A reader just raised an interesting question offline.
He lives in New Jersey, where the state constitution requires that the state provide a “thorough and efficient” public education.
New Jersey officials today are doing their best to dismantle and privatize the state’s public education system.
Are they violating their oath of office?
What does it say in other state constitutions where the privatizers are busy dismantling the public system for fun, power, profit and ideology?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
God bless you! And thank you. Frank Breslin
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Yes, what education needs right now are some good lawyers. I just can’t believe what is happening is legal. Especially shocking to me is the siphoning off of public school money into private pockets (e.g. the school principal making over $300,000 per year). Where was I when these laws were passed?
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This question is probably why the reformers insist that charter schools are public institutions and why charter schools go through the rigamarole of setting up for profit entities “to manage” or to supply resources to the charter.
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Not a pro bono lawyer, but I do work for a New Jersey public interest organization that deals with state constitutional issues. We have a few lawsuits concerning these kinds of threats to the “thorough and efficient” public education guaranteed to every child. I think all state constitutions guarantee universal public education in some form. It scares me. They’re trying to do with universal public education what they successfully did to the political viability of universal public health insurance, only after the fact. You literally wrote the book on this history, so I don’t have to tell you how radical and controversial Horace Mann’s vision sounded to a lot of people at that time. Thank God it didn’t get railroaded in the way that universal health care did in the 1930s. If only Upton Sinclair had written a companion book to The Jungle with disgusting images of a society that lets people die in the street or turns learning into a commodity that only the rich can afford.
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Diane, here’s Chapter V, Section II from the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (written by John Adams, who was a schoolteacher here in Worcester while he got some experience in law):
Wisdom, and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused generally among the body of the people, being necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties; and as these depend on spreading the opportunities and advantages of education in the various parts of the country, and among the different orders of the people, it shall be the duty of legislatures and magistrates, in all future periods of this commonwealth, to cherish the interests of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries of them; especially the university at Cambridge, public schools and grammar schools in the towns; to encourage private societies and public institutions, rewards and immunities, for the promotion of agriculture, arts, sciences, commerce, trades, manufactures, and a natural history of the country; to countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity and general benevolence, public and private charity, industry and frugality, honesty and punctuality in their dealings; sincerity, good humor, and all social affections, and generous sentiments among the people.
This has been grounds for several successful lawsuits around school funding.
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Tennessee is in a similar situation: http://nashvillecitypaper.com/content/city-news/metros-great-hearts-denial-motivates-legislature-push-vouchers-plan
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I hate to rain on the parade, but I would expect the state (NJ) to simply claim that charters are needed to meet the “thorough and efficient” standard; they are mutually exclusive. Generally, I think you’ll find courts loathe to take on these issues without a clear demonstration of the standard of care and its breach by the legislature.
We won’t win this in court. We have to elect people at all levels of government who support strong public education. Since neither of the main parties will do that, we have to start supporting third parties like the Green and Justice parties. We have a long way to go, but the sooner we stop waiting for Obama and the Demolicans or expecting the courts to ride to the rescue, the sooner we’ll get started on our journey of renewal.
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Agreed! There also needs to be an education revolution brought on the by all the teachers in this country. It’s time to demand a seat at the table when it comes to policy that affects our students and our ability to teach what they need to know
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“It’s time to demand a seat at the table…”
The problem with this idea is a seat at the ‘policy’ table only guarantees you the perception you are part of the process. Perception = waste of time.
No. This table needs upended. Scattering all the lies and the liars who created them scurrying for cover like the little rats they are.
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You are missing the point Henry. A seat at the table is only the beginning of the process. I agree we need to get rid of the politicians who got our education system into this mess, but it needs to be done one step at a time, and “a seat at the table” for educators is a lot more progress than what we currently have. Then you build on that. It took other countries who have great education systems decades to get to where they are, and we need to convince this country that it will take time for us to get to where we want to go.
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At this point, Andy, I think a seat for teachers at the table will be ignored completely. After all, just who are the people responsible for this mess? Why would we want to listen to the folks responsible? The American public has been duped into thinking it’s the teachers and their awful unions who have destroyed schools. We have no clout here anymore. We ourselves have even been duped into believing we’re the problem. We work so dilligently to administer the tests that will leave us without jobs, and yet, we do it anyway…lambs to the slaugher. Where we do have some clout left is with the parents of the students we teach. It may take major civil disobedience among parents, students and teachers to effectively stop this disasterous train wreck. Parents opting their children out of testing, students in higher grades refusing to be tested (with their parents approval), teachers calling in “sick” on testing days. Local school districts and administrators will have to join in and say enough is enough. We may all have to accept fewer resources (esp. federal funding) if this is attempted. It will take massive numbers of people doing this to make an impact, especially against the billions of dollars being poured into creating a new, segregated system of education. I personally don’t know the answer; I do know we’re all in for a rough ride until something finally breaks. I just hope it isn’t the students, parents and teachers who break first.
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Andy, on the contrary, I absolutely understand your point. However, I’ve sat at many tables ready to participate only to come to the realization agendas had already been set. All dissenting opinions and ideas unimportant. Outcomes decided. Deck already stacked. “Thank you very much for participating. Don’t forget your ‘atta-boy’ certificate and clicky-pen on your way out.” Given the consistent behavior of today’s reformers, it is precisely why the concept of sitting at THIS table is a waste of time. So sit all you want. I hope your chair is a comfortable one, for you may even want to remain seated once you realize you’ve become the sucker they consider you to be.
What is needed is an entirely new table: “There also needs to be an education revolution brought on the by all the teachers in this country.”
Here is where you and I thoroughly agree. What you’ve succinctly articulated is the first step for making it happen. Regina’s comment continues this idea, offering serious and thoughtful approaches for making it happen. I’d also offer the suggestion teachers themselves opt their own children out of testing. My son and daughters will never take a single standardized assessment that gauges school/teacher worth. Moreover, I will demand each be given appropriate and challenging academic activities during testing practice and proctoring days.
If every one of us followed in similar fashion, parents of our own students would observe this and begin to do the same. Data from the results of these tests would become more invalid and worthless than even now. The testing fiasco would collapse on itself.
Then, upon its grave, we set down a new table, take our rightful seat, and have the conversation our students and us need.
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In WA, the McCleary case found that the state wasn’t fulfilling its obligation to fully fund education for all and our state now has a judicial mandate to take care of the problem, while at the same time we are being asked for a fourth time to vote on charter schools. How public schools can still be fully funded under McCleary while also allowing charter schools is a mystery. How we can be asked to vote once again on something that has been defeated 3 times already is also a mystery. A mystery which is being funded by Gates and Walton and several other billionaire families with no children in public education I might add.
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Off topic but has Ed Week switched teams?
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/10/25/559919flscotteducation_ap.html?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mrss
The title of this piece is: Scott’s Fla. school plans draw widespread praise
Um no it hasn’t and nobody should be celebrating getting hit in the head three times instead of 5 times which is all that he is proposing
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I think the ACLU is already doing this in Michigan. I think you wrote a blog post on it already but my search capability is limited right now.
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I am sorry to be so vague but I don’t have exact times etc at hand….that said, the OH supreme court ruled at least 3 times that the state was not meeting their obligations and the result? “Legistlators” here simply ignored them. So far, this hasn’t caused any elected representatives any problem at all.
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legistlators here simply ignored them…
The GA made a good faith effort to satisfy the court. There wasn’t enough money, and no agreed upon cost out methodology. However, Ohio is recognized for its equitable school funding and its facilities improvements, both resulting from the DeRolph lawsuit.
FWIW, Dale DeRolph was in Dr. Ravitch’s audience last week in Columbus.
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this is the best person I can think of– from Wikipedia– great book he wrote I cannot find but here’s some clues:
Michael A. Rebell is the Executive Director of the Campaign for Educational Equity at Teachers College, Columbia University. He is an experienced litigator in the field of education law, and he is also Professor Law and Educational Practice at Teachers College and Columbia Law School.[1]
Rebell was co-counsel for the plaintiffs in Campaign for Fiscal Equity, Inc. (CFE) v. State of New York, a school funding “adequacy” lawsuit that claimed that the State of New York was not adequately funding public schools in New York City. Rebell argued the case three times before the New York Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court.[1]
Prior to becoming involved in the CFE litigation, Rebell ligitated other class action lawsuits in the area of education, including Jose P. v. Mills, a case involving funding for education for students with disabilities. He also served as a court-appointed special master in Allen v. Park, a special education case in Boston.[1]
Rebell has received a great deal of recognition for his work in education law, and on the CFE litigation in particular. In 2003, the New York Times ran a profile of Rebell in its “Public Lives” series.[2]
In December 2006, the editorial board of the New York Daily News listed Rebell as a “strong contender” for its first New Yorker of the Year award, for his work on the CFE litigation (the editorial board gave the award to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg).[3] Rebell calls himself “a child of the 60’s” and says he was inspired by John F. Kennedy’s call to public service. He attended Harvard College as an undergraduate and subsequently served in the Peace Corps for two years in Sierra Leone. After returning from the Peace Corps, he attended Yale Law School.[2]
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Unfortunately, the courts will probably interpret “public education” requirements in a state’s constitution or statutes as requiring the state to provide education free of charge to the student/parents rather than as requiring the state to use a govt agency to provide the education. Charters that provide education free of charge — albeit by a private non-governmental entity such as a non-profit charter or a for-profit charter — would be consistent with such a “public education” requirement.
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The lawyers on NJ will be focusing on the new tenure law. It is riddled with problems and will prove to provide easy.
NJ needs parents to opt out of high stakes testing. The reforms will collapse if the testing
Idiocy is revealed and parents pull out.
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What does it say in other state constitutions … Ohio requires a “thorough and efficient system” (since 1851). This may be the first use of that language in a state constitution. West Virginia litigated that same language (Pauley) and cited the Ohio constitutional debates. The Ohio language is common among a half dozen states–OH, WV, MD, NJ, PA, and MN. Challenging privatization based on the ed clause didn’t go far (after 4 or 5 years): Ohio Congress of Parents and Teachers v. State of Ohio Board of Education “In April [2001], the Ohio Federation of Teachers (OFT) announced its intention to sue Ohio over its charter school program, arguing that it violates state law and the state constitution. Little over a month later, the OFT … [the late] OFT President Tom Mooney stated that the community school idea ‘has been hijacked by entrepreneurs whose goal is simply to make a profit and by people who are ideologically committed to privatization for the sake of privatization.’” (Note the case was argued by Tom Mooney’s brother, Don): http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2005/12/07/14ohio.h25.html David Sciarra of the Newark-based Education Law Center has expressed his opinions on privatization: https://dianeravitch.net/2012/08/02/chris-christies-plan-to-privatize-njs-low-performing-schools/#comment-18066 The Michigan lawsuit appears to be an issue with a poorly run traditional district: https://dianeravitch.net/2012/08/01/why-the-aclu-is-suing-michigan/
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ALL States constitutions require the state to provide for free public or common schools, while the details of how do to that vary. http://www.ecs.org/html/Document.asp?chouseid=1703 Many states have had court decisions regarding equitable funding that have bound legislatures to fully fund public schools (here in Missouri, the legislature has yet to fully fund their own foundation formula). The charter movement has swooped in with the promise of private financing, which takes the pressure off the legislatures to fully fund public education. A win-win for all, in their eyes. The courts may be the only way to solve this.
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Dear Diane, I had thought that I might write a satirical essay based on the Paige quote referring to the NEA as a terrorist organization – sort of a “Modest Proposal” regarding privatizing education combined with the war on terror. Though it may have been done before, this is the timeline that I have so far. I don’t think “we the people” nor the elected officials who supposedly represent them in this Republic realize that the unknown generals of this war on public education are not employed by “the People” or the Pentagon. . I don’t know for sure where the idea came from – no child left behind – the military? When a mission goes badly the whole patrol heroicly stays behind to extricate the survivors. In the case of friendly fire everyone has to die so the official story cannot be questioned. Summer 2001 Privatization initiatives and voucher programs are funded by the private sector because corporations such as EMOs stand to benefit from them directly; and they are funded by the government sector because it gives the appearance that those holding political office are responsive to the needs of people who are disserved by public education. And more than occasionally these motives are interchangeable as when politicians have a personal financial stake in privatization, and when corporations wish to appear that they are concerned about social issues… 4.1 The largest school district to have experimented with privatization is Philadelphia’s—the 7th largest in the nation. With 265 schools, 205,000 students, and a $1.7 billion annual budget, the Philadelphia school district is a potential bonanza for privateers. The events surrounding the state’s takeover of Philadelphia’s schools and the involvement of Edison Schools Inc. with the district reveal strong public sentiment against such moves. 4.2 The privatization process began in Philadelphia in the summer of 2001 when it was but a gleam in the eye of then Governor Tom Ridge. Ridge awarded Edison Schools Inc. a $2.7 million, no-bid contract to study the district over a two month period and make recommendations for improving school financing and student achievement. http://louisville.edu/journal/workplace/issue5p2/boesenberg.html Sept. 2001 Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People President George W. Bush – Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated. (Applause.) … Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have ever seen. It may include dramatic strikes, visible on TV, and covert operations, secret even in success. …We will starve terrorists of funding, turn them one against another, drive them from place to place, until there is no refuge or no rest… Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists… These efforts must be coordinated at the highest level. So tonight I announce the creation of a Cabinet-level position reporting directly to me — the Office of Homeland Security. And tonight I also announce a distinguished American to lead this effort, to strengthen American security: a military veteran, an effective governor, a true patriot, a trusted friend — Pennsylvania’s Tom Ridge. (Applause.) NCLB UPDATE On March 7, 2003,Secretary Paige joined Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge in unveiling a new web site—http://www.ed.gov/emergencyplan/—designed to be a one-stop shop to help school officials plan for any emergency, including natural disasters, violent incidents, and terrorist attacks. “As a former superintendent of the nation’s seventh largest school district, I know the importance of emergency planning,” Paige said. “The midst of a crisis is not the time to start figuring out who ought to do what. At that moment, everyone involved—from top to bottom—should know the drill and know each other.” Hickok knows his way around the political complications that come with school choice. As Gov. Tom Ridge’s Secretary of Education from 1995 to 2001, Hickok was instrumental in bringing vouchers to the brink of reality, but bills fell short of passing in the state House on three occasions between 1996 and 1999 — once by only a handful of votes. From 2001 to 2004, Hickok was tapped by Bush to be deputy secretary of education and was involved in developing the policies and guidelines for the controversial No Child Left Behind Act, or NCLB, the major education reform package of the Bush administration,… http://paindependent.com/2011/08/after-15-years-former-education-secretary-still-pushing-school-choice-in-pa/ February 2004 Education chief calls teachers union ‘terrorist organization’ By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY WASHINGTON — Education Secretary Rod Paige called the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union, “a terrorist organization” during a private meeting with governors Monday. The hawkish policy to privatize education based on The Art of War by Sun Tzu 1. All warfare is based on deception. 2. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him. 3. In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy’s country whole and intact. 4. Hence a wise general makes a point of foraging on the enemy. 5. With his forces intact he will dispute the mastery of the Empire, and thus, without losing a man, his triumph will be complete. This is the method of attacking by stratagem. 6. In respect of military method, we have, firstly, Measurement; secondly, Estimation of quantity; thirdly, Calculation; fourthly, Balancing of chances; fifthly, Victory. 7. The control of a large force is the same principle as the control of a few men: it is merely a question of dividing up their numbers. 8. Simulated disorder postulates perfect discipline. 9. Therefore the clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy’s will to be imposed on him. 10. O divine art of subtlety and secrecy! Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible; and hence we can hold the enemy’s fate in our hands. 11. If we do not wish to fight, we can prevent the enemy from engaging us even though the lines of our encampment be merely traced out on the ground. All we need do is to throw something odd and unaccountable in his way. 12. By discovering the enemy’s dispositions and remaining invisible ourselves, we can keep our forces concentrated, while the enemy’s must be divided. 13. All men can see the tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved. 14. In war, practice dissimulation, and you will succeed. 15. If there is disturbance in the camp, the general’s authority is weak. 16. The sight of men whispering together in small knots or speaking in subdued tones points to disaffection amongst the rank and file. 17. The principle on which to manage an army is to set up one standard … which all must reach. 18. It is the business of a general to mystify his officers and men by false reports and appearances, and thus keep them in total ignorance. Privitize education to wrest control of schools from the NEA terrorist threat – hit them where it hurts, the kids; promote collateral damage but leave the infrastructure intact. 1. Bomb the kids with standardized testing K-12 2. Decide early on who will survive and who won’t 3. Institute NCLB 4. Use drones whenever possible 5. Close even high-performing schools based on the weakest link – most likely to be left behind 6. Convince them that there is equity – everyone can win a “Race to the Top” 7. Increase drop-out rate 8. Institute “Race to the Top” 9. Disseminate misinformation about achievement 10. Hush up the School to prison track Mission accomplished
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Recently I was told I could not use Sing, Spell , read &write initial had to use TC with the kindergarten ict class. All my kids learn to read with SSRW they will not learn to read with SSRW. If I am going to be accountable then I want to use what works.
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New Jersey would do well to look at the NEWS lawsuit and the subsequent McLeary Decision in Washington State.
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Wow. That’s the strongest ed clause I’ve seen:
Click to access McCleary%20two-page%20summary%202-7-12.pdf
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Georgia’s constitution calls for the state to provide “an adequate” education for all.
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