Public education advocates were stunned to learn that State Commissioner MaryEllen Elia plans to attend a charter school rally, where 1,000 students, parents, and staff will gather to demand more funding for privately managed schools, which translates into less funding for public schools attended by the overwhelming majority of students in the state. Charter school rallies are political rallies, meant to whip up enthusiasm to increase the number of charters and the amount of funding for these schools. Even Elia’s predecessor, John King–whose teaching experience was in a “no-excuses” charter school–never attended a charter school rally.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, New York City, Politics, Privatization

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Susan Lee Schwartz says:

January 30, 2016 at 2:04 pm

In this age of charlatans and liars Ella belongs!

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Chris in Florida says:

January 30, 2016 at 2:17 pm

I am truly puzzled.

Shouldn’t the charter supporters be rallying on Wall Street instead of Albany?

Isn’t the point of private management and profit-taking to get away from those egregious government regulations of the hated socialist public schools and those welfare cheat parents and students who rely on them?

Shouldn’t those who advocate free enterprise and the miraculous cures wrought by Friedman-esque capitalistic choice and the almighty market forces shun living by the largess of government welfare?

That Elia has sold her soul is no surprise. One can’t exist, let alone get ahead, in today’s educational world without embracing and endorsing the reformist gospel and its totalitarian approaches to ‘choice’ and ‘freedom’.

The dissonance hurts my head. . . .

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- pbmeyer2014 says:
  
  January 30, 2016 at 3:05 pm
  
  Let’s see. Union leaders don’t make a profit? Unions are not private organizations exempt from public scrutiny? The teachers I see driving Mercedes are not taking advantage of the free enterprise system? Or are they taking advantage of a seniority system that was purchased without public approval? The text book companies, the bus companies, the building contractors — they are not private organizations that crawl all through the so-called public education system? The dissonance hurts my head as well….
  
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  - dianeravitch says:
    
    January 30, 2016 at 7:28 pm
    
    Peter Meyer,
    Across the US, most teachers make less in a year than the cost of a Mercedes. The people you work for at Education Next do drive Mercedes and BMWs, because the Waltons and Broad and other rightwing billionaires amply fund the fight to destroy teachers unions. If they win, teachers won’t be able to afford a Chevy or a Honda.
    
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  - pbmeyer2014 says:
    
    January 30, 2016 at 10:04 pm
    
    And most people who work for Education Next don’t drive Mercedes!
    
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- Chris in Florida says:
  
  January 30, 2016 at 3:17 pm
  
  pbmeyer2014, your lame ‘both sides do it’ claim of profiting doesn’t answer my posting at all. Unions don’t promote a philosophy of free enterprise, they promote the good of their members.
  
  If a teacher is driving a Mercedes Benz (which, by the way, can be had for the price of a high-end Honda Accord nowadays), then good for them! If they are not a hypocrite claiming that government-run schools are a failed experiment in socialism and that education should be the exclusive domain of the free market then they can sleep easily at night. Are you arguing that a highly-educated professional shouldn’t be allowed to own nice things or make enough money to buy them?
  
  Without public approval? Last I checked, the ‘seniority system’ (which, by the way, hasn’t existed for the last 2 years in FL and several other states) was agreed upon by management, which used to consist of publicly-elected representatives on school boards before the Friedman disease took hold. If that isn’t how we do democracy here in the good old US of A then someone’s been lying to billions of people for over 200 years.
  
  You may think that I’m part of the idiocracy that watched Fox ‘News’ or that I will be persuaded by talking points that mean little more than the excrement excreted by male bovines but I’m a teacher.
  
  You’ll have to do better than flawed and faulty logic that makes no point whatsoever but “I know you are but what am I?”
  
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  - pbmeyer2014 says:
    
    January 30, 2016 at 3:28 pm
    
    Love to debate this with you, Chris in Florida, but not if you insist on using language that should be embarassing to someone who calls him/herself a teacher. We used to call this, “potty mouth.”
    
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- MathVale says:
  
  January 30, 2016 at 3:48 pm
  
  I drive an American made Honda with 100k+ miles. I do my own repairs. Where can I get in on those Mercedes? Maybe Benzes for Teachers?
  
  The “free enterprise” system has fallen into corruption and is rigged. Witness the rise of Trump and Sanders, both of whom tap into voter anger but with different solutions. Unions have been on the decline for years. Teachers haven’t had a say in their classrooms for decades. But, Republicans control most state governments, Congress, SCOTUS, mass media, business, and finance. If we need to find accountability for America’s decline, it seems like there is a good place to start.
  
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- Threatened out West says:
  
  January 30, 2016 at 4:40 pm
  
  I’d LOVE to see a teacher driving a Mercedes. I teach in Utah, and I’m the primary wage earner in my family. At the moment, two of my family’s three cars cannot be driven because they both need expensive repairs that my family cannot afford. All of the cars have over 100,000 miles on them.
  
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- Dienne says:
  
  January 30, 2016 at 7:01 pm
  
  “Teachers driving Mercedes”
  
  Ah, yes, the 2015 version of “welfare queens driving Cadillacs”. Both mythical creatures only sighted by gullible humans.
  
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  - pbmeyer2014 says:
    
    January 30, 2016 at 9:47 pm
    
    I love it: never let the facts get in the way of your opinions. A teacher driving a Mercedes can mean many things, but my point in mentioning it was that the teaching profession is not some kind of modern-day Benedictine monastery. By the same token, the fact that some charter school supporters have money has very little to do with the finances of the charter school their employees. Apples to apples. Union bigwigs, like charter school bigwigs, make good money; regular traditional public school teachers, like charter school teachers, make modest salaries. The banks that finance traditional public schools are as ample as those financing charters–more so.
    
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- Dienne says:
  
  January 30, 2016 at 7:02 pm
  
  Er, 2016, that is.
  
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- Therlo says:
  
  January 30, 2016 at 7:06 pm
  
  Spare me, pbmeyer – you think teachers should eat cat food and ride bicycles? Do you know how many people lease nice cars and live like paupers? Don’t come here pointing fingers at people either. What gives you the right?
  
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  - pbmeyer2014 says:
    
    January 30, 2016 at 10:02 pm
    
    Therlo, what did I say that gives you the impression I think teachers should eat cat food? Please use quote marks if you could.
    
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- SomeDAM Poet says:
  
  January 31, 2016 at 9:27 am
  
  “The teachers I see driving Mercedes…”
  
  Was that a reference to Mercedes Schneider?
  
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- Therlo says:
  
  January 31, 2016 at 9:58 am
  
  meyer person – your disdain for teachers is showing. Why would I use quotes to sum you up?
  
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- Linda says:
  
  January 31, 2016 at 1:57 pm
  
  Meyer and his associates must have mirror-less offices and homes.
  
  Today’s, front page, Dayton Daily News article, “School systems seek millions in lost revenue”, has done the best job, to date (by Ohio msm), in explaining, deductively, why Ohioans are fleeced by charter schools.
  
  The DDN, drops the bombshell. The $5,900 per student, paid to charter schools, is deducted from the local schools’ budgets. Only a small fraction of the amount is compensated by the state. For taxpayers, it’s a treadmill where they keep losing ground. Property owners, trying to keep their home and business values up, keep voting for tax levies, thinking the school district will get the money. While the billionaires, their politicians and their front groups, push for the proliferation of privatized education, they have every reason to know that the school districts’ money, is leaving the local community, destined for (1) on-line school chains, headquartered outside of Ohio (and, with no assets in Ohio) (2) for politically-influential schemers in major cities, and (3) for foreign nationals.
  One local school district, over 14 years, has filed a claim for a $25 million dollar loss.
  
  Fordham, quoted as usual, without their funding sources listed, provided the best opportunity for mirthless laughter. “(Charter) schools
  certainly aren’t satisfied with their current funding.” No doubt, when charter school debt returns 10-18% to Wall Street, hedge funds aren’t happy. And, they won’t be satisfied until 100% of the community’s money has left, for the enrichment of the richest 0.2%.
  
  However, the DDN article doesn’t state the worst travesty of charter schools. Opportunities for fraud and self-dealing have corrupted our representatives in the capitol city.
  
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- Michael Fiorillo says:
  
  February 1, 2016 at 6:52 am
  
  So, I guess we’re now back to the equivalent of Ronald Reagan’s “Welfare Queens,” except that now it’s teachers that are driving Mercedes, instead of AFDC recipients driving Cadillacs.
  
  Some people are unable to think and reason, some people refuse to. Pbmeyer2014 appears to be among the latter.
  
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  - dianeravitch says:
    
    February 1, 2016 at 11:13 am
    
    Michael Fiorillo,
    
    Come on, now. Go into any school parking lot and all you will (never) see are Mercedes, BMWs, Cadillacs, and Porsches.
    
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- Linda says:
  
  February 1, 2016 at 9:52 am
  
  Yep, Mike.
  Men like Meyer never tire of the hackneyed.
  
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Steven Cohen says:

January 30, 2016 at 2:24 pm

Is this one from the Onion?

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pbmeyer2014 says:

January 30, 2016 at 2:27 pm

My goodness. I think Arne Duncan went to lots of AFT conclaves. All the rhetoric about charters being private doesn’t change the fact that they are public schools; seems like a constituency the Commissioner should want to get to know.

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- dianeravitch says:
  
  January 30, 2016 at 2:50 pm
  
  State commissioners don’t usually go to political rallies
  Duncan went to AFT convention to tell teachers what a bad job they were doing
  
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  - pbmeyer2014 says:
    
    January 30, 2016 at 2:58 pm
    
    Every gathering in (public) education is a political rally of some sort. But it certainly isn’t a criticism to say they don’t usually go to “rallies.” Part of what undid John King was that he went to too many of them — and didn’t do well. But I give him credit for trying. Going to these events is certainly a lot better than hanging out with legislators in Albany.
    
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- Joe says:
  
  January 30, 2016 at 5:36 pm
  
  Charter schools claim to be public but they are privately run and are not accountable to the duly elected district school boards. Charter schools are like separate school districts unto themselves with their own boards of directors and “superintendents” or CEOs. When it suits their purposes (in several court cases), charter schools claim to be private entities not subject to the same rules and scrutiny as the real public schools.
  As to teachers driving Mercedes Benzes: perhaps the teacher in question is married to a wealthy spouse or have you done a scientific study of teachers and luxury cars? Or are you just bloviating?
  
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  - pbmeyer2014 says:
    
    January 30, 2016 at 5:48 pm
    
    Joe, your comment that charters are “not accountable to the duly elected district school boards,” seems to presume that traditional public schools are accountable to those boards and the citizens who elected them.. Having spent five years on a local school board, I can guarantee you that these districts are not accountable to the people. In fact, our voters once rejected a proposed school budget by a 3 to 1 margin and, because of union-inspired (and much lobbied for) state legislation, the citizens’ vote was overturned. The notion that traditional school districts are somehow “accountable” to the public and charters are not so accountable is a pleasant fiction.
    
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- KrazyTA says:
  
  January 31, 2016 at 3:38 am
  
  “Man is the only kind of varmint sets his own trap, baits it, then steps in it.” [John Steinbeck]
  
  A self-acknowledged member of the traditional AND rheephorm education establishment admitting that charters thrive, and are based on, worst public school practices is refreshingly honest.
  
  Not good, but honest.
  
  😎
  
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- Linda says:
  
  January 31, 2016 at 2:22 pm
  
  As expected, Meyer pulls out the tired, ineffective, union bogeyman PR, because “reform” arguments, for charter schools fail.
  And TA’s Steinbeck quote is indeed appropriate.
  
  It’s not “fiction” that billionaires pay venture philanthropy salaries and overhead, while living in wealthy enclaves, far removed from life, in the communities that they plot to destroy. Millions of hard working people, who live in communities, belong to worker collectives where they live, pay taxes, vote and send their children to public schools, are fighting billionaires, in order to preserve their communities and retain some of the rewards for their productivity gains.
  
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rockhound2 says:

January 30, 2016 at 2:38 pm

Why would anyone be surprised?

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- NYSTEACHER says:
  
  January 30, 2016 at 3:03 pm
  
  Exactly! People are shocked and stunned and even confused by this!!???
  
  Sometimes I really don’t think out side truly gets it. OF COURSE ELIA WOULD ATTEND/SUPPORT A CHARTER RALLY or whatever!!!!
  
  It’s like we talk all the time about how our political representatives are enabling and furthering the privatizing agenda, but we are then shocked when actual things happen that are proof of it! Come on!
  
  The shock and confusion and even being off-put thing has to end. We need to accept the reality we face so we can adequately wage war against it. Being chronically shocked is not a place to fight from. We really need to be in a place where we expect and anticipate this kind of shit. Then maybe one day we can get in front of it.
  
  Poor opt-out has to carry ALOT more water than it should when huge swaths of our side are at worst totally uninformed, and at best shocked and confused when predictable things happen.
  
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- Montana teacher says:
  
  January 30, 2016 at 10:33 pm
  
  I am surprised. I live in Montana, a state that does not allow charters. I am interested in what is happening in other states, since we need to be prepared to fend things off here. But allow us to be shocked, if that is our experience. Here, our governor and state superintendent of public schools, as well as our strong MEA-MFT Union, actively fight off charter efforts.
  
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  - dianeravitch says:
    
    January 31, 2016 at 10:16 am
    
    Good for Montana!
    
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Benten says:

January 30, 2016 at 3:00 pm

This is unbelievably corrupt. I’m wondering why it’s taking me several months to get an additional 3 credit certification to B – 2. It seems they are stalling all applications that would benefit New York City’s U Pre-K program.

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- NYSTEACHER says:
  
  January 30, 2016 at 3:12 pm
  
  Well. I’d say its very believably corrupt.
  Understand that while we see the obvious and clear corruption here, that will NEVER be brought up publicly and will NEVER be the vector by which the privatizing agenda is halted (if, by some chance, it ever is). This stuff will never be ended via corruption charges.
  
  When vast chunks of a population either accept or are unaware of said corruption, it’s simply business and politics. In order for it to become corruption (as an accusation), the broad public has to say its so. With this stuff, I promise you, that will never happen.
  
  40 years ago, basically our entire political culture would be defined as prosecutably corrupt. Now, via
  Supreme Court decree, it’s simply politics and how things are done. Corruption it turns out, isn’t a static thing.
  
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Memphis Louie says:

January 30, 2016 at 8:45 pm

As soon as we have two more new Regents appointed Elia will be gone. Following in the sorry tradition of the three Commisioners to serve under Merryl Tusch. Steiner took expensive travel from Pearson before signing a $32M contract with them for exams which featured stories about pineapples and hares racing. King John was laughed out of Albany. Now we have a reject from Florida who is willing to politicize on behalf of Cheater schools that are famous for their “got to go” lists. Media is highly complicit in all this…

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- NYSTEACHER says:
  
  January 30, 2016 at 9:22 pm
  
  You are confident that somehow the new Regents won’t be reformy??
  
  In NY state, home of the “heavy hearts” club of legislators, trust nothing and anticipate things getting worse than you thought they could at the last second.
  
  Mentally prepare for 3 new Regents who love charters, hate public schools, hate public school teachers, and are completely sold on all reform ideas. On the outside chance that doesn’t happen, you’ll have a reason to have a little extra joy for about a week….and then it will be clear that you only thought they were cool but are, in fact, reformy.
  
  Oh, also expect NYSUT and the UFT to claim victory regardless.
  
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- pbmeyer2014 says:
  
  January 30, 2016 at 10:09 pm
  
  So will the real public education system please stand up! All these terrible things you mention, Memphis Louie, happened under the rules and regulations established by the legislatures that many on this blog say they want more of: public education. I’m sorry, I wish I understood how the public school system can be so bad and yet so hankered after.
  
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- JohnOgozalek says:
  
  January 31, 2016 at 7:37 am
  
  pbmyer2014 (or Peter Meyer from Education Next, as Diane described above.)
  
  Are you, in fact, said “Peter Meyer”, who has “…touched down in cities around the globe from Bennington to Baghdad…” as your biography reads on a number of websites. Wow.
  
  I went to look at the Education Next site just now and checked out the section titled “blog”. Maybe It’s just me and I’m missing something at Education Next, Peter Meyer, but I didn’t see much going on there in terms of dialogue with, well, anyone. Is that why you were “touching down” so much yesterday on Diane’s blog, “a site to discuss better education for all”?
  
  BTW Re. Memphis Louie’s comment above…If you read this blog carefully, Peter Meyer, you will see that’s exactly the game plan of the so called “reformers”….. to disturb and disrupt and decimate the public sphere from top to bottom. Then they can then turn around and say, “Aha, we told you so..” Create chaos then blame it on someone else.
  
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  - dianeravitch says:
    
    January 31, 2016 at 10:19 am
    
    John,
    If you scan the articles at a Education Next, you will see the editors don’t like public schools and despise unions. The EN crowd leads the privatization pack. I know. I used to be on the editorial board back in the day.
    
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  - pbmeyer2014 says:
    
    January 31, 2016 at 11:36 am
    
    Dear JohnOgozalek, yes that’s me (though I was not in Baghdad for an education story). The nice thing about the writing/publishing business is that it is there for all to see. But after doing this for 40+ years the one thing I know is that even then people disagree about the meaning of what is written or chose to ignore what is written. all the best, peter m.
    
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Mary says:

January 30, 2016 at 9:50 pm

Last year even Cuomo didn’t attend the FES/Success Charter School Extravaganza because it had become so controversial. He sent the seemingly clueless Kathy Hochul in his stead. Now this year, when NYSED is supposedly trying to turn the tide on the growing opt-out movement and with all the talk of trying to win support from parents and teachers, our new NYSED Commissioner accepts the invitation? This is a slap in the face to all public school parents, teachers, students and advocates in New York.

I would expect NYSUT, you know — those people who don’t mind collecting members’ dues and who are crying over the prospect of unions weakened by Friedrichs, to speak out. Instead, we get a mealy-mouthed response from NYSUT Press Officer, Carl Korn saying, “Elia should use rally to reject ‘Got To Go” lists; require charters to serve all kids equally”

@nysut Elia should use rally to reject 'Got to Go" lists; require charters to serve all kids equally https://t.co/EwlYd8xWSg

— Carl Korn (@CarlDKorn) January 30, 2016

Really, Carl? Really? That’s it? We’re ok with the NYSED Commissioner promoting hedge-fund backed charter schools as long as she throws us a crumb and talks about the “got to go” list and tells Eva to take more of our students? If we care about our special ed. and ESL kids why would we want them to be subjected to the hostile environment that Success Academies create for students who might bring down their almighty test scores?

My 10 year old beginner level ELLs (EN/EM) are already crying because they’re going to be have to take ELA and Math tests which they’re certain they’re going to fail. I try to calm them by saying, “You’ve only been learning English for a year. You’re doing great! The people who are forcing you to take these inappropriate tests are the failures, not you.” I tell them how I’ve spoken to NY senators & assembly members as well as a U.S. senator to try to get them to stop torturing them with tests that are so beyond their current level. I tell them about my conversation last year with NY Senator John Flanagan where I asked him, “If you moved to another country where they didn’t speak English, do you think that after one year of studying a new language you’d be able to pass a difficult common-core aligned test?” It doesn’t change the fact that they still have to take the tests, but my students smile, knowing that I’m at least trying to protect them from this insanity.

Our union leaders could really use some lessons from Badass Teachers Association on how to really stand up for our public schools and our students. NYSUT’s timidity is embarrassing.

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- NYSTEACHER says:
  
  January 30, 2016 at 11:09 pm
  
  Does anybody think NYSUT leadership hears any criticism?
  
  Legit question.
  
  I really don’t know if they do. Will Korn hear any shit for that statement?
  
  I think they are so removed that they really don’t hear a thing.
  
  Thoughts?
  
  I just want them to at least know that members are really hating on them.
  
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- RageAgainstTheTestocracy says:
  
  January 31, 2016 at 6:53 am
  
  I know they are deeply worried about Friedrichs. Ignoring the rank and file may come back to bite them if the plaintiffs win. Their sense of concern must be rooted in some sort of self awareness. Under the current political climate, what teacher would want to abandon NYSUT if they were acting to preserve and protect instead of selling us out.
  
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Chiara says:

January 31, 2016 at 7:11 am

She’s an agnostic!

Just ignore the fact that she promotes one set of schools- the whole charter category- and not the other set of schools- the whole public category.

That’s what “agnostic” means, in the new “non traditionalist” dictionary.

You-all should stop clinging to the meanings of words and adopt a more flexible approach. Words mean what they say they mean! They’re fluid, and innovative.

Just like “public” has been redefined to mean “publicly funded”, “agnostic” has been redefined to mean “promotes all charter schools, everywhere, but not all public schools”.

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- SomeDAM Poet says:
  
  January 31, 2016 at 9:40 am
  
  More like a “gagnostic”.
  
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jdhollowell says:

January 31, 2016 at 8:47 pm

Charter schools are public schools which can be formed by public school teachers, administrators, parent groups, taxpayers, colleges, etc. They are funded by public dollars. Not sure why anyone thinks it is inappropriate for a state commissioner to attend.

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- dianeravitch says:
  
  January 31, 2016 at 9:30 pm
  
  Charter schools are not public schools. They are privately managed. They are not subject to the same laws and accountability as public schools. Boeing receives public funding, but it is private. Private universities get public funding and remain private.
  
  Whenever charters are sued, they claim in court that they are not state actors, but private contractors.
  
  I am persuaded.
  
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Linda says:

January 31, 2016 at 11:34 pm

Expect more brazen behavior and more frequent and vitriolic responses from the “reformers’. Once the billionaires’ ugly, destructive lies, were exposed, there was no turning back. Until recently, the self-important and self-serving could have their hands in the plutocratic cookie jars, and maintain their reputations, masking their betrayal of democracy and the American people. The richest 0.2% relied on them to sell the exploitive education products and, on the lassitude of an over-worked people to take it, whimpering. The time for denying that the pockets of the richest 0.2%, are being lined,at the expense of children, is done. We’ll find that the reformers’ puppets, who remain to defend the privatization of public education, will be the most manipulative and aggressive, lacking any conscience.

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