The people of Michigan have received the report of the “Oxford Foundation” on the future of education in that state.
The authors of the report have nothing to do with Oxford University or Britain.
They are not part of a foundation.
They are Republican operatives carrying out the wishes of Governor Rick Snyder to destroy public education in Michigan.
The ideas the report advances are Governor Snyder’s plan to make education “any place, any time, any where, any how, any which way but up or down.”
The basic plan is that anyone can supply education. It is not a public responsibility.
What we now call public education will disappear, if Rick Snyder and the “Oxford Foundation” has its way.
It’s into the free market, with spoils and riches for all!
Good education for those who can afford it.
Boot camps for the rest.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I thought of Bob Dylan’s Oxford Town when I read the word Oxford:
Oxford Town, Oxford Town
Ev’rybody’s got their heads bowed down
The sun don’t shine above the ground
Ain’t a-goin’ down to Oxford Town
Read more: http://www.bobdylan.com/us/songs/oxford-town#ixzz2BA3I63Gu
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I don’t know if there is any connection, but there is a township and village of Oxford, Michigan, just north of Detroit.
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Not surprising. There’s no charter school cap here either. (There is but the number is so high that it isn’t an actual cap.)
The hyperconservative Detroit News had an article where critics of all the new charters voiced opinions including Education Trust Midwest (which is not exactly friendly to public schools so they are not biased against charters).
The conclusion of the article notes that the state has virtually no authority to close a failing charter. That’s up to the authorizer! What authorizer, for-profit or non-profit, has it in their interest to ever close a school? Less money and a damaged reputation follow.
So much for that myth. But that’s Michigan these days. We’re on our way to the system that Republicans want. Low paid, non-pension receiving drones who deliver canned content. Or unaccountable online schools that have never delivered in a meaningful way.
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Sounds like the Republicans of Michigan aren’t any better than the Democrats of Illinois and New York.
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It appears that the distinguishing feature of all these groups is their absolute, shameless, and total dishonesty about their real agenda.
Here is the OF Blog.
Here is the OF Facebook Page.
Perhaps a reader with good investigative skills can find out who they really are.
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Oh, we know who they are. The just aren’t telling us the what and when. What we do know is that the Governor wants the results incorporated into the next State budget. This means big changes for Michigan schools in the 2013/2014 school year. If you can’t change the State constitution to incorporate vouchers, do an end run on the funding. There is already a bill introduced into the State House which will set up the different types of schools for the Any Time, Any Place, Any Way, Any Pace. Any way, right, as long as it is Their Way.
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We need help in Michigan! I continue to be concerned about the radical agenda of our state’s politicians.
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Thank you for highlighting the Oxford Foundation and the reworking of the Michigan School Aid Act. Many of the people I know are very concerned with what they are doing because they aren’t telling anyone. Sure they will accept a proposal, sure they say they are transparent, but I am just a regular parent concerned that they will strip away my kid’s school district as they try to reform the public schools across the state. We are waiting for the destructive winds to blow after Nov. 6th.
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Have you seen this? http://www.alternet.org/rights-school-choice-scheme. This privatization scheme has been in the works for a long time! 2010 elections enabled it to accelerate when a lot of extremist governors and state legislators got elected. We in Texas are organizing, not only to combat the $5.4 billion cuts in 2011, but to secure an equitable/adequate funding system AND to resist with all our might the privatization schemes. See http://www.texaskidscantwait.org. Secret weapon is http://www.savetexasfootball.com. . Have to have those Friday Night Lights! If you would like to join us, fill out form on web page or send us an email at texaskidscantwait@gmail.com
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Thank you, Diane, for this link. I had not been aware of the so called Oxford report heretofore. I have downloaded its 17 pages, printed it out, and will read it. While I do not think it will destroy public education schools—most parents like them, and most students like being with other students, my own grandchildren included—it will break what I would call the “strangle hold” of teachers’ unions on the destination of public funding for education, and appears to allow families considerable flexibility in the manner in which they get their children educated. I am a lot more optimistic than you are about the potential for success of Governor Snyder’s approach. The devil is always in the details, of course, but the notion of public funding following the child has always been something of which, at least in theory, I have approved, in spite of the probable constitutional problems involving religiously sponsored schools. The Oxford report applies only to high schools, of course, but my reading of it is colored, perhaps distorted, by the experience of half of my family in the elementary public schools. Neither myself, in the forties, nor my son and my daughter, in the seventies, nor my granddaughter now, is being well served by the elementary school education options then and now available. No doubt, in all four cases, were the problems exclusively with the schools themselves—kids can be different and VERY difficult—BUT I still think I would like to see a larger range of options provided by public funding than is currently the case. In public schools now, in my perception, the rule is “my way or the highway.” Time will tell, and the consequences, intended and unintended, will only be obvious many years after you and I bite the dust.
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The stranglehold of the unions??? Do you even look at the amount that goes to the corporations and leaders of these places that are supposedly a better alternative than public education? Frankly, I would rather not wait until you bite the dust to see the consequences of these drastic funding options.
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I hope I don’t bite the dust TOO soon, but I don’t expect change to be rapid. The Oxford report does seem to anticipate a contract with a private firm for data management under the state coordinating entity. Is it possible they might be sincere or are they all just looking for ways to feed off the public fish, like a lamprey?
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The Oxford Foundation is not just changing high school it is about changing K-12 or even Pre-K through 12. Adding Pre-K is great, getting more resources to those schools that need it is great, and allowing options for HS students to take college courses is also great. All of this is being done because as Gov. Snyder says, the system is broken. I don’t believe the fix will fix the problem and I believe it will break what is working well.
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“the “strangle hold” of teachers’ unions” Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha. . . etc. . . ad infinitum. Man o man you know nothing about which you speak with that statement. How many years have you taught in a public school??
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Only 2, and that’s in a charter, ununionized. I love it that you can laugh, but what am I unaware of?
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Although I don’t share your optimism, nor your characterization of the union as having a stranglehold on the public schools, it is nice to read a respectful and well-written dissent.
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They just don’t get it —
Two days after Michigan voters repealed the Emergency Manager law, the Governor insults the electorate by saying they were simply confused, and then he and his crew in the legislature set to work trying to cast their Educational Achievement Authority into harder stone.
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121108/SCHOOLS/211080480
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121109/SCHOOLS/211090369
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