An earlier post described the four-step polka in North Carolina enroute to destroying public education, demoralizing teachers, and enriching the private vendors.
Here is a suggestion by another reader, who says it actually is a five-step process.
1. Under-fund/STARVE the schools financially
2. Overcrowd the classrooms, reduce programs, supplies
3. Fail the public school using NCLB and/or Race to the Top laws leaving the public school in death-throws
4. Sell the school to private charters
5. Public school, Dead On Arrival
Who are the criminals?
Corporate Education DeFormers, privatizers, Democrats for Education Reform, and the GOP. Neo-Liberals and Neo-Conservatives have joined together to tag-team as partners in the killing of public education. We know the list.
I would change point 4 to read: Give the school away to private charters, to for-profit corporations, to online for-profit vendors, and to any business or religious group that wants to open a school, either in person or online.
Diane
Diane Ravitch's blog 
As a teacher who has had to relocate several times I first saw this in FL and a few other southern states; I now see it in the northern states which historically had the better public school systems. The general public and parents have been hoodwinked by “charter schools are better” propaganda, and what goes on in most of them is deplorable, especially in the lower socioeconomic areas and ever increasing in the higher socioeconomic areas. When the likes of “Waste Management” are dictating educational theory (which people don’t realize as the corp names are well hidden), you don’t really get the right kind of waste management, just higher profits for the corporation.
I think this is the charter management company to which you refer: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/national-heritage-academies-inc-history/
Yes, NHA’s founder is the son of Waste Management’s head. But don’t overlook the ideology. J.C. Huigenza founded NHA in large part as a way of delivering a “Christian” education via public dollars. In fact, the first students of early NHA schools came from private Christian schools, not public schools. Lawsuits had to be threatened to stop various practices, like mandatory prayer meetings, that crossed the first amendment lines on separation. That it is also a private, for-profit, company simply finishes off the perceived symmetry between morality and financial success.
Look also at the agenda of the Great Lakes Education Project, founded by members of the family that owns Amway and of which Mr. Huigenza is a major supporter. They were created to push a large voucher program, and when it was defeated in a state referendum, they turned their attention to charters and “choice.” Yes, profit is part of the mix, but it is tied inextricably from the ideological agenda at work.
USA needs to go to year round schools to use school buildings during the summer and to give those teachers who need more money to work more days during the calendar year to compete better for pay with other people who work a twelve month calender. USA also needs to solve the problems of huge secondary percent of students who do not graduate. For example 80% of Detroit students do not graduate from high school. USA needs to do something about the high % of secondary students who graduate but have to take remedial reading/math classes before they can take college courses for credit. For example Little Rock School District high school graduates who go to Arkansas state colleges have had a percentage as high as 56% who have to take remedial college courses. Much more emphasis needs to be given to educating secondary students in reading and math. Too many of them are reading at the primary level.
What does “Your comment is awaiting moderation.” mean?
It means that I have not had time to read the comment and approve it. The way blogs work is that every comment goes to the administrator of the blog (in this case, me) to review. I delete spam, commercials, and crazy rants that are off topic. But if there is a delay in approval, it usually means that I am busy, am traveling, and for whatever reason have not had a chance to review the comment.
Did you enjoy your Summers as a kid . I did and so should my children.
I wrote a master degree thesis on year round education in 1970. A parent survey was involved, and most parents feel exactly as you do, Kenny. I did enjoy my summers away from schools, but most of my time was spent cultivating garden vegetables for our table and to sell to others. Most year around school calendars do not add student days to the school year, but they do provide for shorter breaks away from school than three months. In a year around school calendar the students might not lose as much of what they are taught than during a longer three month summer break.
We are no longer in an agricultural economy where students are needed to cultivate/harvest crops. It is getting harder to recruit quality teachers in college because of low teacher pay in comparison to other twelve month jobs. If teacher pay could be raised by them having an opportunity to work 12 months, perhaps better qualified teacher candidates could be recruited in college.
Dr. Smith,
No school has a 3 month summer vacation. Most end in late June and resume in late August.
As for teachers making more money on a 12-month schedule, I wonder if you can name a district that has a budget to pay teachers more.
Diane
Paul J Smith, EdD
June 21, 2012 at 12:00 am
Diane,
Internet tells me there are 13 districts in Georgia doing year around schools. One of the district’s name is Taliaferro. Another is in Crawfordsviile, GA. Muscogee Cty Sc Dist in Columbus, Ga. has a 240 day employee calendar. With an average work month of 20 days that is a 12 month work year. When I was in Japan in the US Navy in 1967-68, Japan had a 240 day calendar for students and teachers. At that time Japan was beating the USA socks off in education.
Most of USA teachers work a 9 1/4 month school year in a regular school calendar. Subtracting 9.25 from 12 months leaves 2.75 months off. A week off school for spring break, the Thanksgiving break the Christmas/New Years break plus the summer break adds up to 2.75 months off from school. About a week of teacher paid inservice without students also adds to the days students are out of school. With the inservice week added in there that adds up to three months out of school for students. Rather than do this lengthy accounting I called it summer break. Please excuse my poetic license.
Arkansas has a state law which allows school districts to be reimbursed with state money for year-round school. I don’t know how many school districts in Arkansas have a Year-round calendar. But I am aware that a couple of districts are considering it now.
I talked with Richard Behrens,III, Superintendent of a school district about 60 miles north of Atlanta, Georgia, and he said that his district is year-round. I talked with him face to face as we were attending a birthday party for a ninety year old relative/friend in St. Louis. As I am sure you are aware, Atlanta used to be a year-round school district. Most districts that quit year-round schooling do so because of lack of money. Year-Round schools cost more money than schools on a regular schedule.
Respectfully,
Paul
Diane,
Internet tells me there are 13 districts in Georgia doing year around schools. One of the district’s name is Taliaferro. Another is in Crawfordsviile, GA. Muscogee Cty Sc Dist in Columbus, Ga. has a 240 day employee calendar. With an average work month of 20 days that is a 12 month work year. When I was in Japan in the US Navy in 1967-68, Japan had a 240 day calendar for students and teachers. At that time Japan was beating the USA socks off in education.
Most of USA teachers work a 9 1/4 month school year in a regular school calendar. Subtracting 9.25 from 12 months leaves 2.75 months off. A week off school for spring break, the Thanksgiving break the Christmas/New Years break plus the summer break adds up to 2.75 months off from school. About a week of teacher paid inservice without students also adds to the days students are out of school. With the inservice week added in there that adds up to three months out of school for students. Rather than do this lengthy accounting I called it summer break. Please excuse my poetic license.
Arkansas has a state law which allows school districts to be reimbursed with state money for year-round school. I don’t know how many school districts in Arkansas have a Year-round calendar. But I am aware that a couple of districts are considering it now.
I talked with Richard Behrens,III, Superintendent of a school district about 60 miles north of Atlanta, Georgia, and he said that his district is year-round. I talked with him face to face as we were attending a birthday party for a ninety year old relative/friend in St. Louis. As I am sure you are aware, Atlanta used to be a year-round school district. Most districts that quit year-round schooling do so because of lack of money. Year-Round schools cost more money than schools on a regular schedule.
Corporate owned media play key roles at various stages of the game, too, including as Coroner, declaring DoAs in the ongoing “failing schools” narrative, and as Holy Cow Announcer of transfigurations, resurrections and ascensions of turnaround and charter “miracle schools”.
Anyone know if these “miracle schools” employ PR people, or are they unnecessary when their backers own the media? (In the 70s, I worked at a new state special ed school that employed a full time PR person for a few years.)
Hi Diane ~
Thank you for posting my earlier comments. I wonder about your suggestion and would like us to explore it further.
You said: “I would change point 4 to read: Give the school away to private charters, to for-profit corporations, to online for-profit vendors, and to any business or religious group that wants to open a school, either in person or online.”
Are we SURE these public lands and buildings are being GIVEN away?
Or are they in fact being sold to private entities?
If so, how?
What is the mechanism in place?
Do we REALLY know how these deals are being handled?
Has anyone researched this topic?
Could there be a combination of both “give away” and “selling” of public property going on?
If they are being “SOLD” — how is this benefiting the public it is being sold out from under?
Is the Bush Dynasty involved in “public school” real estate deals? Is Frank Biden involved in these shady deals too?
I think it is important and worth talking about. Aren’t there laws on the books about certain land being designated as public school property? When did these laws change? How are private companies getting their dirty hands on public property anyway?
I would LOVE to know and I bet your other readers would too!
Thank you for bringing this important line of questions to the public eye. After all: Whose schools? Our schools!
Charters don’t buy the students or the right to enroll them. They get authorized by some state entity and then they get the money from the state to instruct the students. In some places, like New York City, the district gives the charters not only the students but the buildings, without charge. Or they are “co-located,” squeezed into public space with another school, also at no charge.
I’d say that’s giving away the students, the public school space, and the money that comes from the state to the charter operator. Typically, the charter operator charges a management fee. In some places, it may be 10-15% of the state money that is used for administrative costs. That’s how charters are able to pay big executive salaries, far in excess of what a superintendent is paid.
Diane
Thank you, Diane. I’m still in “investigative mode” on this topic. Here’s what one writer in, “Guest Commentary: School funding: Stop giving away public assets” By Lisa Hoag Mieritz says about Colorado charter schools:
“Any analysis of Colorado school finance which fails to consider that the issue of educational reform is separate from the issue of school privatization will simply serve to hide the real dynamics of the educational crisis in Colorado. School reform is the process of establishing a set of accountability standards which apply to all publicly-financed schools in the state. Privatization is using a private vendor to deliver educational services, irrespective of what those services are.
When your grandpa volunteered to build the local school and your parents volunteered on school committees, they never thought that school district assets would be given away in the hundreds of millions of dollars to private, for-profit/for-gain companies, but that is exactly what is happening. And, as a by-product of that financial transfer, control of these half-billion dollars each year is transferred from public to private interests.
Public educational assets are transferred to private interests in two ways: conveying operational funds and conveying real estate interests. The first of these in Colorado amounts to a half-billion dollars, each year. Specifically, the annual operating funds given to charters is $595,336,674 (charter pupils of 82,206 times per pupil funding of $7,242.01).
Few constraints on spending priorities exist except for maintaining fiscal solvency. The second transfer of taxpayer assets to private interests is that of real estate in school privatization. When the $400 million to $600 million (Colorado State Treasurer) in existing state-backed real estate bonds for charter schools are paid-off with tax-dollars, a process taking place continuously over the years, these publicly-paid-for buildings will belong to the private-corporations of charter schools, and, when they are sold, the equity will belong to the charter schools’ owners, not to taxpayers (Colorado State Treasurer). The charter school owners can keep this half-billion dollars or disburse it as they like.
When these billions of dollars leave public control and are controlled by corporations, they no longer are constrained to serve the needs of public school children. Instead, the half-billion dollars per year in operating funds constitutes a slush fund to be spent as for-profit and for-gain private businesses determine.
What is the necessary connection between educational reform and school privatization? There is none. School privatization is not needed to achieve educational reform. In fact, the four major reform strategies: 1) teacher accountability, 2) standards-based testing, 3) student choice and 4) non-union staffing options, are all required as a matter of law in Colorado, and none of these reforms requires school privatization or charters as a necessary component for such reform.”
Let’s keep researching and see how public property is being handed over to private/corporate entities. Let’s find out more examples of just how government backed privatization is taking control over PUBLIC interests.
Anyone else have some examples they’d like to share?
Read more: Guest Commentary: School funding: Stop giving away public assets – The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_20383580/guest-commentary-school-funding-stop-giving-away-public#ixzz1y5DbFPMm
Read The Denver Post’s Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse
Here’s another example of “public risk” by private charters:
“Charter schools, public risk, political gain” by Michael Hight, http://www.ennisdailynews.com/uncategorized/charter-schools-public-risk-political-gain/
“Stunning, jaw dropping hypocrisy! The conservative Republican Texas legislature, in Senate Bill 1, passed in June, will guarantee the bonds sold by the private owners of charter schools. Privately owned charter schools, for example, Harmony Charter Schools, will be authorized by the state of Texas to sell bonds to construct new school buildings.”
What exactly does this mean? Are these government bonds, public bonds? How does this process work exactly? Is the public receiving full transparent disclosure, I wonder? Anyone understand this process? Please advise.
Diane, you have me really wanting to know more answers on this topic! Here’s yet another arrow pointing in the direction of a take-over of our designated public school real estate property.
In “Get Schooled” by Maureen Downey, she writes in “Senate passes charter school amendment. Now, voters will decide the question in November.” (2012) Re: the state of Georgia and a bill HR-1162:
“The amendment will essentially put the state into the charter school business, which had been squelched last year by a state Supreme Court decision saying local boards of education controlled the right to create schools.
State Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, decried the passage as a loss for students, saying, “Peel back the layers of the onion and what is revealed is a $400 million charter school management business coupled with underlying real estate deals. Our limping schools systems will be financially decimated when we redirect funding to these barely public charter schools — schools that create a parallel school system. Some of these multimillion dollar management contract amounts could fund entire school budgets in some areas of our state…Deals have been made for jobs, appointments, redistricting and more. What they have proven in the debate of HR 1162 is that the State Capitol is for sale. It is corruption in every sense of the word.”
Interesting regarding the real estate deals. What about the designated public school land? It’s called “public domain” for a reason. What are our states doing with the public domain and has there been a vote in each case? Does there need to be?
Is there a real estate expert out there that knows anything about public domain and the restrictions around sales of public school lands? Just wondering…
And now the “daddy of them all” (no doubt for Father’s Day):
To uphold The UN Declaration of Universal Human Rights, California must pass a state-wide voucher system because “every family has the fundamental human right to direct the education of their children.” http://www.sacbee.com/2012/06/17/4565869/viewpoints-scandal-over-testing.html
You know, Diane, I’m so totally on board with you on the business of privatizing public education through the “death by a hundred cuts” (vouchers, charters, etc) we’re now experiencing in the name of “accountability” and “choice”, but I have to disagree on points 1 and 2.
Study after study has shown that public schools today are overfunded. The problem is that administrative overhead – much of it paper-pushing for federal grants – eats up funding to the point that little trickles down to classrooms where it is truly needed for supplies, etc. In fact, I want to go back and add up all the federal grants received by our state department of education and add that to what is legislatively budgeted for K-12 public education to prove my point. I’d bet dollars to doughnuts that by the time results were tallied, taxpayers would shriek at the amount of money actually funding public education. Oklahoma already provides public education 53% of the state’s total budget (http://restoreokpubliceducation.com/node/593) yet we have some of the most dismal educational results in all of the nation.
Our class sizes are regulated by an enormous boondoggle of a state education law (HB1017) which limits class sizes to approx. 22 students, however, it is much easier for districts to pay the fines for class size overages than to pay more teachers in order to reduce class sizes. Consequently, class size is not an issue which can or will be dealt with easily, and programming is only as good as the teacher who uses it.
It never ceases to amaze me how often we fall back on this notion that money = education. I suppose it’s because it’s easy to gin up public sentiment for increased funding using the notion that poor students and/or districts will be illiterate or otherwise uneducated if we don’t spend, spend, spend; but there is no actual research evidence I have found upon which to base this argument other than sentiment – and that doesn’t educate students either.
I am often chastised for making this statement, but that doesn’t make it less true…we put a man on the moon thanks to an educational system very near in time to the one room school house. Our educational system isn’t a mess due to lack of funding or programming, but more due to the devolution of personal responsibility in our society, and that kind of issue will NEVER be resolved with money or legislation.
Assume you are right that good education doesn’t require the spending of more money. But if you look at what research shows, early childhood education is very important in getting children to school ready to learn. That costs money. Research also shows that smaller classes are better when kids need individual attention. These days, larger classes mean that the teacher will not be able to tailor instruction to those who don’t speak English and those with emotional problems, and those who would flourish if the teacher just had some time to explain what she didn’t understand. That costs money. Schools also need nurses and librarians. And special education is costly too. The one-room schoolhouse didn’t have those things. It didn’t have students with disabilities or students who didn’t speak English. It didn’t have a library or sports facilities or a lunchroom. It didn’t have custodians or technology. I agree with you about the vast amounts of money now going into compliance with demands from Washington or the states. I also think we need to make sure that education money gets to the classroom, not to the vast army of consultants that has gone into business to take advantage of the plethora of new federal programs.
Diane
First of all, one-room school houses went out a good fifty years before we put a man on the moon.
Also, we should remember that one-room school houses were created by the communities they served, which were often more homogenous than modern communities, and which supported their public schools with more than just their taxes. Moms stayed at home and could send their children to school with a packed lunch, which eliminated the need for a lunchroom. Often each family was expected to contribute coal or wood for the stove a few times during the year, so that eliminated the need for paying electrical bills. Families often supplied their own books, chalkboards, paper, and other materials instead of expecting the school to do that. Volunteers or the teacher and students cleaned the classroom, which eliminated the expense of a custodian. Community members often volunteered to build, paint, and maintain the school building, which eliminated the need to hire outside contractors.
Early childhood proponents have done a much better job of getting support than secondary school proponents. Early childhood programs do well in preparing youngsters to learn in school. The usa problem is when the elementary students hit the secondary schools, there is no longer enough emphasis placed on teaching reading/math. When the emphasis on reading/math stops, reading abilities do not stay the same nor increase. Abilities go down. That is a terrible thing.
So there’s enough money it’s just going to the wrong places? That could be true…I don’t know all the details, but any discussion of money for schools reminds me of a story that Jonathan Kozol tells…
…when talking to a 1%er (legislator or business-type person, I don’t remember, but a man who’s children went to elite private schools) Kozol was asked, “Jonathan, do you really think that throwing money at schools will help?”
Kozol replied, “Why not? It seemed to work well enough for your children.”
The FL legislature has tried to pass legislation that would give capital outlay funds (funds used to build and maintain schools) directly to charter school companies. They would use this money to build the facility in which their charter school would operate. If the charter school closes, however, the facility DOES NOT revert to the state. It is the property of the charter management company. It is looking like this may get passed this coming year. Of course these funds come directly out of the capital outlay funds for public schools. Last year, public schools received no capital outlay funds but charter schools did receive funds. So now, along with defunding public schools by giving public tax money to charter management companies to provide an education to FL students, they will be directly transferring public tax money to charter management companies to buy land and build buildings that will then become the property of the charter management company, not the taxpayer. Pretty slick deal!
Oh, that is so sweet. You could build yourself a really nice home or office complex… and gosh, what a shame when the facilities don’t quite work well for a school and the school fails. 🙂
I would add another step between Step 2 and 3:
Start a media blitz to label public schools as “failing” and teachers as “lazy.”
This has been in the elected-officials playbook at least since Newt was speaker of the house, and probably before. They’ve done it to the Endangered Species Act, most environmental acts such as the Clean Water and Clean Air Act, to State and National parks, and the list goes on. It seems to be part of a much larger and longer pattern of removing all services and protections that benefit the public, rather than corporations or the wealthy.
Hi Diane,
Bought and read your book – The Death and Life of the Great American School System – after I saw you on Jon Stewart’s show. Just a quick question for you as a new music teacher.
Looking at the way public education has been disintegrating before my eyes, I can’t help but wonder how these people believe they are at all qualified to make dramatic changes to education. As a teacher, I don’t go into a courtroom and tell the judge to convict X number of people or be fired. I don’t go into a hospital and tell a doctor to save X number of people or be fired. Yet, Obama and Duncan think they can make the teaching profession more “prestigious” while doing just that, coming into the classrooms with their accountability measures as though they know what it takes to be a teacher.
I guess I’m curious if you think the licensing process for teachers is sufficient. It seems to me that if the degree of difficulty in acquiring a teaching license matched that of acquiring an attorney or medical license, the credentials themselves might hold more weight in the public discourse. I’m not saying the process to becoming a teacher is easy, but if some can simply go through the motions and end up with a license to be in a classroom, do you think that this at least gives some of these politicians and philanthropists ammunition for their “reformyist” rhetoric.
I just wanted to know what you think are “good” ways to reform the system and what those might be – expanding on what you wrote in your book about your favorite teacher from your experience. Would raising the standards at the college level for candidates to be admitted to a teacher education program (and huge improvements to the God Awful! Praxis Series exams) be one of the “good” reform ideas in your opinion?
Thanks!
I think it should be harder to become a teacher. Those who want to teach should be thoroughly knowledgeable about whatever it is they intend to teach. They should have the skills to manage a classroom. They need to understand child development and adolescent psychology. They need to know how to teach a variety of learners–those with disabilities and those with language issues. Teaching is a very complex and demanding job, and those who want to do it need to be well-educated and well-prepared. Once they have completed their education, they should have a year of practice and research in a supervised setting. They should at some point in this process, near its conclusion, demonstrate that they have the requisite knowledge and skills. Only then should they become teachers.
As you point out, there are many people imposing demands on teachers who never taught and wouldn’t last a day in a classroom.
This is wrong.
Teaching should be prestigious, because it is so important.
And yet we see standards for entry into teaching lowered in state after state, all in the name of “reform.”
I wrote the other day about a proposal by the Indiana Department of Education to lower standards for new teachers.
Diane
Shaun,
There needs to be more cooperation between the public schools and the college/university education departments that produce teachers. Even if the public schools could produce a budget to hire more secondary specialists to teach reading/math in secondary schools, the colleges of higher education are not producing enough reading/math specialists to meet the needs. This is like a vicious circle. The public schools do not seem to have the will nor money to teach reading/math to the secondary students who need it. Thus the colleges do not produce secondary reading/math specialists to solve the very large individual problems of these students.
The wrong thinking in the secondary schools is that if a student cannot read/cipher by the time they get to secondary schools, nothing should be done about it. This thinking is so wrong. There are too many students in secondary schools reading/ciphering at the primary level because of the lack of emphasis on reading/math at secondary schools. Half the students should be secondary pupils. To give up on those who cannot read/cipher is too sick. Thus comes the way to high secondary dropout rates and extremely high percentages of college students who have to take remedial courses before they can get college credit. It comes from a lack of will/funds to do at the secondary level and lack of proper communication between secondary schools and colleges.
More must be done than just producing statistics about high secondary dropout rates, high percentages of high school pupils who do not graduate and high percentages of beginning college students who must take remedial courses. More must be done than complaining about these poor stats, threateng to cut funds because of poor performance and lambasting school staffs. More must be done about planning for better secondary programs to solve the problems. More must be done about explaining these poor stats to everyone involved until such time as some positive methods and the will is formed and produced to solve the problems.
Public education, definitely, destroyed my life, mentally and psychologically. It is a very sad long story about my nightmare and very sad and very evil past of what happened to me through public education. Public education must be abolished forever!!!!
How sad. At least you can read and write.
Yes, you are right. I can read and write, but I had a lot of problems with public education. Even though, it has been many years ago, there are times that I cry, because of what the public education did to me. For me, it was a public education genocide. To make a long story short, I am learning and comprehensive disabled and the public education never diagnosed my problems, nor they did not how to help me with many problems that I used to have at public schools. I, truly and honestly, want to see all public education abolished. Thank you for understanding me.
So, if your mother abused you and treated you badly, you would recommend abolishing all mothers? And if your car malfunctioned, you would abolish all cars?
The questions that you are asking me, what do they have to do with my terrible public education past? Are you defending public education? Please be compassionate and understanding. Otherwise, you are wasting my time.