The Network for Public Education has created a toolkit to equip you to fight privatization of our public schools. In it, you will find concise summaries of important issues, with links to research, and ways that you can join with your colleagues , friends, and neighbors to block the Trump-DeVos agenda.
For the full report click here.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Interesting:
We see polls all the time where people are asked about “support” for charters and vouchers. But rarely is there a question about effects on public schools.
This pollster asked. Support drops dramatically when one adds that question.
“Harvard pollster: “If people feel they are pulling the rug out of the public school system, they will feel differently.”
This to me is where the rubber meets the road in DeVos’ rosy promises of “all schools” benefiting from her single-minded promotion of charters and vouchers.
She doesn’t have any idea whether the federal government promotion of charters and vouchers will harm kids in existing public schools. None of them know. They rarely even consider the effects of ed reforms on public schools, but apparently the public does.
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Choice zealots either:
Don’t care about what happens to public schools, or,
Hope to eliminate public schools
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A local high school here in Fairfax county VA has won a national award see
http://wtop.com/education/2017/04/fairfax-co-earns-top-10-spot-best-high-schools-list/
You can see, that all of the top public schools in Virginia are in the metro WashDC area. (Fairfax, Alexandria, Loudoun).
I believe strongly, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. nevertheless, Virginians should push for excellent public schools, downstate, as well.
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(I used to work for the Commerce Department in statistical analysis). Polls can be “massaged” and manipulated to convey all sorts of misleading conclusions. Questions can be phrased, to confuse the responders.
Do not put a lot of faith in polls.
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This is great and I will be using the material on my Blog too as soon as I free up some time that is currently being devoured by the new backyard fence I’m building by myself. This is a race to beat the summer heat. I do not want to be working on that fence when the three-digit heat wave arrives.
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I am impressed with the Toolkit and see it filling a real need for factual information in this time open attack on public education. I have some questions that need to be answered in order for me to use it effectively in my school district.
I am now retired, but spent almost 30 years in public education. For my last 5 years in the district, I played a key part starting a public community charter school, oriented as a “place based” school with an environmental emphasis. Its creation was the result of much effort by dedicated parents and teachers who saw a need for something different. After years of effort, the district reluctantly issue a charter to us.
The district ‘oversees’ the school, but allows some differences in educational approach (although testing requirements seem to be the same). The school has its own board, and is not owned and operated by any outside company or organization. The school funding comes from the district and is 85% of the regular ‘per student’ funding. We rented, then purchased the building, bought furniture, and are not included in the district technology and transportation programs. Teachers were hired by the school with no teacher union involved. Obviously, teachers are paid less than regular district teachers.
What category would you place a school like this? Some of what is described in the toolkit doesn’t fit neatly in this case. Seeing that this is what our community has experienced as a “charter school”, how can I present the case against privatization effectively?
I do hope to share this toolkit with the community and district school board members.
Thanks for your help,
Charlie Graham
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Charlie,
I see value in a local school district overseeing its own charters. Most charters today have no oversight or supervision and they compete with public schools and seek to drive them into the ground. That is wrong.
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Charlie, I object to the way your school district treated those of you trying to do something different. You were paid less, subject to two different boards, had to keep the same testing requirements and got 85% of the student funding??? You can bet that school district would take credit for your higher scores. I think your school is an argument against charters.
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