You can stop the privatizers in California by signing a petition for a referendum to repeal the Charter School Act of 1992. Charter schools were supposed to serve only the neediest students, but in California they have spread into affluent districts and serve as publicly funded private schools. Now, Eli Broad has a plan to open charters for half the students in Los Angeles. You can help to stop privatization by getting this initiative onto the ballot.
Here is the website: https://notocharterschools.wordpress.com/
REPEAL Charter School Act of 1992 in CA Ballot Initiative
STOP PRIVATIZING PUBLIC SCHOOLS STOP PRIVATIZING PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Ballot Initiative to REPEAL the CA Charter School Act of 1992
As many of you know the charter school industry is at the heart of the corporate takeover of our public schools.
Charter schools cherry pick students, falsify records, commit enrollment fraud, close down community schools, destroy jobs, bust up unions and segregate students where we now see essentially a three tiered system— charter schools in affluent neighborhoods lacking students with behavior issues, lacking students with special needs and lacking students who are English language learners- these charter schools tend to have highly qualified credential teachers; then there are the charter schools in low income areas where many teachers are unlicensed and the third tier is everyone else in traditional public schools. Charter schools are draining funds from our traditional public school system.
No student should be rejected from our public schools, yet charter schools reject or counsel students out all the time. This is immoral and shameful. These types of severe discriminatory practices need to be abolished now.
Read about the ugly racist history of the charter school movement at this link:
http://www.alternet.org/education/racist-history-c…
Charter schools receive public funds but have private, often secret school boards unaccountable to the taxpayers.
The charter school profiteers have essentially stolen our money and destroyed lives. We will never see the huge amounts of money that has been squandered away- it is gone.
Please share the recent report entitled Charter Schools Cheating Communities Out of Millions. See below link:
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/04/29/fraud-…
Enough is enough.
It is time for the people of California to come together and take back our public schools from the profiteers.
A REPEAL is long overdue. The billionaire game is over and we the people are not going to put up with it anymore.
To place a repeal of the charter school act of 1992 on the ballot will require approximately 370,000 signatures. I know more than this number wishes to vote for repeal, but we need to know who you are so we can make this happen.
So, for those of you who are saying YES, it is about time, we need your help and we need to know who you are.
We need to assess that the numbers are there to support this. So, reach out to your friends, your family, your social and/or political groups..and provide us with names, county of voter registration and contact information.
The way this works is that for now we build support, get contact information because once we file the proposed initiative, a clock starts ticking, and we only have 180 days to gather actual signatures. All the signatures must qualify 131 days prior to a statewide election.
So, for November 2016…we must start gathering names now and obtain organizational support…file by December 2015 just to obtain a Title and Summary that allows us to gather signatures and begin gathering actual signatures to qualify for ballot prior to end of May 2016 .
Keep in mind to qualify for ballot is not enough, we need time to promote the initiative before the actual election as well.
Time is of the essence.
So, even if you might not have the time to help spread the word about this, please let us know who we might contact, who might be able to help in this effort. And please at least give us your name and contact information.
Let’s take back our public schools from the profiteers!
The following organizations and individuals have endorsed this petition and this effort to repeal charter school laws in California:
AFT Local 6161 (Palomar Faculty Federation)
North County Labor Alliance
Escondido Public School Advocates
Wellstone Progressive Democrats of Sacramento
Chicano Latino Caucus of the California Democratic Party
Labor Council for Latin American Advancement-Sacramento chapter
Actor and Activist- Danny Glover
Bill Freeman- NEA Board member California
Alita Blanc- United Educators of San Francisco President
Julian Nava- Former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico
Wayne Johnson- Past President of California Teachers Association (CTA)
Francisco Martinez- KPFK Radio Producer (Los Angeles)
Diane Ravitch's blog 
http://thewire.k12newsnetwork.com/2015/10/07/repeal-california-charter-schools-movement-grows-and-gains-a-celebrity-activist-endorsement/
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It is almost midnight and it has just been reported that the LAUSD BoE voted to fire Rafe Esquith.
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Thanks for sharing this, Ellen. Very sad situation. it’s impossible to know (at least for me) what really happened. This is a man who has done a lot of terrific work.
I remember a (possibly) similar situation with Eliot Wigginton. He had done wonderful work with the Foxfire Project, a project based learning approach that he founded and helped develop. Foxfire also inspired many other similar projects.
But it turned out that he had done some unacceptable things with students and he resigned.
I am NOT saying the situations are identical. I am NOT saying Rafe has committed any crimes. It is a very sad, unfortunate situation.
One of the reasons I continue to read and post here is that, despite some disagreements (as well as agreements), I learn a lot by reading posts of others.
Your post is an example. Thanks.
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Repeal California Charter Schools movement grows and gains a celebrity-activist endorsement
OCTOBER 7, 2015 BY ROBERT D. SKEELS * RDSATHENE LEAVE A COMMENT
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“Choice rhetoric contemplates the sphere for reformed education as a “market.” The commodification of education in this way has prompted no shortage of critique identifying the ways in which the conditions for a properly functioning education market are difficult—if not impossible—to cultivate. Problems with an education market, however, go beyond the mere absence of ideal market conditions. Rather, the problems extend to the ways in which race and racism warp the market, undermining the possibility that an education market could ever genuinely optimize educational outcomes for marginalized students and families in that market.” — Osamudia R. James
Voices Against Privatizing Public Education protesting billionaire school privatizer Mark Zuckerberg
Voices Against Privatizing Public Education protesting billionaire school privatizer Mark Zuckerberg
The nascent movement in California to repeal its charter school laws, which were foisted on the state in 1992 by profit hungry billionaires Reed Hastings and Donald Fisher, is growing and gaining more support. The list of key endorsors is maintained on their online petition:
AFT Local 6161 (Palomar Faculty Federation)
North County Labor Alliance
Escondido Public School Advocates
Wellstone Progressive Democrats of Sacramento
Chicano Latino Caucus of the California Democratic Party
Labor Council for Latin American Advancement – Sacramento chapter
Danny Glover – Actor and Activist
Bill Freeman – NEA Board member California
Alita Blanc – United Educators of San Francisco President
Julian Nava – Former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico
Wayne Johnson – Past President of California Teachers Association (CTA)
Francisco Martinez- KPFK Radio Producer (Los Angeles)
The latest additions being California Teachers Association (CTA) Past President Wayne Johnson, and Actor/Activist Danny Glover. A decade ago I had the good fortune of seeing Glover’s moving performance in Howard Zinn’s Voices of a People’s History of the United States live in Los Angeles.
Glover discussed his experiences and opinions regarding the privately managed charter school industry on San Francisco KPOO Judy Drummond’s show “Connecting the Dots” on September 24, 2015. The show features Drummond interviewing Glover and Steve Zeltzer. Of interest is how Glover mentions that he was once involved in a community based charter school in New York, but changed his stance on the charter industry having witnessed the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina:
“New Orleans had the oldest teachers union in the Deep South. Specifically to raise the pay of Black, African American teachers. That’s what it was. It’s the oldest. It’s been dismantled, it’s been eviscerated, it doesn’t exist anymore.”
Glover’s observations are spot on. In addition to being profit-driven, the neoliberal corporate charter school project is racist to its very core. Partly because charter-voucher schools are a brainchild of the John Birch Society and other fringe-right foundations, and partly because of the resurgence of “school choice” segregationists, the charter school project is aptly described by civil rights experts as representing “apartheid schools.”
Not considered public schools by the courts or any other entity requiring precise legal definitions, every attempt to regulate or hold the privately managed charter school industry accountable has been rebuffed. The activists behind Voices Against Privatizing Public Education‘s slogan of “Any attempt at reforming the charter school industry is like putting a band-aid on an incurable disease!” is a very astute observation indeed. It’s time to shut down the failed corporate charter experiment and focus on our public school system.
Sign their petition, like their facebook page, visit their website, and join the struggle against the corporate takeover of public education.
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Some people have repeatedly assertion that “Charter schools were supposed to serve only the neediest students.” However, the original purposes of charter public schools were to work with a variety of students.
The first two charters, established under the first charter law (in Minnesota) were a Montessori school in Winona, Minnesota that serves a variety of students, and a charter that served students with whom traditional schools have not succeeded. There are many examples of charters established in California and Massachusetts that served a variety of students.
Moreover, charters have been established in some suburbs to
* offer smaller public schools when districts established mega- middle or high schools. There has been and is a good deal of research about the value of small public schools
* offer options such as Montessori, Core Knowledge, project based learned that some families, including some suburban families. very much want
The charter law here also encouraged some districts to establish their own new district options such as a French or Spanish Immersion, a Montessori junior high school, a Montessori elementary, and a Core knowledge elementary school within school.
Some wise districts have understood that if they create new strong district options, some families will not send their youngsters to charters.
Moreover, some districts have listened to classroom teachers and allowed them to create teacher led or teacher powered district public schools. Very glad they listened to teachers who wanted to do this.
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Joe,
Were charter schools meant to be operated for-profit, for tax breaks, for real estate investors, for fly by night frauds, by religious zealots, and for non-educators who are paid $500,000 a year? Were they intended to drain resources from public schools like parasites, as in Charter Upland? We’re they supposed to enrich guys like David Brennan of White Hat or William Lager of ECOT In Ohio? We’re they supposed to be a cash cow for Junk bond king Michael Milken?
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Thank you for your response, Diane. AMEN.
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Diane – I responded with facts to an incorrect assertion about who charters were intended to serve, which was and is a cross section of students. You did not comment on that.
Having helped start innovative district public schools since 1971, I (and many other public school teachers) have heard the same arguments against creating new options for decades. The argument is made that new options, whether district or charter, are – as you put it “parasites.”
Another way to think about this is to recognize that in some places, the creation of new options encouraged districts to allow – even encourage educators and parents to create new options. I offered a variety of examples. Again, no response.
Unquestionably there have been some people who exploited charter opportunities. Some of us have worked hard to oppose and challenge exploitation, fraud and abuse – in both the district and charter sectors.
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Joe,
Instead of defending charters across the board, why not share your views about how to reform the charter industry? Should non-educators be allowed to open charters? Should for-profit charters be legal? Which children should charters serve? Should charters be accountable and transparent? Is there good reason to fund a dual school system, with one sector free to choose its students, the other not?
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Diane, , I’ve
* written at various places, including an Education Week blog earlier this year about some of the shortcomings and problems as well as strengths of the charter movement
* worked with state policy-makers to help write and modify legislation to increase accountability, transparency and
* helped promote collaboration among district and charter educators which recognize both have important insights & ideas that can help students
* successfully encouraged some authorizers NOT to approve applicants from some individuals and organizations that have a bad record
* successfully encouraged Minnesota Department of Education to discontinue a couple of authorizers that were not doing a good job
* helped develop a district/charter coalition that successfully challenged the N.C.A.A. when it promoted policies that frustrated some of the nation’s most innovative district & charter educators. The coalition that I helped create included Jonathan Kozol, Herb Kohl, Deborah Meier and Jeanne Allen – classic left-right, district charter, rural urban suburban coalition.
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Full disclosure of your salary from the Center for School Change, and its extreme right-wing funders should always accompany your lengthy lies by omission diatribes Mr. Joe Nathan.
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We have a range of funders, including St. Paul and Minneapolis Public Schools, and Minnesota Department of Education.
Meanwhile, the facts remain that charters have served a variety of students from the beginning.
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Joe, you forgot to mention that Gates is one of your finders.
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Yes we did receive Gates funds 2000-2006. We worked closely with the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers and the St. Paul Federation of teachers along with other groups, to help create small district schools within schools. This effort helped produce progress in both cities, including an elimination of the high school graduation gap between white and African American students. We regularly cited terrific work of the teachers union and local teachers. Here’s an example from Education Week
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/01/09/17nathan.h27.html
We also used Gates funds to help create several small charters in St. Paul, including a Montessori Junior Senior HIgh and a downtown arts high school. This was after the district turned down the opportunity to do something like what the Boston district & Boston teachers union created via Pilot Schools – a terrific within district option.
Now – how about acknowledging that from the beginning charters were intended to serve a variety of students?
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Joe,
Al Shanker intended charters for the hardest to educate students, not for all students. He also believed they would be staffed by union teachers. He turned anti-charter in 1993, when he concluded that charters would be a vehicle of privatization. Now that charters have become the favorite cause of ALEC, the Walton Foundation, and the ultra rughtwing, 90% are nonunion. That was never the goal of either Shanker or Ray Budde, the original proponents of charters. Certainly, neither imagined for-profit charters or charter chains.
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Al Shanker was interested in scaling up the East Harlem school choice program, which already existed. That program allowed teachers to create new district schools, subject to the approval of the local district. He affixed the word “charter” to the idea of giving district teachers a chance to create new schools…as Sy Fliegel and others were doing in East Harlem.
Those East Harlem schools also served a variety of students – drawing youngsters from much more affluent parts of NYC into East Harlem. So using what you wrote, Diane, Shanker’s model (East Harlem) included schools that served a variety of students, not just students with whom traditional schools have not succeeded.
So what Shanker proposed was already happening – though people in East Harlem did not call them charters. Shanker took the word “charter” which had been proposed by Roy Budde and attached it to what was happening in NYC.
Minnesotans took the idea of new options in public education – which we already had, and suggested that these new schools could be approved by a local board or an outside entity. That became known as “chartering” and the idea spread to many other states, in various forms – but in most states in means schools that may not have admissions test, must be not sectarian, have some form of contract about what they are expected to accomplish.
As I’ve written several times here, the first two schools in the country to open under a charter law were in Minnesota. The first one approved was (and is) a Montessori elementary in Winona, Minnesota that serves a variety of students. The first one to open as a charter was a school in St. Paul that focused on kids who had not succeeded.
Whether you use the model that Shanker had, or the first charter law in Minnesota, these schools included both
a. those serving students with whom traditional schools have not succeeded, and
b. Schools serving a cross section of students
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Mr. Nathan, would you care to take up Mr. Skeels’s challenge?
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This effort is so important in California. The powerful California Charter Schools lobby is turning the basic act of going to school into a lobbying activity. Our only hope is to call them out on it and work our tails off to change the laws that allow this thievery of public resources to happen.
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Yes, Karen…and it behooves each of us to speak about all of this as often as we can get someone to listen. Last night I was at a Dem debate watching party, and took a few minutes to talk to the guests about our battle to save public schools. I was shocked that NO ONE in the room of about 35 people had even heard of Voteria…nor had many voted for BoE members in the recent election, and had no idea who Refugio Rodriguez is. But most shameful was that most did not know who Eli Broad is…so I followed up with Diane Ravitch…and got similar blank stares. I was so disconcerted i almost ended up babbling and choked on my Diet Coke…but I did give a shout out to reading Reign of Error and some actually wrote that down. These were all college educated middle aged people, and even one former legislator. Shameful…they get what they deserve, but we don’t.
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Keeping track of all the abuse and illegal activity would help also, we have to get it out that these people are fleecing the public with no accountability. When only the lower level criminals are jailed, this does not give the real crooks incentive to stop, It has to be a nationwide exposure of these crimes and the public has to demand all these crooks be brought to justice, not just the ones taking the fall.Polliticians will not help us, look at the Demo debate where public education was not even mentioned as a key problem area. This movement has to be grassroots and involve parents and students opting out, teachers exposing failed education policies and the taxpayer saying no to their money enriching the already rich and greedy.
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We Don’t Stop until CA Charter Schools aare REPEALED!! YO YO YO
Listen to the words it mentions thewar n teachers!!
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oops I forgot one more YO! YO YO YO YO!! War on teachers.listen carefully!!
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Please everyone, vote in this online poll regarding what you think of Broad’s LAUSD charterization scheme.
Very easy to do, no registration required, you do not even have to give a name or e-mail address. Takes only a second or two. Results reported in LA School Report.
VOTE NOW
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