Dustin Marshall, the businessman who sends his own children to private school, was re-elected to the Dallas school board in a run-off election against parent Lori Kirkpatrick.
The result was a significant reversal from May’s three-way race between Marshall, Kirkpatrick and Richard Young. Kirkpatrick almost won the seat outright, beating Marshall by 291 votes, but falling 23 votes shy of the required 50 percent threshold.
Kirkpatrick’s election would have flipped the board. Marshall’s election keeps it where it has been, in the status quo grip of fake reformers.
It always comes down to turnout.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
In good news-Hedge funder John Paulson who gave $8.5 mil. to charter schools, was described by Bloomberg news today. “The walls keep closing in on John Paulson…. Since the end of 2015, assets have fallen by $6 bil.” due to losses and client withdrawals.
How much did out-of-state autocratic billionaires donate to Marshall’s campaign? Was it anywhere close to the recent Los Angeles school board election?
Out of state $$$$$$ is horrifying. This should not happen. But we are a nation of special interests by big $$$$$ … terrible and disgusting.
I actually had one person (male) who was the “go-fer” told me to think of those poor children in Appalachia re: ccss. Geez, this person worked in a rich Midwest northern suburban school district and is white. Unbelievable. Guess the “white privileged” think everyone else has no clue.
Anyone like this white privileged fool that doesn’t get it falls into that part of Lincoln’s quote that said some of the people will be fooled all of the time. That means that some people will be clueless fools from cradle to grave.
OMG! How anyone who sends their child(ten) to private school(s) has no business running for a public school board. Sickens me.
“Senators had a clear message for U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos in a budget hearing here Wednesday: Don’t get too attached to your budget proposal.
Republican and Democratic senators on the Senate education appropriations subcommittee expressed skepticism about cuts and eliminated programs in the budget proposal for the U.S. Department of Education. And Democrats sparred with DeVos over how the spending blueprint for fiscal 2018 handles Title I spending on disadvantaged students, and how a voucher proposal would handle issues of discrimination.
“This is a difficult budget request to defend,” Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., ”
Don’t be fooled by this, and don’t let your senators and house member get away with it.
DeVos and Trump started really low- they knew they wouldn’t get the public school cuts they want but they also know they will get some. Ignore what they say and look at the final numbers.
If Congress ends up with a NET cut or FLAT funding they cut funding to your public school-bottom line.
They’ll attempt to weasel out of it because it’s big numbers and they play games with them- don’t let them. This Congress has consistently cut funding for public school kids since 2010. They should be held accountable for that by public school parents.
This is what I mean about the selective information we’re getting on “blended learning”:
“Elliot Soloway points to the Carpe Diem Collegiate High School and Middle School, a charter school in Yuma, Az. Although the school has received praise for improved test scores, Soloway is disturbed by many aspects of Carpe Diem’s version of blended learning. Specifically, when students are online they sit in cubicles, plugged into headphones, seemingly cut off — for at least a good chunk of the school day—from their peers and the few teachers hired by the school. The school’s web site even brags that “with dozens of cubicles filling a large, open room, Carpe Diem resembles a corporate office more than a traditional school.”
“Test scores go up because you drill the heck out of the kids,” says Soloway. “But what’s ‘personal’ about this model? Students shouldn’t be cut off for up to three-quarters of the school day. Carpe Diem hires very few teachers and they have very little instructional role. Students need teachers to help them figure things out. That’s what learning is all about, not being spoon-fed by a computer,” Soloway says.”
Ed reform and the federal government never mention this “model”. They are snowing you. “Blended learning” is just as likely to end up as a cheap replacement for teachers pushed onto lower income kids as it is some wonderful fairy tale version of “individualized learning”.
Ask yourself why ed reform never tells you the downside risk. That’s a red flag. “Unbiased people” would tell you upside AND downside.
Be wary of people who don’t support public schools but seek to sell product TO public schools. Be critical. Be wary. If it sounds too good to be true, IT IS.
http://neatoday.org/2017/06/09/personalized-learning/