This just in. On Saturday, the Texas Democratic Party passed the following resolution:
WHEREAS Houston billionaire John Arnold, a hedge-fund manager and former Enron trader, is bankrolling an effort to transform all of the Dallas Independent School District into a so-called “home-rule charter district” that would not be subject to essential safeguards in state law for students, parents, teachers, and citizens of the district;
WHEREAS John Arnold is notorious for funding a nationwide attack on public employees’ pension funds, including state pension funds for school employees, and for funding various efforts to privatize the operation of public schools, including substantial financing of organizations that promote private-school vouchers;
WHEREAS the “home-rule charter district” idea that Arnold wants to impose on Dallas ISD is the brainchild of former Republican state Rep. Kent Grusendorf of Arlington, who managed to insert this option into state law in 1995 as a vehicle for nullifying many educational quality standards and safeguards in the Education Code and for facilitating private takeover of public schools;
WHEREAS a “home-rule district charter” in Dallas ISD would be a Trojan horse allowing John Arnold and his allies, in the name of local control, to kill state class-size limits for most K-4 classrooms, eliminate teachers’ professional contracts, wipe out parents’ and students’ and teachers’ rights to due process in student-discipline matters, nullify the entire parental-rights chapter in the Education Code, and eliminate accountability to the community through an elected school board;
WHEREAS the wholesale “charterization” of Dallas ISD through a “home-rule district charter” designed to suit the likes of John Arnold would actually be the very opposite of local control, transferring power from the parents and citizens in the neighborhoods of Dallas ISD–especially predominantly minority and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods–to special-interest elites and private operators likely to double down on top-down policies that already have disproportionately hurt those communities within Dallas ISD, like recent controversial school closures and layoffs of school personnel;
WHEREAS the “home-rule district charter” scheme in Dallas ISD would undermine genuinely democratic, grass-roots efforts to improve struggling schools, such as (1) community-initiated school turnarounds that provide wraparound community health and social services at school to students and their families, thereby building up rather than tearing down neighborhoods and (2) in-district “campus charters” initiated by teachers and parents at a campus working together with community partners to provide innovative educational programs while preserving important state safeguards such as class-size limits, due process in student discipline, and teachers’ contract rights;
WHEREAS the “home-rule district charter” initiative in Dallas is part of a national campaign by self-styled “education reformers” like John Arnold that is ultimately about profits, not about kids, employing a clear strategy to underfund our public schools, declare them a failure, contract out those schools to private operators, disenfranchise parents and community stakeholders, and deprofessionalize teaching;
WHEREAS the state Democratic Party has a duty to help ensure that all Texas Democrats and all supporters of public education see through the false rhetoric of “home rule” and “local control” that masks the real agenda described above;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Texas Democratic Party stands in opposition to the “home-rule district charter” proposal now being promoted in Dallas ISD and rejects its underlying agenda of privatization of control over public schools and destruction of democratic school governance.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
God, it’s about time.
In 20 years when people realize they don’t own their public schools anymore, Democrats are going to be in a bit of bind.
Mistakes will have been made. No one could have predicted. You-all know the drill. I think we all learned it after the DC dopes joined together to deregulate the financial sector in the 1990’s.
That was a great idea, because it was “bipartisan”. Remember that? As if lemmings running off a cliff is admirable, or some magical guarantee of “good idea”.
As president of the National Hispanic Institute I wholeheartedly endorse the resolution and ask to be kept in the loop regarding this senseless way of addressing our state’s education needs…
Good. Because people there own those schools. They built them, and paid for them. They don’t own them in some theoretical way, either, they own them in the sense that “they” (the school board) can sell them. They’re a public asset.
If they invest for 20 years in Mr. Arnold’s charters, do they own them?
Or are they just buying a service or renting?
This seems to me to be a very good question, and I hope you’ll ask it.
Glad the Dems in Texas are waking up. Hope Wendy is their next Governor.
Dems in California seem still in slumberland. Told you all the story some weeks ago when they threw me out of a meeting for telling the unpalatable side of Common Core as expressed by so many our American’s educators.
Yesterday I was at a Dem Club meeting in LA to honor 40 year Congressman Henry Waxman who is not running for office again. Waxman has been a liberal cheerleader for decades and wrote and carried more bills than any other person in the body politic.
During Q and A, I asked him to please expand on his views about what Obama and Duncan were doing to foster the rapid expansion of charter schools across the country, and escpecially since California and LA lead the nation in the proliferation of charter schools.
He looked pained at the question and proceeded to do a 5 minute rationale about education not being his area of expertise. He ended with one sentence that brought tears to my eyes…the unkindest cut of all.
He said, “but I really like charter schools”….so I am left with that last remark as my memory of this venerated politician.
Waxman never deserved to be venerated. Glad you’ve finally learned.
Good to hear something like support for public schools from the Democratic Party, especially in Texas.
Glory Hallelujah! Finally! People are beginning to wake up. Let’s hope this spreads to other states like Arizona!
Can they get this resolution passed and actually stop Arnold?
This resolution is just a proclamation by the Texas Democratic party, it is not a bill in the Texas legislature. It will be hard for Texas Dems to do anything about this issue on their own, they are outnumbered and outspent.
A coalition of parents, students, teachers, and citizens of all political persuasions is needed. Publicity is needed to expose the fact that John Arnold’s plan takes away local control of schools and is corporate welfare.
And, who would have “thunk” it…in Texas of all places. Go Longhorns!!!!
Boy, the push to get rid of any democratic process in ed reform is something to see. I thought these ideas were self-evidently fabulous. Why the big rush to get rid of anyone who is elected? This is happening all over.
Aren’t people just immediately suspicious of “here! sign this contract! quick!”
How do you get to be a grown-up without developing that protective reflex?
Chiara asks, “Why the big rush to get rid of anyone who is elected?”
Here’s billionaire Reed Hastings’ argument for privatized charters:
“The most important thing is that they constantly get better every year they’re getting better because they have stable governance – they don’t have an elected school board. And that’s a real tough issue. Now if we go to the general public and we say, “Here’s an argument why you should get rid of school boards” of course no one’s going to go for that.”
Dictatorship of the super-rich is more stable than democracy, I guess, as long as they can entrench their control of the US economy to support their new dynasty. And, while all data shows he’s wrong about charters getting better, he’s right that the “general public” won’t tolerate this. The alarm is going off all over, in fact, as the billionaire campaign against democracy heats up.
For instance, writer Charles B Pierce just took Hastings on a few hours ago, in Esquire.
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/billionaires-education-reform-031713
It’s a tough sell that charters are the end of democracy when parents have the individual choice to enroll or not. It’s called the democracy of the marketplace. Instinctively people no longer trust school boards to do the best for their kids. Whether charters actually will be or are better remains to be seen. But lots of people are getting tired of the anti-capitalist, anti-American rhetoric so prevalent among the teaching cadres of the public school systems. Don’t tell me it isn’t so. It’s on display in overwhelming volume on this blog every day. To remind you of the tile of a book from some years ago, If Democrats had any brains they’d be Republicans. The posts here support that notion every day.
Oh, please Harlan!
Stop the GOP vs. Democrat drivel.
Both parties are horrendous. Both parties, for the most part, do not represent average, ordinary people, and neither party really cares about those far less fortunate than you and I.
Have you really thought about that?
No, Robert. I try never to think about anything, and bow to your superior compassion.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Those who want to control things like stability. Corporations love stability; it allows them to predict profitability with more accuracy. Our gov is famous for supporting dictatorships [particularly in countries where we need a stable supply of goods] for the same reason. Hastings seems unusual only in his naïve proclamation that democracy gets in the way of predictable stability.
This is why we need to fix our laws: get corporations & their billionaire playboys the hell out of the provision of public goods (like education).
Harlan,
you know I find your Archie Bunkerness to be charming. . .but do you have this same mindset regarding police, firemen and emergency assistance? Or do you just have venom for teachers?
Or do you somehow see education has an entity whereby a cohesive and unified approach is not possible?
I think it would be scary to apply some of what you say to police and firemen.
One of the problems we have today is a lack of confidence in the ability to come together and have a unified approach to educating the young. We cannot lose confidence in this way. It will be detrimental in the long run. It is moving backwards, not forwards.
If we can’t trust a unified approach to educating our young, how can we trust a unified approach to policing or protecting?
Your thoughts simply give up on the possibilities of people to work together. That’s all teachers are trying to do.
Thank you for your lovely response. Truly.
I reject the analogy between public safety personnel and teachers. There ought to be unity of approach in safety services, because they are truly supposed to serve all the citizens with respect to matters of life and death. A government of laws not of men is one of the fundamental necessities of freedom and civilization. No debate about that. ( Even wrt to policing, however, there is a dangerous difference of opinion (e. g. stop and frisk in NYC) arising from ideology. When government services become influenced by political ideology, that leads to degradation of the service.)
However, reaching agreement on public safety policy, does not, in my view, require an agreement about the content and delivery of education, as you seem to say, because education is not a matter of immediate life an death. Education is related to the “pursuit of happiness” right in the Declaration of Independence, not to the rights of “life, [and] liberty.” At least that’s the distinction I would argue for.
Thus, competing private police forces should not be an option. But we already have competition in education between the public schools and private schools. It is just a fact that families with more money can purchase better education. If the society does not protect the right of private property, then there would be anarchy.
What taints Diane Ravitch’s basic argument is that it claims a right to take from rich people whatever wealth is necessary in order to provide the kind of wrap around services needed to provide the best education possible for all students. Wealthy people see that as an attack on the very concept of private property.
It’s a fundamental ethical dilemma, compassionate equity vs. protection of earnings. Both should be served, but they can’t be IF an education is as much of a right as the right to keep what one has earned. It is a social impossibility.
Many teachers don’t see it as a dilemma, but rather, when they argue, reject the claim of a person to keep what he has earned. Now lots of rich people contribute to charters and private schools and even public education, but they want to do so voluntarily. They don’t want the government to force them to contribute. They want to decide what to do with their own money. It’s natural for them to oppose a system which by its very nature assumes that a person don’t have a right to spend in his own way the money he has made from whatever source. That mind set leads to an attack on profit. An attack on profit cuts at the roots of freedom in this country because even more fundamental than a right to an education is the universal right to keep the fruits of one’s labor and investment.
At least, Joanna, that’s how I see it.
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education and commented:
Nice…about time.
About time the Democratic Party goes public against the privatization of public schools even if the first shot is heard in Texas.
In 2012 there were about 3.3 million registered Democrats who voted.
There are some cities and regions in Texas with strong Democratic power. Austin, the state capital, is a Democratic stronghold and a center of progressive political activism. El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley also remain loyal to the Democratic Party. In addition, the mayors of most major Texas cities, though running in “nonpartisan” races, are affiliated with the Democratic Party. The cities of Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, and El Paso all presently have elected mayors with Democratic ties, and have voted Democratic in recent statewide and federal elections.
But Texas is still one of the most Republican states in the U.S.
Reblogged this on Crazy Normal – the Classroom Exposé and commented:
Texas Democrats stand up to robber barons and wolves of Sesame Street who are attempting to take over the Dallas public schools.
If you are a Dallas parent, please get out to any and all meetings regarding this issue. Mike Miles (who is rumored to be on board with this) is having his ‘Open Mike’ night at Thomas Jefferson High School tomorrow night from 6pm-7pm. Some of us are organizing a bit and will need bodies. Thank you!
Ummm….yeah. Miles is definitely all up in this.
Many of us believe Miles was hired to be the bad guy who would “hire” dozens of expensive bureaucrats, harass teachers, start real estate turnover, etc in order to destabilize the district. The 150,000 kids who are suffering are simply collateral damage.
It’s also pretty clear that the news of this takeover plan was leaked out early– before the mayor, etc had all of his ducks in a row.
Re the Open Mike meeting, get ready. They are carefully controlled events, complete with planted supporters.
There’s $1.5 billion up for grabs here and a few dozen people who want to divvy it up amongst themselves.
Just so you know, many parents are highly concerned and aren’t as savvy as a lot of you all are on these issues. We are trying to figure out how we can make noise and figure out who is telling the truth. We have also heard that there is an actual contingency plan in that if the SOPS HRD doesn’t pass with the electorate , they will move it through the bought and paid for courts. It really feels like a coup.
Kristen–there is a backup plan to move it through the courts.
The k-12 teaching profession is mostly female. Take away the professional status and pay, and women will have fewer options. Melinda and Laura, on the letterhead of the Gates and Arnold Foundations? Is the strategy to divert attention away from the anti-woman goals?
If Bill and John care about a productive America, why isn’t their focus on the increase of financial services, from 5% to 8% of GDP, with negligible results in economic growth? One answer, men dominate the profession, not women.
Condemnation isn’t enough. How will they tear down privatization of public ed????
Here in Washington, we are watching plenty of Democrats support privatization efforts.
Charles Pierce at Esquire takes apart the billionaire ed reformers and their disregard for democratic process:
“There’s nothing more dangerously comical on the current scene than the conspicuous involvement of the country’s new “progressive” billionaires in the effort to “reform” public education out of existence. Bill Gates was the first one to jump in, of course, with his own propaganda apparatus. Since then, it’s been all hands on deck, and now here comes Reed Hastings, the Netflix guy, to express impatience with the fact that democracy can sometimes get in the way.”
Who in their right mind would turn over public schools to the top 1% in the country? I get being impressed with wealthy people, and I know this country falls head over heels for CEO’s, but really. How does this possibly end well? Why are we taking orders from these people? The money comes WITH A PRICE. How can adults not know that? Nothing is free.
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/billionaires-education-reform-031713?utm_content=bufferc475e&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Chiara, you’re awesome! I think I can get some rest this evening.
To the liberal mind, there is a free lunch. CCSS, RTTT. Oh boy, oh joy, more money, fed toy.
I’m surprised Arne Duncan is not piping up about what a great idea the charterization of the DISD is.
Arne Duncan is apparently a big fan of Reed Hastings, the OTHER anti-democratic billionaire.
They joined together to pitch ed tech products to the unwashed masses in 2011:
“U.S. secretary of education Arne Duncan and Netflix founder and CEO Reed Hastings just gave a huge shot in the arm to the Education Tech community this morning, with an OpEd column in The Wall Street Journal this morning. They explain how some new ideas can boost student achievement in the U.S., which is stagnating compared to economic competitors like China and India.”
Complete and utter capture by monied interests. I have never seen anything like it.
It’s an interesting strategy Democrats are pursuing here, I have to say.
They’ve decided to be fierce, single-minded advocates for the wealthiest people in the country.
It’s counterintuitive and bold, I’ll give them that! 🙂
http://www.wiredacademic.com/2011/09/education-secretary-arne-duncan-and-netflix-founder-reed-hastings-announce-digital-promise/
Democrats hand in hand with the biggest campaign contributors? Not news, though the working stiffs on the line may have missed it.
Harlan, you are spot on with this one. Democrats have now had their initial taste of money, and they are hooked. Once they eat one peanut snatched from their elephant counterparts, they can’t stop eating them.
But the GOP are just as gruesome and grotesque . . . . .
Harlan,
All I’m saying is that you don’t have to like the Democrats at all.
But won’t you consider hating the GOP as well?
Disapproval likes company. . . .
With all due respect, perhaps George Schmidt or someone else familiar with Chicago could remind us of how successful Arne Duncan was in “turning around/improving” schools in Chicago.
😧
We’ve had three more CEO’s reforming CPS since Duncan went to DC, and Paul Vallas tried before him. Nothing Duncan or anyone else has done sticks because they all just focused on testing and ignored poverty, starved the neediest schools of resources, and keep shutting down schools and inserting privatized charters that are no better than the schools they replace.
Finally. Considering these very same things have all been promoted in DC, too, by Duncan, who also wants to see democratically elected school boards eliminated and replaced by appointed boards in privately run charter schools, and the TX Dem’s prescription for turning around schools involves pumping in resources and services, instead of shutting down schools, it’s a huge step forward to see this regional break with federal neoliberal Democratic party doctrines. This is really major!
People should work to get Democrats in their states to follow suit.
I found an interesting blog (below) when I was looking for where Diane found the TX Dem Party resolution that she cites. The first three posts (right now) are about this awful and incredible take-over.
http://www.disdblog.com/
Thanks. This is amusing:
“Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings last night walked out of a meeting he’d called to engage a broad cross-section of Hispanic leaders about the “home-rule” push, an effort to strip control of Dallas ISD from the board and possibly put it in the hands of him. Multiple sources who were at the closed meeting, held at an East Dallas church, called me last night to tell me Rawlings blew it — big-time.”
“But it unraveled quickly. People at the meeting told me political consultant Anna Casey challenged Rawlings when he presented statistics to show how badly the Dallas school district does at educating kids. She questioned the validity of his numbers and said she had numbers of her own, the sources said. They said Casey continued to ask Rawlings tough questions, but in a businesslike fashion.
Rawlings told Casey something to the effect that he did not intend to be grilled. When she persisted, Rawlings stammered and then stalked out without saying a word, the sources said. The 25 to 30 attendees were apparently astounded. His behavior was denounced as thin-skinned and disrespectful, even by conservative Republican Latino leaders normally in the mayor’s camp.”
Our friends in the private sector and the politicians they bought are rather imperious and impatient salespeople, don’t you think?
I can tell the people in this community are going to have a lot of “input” into their brand new privatized district. The ed reformers haven’t even pulled off the heist yet and they’re already stomping out of meetings.
http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2014/03/mayor_mike_rawlings_walked_out.php
That article surprised most of us because the author is a hard-core Miles supporter.
At first he wasn’t, but he suddenly did a complete 180.
There’s speculation that he was given a full-court press about Miles’ methods and how they were the only way to free the black kids in the district from the influence of dishonest, entrenched black administrators and principals cashing in at the expense of the kids.
It will be interesting to see if this is just a momentary lapse before he continues to support the party line.
I am glad that everyone is finally talking about this; it has been going on for weeks…
On a awful side note: teacher being bullied by her administrators, contributes to her death, at a charter school.
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2014/03/san_diego_charter_teachers_bul.html?intc=mvs
Guess who else is a big supporter of John Arnold in TX? Dan Patrick, who is running for TX Lieutenant governor. If this home-rule charter craziness takes hold in Dallas and Patrick wins in November, then there is probably no doubt that more public schools in TX will be targeted.
We need Leticia Van de Putte:
http://www.msnbc.com/the-daily-rundown/watch/can-the-lone-star-state-ever-go-blue-184359491962
Let’s put Davis/Van de Putte in charge to send a message to the “good ol’ boys” that they definitely made a “mess” in TX!
A candidate for Governor of Texas might be carried to victory by taking a clear, public stand on this question.
Is this such a candidate?
Wendy is talking about ECE, and offers an intensive campaign to increase the number of fully prepared and certified teachers in the state (by offering tuition credits). She’s not talking about VAM or CC$$ at all, that I can hear.
Is she one of ours?
Here’s The Burnt Orange Report, with links to her position papers. This looks like a good site, doesn’t it?
They’re fastidious about their copyright, so I won’t quote at length.
http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/14832/with-great-start-great-texas-wendy-davis-shows-commitment-to-even-the-youngest-texas-students
Even if she is “one of” yours, she still can’t defy the normal curve any better than George Bush with NCLB. “Promote early-childhood reading so that every child is reading at grade-level by 3rd-grade.”
Put your faith in statistical impossibility (AGAIN) if you want to, but that statement above assures me that she’s another Democrat non-thinker.
But I loved her little pink sneakers, her abortion for all on demand paid for by state funds, and her lies about her “story.” Typical Democrat.
Standard Democrat rhetoric. If that’s the most reasonable Texas Democrats can be, they don’t deserve to win on this one.
Standard drivel from the visiting Tea Party on the war path again. Just ignore this hater, folks. He’s too old and set in his ways to develop compassion for humanity.
Is that the criterion of sound economics, compassion for humanity? Even the Pope makes mistakes. You can too.
Your version of “sound economics” is corporate welfare, compassion only for the wealthy.
Now, now, CT. Personal moral attacks for political opinions are always out of order. I don’t know why my views threaten you emotionally. It’s a First Amendment thing. What do you hope to accomplish by calling me a “hater”?