Bill Phillis read Betsy DeVos’s prepared remarks at the Brookings Institution and it occurred to him that she literally doesn’t know what she is talking about. Bill is a retired deputy superintendent of schools for the state of Ohio and he works tirelessly to protect public schools against Governor Kasich and the Ohio legislature’s love of privatization.
Betsy DeVos, speaking at the Brookings Institution, said that we must think about funding individual children, not institutions or buildings in order to serve the greater public good. That logic would suggest that each citizen should be provided a tax voucher to purchase personal security while police departments and other safety forces are being dismantled. Why not abandon the Brookings Institution and provide some kind of voucher to allow Brookings employees to be paid to freelance their services?
DeVos’ answer to every question is “more choice” outside the real public system at taxpayer’s expense. Her view of public common good seems jaded by her anti-public school craze for choice. It appears she does not understand that each state has a constitutional provision requiring public education as an institution. It is through the institution of the public common school that the public common good is nurtured.
People organize states and nations for the common good. Tax funds are collected for public goods and services, e.g. roads, public safety, national security, education, etc. The public funds do not belong to individual citizens as an incentive to select private choices. Public institutions provide for current and future citizens. Individual choices relate to the here and now-not to future long-term benefits to society.
Government must not be the servant of special interests. The very idea of a commonwealth-the people collectively-is antithetical to the use of public funds for private purposes.
Even non-government groups, such as parent-teacher organizations, come together to promote common purposes. Local PTAs or PTOs raise funds for agreed upon projects. They don’t assign the funds to individual members for each to promote a project of their choice.
There are those who believe that a few unelected leaders should determine what constitutes the public good for all other citizens. Possibly, that philosophy is embraced by DeVos.
DeVos and those of her ilk are absolutely wrong that school choice promotes the public common good. It is time for all citizens to become engaged in ensuring public resources are used exclusively for the common good.
William L. Phillis | Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding | 614.228.6540 | ohioeanda@sbcglobal.net| http://www.ohiocoalition.org
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Who was ever under the impression that Devos and her ilk were for the common good?
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Not clueless. Malicious and mendacious.
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Common good, common God.
Six of one, a half dozen of the other.
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For The Betsy, it’s the common god. For the rest of us, fight each other tooth and nail for a bit of the first after the folks designated by the common god appropriate as much of that common good as they deem necessary (which is all if at all possible).
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Betsy does worship God, and his name is Money . . . His disciples are the banksters, and his temple is Wall Street. Betsy is devout, pious, and unquestioningly faithful in her holy pursuit of the God almighty dollar.
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But it sounds so good, doesn’t it?
Everyone gets the individual choice they want and no one has to sacrifice anything or contribute anything to anyone else’s kid.
She literally told those people in Ohio they could have a strong public system along with as many “choice” schools as opened, which is nonsense. She knows darn well the public system will take a hit with her free market plan, and if she doesn’t know that she isn’t doing much thinking.
They never mention the possible downside of these experiments. It’s all hearts and flowers. They never mention Van Wert, Ohio could end up with fragmented mess where there are NO strong schools at the end of all this. That’s a distinct possibility, but it’s inconvenient to tell the public that so we get “choice!” where they pretend there are no trade-offs.
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I believe she has to look no further than what has happened to the public schools in her own home town of Holland, Michigan.
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Talking about ‘Holland’, or rather The Netherlands (where Betsy DeVos-Prince’s great-grandfather Derk Prince was born) may be relevant here. In 1997, neolib politicians have privatized the Dutch public school system in a similar vein as Betsy DeVos now would like to do in the US.
The Dutch school system used to be partly private: Christian schools have always been independent from government interference, while being publicly funded since 1917. As laid down in our Constitution, religion-based schools received the same money (per student) as public schools.
There has always been a very strong Christian movement in The Netherlands fighting for education ‘freed’ from government rules and regulations. It is quite likely that Betsy DeVos is raised in that tradition, with her apparent Dutch background in Michigan.
Per 1997, all secondary schools in The Netherlands were privatized, and in 2005 all primary schools followed. All schools receive a standard sum of public money (about $7500 per student per year) in a lumpsum construction. This means that private school boards can spend the money in the way they want, without ear marks, and with very little financial accountability.
Since that privatization, the Dutch have seen a HUGE increase in public spenditure on education. Or rather, a HUGE money flow from government into the pockets of private school boards. From 1997 to 2010, the lumpsum rose from 13 to 29 billion annually (!). Corrected for inflation, this is a net increase of 65%.
All the while, the number of students remained the same. Class size remained the same. Teacher salaries remained the same, only increasing by the inflation rate.
Yet the salaries and bonuses of school board members and private financial supervising boards have increased HUGELY, up to the level of four times a veteran teacher’s salary, and nearing the salary of our prime minister.
Besides, school boards use the extra money for their own favorite ‘policies’, projects, ‘educational travels’ around the world, their new-built offices, their quasi royal courts consisting of ‘policy makers’, ‘advisors’, ‘consultants’, ‘coordinators’ and what have you. They stack public money in bank accounts and use it for risky investments. In the past ten years, there have been many financial scandals involving private school boards who abused the public funds and lost it.
This is what privatization of our school system has yielded: it costs MUCH more money for the same, or even less, quality.
Although a net 65% extra budget for education may look good on papier, in reality it has contributed NOTHING to the quality of Dutch education. Its results as measured by PISA are gradually decreasing, while the results of similar countries increase.
One out of every four to five Dutch teachers is unqualified for the level at which they teach, because with a vast lack of qualified teachers, private school boards allow for a massive (and secret) influx of non-qualified people, so they won’t have to send classes back home. The Dutch now have the lowest educated and qualified influx in the teaching profession of all of Europe. Classes are comparably large (up to 32 students) and we teach 27 hours a week. No wonder that the teaching profession does not attract many young talents.
The Dutch ministry of education has NO IDEA what school boards actually do with that 65% of extra budget – and it does not want to know. The result is that Dutch tax payers have no idea what happens with their money that is supposed to be spent on education, and that the private boards are not held accountable to the people they receive their money from.
This is the direction in which Betsy DeVos is steering your country. And my guess is that she won’t be changing her track easly: the financial interests she defends are HUGE.
The best you can do is DEMAND TOTAL TRANSPARENCY on how your education-bound tax dollar is spent by private school boards. In The Netherlands, we ‘forgot’ to regulate this aspect of privatization, while it could have avoided, or at least limited, the financial perversion that has taken place here. You are probably going to have to FIGHT for such transparency, because it is not in the interest of private schools.
Why can such public transparency be demanded from private school boards? Your best argument is that this is public money spent on – like Diane rightfully defends – public interests. That is: the public (economic, social & cultural) interest of a well-educated society; plus all the individual interests of pupils who are lawfully entrusted to these publicly funded schools.
I wish you luck.
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Thanks, hminkema, for that primer on the Netherlands experience with privatization. Says it all! 🙂
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Ditto.
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At the height of ed reform in Ohio they were gloating that they “flooded the market” with charter schools.
Just appalling. As if these communities were some kind of experimental population that they could play with. There was NO concern at all for the chaos they were creating or the damage they were doing to public school systems. It was all just collateral damage in their pursuit of privatization.
It was good in one way, though. People here are less vulnerable to their sales pitches now. We’ve heard the whole spiel so many times it isn’t accepted as gospel anymore.
They WILDLY over-promised and that created real doubt.
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Oh, that Ohio would fight back in such a way as to illustrate solutions.
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The wealthy are leading the charge against the Common Good. They have no need for it. Betsy looks at the world through her “godly” blinders, and she can’t see much else other than what she wants to impose on other people’s children.
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If providing funds to individuals to purchase services and goods is such a terrible idea, then why do we have food stamps, chapter 8 housing, AFDC, and other such programs? We could phase out social security, and put old people in retirement homes run by the government.
We have BEOG’s, where people are given a fixed sum, and then the recipients get to use the funds for their educational expenses (at the university level). I received BEOG’s when I was in college. I used the funds for tuition and books, but I also purchased food, and other necessities. The BEOG was mine, to use as I chose, without restriction.
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We all pay taxes to provide funds for the common services. I may never need the services of the fire department, but I still pay for them. There are roads I will never drive on, but my taxes go to keep them in repair. I hope I never need to rely on the local food bank, but my local taxes support it. No one hands you money from the common pool to do with what you will. It serves a particular purpose that is available to all those who need it. By pooling our resources, we can support our potential common needs for the good of the community as a whole.
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Q No one hands you money from the common pool to do with what you will. END Q
I disagree. What about:
BEOG’s Money given to individuals without restriction
College payments on the GI Bill. As long as you pass your courses, the money is provided without restriction.
Welfare payments like AFDC. Money with no strings attached.
and on and on.
Food Stamps (SNAP). Use the stamps to buy Cheetos and soda pop, as long as it is food for human consumption.
Individuals receive payments from governments, in many categories.
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” No one hands you money from the common pool to do with what you will. It serves a particular purpose that is available to all those who need it.” Each of those programs, paid for by our taxes to support anyone who qualifies, provides funds for a specific purpose under specific eligibility criteria.
Here’s a website you should look at: https://www.snaptohealth.org/snap/snap-frequently-asked-questions/
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Does anyone know to which Brookings report Devos is referring? She references “Russ _____ article”. I’ve looked at the Brooking’s site and haven’t found it. Any help would be appreciated.
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Duane. the link is highlighted and it works, or try this: https://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/us-secretary-education-betsy-devos-prepared-remarks-brookings-institution
William L. Phillis is really on top of the problems in Ohio and nationally. I appreciate his thoroughness and wisdom.
The idea of the Common Good has been morphed into customer choice (if subsidized) and into a market to be exploited for profit.
A remnant of concern for social and civic well-being is now packaged in for-profit financial products known as social impact bonds (SIBS) and pay-for-success contracts.These products are being used to fund preschool programs in Utah and in Chicago, and are being promoted by the Harvard School of Business among others. Obama supported the SIB incubator at Harvard with our tax dollars. Recent investors in SIBs expect a return on investment of at least 5%, with 7% if the funded programs “exceed expectations.” United Way services are among other programs being co-opted for potential profits.
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Yes, I read the speech (I think I lost some brain cells on that reading. Oh well can’t kill em with alcohol anymore so I might as well kill em somehow). I was wondering to who she was referring with “Russ” and to what she was referring with his “report”.
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to whom, eh! ay ay ay.
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Hi señor Swacker:
I agree with you that some of our brain cells have been killed on that reading.
His full name is Grover J. “Russ” Whitehurst. He received his Ph.D. in experimental child psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1970.
If you are interested to explore about his profile, here is his wikipedia link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grover_Whitehurst
i hope that you would not waste more of your brain cells to read about people who did not care for common goods, but the mighty dollars. I hope that you will have great summer 2017 and all is well with you and your loved ones. xxxxx. May
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Thanks for the info May! Doing okay, this getting older stuff is for the birds-but I guess the price of my younger indulgences are catching up-LOL! I tell all younger that they should stop getting older!! But if the price of pain is what it takes to keep going, well, it beats the other option. . . until I run out of money-heh heh heh!
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Common good is all the money that family can put in their pockets. How are they getting away with this crap when money from charter schools is coming into their pockets. It’s against the law.
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The good are common (that’s us, the 99%!).
And that all means there are a lot more of us than them, & WE are fighting for the good of this country, especially for our kids.
Still saying, yes WE can…& WE WILL.
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I just realized there is a mistake in the title of the post. It should read:
Betsy DeVos is clueless!
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I noticed the same thing.
“Redumbdancy”
Betsy D. is clueless
And what about is moot
To specify is fruitless
Superfluous to boot
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As usual, succinct and true!
Gracias por tus poemas.
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DeVoodoo ONLY THINKS about HERSELF and her pocketbook…period. There’s NO HOPE FOR HER. She’s a puppet and a DITZ.
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This idea that the “common good” applies to individuals and not institutions is such a new idea to me, but one I hear more and more often. One of the most enlightening podcasts I’ve heard recently was from The Commonwealth Club of California where Yaron Brook of the Ayn Rand Institute and economist Alan Auerbach at Berkeley debated income inequality; Dr. Brook argued that “there is no ‘we'” –that everyone is/should be motivated by what’s best for him- or herself and that there IS not “common good.”
Yes, I’ve read about Ayn Rand, and I’ve heard libertarian talking points, and I hate to be completely naive, but I was truly flabbergasted by the idea that “there is no ‘we'” when talking about the greater good. I was raised in a small town by parents who demonstrated their commitment to our community by volunteering (in school, in the library, for local community groups, church, local volunteer fire dept., etc.), and grew up believing that one must give back to the community. To me, this is such an “of course!” that I never considered that others would feel differently about this.
So when I hear Betsy DeVos talking about funding for the “individual child” instead of our institutions, it seems like an extension of this idea. Sure, it’s all great — if you’re rich, connected, and have a million options. But most people aren’t. Our public schools should be good for everyone, we ALL have a stake in them. We all need to share the responsibility and support our public schools.
I know this may seem a bit off topic, but I found the discussion on the podcast to be fascinating, frustrating, enlightening, appalling, and — for me–a helpful glimpse into a mindset I had a difficult time imagining. Here’s the link, in case anyone else is interested in hearing why, in this person’s opinion, there “is no common good.”
https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/archive/podcast/income-inequality-and-future-american-dream-differing-perspectives
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Your comments are not at all off topic.
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Thanks. I read this blog every day but rarely post. Too shy. 🙂
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Dive in once you feel comfortable. New voices are are always needed.
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