Ed Berger says that if schools are judged by who chooses them, the people of Arizona have spoken: 85% of the state’s children are in public schools. Yet the policymakers keep trying to find ways to funnel public money to private operators of charters and vouchers. The culprits are financed by the Koch brothers, encouraged by ALEC, and most are motivated by simple greed.
He writes:
Will our community be able to save our public schools? The election for a bond, and override funding is November 3. I could wait until the results are in, but here are the issues. Citizens be aware:
The overwhelming majority of parents want their children in public schools. Not charter schools, partial schools, religious schools, or schools which keep out parents, destroy the joys of childhood, and use force as motivation. Parents have choice and they have chosen. Over 85% of Arizona parents have chosen public schools.
The overwhelming majority of parents want their child exposed to many disciplines as well as math and reading. They want their children exposed to art, humanities, science, social studies, history , government, health, physical education, and languages. They want their child to love learning and love their learning community. Parents want their children prepared as interdisciplinary, self-directed learners ready for the future.
They want childhood’s magic honored with time to play and explore and do the things children must do to develop into healthy adults. They want pre-K through great K-12 programs.
Parents know that childhood is a critical developmental time for their child. They like and support the way public school classrooms and the curricula are developmentally appropriate. They know that foundation skills are acquired at different times for each child and that forcing learning to pass standardized tests or other inappropriate measurements damages children.
They want full services for their child. School safety. Safe transportation. A school nurse. Counselors and mentors. A good lunch program and breakfast and snacks for kids who would otherwise go hungry. They want school clubs, newspaper staff, annual staff, business clubs, science club and science fairs, and dance. They want field trips, assemblies, and Americanization.
They demand trained and certified teachers. Most parents know that today’s certified and experienced teachers are many times more effective than teachers in the past. The education profession is advancing and very effective. If there is a learning conflict, they have choice within the system.
The overwhelming number of parents and community members understand that the community has built and provided safe and well-maintained buildings – well-maintained that is until tax dollars they pay for schools have been taken away by a small handful of ideologues who are robbing our communities. In every community, these destructive people always vote NO to damage the opportunities of others.
If you agree with the list of things children need – and parents and citizens demand – note that few are provided by the charter or partial schools. For example, qualified, experienced certified faculty and administrators. Publicly elected school boards. Financial accountability and academic accountability. All of the above are an integral part of our public schools.
IF the great majority of citizens do not want their tax dollars directed away from our students and schools why are they ignored?
BECAUSE those who want to destroy public education or rob kids to profit from our tax dollars have used their power in the Legislature and government to create a system where every charter or other partial school supported by our tax dollars must duplicate what the citizens are already paying for in public schools. Charters must use state dollars that follow the child to duplicate facilities, accounting, utilities, support staffing, libraries, computes, classrooms and physical education resources. The citizens end up paying twice for the same services. The money that citizens intend for children is not there for the majority of kids, teachers, building maintenance, books and supplies or the things children need. The irony is that as few as 10% of the students are enrolled in these partial schools, but they wreak havoc and have the potential to destroy quality education for the majority of students. This is not an accidental consequence. It is being done intentionally.
Diane,the link to your previous post [Peter Cunningham: Unions Should Embrace “Reform”] doesn’t work and I can’t find the post from your Home page.
I so sympathize. It’s really frustrating to watch the abandonment of public schools in ed reform states, because it’s purely ideological. It doesn’t make any sense.
They can’t improve public education by attacking or ignoring the vast majority of schools children attend. That will not work, ever, under any set of circumstances, and it won’t work for any group of public school students. The only “equitable” thing about it is they all get hurt.
It has to be political capture, because no one could defend it logically or on the merits. It makes sense ONLY in the context of a privatization ideology and belief system.
The issue about fully prepared certified teachers is huge. Only well educated teachers have the ability to teach every child in the way they learn best. Many can follow the testing related script. It’s easy to follow the text book. But that does not teach every child.
However,it is important to bring to the forefront the power of innovation. And in order to do that, public schools must be allowed to change. Change comes from the bottom up. Although the curriculum is driven by the testing fiasco, most change can happen today, in today’s world under today’s outmoded system of education.
The Collins Sanders amendment to Every Child Achieves act is a great beginning. But there are no rules that say we must continue to give letter grades that tell parents and kids nothing about what they have learned. There are no rules that say students must progress through the system of education in grade levels that allow kids to pass with a D- or fail them into oblivion.
And then there are rules that can be challenged. If your school has a rule that says you must do test prep and your find that unethical and even immoral, simply don’t do. Search your soul and do what is right for kids, Maybe kids have to take the test, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do whole child assessment in the classroom. Assessment that actually gathers information for immediate use by teacher educating kids in the way they learn the best.
The quiet revolution can start now. Re examine the way your class and your school treats kids and helps them learn. Teachers are in the classroom every day. Teacher can make those decisions. And there are a whole bunch of Principals ready to join in.
Maybe ALEC and the Kochs are not the culprits, but the US DOE is…
2015 – Arizona awarded $24 million to boost charter schools
2014 – FY 2014 Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Program Grantees
Arizona Mesa Kaizen Education Foundation, D.B.A. Vista Grove Prep. Academy $380,313
2010 – Grantee FY10 Award Arizona Charter Schools Association (AZCSA)
Project description: Develop a replicable and sustainable charter school start-up model that incorporates key indicators of a successful school leader, as well as best practices for schools serving high percentages of low-income, Native American, or Hispanic students
$444,000
2009 – The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII) today announced the award of five charter school grants, totaling $82 million, to state education agencies in Arizona, Louisiana, New Mexico, Tennessee and Wisconsin to increase public school options in those states.
Cynthia,
It is one of the curious oddities of our time that the Obama administration and ALEC are united for charters
Again, thank you, Diane for your comment. It is a curious oddity and not so funny, but really scary.
There are many things at stake here such as: The separation between church and state. History has taught this lesson over and over again.