I just read an astonishing article by John White, the young TFA/Broad superintendent of Louisiana. He says that public school districts do a better job of providing pre-K schooling than other providers. http://www.theadvertiser.com/article/20120507/OPINION/205070301/John-White-Make-important-changes-pre-K-education. This is the same John White who works for Governor Bobby Jindal, the hero of the privatization movement. This is the same John White that travels the state advocating for vouchers and charters so that poor kids in “failing” schools (the majority of children in Louisiana) can flee to private schools. This is the same John White who, when he worked in New York City, used to measure public schools to make room for privately managed charters.
But now he says, for reasons unknown, that district schools do a better job for pre-kindergarten children in readying them for kindergarten. My friends in Louisiana tell me that the Legislature plans to mandate pre-K but to provide no funding for it. It’s a great idea to mandate pre-kindergarten, but why not fund it? Why another unfunded mandate?
And why is John White now putting down the private providers of pre-K at the same time that his administration is launching the nation’s most far-reaching privatization scheme for K-12?
If anyone can figure this out, please let me know.
Diane
Diane Ravitch's blog 
John White could change his opinion tomorrow, Diane!
The state, according to White, has created charter school districts for the whole state. All private and public schools (including choice/charter etc) are mandated to comply with public schools i. e. testing that actually aligns the curricula to the core standards. This is an invasion on the private schools that was never done before in LA. It actually destroys free curriculum choice of private and religious schools. This plan expands charter schools and leaves the entire state open for corporate take over of both public and private schools. What was it you failed to understand about his speel?
Do you think that folks like John White might occasionally spit out a statement like this so that people will think they are not, in fact, as averse to reality as they actually are? I watched John White listen to hours of testimony about Jamaica High School, all of which he studiously ignored, and then decided to close it.
I will never forget the contempt with which he viewed me as I spoke of how the richest man in New York made unilateral decisions while ignoring the community, present in great numbers on that very evening.
Diane, Just ran across this while searching for a detailed definition of the purpose of public education by you (haven’t found it yet). John White’s original ariticle is no longer accessible, but I think this is your answer:
‘Shifting toward academic experience for 3- and 4-year-olds’ “A new program that will give letter grades to publicly funded child care and early childhood education centers should be in place in three years, state Superintendent John White said…”
http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012210310318
It’s been rumored that the focus of the next four years of the Obama administration would be on Early Childhood Education and Higher Ed. Whenever “reformers” start targeting preschool, my heart sinks, since I know that means a pushed down curriculum of rote academics, not developmentally appropriate practice that supports learning through play and the development of non-cognitive skills, because I’ve spent the better part of my career addressing this matter.
BTW, since this policy applies to every program in the state of LA that receives public funding, it would include private child care centers that accept families who get government subsidies to help pay for child care –which is typically all programs except those in the most affluent areas. So, the advantaged kids are most likely to get a progressive education, while middle and lower income children will be stuck with drill for skill starting at age 3. (Believe me, I have seen that done a lot in my career and it’s not pretty, especially when kids that age are pressured to complete didactic writing exercises repeatedly, instead of being engaged in meaningful literacy experiences.)
This is probably just the tip of the iceberg, as more and more states follow suit to comply with the RttT Early Learning Challenge and Common Core. Very sad state of affairs for young children and ECE.