NC Policy Watch reports on the North Carolina legislature’s latest attack on public education. Its assault was enacted by spurning the democratic process, ramming through a funding bill that few legislators had read or understood. The bill is probably a violation of federal law and should be challenged in court.
“Senate leaders unveiled a proposal in the Senate Finance Committee Monday afternoon that would divert more funding from the majority of local school districts across the state to charter schools, including federal support for transportation and school lunches that many charters don’t even provide.
“The proposal appeared out of nowhere as a bill about school playgrounds was gutted and replaced with the controversial charter school funding provisions, a version of legislation that passed the Senate months ago but stalled in the House.
“Very few people seemed to know the charter bill was coming, including public school officials and most of the committee members themselves.
“A representative of the school administrators association, also blind-sided by the proposal, told the lawmakers that it would adversely affect their local schools and that their school officials would be strongly against it.
“That didn’t deter supporters of the funding change, led by Senator Chad Barefoot, whose only answer to every question was that the “money should follow the child,” a talking point that is not only an oversimplification, but a statement that makes little sense if a charter school is receiving federal funding for services it doesn’t have to provide or if a student attends a school outside a special tax district.
“Senate Majority Leader Harry Brown admitted he was confused by the effect of all the complicated provisions transferring money from school districts to charters and he wasn’t the only one.
“Even Barefoot acknowledged that he wasn’t an expert on the legislation and was handling it because Senate Education Chair Jerry Tillman was absent due to a death in family.
“The confusion of committee members and Barefoot’s inability to adequately explain the complicated finance changes didn’t seem to faze Finance Chair Bob Rucho who called for a vote on the surprise legislation anyway, brushing aside questions from committee members by telling them that the staff would provide the requested information to them.
“In other words, lawmakers would vote before they understood the actual consequences of what they were voting on, how much it would cost their local schools and whether not diverting federal funding violated the law.”
Chris Fitzsimon writes:
“The misguided plan is the latest evidence that Senate leaders have never met a charter school bill they didn’t like.
“They always seem to start with the same assumption, that charter school advocates are always right, that charters are always superior to traditional schools in their own district and that charters deserve more and more funding….
“It hasn’t turned out that way. Many charter advocates and most of their supporters in the General Assembly aren’t looking to innovate anymore.
“They are looking to compete and win and then dismantle and replace the traditional public schools they never fully supported. The legislation unveiled this week is their latest mode of attack.”
The legislators and governor in North Carolina are vandals, stealing from the many to benefit the few.
It is events like this that persuaded the Network for Public Education to hold its next annual conference in Raleigh, North Carolina, on April 16-17, 2016.
Our keynote speaker is the great Rev. William Barber, founder of Moral Mondays, which organizes weekly demonstrations against the racist, exclusionist, privatizing agenda of the North Carolina legislature.
We will be there to learn from and support parents, educators, and concerned citizens who are appalled by the demolition of public institutions and outraged by the abuses of power that are exhibited on a regular basis by a legislature that puts profits over people.
Join us!
“In other words, lawmakers would vote before they understood the actual consequences of what they were voting on, how much it would cost their local schools and whether not diverting federal funding violated the law.”
So, wait, they’re trying to claim innocence by saying they didn’t understand the bill when they voted for it? What? Wouldn’t not voting have been the proper thing to have done?
“Senate Majority Leader Harry Brown admitted he was confused by the effect of all the complicated provisions transferring money from school districts to charters and he wasn’t the only one.”
Yeah, sorry, but no one should buy that. They carried the bill of a lobbyist or lobbyists and they are only sad that they got caught. The maneuvering and last minute “jam thru” is an absolute “tell”. He should just tell voters who told him to do this. It’s not like they’ll be shocked. People really couldn’t be more cynical about government. They know what happened anyway.
“But he told me to vote for it!” Give me a break. Didn’t all our mothers lecture us about not jumping off a cliff because someone else told us to do it?
…and these are the same guys who, on the next breath, hold teachers to the highest ethical/professional standard.
The legislatures presumably had heavy hearts ‘ when they voted.
oops, legislators, sorry…
It disgusts me that so many political heads use “the children” as emotional manipulation tactics to get ahead with their agendas. The children are everywhere, and the ones who need the most help are the ones who cannot attend charter schools. I have already mentioned the lack of funding in the federal budget for education on this website, and seeing the funds flowing less to public schools and more to charter schools seems like a killing. This reminds me of the “waiting for superman” concept. The charter schools can only accept so many kids – and good for the ones who get in – but the others are left in the dust with disparaged, resource-depleted schools, and then are blamed for their lack of education in the future. I wonder how long it will take for legislators to wake up to the fact that education is the lifeline to a successful future for our country, and ultimately the globe. Saddening
At this current moment, North Carolina’s charters have the same funding for each student as the public schools, so I don’t understand how people deemed it fit that public school students should be punished because law makers are backing charter schools with all they have. I agree with the idea that this bill or law, should it become one, should be taken to a court.
The students within the public school system are already having to make due with the minimum funding their schools receive. With those limited funds, some students aren’t getting the same educations as those of areas that put more money per pupil. This lack of funding and difference in their educational attainment affects their possibility for acquisition of social and economic capital in more than a few ways. To add insult to injury, this change will take away funding for free meals and transportation from these students? I’d like to know if this plan will give these aspects to the charters schools.
I’m not sure if I’m more furious that politicians who voted for the bill are claiming to have not known what it was they were voting for or that some disenfranchised students are going to be put in a worse position.
Here’s a link to the bill. The bill file on 04/01 concerned building upkeep and playground use. On April 6th, it was totally rewritten and they voted yes on the same day.
It looks like they are going to debate it on 09/28.
I hope that if enough people contact their congressmen, they will back off – it sure worked for the anti-vaccination crowd in NC (a few months ago a couple of NC lawmakers wanted to remove the religious beliefs exemptions and people were very vocal and they dropped the idea.)
http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2015&BillID=h539
If Charter and private for-profit schools work so well then why do they need the funding that normally would have went to public schools? Once the public schools are at the point of no return on defunding they will claim the public schools have finally failed. then they can have their publicly funded, segregated, and conservative propaganda based profit schools. Moses will be considered a founding father. “Getting plenty of rest” will be part of the sex ed class, and poor kids will be pushed into the crapiest schools they can find where science is weak and ROTC is everything.
CROSS POSTED AT
http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/The-latest-undemocratic-ef-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Attack_Diane-Ravitch_Education_Educational-Crisis-150925-311.html
WITH THIS COMMENT, WHICH HAS EMBEDDED LINKS in the comment section AT THE ARTICLE. Too bad Diane’s site does not copy the embedded links.
“…so, while our citizens watch endless ‘news’ of the pope’s trip, and Trumps mouthiness, the public schools are going down. You can go to the Ravitch blog and put ‘privatization’ into the search field, or click here htttp://dianeravitch.net/?s=Privitization,
or Go to my series here, at my author’s page quicklinks, http://www.opednews.com/author/quicklinks/author40790.html
and do not miss this Mercedes Schneider’s “Chronicle of Echoes: Who’s Who in the Implosion of American Public Education.”
…but here is a very short look at ‘wuz up’ recently.
D.L. Paulson commented before on the entrepreneurs who are investing in privatization and disruption in public education. Here he comments again on GSV (Global Silicon Valley), a leading edge investment company in the education sector.
Wisconsin: Legislature Wants to Privatize Low-Performing Public Schools
A radical privatization proposal has been inserted into the Wisconsin state budget and approved by the budget-writing committee.
Albany Times-Union: Cuomo’s Voucher Giveaway to the Rich:
Randal Hendee: The Goal of Reform is Not to Improve Education but to Cut Costs The question frequently arises: Why do so many billionaires support the privatization of public education? Surely, they don’t care about making a profit as they are already billionaires. Here is one possible answer, as reader Randal Hendee posted this comment on the blog about the motives of the billionaires who support “reform”The editorial board of the Albany Times-Union explains the economics behind Governor Cuomo’s proposal for “Education Tax Credits.”
Pennsylvania: Charters Pile on Debt, While Public Schools Are Negected
In Philadelphia, thanks to state law, the city’s public schools are in dire need of renovation, while charter schools build and acquire facilities they can’t afford. Here is one of the articles that revealed this scandalous situation. It is not sustainable to maintain two school systems in one city or state.
The editorial board of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes:
“Philadelphia’s regular public school buildings are so run down that the cost to repair them is estimated at $4 billion. Those buildings aren’t likely to get face-lifts with the School District limping from funding crisis to funding crisis. In contrast, the city’s charter schools have received $500 million in taxpayer-backed bonds for new or improved buildings….
“With no one saying no, some charters are in a frenzy to acquire or renovate buildings and finance the transactions with bond issues they can’t afford. The Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. issues bonds for charters, but fees for lawyers, consultants, and others who profit from the deals aren’t fully disclosed.
“Bonds for charters cost more because the risks are higher, Rutgers University professor Bruce Baker told Philly.com’s Alex Wigglesworth and Ryan Briggs. Those risks are passed on to taxpayers, who get stuck with even more costs when charters default, which has become common nationally.