Even as Rahm Emanuel says he has no money for schools, none at all, the cupboard is bare….. He somehow managed to find $55 million to build a private basketball stadium. Now, this is a mayor with priorities!
Archives for the month of: May, 2013
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is following the ALEC script:
More charters
More vouchers
Lower standards for entry into teaching
Did he ask the voters if they want to get rid of public education? No.
Ohio leaders–Governor John Kasich and the Legislature–are determined to privatize public education, demoralize teachers, and generate profits for entrepreneurs and campaign contributors. Here is the latest from Bill Phillis, who is leading a campaign to stop the destruction of public education in Ohio. A former deputy commissioner of education, he leads the Ohio Education and Adequacy Coalition.
Phillis writes:
FY2014-FY2015 State Budget Proposal: “Education Reform” process must change
May 23, 2013
The recently adopted “education reform” process seems to follow these steps:
· State officials assume that any deficiencies in student test scores, behavior, work force readiness, college readiness, etc. are due to the lack of competence and dedication of boards of education, administrators, educators and staff in the public common school. (Of course, some of them believe poverty and home environment do not influence test scores, behaviors, etc.)
· State officials are provided model reform legislation by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and seek advice from corporate leaders and others not working in the public common school system. A token representation of public education personnel may also be consulted.
· “Reforms” such as the parent trigger, vouchers, charter schools, mayoral control of schools, appointed commissions to assume part of the functions of boards of education, tuition tax credits, third grade guarantee, high stakes testing, replacement of teachers and administrators in “failing schools”, A-F report cards, etc. are enacted with the expectation that these quick fixes will work wonders.
· In all cases the local education community typically attempts to comply with the state’s reforms.
· When local educators and administrators don’t fully embrace these untested “reforms”, they are considered to be stuck in their old ways, resistant to change and not fit for the position they hold.
· Some state officials attempt to intimidate those who don’t “buy-in” to the ever changing “reform” ideas. Then local education personnel are told that they would buy-in if they really would take the time to understand the “reform.”
· When the “reform” measures don’t produce extraordinary results, the local education personnel are to blame and thus the system should be farmed out to the private sector.
Meaningful education reform involves a serious confrontation with all of the issues, particularly those associated with poverty and dysfunctional households. True reform is usually a costly endeavor which many state officials wish to ignore; thus, quick fixes-vouchers, charters, parent triggers, etc.-are put forth as the solution in lieu of dealing forthrightly with the funding necessary to effectuate improved outcomes.
In 1850 and 1851 some selected Ohio citizens came together as delegates to the Constitutional Convention that revised the 1802 Constitution. A majority of the delegates determined that the legislature had neglected public education and crafted the “thorough and efficient” mandate to state government.
In 1912 some selected citizens came together as delegates to another Constitutional Convention. The delegates crafted the “for the organization, administration and control of the public school system” constitutional provision which reinforced the “thorough and efficient clause.”
Subsequent to the 1912 amendment Governor Cox recommended and the legislature authorized the Ohio State School Survey Commission to study the public school system. This citizen commission issued a 300-page report laced with numerous recommendations. Governor Cox proclaimed November 14, 1913 as School Survey Day and convened the Educational Congress on December 5 and 6. The Congress was comprised of citizens from throughout the state. Four major “school reform” bills were passed in January 1914 as a result of these citizen-driven discussions and activities.
This citizen-driven process of “reform” served as a model in Ohio throughout the decades since 1912. However, in recent years, state officials have seemingly consulted an array of self-proclaimed experts and anti-public education activists but have neglected to seek counsel from those affected by state education policy decisions- Ohio citizens and public school personnel. It’s time to disengage ALEC and the advocates of privatization and engage Ohio citizens in education reform efforts.
William Phillis
Ohio E & A
This email was sent by ohioeanda@sbcglobal.net |
Ohio E & A | 100 S. 3rd Street |Columbus, Ohio
Zoe is in the sixth grade in North Carolina. She decided to opt out of the state tests.her parents supported her. At first, the school told her there would be no repercussions. But when testing day came, her family got a letter warning that she would not be allowed to come back to school unless she took the test. Zoe and her dad started the Blue Hat Movement.
You can read about it here.
Zoe refused to take the test and was asked to leave the building. She is a straight A student.
This article argues that Chicago needs an elected school board.
Rahm’s school board sounds like the Politburo, all voting in unison to do what is unconscionable.
One protester said, “Every school is my school.”
This is the saddest comment of all:
“In between the dramatic scenes of angry audience members refusing to leave the podium, there were so many speakers who raised such thoughtful issues about why it made no sense for their school to be closed that it would have given anyone pause. But there was to be no pause.
“The time is always right to do what is right,” Byrd-Bennett would later say of the 50 schools being closed, using a quotation from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to defend a policy decision that I can’t imagine King would have favored.
King would have been more likely to lead a campaign for an elected school board.”
Howard Blume has a terrific article
explaining how Monica Ratliff beat Antonio Sanchez and his multi-million $$$ campaign fund.
Sanchez had millions of dollars, a large staff, the endorsement of the LA Democratic Party (thanks, Mayor Villarigosa), and major labor unions.
Monica raised $52,000, had no paid staff, and taught her class every day. She never told her students that she was running for office.
Howard neglected to mention the contributions that came to Monica from teachers across America–in denominations of $10, $25, $50, and the endorsement by the Network for Public Education.
The Chicago Tribune would have advised American troops to lay down their arms when defeat seemed certain. They would have advised appeasement in the 1930s. This is an editorial board that cares not a whit for 40,000 children (not their children, after all) or for public education.
The Chicago Tribune editorial board is composed of Quislings. This is their advice to teachers:
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May 22, 2013
When a vast tornado ripped into an Oklahoma elementary school, some teachers threw themselves on top of their students to shield them. They put their students’ lives before their own.
Some quick-thinking teachers huddled children into a bathroom. Though the roof blew off the school, the kids survived.
Some teachers were the first rescuers to pull surviving kids from the rubble, to comfort them, to keep them safe.
We’re sure we’ll hear more stirring stories about Oklahoma teachers who kept calm and protected their students during Monday’s tragedy. Guiding and protecting children is what teachers do. Not just in Oklahoma. Everywhere.
Parents who send their kids off to school every morning take a leap of faith: They trust that a teacher will care for their child with passion, with dedication, with patience and love. Parents place great value on their teachers, and with good reason.
We point this out on a day when the Chicago public school system will make a gut-wrenching decision. The school board is set to vote Wednesday on whether to close 53 elementary schools. Chicago teachers and parents have been protesting, trying to save those schools.
No one revels in closing a school. Chicago faces this decision because of some undeniable facts. The number of students has declined. That decline has been concentrated in lower-income neighborhoods. Chicago has a school infrastructure designed to support more students than it has enrolled. Chicago has to put its money toward the education of students in full, thriving schools. Money spent to light, heat and maintain half-empty school buildings is not money focused on educating children.
After months of planning, months of debate, the school board members will make a tough, emotional decision Wednesday.
They may spare a handful of the schools, based on the reports of arbitrators who questioned the efficacy of closing some schools. But barring a last-minute change of direction, most of the schools will be closed. That will be the right decision. Students won’t be served by pushing off these decisions, by continuing to misdirect education dollars.
And that brings us back to the teachers.
They have fought intensely against these closings. They’ll continue to challenge the board’s decision in federal court.
But their complete cooperation in the months ahead will be essential to ensuring a safe, successful transition for their students. Many teachers will follow kids to new buildings. Those charged with shepherding kids safely to school will depend on teachers to help, to speak up if they see dangers.
The teachers may not agree with every closing or any closing. But it will be up to them to make this work.
And far beyond that: The teachers will be key to restoring Chicago’s focus on building a much better public school system, on graduating students who are prepared to succeed in college and the workplace.
That can’t be achieved if Chicago’s teachers fight every effort at reform, if they are in a perpetual war against those who lead Chicago’s public schools.
Teachers, be heroes.
Copyright © 2013 Chicago Tribune Company, LLC
This is a brilliant, stunning analysis by a reader, who explores the goals of corporate reformers–using the template of Schumpeter’s ideas–and contrast them to the ethics of educators. She says that the market reformers and educators are necessarily at odds because their basic values are in conflict.
Read the whole post, not just my excerpts.
I wish I had written this. I am glad I had the opportunity to read it, you should too. You will come away with a deeper understanding of the appeal and the danger of market-based reforms.
Here are some excerpts:
.
“The corporate reform movement is an attempt by a group of wealthy philanthropists to impose market forces where there had previously been none or had protections against them. The policy instruments they support are: data-driven management designed to weed out undesirable employees and reward superstars; school choice models(1) designed to foster competition for student enrollment and their tax dollars to bring down costs and improve customer satisfaction(2); weakening teacher unions to allow for greater labor market flexibility(3).
“This tribe of reformers resolves that market-oriented reforms will offer a better, more varied and customer-pleasing product. Or, it will deliver at least the same quality of product for less money. And, in doing so, these reforms will yield a more equitable education for children in low-income households because parents will not be forced to send their kids to the substandard schools available in their neighborhood…
“The argument that such reforms will be disruptive, lead to job loss, would cause total havoc to the education system as a whole falls on deaf ears. One of the staggering capabilities of markets is their capacity for creative destruction, a term popularized by the economist Joseph Schumpeter. Because of the efficiency of markets to adapt to consumer demands, the products, services, and firms of one era will almost certainly fall prey to the changing needs of the markets. One company rises (Microsoft), another falls (IBM). An innovation captures the imaginations of millions one generation only to crumble mere decades later (Polaroid). This is good for us because we reap the benefits of this relentless creative thrust. Things get better, faster, and cheaper, and our lives are made easier and more fun.
“For market-based reformers, the destruction of public education is not a bug; it’s a feature. Like a phoenix out of the ashes, a new, robust, monetized educational system is something to be desired so that — finally — schools can harness the awesome power of private markets.
“In order for markets to work and not descend into some corporatist public-private hybrid, the role of the entrepreneur is essential. They are the risk-takers. They strategically gamble on the novelty of their ideas, on the notion that there is a group of people out there who want what they can provide and that no one else is providing what they’ve got. In the last half-century, these are the Gates, Jobs, and Zuckerbergs of the world, risking the security of a sure-thing job at an established firm for the possibility of striking gold on your own. This risk is what makes innovation possible and is what drives the dynamism of markets.
My question is this: are the roles of educator and entrepreneur mutually compatible? Can one be both risk-taker and caretaker?…..
“The market doesn’t care about equity, period. The market responds to the demands of its consumers….Contrary to the theoretical model put forth by free-market ideologues, markets do not yield more equitable results. The gulf between the “good” and “bad” schools widens because of the inherent segregating properties of market forces…..
“Let’s think about what is lost in this creative destruction.
“First and foremost, kids lose. Since charters are not public schools, they will lose their constitutional rights. Many more kids will lose art, physical education, music, journalism, debate, dance, creative writing, a variety of foreign languages, and any other class that is not tested, not considered “essential.” Students will profound special needs will be further segregated from non-disabled peers because so few schools will want to take on the additional responsibility. Students with language needs will languish trying to find a school that will take them and meet their needs appropriately.
“Parents lose their voice. They are granted a voice as customers, but this is illusory. They are subject to the availability of what the market provides. If they are dissatisfied, they move to another school. This is rough on the kid and on the parents who now have to shop for this other school, possibly in a neighborhood they or their child can’t get to easily. If the school is not satisfied with the student, the student can be booted out in spite of parental protest.
“Teachers lose their voice. As labor participants, we are given a choice of where we want to work, but without organized labor to speak on behalf of workers, the market will dictate wages and hours. The private school, either for-profit or not, will have incentive to remain competitive, trimming the fat wherever possible. The bulk of a school’s operating cost goes to personnel. This means teachers get their salaries cut and their hours extended. And when that happens, it’s our fault because these are the schools we chose to work in. This is what we signed up for….
“I don’t want to suggest that no one would gain from such a system. Parents of certain religious inclinations would now have government funds to send their children to parochial schools, and market reforms would certainly aid those parents who wish to include a spiritual element to their child’s curriculum. However, there’s the whole separation of church and state thing to worry about, not to mention the lunatics who teach creationism as science. With vouchers, parents who already send their kids to private schools now have a subsidy to do so. So it’s regressively redistributive, but hey, rich people get harangued all the time, isn’t it time they got a break? And, let’s not forget the windfall of business opportunities for-profit endeavors would have access to(7)….
“The risks are too great to pursue the destructive ends a market will wreak. The stakes are far too high to pursue anything less than equity for our kids.”
Never in U.S. history has a local school board–or any other board, appointed or elected–chosen to close 49 public schools.
Never.
That’s what the Chicago Public Schools did yesterday.
Thousands of parents, students, and teachers objected, but Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his puppet board didn’t care.
Yesterday was a day of infamy in Chicago and in the history of American education.
School boards exist to protect, improve, and support public schools, not to kill them.
The New York Times has written about this story and twice said that the school closings were the largest “in recent memory.” The Times wrote this despite my telling them–twice–that these were the largest mass closure ever. I wish the reporters would explain whose “memory” they were relying on. Just yesterday I explained in an email that no public school district had ever closed 49 schools at one time. On this issue, the “Times” is not the newspaper of record but the newspaper of “recent memory.”
Why does it matter? The phraseology removes the truly historic destruction that Rahm Emanuel is inflicting on children and schools in his city. He is wantonly destroying public education. He is punishing the teachers’ union for daring to strike last fall. He will open more charter schools, staffed by non-union teachers, to pick up the kids who lost their neighborhood schools. Some of them will be named for the equity investors who fund his campaigns.
Rahm and his friends will laugh about the way he displaced 40,000 kids.
Diane Ravitch's blog 