A secret group commissioned by reactionary elements in Michigan crafted a plan to voucherize education funding. The plan will be submitted to Governor Snyder. Note that the purpose of the plan is not to provide better education, but to cut costs.
The article describes the plan as “reform,” but as usual, the real intent of this treat eggy is to abandon public education. When the privatizers say “the money should follow the child,” what tpthey mean is that the funding should go anywhere: to religious schools, private schools, cyber schools, for-profit vendors. That way, they drain essential funding from public schools, which will lose programs and staff, this facilitating the growth of the private sector.
The LA Times printed an article yesterday on when Rhee knew what in DC, this re: the law suits pressed against her. They put it in the back of the local news section below the fold, with a large pic of Rhee, and hardly mentioned Eli Broad and his training Foundation. This should have been front page…but that was saved for news of ball games.
We the People are so screwed in the raging free market.
Cutting costs is all the rage. It out-weighs common sense when the goal is to keep as much money as possible for the few and to assume workers are willing to and can survive on a low-paying wage with little to no benefits or job security. The building of a middle class America and the flow of currency requires that more people are earning money to spend. Teachers are pawns in this “game” we have created. It is much larger than the education policy issues would have us believe.
Yes. That’s why this so-called reform isn’t education reform. It’s about who gets what and how much of it. Unions or privatizers? Teachers or administrators (or CEOs in the case of charter chains)?
there’s no real education reform. Unleashing market forces is not reform. Markets have the aim of producing a product where the cost comes in under the price. That’s not education reform.
Public education is bludgeoned by the “failing system” argument which makes people think any alternative must be better. This plays into the hands of those who look at our communities and see children as $.
Elton John/Tim Rice (from THE LION KING): “I think we should begin the meal from scratch
So many juicy segments to detach
Be good as gold for you’re as good as carved
Here, kitty kitty…
We’re starved! “
More on Snyder’s Skunk Works …
Gretchen Whitmer (Michigan Senate Democratic Leader) Says Details of Governor’s Secretive School Workgroup Raise Serious Questions
“Privatization” is a codeword for diversion of funds from taxpayers to private corporations.
“Privatization” brings “Efficiency”, and “Efficiency” is a codeword for ever bigger pieces of the funding pie getting spent on Fat Cat Administration and Mad Ave Advertizing.
Yet Another “Modest Proposal” for What To Do About Other People’s Children
Meanwhile, Back at Greenhills …
The idea does not surprise me. The act of trying to keep it in the shadows does…sort of. Kudos to the Detroit News for bringing it to the light of day. I usually am not a fan of the News, but they deserve credit for calling attention to this brazen act. Unfortunately, Michigan has become one of the more favorable states for conservative activism in our country. This kind of attempted takeover of our public school system is not to be taken lightly, nor will it be easy to derail. However, as Edushyster likes to say, this kind of skulduggery does not stand up well to the glaring spotlight of public scrutiny. I hope this is true.
Guest commentary: EAA won’t answer simple questions about its finances
Jeb Bush: “ALEC’s Report Card on American Education is a helpful guide” — Look Out, Michigan❢