The public schools in several poor communities have been under state control for more than a decade, proving that state education departments don’t know how to run schools while obliterating democracy.
State Senator Ron Rice has called for a restoration of democratic control in Newark, Jersey City, and Patterson.
The state has been in control of Newark since 1995, Patterson since 1991, and Jersey City since 1989.
He has joined a coalition of local groups and clergy to call for an investigation of the state education department.
Meanwhile, the state education departmentauthority take over scores of other districts, no doubt to advance Governor Christie’s privatization agenda.
Senator Ron Rice is a champion for democratic control of the people’s schools.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Go to your STATE Constitution and see if the STate has ANY authority in public education. Watch for legislation that gives authority to the state and fight against it.
Education should be handled at the local level and state legislators ignore that.
Then look at the 10th Amendment and ask why the FEDS are also involved.
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MwA,
It is a state’s constitution that specifically authorizes public education. Depending upon a state’s constitution the state may be designated as the funding source or not. For example here in Missouri the state constitution says: Article IX, subsection 1a: “A general diffusion of knowledge and intelligence being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people, the general assembly shall establish and maintain free public schools for the gratuitous instruction of all persons in this state within ages not in excess of twenty-one years as prescribed by law.” I’m sure the other states have similar wording.
By that wording, yes it is definitely the “state’s” responsibility. How that is done is then (has been) established by the general assembly. There has been a long and acrimonious fight over how to fund public education in MO for quite awhile-since at least 1993. See: http://web.missouri.edu/~podgurskym/articles/files/PodgurskySpringer.pdf .
It seems your position is that it is a strictly local issue but in reality it is a state issue with federal oversight when the states make laws that contravene the US constitution, i.e., separate but equal schools that were declared unconstitutional in Brown vs. Board.
I hope that clears things up a bit for you.
Duane
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Encouraging news from Connecticut: the town of Windham’s charter committee yesterday moved to keep the board of education positions as elected ones, rather than appointed, as suggested by state-appointed “Special Master” Steven Adamowski. Council member Mark Doyle said that taxpayers should have direct oversight of those on the board that “controls the largest budget.” This still needs to be voted on, and you can be sure “DINO Dan” Malloy and Adamowski will be working their hardest to change the committee’s position.
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Thanks for mentioning this, Lehrer. I was alarmed about a month ago when I read that Steven Adamowski had attended a charter revision committee meeting in Windham and had mentioned the strong-mayor and appointed board possibilities. Only urban areas and those with numerous children of color seem to elicit these anti-democratic measures. Adamowski was Superintendent in Hartford when their first strong mayor, Eddie Perez, was in office. Perez not only appointed himself to the Hartford BoE, he managed to get voted chair! From weak mayor to Samurai warrior strength in a matter of months! Of course, Perez is now in federal prison on a host of charges, and most of Hartford is wondering why Adamowski got off free. I guess making more than twice the salary of a mayor, or even governor, keeps the lid on more venal and obvious criminal acts (that, and the fact that the stooge of a mayor wiped a few DUIs and who knows what else off Adamowski’s record). It is not a foregone conconclusion that Windham will keep their elected BoE, but right now it doesn’t matter because the board is absolutely impotent.
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Adamowski is trying to bring this Trojan horse into town under the guise of aiding them, of course: why shouldn’t someone with a strong business/ financial background be appointed to the board, for example? Interestingly, Adamowski suggested that each of the four villages vote for one member each, and the other five would be appointed. Hmm…it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how the votes will fall, does it?
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