Wake up, people of North Carolina! The legislators in your state are pummeling your public schools with a sledge hammer. They are turning them over to for-profit corporations! Do you want your local public school to be run by a national corporation? Do you care who “owns” your neighborhood school?
Stuart Egan, a high school teacher in North Carolina, has been writing recently about the step-by-step privatization of public schools in North Carolina.
In this post, he describes the General Assembly’s decision to create an “Achievement School District,” modeled on the one that failed in Tennessee. The basic idea is to gather up the lowest-performing schools in the state (attended by the poorest students) and turn them over to a charter operator.
He cites the comment made by Rep. Cecil Brockman, who favors outsourcing these schools to out-of-state corporations:
Perhaps the most frustrating moment of the final debate came when Rep. Brockman impulsively quipped,
“If (teachers) don’t like it, good. This is about the kids. Who cares about the teachers? We should care about the kids. If they don’t like it, maybe it’s a good thing.”
Do Republican legislators in North Carolina really have that much contempt for teachers? Apparently so. North Carolina raised entry level salaries to $35,000 but capped salaries at $50,000. Legislators work hard to remove any job protection or recognition for teachers. They even abolished the successful North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program–a five-year program at the University of North Carolina intended to prepare career teachers–and transferred the funding to Teach for America.
This is the same legislature that rolled out a budget proposal to spend $1 Billion on vouchers over the next decade. Most of the students who get vouchers will go to religious schools with uncertified teachers and no curriculum. How is this supposed to improve education?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
More than contempt for teachers, I think it’s contempt for the strong hold that progressives had on NC for so many years fueled on by the right wing mindsets we continue to see across the country.
BTW, thank you for blogging about DARK MONEY a while back. Good read for anyone, especially in NC.
Are you shocked . From the start the school reform movement has been a rejection of the civil rights movement of integration. The Republican Southern Strategy was birthed in Southern Religious Academies that sprang up to avoid sending your kids to school with Blacks.
I may be wrong but I attribute the rise of the Christian right to the same. If little Johnny wanted to attend our school he better bring mom and dad to services on Sunday.
That the Obama White House participates in this by attacking teachers pushing charters and privatization schemes is the ultimate travesty.
why do you capitalize Southern Religious Academies as if it’s an organized entity?
Actually, Protestants in the south pushed for strong public schools as anti-Catholic energy. And many dedicated church folk (even Jim Hunt) believed in the promise of public schools.
Joel Herman, I think your brush is way too broad. I’m a conservative Christian, I live in the South, but I am deeply committed to public schools. My father was an elementary school principal (public school) and we attended public schools. I spend countless hours volunteering at multiple public schools in my district, and I am a very active advocate for public schools at the local and state political levels. I am far from alone in my actions and beliefs. On the other hand, I can show you plenty of liberals around me who have drunk the “school choice” Kool-aid and are staunch advocates of charter schools. The whole education debate does not fall neatly into preconceived “labels.”
I don’t think so. The ‘religious right’ (Christian fundamentalists) have been around forever & hardly just in the South. A segment of them, in the South, have long & actively sought public funding for separate white schools. They are just a piece of the populace (once Democrats, now Republicans) swept onto the political bandwagon for ‘school choice’.
The move of mfg, first to cheaper states south & southwest, then abroad, created hollowed-out urban hubs of extreme poverty, which added another huge sector to be swept in: poor urbanites demanding better ed by any means. Now inflated by gentrifiers looking for free ed separate from their poor neighbors. As the middle class pie shrinks drastically across the nation, those losing ground squabble over the crumbs (more calls for school choice).
A huge and growing market just waiting for deregulation to be exploited. The ed-reform ship could not have caught wind and sailed without the cynical gov/corp movement to bust unions & open public coffers to the private sector via NCLB & its sequels plus unregulated charters & now vouchers. I expect
Joel, your assumption is clearly supported by the facts. Here are links to just some of the proof:
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/religious-right-real-origins-107133
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2013/10/18/13397/601
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2014/05/29/the_religious_right_formed_around_support_for_segregation_not_against_abortion.html
http://www.pubtheo.com/page.asp?pid=1881
http://www.worldfuturefund.org/Reports/RR/religiousright.html
“What caused the movement to surface,” Weyrich reiterated,”was the federal government’s moves against Christian schools.” The IRS threat against segregated schools, he said, “enraged the Christian community.” That, not abortion, according to Weyrich, was what galvanized politically conservative evangelicals into the Religious Right and goaded them into action. “It was not the other things,” he said .
Ed Dobson, Falwell’s erstwhile associate, corroborated Weyrich’s account during the ensuing discussion. “The Religious New Right did not start because of a concern about abortion,” Dobson said. “I sat in the non-smoke-filled back room with the Moral Majority, and I frankly do not remember abortion ever being mentioned as a reason why we ought to do something” .
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5502785
It is painful when one becomes aware of one’s privilege and sees for the first time how it oppresses others without one’s personal knowledge.
That doesn’t alter the truth of history, however, or the facts as they stand. The racism of the South is alive and well and it has deep roots in the Religious Right and maintaining segregation, like it or not.
One at a time . I was not picking on Protestants nor religion. I was pointing to what I see as the roots of the “Religious right” as it has come to be known . Nixon (Kevin Philips) called it the Southern Strategy .
Carol those Liberals I would argue are not Liberals certainly not in the traditional sense of the word. As argued by Thomas Frank in “Listen Liberal”
This politico piece expresses what I was getting at some what better .
Pay particular attention to this line.
771 to 28; the following year, that number fell to zero.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/religious-right-real-origins-107133
As for you Bethree5 except for line one . I could not agree with you more .The goal of the right has always been Union busting from The Taft Hartley era on . The professional class that gentrifies American cities is also a problem.
When I say religious right I am referring to a political movement Christian Fundamentalists ,Orthodox Jews, Devout Catholics …. have been around for ever the association with a particular party and litmus tests may not have been .
Growing up 50s and 60s in a an Irish ,Italian,Jewish neighborhood in Queens NY. It amazed me that almost all of my Christian friends did not go to the Public School on the corner one that was constantly rated as one of the best in the City. Mostly those with discipline problems wound up in Public School after 8th grade. Years latter the dynamic had changed slightly .Christians and Jews no-longer seemed to segregate on Long Island where I moved to. The Diocese had problems even keeping schools open.
But when I returned to the old neighborhood to visit the kids were still not going to public schools they had even changed the Parish they were attending . I’ll let you guess why? They too want vouchers. No we are no wheres near a post racial society. Today we have Orthodox Jews taking over school districts in NY .to starve them of tax dollars so as to send their kids to Yeshiva The new religious right, they also want vouchers. They align themselves with of all people Ted Cruz ignoring the Anti-Semites he associates with .
Perhaps if we are to advance in this nation education shouldn’t be compulsory, Public Education should be compulsory.
Chris from Florida . I should have refreshed the post before I responded .
Thanks for the defense but there are plenty of Religious people who are good people including the people who responded to my post . It is a point we have have to make . There is the couple we are friends with who send their Teen daughter down to Honduras to help out during summer vacations … … certainly not right wing . My comment as you so well document was to the roots of the movement.
I am a devout Roman Catholic. I taught in NYC, NJ, and, now, Florida. I was not defending you so much as challenging those who deny a connection between racism and the political movement known as the Religious Right formerly and currently as the Tea Party.
I was providing facts that help people understand what we are experiencing and why. Privilege cannot be undone without recognizing it and working against it and I include myself in that. My partner is a disabled African American and we deal with this daily here in the Deep South.
It is no accident that the KKK, David Duke, and the rest of the extremists feel comfortable with Trump and his policies. They hear and understand the dogwhistles. They also support and end to oublic education as do the John Birchers and many others. To not acknowledge that would be foolish in the extreme.
Talking in generalizations does paint with a broad and sometimes unfair brush but I know of no better way to discuss these issues with a wide audience. Silencing the discussion because of outliers and exceptions serves them, not us.
Joel, your words: Perhaps if we are to advance in this nation education shouldn’t be compulsory, Public Education should be compulsory.
That is the reason countries we look to who are succeeding with public school are succeeding. They don’t have private schools changing the value. Michele Rhee was very right about that point.
Googling around: child poverty in NC is 25.2%, significantly higher than natl average. ‘Poverty’ per fed definition is family income $24k, but “research suggests that, on average, families need an income of about twice the federal poverty threshold to meet their basic needs.” [Natl Center for Children in Poverty]– another 26% of NC children live in the 100-200% poverty zone. Only 51% NC children live above the poor/ low-income zone (compare to NYS 58%, NJ 69%, PA 61%– CA 54%, TX 51%, NM 45%, MI 43%).
“If (teachers) don’t like it, good. This is about the kids. Who cares about the teachers? We should care about the kids. If they don’t like it, maybe it’s a good thing.”
About the kids?!!!! This is about everyone! How can the kids get the best when you aren’t giving the best to the folks with them eight hours a day? “It takes a village to raise a child”. Maybe it’s a good thing that teachers don’t like it? Last time I checked, teachers were a vital part of this village. This is equivalent to saying, “if the parents don’t like it, maybe it’s a good thing”. Really?
I like the old union talking point stating that “My working conditions are your child’s learning conditions. We are together throughout the school day. If I suffer, so do YOUR children. Remember that when you allow crumbling buildings with third world faciltities and utilities and outdated or nonexistent resources and supplies because those ‘greedy’ union thug teachers ask for more and better things out of YOUR tax dollars. Your children benefit right along with me.”
Chris I a agree with 99.9 percent of what you say . And yes Trump is a demagogue playing on racial fears as are many of his supporters out right racists. . Myself coming out of the Union that help organize the UFT in the in 1960s as an active newly retired member . The Union movement has to take some blame for Trump. Our failure to show courage in facing up to Neo-liberal Democrats what used to be known as Republicans,has left a working class looking to demagogues to solve the problem of declining living standards.
The Union movement has failed to reach out to its members and educate and mobilize. Among the worst offenders the UFT . We in labor at least here in NY will only wake up to the threat when it hits home . As the saying goes “it’s a recession when your unemployed a depression when I am unemployed “
A lively thread.
One small point that can be overlooked: many teachers ARE parents.
Trying to pit teachers against parents and students is just another example of how the rheephorm-minded use the sneer, jeer and smear to hurt everyone.
Thank y’all of your comments.
😎
What a shame! That politician wrote an article about teachers leaving NC a while back, does he realize he is one of the reasons?
http://m.greensboro.com/opinion/columns/we-need-to-make-north-carolina-desirable-for-teachers/article_48511404-6b66-11e4-9a26-1780677d93f1.html?mode=jqm
Reblogged this on caffeinated rage and commented:
Thanks to Dr. Ravitch for keeping North Carolina in the light for others to see.
Teaching & Learning is about everyone! It’s a shame that this is not recognized by many. Those people must not even care about their own children or grandchildren! Continuing to remove funding from public education & putting it in the pockets of others will be the downfall of America. Can we go back to the history of the role of the Federal Government in public education and promote people who truly care about the welfare of children to ensure that all children in America are equally educated?
It should be noted that Cecil Brockman is a Democrat. He also tried to get out of a traffic ticket by using his status as a state representative. It’s time for the voters of his district to elect someone else.
http://wncn.com/2015/12/22/hundreds-of-comments-deleted-from-nc-lawmakers-facebook-page-after-controversial-traffic-stop/
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article81459482.html
It’s time to connect the dots… to private equity. An article in today’s NYT explains how private equity firms are hurting fire departments, ambulance companies, 911 centers, etc., which cities used to finance and manage but are now outsourcing:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/26/business/dealbook/when-you-dial-911-and-wall-street-answers.html
The article provides a great analogy to what’s happening with public schools: they’re being replaced by charters whose funding comes from the same private equity firms. The only difference is that the charters hide under a guise of parental choice or “no excuses” and pretend to do better for kids. But ultimately, for the the investors, it’s about the money, not the kids.
The NYT article contains the following paragraph, to which readers of this blog might shout foul:
“While private equity firms have always invested in a diverse array of companies, including hospitals and nursing homes, their movement into emergency services raises broader questions about the administering of public services. Cities and towns are constitutionally required to offer citizens a free education, and they generally provide a police force, but almost everything else is fair game for privatization.”
Notice how the authors use the term “free education”? A big mistake. Free to the consumer is only part of what states’ constitutions mandate. Substitute the word “free” with “public” and other vital components emerge: quality, equity and local control. If citizens’ voices are not being heard through local school boards, and if there’s no oversight of hiring, spending, quality of services, etc., then it’s not public!
Charter networks seize on the words “free” and “choice” as if education were to be doled out, like a “free lunch”. They emphasize (in an Orwellian manner) the free part of what they’re doing with names like XYZ Public Charter. No matter that the schools aren’t really free—they’re taxpayer funded! In actuality, for charter schools, the word free means “free of local control”, or not being accountable to anyone but their financiers. Like fire departments, ambulance companies, and 911 centers, they’re a public service that’s being privately run. And the “non profit” veneer should fool no one. The private equity firms that are backing charter schools are in it for their own good, for the acquisition of public property, for the winning of no-bid contracts, for the self-dealing that is possible when there’s no taxpayer or citizen oversight.
The NYT article includes this quote about the danger of outsourcing:
“Private equity has, in this case, threatened public safety,” said Richard Thomas, the mayor of Mount Vernon, N.Y, which relied on TransCare. “It’s not the way to treat the public.”
The article also includes this quote, which could just as easily be applied to schools:
“We’re reaching new lows in the public safety services we will help provide, especially in very poor cities,” said Michelle Wilde Anderson, a law professor at Stanford University who specializes in state and local government. Private equity firms, she said, “are not philanthropists.”
The ed reform philanthropists are not philanthropists either
Yes, this. Thank you! We need everyone to awaken to this reality, to understand that there will be need for a new revolution to wrest the power and money from the greedy few and that this is a long thought-out, carefully prepared battle being fought on many fronts simultaneously.
Public schools were a necessary battlefront from the beginning to silence those who would speak up and disempower those whe can inspire and enlighten others to do the same.
We must gird ourselves for a long fight!
Add to the destructive forces, the Gates Foundation that sent money to the Chamber of Commerce, the Hunt Institute, the state officials in charge of education.
Add the misadventures in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools, funded by Gates and
the failed experiments in pay-for-performance in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools, experiments managed by the Boston-based Community Training and Assistance Center, famous for marketing SLOs. In addition to some longstanding problems in the state, the public school system has been made a disaster with a lot of help from the monied and profit-seeking people from outside the state.
We are awake! Have you seen the protests over the last 3 years? Our districts are gerrymandered and our legislators are punishing areas of the state with more education focused voters by changing the way local officials are elected. My family has over 150 years of service to NC Public Schools and I am devasted over these ill-conceived and mean-spirited tactics. By the way, Rep. Brockman is a Democrat. I think that he believes the Achievement District will help African American students. I do not agree. The vouchers sure haven’t.
To answer Dr. Ravitch’s question — YES! These jackals DO have utter and complete contempt for teachers. Yes, the DEforming of education in NC is about privatization — charter profits for their high-dollar donors, vouchers to bleed traditional schools dry while re-segregating them, etc. This article and these comments are all spot-on. But the bottom line is — it IS personal to this majority in power. Former Speaker Tillis made that abundantly clear when he accidentally said on a hot mic, “Let’s give them a taste of what’s about to come.” Other states have pulled the same privatization stunts, but how many have gone after the teachers so viciously and personally? It started with attempting to end payroll deduction for NCAE dues, while other state employees could continue payroll deduction. Why?? Because NCAE generally officially endorses Democratic candidates (for obvious reasons). It seems there was a particularly heated race that jump started this, but I’d have to look back on it. What we had here was nothing more than mean-spirited, old fashioned pay back. And it has been retribution time ever since. Could they increase the number of charter schools without having proposed that hateful, ignorant “25% of you can have raises IF you give up career status” scheme? Could they increase voucher funding without taking longevity from veteran teachers? Absolutely. Could they give a “7% average raise” without giving a 16% raise to some and a .29% raise to others? Of course! It’s all payback. They failed to strip career status from experienced teachers, thanks to the courts. So it’s payback time…they’ll teach us veterans to keep our mouths shut! No raises! What? Still marching and protesting and campaigning for Democrats? We’ll pass a law that limits teachers’ involvement in political campaigns. WHAT?? Still protesting and yapping?? We’ll pass a law that requires you to have criminal background checks and be fingerprinted and you can be denied employment for any assortment of crimes…including remaining at a protest of 3 or more people after orders to disperse are given!! So many other examples, but you all know what’s transpired in NC. Clearly, the more we protest, the more court cases ruled in our favor, the more we are punished. And their public disdain is so blatant, they now just blurt it out while in session for all to hear.
So yes, while these “public servants” are driven by greed, cronyism, power, racism, Koch-ism, charter groups, voucher groups, TFA, etc., the bottom line is they COULD accomplish these things without the personal and financial attacks on teachers and the teaching profession. This takes loathing, bitterness and yes — outright contempt. When even Democrats who were put in power — to no small degree by teachers, I’m sure, state ‘Who cares what teachers think?’, there is no doubt. (I apologize for the size of this post! I’m afraid it just spewed right out!!).
My son, probably one of the best teachers in NC grade schools is leaving the classroom. Mostly it is a pay issue, but also lack of support among many of the parents. When teachers graduate from the U there, many leave the state because they can be licensed in 5 states. GOP lawmakers are the problem, but the people aren’t demanding better.