Sarah Mondale and Vera Aronow announce that their long-awaited film “Backpack Full of Cash” has been completed, and they are now taking it to film festivals and community screenings. This is the film that tells the story of the dangers of public school privatization and the undermining of public education in many districts.
Dear BACKPACK Friends and Supporters,
We want to share some good news. BACKPACK FULL OF CASH––a documentary film narrated by Matt Damon, that explores the impact of privatizing public schools––is now finished, updated and complete with a new Epilogue. With the appointment of U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos––a longtime advocate of charter schools, vouchers and online schools, there is a pressing need for public awareness of these issues. BACKPACK seems to be striking a nerve with audiences.
We just showed BACKPACK to sold-out crowds at film festivals in Nashville and Washington, DC where the film won Runner Up–Audience Award, Best Documentary. We are getting many requests for screenings from around the country–and the world! If you or someone you know would like to host a screening, please visit our website. You can also make a donation––now urgently needed––to help us launch the outreach/ distribution campaign for the film.
We have been invited to show BACKPACK FULL OF CASH in Seattle, WA and Alberta, Canada in May/June. If you know anyone in these areas who would be interested, please help us spread the word. Here is the schedule and ticket info:
BACKPACK FULL OF CASH SCREENINGS
SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
(filmmakers in attendance at June screenings only)
Friday, 5/19 at 3:30pm at SIFF Cinema Uptown
Tuesday, 6/6 at 7:00pm at AMC Pacific Place
Wednesday, 6/7 at 4:30pm at AMC Pacific Place Click here for tickets.
ALBERTA, CANADA
presented by Support Our Students Alberta,
sponsored by Alberta Federation of Labour
(filmmakers in attendance in Calgary only)
Thursday, 5/25 at 7:00pm in CALGARY, Globe Cinema
Saturday, 5/27 at 7:00pm EDMONTON, Art Gallery of Alberta, Ledcor Theater
Tuesday, 5/30 at 7:00pm in LETHBRIDGE, City of Lethbridge Sterndale Bennett Theater
Thursday, 6/1 at 7:00pm in RED DEER, Red Deer College, Welikoland Cinema
Click here for tickets.
Thanks again for your support.
Sarah Mondale, Vera Aronow, and the BACKPACK Film Team
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Such vast amounts of public tax money are being skimmed away by charter schools and funneled into corporate and private pockets that the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Education has issued a report that, because of their lack of accountability to the public, charter schools pose a risk to the Department of Education’s goals. The report finds that “Charter schools and their management organizations pose a potential risk to federal funds even as they threaten to fall short of meeting the goals” because of financial fraud and the artful skimming of tax money into private pockets.
Even the staunchly pro-charter school Los Angeles Times (which acknowledges that its favorable reporting on charter schools is paid for by a billionaire charter school advocate) complained in an editorial that “the only serious scrutiny that charter operators typically get is when they are issued their right to operate, and then five years later when they apply for renewal.” Without needed oversight of what charter schools are actually doing with the public’s tax dollars, hundreds of millions of tax dollars that are intended to be spent on educating the public’s children is being siphoned away into private pockets and to the bottom lines of hedge funds.
The Washington State Supreme Court, the New York State Supreme Court, and the National Labor Relations Board have ruled that charter schools are not public schools at all because they aren’t accountable to the public since they aren’t governed by publicly-elected boards and aren’t subdivisions of public government entities, in spite of the fact that some state laws enabling charter schools say they are government subdivisions. That’s common sense to any taxpayer: Charter schools are clearly private schools, owned and operated by private entities. Nevertheless, they get public tax money but have virtually no public record accountability of what they do with the tax money they divert from genuine public schools.
There are many tactics used by many charter school operators to reap profit from their schools, even the so-called “non-profits”, such as private charter school boards paying exorbitant sums to lease building space for their school in buildings that are owned by corporations that are in turn owned or controlled by the charter school board members or are REIT investments that are part of a hedge fund’s portfolio. There are many other avenues of making a hidden profit from operating private charter schools.
In addition to the siphoning away of money from needy schools, reports from the NAACP and ACLU have revealed facts about just how charter schools are resegregating our nation’s schools, as well as discriminating racially and socioeconomically against American children of color; and, very detailed nationwide research by The Center for Civil Rights Remedies at UCLA shows in clear terms that private charter schools suspend extraordinary numbers of black students. Based on these and other findings of racial discrimination in charter schools, the NAACP Board of Directors has passed a resolution calling for a moratorium on charter school expansion and for the strengthening of oversight in governance and practice.
Therefore, in order to assure that tax dollars are being spent wisely and that there is no racism in charter schools, charter schools should minimally (1) be required by law to be governed by school boards elected by the voters so that the charter schools are accountable to the public; (2) be a subdivision of a publicly-elected governmental body; (3) be required to file the same detailed public-domain audited annual financial reports under penalty of perjury that genuine public schools file; and, (4) be required to operate so that anything a charter school buys with the public’s money should be the public’s property.
Those aren’t unreasonable requirements. In fact, they are common sense to taxpayers and to anyone who seeks to assure that America’s children — especially her neediest children — are optimally benefiting from public tax dollars intended for their education. But, after the internal scams of charter schools become exposed to taxpayers through routine public reporting, the charter school industry will dry up and disappear, and the money that the charter school industry has been draining away from America’s neediest children will again flow to those in need.
If charter schools were required to file the same financial statements that public schools file, the skimming of tax money would stop and hedge funds would move on to their next target, leaving the charter school “movement” to dry up.
NO PUBLIC TAX MONEY SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO GO TO CHARTER SCHOOLS THAT FAIL TO MEET THESE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS OF ACCOUNTABILITY TO THE PUBLIC.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Such vast amounts of public tax money are being skimmed away by charter schools and funneled into corporate and private pockets that the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Education has issued a report that, because of their lack of accountability to the public, charter schools pose a risk to the Department of Education’s goals. The report finds that “Charter schools and their management organizations pose a potential risk to federal funds even as they threaten to fall short of meeting the goals” because of financial fraud and the artful skimming of tax money into private pockets.
Even the staunchly pro-charter school Los Angeles Times (which acknowledges that its favorable reporting on charter schools is paid for by a billionaire charter school advocate) complained in an editorial that “the only serious scrutiny that charter operators typically get is when they are issued their right to operate, and then five years later when they apply for renewal.” Without needed oversight of what charter schools are actually doing with the public’s tax dollars, hundreds of millions of tax dollars that are intended to be spent on educating the public’s children is being siphoned away into private pockets and to the bottom lines of hedge funds.
The Washington State Supreme Court, the New York State Supreme Court, and the National Labor Relations Board have ruled that charter schools are not public schools at all because they aren’t accountable to the public since they aren’t governed by publicly-elected boards and aren’t subdivisions of public government entities, in spite of the fact that some state laws enabling charter schools say they are government subdivisions. That’s common sense to any taxpayer: Charter schools are clearly private schools, owned and operated by private entities. Nevertheless, they get public tax money but have virtually no public record accountability of what they do with the tax money they divert from genuine public schools.
There are many tactics used by many charter school operators to reap profit from their schools, even the so-called “non-profits”, such as private charter school boards paying exorbitant sums to lease building space for their school in buildings that are owned by corporations that are in turn owned or controlled by the charter school board members or are REIT investments that are part of a hedge fund’s portfolio. There are many other avenues of making a hidden profit from operating private charter schools.
In addition to the siphoning away of money from needy schools, reports from the NAACP and ACLU have revealed facts about just how charter schools are resegregating our nation’s schools, as well as discriminating racially and socioeconomically against American children of color; and, very detailed nationwide research by The Center for Civil Rights Remedies at UCLA shows in clear terms that private charter schools suspend extraordinary numbers of black students. Based on these and other findings of racial discrimination in charter schools, the NAACP Board of Directors has passed a resolution calling for a moratorium on charter school expansion and for the strengthening of oversight in governance and practice.
Therefore, in order to assure that tax dollars are being spent wisely and that there is no racism in charter schools, charter schools should minimally (1) be required by law to be governed by school boards elected by the voters so that the charter schools are accountable to the public; (2) be a subdivision of a publicly-elected governmental body; (3) be required to file the same detailed public-domain audited annual financial reports under penalty of perjury that genuine public schools file; and, (4) be required to operate so that anything a charter school buys with the public’s money should be the public’s property.
Those aren’t unreasonable requirements. In fact, they are common sense to taxpayers and to anyone who seeks to assure that America’s children — especially her neediest children — are optimally benefiting from public tax dollars intended for their education. But, after the internal scams of charter schools become exposed to taxpayers through routine public reporting, the charter school industry will dry up and disappear, and the money that the charter school industry has been draining away from America’s neediest children will again flow to those in need.
If charter schools were required to file the same financial statements that public schools file, the skimming of tax money would stop and hedge funds would move on to their next target, leaving the charter school “movement” to dry up.
NO PUBLIC TAX MONEY SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO GO TO CHARTER SCHOOLS THAT FAIL TO MEET THESE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS OF ACCOUNTABILITY TO THE PUBLIC.
NO PUBLIC TAX MONEY SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO GO TO CHARTER SCHOOLS THAT FAIL TO MEET THESE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS OF ACCOUNTABILITY TO THE PUBLIC.
Such vast amounts of public tax money are being skimmed away by charter schools and funneled into corporate and private pockets that the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Education has issued a report that, because of their lack of accountability to the public, charter schools pose a risk to the Department of Education’s goals. The report finds that “Charter schools and their management organizations pose a potential risk to federal funds even as they threaten to fall short of meeting the goals” because of financial fraud and the artful skimming of tax money into private pockets.
Even the staunchly pro-charter school Los Angeles Times (which acknowledges that its favorable reporting on charter schools is paid for by a billionaire charter school advocate) complained in an editorial that “the only serious scrutiny that charter operators typically get is when they are issued their right to operate, and then five years later when they apply for renewal.” Without needed oversight of what charter schools are actually doing with the public’s tax dollars, hundreds of millions of tax dollars that are intended to be spent on educating the public’s children is being siphoned away into private pockets and to the bottom lines of hedge funds.
The Washington State Supreme Court, the New York State Supreme Court, and the National Labor Relations Board have ruled that charter schools are not public schools at all because they aren’t accountable to the public since they aren’t governed by publicly-elected boards and aren’t subdivisions of public government entities, in spite of the fact that some state laws enabling charter schools say they are government subdivisions. That’s common sense to any taxpayer: Charter schools are clearly private schools, owned and operated by private entities. Nevertheless, they get public tax money but have virtually no public record accountability of what they do with the tax money they divert from genuine public schools.
There are many tactics used by many charter school operators to reap profit from their schools, even the so-called “non-profits”, such as private charter school boards paying exorbitant sums to lease building space for their school in buildings that are owned by corporations that are in turn owned or controlled by the charter school board members or are REIT investments that are part of a hedge fund’s portfolio. There are many other avenues of making a hidden profit from operating private charter schools.
In addition to the siphoning away of money from needy schools, reports from the NAACP and ACLU have revealed facts about just how charter schools are resegregating our nation’s schools, as well as discriminating racially and socioeconomically against American children of color; and, very detailed nationwide research by The Center for Civil Rights Remedies at UCLA shows in clear terms that private charter schools suspend extraordinary numbers of black students. Based on these and other findings of racial discrimination in charter schools, the NAACP Board of Directors has passed a resolution calling for a moratorium on charter school expansion and for the strengthening of oversight in governance and practice.
Therefore, in order to assure that tax dollars are being spent wisely and that there is no racism in charter schools, charter schools should minimally (1) be required by law to be governed by school boards elected by the voters so that the charter schools are accountable to the public; (2) be a subdivision of a publicly-elected governmental body; (3) be required to file the same detailed public-domain audited annual financial reports under penalty of perjury that genuine public schools file; and, (4) be required to operate so that anything a charter school buys with the public’s money should be the public’s property.
Those aren’t unreasonable requirements. In fact, they are common sense to taxpayers and to anyone who seeks to assure that America’s children — especially her neediest children — are optimally benefiting from public tax dollars intended for their education. But, after the internal scams of charter schools become exposed to taxpayers through routine public reporting, the charter school industry will dry up and disappear, and the money that the charter school industry has been draining away from America’s neediest children will again flow to those in need.
If charter schools were required to file the same financial statements that public schools file, the skimming of tax money would stop and hedge funds would move on to their next target, leaving the charter school “movement” to dry up.
“Transparency”
Transparency
Is enemy
Of shysters and of fraud
To shine a light
In blackest night
Is something to applaud
I just ran into this movie as well. A fictional dystopia about standardized testing that seems plausible.
The hidden goals behind pushing a “meritocracy…”
Nothing for public schools out of DC. In fact, public schools get another funding cut:
“Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is expected to offer details about the Trump administration’s vision for a federal investment in school choice in a major policy speech Monday.
DeVos is slated to speak at an Indianapolis summit hosted by her former group, The American Federation for Children, which advocates for school choice, the Education Department confirmed Wednesday night.”
They take public school kids and parents for granted. They offer us absolutely nothing of value.
Can we hire an advocate? Seems like there should be at least one person working on behalf of the school 90% of kids attend.
Ed reformers held a tech forum and neglected to invite public schools:
http://hechingerreport.org/know-learning-will-look-like-future-dont/
Don’t buy products from companies that aren’t interested in hearing from public schools.
Public schools are huge buyers. Demand better treatment. Don’t spend a dime on tech product until these for-profits stop bashing your schools.
Hechingerreport is funded by Gates.
If the US Congress, the US Department of Education and the President abandon public schools, can public school parents and kids abandon THEM?
Why should we accept directives or advice from people who seek to eradicate our schools?
That’s crazy. If I was opposed to the pricey private schools they all send their kids to they wouldn’t listen to my advice. Why do I have to listen to theirs?
(Diane, Please publish this post)
The great public-school advocate Matt Damon, sends his children to toney private schools. See
HE IS A HYPOCRITE!
If public schools are so fantastic, why doesn’t he send his own children to them?
Matt Damon is not a hypocrite. He has the right to choose a private school. He pays for it! He doesn’t ask the government to pay for it. I favor School Choice as long as those who choose private and religious schools pay for it. That is a private choice and should be paid for with private money.
OK. Rich people are entitled to school choice. People with less money are not.
Since you are opposed to government paying for alternate schools, would you compromise on educational savings accounts? This program permits individual families to save their own money, and then use the funds to pay for legitimate educational expenses. Any surplus can be rolled over, and used for next year’s expenses or for college tuition. NO government money is involved!
No.
Public school is a service provided to all by the government.
If you prefer a private or religious school, pay for it.
Rich people can buy BMws and Mercedes. They can live in mansions or penthouses. Rich people can fly first class. Vouchers are a hoax. Tax credits cheat the government of revenue. Educational savings accounts are vouchers. No poor child will be accepted at Sidwell Friends or Exeter or any other school for rich kids with a voucher.
ESAs are not about saving your own money. They are about withholding money you owe in taxes and getting a debit card that you can use for almost anything. The family can buy a computer with their ESA, then return it and use the credit for clothing. And the child gets no education at all. Some bright future for our country!
Exacto!
WOW 6 Years later….is anyone listening?
Why Are the Rich So Interested in Public-School Reform?
In other words, more than good teachers, more than targeted testing, more than careful calibrations of performance measures and metrics that can standardize and quantify every aspect of learning, it’s the messy business of life — where a child comes from and what he or she goes home to at the end of the day — that really determines success in school.
Q If you prefer a private or religious school, pay for it. END Q
Agreed, families should pay for the education of their children. But why pay twice? Why pay school taxes to a school you do not use, and then pay tuition at a school that you do use? As long as the child is educated, that should be good enough.
I work at the Pentagon. We are disbursing billions of dollars of tax money every day. The US Military buys tanks, and bullets, and radios, and computers, and all kinds of stuff.
But none of the items our military buys, are made by the military. We use the public money to contract with Lockheed, and General Dynamics, and other private sector firms.
The public school systems could follow this example. The education departments of the several states, could “purchase” education for the children, through private firms, and empower parents to have choice where to educate the children.
Your point about potential abuse of an ESA is well-taken. By the same logic, a person getting food stamps (SNAP), could use the food stamps to buy food, and then go out and sell the food for money to buy liquor and drugs.
Bottom Line: People almost always spend their own money, more carefully than they spend someone else’s money.
Charles,
Bottom line: thousands or millions of children who are uneducated.
Sorry, I don’t buy your analogy.
Contracting for the provision of military aircraft has no similarity to anything involving the children of a community. Charles’ reasoning continues to be a blight on society.
It’s incredibly selfish, Trump scale, in its audacity, to only want to pay for schools that your own kids attend. Education for a community’s children is paying it forward because someone gave people like Charles an education. Although, he wastes the opportunity, by writing the opinions of a jerk.
Q Contracting for the provision of military aircraft has no similarity to anything involving the children of a community. Charles’ reasoning continues to be a blight on society.
It’s incredibly selfish, Trump scale, in its audacity, to only want to pay for schools that your own kids attend. Education for a community’s children is paying it forward because someone gave people like Charles an education. END Q
I disagree. Consider the construction of new school buildings. The school board does not have their own architects and concrete mixers. The school board takes bids on the project, and then contracts the private firms, to build the schoolhouse. Take it down a notch. The cafeteria does not have their own milk cows and gardens, they buy milk and vegetables from private firms.
School systems do not have their own computer factories, they go to the private sector. Same with software. School systems buy chalk (do they still use chalk?) and dry-erase boards from private firms. My elementary school (back in 1962) hired a private speech teacher, to give language instruction to a girl in my class, with a speech impediment.
School systems spend public money on private educational services, all across this nation. They spend public money on physical plant, supplies, food, and even private sector teachers for special-needs children.
School choice/vouchers merely extend this concept, and permit parents to participate more directly in the process.
No one wants to pay only for the schools that their own children attend. School/education taxes pay for education for the entire society. And it is cost-effective. It is much cheaper to educate children that to pay for welfare costs for unemployable adults , or to incarcerate adults.
I have never had the honor and responsibility of parenthood. But I want to live in an educated society, and I am proud of the schools in my community. (I am not necessarily as proud of some of our nation’s public schools)
BTW- NO one ever “gave” me an education. The people in my community paid their taxes, and the tax money paid for my education. (except in the 4th grade, when I went to a private school).
Why are you asking Diane, Chas? Ask him if you really want to know.
The question was posed in the third person. Matt Damon will not respond to any inquiry of mine. My own congressman will not respond to my inquiries. Why should some big-shot Hollywood star, care what I think. Maybe Diane has some insight, I don’t know.
Charles,
I support many public services that I don’t use, like fire and police. Matt Damon pays his taxes to support public schools. If he is willing to pay, he can send his kids to nonpublic schools. That is a lame argument for school choice.
I thought that you were addressing Diane directly in the post due to your opening line of (Diane, Please publish this post).
I certainly understand that we peeons have few big-shot listeners, if any, though!!
Duane,
I delete many of Charles’ comments, first, because he bombards the blog, and second, because so many are repetitive briefs for schoolchiice, and third, because his constant harping on Choice is annoying.
Q I support many public services that I don’t use, like fire and police END Q
Why do you say this? I have a fire department down the road from my house. Although they have never been to my house to put out a fire, I “use” them. They are on-call 24/7. Because the F.D. is there, I pay much lower homeowner’s insurance rates. And the police are not out at my house arresting me, or investigating a burglary in my home, I “use” them, notwithstanding. The crime rate in my neighborhood is much lower, because of the police department.
I use the state prison system. The crime rate is lower, because bad people are incarcerated there, and the prison system deters potential criminals.
I have no children, but I benefit from the excellent school system in Fairfax, and the universities. Fairfax has one of the highest per-capita rate of residents with Master’s degrees, in the nation.
Taxes are the bill we pay for what we euphemistically call “civilization”.
If I’m not mistaken, Charles, you’re relatively new around here, no? I’ve been around almost since inception and I can tell you, while you may think your arguments are so original and clever, they’re not. Spend some time going through Diane’s archives and you’ll see that your points have already been asked and answered. Repeatedly.
@DIenne: I have been enjoying these discussions for some months now. I have never had an original idea in my life (ROFL).
I have been fighting and researching privatization of education ever since WA state chose the Pearson GED test from among 3 choices where the other 2, the TASC and the HiSET which are created by non-profits. Even though 2 bills have been entered into the WA state legislature asking for the HiSET (a high school equivalency test—they can’t use the name GED because Pearson has that name copyrighted—created by the non-profit Educational Testing Service) to be considered as an option in WA state.
The WA State Board for Community and Technical Colleges has not budged in its support for Pearson only and the only reason I can think of for this is that Pearson and Gates are so closely aligned and WA state does not want to do anything that might alienate Gates. WA state continues to give erroneous stats about the high success rate of the Pearson GED test when that just doesn’t jive with what teachers are seeing in their own classrooms. I wish someone could take on an investigation into the WA SBCTC to try to get to the bottom of this.
The Basic Academic Skills program I have taught in for over 25 years is now buying into computer programs like NROC to teach math. The approach as far as I can see is not a straightforward approach but is, like the Common Core, using a backward approach in learning and testing. It is, what I have heard, kind of like using a computer language instead of the language of human logic. I may be saying this wrong but maybe someone else can say it better? My students need human contact and care and not these confusing computer learning programs.
I have been pushed out of my job partly for fighting against this Pearson test and for not buying into computerized instruction. It is time for me to leave as I can no longer do my job! Now I can fight this privatization of education full time.
I have accumulated a lot of material addressing the privatization of education. I would love to start offering regular educator, parent, student, community workshops/forums etc. that center on awareness building about this issue and to organize actions.
I would love to host a screening in Bellingham WA. I would also like to volunteer for and with anyone working on the issue of privatization of education of education.
2 resources that have been very useful for me in this work on the privatization of education are books and websites produced by Elizabeth Hanson and David Spring. They have written a book and created a website of the same name: weaponsofmassdeception.org. The other little known resource is a group that was started after NAFTA called the Trinational Coalition in Defense of Public Education made up of educators from Canada, U.S., and Mexico, http://www.trinationalcoalition.org/
Thank you for the work you do. Again, I want you to know that I offer my services as a volunteer in the research and activism for the defense of public education in any of its forms (it has now entered very strongly the realm of Higher Ed.).
A major scandal has broken here in WashDC. The mayor has been accused of helping cronies by-pass the school lottery system. see
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/second-mayoral-appointee-implicated-in-school-lottery-scandal/2017/05/10/17e72092-35b2-11e7-b373-418f6849a004_story.html
Charles,
If you work at the Pentagon, you must be cheating your employer. You wrote 10-15 comments a day, all day.
I work evening shifts and weekends. I am not going to risk my job. The US military is a 24/7 operation.
Have you ever considered posting at The 74 or Education Post?
I visit and comment on a number of different blogs. It is no challenge to visit an “echo chamber”. I need to find out, what is happening across the spectrum.
I suppose if you visited the Yankees or Red Sox dugout, you would call it an echo chamber.
This is a blog for supporters of public education, credentialed teachers, and concerned parents and citizens who care about their local public schools.
Q I suppose if you visited the Yankees or Red Sox dugout, you would call it an echo chamber.
This is a blog for supporters of public education, credentialed teachers, and concerned parents and citizens who care about their local public schools. END Q
Fair enough. I am neutral about baseball, the only sport I give a hoot about is the ponies. (I was born in Louisville KY, on Derby Day, in the year of the horse.
I strongly support public education, and publicly-financed education. I can’t stop bragging about the public schools here in Fairfax. I wish all children had the opportunities that Fairfax children have. I consider it an honor to support these excellent schools with my taxes.
I support teachers. My late grandmother was a teacher. Both my sisters have taught in public schools. I am an accredited substitute teacher, in Fairfax public schools. I support higher pay for teachers, I support more intense training for teachers. I support alternative certification, like the “career switcher” program here in Virginia (which is also supported by the VA teacher’s organizations).
I am not a parent. I have never had the honor of being a parent. My wife had two miscarriages, it has always been a disappointment for us.
I care about my public schools. I care more about the future of America’s children. I can multi-task, and care about alternate schools as well.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/05/18/trump-administration-raid-public-ed-fund-school-choice-programs
As Diane declares: “Don’t agonize. Organize.”