Archives for the year of: 2013
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Mark Naison Reviews “Reign of Error”

By dianeravitch
October 9, 2013 //
4

Mark Naison is the tireless advocate who co-founded the BATs (otherwise known as the Bad Ass Teachers). Wherever I go, I find BATs. He has created a genuine force, an outlet for teachers who want to act and feel helpless. As BATs, they are ready to act and they do.

Here he reviews Reign of Error.

He says that if reformers were serious about choice, they would open more “portfolio” schools, that is, schools were students are assessed by presenting their work to a panel of judges, including their teachers, not by taking standardized tests. He does NOT mean “portfolio districts,” where schools open and close like shoe stores.

Naison also says that reformers should “Create, or recreate the vocational and technical high schools that were once a fixture in every American city, and give them full or partial exemptions from state tests. Let these schools to be targeted to growth areas in the American economy as well as sectors where high wage jobs have existed for a long time- construction, automobile and elevator repair, computers and the like. These schools would give parents a most welcome alternative to schools which feature little more than test prep and no direct job preparation. And would create positions for a new generation of teachers who would love their jobs.”

Categories Reign of Error

Mother: My Son Is Not a Test Score

By dianeravitch
October 9, 2013 //
35

I received an anguished letter from a mother of a child with autism. She here describes–very movingly–her efforts to help him and the efforts of his teachers to help him. And when she reaches the point where he is assessed by New York’s new Common Core tests, she is in a rage. The New York State Education Department says he is a failure. She knows he is not. She knows how hard he has worked to achieve and learn. She knows how hard his teachers have worked on his behalf. My child, she says, is not a test score.

Every parent, teacher, and administrator should read her letter. So should Commissioner John King. And so should the members of the Board of Regents. See your handiwork. See what you have done.

Here is her letter:

Friday, October 04, 2013  

My son is not the ELA or Math score, so why does NYS assess him and his teachers on this? WHY?

Let me start with this- I am not a teacher. I am a true single mom of a child with High Functioning Autism.

 
The Backstory

My son was diagnosed with Autism at 22 months and was lagging greatly in his developmental growth across the board. Right after he was diagnosed he started receiving services at home. Several months later I brought him back to the Developmental Pediatric Doctor and it was clear and recommended he start full time early invention. So he was registered at a school that specialized in educating kids with Autism. And starting at age 3, from 9am – 3pm, 5 days a week for a year and a half, including summers, my son attended Crossroads. It was a 45 minute van/bus ride and bless his little heart, no naps and no free play were allowed. Work. Work. Work. He worked his behind off. He made leaps and bounds. At age 4 1/2, I put him in a mainstreamed preschool that was closer to home and that following September, at age 5, he started Kindergarten in a mainstreamed public classroom. He still received his services daily and at that point his diagnosis was changed to High Functioning Autism. He made it to 1st. He made it to 2nd.

2012-2013 School Year

Last year, in 3rd grade, he took the state exams for the first time, the NEW CCSS exams. His IEP states he is allowed time and half for all tests, including the NYS Exams. That means if a child is permitted 70 minutes, my son gets 105 minutes (70 + 35). When all of this test taking was happening last year, to be honest, he didn’t feel or realize the pressure that many of his friends felt; simply put “he just didn’t get it.” Right now he doesn’t have it in him to see the big picture; I know he will at some point. He believed it was just a test, a test where he sat down and was allowed to chew gum. And back then, only 7 months ago, it was “fine”. He was fine. I was fine. Why was it fine then and not now? Because I wasn’t educated about this and quite honestly there was a more pressing issue going on at his school in regards to the leadership, which has since been resolved. 

 

2013-2014 School Year

Currently he is in 4th grade. These past few weeks I have taken a great interest in the CCSS for NYS and am very concerned about how developmentally inappropriate the curriculum is. It seems that the CCSS program is a level or even levels, above those that are seen as developmentally “normal.” What is MORE concerning is how this CCSS is going to impact MY child, with Autism which is a developmental disability. So much so, that I scheduled an appointment with the school’s Assistant Principal, to discuss NYS testing and refusing them for my son. It doesn’t FEEL right. It isn’t right!  I am not a doctor. I don’t have the stats or a PHD to back me up, so lucky for me, this is not a scientific paper. I am a mom. I am a mom who has been reading about CCSS, looking over sample math problems and ELA reading passages and it scares me, for my son. I have felt hopeless about this for the past few days. My son is smart. He works hard to stay on task and up to speed with his schoolwork and his peers. And he does it! He really does it. Granted, his IEP has accommodations and modifications that allow him the opportunity to do the same work and feel successful alongside his classmates. Granted, he has a Special Ed Teacher that pushes in and works with him daily for Math and ELA. He works with a Speech and Language Therapist that helps him figure out the non-literal language and non-verbal cues. He works with an OT to help him with his handwriting, and all types of visual/spacial planning. And finally he sees the school Psychologist twice a month to help him with peer interaction. He is well liked. He is kind. He is social. He works hard. He is respectful. And he just needs a little help along with way.  What comes naturally to many others, it tough work for my son. There is no secret about it. I talk openly about this. It is what it is. There is no shame. We are ALL different in our own unique ways. 

Today 10/04/13

I received the NYS ELA and Math scores and even knowing everything I know about my son, I cried (the running joke is I always cry when it comes to him, and I do.) I cried because printed out before me on two sheets of double sided paper, was, at that point, MY son, who NYSED broke down into 5 categories.  

For the ELA:

·         Reading

·         Writing

 
For Math:

·         Operations and Algebraic Thinking

·         Numbers and operations– Fractions

·         Measurement and Data

I was kindly provided with the points my child earned in one column. Directly next to that column was a column labeled “number of possible points” and next to that one, the “state average.” As you can imagine, having a developmental disability, his “earned” points were low, well below the “number of possible points” and below the average.

According to NYS my son “performing at this level are well below proficient in standards for their grade. They demonstrate limited knowledge, skills, and practices embodied by the New York State P-12 Common Core Learning Standards for Mathematics that are considered insufficient for the expectations at this grade.”

 

The Aftermath

I let the fury get the best of me. Like I said, my eyes welled up with tears out of anger and frustration. You diminished my child to these 5 categories and to simplify the wording you chose, deemed him “too stupid to be in the grade level he currently is in.” Screw you CCSS and all the people that came up with this crap program. Screw you for its horrible implementation. Screw you for not considering the kids who are not on the right side of the bell curve. Screw you for not thinking about the kids who are developmentally delayed. Screw you for not thinking about the kids that aren’t developmentally delayed, but just don’t test so well. Screw you for putting pressures on the teachers. Screw you for allowing the kids to feel this pressure; it is bound to impact them. Screw you for allowing this chaos to spill over into homes and mess with our emotions, both child and parent. Screw you for APPR and evaluating my sons General Education teacher AND Special Education teacher on his test scores. Screw you for creating a problem in which our kids are the ragdolls and in which big businesses will be allowed to profit. I’m not a conspiracy theorist; I just call it like I see it. I am done with this. I’m not political. I’m for the kids, I am for the teachers and most importantly I am for my son.

I am still learning about CCSS and I don’t claim to know it all, as some do, but what I do know is this, he is not his score and neither are his teachers! I don’t care what he received on these tests, I never did and I told him the same. What I do care about and what I would hope you would too is what you can’t measure on these tests. The light in his eyes when he finally tackles a problem, be it Math or ELA, which he has been struggling to get and because of the help of his teachers he succeeds. The heart his Special Ed teacher has given to him for the past 2 years and what is now their 3rd year together. The hard work my son demonstrates at the dining room table, studying spelling. The joy we ALL feel because he has stood up for someone who was being bullied, thanks to the peer interaction help by the School Psychologist. The time when he conquered his fear of heights, outside of school on a Saturday, using tools he learned in school, from whom? Yes, from his teachers! I realize carrying the diagnosis of Autism is not the norm for most; however were children, like my son, in mind when CCSS was implemented? Because is sure doesn’t seem like it. 

I will say this one more time. My son, Liam, is not, your NYSED test score. He is a 9 year old boy, who works hard in all aspects of school, in the classroom and with his therapists. He receives tremendous support and kindness and life lessons from his teachers and therapists. He will be successful because of them, not because of this test. How do you evaluate that? That is my million dollar question.

Categories Common Core, New York, Special Education, Testing

Business Leaders Push More Privatization in Milwaukee

By dianeravitch
October 8, 2013 //
30

Some critics of my book “Reign of Error” say that “reformers” are not privatizers. Who, me, they say, in all innocence?

I invite them to read this post by veteran reporter Bobby Tanzilo in Milwaukee. Here is a city with a thriving voucher program, a thriving charter sector, and a shrinking public school system (that contains disproportionate numbers of students with disabilities and English learners who are unwanted by the other two sectors).

All of this competition among the three sectors was to produce dramatic improvement, but it didn’t. Milwaukee has had school choice for 23 years. Today, it is one of the lowest performing urban districts on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

But the business leaders of Milwaukee, Tanzilo writes, want more choice. They want more privatization. They want the entire city school district turned into a “Recovery School District,” to emulate those in New Orleans and Memphis.

Tanzilo writes:

The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce – which has in the past supported stripping the elected school board of its power and drawing away funding from Milwaukee Public Schools to pay for private and religious school vouchers – sponsored a pair of PowerPoint presentations on education that were shown to its members in August.

These slideshows touted the so-called “recovery districts” in New Orleans and Memphis and suggest to me – and others I’ve spoken to – that rumors that the group is pushing the recovery district idea for Milwaukee are true.

Recovery districts are public school systems that have had their autonomy and local control usurped by state capitols at the urging of corporate school reformers whose goal is to privatize public schools. The districts are then turned over to private, outside entities that are accountable to no one … or at least not us citizens and parents.

In short, they want to eliminate public education in Milwaukee altogether. They should do their homework. Even the Cowen Institute at Tulane–which supports charter schools–acknowledges that 2/3 of the charters in New Orleans are low-performing schools. And the so-called Achievement District in Memphis is too new to have any meaningful results.

The bottom line is that the business and civic leaders in Milwaukee think that the best way to improve the schools is to abolish public education and privatize control of all the schools. They have not a scintilla of evidence for doing so. The charter sector and the voucher sector in Milwaukee do not outperform the struggling public sector.

What is it that appeals to Milwaukee’s leaders? The absence of any democratic role in public education?

 

Categories Milwaukee, Privatization, Vouchers

Chile: The World’s Most Free-Market School System: The Results

By dianeravitch
October 8, 2013 //
42

Professor Mario Waissbluth of Chile wrote three blog posts
previously about Chile’s choice-based free-market schools (see
here
and here
and here).
Here he adds a fourth, summarizing the results of recent studies:

Previously,
I wrote in this blog a 3-part sequence describing the Chilean
educational system, its consequences, proposing some ways to run
away from this malignant design. Recently, Universidad de Chile
published the results of a survey on adult literacy and numeracy
skills, following the exact methodology of SIALS, the Second
International Adult Literacy Survey published in
1998.  Within
the survey data, it is shown that 15 years ago, 45% of young people
in the segment between 15 and 24 years, i.e., the generation that
was graduating or recently graduated from high school, had no
comprehension of language and arithmetic… whatsoever, not even
the ability to read and understand a very simple text or balance a
checkbook. Today, this same age segment shows, tragically and
exactly, the same results. With one of the highest high school
attendances in the world, we now find that these young people spent
12 years sitting passively at a desk, not achieving improvement
even in their most basic skills.  
Even worse, in the segment of higher
education graduates, only 10% show adequate or complete
understanding of prose and numeracy, similar to what happened 15
years ago. This is the result of market system debauchery and
completely unregulated exploitation of students who pay and/or get
indebted to obtain these spurious titles. So far, only 20% of
higher education programs, most of them for-profit, have some sort
of voluntary accreditation.  
This does not happen by chance, it
is the result of a market-based educational model, with extreme
segregation based on academic and socioeconomic skimming,
curricular overload, with students spending most of their time
training as parrots to answer standardized tests, with public
education and the teaching career virtually demolished.The basic
organizational and financial rules of our model do not exist
anywhere in the world and are full of perverse incentives.
   We’ve been
hearing self-congratulatory messages from succesive governments for
more than fifteen years, with some people even traveling around the
world to brag about the “chilean model”. This failed model ran its
course, and it seriously threatens the future of millions of
people, as well as chilean labor productivity (stagnant for more
than a decade) and its international competitiveness. Time to
accept and embrace failure and change course.
Categories International, Segregation , Racial Isolation and Integration

Parents in San Jose Ask for Your Help in Stopping Rocketship Charter Chain

By dianeravitch
October 8, 2013 //
29

The Rocketship charter chain is known for replacing teachers with computers, relying on Teach for America to cut costs, and eliminating the arts to have more time for test prep. The chain is backed by the rich and powerful California corporate charter industry, and it is opening more test prep charters across the country. But it is heavily colonizing San Jose, California. The rich entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley would not put their own children in a Rocketship school; they prefer Waldorf schools, with lots of arts and imagination, and no technology.

Here is a plea from San Jose parents:

Dear Diane,
I wanted to encourage all of your readers to check out a new website dedicated to stopping the incredible growth of the Rocketship charter school network:

http://www.stoprocketship.com

We’d love to invite you and your readers to support us by sending San Jose’s city council an email against the unchecked growth of Rocketships.

http://www.stoprocketship.com/take-action-now/

We are a small, low income, Latino community in downtown San Jose with two Rocketship schools in an 8 block span (one of which was the first Rocketship school, Mateo Sheedy). Rocketship has created deep divisions and animosity in our community. Now there is a plan to add a third Rocketship — all three just a few blocks from our thriving and successful public school, Washington Elementary. Our city councilman is married to Rocketship’s head of community relations, and they’ve hired a big money lobbyist to drive this through against the wishes of the community. We need some support!

Regards,
StopRocketShip.com

Categories Charter Schools

Texas Tribune: Consultants Ripping Off Taxpayers $$$

By dianeravitch
October 8, 2013 //
35

The Texas Tribune is beginning a series of reports about how consultants and tutoring companies are ripping off millions of dollars in Texas, thanks to NCLB.

Race to the Top will empower many more scams and legitimate frauds, as companies proliferate that claim to know how to “turnaround” schools, how to train teachers, how to train leaders, how to do everything that schools should know how to do for themselves. And don’t forget the data portals! don’t forget the data mining! don’t forget the vendors!

This is the Age of the Golden Rip-Off, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Congress.

I can’t help but remember my own schooling. In retrospect, it seems like the kind of thing you now find only in private schools. There was a principal and an assistant principal. There was a guidance counselor to help you think about whether to go to college and where. There were teachers. There were no consultants. There was no data mining. There were no elaborate statistical schemes from headquarters on how to measure teacher quality. There was….human judgment. There were real people teaching children. How quaint!

No more of that. There is an industry to care, feed, and enrich with our taxpayer dollars.

Categories Texas

Parent Groups: Moskowitz March Proves That Charters Are Not Public Schools

By dianeravitch
October 8, 2013 //
27

Today, Eva Moskowitz closed her Sucess Academy charter schools for the morning to lead a march across the Brooklyn Bridge to protest Democratic candidate Bill de Blasio’s intention to declare a moratorium on charter co-location and to charge charters rent for the use of public space, as the law stipulates. The very fact that Moskowitz has closed her schools to take the children, staff, and parents on a political march is proof that her schools are not public schools. If they were, they would not be permitted to close for a political march that uses the children. And any principal who did it would be fired.

This is a statement released by advocates for public education:

For immediate release: Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Arthur Z. Schwartz, Advocates for Justice: aschwartz@advocatesny.com; 917- 923-8136

Leonie Haimson, Class Size Matters: leonie@classsizematters.org ; 917-435-9329

Sam Pirozollo, NYC Parents Union: sam@nycparentsunion.org ; 917-533-3437

Today, Eva Moskowitz and other charter school operators have closed their schools and are holding a political rally of students, parents and teachers, to try to pressure Bill de Blasio, Democratic candidate and frontrunner for Mayor, to go back on his campaign pledge that if elected, he will call for a moratorium on charter co-locations and charge charter schools rent. What she and others in the charter lobby have ignored is that while Section 2853(4)(c) of the NY State Education Law allows districts to lease public school “buildings and grounds” to charters and to “contract for the operation and maintenance thereof,” it also requires that “any such contract shall provide such services or facilities at cost.”

Arthur Schwartz, attorney with Advocates for Justice, who first filed a lawsuit on behalf of public school and charter school parents on this issue in 2011, says: “New York State Education Law requires that when a district provides space or services to a charter school it shall do so at cost. Yet the DOE provides free space and services for more than 100 co-located charter schools. Using figures from the NYC Independent Budget Office, we estimate that the space and services these charter schools currently receive is worth more than $100 million a year. A large chunk of that unfair subsidy goes to Success charters, which operates 22 schools across New York City, all of them co-located, with plans for seven more schools in 2014. Yet Success had an operating surplus of more than $23 million in 2012, and probably enjoys an even larger surplus this year.”

“We have now been instructed by Justice Barbara Jaffe to take the issue to the State Education Commissioner. But in light of a recent ruling in a related case, we are asking the judge to reconsider. If she sends us to the Commissioner again we will appeal, in time to face off with a new Mayor. Success Charter Schools, which has organized the upcoming rally, is trying to exert political muscle. It will not succeed, in the public arena or in the courts. That $100 million will go back to our public schools, starved for resources, and hopefully allow them to reduce class sizes, which are now the largest in 15 years.”

“This ‘protest march’ is yet another example of separate and unequal treatment afforded to charters, especially Eva Moskowitz’s Success Charters,” says Noah Gotbaum, a public school parent of three and a Vice President of Community Education Council District 3 on the Upper West Side and Harlem. “Success claims its schools are public, but what other public school could close their doors and demand that its parents and students attend a political rally? What other public school could sue the State Comptroller to avoid the transparency of a state audit? And what other public school could use our tax dollars to pay its CEO almost $500,000 per year?”

As Leonie Haimson, Executive Director of Class Size Matters points out, “A 2011 study from the Independent Budget Office showed that co-located charters in NYC receive more in public dollars per student than regular public schools, and city spending on charters is expected to exceed one billion dollars next year. A report released by the charter lobby attempts to contradict the IBO analysis but has little credibility, especially since its author, Harry Wilson, is personally close to many in the charter school movement , according to Whitney Tilson, prominent board member of Democrats for Education Reform. Indeed, Wilson promised not to “harass” charters by auditing their books when he ran for NY State Comptroller in 2010.”

Karen Sprowal, whose own son was pushed out of a Success charter in Kindergarten, observes: “Over the last few months we have learned of even more cases of troubling disciplinary and push-out policies in charter schools, in a series of investigative reports from Juan Gonzalez of the Daily News. There needs to be an immediate moratorium on expanding charters as well as co-locations, so that these abusive and potentially illegal practices can be carefully examined by authorities before any new charters are allowed to open in New York City.”

Mona Davids, President, NYC Parents Union, said: “As a former charter parent who spearheaded the charter reforms in 2010, I’m disgusted that Eva Moskowitz and other charter leaders are using parents and students as political pawns while continuing to violate the law by not serving their fair share of students with disabilities and English Language Learners, by not establishing Parent Associations and by refusing to be audited by the State Comptroller. This march is an abuse of power by Eva Moskowitz and other charter leaders because no public school would be allowed to shut down for an entire morning to have their students engage in political activities.”

According to Sam Pirozzolo, president of the Community Education Council in District 31, Staten Island: “I find it ironic that Ms. Moskowitz, a leader who has been given the task of eliminating the achievement gap has done little more than increase the divide between the haves and have nots. It is unfortunate that Eva Moskowitz has chosen to intimidate mayoral candidates by closing her schools for a day. She is hiding behind parents and children for the sake of profits and a paycheck. Since their inception, charter schools have been creaming only the best students from our public schools.”

###

Categories Charter Schools

Joe Bower Reviews “Reign of Error” LINK ADDED

By dianeravitch
October 8, 2013 //
2

Reposting because I forgot the link.

Joe Bower teaches in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. He blogs
and tweets about education with a singular passion for students and
learning. In this post, he makes some strong statements about
“Reign of Error.” He calls it “The best book on education you can
read today.” He writes: “This book was written to challenge those
who believe in the corporate reform movement. This book was written
for those who are aware of the ills of the corporate reform
movement but need more facts to articulate a sound argument. This
book was written for those who suffer from apathy and cynicism.
This book provides the energy and encouragement we need to provide
schools that all of our children deserve. “The only thing necessary
for destructive mandates and cancerous education policies to
succeed is for good teachers, parents and students to say and do
nothing. When far-off authorities invoke their ignorance with the
force of law, remember that your silence is read as assent — and
at some point your silence is betrayal to those who do speak up and
take action. “It is said that Franklin D. Roosevelt once met with a
group of activists who sought his support for legislation. He
listened to their arguments for some time and then said, “You’ve
convinced me. Now go out and make me do it.” The spirit of
Roosevelt’s advice is likely what inspired Robert Reich to say,
“Nothing good happens in Washington unless good people outside
Washington become mobilized, organized, and energized to make it
happen.” “Like democracy, public education is reserved for those
who fight for it, and Diane Ravitch’s Reign of Error is the rally
cry we can use to mobilize, organize and energize the fight for our
public schools.”

Categories Reign of Error

Joe Bower Reviews “Reign of Error”

By dianeravitch
October 8, 2013 //
2

Joe Bower teaches in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. He blogs
and tweets about education with a singular passion for students and
learning. In this post, he makes some strong statements about
“Reign of Error.” He calls it “The best book on education you can
read today.” He writes: “This book was written to challenge those
who believe in the corporate reform movement. This book was written
for those who are aware of the ills of the corporate reform
movement but need more facts to articulate a sound argument. This
book was written for those who suffer from apathy and cynicism.
This book provides the energy and encouragement we need to provide
schools that all of our children deserve. “The only thing necessary
for destructive mandates and cancerous education policies to
succeed is for good teachers, parents and students to say and do
nothing. When far-off authorities invoke their ignorance with the
force of law, remember that your silence is read as assent — and
at some point your silence is betrayal to those who do speak up and
take action. “It is said that Franklin D. Roosevelt once met with a
group of activists who sought his support for legislation. He
listened to their arguments for some time and then said, “You’ve
convinced me. Now go out and make me do it.” The spirit of
Roosevelt’s advice is likely what inspired Robert Reich to say,
“Nothing good happens in Washington unless good people outside
Washington become mobilized, organized, and energized to make it
happen.” “Like democracy, public education is reserved for those
who fight for it, and Diane Ravitch’s Reign of Error is the rally
cry we can use to mobilize, organize and energize the fight for our
public schools.”

Categories Reign of Error

Idaho Virtual Charter Outsourced Essay Scoring to India

By dianeravitch
October 8, 2013 //
23

The Idaho Virtual Charter Academy outsourced the scoring of student essays to India, according to local reports. The company involved, K12, has been criticized for its business practices and its poor academic results; its bottom line is cost-cutting, not academic quality. Its virtual schools typically have high student turnover, low test scores, and low graduation rates, yet the corporation is profitable because it continues to lure students with a promise of a “customized,” “individualized,” “personalized” education.

One of the most important responsibilities of teachers is to give tests and grade them, to know what their students know and don’t know, and to help students who need extra help. Having the essays scored in India removes that function from teachers and places it in the hands of readers who may not understand American idioms or cultural references.

Investor Whitney Tilson recently announced that he would sell the stock of K12 short. This education company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and makes handsome profits, despite its poor academic results.

One of the big investors in K12 is the billionaire Albertson family of Idaho, whose foundation has been placing advertising across the state disparaging public education and touting the virtues of charter schools and virtual schools.

Terry Ryan of the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute recently moved to Idaho to lead the battle for charters. Ryan supports both charters and vouchers.

According to a story in an Idaho paper:

Ryan also is excited about his seat on the nine-member Rural Opportunities Consortium of Idaho. The group of national experts will focus on the unique issues and challenges of rural schools in Idaho. ROCI is sponsored by the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation.

“Albertson’s’ vision is very compelling,” Ryan said. “I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to help make Idaho a leader and a model in education.”

Ryan is a nice, amiable guy whom I knew when I was on the board of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. Ohio, where Terry Ryan worked on behalf of charters for many years, has some of the worst charters in the nation. The biggest charter chain in Ohio is White Hat, which has made its owner very rich. The charter founder, a non-educator, is a major contributor to Republican candidates. His schools are never held accountable for poor performance. They fail and fail, and get more money. Currently, ten of the boards of his White Hat charters are suing the company to try to get information about how the money is spent. The owner takes 96% of public dollars and says how he spends it is proprietary information and not available for public scrutiny, not even to the board members of his charters.

Idaho, beware of the privatization movement. In a matter of years, you will have no public schools, just charter schools, vouchers, and virtual charters.

 

Categories Education Reform
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