Just to demonstrate how strange the politics of education are these days, one of the key amendments to the Senate “Every Child Achieves Act” was called the Murphy amendment. It failed. It would have revived or worsened the punishments of NCLB. It main supporters were Democrats. Mercedes Schneider describes this amendment (and others) in this post. Schneider writes: “Senator Murphy’s (D-CT) amendment 2241 (which Warren co-sponsored) went up for a vote and was rejected 43-54. The 12-page text of Murphy’s SA 2241 reads more like No Child Left Behind (NCLB), with its detailed prescription for reporting on student test results, for “meaningfully differentiating among all public schools” (i.e., grading schools), including publicly identifying the lowest five percent, and, among interventions, potentially firing staff and offering students the option to transfer to other schools and using part of the budget to pay for the transportation.”
This amendment would have enacted tough, federal-mandated accountability, akin to setting up an “achievement school district” in every state.
Here is the roll call vote. Almost every Democrat voted yes, almost every Republican voted no. The amendment failed by 54-43.
See how your senators voted.
U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 114th Congress – 1st Session
as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate
Vote Summary
Question: On the Amendment (Murphy Amdt. No. 2241 )
Vote Number: 241 Vote Date: July 15, 2015, 04:29 PM
Required For Majority: 3/5 Vote Result: Amendment Rejected
Amendment Number: S.Amdt. 2241 to S.Amdt. 2089 to S. 1177 (Every Child Achieves Act of 2015)
Statement of Purpose: To amend the accountability provisions.
Vote Counts: YEAs 43
NAYs 54
Not Voting 3
Vote Summary By Senator Name By Vote Position By Home State
Alphabetical by Senator Name
Alexander (R-TN), Nay
Ayotte (R-NH), Nay
Baldwin (D-WI), Yea
Barrasso (R-WY), Nay
Bennet (D-CO), Yea
Blumenthal (D-CT), Yea
Blunt (R-MO), Nay
Booker (D-NJ), Yea
Boozman (R-AR), Nay
Boxer (D-CA), Yea
Brown (D-OH), Yea
Burr (R-NC), Nay
Cantwell (D-WA), Yea
Capito (R-WV), Nay
Cardin (D-MD), Yea
Carper (D-DE), Yea
Casey (D-PA), Yea
Cassidy (R-LA), Nay
Coats (R-IN), Nay
Cochran (R-MS), Nay
Collins (R-ME), Nay
Coons (D-DE), Yea
Corker (R-TN), Nay
Cornyn (R-TX), Nay
Cotton (R-AR), Nay
Crapo (R-ID), Nay
Cruz (R-TX), Not Voting
Daines (R-MT), Nay
Donnelly (D-IN), Yea
Durbin (D-IL), Yea
Enzi (R-WY), Nay
Ernst (R-IA), Nay
Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
Fischer (R-NE), Nay
Flake (R-AZ), Nay
Franken (D-MN), Yea
Gardner (R-CO), Nay
Gillibrand (D-NY), Yea
Graham (R-SC), Not Voting
Grassley (R-IA), Nay
Hatch (R-UT), Nay
Heinrich (D-NM), Yea
Heitkamp (D-ND), Yea
Heller (R-NV), Nay
Hirono (D-HI), Yea
Hoeven (R-ND), Nay
Inhofe (R-OK), Nay
Isakson (R-GA), Nay
Johnson (R-WI), Nay
Kaine (D-VA), Yea
King (I-ME), Nay
Kirk (R-IL), Nay
Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea
Lankford (R-OK), Nay
Leahy (D-VT), Yea
Lee (R-UT), Nay
Manchin (D-WV), Yea
Markey (D-MA), Yea
McCain (R-AZ), Nay
McCaskill (D-MO), Yea
McConnell (R-KY), Nay
Menendez (D-NJ), Yea
Merkley (D-OR), Yea
Mikulski (D-MD), Yea
Moran (R-KS), Nay
Murkowski (R-AK), Nay
Murphy (D-CT), Yea
Murray (D-WA), Yea
Nelson (D-FL), Not Voting
Paul (R-KY), Nay
Perdue (R-GA), Nay
Peters (D-MI), Yea
Portman (R-OH), Yea
Reed (D-RI), Yea
Reid (D-NV), Yea
Risch (R-ID), Nay
Roberts (R-KS), Nay
Rounds (R-SD), Nay
Rubio (R-FL), Nay
Sanders (I-VT), Yea
Sasse (R-NE), Nay
Schatz (D-HI), Yea
Schumer (D-NY), Yea
Scott (R-SC), Nay
Sessions (R-AL), Nay
Shaheen (D-NH), Nay
Shelby (R-AL), Nay
Stabenow (D-MI), Yea
Sullivan (R-AK), Nay
Tester (D-MT), Nay
Thune (R-SD), Nay
Tillis (R-NC), Nay
Toomey (R-PA), Nay
Udall (D-NM), Yea
Vitter (R-LA), Nay
Warner (D-VA), Yea
Warren (D-MA), Yea
Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea
Wicker (R-MS), Nay
Wyden (D-OR), Yea
Vote Summary By Senator Name By Vote Position By Home State
Grouped By Vote Position
YEAs —43
Baldwin (D-WI)
Bennet (D-CO)
Blumenthal (D-CT)
Booker (D-NJ)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Coons (D-DE)
Donnelly (D-IN)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Franken (D-MN)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Heinrich (D-NM)
Heitkamp (D-ND)
Hirono (D-HI)
Kaine (D-VA)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Leahy (D-VT)
Manchin (D-WV)
Markey (D-MA)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Merkley (D-OR)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murphy (D-CT)
Murray (D-WA)
Peters (D-MI)
Portman (R-OH)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schatz (D-HI)
Schumer (D-NY)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Udall (D-NM)
Warner (D-VA)
Warren (D-MA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR)
NAYs —54
Alexander (R-TN)
Ayotte (R-NH)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Blunt (R-MO)
Boozman (R-AR)
Burr (R-NC)
Capito (R-WV)
Cassidy (R-LA)
Coats (R-IN)
Cochran (R-MS)
Collins (R-ME)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Cotton (R-AR)
Crapo (R-ID)
Daines (R-MT)
Enzi (R-WY)
Ernst (R-IA)
Fischer (R-NE)
Flake (R-AZ)
Gardner (R-CO)
Grassley (R-IA)
Hatch (R-UT)
Heller (R-NV)
Hoeven (R-ND)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johnson (R-WI)
King (I-ME)
Kirk (R-IL)
Lankford (R-OK)
Lee (R-UT)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Moran (R-KS)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Paul (R-KY)
Perdue (R-GA)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Rounds (R-SD)
Rubio (R-FL)
Sasse (R-NE)
Scott (R-SC)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Shelby (R-AL)
Sullivan (R-AK)
Tester (D-MT)
Thune (R-SD)
Tillis (R-NC)
Toomey (R-PA)
Vitter (R-LA)
Wicker (R-MS)
Not Voting – 3
Cruz (R-TX)
Graham (R-SC)
Nelson (D-FL)
Vote Summary By Senator Name By Vote Position By Home State
Grouped by Home State
Alabama: Sessions (R-AL), Nay Shelby (R-AL), Nay
Alaska: Murkowski (R-AK), Nay Sullivan (R-AK), Nay
Arizona: Flake (R-AZ), Nay McCain (R-AZ), Nay
Arkansas: Boozman (R-AR), Nay Cotton (R-AR), Nay
California: Boxer (D-CA), Yea Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
Colorado: Bennet (D-CO), Yea Gardner (R-CO), Nay
Connecticut: Blumenthal (D-CT), Yea Murphy (D-CT), Yea
Delaware: Carper (D-DE), Yea Coons (D-DE), Yea
Florida: Nelson (D-FL), Not Voting Rubio (R-FL), Nay
Georgia: Isakson (R-GA), Nay Perdue (R-GA), Nay
Hawaii: Hirono (D-HI), Yea Schatz (D-HI), Yea
Idaho: Crapo (R-ID), Nay Risch (R-ID), Nay
Illinois: Durbin (D-IL), Yea Kirk (R-IL), Nay
Indiana: Coats (R-IN), Nay Donnelly (D-IN), Yea
Iowa: Ernst (R-IA), Nay Grassley (R-IA), Nay
Kansas: Moran (R-KS), Nay Roberts (R-KS), Nay
Kentucky: McConnell (R-KY), Nay Paul (R-KY), Nay
Louisiana: Cassidy (R-LA), Nay Vitter (R-LA), Nay
Maine: Collins (R-ME), Nay King (I-ME), Nay
Maryland: Cardin (D-MD), Yea Mikulski (D-MD), Yea
Massachusetts: Markey (D-MA), Yea Warren (D-MA), Yea
Michigan: Peters (D-MI), Yea Stabenow (D-MI), Yea
Minnesota: Franken (D-MN), Yea Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea
Mississippi: Cochran (R-MS), Nay Wicker (R-MS), Nay
Missouri: Blunt (R-MO), Nay McCaskill (D-MO), Yea
Montana: Daines (R-MT), Nay Tester (D-MT), Nay
Nebraska: Fischer (R-NE), Nay Sasse (R-NE), Nay
Nevada: Heller (R-NV), Nay Reid (D-NV), Yea
New Hampshire: Ayotte (R-NH), Nay Shaheen (D-NH), Nay
New Jersey: Booker (D-NJ), Yea Menendez (D-NJ), Yea
New Mexico: Heinrich (D-NM), Yea Udall (D-NM), Yea
New York: Gillibrand (D-NY), Yea Schumer (D-NY), Yea
North Carolina: Burr (R-NC), Nay Tillis (R-NC), Nay
North Dakota: Heitkamp (D-ND), Yea Hoeven (R-ND), Nay
Ohio: Brown (D-OH), Yea Portman (R-OH), Yea
Oklahoma: Inhofe (R-OK), Nay Lankford (R-OK), Nay
Oregon: Merkley (D-OR), Yea Wyden (D-OR), Yea
Pennsylvania: Casey (D-PA), Yea Toomey (R-PA), Nay
Rhode Island: Reed (D-RI), Yea Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea
South Carolina: Graham (R-SC), Not Voting Scott (R-SC), Nay
South Dakota: Rounds (R-SD), Nay Thune (R-SD), Nay
Tennessee: Alexander (R-TN), Nay Corker (R-TN), Nay
Texas: Cornyn (R-TX), Nay Cruz (R-TX), Not Voting
Utah: Hatch (R-UT), Nay Lee (R-UT), Nay
Vermont: Leahy (D-VT), Yea Sanders (I-VT), Yea
Virginia: Kaine (D-VA), Yea Warner (D-VA), Yea
Washington: Cantwell (D-WA), Yea Murray (D-WA), Yea
West Virginia: Capito (R-WV), Nay Manchin (D-WV), Yea
Wisconsin: Baldwin (D-WI), Yea Johnson (R-WI), Nay
Wyoming: Barrasso (R-WY), Nay Enzi (R-WY), Nay
Vote Summary By Senator Name By Vote Position By Home State
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Berned again!
Why would they support this?
>
From Mercedes blog, Murphy has had some help, ALEC style:
Four additional amendments were voted on in roll call on July 15, 2015. All were rejected:
Senator Murphy’s (D-CT) amendment 2241, which at this time is only generally described as “to amend accountability provisions.” However, pro-testing organizations like Education Trust, Stand for Children, Teach for America, and Democrats for Education Reform supported it. Here is part of their promo:
States must be required to identify schools where all students or any group of students are not meeting goals and to intervene in ways that raise achievement for students not meeting state standards. We need accountability for schools where groups of students are not making progress, for the lowest performing schools, and for schools with very low graduation rates.
My guess is that without more ‘accountability’ Obama is likely to veto anything
coming out of the conference committee.
Alert to CT teachers and parents, Chris Murphy also voted against the opt out amendment. He is no friend of ours. DFER pays so Chris obeys. Remember.
Vote Republican. The Republicans believe in giving states the right to decide for themselves. The Democrats are into this huge governmental thing that will force the states to do their bidding or lose financial aid. The unions should throw their support behind the Republicans and hope that their state does the right thing. Now, with the Democrats in control, the federal government is pushing their nonsense on every state. We need a Republican in the White House. We need to get rid of the Department of Education. Only then will states be able to decide for themselves what education will be. Vote Republican! The Democrats have sold out years ago and are no longer your friends. The situation for public education has never been worse than now with the Democrats. You’re a fool if you hitch your wagon to the Democrats, after all this destruction…
I used to. Only trouble is, in the Republican party the tail wags the dog and the extremists run the show. Republicans only believe in states’ rights and individual liberties if 1) it benefits the wealthy, 2) they aren’t in power at the Federal level, 3) see 1). Ohio is 100% Republican and the statehouse has no trouble telling everyone else what they can and can not do. Plus Kasich raised spending and taxes on working Ohioans. Our Republicans hate teachers and despise education. To them, it is an annoying line item cost in the budget, not an investment in the future.
But how do you explain the horrific basis for much of threfor. movement started by uber republican Jeb Bush as governor in Florida and as presidential education reform candidate?
Have you heard of Indiana? Republicans here are not your Republicans. They hate teachers and public education and love rich guys who are their sugar daddies. They are taking away local control of education and taxes. I agree the Democrats are not much better, but they can hardly be worse.
Republicans may believe in states’ rights (when it suits their purposes), but they certainly don’t believe in individual rights, except for the rights of wealthy individuals and people who happen to be corporations.
Ohio’s education “reform” debacle is led by Republicans.
“Teaching in Ohio Has Become Impossible”, Dayton Daily News, by Scott Ervin, Tuesday, July16. 2015.
The Republicans are the ones who invented high-stakes, toxic testing, and they’re responsible for NCLB. They’re also the leaders in the accountability fiasco, in union-busting, in the merit-pay-fiasco-based-on-accountability-fiasco, in discrediting public education, in promoting charter schools, in promoting vouchers to use public dollars to fund religious education, in promoting corporate education, and in privatizing everything. I really don’t see myself voting Republican anytime soon.
Senator Murphy’s Amendment was the only hope of maintaining any accountabiity for students with IEPs. Students with IEPs are tthe big and maybe the biggest losers in this devastating reauthorization that destroys the ESEA and the civil rights of America’s children. Being the property of local school districts and states has never served children.
My son was on an IEP and it was only helpful for some special accommodations – extended time, etc. Mostly, we sat through IEP meetings that were pretty useless. Our first school was private and they just locked him in a closet. Our second just pulled him out of the classroom where he languished with future criminals. Our third came down to well funded, capable veteran teachers in a solid, well run public school. We were actively involved and took a collaborative, not combative, approach with his teachers. He’s on his second year of college.
Thank you for sharing that positive story.
It has not been easy. I understand 100% Marcie’s fears. Most of the general public is clueless as to what it takes to raise a special needs kid. From the snide remarks, to the outright cruelty from adults and even “good” kids. I pretty much lost faith in the goodness of most of humanity except for those fabulous teachers I mentioned, a few dedicated Scout leaders, and a treasured father-in-law that just passed. And the journey is not over. Once these kids hit adulthood, all support drops away. Especially in our state where a sociopathic governor cuts funding to help kids and gives tax money to his rich buddies.
Thanks for the detail. In Ohio, we got a total sellout. 100% Senate endorsement of an amentment filled with flawed policies. Thank goodness it failed to pass. I am reasonably sure that the “civil rights” lobby worked hard to get Democrats to support the Murray amendment. I think Republicans liked the Murray amendment because it would continue to shame and damage public schools. We got two votes “yes” on a really bad policy proposal–Sharrod Brown (D-OH) and Ron Portman (R-OH). I hope this haunts both of them, as well as Elizabeth Warren.
Murphy–Sorry for the wrong name.
I saw that. Brown I suspect thought he could get more traction from civil rights groups than teachers, many of whom have no idea what is going on. Portman is pretty weak and just goes with whatever. In Ohio, naming senators is always Senator Brown and that other guy.
In California both Dem Senators, Boxer and Feinstein, voted yea. What is going on?
So Elizabeth Warren co-sponsors a bill that uses test scores to rank schools, which includes the potential to fire all teachers and staff members and shut down schools when students’ standardized test scores are “below average”. Then, Bernie Sanders votes for it. Republicans defeated it. Who’s the populist, again? Bernie and Elizabeth need better advisers in the area of education.
I recall reading that Diane gave her Reign of Error and she promised to read it… How could she vote this way and have read that book? Any insights?
Maybe she just lied:( so disgusted in them both:( they were my heroes…
Jill stein is looking pretty good right now.
Very disappointed in Elizabeth Warren.
There’s no punitive provisions in the text of the amendment. No layoffs, school shutdowns. https://www.congress.gov/amendment/114th-congress/senate-amendment/2241/text
Up is down and down is up. What is going ON with this Congress? Doesn’t ANYONE support public schools anymore?
Steve,
You are spot on. Eliminate the parasitical bunch at the Department Of Education. There are thousands of duplicative services that eat up $75 billion per year with nothing to show for it, and the same situation exists on the state level. It’s mind-boggling that an intelligent middle class would stand for the debt and waste that both parties have created, and corrupted the process of government to boot. We pay taxes to fund the public schools , and send our children to private schools to the tune of $25 thousand per child. Now they have an alternative though. It’s the charter school, which was created to give the middle class a means to circumvent the desegregation laws. Today, we have de-facto segregated schools, (they are 90% minorities) and the middle class has abandoned the public schools and abrogated their responsibility to support education for the masses. (Noblesse Oblige) We need to return the government over to civil SERVANTS. There are many qualified people who will serve a term to benefit the country and not require remuneration, or present the appearance of impropriety. However, the first consideration is to eliminate all administrative positions, replace them with support personnel culled from senior staff, and end the intimidation and demeaning of teachers from role playing former peers who were “garden variety” teachers who jumped ship because it paid better and got them out of the classroom. The only people who count in the process of education are the teachers and their students. Everyone else is superfluous.
Just sent this to Sharrod Brown, Democrat,Ohio
I am disheartened by your support of the Murphy amendment to the Reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Act. It is obvious that you are not a friend of public education, or teachers, or the idea of accountability for “inputs” into education, not just “outputs.”
I am thrilled that the Murphy amendment failed.
As a long time worker on behalf of public education, a teacher ad scholar who has published a detailed analysis of NCLB, and policy wonk on teacher evaluation based on student test scores (including VAM and SLOs) I can assure you that the Murphy amendment would have continued all of the horrific policies foisted on states by the “reign of error” that began with NCLB and accelerated with Obama’s appointment of Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education who was free to spend the largest federal discretionary budget ever and squandered much of it on schemes hatched by Bill Gates and McKinsey & Co.
I also hope you are aware that the charter school scandals in Ohio are making national news. A bunch of people who call these “public” schools will do their best to prevent audits of their books and documentation of results comparable to the requirements for public schools. Too many of these schools are total frauds draining money from public schools.
The only thing you left out, Laura, is that you are re-registering Republican…Sherrod is a big shocker as well at Bernie and Warren…and Boxer…and Durbin…and Shumer. What the hell is happening to the Dems?
Durbin is hardly a shocker. He’d follow Obama right off a cliff.
Rewording the same failed ideas of fifteen years and expecting different results, who were the rocket surgeons who came up with this amendment?
So the Dems push the Bush administration education policies, only worse than before. Yay.
So much for Bernie Sanders. So much for Elizabeth Warren. Who will run to defend democracy and public education?
Cmon Jerry Brown and Diane Ravitch. Age 75 is the new 55. We need your generation to stick around until these people are sane again.
I read the funniest description of privatization today.
It’s from John Arnold, the former ENRON guy, now education expert.
They’re not privatizing, they’re simply “separating the roles of governance and operations”
Remember it because politicians will be parroting it here shortly 🙂
I clicked thru and read what looks like a draft of the amendment and it looks to me like it would identify the lowest 5% of schools in the country and then after three years start providing transportation to students to go to other public schools that weren’t in the lowest 5%.
What I didn’t see was any additional funding for the “receiving” schools, which seems like a huge oversight (and maybe I’m reading it wrong).
They can’t transfer all those students without additional supports for the receiving schools, can they? How many students is “the lowest 5% of every state in the country”? Has to be a lot of students, right? What do you do if it’s a less populated area and there are few or no “receiving schools” that one can reasonably ask students to transfer to?
Not only that, but changing a kid’s location from one school building to another is not going to fix the real problem. The problem is not the school building or the teachers inside of it. The problem is poverty, crime, malnutrition and, in some instances, parents who don’t know how to support their child’s education. If there is hell going on at home, a kid is not going to learn, regardless of which school building you bus him to.
But blaming the school and teacher is more convenient, easier, and of course cheaper than providing jobs and reducing poverty. And let’s not forget that failing kids, teachers and schools create more profit for the charter school operators and testing companies lining the pockets of our politicians.
It isn’t pegged to anything, either. No absolute or national measure. Every state will have a “lowest 5%” so by definition every state will have a huge group of students entering this category. And when the students transfer and the school closes there will be still be a lowest 5%, so it could just continue forever.
If they do it like we did here in Florida there would be a Gestapo-like squad of former teachers who can’t hack it in the classroom any more who will come to those schools for constant walk-throughs and drive-by shooting down of teachers.
Ours were told that they were never to say something positive in case it might distract from the urgency to imprive. They literally never cracked a smile the whole year. They didn’t help us in the slightest but they instilled fear in the kids and teachers and caused many of us to develop anxiety disorders.
Everything becomes rigor, data points, and gotcha checklists of the latest BS in reformist nonsense. We did get to work an extra hour each day and because we do have a union contract we did get paid for that hour. No extra money or resources though. It was do more, MUCH more with less. Always.
All curricular decisions and lesson planning were dictated to us and we were held accountable for everything. The only thing that slowed it down and bought us some breathing room was a slit rise in math scores and several schools who dropped lower than us. The reformist gestapo was overwhelmed and underfunded and had very high turnover in employees. Hmmm. Wonder why?
As with all the other horrible ideas this one originated in Florida from the Jeb! Bush cabal.
Chiara, the Title I money would go to the school that enrolls the child when official counts are due (October at the beginning of year and February to reconcile, I believe).
Also, Ohio has a limited form of open enrollment and has for years. Did anyone in DC look and see if it works?
Does it benefit the students who transfer? Harm the students who stay? Make no difference at all?
You make the best point. “Did anyone in DC look and see if it works?” Nobody in government suggests evidence based solutions. Everything is about politics. I don’t understand why so many Democrats would support such a toxic path. They are in need of some serious reeducation.
“separating the roles of governance and operations”
Wow. Thanks for the heads-up. The “deform” message is constantly morphing.
There’s over a million people who read this blog! Call and email your representatives along with Elizabeth Warren!
Unfortunately, there probably are not “millions” who read this blog. I think Diane is up around 20 million page views, but many of those are redundant. Many of us regulars view this blog multiple times a day, counting for many page views.
Up for authorization: The Every Senator Achieves Integrity Act
Cross posted at http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Murphy-Amendment-Did-NOT-P-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Bipartisan_Children_Congress_Democrat-150716-922.html#comment555105
with a link to you post when the amendment passed.
Really disappointed in Sanders. Why would he vote in favor of this when his own state of Vermont has taken such a bold stand against the punitive “accountability” measures of NCLB and RTTT by refusing a waiver? This is why I’ve hesitated to come out strongly in his favor — I didn’t feel that he’d been specific enough on his K-12 education agenda. Now, the proof is in the pudding. Maybe Angus King should run as a spoiler…
See comment above about ESE children from Marcie Lipsitt. There is huge pressure being placed on legislators to support the reformist crap or face being called out for ‘letting down’ ESE children, minority children, and poor children.
There is exactly zero proof that breaking down data into subgroups, as NCLB has done for 12 years now, and punishing teachers and closing schools has any positive impact on ESE, minority, or poor children but it IS cheaper and easier to blame teachers than to tackle the poverty and problems and to fully fund IDEA so many democrats have jumped on the teacher blaming, school bashing bandwagon.
It seems that Sanders and Warren have joined the bashing party too.
Off-topic, but not exactly. Diane: Have you seen THIS? It’s appalling! The Vergara people are at it again! They’re suing 13 districts in California for not using test scores in teacher evaluation!
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-suit-teacher-evaluations-20150716-story.html
That is appalling, Threatened….., but what I don’t get is–what state law are they talking about? I never heard of a CA state law requiring test scores be used in teacher evaluations? Has anyone? And Gov Brown and Torlakson stood up to Duncan when he insisted on that, and therefore CA didn’t get the NCLB waiver. Are they filing a lawsuit based on an imaginary state law? Anyone know?
Mike, you obviously do no tfollow my comments here, where I link to Perdaily, which has covered LAUSD’s corruption for a decade. As to ‘anyone’ who is fighting here, there is Lenny Isenberg, suing the union. read what he said about Vergara in 2014 http://www.perdaily.com/2014/06/lausds-treacherous-road-from-reed-to-vergara–its-never-been-about-students-just-money.html
and just one of the essays on what the union allows them to do to teachers. LAUSD is a cesspool
http://www.perdaily.com/2014/03/lausd-and-utla-collude-to-end-collective-bargaining-and-civil-rights-for-teachers-part-2.html
http://www.perdaily.com/2014/07/former-ctc-attorney-kathleen-carroll-lays-out-unholy-alliance-between-union-and-public-education-pri.html
GO TO PERDAILY ,and don’t miss this one at Citywatch, where Lenny tells how they get teachers.http://citywatchla.com/8box-left/6666-lausd-and-utla-complicity-kills-collective-bargaining-and-civil-rights-for-la-s-teachers
This is what Eli Broad has his employees, John Deasy and Ben Austin, working on, both in California and nationwide. In addition, Parent Revolution just prevailed in Orange County, and one more school has been charterized by the parent trigger. Broad worked with Welch to file the first Vergara decision. They also have former state Senator Gloria Romero working on this full time.
Sent to Cardin and Mikulsk (thanks to Laura Chapman, Chiara, and Gayaneh):
I am disheartened by your support of the Murphy amendment to the Reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Act. It is obvious that you are not a friend of public education, or teachers, or the idea of accountability for “inputs” into education, not just “outputs.”
I am thrilled that the Murphy amendment failed!
As a public school teacher, I can assure you that the Murphy amendment would have continued all of the horrific policies foisted on states by the “reign of error” that began with NCLB and accelerated with Obama’s appointment of Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education who was free to spend the largest federal discretionary budget ever and squandered much of it on schemes hatched by Bill Gates and McKinsey & Co.
The amendment looks like it would identify the lowest 5% of schools in the country and then after three years start providing transportation to students to go to other public schools that weren’t in the lowest 5%. What I didn’t see was any additional funding for the “receiving” schools, which seems like a huge oversight. This of course would be more unfunded mandates just like NCLB contained. Also, what do you do if it’s a less populated area (western Maryland, eastern shore) and there are few or no “receiving schools” that one can reasonably ask students to transfer to?
Not only that, but of course changing a kid’s location from one school building to another is not going to fix the real problem. The problem is not the school building or the teachers inside of it. The problem is poverty, crime, malnutrition and, in some instances, parents who don’t know how to support their child’s education. If there are serious issues going on at home, a kid is not going to learn, regardless of which school building you bus him to. I sincerely hope you understand that already. But I do understand that blaming the school and teacher is more convenient, easier, and of course cheaper than providing jobs and reducing poverty.
Notice both Warren and Sanders supported it- I question if many of them even knew what they were voting for.
Which is worse – if they do or if they don’t?
NOT HEARING TEACHERS: These lefties need to hear from real teachers, not unions like the AFT. They need to know good teachers are leaving bad schools because the scores are low and the metrics were made without any input from the stakeholders.
CT is know for this kind of dopey stuff, since they once again hired an education commissioner who has no background in education.
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.
The Democrats are the threat to education at the federal level. It is clear that they are capable of GREAT damage (Obama administration and HRC, who has promised to continue the Obama legacy).
Yes, many of you have pointed out that the Republicans are attacking public education at the state level, but it would be easier to fight them if the federal government wasn’t supporting their agenda.