Archives for the month of: July, 2017
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Peter Greene: How to Identify the Real Reformers

By dianeravitch
July 27, 2017 //
2

Peter Greene here reviews an attempt by a Destroy Public Schools group to define “a real reformer.”

He writes:

“Real reformsters don’t admit poverty as any sort of excuse. RR believe that the only accountability is accountability based on test scores. Parents should have control of who gets the money attached to their child. And innovation should happen because the US education sky is falling.

“Big fakes talk accountability without explaining it, “banter on” about how poverty actually affects students, and try to claim pre-school as a growth for old, faily public ed instead of letting privatizers stake out that market unchallenged.

“You’ll note that the tune for the accountability polka has changed a bit since 2014– choice fans are less attached to the idea of test-based accountability now that it hasn’t worked out so well for choicey programs. In fact, CER just cranked out a whole book on the theme of “Maybe we shouldn’t get so picky about accountability and test scores.” Weaponizing test results was only attractive when the weapons didn’t bite reformsters in the butt.

“Teachers Unions

Real reformsters know that unions suck and stand in the path of every good and true reformy idea. Contracts and job security somehow make people not want to be teachers. RR understand that the public school system is just a scam for the unions to suck up tax dollars for their political purposes

“Faux reformers– well, I’m just going to cut and paste this, because if I paraphrase the hatred here you’ll think I’m just exaggerating for effect:

“Issues gobs of praise for the teaching profession, for teachers in general, and begins to make excuses that the job is really much harder than most realize and never fully addresses what stands in their way.

“Discusses, proposes, or advocates having an honest conversation with the union leadership, who (s)he sincerely believes wants what’s best for children.

“These fake reformsters might even brag about having developed a policy by collaborating with teachers. Such people are traitors to the reformy agenda and must be purged. Teachers suck and have no interest in educating children, nor do they care about children or communities or anything.

“School Choice

“Real reformsters support parent choice, and the focus on creating an “environment” where lots of education flavored businesses can thrive. Because really, it’s all about using education tax dollars to provide private businesses with entrepreneurial opportunities.”

It gets better and better.

Know your reformers.

Categories Education Reform

Trump Gives Sam Brownback a Way to Escape Kansas Before the Posse Arrives

By dianeravitch
July 27, 2017 //
16

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback made a mess of Kansas with his application of big tax cuts and trickle-down economics. His strategy failed, and he needed an escape route.

Trump rescued him by making him an ambassador to no country in particular.

He will be in charge of International Religious Stuff.

He got out of town one step ahead of the posse.

You might say he is the worst governor in the nation, but then there is always Chris Christie, Rick Scott, Scott Walker, Rick Snyder. Lots of competition.

Categories Accountability

When Hospitals Privatize Emergency Care, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

By dianeravitch
July 27, 2017 //
26

The New York Times revealed what happened when a hospital decided to turn its emergency room services over to a private contractor.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.nytimes.com/2017/07/24/upshot/the-company-behind-many-surprise-emergency-room-bills.amp.html

“Early last year, executives at a small hospital an hour north of Spokane, Wash., started using a company called EmCare to staff and run their emergency room. The hospital had been struggling to find doctors to work in its E.R., and turning to EmCare was something hundreds of other hospitals across the country had done.

That’s when the trouble began.

“Before EmCare, about 6 percent of patient visits in the hospital’s emergency room were billed for the most complex, expensive level of care. After EmCare arrived, nearly 28 percent got the highest-level billing code.

“A small, rural hospital in Washington State, Newport Hospital and Health Services, outsourced its emergency room, as many hospitals have. Soon it started hearing from patients confused by getting large bills from the E.R. doctors.

“On top of that, the hospital, Newport Hospital and Health Services, was getting calls from confused patients who had received surprisingly large bills from the emergency room doctors. Although the hospital had negotiated rates for its fees with many major health insurers, the EmCare physicians were not part of those networks and were sending high bills directly to the patients. For a patient needing care with the highest-level billing code, the hospital’s previous physicians had been charging $467; EmCare’s charged $1,649.

“The billing scenario, that was the real fiasco and caught us off guard,” said Tom Wilbur, the chief executive of Newport Hospital. “Hindsight being 20/20, we never would have done that.”

“Faced with angry patients, the hospital took back control of its coding and billing.”

Sound familiar? That’s privatization.

Categories For-Profit, Privatization

NAACP Demands Reform of Charters!

By dianeravitch
July 26, 2017 //
155

The NAACP today released a strong report demanding the reform and regulation the charter school industry. The NAACP report calls for a flat prohibition of for- profit charters and for-profit charter management companies. It says that only school districts should be allowed to authorize charters. It says that charter teachers should be certified.

The task force of the NAACP said that “while high quality, accountable and accessible charters can contribute to educational opportunity, by themselves, even the best charters are not a substitute for more stable, adequate and equitable investments in public education in the communities that serve our children.”

The NAACP report boldly acknowledges that charters are part of a public-funded system. It says that it makes no sense to strip funding from the public schools that enroll the great majority of students in order to fund a parallel system that is usually no better than the public system and often worse.

Carol Burris analyzes the report here:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/07/26/naacp-report-charter-schools-not-a-substitute-for-traditional-public-schools-and-many-need-reform/?utm_term=.9d91271f673d

There is also a link to the full text of the NASCP report and resolution.

This report strips away the claims of charter advocates who say that they are advancing civil rights. They are not. They are undermining public education by stripping students and resources away from the public schools.

The NAACP recognizes that the best way to advance civil rights in education is to assure a strong, accountable,and equitable system of public schools.

Like every national organization, the NAACP relies on major donors to survive. By standing strong against privatization of public schools, the NAACP has demonstrated courage and integrity. I add the NAACP to the honor roll of this blog, with admiration and respect.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Civil Rights, Corporate Reform, Courage, Education Industry, Equity, For-Profit, Honor Roll

Steven Singer: The Rank Hypocrisy of the Destroy-Public-Education Campaign for Defending Segregation

By dianeravitch
July 26, 2017 //
12

Steve Singer calls out the Destroy-Public-Education campaign for their attacks on Randi Weingarten.

It’s not because he is a fan of Randi’s, but because he doesn’t like hypocrisy.

Charter schools are more segregated than public schools, even in districts that have high levels of racial segregation. Charters don’t mind being 100% black or Hispanic. It’s not a bug to their promoters. It’s a feature. In some states, charters are all black and have become White Flight z
Academies.

Vouchers cause racial and religious segregation. Period.

Meanwhile, the Destroy Public Education crowd is acting shocked, shocked, shocked that Randi dared to connect their activities to the racist Southern governors and Senators who championed school choice as their response to the Brown decision.

I saw an email blast a few days ago from Jeanne Allen, the CEO of the pro-privatization Center for Education Reform, who wrapped herself in the mantel of the late Wisconsin legislator Polly Williams, an African American woman who supported vouchers, hoping they would help poor black children. She neglected to acknowledge that Williams was appalled when vouchers became the favorite idea of Scott Walker, who raised the income limits. Poor black children were left behind. Before her death, Williams admitted her error. Poor black children were cynically used by the hard-right Bradley Foundation, the Koch brothers, Scott Walker, and a bunch of white reactionaries who didn’t give a hoot about black children. To think that these people have the nerve to chastise anyone who calls out their racist heritage!

Jeanne Allen called on Randi to resign for daring to connect charters and vouchers with their historical antecedents. Sorry, Jeanne, Randi was right. You are carrying forward the twisted ideals of George Wallace. For doing so, you should resign.

Categories Civil Rights, Corporate Reform, Milwaukee, Segregation, Vouchers, Wisconsin

Texas: Two Sisters Testify Against Dan Patrick’s Voucher Legislation

By dianeravitch
July 26, 2017 //
11

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is a rightwing zealot. He has two obsessions that keep him awake at night. He wants vouchers. And, he wants to keep transgender people out of the bathroom of their choice. He runs the State Senate. He is an extremist. As one of the regular readers here said, if Patrick has his way with the bathroom bill, the women’s and girls’ bathrooms will suddenly have some hairy, muscled patrons who look very much like men.

Two sisters testified against the voucher bill, which is intended to offer vouchers to students with disabilities.

First was Abby. This is her testimony:

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee:

• My name is Abby Tassin. I am 17-years-old and I have Down syndrome.
• I am testifying against the bill.
• I am going to the 11th grade at Ridge Point High School in Fort Bend ISD.
• I have been going to school in my neighborhood with my friends ever since I was in kindergarten.
• I like going to school with my friends and my sisters.
• Sometimes my teachers give me help and sometimes they don’t.
• Sometimes my teachers follow my IEP and sometimes they don’t.
• Sometimes my teachers follow my behavior plan when I get upset in class and sometimes they don’t.
• When I was in the 6th grade, my teacher flipped me out of my desk.
• She grabbed me and scratched me.
• She told me, “Shut up you stupid Brat.”
• She made me sit in the middle of the floor during class and would not let me get back in my desk.
• I was embarrassed and I was crying.
• Going to school has not always been easy for me.
• My parents have to fight for me to get what I need in school.
• My parents have to fight for me to be in the regular class.
• Now I go to my ARD meetings with my parents and fight for myself.
• But, I do not want to go to private school.
• Giving my parents money for me to leave my school will not help me.
• I want to go to school with my friends and my sisters.
• My best friend is named Nevaeh. She has been my best friend for 8 years.
• She does not have a disability.
• We help each other. We are in theater together. We were on swim team together.
• I don’t want to be treated differently. I just want to be like everyone else and go to school with my friends like everyone else.
• Please help me to stay in my regular school with my friends.
• Please make it easier for me to be able to go to school there.
• Help my teachers be able to help me better.
• Please fight for me and other people like me.
• Please don’t give up. Please vote against this bill. Thank you.

Then came her sister Sarah. This is her testimony:

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee:

• My name is Sarah Tassin. I am testifying against the bill.
• I am 15-years-old and am going to the 10th grade at Ridge Point High School in Fort Bend ISD.
• I am two years younger than my sister, Abby, who has Down syndrome.
• We have been very close my whole life and have gone to school together since we were babies.
• My sister would not be interacting with typical peers and learning how to be independent if she went to a private school for kids with disabilities.
• Abby is becoming independent and prepared to be part of our society because she has had the opportunity to go to school with typical kids and learn in the same classes they do.
• While she has not always gotten everything she needs in school and my parents have had to fight for her to be there, she is pushed harder to learn more in regular classes with other kids her age and she has learned how to make friends who are different than her.
• It makes me sad when someone says they would rather send a kid away to another school than take the time to help educate them where and how they need.
• These kids don’t need to be put in a school where everyone is the same and they never learn how the world actually is and understands the standards the world sets. Instead we need to put money and effort into the programs we have for them right where they are.
• Having my sister at school with me means a lot to me. I get to share classes with her, like theatre, and it allows my friends to get to know her. Going to school with her helps them better understand people with disabilities and they learn how to interact with all kids, not just typical kids.
• My sister inspires me to be better every day because she is constantly defying any limits set for her. Please help make sure her school and all other schools in Texas are doing what’s right for my sister and other kids with disabilities.
• I am asking you to vote against this bill and instead fight to make public school better for my sister and all the other kids like her.
• Thank you.

Categories Education Reform

After Charter Scandal, California Charter School Association Says: “No Accountability Needed”

By dianeravitch
July 26, 2017 //
9

The Tri-Valley Learning Corporation charter chain in California was caught in a massive scandal, after millions of dollars of taxpayer money went missing. Some in the legislature thought this was proof of the need for stronger oversight and accountability. But the California Charter School Association, rolling in billionaire dough from the likes of Reed Hastings and Eli Broad, will oppose any meaningful effort to hold charters accountable.

You see, there are all kinds of charters. Some are honest. Some are run by thieves. They need “flexibility.” CCSA’s job is to protect them all.

CCSA is Betsy DeVos’s dream team!

Charter school’s demise prompts debate about strengthening oversight

“Prompted by investigations into alleged misappropriation of funds at Tri-Valley Learning Corporation, a charter school chain based in Alameda County, the California Charter Schools Association and advocates for more charter school transparency are stepping up efforts to advance competing approaches to combating financial fraud, waste and mismanagement.

“Tri-Valley operated in two districts in Northern California, east of San Francisco. It had two schools in Livermore in Alameda County and two schools in Stockton in San Joaquin County. The Alameda County district attorney was already investigating Tri-Valley when the state’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team completed an audit in June. That report concluded that charter school executives had conflicts of interest and that the organization had commingled funds, including the use of “bonds totaling over $67 million to purchase land and buildings under the pretext that the acquisition was for a public charter school.” Tri-Valley filed for bankruptcy in June, the same month its schools were closed.

“The scale of the alleged misappropriation of funds at Tri-Valley is raising larger issues about how to ensure that public money for charter schools is not misspent. In its 2015 report, “Risking Public Money: California Charter School Fraud,” the San Francisco-based nonprofit law firm Public Advocates estimated losses of more than $100 million due to fraud for that year.

“While charter schools are subject to significant reporting requirements and monitoring by oversight bodies, including chartering entities, county superintendents and the State Controller, no oversight body regularly conducts audits,” the report states.

“Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell, chairman of the Assembly Education Committee, is among those calling for more charter school transparency. For example, he told EdSource last week that charter schools need standardized financial management systems, such as common software, to share their data with the school districts that oversee their operations.

“It’s clear that the statutory framework in this state has been reactive and not proactive,” O’Donnell said.

“Representatives of the California Charter Schools Association disagree.

“We need flexibility in financial management because there are many kinds of charter schools,” said Colin Miller, the association’s senior policy advisor.

“Instead, the charter association supports legislation that would allow county offices of education to regulate charter organizations that operate in multiple school districts. Miller said oversight of Tri-Valley might have been more stringent if it had been regulated by the board of education for Alameda County, the site of the charter operator’s headquarters, instead of by two school districts in different counties.”

Categories Accountability, California, Charter Schools, Education Industry

Stephen Dyer: Weep Not for ECOT! Its Profits Are Secure

By dianeravitch
July 26, 2017 //
5

Stephen Dyer writes from Ohio about the unfolding saga of ECOT, the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow.

http://10thperiod.blogspot.com/2017/07/even-with-layoffs-ecot-will-make-killing.html?m=1

It was recently ordered by a state court to return $60 million that it had charged for educating students who never logged on. ECOT complained bitterly, but the state audit showed that its enrollment figures were inflated.

ECOT is owned by William Lager, who has donated millions of dollars to elected officials over the years and received special treatment. He has collected hundreds of millions of dollars to run a virtual K-12 school with the lowest graduation rate in the nation. He thought that his generosity to politicians would protect him from accountability from abysmal results, but it hasn’t.

Lager took out ads (at taxpayer expense) to warn that he might have to lay off 350 employees if the state forced him to return a portion of his revenues. It would “hurt the children.”

The state is willing to allow him to pay his debt at $2.5 million a month for two years.

Boo hoo!

Dyer says she’d no tears for Lager. He will still clear at least 30% on his investment, probably more. He will still make a killing.

Categories Accountability, Corporate Reform, Education Industry, Education Reform, For-Profit, Ohio, Privatization, Virtual Charter Schools

Economic Policy Institute: The Average CEO Makes 271 Times More than the Average Worker

By dianeravitch
July 26, 2017 //
18

A few years back, I discovered that only one of the major think tanks in D.C. is not subsidized by the Gates Foundation. That is the Economic Policy Institute. Unlike other think tanks, which don’t even bother to disguise their ideological preferences, EPI makes its values clear: it advocates for economic and social justice and it is rigorous in its application of evidence.

In this report, EPI finds that the typical CEO is paid 271 times more than the typical worker.

Want a measure of the growth of inequality in our society, the engorgement of the 1%, and the shrinkage of the middle class? Consider this fact:

“While the 2016 CEO-to-worker compensation ratio of 271-to-1 is down from 299-to-1 in 2014 and 286-to-1 in 2015, it is still light years beyond the 20-to-1 ratio in 1965 and the 59-to-1 ratio in 1989. The average CEO in a large firm now earns 5.33 times the annual earnings of the average very-high-wage earner (earner in the top 0.1 percent)….

“Why it matters: Regardless of how it’s measured, CEO pay continues to be very, very high and has grown far faster in recent decades than typical worker pay. Exorbitant CEO pay means that the fruits of economic growth are not going to ordinary workers, since the higher CEO pay does not reflect correspondingly higher output. CEO compensation has risen by 807 or 937 percent (depending on how it is measured—using stock options granted or stock options realized, respectively) from 1978 to 2016. At 937 percent, that rise is more than 70 percent faster than the rise in the stock market; both measures are substantially greater than the painfully slow 11.2 percent growth in a typical worker’s annual compensation over the same period.”

Although this is not a problem that the Trump administration cares about, EPI has some straightforward fixes that a future administration might enact.

Categories Economy, Inequality

Trump and the Golden Age of Stupidity

By dianeravitch
July 25, 2017 //
19

David Rothkopf catches the essence of the Trump era: It is America’s “Golden Age of Stupidity.”

“Hello, you have reached the United States of America. We’re sorry no one is here to take your call right now. We have taken leave of our senses and are unsure when they’ll return. Please try again in three-and-a-half years.”

If America had a voice-mail message to the world, this would be it. We are running an experiment in exploring the consequences of suddenly having the world’s most important power go absent without leave on the world stage.

Some of the signs of U.S. withdrawal have made international headlines. But some of the ways we are abandoning our leadership role are less visible. For example, few things are more directly associated with American leadership than our standing as a source of innovation, research, and scientific and technological expertise. Yet, President Trump — who has struggled to successfully conceive or maintain many policy initiatives — has shown remarkable steadfastness in his campaign against science.

George W. Bush had the War on Terror. Donald Trump has the War on Truth.

In the past month, the last few scientists have exited the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s (OSTP) Science Division. The OSTP is staffed at approximately a third of the level it was during the Obama administration; President Trump has yet to name a head of the office. Last week, the State Department’s top science and technology adviser, Vaughan Turekian, resigned amid a swirl of rumors that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was planning on shuttering his entire science and tech operation. There have been a number of non-scientist appointments in posts with major scientific elements, including the appointment of Samuel Clovis to be undersecretary in charge of the Agriculture Department’s research, education and economic efforts. Clovis, who has virtually no science background, will oversee efforts on vital issues ranging from the spread of diseases to the effects of pesticides.

Clovis, like many in the administration, is a climate-change “skeptic.” So, too, is Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. As giant chunks of Antarctica snap off the continent’s ice pack and weather patterns continue to confirm the conclusions of 97 percent of the scientific community that anthropogenic climate change is real, Trump has surrounded himself with people such as Clovis and Pruitt who simply disregard the facts, putting all of us at risk….

He neglects to mention the willfully disastrous choice of rightwing religious fanatic and libertarian ideologue Betsy DeVos as the Secretary of Education. She is a triumph of wealth over intellect. Her goal is to demolish America’s great public school system, about which she knows nothing. You can’t make America great again by attacking its education system; you can make it great only by improving its schools. DeVos belittles the public schools because they were started in the 1800s; will she also belittle the Constitution because it was written in the 1700s?

The opposite of knowledge is ignorance. But the willful disregard of knowledge — regardless of motive — is stupidity. That is because those who battle facts are at war with reality. It is an unwinnable proposition. Furthermore, specialized knowledge, particularly that of scientists, is essential if we are to do what leaders must, anticipate change, understand its consequences and harness the opportunities it presents. Trump, in waging a systematic campaign to rid the government of the experts and ideas he sees as threats to his agenda, has done more than just usher in a Golden Age of Stupidity. He is unwittingly asking a question it doesn’t take an expert to figure out: “What happens when you lobotomize the world’s leading power?”

Categories Education Reform
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