of just shaking my head at the insanity that is going on in the city that I call home (Nashville). I can not tell you how much I appreciate the breath of fresh air from all of your comments. Our newly elected board took a stand for ALL of our students with their 4th and final denial of Great Hearts. There was enormous pressure from the Mayor and our state officials and our Governor. The most ironic part of the 3.4 million dollar fine is the fact that it is from the BEP funds that are designated for “non-classroom”. Several things fall under that heading and of them is transportation. So the state has decided to withhold money that would go toward transporting our children to school who are Free and Reduced Lunch (FRL), in zone but not within walking distance or who are disabled. Do you know one of the major sticking points for why Great Hearts did not get approval? Transportation! They did not want to provide adequate transportation for students that were outside of the affluent west Nashville location. Their plan was to provide MTA bus passes for (FRL) kids that are old enough to ride mass transit and then they were going to provide limited busing to a specific neighborhood if the demand was great enough. Sounds pretty good until you get to the part that they were only going to do it for 2 years. Apparently after 2 years those kids’ families were magically going to come into some money to be able to buy a car or quit their second job or whatever so they could drive their child to and from school that is across town. So it seems that the state has shown us exactly how they feel about our students that need transportation. When they tried to bully the elected board into approving a charter that did not meet diversity requirements via transportation to the school or location of the school it didn’t work. Now they are punishing the very kids that would have been punished by approving a charter that did not give them adequate access. Oh the irony. I wrote an open letter to Nashville prior to the last board meeting which lays out the whole mess and the reasons Great Hearts’ business model was not a good fit for ALL of our children and therefore not a good fit for Nashville. You can read it here if you want all the details. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bx0LSuayKtIWTlI0Zy1pM2U3WkE/edit?pli=1
MNPS is “not a good fit for ALL of our children and therefore not a good fit for Nashville.” We’ve got to have more options that focus on what the children need, not what the blob needs. The BOE failed to believe there would be consequences to their vote. They are the ones that should be blamed.
Diane, thank you so much for reporting what is happening here. I am an MNPS teacher and I am so proud of our board for standing up for our students and rejecting this charter that thought it didn’t have to follow the rules. I don’t know if you have seen the following story, but please read it and blog about if you can. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120920/NEWS04/309200039/Nashville-parents-explore-taking-over-schools
They are now threatening our high-performing schools in West Nashville with “parent trigger” to close them and turn them into charters.
Lesson for the teach: the US is not a democracy. It’s a representative republic. But you got the democrat-ically elected part right. Nashville is a blue dot in a very red state. Thankfully that blue is getting lighter and lighter all the time.
I would also like to note that in a democracy, there should be no law that says the state can force a democratically elected board to vote a certain way. I agree that the so-called reformers care nothing for democracy.