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Shadowy Group Funds Idaho Luna Laws

By dianerav
November 2, 2012 //
3

A group called Education Voters of Idaho refused to disclose its donors until required to do so by a court order.

The biggest donor is a businessman who is an investor in K12, the online charter corporation ($250,000); the second biggest donor is Mayor Michael Bloomberg ($200,000).

EVI promotes the anti-union, anti-teacher, privatizing policies of state superintendent Tom Luna. Supporters of public education are seeking to repeal the Luna laws, which are deceptively called “Students Come First.” The phrase echoes Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst and Joel Klein’s Children’s First.

Luna has received heavy funding from technology corporations, and his laws mandate the purchase of a laptop computer for every student, and every student must take two online courses for graduation. They eliminate tenure and seniority. They require that student test scores count for 50% of every educator’s evaluation, including district superintendents, principals and teachers. All educators will have a one or two year contract. They initiate bonus pay based on test scores for all educators. Teachers will not get a written explanation if the principal decides to fire them.

A sample of one of the laws:

School districts no longer have to prove a financial emergency before reducing teacher numbers. School boards can reduce teacher numbers at their discretion but cannot consider seniority when deciding who to eliminate.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, Idaho, Luna, Tom, On-Line Education, Privatization, Teacher Evaluations, Teacher Tenure, Technology, Computers, Testing, Unions

Is Tom Luna the Worst State Superintendent? CORRECTION!

By dianerav
October 23, 2012 //
34

If we had a race for the worst state superintendent in the nation, there would be many contenders. One thinks immediately, for example, of Tony Bennett in Indiana or John White in Louisiana.

By worst, I mean someone who has done his best to destroy public education–which is a sacred trust in the hands of the chief state school officer–and to demoralize the teachers who do the daily work of teaching the kids.

One of the top contenders for that odious distinction is Tom Luna of Idaho. Idaho is a small state and it doesn’t usually get a lot of national attention, but Luna has thrust it into the forefront of the national movement to privatize public education.

He was elected with the help of contributions from technology companies. A brilliant investigative report in the Idaho-Stateman last year documented how he raised campaign contributions from the education technology industry and became their darling.

Not being an original thinker, he called his program “Students Come First,” like Joel Klein’s “Children First” and Michelle Rhee’s “Students First.”

Despite a shrinking budget, he bought a laptop for every student and mandated that every student had to take two online courses in order to graduate. A token of appreciation to all those corporations that helped pay for Mr. Luna’s election.

He led a campaign to eliminate collective bargaining and often refers to union members as “thugs.” His reforms, known as the Luna laws, impose merit pay, which has never worked anywhere. He does whatever he can think of to demoralize the teachers of Idaho.

Is he the worst in the nation? There are many other contenders. It’s a close call.

His proposals are up for a vote this year. We will see if the people of Idaho are ready to outsource their children and public schools to for-profit corporations.

[CORRECTION: LUNA IS NOT UP FOR RE-ELECTION UNTIL 2014; HIS PROPOSALS--KNOWN AS THE "STUDENTS COME FIRST" LAWS or PROPS 1, 2, 3--ARE ON THE BALLOT NOVEMBER 6].

A reader in Idaho sent the following information:

An interesting development in Idaho politics is that not a single Democrat supports the “Students Come First” bills, or Props 1,2,3 as they are now commonly referred to, but nearly every Republican does support them, even though many Republican voters don’t. A recent poll was taken that shows props 1,2,3 losing support among voters, the real question is whether that will lead to more Democratic legislators (85/105 Idaho legislators are Republicans). Another interesting development is that the “Vote yes” folks only raised less than half of what the “Vote no” folks did ($500,000 vs $1.3 million), and I’m not really sure why. I think part of it might be that the state is trying to pay very little for the laptops (I think we’re looking for laptops and maintenance for $309/unit) and no company has taken that, and I also think the state is trying to pay half the normal rate for online courses, so for-profit education has held off on contributions.

Categories Accountability, Administrators, superintendents, For-Profit, Idaho, Privatization, Teachers and Teaching, Technology, Computers

For-Profit Corporations Buying Idaho Education?

By dianerav
September 29, 2012 //
3

I try not to mix into partisan politics, but sometimes it is unavoidable. I support public education, and I oppose those trying to privatize it for fun and/or profit.

For example, Tony Bennett in Indiana should be defeated, as should Tom Luna in Idaho. These two state superintendents are favored by corporate reformers and can be counted on to continue welcoming for-profit enterprises to take over public schools and children.

In Idaho, a solid red state, there is an educator running against Luna. The Luna forces typically paint Clayton Trehal as a tool of the “union bosses,” but neglect to acknowledge that Idaho is a right to work state where the teachers’ union is weak.

Luna is a favorite of corporations and vendors, but that’s ok.

Trehal is an online teacher who opposes for-profit management of online instruction. He says that what students remember best about his classes are the essays he assigned, not the tests they took.

As a Democrat running in Idaho, he knows he is in an uphill battle. But his goal is to educate the public. He is a teacher. That’s what teachers do.

Categories Democrats, Idaho

An Educator Runs for Office in Idaho

By dianerav
July 26, 2012 //
1

Clayton Trehal is running for a seat in the Idaho legislature.

He is a veteran educator.

He has sent me some of his columns, and I read them with fascination.

Clayton teaches in an online charter school, which, as readers of this blog know, are not necessarily at the top of my hit parade.

I am not as enthusiastic as he is about ranking schools by how many AP courses they offer or how many kids pass.

If I were in Idaho, I’d be inclined to emphasize the fact that Idaho students have made significant gains on NAEP in both reading and math, in fourth grade and eighth grade, while many other states did not.

I don’t like the assumption that we need to know which schools are best and which are worst so that parents can be smart shoppers.

If you buy the assumptions of the “reformers,” they win.

I think that every community should work to make its schools right for the children of that community.

But Clayton supports public education and has some interesting things to say about it.

I hope he wins his race. Running as a Democrat is red-state Idaho is an uphill battle. I wish him well.

Idaho is at the very bottom in education spending, and the State Superintendent Tom Luna likes to say that spending has nothing to do with achievement. Look at Utah, it spends even less.

Follow this line of argument to its logical conclusion: the best possible education is the one that costs the very least, with underpaid teachers, poorly maintained facilities (or none at all), and meager spending on supplies.

 

Categories Education Reform, Idaho, Testing

Online in Idaho

By dianerav
June 12, 2012 //
4

A reader sent me a wonderful editorial from a newspaper in Idaho. I liked it because it called out State Superintendent Tom Luna for his self-promoting campaign to replace teachers with online instruction. Idaho is a red state where there is not a lot of diversity of opinion, but whether you are red or blue, you should have common sense when it comes to education. The crucial ingredients in education are always the same: the student, the family, the teacher, the school, the curriculum, and the community. When all those factors work together, students tend to get a good solid education. When they don’t, education suffers and students don’t learn much.

Technology can’t take the place of any of the essential ingredients. It is certainly a delightful thing to have computers and smart boards in the classroom. Teachers do amazing things with computers, and students can use them for research and individual projects. But no computer can motivate a student who is unmotivated. Or take the place of a family who makes sure that the student is well fed and healthy. Or replace a teacher who knows how to teach and loves her subject. Or take the place of a community that puts a high value on education. Or compensate for a school that lacks adequate resources and a strong curriculum and good leadership.

All these elements make a difference.

Tom Luna is now on the Romney education team. He has a long history of collaboration with software corporations. The children of Idaho would be better served if he built collaboration with teachers and parents and communities, not the online corporations that helped to put him in office.

Categories Education Reform, Idaho, Luna, Tom, On-Line Education

A Courageous Teacher

By dianerav
June 4, 2012 //
8

Idaho is ga-ga for computers and online learning. State Superintendent Tom Luna has made online learning the centerpiece of his “reform” agenda. Tom Luna has close ties to the for-profit online industry.

Teachers welcome computers and technology in the classroom, but Luna takes it to an extreme. He views technology as a cost-saving device, so he is (paradoxically) investing heavily in hardware and software, on the assumption that in time there will be need for fewer teachers. Teachers are an old-fashioned, expensive, near obsolete technology. Teachers need health care and pensions; computers don’t. Teachers are ornery and they often have thoughts that don’t coincide with the state’s agenda; computers don’t.

A veteran teacher decided that enough is enough. She did something she never dreamed she would do. She wrote an opinion piece for the local Idaho newspaper. She disagreed with the order to devote 49% of instruction in world history to computer time. Education is not simply imbibing facts:

Successful students must learn certain values such as patience, hard work, self-discipline, honesty, respect for others, etc. Teachers instill those values, not computers. Teachers serve as positive role models and successful learning requires positive human interaction. In training we were informed by a district official that “with the incorporation of this program you will not even have to interact with your students.” For those who do not understand how such an approach to teaching can damage a student’s education, there is no reason to explain further. You will never understand.

She realizes that the changes now being imposed from the top come from people who know little about students or teaching or education:

I now see individuals taking over decision-making positions in education who have no classroom experience, implementing programs that have made the classroom critically vulnerable to their destructive impact and counterintuitive to education. There is too much noise regarding the state of education that is distracting and destroying the true nature of education, which should center on the student. Students learn best when they have caring and reputable teachers. And we have them in the Coeur d’Alene School District. However, this is changing and if left unopposed will destroy our quality of education leaving our students, our community and our state to pay for these mistakes.

This teacher put her own job at risk by speaking out. With hundreds, nay, thousands of voices like hers, the public will begin to understand what is being done to their children and to our nation’s schools.

Diane

Categories Idaho, Luna, Tom, On-Line Education

These Folks Love Their School

By dianerav
May 27, 2012 //
10

What happens to a small town in Idaho whose residents love their public school, support it, paint the building, fix it up, tax themselves to pay for it, but is suffering because of state budget cuts? Raise taxes? Well, they are already paying 17 times the rate of the state’s wealthy districts. Because of its low property values, it can’t squeeze out enough to keep up with expenses. Meanwhile, the state wants to put everyone in online classes. That won’t help this school. It will still have the same bills to pay.

This is one of the saddest stories I read this week.

Why do so-called reformers avoid any discussion of how to help districts that don’t have a big enough tax base to support the school they love?

Diane

Categories Idaho
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