In Washington state, supporters of public schools–Like the League of Women Voters–have filed a lawsuit to stop the legislature from funding charter schools, which the state’s highest court declared are NOT public schools, because their boards are not elected.
Somehow, across the state, major newspapers posted editorials opposing any effort to block charters, some using the exact same language. Do you find that odd? Parent activist Melissa Westbrook does. Read her account here.
She writes:
“There are many who are unhappy about the new lawsuit against the new charter school law. This includes several editorial boards across the state with some exceptions. What’s quite telling about their arguments are three things.
“Their arguments seem to be on the notion that this is a frivolous lawsuit and we should just leave the charter schools to do their thing.
“Another issue I found is that some of these editorials so closely mirror each other (down the the use of the word “distraction” in two headlines) that you would think someone faxed out talking points. The Times uses the word four times.
“Still another issue is that some of them are saying it’s the teachers union and “a coalition of groups.” Why wouldn’t they acknowledge who is in that group which includes parents and solid citizen, non-union groups like League of Women Voters and El Centro de la Raza? Why? Because they know it would not serve their viewpoint to be honest on who stood up to put their names on the lawsuit.
“It’s also of interest that some editorials leave out that there appear to be a couple of constitutional issues and instead, tell their readers it’s about “thwarting the will of the voters.” The Times goes so far as to say it’s an “intimidation tactic.”
“It’s a sad day when trying to stand up for the constitution is considered a bad thing. Maybe the people who wrote these laws should have thought of the constitution as they did their work (see Article 3, Section 22.) That names the role of the state superintendent and “public schools.” If the state superintendent is to oversee all public schools, does that mean he/she gets to oversee them in the same manner or do charters get a different oversight? And who decides? That role is not written into this law.”
Just to be clear: Fighting to privatize public schools is a good thing. Fighting to stop privatization is not. Why “distract” from what Bill Gates wants? He paid for the referendum.
Advertising dollars? Groupthink?
Because they’re all absolutely ga-ga over charter schools. It’s a lovefest From President Obama to Donald Trump to Congress.
It’s like a mantra. All discussion of US public schools must immediately be completely co-opted by charter promotion.
They just finished up another solid week of charter school promotion at a special taxpayer funded promotion event in Ohio. That caps off a year where they expanded charter schools and reformed charter schools. Still nothing for public schools, sadly.
We have thousands of state employees in Columbus working on charter marketing. I”m thinking about hiring an advocate for “the 93%” who attend the public schools in this state. The huge crew I’m paying down there can’t be bothered with the unfashionable public sector schools. I figure 93% of students deserve at least one adult advocate.
The area directly north of Oregon is not a state. It is a colony of Silicon Valley oligarchs. It dishonors American hero, George Washington, to use his name for the territory.
If newspapers in Washington State think it’s bad now, wait 15 years until they’ve captured state government.
Ohio lawmakers spent the summer suing ECOT. That caps off a super-productive year where they reformed the charter sector and funded another huge expansion of the charter sector.
Meanwhile, the 93% of kids of all income levels who attend public schools went back to school.
I figure they’ll turn their attention back to us in the spring, for “testing season” unless they need a high school gym and some public school kids to serve as props for a campaign event. If it were up to me I’d deny them entry. They’re opposed to government schools. They should go promote their careers somewhere else.
“Today, the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission announced eight winners in the state’s inaugural round of funding to charter schools to purchase, construct, or renovate classroom facilities. The $25 million competitive grant was created through last year’s budget bill (HB 64) to enable high-performing charter schools to access funds for growth and expansion”
Still waiting for someone on the public payroll down there in edreformland to offer some benefit or improvement for public schools.
I’m old enough to remember when this started in this state. They ran on “improving public schools”
Boy, were we suckers, huh? Had we known they opposed to the continued existence of our schools we might have made different decisions.
Not too late for Washington, though. They’re still in the “bait” part of the bait and switch.
Based on the Ohio Supreme Court ruling, the improved facilities belong to the charter operators, as soon as the ink is dry on the check?
The language of “improving” schools continues to be the bait.
Take a step back and think about the push to eliminate sometimes dysfunctional and private agenda-plagued school boards, justified in the name of an asserted greater good. In this view, the imperfection and messiness of democracy are seen as an expendable inconveniences to be superseded by self-appointed (and often well-financed) experts. Now think about Donald Trump’s, “believe me” and “only I can solve the problem” authoritarian appeal. Think about Republican attacks on voting rights. The attack on democratic governance of public schools is but one of many examples of a broader assault on the very institution of democracy. First, they came for the school boards……
At the very least, we’d be far better off if teachers could focus more attention on citizen development than test performance: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arthur-camins/us-schools-dont-fail-at-test-performance_b_8570608.html?
http://www.arthurcamins.com
KIPP Foundation @KIPP Aug 17
Anyone can be inspired by their childhood teacher—even former US Ed Secretary @arneduncan! @edu_post
Is this today’s best example of the ed reform echo chamber? Charter foundation promotes charter cheerleader Arne Duncan, and copies charter promotion media outlet run by former employee of…..Arne Duncan and funded by charter promotion foundation.
One small happy family of insiders.
Closed circle. Public schools need not apply for membership in this exclusive club.
Here’s another public school advocate who oddly never mentions public schools:
I’m still getting used to the idea that “public school improvement” doesn’t actually include any public schools.
Wouldn’t have predicted that! They really got one over on us there! I didn’t even think to look for it. That’s why they’re The Best and The Brightest, I guess.
And, the charters continue to have politicians and state agencies spreading the false advertising of “public”, for entities that are private, in every sense of the word, including their plunder, from ripped off taxpayers.
Don’t expect to hear any positive reference from Richard Whitmire. He wrote an admiring biography of Michelle Rhee.
Cross posted at http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Seattle-Schools-Community-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Activist_Democracy_Distractions_Editorials-160819-811.html#comment613847
see my comment there with embedded links:
“he REAL story of the war on Public Education, which is UNKNOWN because dark moneycame into America, and the EDUCATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX purchased the media so that few citizens know the story of how the unions sold out the veteran teachers so their civil rights could be ignored… and out they went, resulting in catastrophic failure of the schools.”
“I have posted for years about the destruction of our INSTITUTION OF PUBLIC EDUCATION where the national media is silent. See my series where state legislatures are taking over the local schools, with nary an educator on board, and giving them to charters, with not a shred of oversight! “
The Campaign for America’s Future reported this week that the Freedom Foundation knocked on 15,000 doors in washington state to tell residents that they could save as much as $600 by quitting their unions. Unions are the last bastion against feudalism.
Everyone in the State of Washington who recognizes that this attack on legislation to rein in private charter schools and their exploitation of children should use every social media forum they have to spread the word incessantly about what’s going on, namely, that billionaires are behind the editorials, using their financial muscle and control of advertising dollars to intimidate the newspapers and other media.
Washington State Pravda news system.
Is a demand for accountability from the governor of Michigan a “distraction” from the water crisis in Flint?
Is a lawsuit against British Petroleum a “distraction” from cleanup efforts in the Gulf of Mexico?
Is talk of gun control a “distraction” from the mourning of victims in Sandy Hook, Orlando, San Bernadino, and countless other mass-murder scenes?
Of course not. Doing the right thing is, well, doing the right thing. It’s never a “distraction”. And in the State of Washington, doing the right thing is putting an end to public funding of private charter schools.
P.S. The constitutional issue is not just at the level of the Washington Supreme Court.
From the U.S. Supreme Court:
“No single tradition in public education is more deeply rooted than local control over the operation of public schools; local autonomy has long been thought essential both to the maintenance of community concern and support for public schools and to quality of the educational process.”
—Chief Justice Warren Burger, writing for the majority in MILLIKEN v. BRADLEY (1974)
Ironically, that Supreme Court case was a win for conservatives, because it effectively ended inter-district busing. Now what strange bedfellows are made by educational policy! We have to wonder, do conservatives still want local control or not? Do liberals want to get rid of local control so corporations and financiers can run their schools?
Bottom line: charter schools go against both right and left orthodoxies. They worsen segregation; they adhere to unsound, even cruel pedagogical methods; they have no accountability; they waste taxpayer dollars all over the place through graft and self-dealing; and their outcomes hardly justify their existence. Yet politicians fawn over them. Fortunately, Americans are smarter than the politicians they sometime elect. Or we can only hope that’s true for Americans up in the Northwest.
I have also been dismayed by the pro-charter stance of the Seattle Times. There were several cartoons disparaging public schools and championing charter schools, and I wrote directly to the cartoonist about how inaccurate his cartoons were. He responded to my first e-mail admitting that he actually didn’t really know much about the issue. When he published a second cartoon along the same lines, I wrote to him again, explaining in depth why charter schools are harmful to Seattle and WA state. He didn’t reply. I wish I got paid for giving my opinion about issues I don’t “really know much about”!
Also, I take issue with editorials in newspapers that are authored by a general editorial board. It seems to me to be a cowardly stance of hiding behind a newspaper name without any accountability.
Despite Seattle’s progressive leanings, I have found a decidedly selfish slant in certain communities of well-educated parents here where they only care about “what is best for their own child.” Many of these parents send their kids to private schools, but I have also seen parents move their kids to a different school from their neighborhood school just because the test scores are higher at the other school.
The education section of the Seattle Times is funded by the Gates Foundation. I suspect they do the same for other cities in the state.
Just to note, I wrote those words that Diane is quoting. Dora probably sent her a link and she thought it was Dora.
That link is my blog, Seattle Schools Community Forum.
Melissa Westbrook