Great news! Max Brantley reports that the bill to privatize the Little Rock School District was withdrawn and will not be introduced again in this session of the Arkansas legislature. The lobbyists pushing the bill were all connected to the powerful multi-billionaire Walton family, and many people thought their victory was a foregone conclusion. (See this post and this post for details.)
Brantley writes:
The rally in opposition to the bill at the Capitol tonight turned into a victory party.
Here’s Ross’ take on the decision:”We hear there was pressure from the Walton family who are tired of the bad press.”
Indeed. And it will be complicated when plaintiffs in the lawsuit over the state’s takeover of the district — which would provided a speedway to privatization under the proposed law — begin questioning subpoenaed witnesses about their ties to the Waltons and others that have invested big money in wanting to see the district heavily charterized.
The public outcry was vital in this defeat, if Cozart can be trusted. I suspect even more vital was the entry of the PTA, the School Boards Association and, particularly, the school superintendents, in the fight. What was about to happen to Little Rock could happen to anyone — a loss of school boards, an expropriation of local property tax millage, the required surrender of facilities for no charge.
There are important lessons to be learned here. The Waltons apparently got “tired of the bad press.” Public outcry was vital. The supporters of public education rallied. The public interest beat the Waltons. Don’t forget those lessons!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Edubullies are cowards at heart.
They can dish it out but they can’t take it.
IMHO, another very small but telling victory on the way to a “better education for all.”
😎
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I hope you are right. Thank you for the optimism.
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When will they ever learn that charters and privates are no better because they continue to be under the same failed test crazed system of education. Only the names have changed. allow Public to innovate and we will kick butt because we have the best teachers. But they must be allowed to take back their profession
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Somebody needs to tell the Waltons that the press is bad because their results are bad.
Bad press shouldn’t be causing them to pull back, but the bad results they and other “reformers” are inflicting on poor kids should.
When do they get “data-driven” with their results?
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“It’s about strategy co-optation and “ideological camouflage” in which one agenda can be disguised as something else. In this instance it’s about corporate players camouflaging private interests as a public good, and then pointing the blame elsewhere as a distraction. ”
Their actual agenda isn’t the data-driven improvement of the public schools. Like Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder in Springtime for Hitler, ALEC and the oligarchy have a real agenda very different from their proclaimed goal of improving education opportunity for all children. Unless we stop them, their aim is to withdraw that foundational promise from the children of the working class.
http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2015/03/springtime-for-hitler-and-education.html
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More proof of yes, WE did, yes WE can and yes…yes, WE WILL!!!
(BTW, I was at a meeting of retired teachers, yesterday, & a speaker mentioned how much retirees are helping our state by spending consumer $$$ “at places such as Target, Costco & Walmart.” Of course, I yelled out, “NOT Walmart!” Received some nice applause & “Yeahs!”
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Good news and good lessons.
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It’s about time! Once people ask themselves just what gives these oligarchs the right to control every facet of our lives we may awaken to the fact that we outnumber them and can out vote them. I pray for the day (and I’m working towards it) that we get rid of Citizens United and can once more limit these vultures.
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Like yo say, Diane, the people have to get involved.
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There are other problems with our Democracy too like having 90% of the population so stupid that you wouldn’t want them voting anyway. This is very close to our situation. Do we really want to get out the vote? Have you walked around your local mall lately? Take a good look at your fellow citizens. You see occasional flickers of intelligence on a few faces. Usually they moved here from Russia, or somewhere they had to think or study in school and not just play sports. In other words, voting is not going to save us!
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Judgmental much?
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Dienne, DNFTT!
John, I know you can post more rational comments, so enough with the trollish posts.
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You sound like a lot of people from the past who thought that the common man couldn’t be trusted with the vote. Yes, democracy is messy, and it’s the worst form of government–except all of the other types.
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It’s essential to remember that even more important than money are the voices and votes of citizens. Our voices really do count and there are a lot more of us than there are billionaires.
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Thanks, Diane, for highlighting this fight and victory in Arkansas! I hope I speak for a whole lot of our community when I say THANK YOU for sharing this with others. You have a growing following here in AR and while we look forward to days when reports from our state and our school districts are about increasingly successful results in our PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Thank you for keeping an eye on us. In a city with a history so deeply divided by race, Little Rock desperately needs ALL our schools to meet the needs of our students – especially those marginalized. Your advocacy is greatly appreciated.
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And remember folks, STOP SHOPPING AT WALMART.
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:o)
Before I could stop shopping there, I’d have to start first.
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Dr. Ravitch, your blog undoubtedly had an impact. Thank you.
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I can hear the people sing…
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I shop at Wal-Mart only when absolutely necessary, which is a rare occurrence, but lately have been avoiding it altogether.
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“But opponents of the bill believed sincerely that, particularly thanks to school district opposition around the state, Cozart couldn’t count on all 10 Republicans. That created a daunting arithmetic problem with 11 votes needed for passage.”
They have to get elected in their districts – they don’t run statewide- and all of their districts include many, many public schools.
My local paper just had a glowing piece about my state senator and all the many, many things he does for the public schools in his district. He’s a big reformer in broad strokes- uses all the correct slogans- but he sounds very different when he’s talking to local media about the public schools in his district.
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“He said Scott Smith of the Walton-financed Arkansas Public School Research Council had brought him the bill. ”
I wonder if public school supporters could become more pro-active.
If the privatization folks can “bring him a bill” couldn’t public school supporters also “bring him a bill”? Then they wouldn’t be in the position of adding amendments to the Wal Mart bill, because amending/modifying/blocking the Wal Mart bill puts them at a huge disadvantage right out of the gate. Wal Mart is setting the acceptable terms of the debate- the outer limits.
If he doesn’t want to draft his won legislation and is accepting submissions, maybe public school people could submit THEIR bill 🙂
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I am from Helena-West Helena, Arkansas, the home of the first KIPP Delta school.in Arkansas. We have been fighting a charter take-over for years! I am thrilled about what has happened. WE will keep fighting–this is only the beginning!! Voter Registration is the next step and most be ongoing!
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This is such good news out of Arkansas! Professor Jim Ross has a strong grasp on how some of our kids have continued to be denied equal opportunity in education since the Brown ruling. We need to continue fighting to see to it that educators not profiteers direct further reform efforts.
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Don’t celebrate. The Waltons will not give up. They have been funding their own war against public education for decades and have spent probably more than a billion dollars, and I suspect they have set up the Walton Family Foundation to continue the fight long after they are dead.
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