Bill Phillis is a wise educator in Ohio, now retired, who served as deputy state commissioner in an earlier administration, one that supported public schools. He is passionate about equitable funding.
In this post, he warns about a deceitful funding plan just introduced in the legislature.
Representative Andrew Brenner concocted an ALEC-style funding bill that pretends to be equitable but is in fact a universal voucher plan.
Two years ago, Brenner called publichttps://dianeravitch.net/2014/03/23/ohio-you-cant-make-this-stuff-up/ schools “socialism.” His way of responding to critics is to say “they must have gone to public schools.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“. . . must have gone to public schools.” Yup.. That means we don’t subscribe to JimJonsean “leaders,” that our brains are not saturated with corporate-speak, and that our single-horizon is not market/predatory capitalism which sees anything “public” as unfair to the competition and so on the block for elimination.
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Gee, I rather like my socialist roads. Public transportation is pretty nice as well. I sure am glad I don’t have to pick a private police force or sign up for a fire department.
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Understand that emphasis on property tax in the funding system must not trump the requirement of adequate funding, equitable distributed.
Is this English?
Should it be trump or TRUMP?
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This is yet another scheme to reduce the capacity of public schools, and funnel public funds into private pockets. At the same time, it diminishes local control.
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The Ohio Republican Statehouse is owned by privatizers of America’s most important common goods. The number of Ohio politicians, who belong to ALEC, proves again, that the U.S. is an oligarchy.
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A Trojan horse is only a Trojan horse if the targeted folks don’t know that it’s a hollow horse filled with people that want to kill them.
When the said target knows a Trojan horse is in fact a Trojan horse, the advantage decisively shifts to that target…..you have all of your threats contained in a small, known space.
Point is, we know its a Trojan horse. What our side needs is a dumb-simple tool to manifest that advantage…..a megaphone. And in this case a megaphone is a loud, sound, viable and sharp counter-narrative that gives regular folk a strong alternative. Position papers and academic are not a counter-narrative.
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NYSTEACHER: “Position papers and academic are not a counter-narrative.”
Really? And you think this because . . . . ? I think your “side” is really a silo sitting in the midst of a democracy you seem to know nothing about not to mention appreciate.
Not everything is suitable to predatory capitalism, corporate ownership (stakeholders, not stockholders), and corporate control. And the silo is cancerous because it’s long-term intention is to eliminate public school as a choice.
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Catherine,
You misread me deeply. I am sorry for that. I can sometimes write poorly and have goofy positions.
I am on your side. Always have been.
I was trying to make a statement for increased vigor in defense of our side.
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NYSTEACHER–If I misread your post–it’s me who is deeply sorry.
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I would never speak for the privatizing of public schools, against teachers, or in any way supporting any idea or policy from the reform movement.
I was simply trying to say that our side needs to work on that public/popular narrative domination, and take some thunder from the other side. Our side, in my view, spends A LOT of time proving we are correct via our traditional paths: academic papers and policy papers. The problem is that that hardly matters anymore regarding influencing policy and opinion. We need to do better at dominating that bigger narrative.
Sometimes I say things in ways that are sloppy and at the same time blunt and harsh and seemingly without balance and nuance. I’m a goof. I fly things up the flagpole here because I see it as an incubator (perhaps the only real one) of ideas and thinking for our side. So really, I definitely take responsibility for some misunderstanding!
Thanks though.
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NYSTEACHER writes: “Our side, in my view, spends A LOT of time proving we are correct via our traditional paths: academic papers and policy papers. The problem is that that hardly matters anymore regarding influencing policy and opinion. We need to do better at dominating that bigger narrative.
I see what you mean–I think that’s what I was responding to with my “Oh, really?” comment. You are exactly right–and that’s what I was responding to–it doesn’t matter what anyone says, what research is done or how, or even if it’s from someone with a sterling reputation in their field. Nothing gets through. Rump has deemed integrity “clownish,” evidence “lies,” and anything against him “a disaster.” But what is so incredible is that so many believe him.
This is why I think it’s turned into a cult-thing between him and many of his followers. But thank you for the explanation–and I’ll read closer next time.
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These Ohio Republicans must hate their own state.
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They like money.
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Thank you for posting this, Diane. I hope your Ohio constituency will start to educate their colleagues, friends and neighbors about this and its linkage to DeVos and ALEC. This is more serious than a heart attack.
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Ohio lawmakers should take a break from promoting their favorite ideological hobbyhorses and do something for public schools.
I know our schools are unfashionable but this is ridiculous. They spend all their time figuring out ways to privatize and none on “improving public schools” which is what ALL of them ran on.
They weren’t hired to destroy public schools and that’s not what we’re paying them to do.
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This Andrew Brenner spouts all the lame right wing talking points: public schools are socialistic. Why, because they get public money? In that case, charter schools which are supported by public tax money and private schools getting school vouchers (public tax money) must be socialistic, too. Without the libertarian billionaires and groups like ALEC, there would be no reform movement. It would be dead in the water.
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Well, Ohio ed reformers are careful not to bash public schools when they’re running for election in their districts.
For six weeks in the Fall they’re all HUGE public school supporters because if they went into the public schools in their districts and spouted ed reform talking points they wouldn’t be re-elected.
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What’s really sad is that they only have to pretend for six weeks in the fall while they are campaigning. We need watchdogs like you, Chiara, continuing to point out their ACTIONS.
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Joe: I’ve wondered about that too–why they call public schools socialistic. I think it’s because to a one-horse capitalist horizon, there is no such thing as democracy–there’s just capitalism and markets, which are opposed on principle to socialism–because everything is seen in terms of how capital works. Under that horizon, public schools are strange–they don’t make money, you cannot own them; and some remote person in “government” gives out arbitrary rules to go by (regulations); therefore, they are a danger to the market economy because they don’t “compete” on the same ground. Therefore, they must be socialist.
And BTW (sarcasm alert),teachers must be lazy or bad because who would work for such pay. If they really wanted to work, they be in the business world.
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Can Mr. Brenner point to one thing he’s done to “improve public schools” in the last 2 years? One thing? Show me the school or set of schools he’s “improved”.
It’s pretty ridiculous we’re paying a huge group of public employees to spend all their time cooking up schemes to harm public schools.
You know, ed reformers may not like it but 90% of the kids in this state attend public schools. Maybe someone in Columbus could put in a single day’s work on their behalf instead of trying to impress national ed reform lobbyists.
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Anyone in this state who sends all their education funding to Columbus and lets them dole it out is insane.
These are the same people who are running the state system of charter schools. They invented and manage the state charter school system, which is a disaster.
It’s like sending school funding into a bottomless black hole. You’ll never see it again.
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There are tons of voucher schemes coming out of ed reformers with Trump’s election.
They’re really excited. They see a chance to totally privatize. I’ve been saying Democrats and Republicans are identical on ed reform for years and it is literally true. There isn’t a dime’s worth of difference- they’re all embracing “backpack vouchers” now.
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Chiara: Below is a post from Hecktor Solon who posted some outrageious paragraphs from a book that read like a Reformer’s Playbook on the thread for Questions for Betsy. I will post my response to that note in another note. Both notes relate to this thread and your comments on it:
Hector Solon (@HectorSolon) commented on Questions for Billionaire Betsy DeVos on Her Confirmation Hearings on January 11.
ALL QUOTE from Solon’s Post:
In 1990, Dick DeVos was elected to the Michigan (State) Board of Education. While he was there he handed out a book by John E. Chubb “Politics, Markets, and America’s Schools”.
Two core concepts:
1) Public Education is not a foundation of democracy;
2) “Reformers” should use “public authority” to remove government oversight and influence on an “education industry” based on “free markets” and “parental choice” (CRC concept as well for Betsy, families decide about education, not communities or governments at any level).
In the personal notes of Richard D. McLellan (DeVos Lawyer and Founder of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy the DeVos’ fund, these two concepts were highlighted by him, he wrote “vital” in the margin about democracy, and underlined and asterisked the “use of public authority” (the two passages are BELOW).
Page 218
“Our guiding principle in the design of a choice system is this: public authority must be put to use in creating a system that is almost entirely out of the reach public authority. Because states have the primary responsibility for American public education, we think the best way to achieve significant, enduring reform is for the states to take the initiative in withdrawing authority from existing· institutions and building a new system in which most authority is vested directly in the schools, parents , and students.”
Page 229
“…part of the definition of what democracy and public education are all about.
This identification has never been valid. There is nothing in the concept of democracy to require that schools be subject to direct control by school boards, superintendents, central offices, departments of education, and other arms of government. Nor is there anything in the concept of public education to require that schools be governed in this way. There are many paths to democracy and public education. The path America has been trodding for the past half-century is exacting a heavy price–one the nation and its children can ill afford to bear, and need not. It is time, we·think, to get to the root of the problem.”
These are the LONG ago defined core of the DeVos perspective on education, from the beginning, as they (Dick & Betsy) AND THEIR PARENTS too were taught, by the old man McLellan himself, many years ago. They have never changed, not one iota.
END SOLON QUOTE
I’ll post my response in another note.:
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Chiara: Below is my response to Hector Solon sans the bad language:
**Hector Solon: . . . BTW, Betsy saying that public education is a “dead end” is a not-so-covert reference to its “lack” of religious ideology–hers.
But the stuff above (paragraphs from John E. Chubb’s book: “Politics, Markets, and America’s Schools”) is damning enough on its own: it says that States must use public authority to take away public authority. That’s the same as saying to use democracy to destroy itself. (Funny, that’s what we just did with the election of Rump.) No wonder they are so dead-set against being regulated. And again, it’s put in personal terms: WHO is regulating rather than WHAT the regulations are about and WHY outside oversight systematically enhances quality and clarity.
In the notes above on page 218, it says States must “take the initiative in withdrawing authority from existing institutions and building a new system in which most authority is vested directly in the schools, parents, and students.” See “SCHOOL BOARDS” below. Aren’t school boards made up of parents?
And who or what is the replacement? Here, “Schools, parents, and students” (which already have a place in control with public schools) is double-speak for “corporations, look-the-other-way stockholders, and those who have power in the free-market system.” This coupled with NO regulation opens the door to any ideological movements that can easily grab the attention of naive young people. And for corporations, it makes students into “product.” What a “choice” THAT is. And where is the systematic connection with our intellectual community, our sciences, our fields of ongoing study?
Also, on page 229, it says: “There is nothing in the concept of democracy to require that schools be subject to direct control by SCHOOL BOARDS, superintendents, central offices, departments of education, and other arms of government. Nor is there anything in the concept of public education to require that schools be governed in this way.”
First, I emphasize SCHOOL BOARDS because, again, isn’t THAT an aspect of local control they say isn’t necessary? (Do they even know what they are talking about?)
But that’s not the half of it. One only has to look to the meanings of DEMOCRACY, PUBLIC, and EDUCATION to counter the above inane statements. First, you can look up public for yourself. But public is opposed-to distinct-from private. And democracy means power in the people (demos: people, crasis/power). “The people” cannot have and keep power unless they are educated generally and specifically about what that power is and how to use and maintain it. So that PUBLIC and EDUCATION of the people are completely intimate with DEMOCRACY. So that that paragraph in the note on page 229 is COMPLETELY FALSE.
We could say much more about this–but I do appreciate the post. It shows what we’ve been up against for a very long time.
FWIW
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Here’s another endorsement of vouchers:
https://edexcellence.net/articles/the-pitfalls-of-uniform-state-run-public-education?utm_source=Fordham%20Updates&utm_campaign=0a882dd923-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_01_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d9e8246adf-0a882dd923-71517273&mc_cid=0a882dd923&mc_eid=23d0bc1332
I figured they would go ga-ga over vouchers the same way they went ga-ga over charters.
It’ll be all voucher cheerleading from the echo chamber for the next 4 years.
God forbid any of these people should ever put in any work on ordinary public schools, right? That’s beneath them.
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I will be shocked to see Fordham write something about the 3rd rate schools that accept vouchers. Of course, they don’t think that teachers or principals need certification, so maybe they won’t care.
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