Why do so many Tepublicans hate public schools? They know that funding for education is a zero-sum game. More money for privately-run charters and vouchers means less money for public schools.
Today, Governor Rick Scott of Florida signed into law a bill that transfers more money away from public schools to the privately-run schools.
The charter industry in Florida has been riddled with scandals and frauds. The for-profit charter industry is making money.
In the article cited, Valerie Strauss explains the legislation and the harm it will do to the public schools attended by the great majority of Florida’s students.
Why are Republicans like Rick Scott determined to shift money from public schools to private schools?
It is a scam. Shameful.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
WTF does this mental midget doesn’t understand about Public and Private? If it a religious school that is against the law.
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It’s all a money grab, at the expense of our future, our children. Rat bastards!
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AGREE! SICK people.
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This is all part of the autocrat, psycho billionaires’ plot, the deconstruction of the Constitutional Republic the Founding Fathers created.
Ben Franklin warned us when he said, “A republic, if you can keep it.”
And Thomas Jefferson told us what we’d have to do from time to time to keep it.
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Lloyd,
You have suggested that we recall Jefferson’s advice that we periodically need a rebellion to keep the republic. Blood. May have made sense when everyone had muskets. Makes no sense today.
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“Government is like fire, a dangerous servant, and a terrible master”- George Washington. All citizens, regardless of the political beliefs, must keep a close watch on government.
“Any government powerful enough to give the people all that they want is also powerful enough to take from the people all that they have.” -T. Jefferson
When the people started looking to the federal government, to provide for K-12 education, they did not realize, that federal control would soon follow.
Education, should be a state/municipal operation, so that the people can have more direct control, and not have to depend on a Washington DC establishment, to micro-manage the educational process, nationwide.
Another reason to abolish the Dept of Education.
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Charles,
“The people” did not ask for NCLB. That law gave the federal government control over every public school. It was based on the lie of a “Texas miracle.”
Blame George W for the Feds interfering, not “the people.”
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Fair enough. The “people” did not ask for NCLB. It gave the feds control over local public schools. If this program is so terrible, then why has it not been repealed? Opponents of NCLB should start a petition, and demand that their elected representatives repeal/replace it.
The maxim in common law is “Qui tacet consentire” which means “Whom is silent, consents”. If the people remain silent, in the face of such an abomination, the government must construe their silence as consent.
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Charles,
NCLB is a failed law that should have been repealed. It was replaced in 2015 by another law that is almost as bad. Why? Because so few members of Congress ever worked in schools and their ideas about education are group think of the worst kind.
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If the replacement program that you mentioned is bad, then it should be repealed/replaced as well. Two wrongs do not make a right.
I agree, that there are very few academicians in congress. (Lyndon B. Johnson was a school teacher, Woodrow Wilson was a college president, Eisenhower ran Columbia, etc). I do not see this as a problem.
Very few politicians served in the Air Force, but they are charged with promulgating military policy. Very few politicians are farmers, but they create agricultural policy. Very few politicians are engineers, but they draft telecommunications policy (quite badly, I can tell you!). Very few politicians are doctors, but they craft our medical policy. And so on.
Many of the crowd on capitol hill, are lawyers. And politicians are entrusted with the strictly limited “power of attorney” of the people, to draft all kinds of laws, in which they are not expert. The responsibility lies with the people, to instruct politicians with their wishes and desires. Politicians can either follow these, or face the voters on election day.
We agree that politicians ideas about education, and their group think is often at variance with the people’s wishes. And this extends down to the local school board level.
This “disconnect” is the reason, that many (not all) people are dissatisfied with government-run schools. This is why so many people want to get the government (at all levels) OUT of the education arena altogether.
This expulsion of government, can best be accomplished by the use of vouchers. The total and absolute divorce of political input into the running and operation of the nation’s school system. Give the choice and control to parents, to decide where and how their children are educated.
You see, we agree!
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Charles,
Congress votes budgets for many functions but does not tell the generals how to fight wars; does not tell farmers what to plant or how; does not get into the daily actions of those it funds. Only in education does Congress have the chutzpah to tell teachers and administrators what to do.
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Charles,
Please stop sending links from the Heritage Foundation, the Friedman Foundation, and Edchoice.
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I disagree. I work at the Pentagon. Congress tells the armed services which airplanes to buy, which tanks to buy, which radios to buy ,etc. Congress micro-manages everything here, because only Congress can provide the funding to run military programs. No bucks, no “Buck Rogers”.
In 1973, Congress cut off funding for the Vietnam war see:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-hayden/cutting-off-funding-for-w_b_43917.html
Congress micro-manages agricultural policy, with set-aside and agricultural subsidy programs. The government has, for many years, regulated which crops farmers can plant, and how many acres can be cultivated. See the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 (repealed)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_Adjustment_Act
The federal government can tell an individual how many acres he can plant, to feed his own family, even if the crops are not sold! see Wickard v. Filburn (1942)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wickard_v._Filburn
Congress micro-manages all types of activities, including education.
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Charles,
Nothing is micro-managed to the extent that education is, by politicians who could not pass the tests they mandate. Few could pass even the eighth grade math tests.
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I should have kept track of all the places you claim to have worked. It seems you have worked in every sector. How old are you – 100, 200, 300?
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Lloyd,
I noticed that too.
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I can lend you one, Diane!
(just kidding)
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Chas,
“When the people started looking to the federal government, to provide for K-12 education,”
Umm, I don’t believe that people have looked for the feds to do such a thing. They have looked to the Fed Dept of Ed to enforce states to not discriminate against certain sectors, i.e., African Americans, females, the disabled, etc. . . . And in doing so the FDE provided funds, albeit certainly not enough to cover the costs of the mandates, to help states do so.
Your take in the FDE in this case if off base.
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Chas,
You’d better brush up on the edudeformer and privateer talking points as you left something out in this statement:
“Give the choice and control OF THE STUDENT’S TAX MONIES to parents, to decide where and how their children are educated.
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You have every right, not to publish information from pro-choice organizations like Heritage. The Friedman foundation changed their name to EdChoice July 29, 2016.
I highly suggest that people who are opposed to school choice, read their information, and study it carefully, though.
Sun-Tzu, the great Chinese general and warlord, wrote a book called “The art of War”, which is a modern best-seller. Corporate CEOs and politicians, and engineers, read this book, and apply its lessons.
I have referenced this masterpiece, many times, in my writings.
If you wish to win the “war”, to keep America’s children locked into publicly-operated schools, you should read this book, and take it to heart.
The Chinese war strategist believed that success in battle requires that you know yourself as well as you know your enemy. You have to understand your own strengths, as well as your competitors’, if you are to succeed.
“If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles.” – Sun Tzu
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Charles,
I know th enemy. I was part of three rightwing think tanks. This blog will not post propaganda for views that are harmful to children, teachers, public schools, and democracy.
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If the Koch brothers are successful in getting the Constitutional Convention they want, I think that might change. Muskets are out of date. Today, we have automatic weapons and from what I’ve been reading, thanks to Trump, Betsy DeVos and the GOP, criminals and mentally unstable people have access to those weapons too.
Koch brothers anarchy will be worse than a revolution.
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I am 63 years old. I am a telecommunications engineer. I have worked in many different fields. I was in the State Department (Foreign Service), in telecommunications. I served for 10 years in Iraq/Afghanistan, doing contract work for the Defense Department. I served in the Air Force for 5 years. I supervised the installation of the telephone system for the King of Saudi Arabia. I have sold cars. I have supervised a project for the National Weather Service. I have worked from Maine to California, and 16 years in foreign countries. I did the preliminary engineering studies for the cable television system of Karachi, Pakistan. I have prepared instructional materials for a vocational/technical school, in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. I have installed video security cameras on the Pakistan border. I was married to a Chinese woman, divorced her, then I married a Russian. I directed the communications at the US Embassy in Mozambique. I have been shot at, and I have been to Arkansas.
Read all about it at:
http://www.beyond.com/charlesmartin-va
(BTW- I was educated in public schools!)
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In other words, you are an international gypsie for hire.
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I woke up this morning with these thoughts swimming around in my muddled head.
If we don’t have a Jeffersonian revolution to nourish and save the tree of liberty, we are probably headed for a Balkanized style Civil War what with the Alt-Right extremist shift in the GOP causing a political climate in the United States with little or no middle ground between the major political parties, and it doesn’t help that the Koch brothers and their fascist ALEC machine are hell bent on rewriting the U.S. Constitution and turning the United States into a Koch-style Libertarian Anarchy.
I met an old-style libertarian recently who told me what the Koch brothers represent has nothing to do with real libertarianism. The Koch brothers’ cabal represents a racist, fascist libertarianism with a strong side order of anarchy.
And then we have Bill Gates meeting with Donald Trump in December of 2015 after the Kremlin’s Agent Orange wins the White House and Gates leaves the meeting with only this to say, that Trump has the opportunity to be like JFK.
What kind of innovation was Gates talking about – replacing the working class with AI robots?
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/13/after-talking-with-trump-bill-gates-likens-president-elect-to-jfk.html
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Looks like some kind of problem with the site. comments keep disappearing.
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If comments are vanishing, it is the right of the Blog’s host to delete any comment she does not approve of. I have four blogs that I host, and I also have that right.
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Given that the ed reform “movement” so dominates state and federal government, can public school parents get some of assurance that public schools will be fairly considered for awarding of state and federal grants?
Can they identify which public employees advocate for public schools in government? How many? What’s the percentage as compared to lobbyists who promote charters and vouchers? Once the grants are awarded can we get some analysis or breakdown on the share of grants that went to the schools ed reform promotes (charter and private schools) and the share that went to the unfashionable (and unrepresented) public schools?
The US Department of Ed met recently with charter and voucher promoters. The meeting was closed to the press so I’m not sure what plans were discussed, but since public schools were deliberately excluded, are there plans to set up a private meeting with public school advocates?
Do any of these public employees think it’s a little ridiculous that none of them advocate for public schools? Does that strike them as odd? An indication that they may have been completely and utterly captured, the fact that they ignore or denigrate the vast majority of students and schools?
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What’s POLITICALLY interesting is that politicians know people want education funding. DeVos denied she cut funding. Instead she proclaimed an “historic investment”
Scott Walker denies cutting public school funding too. He declared he increased funding, yesterday.
So- despite all the blather about “the public demanding” these people eradicate public schools they DON’T actually run on that, because they know the public isn’t demanding that or they would run on it. They know better and when their own careers are at stake they sing a much different tune.
Go back and look at the campaign advertising from the charter promoter who was just elected to the school board in LA. He insisted he was NOT all about charters. It was central to his campaign.
If privatization is so wildly popular why don’t any of them run on it? They go out of their way to deny it. It’s only within the closed circle of ed reform that it’s presented as “charter and voucher support”. To the broader public it’s presented as a passionate commitment to “improving public schools”.
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I give John Kasich credit for one thing. He’s an ed reformer who doesn’t even pretend to have any interest in public schools. You won’t get any denials from him! He’s proud to be an anti-public school governor, in a state where 90% of children attend public schools. I don’t think he could FIND a public school in this state.
At least it’s honest. He has the courage of his convictions.
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Public school kids in Ohio really lucked out. The state was completely captured by ed reform but then there was a scandal – Kasich installed a political operative who was caught out misrepresenting charter stats by an alert Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter.
There was a shake-up at the Ohio Dept of Ed and we’ve seen a real change. They now sometimes work on issues relevant to 90% of the students in the state instead of focusing exclusively on promoting and expanding vouchers and charters.
Purely by happenstance, but public school kids got a kind of reprieve.
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This is DeVos’ speech to the charter school convention:
“While some of you have criticized the President’s budget—which you have every right to do—it’s important to remember that our budget proposal supports the greatest expansion of public school choice in the history of the United States. It significantly increases support for the Charter School Program, and adds an additional $1 billion for public school choice for states that choose to adopt it.”
What amazes me is the US Department of Education don’t even believe they have to offer ANYTHING to public school parents and students.
This is completely accepted in DC- announcing that while they are cutting funding for public schools they are increasing funding for the schools they promote and prefer.
It’s as public school parents and students don’t exist. They don’t even pretend to add value. In fact, they JUSTIFY the cuts to public schools with increases to charters and vouchers. They don’t worry about this at all. They’re confident they can take public school children and parents for granted and NO ONE in DC will object.
DeVos wasn’t elected but Congress is! They have districts and states where there is probably a public school every 5 miles, AT LEAST. Doesn’t matter.
THAT’S capture.
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Part of the reason, that so few politicians have such “lukewarm” support for publicly-operated schools, is that most of them send their own children to private schools. Very few (Washington) politicians send their children to DC public schools.
This is why I have supported a “slumlord” law, to force all politicians to send their children to publicly-operated schools. This would force the politicians to ensure that publicly-operated schools would get adequate funding and political support.
As long as politicians keep their children in private schools, do not expect them to support public schools.
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“Part of the reason, that so few politicians have such “lukewarm” support for publicly-operated schools, is that most of them ARE PAID TO NOT SUPPORT THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PLUS, THEY send their own children to private schools.”
There, corrected your statement
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HB 7069 was done behind closed doors and not out in the public. The legislators started throwing different amendments into HB 7069 which increased it to a 278 page bill – some of which never saw the light of day and some that were already shot down in the senate. Scott was angry the legislators took away his funding for FL tourism……after a closed door meeting with speaker of the house – Cochran…..Scott got his funding. I’m sure that was in exchange for not vetoing HB 7069. The FL legislators don’t give a rat’s ass about our kids and care more about making profits from charter school laws. How the hell can they justify giving funding to the charter schools with such a horrendous track record of scams and fraud. It’s absolutely despicable what the FL legislators are doing to our kids. Title 1 funds are also to be given to charter schools. Charter schools that discriminate and don’t take special needs kids….it’s absolutely shameful that some of the senators only voted for HB 7069 because they were “assured” Scott would veto it. FL taxpayers and registered voters will NOT forget this. Time to drain the cesspool.
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Half of the FBOE and legislators in Florida own charter schools or have ties to charter schools. They are the ones that will benefit from HB 7069 – NOT our kids. It is a very sad turn of events.
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Meanwhile, in California (must read):
https://edsource.org/2017/gov-brown-democrats-do-a-favor-for-public-employee-unions/583352
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Here is the Florida House of Representatives’ propaganda video on the bill’s passing.
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I am proud of my international work. I served for two years, on a front-line combat base in West Germany, during the cold war. I served for two years, directing the communications at the US Embassy in Mozambique, during the Mozambican civil war. I served on combat bases in Iraq/Afghanistan for over 10 years. I directed the computer operations at five combat bases, in Anbar province, Iraq, and commuted to work by helicopter. I worked in Saudi Arabia, during the first Gulf War.
It is better to be employed in Afghanistan, that unemployed in Virginia.
The State Department’s most recent figure (January 2013) of U.S. citizens living overseas (which is the source of other organizations’ estimates such as the Association of Americans Resident Overseas [AARO]) stands at 6.8 million, up from 6.3 million in July 2012.
Every American who works in a foreign country, creates about 6 jobs in the USA.
I like to say, computers run the Army, and I run the computers.
I now drive a desk in the Pentagon, providing engineering support for Army telecommunications. I am justifiably proud of my work, there too.
If you want to read more about it, see
http://www.cemab4y.blogspot.com
BTW- The “Romani” people do not like to be called “gypsys”, it is a derogatory term
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