A group funded by the notorious conservative Koch brothers will host a school choice forum in Nashville on July 22.
Here are their panelists:
“Moderating the talk will be Shaka Mitchell, who works for Rocketship Education, a California-based charter school organization with an East Nashville location set to open this summer. A second Rocketship school in Nashville has been approved to open in 2015.
“Panelists are Jonathan Butcher, education director of the Goldwater Institute; Stephanie Linn, state programs and government relations director of the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice; Justin Owen, president and CEO of the Beacon Center of Tennessee; and Steve Perry, principal of Capital Preparatory Magnet School, a Connecticut-based charter school.
“In a statement announcing the forum, the organization applauds Tennessee’s 2010 move to an outcomes-based funding formula for public universities that’s supposed to reward institutions that meet benchmarks. The group says Tennessee’s K-12 public schools, however, have some of the “most high-profile problems in its urban school districts.”
“It alludes to last year’s failed push for school vouchers that would allow public funds to be used for private schooling.”
You can be sure that the panel will not mention Rocketship’s plummeting scores, nor the fact that neither vouchers nor charters outperform public schools. And the word will be mum on recent charter scandals in Connecticut, Ohio, and Michigan.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This steamroller of an agenda—-supported by billions of dollars from Bill Gates and President Obama’s White House bully pulpit—-to take over teaching America’s children by a corporate system controlled by extremist billionaires is moving into the fast lane and attempting to crush anyone who gets in the way.
Only fools will support this and we know who those ignorant and arrogant fools are!
They are mostly white, older men who are biased or prejudiced—the same sort who supported the Catholic inquisitions of the dark ages.
The same sort who supported McCarthyism in the 20th century.
The same sort who supported the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 that wasn’t repealed until 1943.
The same sort who supported the building of concentration camps in America for citizens of Japanese descent while ignoring the white-faced Americans of German descent.
The same sort who supported Hitler’s agenda to exterminate the Jews.
The same sort who supported Jim Crow laws and racial segregation of the public schools.
The same sort who are the roadblock to the Equal Rights Amendment for women in the U.S.
The same fools who refuse to accept the science of evolution over the flawed and ignorant interpretation of the Old Testament that’s called creationism.
No matter what the rational resistance does, these forces will keep moving forward and will not be slowed or stopped until they face a crushing defeat. And even then, they will not stop. They will just start over and find another way to implement their Machiavellian world order—an agenda that will destroy civilization as we know it throwing humanity into a second dark age if it succeeds in all of its goals.
Yes, selfishness and greed wrapped in a pretense of religion and bought by the lemmings who feed on fear. They are emboldened by the belief that their ill-gotten wealth is evidence of God’s blessitgs on their lives.
Lloyd – Get a grip. You’rd gaga.
Yes Lloyd, I’m sure Bill Gates is a big supporter of Hitler’s agenda to exterminate the Jews. Lloyd, you’re going around the bend.
Jim,
Where did I say that Bill Gates was going to exterminate the Jews?
The problem is capitalism.
Arrogance, greed, and lust for power are not limited to capitalist systems.
Yes, and I think it’s a huge mistake to ignore what history has taught us about how vulnerable communism is to corruption and dictatorship. However, it’s capitalism that has enabled regular businessmen to acquire more wealth than entire nations and to circumvent democracy and buy their way to power.
Perhaps some of our eloquent debators should be presents to interject some statistics and outcomes school choice.
Sign up or watch live: http://www.charleskochinstitute.org/education-opportunities/
Good idea, and you could hang the same moniker on them…perhaps Mike Mulgrew could be introduced right after “notorious conservative Koch brother. We could say something like, ….”the scheming extreme progressive, Mike Mulgrew”
The allegations and comparisons on this site are blasphemous and void of any civility
Gipper,
If this site is your idea of “blasphemous and void of any civility”, you don’t get out much. If you would like to see some rude, blasphemous and extremely uncivil posting, I will send you a few links.
Perhaps you intended “I disagree with something posted here”.
Gipper,
Don’t blame everyone here for my blasphemous and generally crude and rude remarks. I’ll take the credit for those types of remarks, so thanks!
Duane
Rocketship is a failure. If parents will go on the internet and “research” it, they would be nuts to choose to send their kids there. 100 kids in a room with computer screens and 2 clerks walking the aisles to see they are “engaged.” Why in the world is Rocketship allowed to continue ruining education?
One can only imagine how terrible the conditions must be at these families’ zoned schools to make such charters a palatable option. Or the immense social and institutional barriers in place that prevent families from moving to districts with better schools (or, more specifically, districts where the students have been “sorted” by uneven access to real estate).
Parents by and large don’t have a choice when the bought politicians start the ed-reform regime to move public taxpayer dollars into private-for-profit pockets through brick and mortar schools or on-line shams like Rocketship. It isn’t a matter of how awful their neighborhood schools are, but good try at spin doctoring this, Tim.
Ed reformers act like steamrollers, bankrolling politicians to do their bidding by enacting sweeping laws to undermine public schools and defund them and harass teachers, etc.
Often, the only thing that is left for these communities is a charter across town, or an online school. Its all about “choice” right? Not so.
This week, the Columbus Dispatch ran two well timed editorials. One attacking teacher tenure. The other from Fordham extolling the virtues of raw competition. Interestingly, all teachers in Ohio do not receive tenure. Teachers are eligible for continuing contracts and some due process, but not tenure. The editorial argument against tenure comes at the same time four teachers who reported issues at Gulen schools are now themselves subject to chilling counter attack and investigation by ODE. And we hear of administrators, secretaries, and counselors “encouraged” to change grades and attendance records of Columbus City School students, allegedly directed by ODE. Arguments FOR job protections. Clearly, the influence of the Kochs in already in Ohio.
When is someone in media going to ask the experts at Firdham why the Ohio charter school system THEY DESIGNED is such a disaster?
Apparently there’s no acountability among pundits and think tanks and lobbyists.
Why would anyone in their right mind take their advice on public schools given their track record in this state?
Again, the newspaper earns the epithet, Columbus Disgrace.
For journalistic integrity, Josh Swigart and Laura Bischoff, at the Dayton Daily News, are exemplary.
Another great liberal ed reform initiative, I see. The Koch brothers support tax policy that starves public schools. Is there anyone in Tennessee working as an advocate for public schools, or are those kids on their own?
Maybe someone could volunteer as their advocate in government. A parent or a teacher, perhaps. With all the ed reform lobbying groups we have, I’m wondering why public schools seem to be faring so poorly under “ed reform”. When do public school kids get an advocate in government?
http://www.toledoblade.com/Education/2014/07/19/FBI-state-investigate-charter-schools-owner.html
The Toledo Blade has finally picked up the charter school story that is being reported all over the rest of the state.
I’m curious why this hasn’t been referred to local law enforcement. Just last week there was a front page report of a public school employee who was (allegedly) stealing money from a sports booster organization. He had been charged and was actually wearing “jail orange” in the newspaper. Why are we getting an administrative review of this charter situation rather than a local response?
It might be due to the fact that the charter organizations in question operate in more than one state. That’s where the feds usually step in.
No, that should not be a bar to a local investigation. The premise of the federal investigation is the erate program (federal funding). The schools are 90% state funded. If they’re stealing from the erate program it’s entirely reasonable to look at state funding too.
There’s no reason there can’t be 2 or 3 or 4 investigations. One of them should be local, because public schools are subject to local law enforcement.
I don’t have a lot ofconfidence in the federal government or the state education agency investigating these schools. I think they’re local schools and it’s ridiculous to regulate them from DC or Columbus.
How long has this federal investigation been going on? Why is it taking so long?
I watched GA officials perp walk those public school teachers in Atlanta. I’m wondering why these charter school folks seem to get such kid-glove treatment.
The Dayton Daily News reported that the candidate for attorney general, David Pepper, says charter school corruption would be on his radar, as did Fitzgerald, candidate for governor.
In the 62nd district, Charlene Schneider, includes support for public schools, in her platform.
I wonder if they’ll have one of those “question and answer” sessions. You know, the ones where people have to “submit” their written questions beforehand (translation: the panel already decided what questions to ask themselves and answer)…?
It’s fantastic we now get to choose on precisely how to further enrich the Koch brothers. Isn’t that right up there with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?
No! It’s above life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as the Koch bros are way above any mere God.
After all, Art & Duane, they DO manufacture “Angel Soft.”
Rocketship told me and others on twitter the day before yesterday (I think), that it had pulled out of this forum; I asked if it was going to send out a press release to that effect and it said no… it said it had sent a communication to the forum organisers and it deemed that sufficient….. have done a semi-thorough scroll down thru my twitter feed and cant find it to repost here, sadly…
Sounds like Tennessee’s Mamma Bears need to speak up, again.
What a farce, Libertarians and the Friedman free marketeers at a forum on schools that only exist due to the opposite of a free market, bought and paid for legislators and the highly favorable legislation written by those who bought them. If charters and vouchers really were superior competitors to regular public schools then such corruption would not be needed now would it? If market forces are so overpowering that they can eliminate corruption in all places as Friedman claims then why are so many charter groups in such deep do do? This forum is the poster child event for the failure of vouchers and all that Friedman stands for, and only a fool would think of blaming this market sectors failure and financial misdeeds on gummint regulation. With all of the advantages the charter sector has manufactured for itself they are still substandard performers. The places they have succeeded are where they have just copied the best public and private schools and then edited the student populations to keep the kids that would best assist further propagandistic manipulations of the truth to create an illusion of superiority.
Oh, no, as I am reading this post, I am listening to a commercial (on a family-oriented channel–HUB Network–“Uncle Buck” was just on) for K-12 Online & how to get info/sign your kids up. It’s 11:10 PM CST here–hope everyone in every household left the room for a snack!
Thanks for posting this Diane. Yes, there are TN activists that are fully aware of the Koch’s coming to town- and we are taking measures to be involved and educate others in our state regarding this infiltration. Appreciate the heads up as always. Hope after the event TN activists will have something to report.
Its interesting how they have packaged their rhetoric as choice. When your pubic school disappears, you really aren’t left with a choice at all. You pick among whats available, if more than 1 “choice” is available, and you get whatever you are given, even when it is inconvenient and even if you have 3 kids that must now go to 3 different schools.
Even if a charter just opened up across the street from you, your children may have to go across town because that charter is K-2, or 5-8, or has opened just a few grades to start off. Also, how are these charters better when a) they are unproven at said location(s); and b) they are generally staffed by newcomers. The superintendent is likely a Broadie, the teachers are about 50% TFA newbies, and the remaining teacher are likely TFA related. Half the teachers won’t be certified or have had any teaching experience except for the 5 week boot camp of TFA.
How are these choices?
Get the word out.