The United States can never have too many privately managed charter schools. Arne Duncan doesn’t care if the schools exclude children with disabilities. He doesn’t care if they don’t enroll any English language learners. He doesn’t care if they drain funds from neighborhood public schools. Remember that this is the same man who said that Hurricane Katrina was the best thing to happen to education in New Orleans (it wiped out public education, the elimination of the teachers’ union, and the unjust firing of 7,500 teachers, 3/4 of whom were African American and the backbone of the local black community).
And here are Arne’s awards, some to the richest charter chains in the nation:
U.S. Department of Education Awards $39.7 Million in Grants to Expand High Quality Charter Schools
October 8, 2014
Contact: Press Office, (202) 401-1576, press@ed.gov
The U.S. Department of Education announced 27 new grants today totaling $39.7 million under the Charter Schools Program (CSP) to expand high quality charter schools, and open new charter schools across the nation. These grants will support charter schools’ efforts to increase high-need students’ success, especially in underserved areas, in 12 states.
“These charter school grants will help open new charter schools and expand or replicate those with a record of success to help ensure that every student has access to high-quality educational opportunities that prepare them for college, careers and life,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
These grants are awarded by two CSP programs: one program is focused on helping high-performing charter management organizations open new charter schools, and the other program supports new charter schools located in states that do not have a state-level CSP re-granting program. This year’s competitions included a focus on charter schools that serve geographies designated under President Obama’s Promise Zones initiative, as well as promoting diversity and supporting military families.
These 27 grantees are part of the Department’s broader effort to support charter schools that are driving students’ achievement. In the 2014 Fiscal Year, the U.S. Department of Education invested more than $220 million to support new and existing high-quality charter schools and the dissemination of their successful efforts.
See below for the list of grantees and Year 1 amounts for each grant program:
Planning, Program Design, and Implementation Grantees
Name
State
Year 1 Funding
Freire Charter School Wilmington, Inc.
DE
$189,000
Foundations College Prep School
IL
$200,000
Great Lakes Academy
IL
$246,625
Noble Network of Charter Schools
IL
$129,080
Chesapeake Lighthouse Foundation, Inc.
MD
$308,270
The Franklin School of Innovation, Inc
NC
$195,285
Bend International School
OR
$247,900
KairosPDX
OR
$219,527
Kids Unlimited of Oregon
OR
$225,000
Hill House Passport Academy Charter School
PA
$208,663
Roberto Clemente Elementary Charter School
PA
$297,450
Excel Public Charter School
WA
$200,000
First Place Scholars
WA
$200,000
PRIDE Prep Schools
WA
$250,000
Rainier Prep
WA
$249,860
SOAR Academies
WA
$222,746
Total
$3,589,406
Replication and Expansion of High Quality Charter Schools Grantees
Name
State
Year 1 Funding
Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools
CA
$2,345,950
Aspire Public Schools
CA
$3,272,926
Green Dot Public Schools
CA
$7,372,552
KIPP Foundation in Consortium with KIPP Regions
CA
$13,789,074
Great Oaks Foundation, Inc.
NY
$750,000
Success Academy Charter Schools
NY
$2,234,500
Rhode Island Mayoral Academy Blackstone Valley
RI
$429,400
Gestalt Community Schools
TN
$1,712,402
IDEA Public Schools
TX
$150,938
LEAD Public Schools, Inc.
TN
$1,400,000
YES Prep Public Schools
TX
$2,671,163
Total
$36,128,905
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I would have a lot less issue with the anti-charter movement if people stopped pretending that teachers’ unions represented the interests of children and their families. Sometimes they do, but sometimes they don’t. It is a conflict of interest. I am not anti-union. I believe we should have TWO unions. We should have a students’ union and a teachers’ union. If kids and families advocate for a longer school day, or less testing then it should happen, and staff demanding additional pay for something that should be built into the education system (fluidity of parents and students to shape their education system) is holding a child’s education hostage. Kids and parents should be driving schools not the paid employees.
When that happens, I will pull my support from charters. If families aren’t happy with their public school option, they need to be given the opportunity to put their tax dollars into a school of their choosing. School choice isn’t something that should be available only to those who can afford it. And whether you like it or not, charters have a vested interest in meeting the expectations of their students and families. If not, they go out of business. Their is no mandate to attend a charter. They need to earn your business. And they do that by producing an education system that parents and kids want to participate in. Pure and simple.
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Your thinking is pure rationale for pitting public schools against partial (private charter) programs. You want change to happen as opposed to making improvements within the system. AFFILIATED charters are tolerable because they have earned self-administration but INDEPENDENT charters will never, ever be the answer.
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“If families aren’t happy with their public school option, they need to be given the opportunity to put their tax dollars into a school of their choosing.” It’s too bad the Republicans didn’t think up the idea of charter schools back in the 1950s, so that all the white folks could pull their students out of newly desegregated schools and use their tax dollars for “schools of their choosing”.
Call me an idealist, but I thought public education worked very well in this country. Unions are not perfect, but, like democracy, they are better than the alternative. Take a look at the failing schools in non-union states if you think unions are to blame. And take a look at the best suburban school districts in New York State and Massachusetts, which all have unions.
Republicans have been trying for decades to get parents to believe that vouchers were better and they have obviously convinced you. But the people of New York City just had an election in which charter schools were the issue, and the candidate who opposed them won with a huge majority. And yet, here you are, insisting that democracy no longer matters. No wonder you love the idea of vouchers.
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What you’re saying is nonsense, “Casey”. As one example, this part of your post is glaringly false: “And whether you like it or not, charters have a vested interest in meeting the expectations of their students and families. If not, they go out of business.”
No, they don’t. Only a handful “go out of business” and then…they’re replaced not by public schools but by NEW CHARTERS!
If my body is attacked by a cancerous growth, I want it extracted 100%, never to return again, in any way, shape or form.
Having a malignancy return in another form isn’t eliminating it; it’s just substituting one form of cancer for another.
I’d greatly prefer getting rid of it entirely.
But in the case of most charters, they NEVER go “out of business” because their purpose is to further drain our public schools of vital funding by hoodwinking families who are either desperate, naive or overwhelmed with an ideological hatred for public education.
Which are you?
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Sorry to be a such a history teacher but here I go again…..Unions were created many decades ago in large part to counter the influence of huge corporations, which were not only dominating the economy but swallowing our government whole. We are reliving those days again. Corporations certainly do not “represent the interests of children and their families” to use some of your words, Casey. Corporations are meant to represent the interests of their shareholders, in a single-minded, often inhuman way. And in many instances today it is big money, powerful corporate interests who are really behind the attack on public schools, a fact which has been repeatedly documented on this blog. On the other hand, I have personally witnessed many examples of when fellow unionists have gone to real extremes to help kids…to help schools. I was just thinking as I was putting on my tie to go to work, that there are things I don’t like that my own union has done. But thank God we have them. That we have us, I should say. Unions are one of the few counterweights we have to forces in our society that are frighteningly powerful.
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I’d be all in favor of students unions (and parent unions too for that matter). I think you’d find that their agendas would be remarkably similar to the teachers union agendas (note the Providence Student Union, for instance). One question, though – how do you propose to fund said student unions? Would students be required to pay dues?
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Hi Dienne,
Exec. Director for the Providence Student Union here. Just want to clarify our relationship with teachers’ unions. Although we may align with local teachers’ unions on issues, PSU’s campaigns are entirely student-chosen and student-led. We maintain independence from RI teachers unions—including not accepting their funding for our regular programming—in order to make absolutely certain that when our student leaders speak out, there is no doubt that they are speaking from the heart, with their own voices.
Regarding funding, I can only speak for PSU, but we pursue funding from organizations and foundations that align with our values. I also recommend that student unions have aggressive donor development and retention programs—this is one of the responsibilities I think staff can really assist with. Finally: stay relatively low budget and flexible. If young people are the real decision-makers (which they are), then what really matters is bringing students together, and that doesn’t cost much. Everything else—the dedicated staff, the office, the website, &c.—is all bonus.
That said, check out our website! http://www.providencestudentunion.org. And feel free to shoot us an email anytime at contact@providencestudentunion.org.
Yours,
zack mezera.
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BTW, Puget Sound Parent did a good job with your ridiculous argument that charters have a vested interest in serving the needs of their students and families, but I’d also add that charters – like all businesses – only have a vested interest in serving their board of directors which, in turn, serves the needs of their stakeholders – the moneyed interests. It’s axiomatic in the business world that a business’s highest priority and first responsibility is return on investment for the stakeholders.
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Casey… I would like you to spend a week with a teacher in my district (“home life too”) . The administration in their efforts to meet Duncan’s directives keep piling more and more onto teachers (much of which is paperwork not directly related to students well being but is MANDATED). The administrations are hiring more and more paper pushers whose job is to create and recreate forms attached to these “directives”. Teachers are exhausted and yup Casey… TEACHERS HAVE FAMILIES TOO and are not able to spend time with them because the paper-pusing work loads are so extensive. Teachers must learn one thing, then are redirected to learn another when “Duncan’s” directives change with the wind direction. So it is a bit offensive to state that “teachers demanding additional pay for something that should have been built into the system is holding a child’s education hostage”. Teachers need freedom to teach and a home life like everyone else. These days corporate CEO’s are likely to work less hours than teachers do. TRULY! They get paid. Teachers just get pay cuts outright and through deceptive measures embedded in contracts.
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“they need to be given the opportunity to put their tax dollars into a school of their choosing.”
Were that the case then I’d be able to withhold “MY TAX DOLLARS” that are spent on the Department of War and devote them to a “charter” Department of Peace.
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Well, Casey, at least it’s a thought-provoking post. I wish you luck with creating “a student union.” This would require a lot more than you think. Our school has a PTSA group that sits down with administrators every other week and discusses varying issues with our building and central office administrators. They talk about concerns and initiatives. Every committee we have had in our district regarding issues varying from high school scheduling to facility usage includes parents. Much of what you mentioned already includes students and the community but in a different way. So it happens.
And sorry, but if I’m going to have time or responsibilities added, then I should be compensated for the time and effort. I coached for 15 years (2 sports every year). My hourly wage when I calculated it for coaching was half of minimum wage. That was lousy but I liked it. But I wouldn’t do it for free and it is more work and way more time.
In short, our public school endlessly looks for community involvement and invites it. Those things happen in a lot of places.
As for your view on the vested interest in charters, it isn’t quite what you think. They don’t have to serve their students educationally. They just need the right marketing scheme and target demographic. We had a charter go up in the neighboring community. They specifically recruited our Asian Indian demographic. Those apartments were swarmed with recruiters and postings. The communities outside those locations weren’t aware of the charter option. (We lost 32 kids, all Asian Indian.) They offered exclusivity. Another community targets the two megachurches by hitting them with specific targeted marketing.
So you may be right on some level but the truth is that charters aren’t marketing an education in many cases. They’re offering an environment that caters to a specific group. Therefore, they could last for a long time regardless of their performance. (And in the cases I noted, see who they targeted? It certainly wasn’t the disadvantaged but rather high functioning families.) So they can “earn” business through means that have nothing to do with academics. Charters are creating segregation of various types.
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“Pure and simple.”
Yep, just like pure and simple bovine excrement.
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Casey: You seem to conveniently forget that the tax dollars used to educate students are not the parents’ tax dollars alone, but from the entire community, because the ENTIRE citizenry benefits from an educated populace. I live in the state with the lowest per pupil expenditure (just over $6100 per student per year), and I still don’t pay enough in taxes to educate my two sons. Part of that money comes from my neighbors, many of whom have grown children or have no children, yet we all support public schools. Charter schools fragment communities, and support of them often has NOTHING to do with “superior education.” In fact, many charters offer inferior education. The reason that parents pull their kids to charter schools often has nothing to do with educational quality, and everything to do with the feeling of exclusivity that charters engender. And yet, that money gets pulled from public schools, even though public schools educate all.
And what do you say about the fact that charter schools often recruit kids before the student count day, and then push them back into public schools, who then get NO funding for that student? There was a charter school teacher in my area actually bragging about that in a public place (she was overheard by a teacher at my public school). These schools have no shame.
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It’s hard to pretend that this “pure and simple” free-market ideology applies to charters… when this post was about how the DOE is handing them lots of extra money- money that they didn’t earn through “meeting the expectations of students and families.”
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Suddenly, since charters, everyone’s an expert on education
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@Casey: “And whether you like it or not, charters have a vested interest in meeting the expectations of their students and families. If not, they go out of business. ”
You are uninformed. Charters are rarely closed for academic reasons and are subject to financial improprieties that we probably don’t know the half of.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/21/charter-schools-closure_n_1164104.html
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Remember how they sold ed reform to the public as “improving public schools”?
Boy, did we all get suckered, huh?
I assumed they meant public schools – the schools that currently exist. I think most people did. They meant the charter schools they hadn’t built yet.
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At this point I think the best we can hope for is our schools don’t suffer punishing economic sanctions when the Common Core test scores come out. Keep your fingers crossed! Washington and Vermont in particular better watch their step. I think they’re skating on VERY thin ice 🙂
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Sad News – that taxpayer money could help public schools in so many ways. Does this decision go through Congress?
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By what law, and by what right does Arne Duncan get to take our tax dollars and do this?
There are actual Public Schools that ALREADY exist that are desperate for funding. Why can’t THEY get this money?
This is a racket—pure and simple. How much longer are we going to stand for this? Can we get these charter “schools” who receive these funds prosecuted under the federal RICO statutes?
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Arne is above the law. Rules, regulations, laws, and the U.S. Constitution mean nothing to him. He is above it all. Our pols on both sides of the aisle are sheep. No accountability with this fellow who loves to abuse the word otherwise.
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Mark, The unwillingness of Congress to question Arne Duncan’s lawbreaking and disrespect for the Constitution is astonishing. He is no rocket scientist, and he seems to be completely in the dark about the Tenth Amendment and federal laws that prevent him from controlling public schools. What is his magic power? Is it his bank shot?
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Some of the money the DOE is giving away to these businesses comes from interest on student loans. (Like loans to students at Corinthian College, the for-profit that is being “wound down” instead of closed. Had they been closed, the students’ loans for worthless courses would have been forgiven – now they have to pay.) Elizabeth Warren’s student loan reform bill would limit the amount of $$ Duncan has by reducing student interest. Not all Democrats have been co-opted by DFER. Warren is my Senator and I will be sending her a letter on this give-away today, as well as my other Senator, Ed Markey. Bernie Sanders of Vermont will receive a letter as well.
Who else?
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If Ane says it, then it must be true! American taxpayer dollars getting the rich richer and widening the poverty/middle class to “well off” gap! The divide is the greatest it has been in 1/2 century. At dinner, asked the children “how many states in the US (3rd & 7th graders/not all mine)……..answer “51”.
hmmmmmmmmmm
““These charter school grants will help open new charter schools and expand or replicate those with a record of success to help ensure that every student has access to high-quality educational opportunities that prepare them for college, careers and life,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. EVERY STUDENT THAT IS NOT A DIFFERENT LEARNER; in fact I used to say “typical child” but that is not relevant because an ELL student is a “typical learner” who has not yet learned English; this doesn’t mean they are ‘special needs’ – well unless you consider poverty a special need!
Wake Up American. I get so frustrated!
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Do you know how many PS classroom air conditioners that could buy!
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Thank goodness for your reporting, analysis, and leadership, Diane. This makes even more important this news from Pennsylvania. Remember, this is the state in which Philadelphia is our largest city. Philadelphia, where schools have been starved by this same governor, to the point where the governor-appointed “School Reform Commission” (which runs the schools) has just announced its intentions to void the teachers contract because it’s too expensive. On top of starving the children and schools for years. Simultaneously, our governor announces he is giving $1,000,000 to a charter school. No shame. Just doing it. Like Arne.
http://m.wfmz.com/corbett-announces-grant-for-local-school/28996364
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Kipp, Arne would have been a great Secretary of Education in the Romney administration. He loves privatization, hates unions, looks down on teachers. No wonder he is working in lockstep with the Corbett administration.
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That contrasts sharply with the self-congratulatory Tweets the Ed Dept. was publishing yesterday about $13 million in arts programs grants….
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Every public and charter school in the country competes for 13 million in arts grants, while 220 million in dedicated funding goes exclusively to charter schools.
14 million goes to one charter management company, KIPP, and this is only the first round.
Duncan is coming to a rural schools conference in Ohio and I don’t know if the administration wrote the intro listing his accomplishments in office, but charter schools aren’t mentioned.
His single achievement is opening charter schools and closing public schools, yet they left it out. I don’t think it plays as well in Ohio as it does in DC, considering both the reality of charter schools in Ohio, and how they’ve all but abandoned public schools.
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CrunchyDeb, the US DOE has someone paid to write self-congratulatory tweets.
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Off-topic, but thoughts and prayer for Karen Lewis: http://preaprez.wordpress.com/2014/10/08/our-thoughts-are-with-karen-tonight/
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Charter schools,discriminate against disabled children and English language Learners and should therefore not be he given ANY public funding! Discrimination should NoT be rewarded, but apart her punished, but Arne Duncan thinks that disabled kids aren’t doing as well as they can because we aren’t challenging them enough! Sure, Arne, maybe the non ambulatory wheelchair bound child should have his or her wheelchair taken away-for maybe then he or she will walk! He is such a moron and yet he gets to decide where MY money goes! How do we get rid of him? Charters are beholden to their bottom line, note kids.many one who believes otherwise is a fool.
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Maybe in cases of a blatant discrimination against ethnic or language minorities or handicapped students should be sent to the Office of Civil Rights. If they receive money from the government, they should not be allowed to discriminate, and they should not be allowed to continue a selection process that permits them to discriminate. .If people don’t challenge an unfair practice, the injustice will simply continue.
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Dag Arne. At least one Gulen school is on the list.
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Cincinnati media, this week, after investigation:
“Ohio teachers, meanwhile, say plenty of qualified teachers are available for jobs being filled by the foreigners, especially since about 40,000 are still without teaching jobs because of the recession.
Concept officials defend the practice. They say it’s the only way to find qualified math and science instructors, adding that the international teachers add to the cultural experience of students.”
It’s obviously false, the charters do worse than Ohio public schools in math and science so if they wanted to do better there they’d hire US teachers, but, whatever. Any nonsense they spout is taken as fact.
I also love how everyone is too polite to admit they’re bringing MALE teachers in from Turkey. For some reason the Obama Administration doesn’t object to this particular charter chain’s efforts to fill math and science slots with teachers who are men. Can you imagine if a public school did that? They’d receive funding threats immediately.
http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2014/10/05/charter-school-turns-turkish-teachers/16791669/
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Without you, Diane, most of us would never know outrages like this. We worship your sharing spirit. Go Diane!
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How about the USDOE fully fund public schools? How about spending MY TAX DOLLARS that way. What is next? More of my tax money for TFA?
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Donna, at the first opportunity Arne Duncan gave $50 million to TFA and another $50 million to KIPP. These are organizations handsomely funded by the Walton Foundation, the Broad Foundation, and dozens of other foundations and corporations. Duncan is antagonistic to public education and to the teaching profession.
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It makes me ill to read through the Federal Grants that are given to these Charters. This does not include State Grants or Grants from Walton, Gates etc.
2010
Charter School Network First-Year Award Amount
Achievement First $1,675,403
Aspire Public Schools $5,587, 500
Foundation for a Greater Opportunity $1,483,796
IDEA Public Schools $8,734,617
KIPP Foundation in consortium with KIPP Regions $14,550,084
LEARN Charter School Network $1,025,750
Mastery Charter Schools $5,130,000
Noble Network of Charter Schools $3,269, 766
YES Prep Public Schools $2,781,511
Propel Schools $1,149,586
Success Charter Network $1,986,987
Uncommon Schools $2,625,000
http://www.publiccharters.org/press/alliance-statement-u-s-department-education-awarding-50-million-support-charter-growth-replication/
2011 funding
Name Funding Amount Project Description
KIPP Foundation in consortium with KIPP regions $9,463,103.00 18 new schools in Atlanta, GA, Austin, TX, Chicago, IL, Washington, DC, Gaston, NC, Houston, TX, Jacksonville, FL, Los Angeles, CA, Memphis, TN, Newark, NJ, New York, NY, and San Antonio, TX
Rocketship Education $1,881,569.00 56 new schools in Oakland, Milwaukee, New Orleans, and Chicago
DC Preparatory Academy $878,824.00 4 new schools in Washington, DC
Success Charter Network, Inc. $1,740,970.00 Project description: 6 new schools in New York
Richard Milburn Academy, Inc. $1,575,562.00 6 new schools in Texas
Uncommon Schools $1,400,000.00 9 new schools in Newark and Boston
Breakthrough Charter Schools $3,488,060.00 8 new schools and 3 expanded schools in Cleveland, OH
Alliance College Ready Public Schools $3,139,983.00 10 new schools in Los Angeles
Cosmos Foundation, Inc. $1,431,929.00 7 new schools in Texas
http://hechingered.org/content/federal-government-to-grant-money-to-successful-charters_4295/
2012
Applicant Name:
KIPP Foundation in consortium with KIPP regions
Project Name:
Preparing students for success in life: Fueling KIPPs growth in up to 25 unique communities Abstract
PDF (267 KB)
Application
PDF
Year 1 Award:
$3,328,683
Total Award:
$22,709,013
over 4 years Reviewers’ comments and raw scores:
Coming Soon
Raw Score:
104.00
http://www2.ed.gov/programs/charter-rehqcs/2012/awards.html
In 2013 Kipp was Granted money to start its “fellowship” program – Not only did the Kipp Foundation get money but Kipp DC got an extra 10 million to do basically the same thing!!
2013
The KIPP Foundation was awarded a $50 million Scale-up grant, with which it is training 1,000 future leaders. These include 250 principals, 60 of whom are outside the KIPP network of public charter schools, who will open new schools or assume leadership of existing schools during the grant period. The remaining 750 leaders will use their training to begin their paths to school leadership. The i3 grant also has enabled KIPP to create a fellowship program to share and disseminate best practices to both chartered and non-chartered public schools.
KIPP DC received $10 million to increase the number of highly effective teachers in the District of Columbia by enrolling 415 promising recruits in its Capital Teaching Residency (CTR) program. The training is designed to equip the teachers with skills that hasten and deepen student learning. The project is also providing schools with innovative tools and technology for teaching and learning, such as software that allows for individualized instruction aligned with Common Core standards. In addition, KIPP DC is developing a framework to share and support best practices with local and national partners.
SICK!!!!
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Tim, what if we don’t want our public school to turn into a KIPP charter school?
What if we don’t agree that charter schools have the “secret sauce” for public schools, and all public schools should adopt their methods with the federal government putting a huge thumb on the scale and ONLY supporting this ONE narrow approach?
What if we’re wondering why the federal government no longer supports existing public schools, the schools that the vast majority of kids of ALL income levels and ability attend?
Are we NOT allowed to act as advocates for our schools? If we don’t, who will? Our schools are political orphans. They’re barely mentioned, and it they ARE mentioned it is 100% negative.
Will any consideration be given to the public schools that are ALREADY THERE when this huge charter-only federal building project is commenced, or do we just have to hope some well-intentioned ed reformer “reaches out”? Where are our advocates in government?
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Green Dot gets $7MIL?
Marshall Tuck wins again!
Students lose again!
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The Dayton Daily News quoted Chad Aldis of the Fordham Institute about the new website, Knowyourcharter.com. He had the audacity to say, “It’s not even trying to be balanced and fair.” Where is Fordham’s concern for fairness when Ohio’s tax policies favor the rich? Where is the concern that the nation, in its first 100 years, had a distribution of wealth with the 1% controlling 10% of income (including slaves) and now they have 22% (Mother Jones)? Where is the concern about taxpayers footing the bill for mandates that enrich test and tech companies and hedge funds, siphoning funds from local communities? If Fordham expanded its base of knowledge, they could make the case that it is the public that is being treated unfairly in every sphere, including education.
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I think what Ohio public school parents probably got from knowyourcharter is how little state support public schools get.
I was shocked that we only get 2k a kid in state support and charters get 7k.
This is not a wealthy district. We’re only getting 2k a kid in taxes back for our public schools? The entire remainder is coming from local taxes?
Can our districts split from the state, then? I don’t think 2k a year is worth all the state and federal ed reform mandates. The mandates probably COST more than 2k a year. We’d be better off without the ed reformers in government. At this point they’re a net loss.
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In November elections, it appears the best candidates for the Ohio State Board of Education are Robert Hagan in District 8, Kim Redfern in District 2, Pat Bruns in District 4 and, Michael Kinnamon
in District 10.
When Tehar leaves office, at the end of December and if Ross was fired, from his position as state superintendent, the students of Ohio would benefit and the bilking of taxpayers might lessen.
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Diane, you were interested in the wage theft case, where the low wage temps who work for Amazon are cheated out of pay every week due to Amazon cutting costs on their elaborate employee anti-theft system.
The Obama Administration argued against the low wage employees yesterday, and it looks like DC got a big win against the people who make 12 dollars an hour working in Amazon warehouses:
“The Obama administration sided with the temp agency in the case, Integrity Staffing Solutions v. Busk, No. 13-433.
Justice Stephen G. Breyer said the questions in the case were difficult and close but that he was inclined to side with the agency that enforces the labor laws.
“I’m in the situation, probably, I’d say go with the Labor Department,” he told Mr. Thierman. “They are the ones who are in charge of this. And they are saying you lose.”
You lose, workers. The Obama Administration rushed in to make sure you lost.
It’s one thing to have an administration that is anti-organized labor. THIS administration also goes after workers who DON’T belong to unions. They work as hard as they can to weaken wage and hour protections for non-union workers.
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Public school parents are going to have to demand that lawmakers support their schools.
We don’t have to settle for this. We don’t have to settle for people who work for us and don’t support our schools.
We can do better than this. We don’t have to accept the same 150 people who all agree with one another running public schools at the national level. There are other qualified people who want to do this work.
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I just called the office of my congresswoman, Rosa DeLauro, and was told they would pass on the information to her. Her staff also said she was a big supporter of public schools. I replied that she has helped TFA retain their status in our city school systems and has approved grants for them. He said “well…that’s true. But Rosa also believes in community service.”
I’m not sure if I’m more offended that he thinks TFA is a community service or that teaching can be done as a community service.
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Excellent point, Allison. If you’re in Ohio, which State Board of Education member do the teachers support in the November election?
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I don’t know if you-all follow him or read him, but Bob Herbert is being very blunt and uncivil with his Tweets 🙂
“Corporate leaders, hedge fund managers & foundations lined up to support charter schools, & politicians followed.”
Ouch.
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America the bruised. America the battered. Americans will prevail – get out the VOTE!
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Come let’s mix, where Rockefeller’s walk with sticks
And umbrellas in their mitts
Puttin’ on the ritz
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This looks like industrial policy –government bolstering domestic industries by giving strategic assistance. Conservatives tend to condemn this behavior as anti-free market. It’s what Korea did to bolster Hyundai and other companies to give them a leg up on foreign competitors. But here the US government is stacking the decks –not against some foreign industry –but against our own public schools, seemingly trying to precipitate their demise. Charters already get to work with taxpayer funds. They already get private donations. Why are we giving them additional subsidies?
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Ponderosa, you ask good questions. Why is the federal government supporting charter chains that are already subsidized by foundations like Gates, Walton, Broad, Arnold, at the same time they get government funding? Why tip the scale in their favor? Why not make it a condition that they must accept the same proportions of students with disabilities and ELLs as their neighborhood schools and stop their high attrition rates?
What we are seeing is the federal subsidization of the monetizing of our schools and the creation of an industry. It is disgusting.
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They could have regulated charter schools in Ohio and MI and PA and FL a long time ago. They all get federal funding.
They have absolutely no problem bringing down the hammer on public schools. The fact that they haven’t done anything to regulate charter schools just shows that they aren’t “agnostics” at all. They selectively regulate.
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Example of bringing down the hammer on public schools: Eric Holder and Arne Duncan sanctimoniously condemning public schools for high suspension rates for minorities in public schools while ignoring more egregious rates in charter schools.
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Remember, Romney stated the true feelings of these people. “You should get all the education you can afford.” They will make sure it isn’t free, and that they will be the ones to sell it to you, they even call it the education industry! Our Nevada governor, in an unguarded moment even stated that he wanted the public out of public education, parents should fend for themselves in a market and taxes need not be used for this purpose. School loans may take on an entirely new meaning!
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I’m sure that President Obama will make sure his attorney general does nothing to stop the unconstitutional acts of Arne Duncan handing out money meant for public schools to for-profit, opaque, corporate charter schools.
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Unbelievably, the Utah Attorney General has decided that Common Core is “not federal overreach,” and that “Utah still controls its academic standards.” Guess who I am NOT voting for this fall?
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/58498129-78/common-core-utah-standards.html.csp
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Any RTTT hoops for these schools to jump through to get the money? Didn’t think so.
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Exactly. They say charters are great because they’re free of bureaucratic mandates, but then they heap more bureaucratic mandates on the public schools. By their own logic, they’re harming the public schools.
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Look at Finland.2 or 3 languages, many immigrant children, no charters, no private schools, lots of playtime, no homework, little testing—top-performer in the world.Teachers are ranked up there with doctors, engineers,and lawyers.Finland has invested in teachers.
In US, the least-experienced new teachers take jobs in inner-city schools.There’s a high-turnover.How would you like to teach a class of 25+ needy children? I have sat in their classrooms, wondering how they do it, marveling at the speed with which they address each child’s problems.
I have tried to re-purpose some agencies, like the NSA.There must be some people there with the teaching-gene.
What if they became teachers, at the same salary? What if we raised the salaries of all teachers? What if we raised their salaries to that of true professionals, which I believe they are?
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