Earlier today, I posted a plea by the Network for Public Education Action Fund, addressed to Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton. It urged him to veto the state budget because it included a voucher proposal.
Minnesota: Governor Dayton, Please Veto the Voucher Legislation!
We made a boo-boo!
Governor Dayton vetoed the bill last Friday! Forgive my error. The outcome is great news.
So, retrospectively, we thank and congratulate Governor Dayton for his wisdom in supporting Minnesota’s public school and blocking efforts to divert public money to religious and private schools.
I am happy to name him to the honor roll of the blog for standing up for public education.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I’m not sure mn leadership is a friend to public education. We are very test driven and personalized learning is running rampant. Also, alternative licensing.
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What a relief to start the day with such great news.
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How can ed reform push standardized testing into public schools yet support vouchers with no state testing?
None of these theories hang together, but there is one over-riding principle that ties them together- privatization and weakening existing public schools.
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“How can ed reform push standardized testing into public schools yet support vouchers with no state testing?”
It makes perfect sense. Make public schools look bad, while hiding the fact that your voucher school is worse.
Something I have run across with more frequency lately: Research or studies from education reformers that have this buried somewhere:
It is important to stress again that these findings cannot be attributed to (you name the new software or reform program) without the use of
experimental or quasi-experimental designs.
In other words, we cannot state definitively that
(you name the new software or reform program) caused the above-average achievement gains noted above.
This now passes as research.
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Has anyone looked at the proposed DeVos/Trump budget?
Absolutely nothing for kids in public schools. Not even an effort to feign interest in them.
In fact, it pulls money from existing schools to fund “choice”
Public school kids and parents are the designated losers. There couldn’t have been a single public school advocate consulted.
Thousands of employees, not ONE spoke up for the 90% of kids in public schools. They’ll be the sacrificial lambs of this publicly-funded free market experiment.
Here’s the ed reform offer to kids and parents in public schools: nothing. They offer us nothing. Take it or leave it!
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Next, Governor Dayton will be challenged by HF 140, a bill passed out of both houses to severely weaken teacher licensing standards through the institution of a tiered licensure system that would permit someone with a bachelor’s degree to teach in shortage areas (content or geographic) forever. A permanent license will be available to anyone with a license from another state, regardless of whether their training included those areas deemed essential for Minnesota trained teachers to possess. Who needs specific content, effective pedagogy, culturally responsive teaching, or content area reading strategies? Only teachers trained in Minnesota must have these competencies, but teachers who gain a license elsewhere and do not have this training are just fine if they have five years of experience. We are rightfully proud of the standards that our Minnesota trained teachers possess. Is it fair for them to be evaluated by test scores in schools where increasingly their colleagues will not be prepared to deliver with the same high level of competence? We are counting on Governor Dayton to also veto this inequitable and harmful legislation.
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