Bobby Jindal thought he could launch the nation’s most sweeping privatization program in Louisiana but he has run into unexpected obstacles. First, the Louisiana courts struck down the funding for Jindal’s voucher plan, then they struck down Jindal’s multi-faceted plan to destroy the teaching profession. Then, The results from the voucher schools were disappointing–their scores were worse than the allegedly failing public schools. Of course, it didn’t help Louisiana’s image when some of the fundamentalist texts at the voucher schools made the state an international laughing stock.
Now parents are getting angry as they see Jindal’s charters move into their local school district. In Lafayette Parish, two moms have started a group to support public schools.
“LAFAYETTE — Two Lafayette Parish public-school parents, who fought last year against for-profit charter operators opening schools here, have organized a new watchdog group called Power of Public Education Lafayette.
“Parents Kathleen Espinoza and Ann Burruss organized the watchdog group Swamp BESE last year in protest of two charter groups’ applications to the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to open charter schools in Lafayette Parish.
“After the Lafayette Parish School Board rejected the applications, the groups then applied to the state board, which approved the applications.
“Three of the five new charter schools planned for the parish are set to open in August.
“The new group formed by Espinoza and Burruss is policy-focused and has an interest in advocating for public policies that promote public education free of privatization.
“There needs to be an alternative voice to that movement,” Espinoza said.
“Espinoza said while the charter school issue served as a catalyst for the group, its focus is on advocacy to ensure all students receive an equitable education.
“It’s about empowering teachers in the classroom and protecting the democratic engine of public education,” she said.”
Parents get it. They get that there is a movement to destroy what these moms eloquently call “the democratic engine of public education.”
The tide is turning.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“…its focus is on advocacy to ensure all students receive an equitable education.”
There are so many interrelated problems in our schools that it can seem overwhelming, but this concept, an equitable education for all students, cuts right to the core.
Charters, TFA, vouchers, testing, Common Core, e-learning, low pay and no respect for teachers, schools in disrepair, growing class sizes, racial and economic segregation–at the heart of all these problems is the concern that some students are not getting a fair chance to succeed because they are not getting fair access to a quality education.
Bravo to the moms in Lafayette! May they be joined by moms across America who will fight for equitable education for all students in their own communities.
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I’m in New Orleans filming interviews for my documentary film and would love to interview the two of you if possible! Contact me ASAP: http://www.shineonpro.com
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Shannon@shineonpro.com
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http://anotherangryvoice.blogspot.com/2014/01/michael-gove-ideological-vandalism.html
UK blog on education privatization. It’s remarkable how much it has in common with that’s going on in the US.
I really like their profiteering category terms, however 🙂
“Top slicing”! We should borrow that.
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I am so tired of BESE ruining public education. Their agenda is so clear to put in charters wherever and they do not seem accountable to anyone. FBI investigating one of their charters in Baton Rouge, one BESE member being investigated by the AG. When will it stop. John White needs to get out and a real public servant needs to be put in. One that adheres to the laws and promotes public schools, not harms them deliberately for his for profit charters and TFA agenda.
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