Los Angeles votes today on whether to re-elect Steve Zimmer to the board of education or to choose a man who is a puppet of billionaires who want to turn the schools over to unregulated private operators.
Steve deserves to be re-elected, and Imelda Padilla deserves to join him on the board.
Steve wrote a stunning article in Huffington Post, in which he offers four reasons why someone might decide to vote against him. He also refutes the outright lies on which Nick Melvin’s entire campaign is based.
He writes:
I want to present four legitimate arguments against me. These are good and fair reasons to vote against me on May 16th.
I know this is unusual, but because my opponent has lied so much about my record, I thought I would just go ahead and do this myself. I hope you will share this with your friends and family and explain to them that everything they are reading about me is a lie whether it is on the television, on the radio, or wrapped around their Sunday newspaper. Give them the real reasons to vote against me. Here they are:
1. I believe independent charter schools need to be regulated to ensure that they serve every student that comes to their school house door. I believe independent, privately operated charter schools must be accountable for all public funds they receive. I believe charter schools should operate in the district that authorizes them. If you believe independent charter schools should be completely de-regulated, you should vote against me.
2. I have moved resources to meet the needs of district students living in the highest concentrations of poverty, including thousands in my own district. In real and understandable ways, this has been difficult for certain schools in my district. But I believe it is the only moral way to do this job when 83% of students in the LAUSD live below the poverty line. Some voters may be concerned about these decisions and choose to support my opponent who has only focused his campaign in the more affluent areas of the district.
3. I have been endorsed by the teachers and school employees of our district. I work with our teachers and I work with their union. I vote against their recommendations when I think they are wrong. But it is a priority for me to build trust with the people who deliver education to our students, to be allies in our struggle for equity, to make significant improvement in LAUSD schools. If you don’t believe I should engage our teachers and their unions then I understand why you would vote against me.
4. I oppose the ranking of teachers, students, and schools. I oppose high stakes standardized testing. I believe that the things that are the most beautiful and wondrous about children can never be measured by a standardized test. If you believe we should be constantly testing and ranking students, teachers and schools then I understand why you wouldn’t support me.
This is what I have done. I understand some people can’t vote for someone who has done this.
But Nick Melvoin hasn’t used any of these reasons. Instead he has lied and he has distorted. I can’t stop someone from lying, but I can certainly tell you that this is not how you should win an election. Here are some of the lies he tells about me:
Nick’s Lie #1: The iPads were my program
The Actual Truth #1: The iPad program was started by Melvoin supporter John Deasy. I voted to end the program once it became clear that Deasy had lied to the school board and lied to the public.
Nick’s Lie #2: I created a $1.4 billion deficit.
The Actual Truth #2: The Board has balanced our budget every year. With the Governor’s latest announcement , we will have our budget balanced for 10 years straight.
Nick’s Lie #3: I lowered graduation standards
The Actual Truth #3: We raised the rigor for all students by ensuring that all students be enrolled in college preparatory courses. While we increased rigor, we have raised graduation rates to record levels, from 56% to over 75%
Nick’s Lie #4: I laid off teachers
The Actual Truth #4: I anchored the difficult negotiations that allowed us to save our schools and save thousands of jobs
Nick’s Lie #5: I cut arts education
The Actual Truth #5: I stopped the cuts to arts education and have added over 18 million dollars to the arts budget each year.
I respect the democratic process and I value debate about the important issues facing our public schools. But that’s not what’s happened in this election. I am not perfect and I try to be a better board member every day. If Nick and the California Charter Schools Association waged an honest campaign, I would not be writing this argument against myself. It terrifies me that such an important election could be determined solely on lies and distortions. It should scare us all.
There is much more than even the control of our public schools that is on the line this Tuesday.
Our democratic values and the value of truth itself seem to have worked their way into this moment. I am proud to stand for honesty and service. I hope we can set a better example for our kids.
The74.org and The LA School Report are funded by Eli Broad, the Waltons, the Simons, Bill and Melinda Gates, and other billionaires. Their slanted coverage focuses upon the negative cost of teacher pay/retirement and claims that only reformers via charter schools really care about children. A parent could be tricked by the coded and bias language in this website and so-called voter’s information guide. It’s EXACTLY the underhanded tactics that ALEC and the dark money funded group use to subvert our state and federal elections. Voters must examine the origins of any information given to them. #followthemoney
According to this latest release from UTLA:
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
“On top of that, Zimmer’s opponent, Nick Melvoin, put out a plea
this week asking for teachers to walk for him for $100 an hour.
“Even with all the millions behind Melvoin’s campaign, he knows
nothing can replace teachers talking with voters.”
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Okay, so let me get this straight:
If I’m a charter school teacher, and I just put in a 10-hour day campaigning against Steve Zimmer on Saturday (or, say, two 5-hour days — Saturday and Sunday), Zimmer’s corporate ed. reform opponent Nick Melvoin’s has, or eventually will cut me a check for a friggin’ grand ($1,000) for services rendered?
Sweet Jesus.
I think this is what they call manufactured consent of the public … or bought-and-paid-for consent.
Another thing Melvoin shares in common with Deasy: both sued the school district which employed them — and lost, thank God. Melvoin did it twice.
Also, regarding lie #3, as I recall, changing the graduation requirements was also a Deasy idea. Very reformy.
Polls open in a few minutes. Hope to see you there.
If you live in L.A., or know someone who does, call them, email them, Facebook them or whatever, and get them to vote for Steve and Imelda.
I thought this story was so good that I posted on the St. Louis Public Radio site, where everything I say is automatically disqualified from being posted, I then copy the notice, and the original post, and transfer it to Current Affairs in the Post Dispatch. They do not make things easy. I have more resentment for Public radio than I do for the PD…..Public radio has some very suspicious contributors. I am not sure if they collect any tax revenue. Number nine in this thread….Things I am not allowed to say by st. louis public radio
http://interact.stltoday.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1219242
Brilliant!
The really blatant lying in US political campaigns is a problem. They don’t seem to realize they are damaging the credibility of the government entities THEY WILL RUN if they win.
No one believes anything any of them say anymore. There’s a reason for that.
I hope ed reform considered the cost when they launched this assault on this guy because Zimmer won’t pay it- he’ll be back as a private citizen. They’ll pay it. No one will believe a word that any of these “reform” candidates say.
” The iPads were my program”
If ed reformers now denounce the iPad debacle why are they selling the exact same tech snake oil to schools all over the country?
They shill for ed tech constantly. Did they learn nothing?
Another charter and private school advocate gets on the federal payroll:
“NEW ASSISTANT SECRETARY? Michigan state Rep. Tim Kelly tells the Detroit News he’s prepared to resign his seat because he expects DeVos to appoint him as assistant secretary of technical and adult education. Kelly, a Republican who chairs the Michigan House Education Reform Committee and the K-12 appropriations subcommittee, said he still has to complete background and other checks before it’s official. “It just kind of came out of nowhere,” Kelly told the newspaper. The Education Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday night.”
Can public school parents and kids petition the federal government for an advocate?
We’ll pay the person ourselves.
90% of kids deserve at least one person in the federal government who works on behalf of children who attend the unfashionable “public school sector”
Supporting public schools is now apparently a bar to employment at the US Department of Education.
Has any public school supporting org considered hiring an advocate for kids in public schools and sending that person to DC?
Our schools and kids aren’t even at the table. They’re completely outnumbered.
Why are there thousands of paid lobbyists and politicians for charters and vouchers but no one for kids and parents in public schools?
Charters are more rewarding to speak for, and much simpler to explain how they will fix everything. Kids and parents have a variety of complex problems, with not an abundance of easy, fun to say answers. Like…..charters provide an alternative choice. (of what? What is important to spend money on?)
Reblogged this on Crazy Normal – the Classroom Exposé and commented:
It is abhorrent that such an important election could be determined solely on lies and distortions. It should scare everyone that believes in the U.S. Constitution.
We are now living with the results of President Reagan getting rid of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987. The Fairness Doctrine survived challenges in the U.S. Supreme Court but did not survive Reagan or the 1st Bush who delivered the final shot that killed a more honest and balanced media. Without the Fairness Doctrine, it was easier to build the Alt-Right racist, hate-media machine that supports and invents conspiracy theories as if they are real.
So what do you do if you’re a public school parent or kid in Los Angeles and you support the public school your kid attends?
Just reconcile yourself to the fact that your school is unfashionable and slated for replacement?
Wouldn’t you just pull them out now? Why stick around as ed reformers “wind it down”?
Why volunteer to attend the schools that have been abandoned and are used as a sort of disfavored default for the benefit of the “choice” students?
The smart move is to go to the schools pols and lobbyists are backing.
“We raised the rigor for all students by ensuring that all students be enrolled in college preparatory courses. While we increased rigor, we have raised graduation rates to record levels, from 56% to over 75%”
Raising the rigor-wheres the barf emoji when you need it?? “Ensuring that all students be enrolled in college preparatory courses” is a bunch of pedagogical horse manure, topped off with bovine excrement. One of the stupidest malpractices after standards and testing malpractices. A waste of time, resources and energies that could be better used to help those not interested in attending college (probably something to the effect of 50% of the students at least.) Insane is as inane does.
And I would question the 56% to 75% figure. If anyone has the “facts” to those figures I’d like to see them.
Playing the edudeformers’ lying games as Zimmer is doing in his statement is wrong. Plain and simply wrong.
Yes, Duane, very true. Zimmer is not a true supporter of public education. He falls for the reformy propaganda a great deal. (Can I write that now, with just a short time before this awful election is over?) It’s just that Melvoin is a reforminess zealot, among the worst of them.
I will put in a good word for Steve Zimmer. He is not completely aligned with my anti-privatization views, but I agree with him most of the time and I believe he is thoughtful and honest. I have had a few intense discussions with him.
I agree with his opponent 0% of the time. Furthermore, he has run a dirty campaign against Zimmer.