John Podesta, who heads the Center for American Progress and headed the 2008 Obama transition team, was a keynote speaker at Jeb Bush’s DC gala.
He called on his fellow “reformers” to work in harmony with unions, even though nearly 90% of charter schools are non-union schools.
“Reform” (I.e. privatization) “is not a foregone conclusion.”
It is important to win the acquiescence of unions, especially now that the public is pushing back and trying to ward off the attack of the billionaires and hedge fund managers.
It seems the public is not yet completely sold on the idea of handing the public schools over to entrepreneurs.
Funny, that.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I hate the whole movement, deep in my bones.
Good news ~ Ohio is starting a movement, Strong Schools / Strong Communities ( see below…)
~ Jeb Bush is not fooling anyone ~ He is part of the premeditated, national assault on privatization of public schools for corporate gain.
Would Jeb want his children in a “classroom” behind a computer with 225 other children and 1 educator? Would Jeb want his child in a school with no connection to building Community? No drama club, no band, no debate team, no orchestra… the list goes on…
I have a simple question: Why in the WORLD do we seek to garner profits off of our children?
If there are profits, how about RETURNING them to our children and our schools instead of paying million dollar salaries to CEOs with no education expertise who employ teachers on “at will contracts” where they can be fired at any time for no reason?
If there are profits, how about using the $ to provide our children and families with more resources so that they are taken care of, academic deficits and/ or academic strengths can be addressed…
How about using PROFITS to hire full time nurses, a full time guidance counselor, a social worker, teachers’ aides for classrooms with over 25 students, buying some Smart Boards, funding enrichment classes, hiring more Intervention Specialists for our special needs students?
Why are we seeking to PROFIT off of our children when it is our charge to use everything in our power to lift them up, take care of them, educate them, help them become the best learners and human beings they can possible be?
Ohio’s Teachers, Parents, Superintendents, School Board members and Citizens have launched a new movement ~ Strong Schools / Strong Communities
Strong Schools Strong Communities is a non-partisan movement dedicated to informing and engaging Ohioans at the community level to understand, appreciate and support our system of common public schools.
Visit our website at http://www.strongschoolsohio.com
Friend us on Face Book at :
Ohio’s Teachers, Parents, Superintendents, School Board members and Citizens have launched a new movement ~ Strong Schools / Strong Communities
Strong Schools Strong Communities is a non-partisan movement dedicated to informing and engaging Ohioans at the community level to understand, appreciate and support our system of common public schools.
Visit our website at http://www.strongschoolsohio.com
Friend us on Face Book at : http://www.strongschoolsohio.com
Speaking of Civil Rights …
— Source
I wonder if Corporate Owned Education will be the issue that splits the Democratic Party?
Charter schools are a scam and one thing they are really not is public education. How can they be public education when charter schools do not have to follow most ed code, local regulations, cherry pick parents and students, do not deal with behavioral problems, ESL or special education and finally they do not have to show you their financial records only their tax records. The tax records are how Steve Barr from Green Dot was busted with $60,000. Public schools are required to take all students no matter what the circumstances. The hedge funds state openly “We learned there is a lot of money in education.” Not only that they have also stated “We can double our money in 7 years instead of 12 years by using government money.” Not bad if you are a hedge fund manager and like robbing the people in another “Profit Center.” K-12 general fund in the U.S., without bond construction money, is about $700 billion and the DOD budget is about $642 billion. Is it clear why they need another profit center with this kind of money and mind control on the table?
They should not be allowed to use the reform word…we should cross it out and replace it with privatization: charters, vouchers, cybers…and any other cockamamie schemes they have planned.
I refuse to acknowledge that they even care about our children…..OUR children, not theirs.
You will notice I use the P word, not the R word, whoever syntactically appropriate
Winning over “the unions” turns out not to be so hard. Just give the entrenched leadership a place at your table. We now have the AFT out in front of the privatizers, actively pushing their “compromise” teacher evaluation plans. Our bought-and-paid for union functionaries have enshrined the VAM calculations as “only part” of a big top-down data-driven hoax on their own members!
Our own Paul Toner here in Massachusetts is our MTA president and also a fellow of the Aspen Institute! It’s a prime example of the challenge communities of actual teachers, parents, and children face in our commonwealth. We can’t even move forward to challenge the corporatist agenda on the ballot, because a fire brigade of of our own union employees show up at meetings to pitch for compromise and unity behind their sell-out platform.
Is it necessary to follow the path of MORE in Chicago, and take back our union before we can even stand up for public education?
Just wondering.. what makes John Podesta an expert on education reform?
The same qualities as the rest of them: egotistical, arrogant, pompous, opportunistic, money grubbing, power hungry, self absorbed, callous, unethical, bloviating buffoons.
Hey Linda,
Tell us how you really feel!
😉
Just kidding…spot on!
All of these so-called think tanks claiming to be experts are destroying this nation. Podesta now is an education expert?? What’s next?
They need to call it what it is, and that is looting of the public coffers.
“If you go to war on your workforce, sooner or later you’re going to lose.”
Ya think?
How kind to offer us terms of surrender. I’d rather resort to violence. I’m glad I’m a Scotsman, we draw our swords and look for the most insane unwinnable fight and test the impossibility. These people are beneath contempt. I have no goodwill to offer them.