Readers of this blog know we have been following the story of Great Hearts Charter School and its effort to locate in an affluent section of Nashville. Here is a good and objective summary in a Nashville newspaper.
State Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman–whose only prior experience in education was working for Teach for America (he taught for two years, went to work for TFA, was never a principal or a superintendent)– wants this particular charter very badly. He has been monitoring the actions of the Metro Nashville school board, and he warned them there would be bad consequences if they did not approve this charter. Huffman made it clear: he wanted this charter approved.
The local board thought that the school would not be diverse, would not reflect the district, and they turned it down. They turned it down three times. The state board ordered them to approve the charter, and the local board said no again.
Maybe the local board was aware of research showing again and again that charters don’t get better results than public schools unless they exclude low-performing students.
Huffman and the Governor were furious that the school board said no. They announced that they would punish the democratically elected Metro Nashville school board by withholding $3.4 million in “administrative” funds. These are funds for student transportation, utilities, and maintenance.
In their vindictiveness, Governor Haslam and Commissioner Huffman are prepared to deny transportation funds for the children of Nashville and shut off the lights and electricity.
All for a charter that expects parents to pony up $1,200 as a “voluntary” contribution to the school. No wonder there are people who think this is a ploy to open a private school with public dollars, located conveniently in an area where upper-income parents want a free public education, inaccessible to children from the other side of Nashville.
Haslam and Huffman are likely to go the ALEC route. The rightwing organization ALEC has model legislation that allows the governor to appoint a commission to authorize charter schools over the objections of local school boards.
A measure of this kind is on the ballot in Georgia this November.
What this demonstrates is that privatization means more to these conservatives than local control. With a governor-appointed commission, they can hand over public dollars to fat cats and cronies.
Nothing conservative about that. A conservative member of the Alabama state board of education writes me offline, and points out that the privatization movement is about greed, not education. It violates every conservative principle.
Remember when local school boards in the South used their powers to defend segregation. Here is one that is using its powers to defend desegregation.
Governor Haslam and Commissioner Huffman can’t tolerate the school board’s defiance. they are ready to wipe out the authority of local school boards to advance the privatization of public education and to hasten the return of a dual school system..
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Some Small Governments Are More Petty Than Others
Interesting that Nashville’s mayor has his kids in private school and he ran on fixing the public schools. Maybe that’s the reason for the Great Hearts push. :>)
From Chris Hedges’s column in today’s Truthdig:
. . . . Politicians are the public face of corporate power. They are corporate employees. Their personal narratives, their promises, their rhetoric and their idiosyncrasies are meaningless. And that, perhaps, is why the cost of the two presidential campaigns is estimated to reach an obscene $2.5 billion. The corporate state does not produce a product that is different. It produces brands that are different. And brands cost a lot of money to sell.
You can dismiss those of us who will in protest vote for a third-party candidate and invest our time and energy in acts of civil disobedience. You can pride yourself on being practical. You can swallow the false argument of the lesser of two evils. But ask yourself, once this nightmare starts kicking in, who the real sucker is.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/page2/how_do_you_take_your_poison_20120924/
Interesting. Washington state’s charter school initiative creates just the kind of charter school commission this article describes. We could be in the same boat as Memphis. Not a pretty thought.
Just remember that this comes from the corporate-funded ALEC.
Google “Alec Exposed,” the Center for Media and Democracy has posted ALEC’s model legislation online.
You will see the ALEC parent trigger.
The ALEC model voucher law.
The ALEC law to create a commission to override local school boards to create more charters.
I am painfully aware of all of that. And the members of my party who are promoting that legislation. I suspect they tire of hearing my objections, but I will continue to object.
Maybe your readers should know how the Superintendent of Metro Nashville Public Schools defines diversity…before you go praising the local board for being champions for diversity. This is ridiculous. Sworn testimony of Jesse Register found after the first two paragraphs. It would seem even Diane Ravitch would be at odds with our local board and administration when there own words are used against them:
http://wontbackdownblog.wordpress.com/2012/09/23/the-drexel-difference/
“Won’t Back Down?”
A familiar ring to it.
The privatization lobby.
actually, the blog was named to draw attention, but is not affiliated with the film in any way. It is meant to represent the hundreds and hundreds OF PARENTS in the Davidson County school district who are wanting choices in public education.
wbdb,
You can have all the choices you want, go ahead and start up a private school that survives on private funds. Why would these supposedly great and miraculous charters need any public funds if they are indeed so effective. They should be able to stand on their own to two feet.
Just say no to giving public monies and space to the privatizing corporate education deformers.
or, perhaps your readers might like to see the very information that was presented to this school board when they made their decision. Doesn’t seem that the charter review committee that was selected by that very board shared the same concerns about diversity, does it?
http://wontbackdownblog.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/what-great-hearts-is-really-saying/
It’s just a matter of time before the trend of segregation is seen and brought to the attention of the courts. Charter schools do not want Special Ed. or students who need any additional assistance. These kids are seen as a big expense. That would cut into the “private” charters profits. You can’t use public money to segregate. Yet, this is what is happening. What is wrong with our president who can’t see the writing on the wall?
“What is wrong with our president who can’t see the writing on the wall?”
In December of 2010 he (Barack Obama) referred to himself as a Blue Dog Democrat.
President Obama: ‘I’m a Blue Dog Democrat’
http://www.theneweditor.com/index.php?/archives/12170-President-Obama-Im-a-Blue-Dog-Democrat.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Dog_Coalition
A ‘Blue Dog’ is, a Conservative Democrat aka Conservadem.
Unfortunately that wasn’t the guy we heard on the campaign trial nor who we thought we were voting for. Hope this helps.
Maybe the school board saw what is happening in Louisiana and refuse to allow it in Nashville. Big money talking, that’s all these charter schools are.