Mike Klonsky: How Vouchers Came to Illinois

September 3, 2017 //

Mike Klonsky explains that Cardinal Cupich did not have to twist any arms to get vouchers.

Governor Bruce Rauner, Spesker Mike Madigan, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel were eager to jump on Betsy DeVos’s privatization bandwagon.

Categories Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization

36 Comments Post your own or leave a trackback: Trackback URL

Bob Shepherd says:

September 4, 2017 at 12:45 am

Here at Greazy Crik Feed Mill and MAGA Academy, we teach

history (The world was created 6,000 years ago, quite a long while before Jesus wrote the Constitution)

and paleontology (Little Cain and Abel used to ride on dinosaurs. We know this because we have pictures of their footprints right alongside some dino tracks.)

and astronomy (Joshua told the sun to stop in the sky, and, you know, it did.)

and health (Barack Obama, our first and only Kenya-born President, put chemicals in the water that turn kids transgender; so don’t be playing in that Greazy Crik anytime this year.)

and math (If Mr. Trump supports two Infrastructure bills that provide 20 million dollars each in incentives for business, how much Infrastructure appropriation will that amount to in total? That’s right. 20 million plus 20 million = 1 trillion.)

and political science (You see, we teach ALL the subjects. So, you now have a REAL alternative. You don’t have to send your kids to one of those government-supported public schools. You won’t want to, of course, because that’s socialism.)

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carolmalaysia says:

September 4, 2017 at 6:05 am

I feel sorry for Illinois. I used to teach there. Now, I’m living in the greatest voucher state in the nation….the great state of Indiana. I’m sure our Great Leader and DeVos are cheering the loss in revenue for those horrible government schools.

Due to our Great Leader’s foresight, everyday is met with a new pile of garbage. I wake up and am never disappointed. “What crap is going to be blown today?”, is my new motto.

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carolmalaysia says:

September 4, 2017 at 6:42 am

Don’t let DeVos know about this or it will become the next ‘choice’ for those with foresight for the future. No taxpayer money will go towards those stifling teachersl!!! Students just teach each other.
………………

Quartz: A free, teacher-less university in France is schooling thousands of future-proof programmers

Paris When you walk into École 42, a teacher-less coding school in Paris, a few things leap out at you: a killer collection of provocative…

The school is the brainchild of Xavier Niel, a French billionaire who has so far spent about €48 million ($57 million) on the Paris campus and an additional $46 million on a school in Silicon Valley….

Since there are no teachers, it is up to students to figure things out. Everything is graded by peers. Students “manage their time how they want,” says Sadirac. “It’s totally self organized.” In education-speak, École 42 is both project-based learning and peer-to-peer learning, on steroids…

While the school used to require that students master a set of skills before leaving, it has now ditched that requirement. It used to have year-long groups: it tossed aside that idea too, because students work at different paces.

https://qz.com/1054412/a-french-billionaires-free-teacher-less-university-is-designing-thousands-of-future-proof-employees/

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- Threatened Out West says:
  
  September 4, 2017 at 10:45 am
  
  Wow. That explains the code entering people for my health insurance. The codes are ALWAYS wrong! They’re teaching each other!!!
  
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- eleanor says:
  
  September 4, 2017 at 11:02 am
  
  “Students just teach each other.”
  
  According to the Danielson framework which our administrators use to evaluate on, that’s exactly what needs to be happening in our classrooms in order to earn a rating of “4” (i.e excellent) on our evaluations.
  
  Teachers, after all, are a superfluous expense. /s
  
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  - Bob Shepherd says:
    
    September 5, 2017 at 1:07 pm
    
    LOL. Educrats will buy any sort of Edubabble.
    
    Becoming an EduPundit Made EZ
    
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Chiara says:

September 4, 2017 at 7:41 am

Every public school student in the state came second in importance to these vouchers- the vouchers were Job One- public school families were an afterthought.

Emmanuel was boasting that he forced the governor to visit a public school.

That’s the state of affairs in Illinois- the governor has to be bribed to enter a public school.

There’s no coverage of how the bill affects public school families- 90% of families in the state- instead it’s all vouchers.

Someone better read that bill. Public school families may get a nasty surprise when they actually find out what’s in it.

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- Charles says:
  
  September 4, 2017 at 7:52 am
  
  Here it is
  
  http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=113&GAID=13&GA=99&DocTypeID=SB&LegID=84035&SessionID=88
  
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Chiara says:

September 4, 2017 at 7:52 am

I know public school families are the lowest priority, but shouldn’t there be SOME analysis of what this bill does for PUBLIC schools?

I know what it does for Emmanuel and Rauner and the Cardinal and private school families.

What about the other 99.99999% of people in Illinois? Was anyone working for them during “closed door negotiations”?

DeVos was crowing about her big voucher win on Twitter. Not one word about public school families in Illinois.

Did they get screwed again? What do they get besides funding to open their schools this year? Nothing? Politicians (and the Cardinal) worked for two years on this and this is what public school families ended up with? A huge voucher program that harms their children’s schools and the same funding they had last year? Wow! Thanks ed reform!

They are LOUSY advocates for kids in public school because they have no interest IN kids in public schools.

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Chiara says:

September 4, 2017 at 7:59 am

Good to know the US Department of Education took yet another taxpayer funded trip to promote private schools.

Can they point to one thing they have done to benefit to any public school family in this country since January of 2017? One. Show me.

I would think there would be something, given that 90% of US families use public schools.

How did it happen that federal and state government employees decided serving public school families was beneath them, and why do we put up with it? Surely we can hire some people who have some interest in public schools. There’s really no reason 90% of taxpayers should be paying people who work for the 10% of students in charter and private schools.

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Norwegian Filmmaker says:

September 4, 2017 at 8:04 am

How not surprising it is to discover that Blasé Cupich is completely Catholic but not at all Christian. Shame on him! May he rot in hell, where he will go to.

I guess with this new bill, this Catholic priest will have more young children within his proximity.

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retired teacher says:

September 4, 2017 at 8:08 am

It is clear that some politicians in urban areas have no intention of ever addressing inequities in funding for public school students. These politicians have chosen instead to divert funds to schools of dubious quality, and they are abandoning the poorest, most vulnerable and troubled that will be warehoused in impoverished public schools. The public schools will be the schools of last resort for those not “selected” by other options.

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Chiara says:

September 4, 2017 at 8:26 am

I think we’ve solved the mystery of how to get the public employees at the US Department of Education to put in a day’s work on behalf of public school families:

Betsy DeVos‏Verified account @BetsyDeVosED Sep 2
More
Heading to TX & LA with @POTUS to meet with families & local leaders. @usEDgov will ensure students/teachers/schools get the help they need.

Your school has to be under 5 feet of flood water.

Will DeVos meet with a single PUBLIC school family or will this be yet another taxpayer funded trip that excludes public school families?

What do public schools have to do to get one of these people to lift a finger for public schools? Can we hire a private advocate? These public employees don’t work for us.

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- Threatened Out West says:
  
  September 4, 2017 at 10:47 am
  
  Texas is lousy with charter schools. I expect they’ll never actually visit a real public school.
  
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Chiara says:

September 4, 2017 at 8:28 am

I read yesterday that Houston ISD employees were volunteering to tutor in shelters.

Now- why can’t I find this news on any ed reform site? Because it’s positive news about a public school and the echo chamber forbids that?

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Chiara says:

September 4, 2017 at 8:35 am

Here’s a good piece on PUBLIC schools in Houston. I don’t know how it got past the censors, but I’m glad at least one reporter has some interest in covering the schools the vast majority of children actually attend:

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/08/30/547280712/houston-school-superintendent-says-a-lot-of-work-ahead-to-open-schools

DeVos is probably going down to promote vouchers, so we can forget any interest from anyone in DC.

They didn’t graduate from public schools, their kids don’t attend public schools and they aren’t much interested in our schools or our families. I guess the best we can hope for is they don’t fire all the Houston teachers, like they did in New Orleans.

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- retired teacher says:
  
  September 4, 2017 at 9:36 am
  
  The superintendent of the schools may be eager to get students settled, but the local politicians may be wheeling and dealing behind closed doors on the fate of the school district. We will have to wait and see if Mayor Turner will stand up to Abbott and Patrick.
  
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Charles says:

September 4, 2017 at 9:23 am

I am delighted that school choice is coming to the land of Lincoln. Since Honest Abe was mostly self-educated, I am certain that he would be supportive of giving parents/children more options, that cramming them all into government-run publicly-operated schools.

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- Threatened Out West says:
  
  September 4, 2017 at 10:49 am
  
  Dude. Stop. You are denigrating the vast majority of us on this site who teach in public schools. You are clueless and nasty. Stop dumping on us. We have enough dumping on us from USDE and our state legislatures and the media. We don’t need you name calling us when we’re here, too.
  
  We’ve heard it all. We don’t need you regurgitating it.
  
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  - Threatened Out West says:
    
    September 4, 2017 at 10:50 am
    
    PS: Get a life.
    
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  - carolmalaysia says:
    
    September 4, 2017 at 11:10 am
    
    Dear Threatened Out West: I agree with you. As Bernie would say, “Enough is enough”.
    
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  - Charles says:
    
    September 4, 2017 at 3:06 pm
    
    It is easy to support freedom of speech for pleasant speech. It is difficult to support freedom of speech for thoughts we hate, or even disagree with.
    
    I have never called anyone “names”. I am the grandson of a (public) school teacher, and the brother of two (public) school teachers. I am authorized to substitute teach in Fairfax County (VA) public schools.
    
    I have nothing but respect for all school teachers, public or non-public.
    
    I support education, no matter the source. I can be in favor of school choice AND be in favor of excellent public schools as well.
    
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  - Threatened Out West says:
    
    September 4, 2017 at 11:03 pm
    
    I will fight to the death your right to free speech, Charles, but could you at least do something ORIGINAL, instead of constantly parroting the same stuff?
    
    I also have the free speech right to ask you to stop destroying teachers and public education. You won’t, but I have at least done my part in asking.
    
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  - dianeravitch says:
    
    September 5, 2017 at 10:14 am
    
    Thanks TOW.
    
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- Duane E Swacker says:
  
  September 4, 2017 at 5:14 pm
  
  “that (sic) cramming them all into government-run (sic should be gubmint-run) publicly-operated schools.”
  
  and
  
  “I have nothing but respect for all school teachers, public or non-public.”
  
  Except when talking of those schools in which public school teachers teach and make up the core of said “gubmint” schools.
  
  “I support education, no matter the source. I can be in favor of school choice AND be in favor of excellent public schools as well.”
  
  Yes, one can have both those thoughts in mind, no doubt. I say the same myself, with the caveat that no public monies be allocated or spent on private schools. For. . .
  
  . . . it is mandated by each state constitution that the state provide that free public education.
  
  The religious right has been working since the 70s to see these bastardizations of the separation of church and state to fruition. And they are almost there. Xtian caliphate here we come, PTLt*!
  
  *PTLt = Praise the Legal tender.
  
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Edd Doerr says:

September 4, 2017 at 1:45 pm

This voucher law clearly violates Article I, Section 3 of the Illinois constitution. How about a lawsuit.

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- Bob Shepherd says:
  
  September 4, 2017 at 3:00 pm
  
  Here’s the specific language that Mr. Doerr refers to:
  
  “No person shall be required to attend or SUPPORT any ministry
  or place of worship against his consent”
  
  capital letters mine
  
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  - carolmalaysia says:
    
    September 4, 2017 at 3:13 pm
    
    But what happens when the voucher money is given to parents who want it and then the parents choose the religious/private school of their choice?
    
    I guess that technically nobody is being forced to support a religious school. The money isn’t really ‘going to a private school’. It’s going to parents.
    
    This is the Cr*p language that is being used by conservatives who want vouchers.
    
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  - Edd Doerr says:
    
    September 5, 2017 at 12:59 pm
    
    Re Carolmalaysia’s comment, routing the voucher dollars through parents is just a sneaky way of trying to get around constitutional barriers. Tax dollars end up support private school sectarian religious indoctrination in private schools that tend to fragment the student population along religious, ideological, ethnic, class and other lines. — Edd Doerr
    
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- eleanor says:
  
  September 5, 2017 at 5:54 am
  
  IFT and IEA state leaders, are you listening? Or will you claim helplessness because your noses are wedged too deeply into House Speaker Michael Madigan’s (d-private school graduate) garbage disposal chute?
  
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- Charles says:
  
  September 5, 2017 at 6:41 am
  
  The Supreme Court (USA) has already addressed the issue. See Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002), and Trinity Lutheran School District v. Pauley (2017).
  
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  - Edd Doerr says:
    
    September 5, 2017 at 12:40 pm
    
    Yes, the SCOTUS in Zelman upheld the Ohio voucher plan, and in doing so they reversed a long list of their own rulings, going back to Everson in 1947 and Lemon (1971) and its progeny. Zelman was wrongly decided and thumbed its nose at 50 years of US voters’ rejections of diverting public funds to church-run private schools. — Edd Doerr
    
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  - Charles says:
    
    September 5, 2017 at 12:50 pm
    
    The Zelman decision reversed precedent, true. The Brown v. Board of Education (1954) reversed the Plessy v. Ferguson (1895) decision. Not everyone was pleased with the Brown decision, some thought it was a wrong decision.
    
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Edd Doerr says:

September 5, 2017 at 2:09 pm

Charles has made it abundantly clear that he has no problem with government forcing all taxpayers to support special interest private schools, the vast majority of which are sectarian religious institutions engaged in sectarian indoctrination and in isolating kids from heterodox influences and in dividing the student body by religion, ideology, class, ethnicity, etc. He also shows no interest in the religious liberty enshrined in our First Amendment and most state constitutions. He evidently dislikes the public schools that serve 90% of our kids just like Trump, Pence, DeVos, Jeb Bush, and large numbers of GOP federal and state lawmakers. To do so on Diane Ravitch’s blog borders on the obscene. — Edd Doerr

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- carolmalaysia says:
  
  September 5, 2017 at 2:26 pm
  
  Well spoken!! Public schools are our future.
  
  They deserve much better than what they are getting. Sorry to say, I’m really glad I’m retired. Don’t think I could stand the stress coming from the ignorance and domination that politicians demonstrate. It’s bad enough reading about what is happening inside classrooms. Living it is intolerable which is why there is a nationwide teacher shortage.
  
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- Charles says:
  
  September 5, 2017 at 3:54 pm
  
  @Edd: Be fair. I support publicly-financed education, true. I gladly support BEOG’s which enable college students to attend universities. Some of these universities are Notre Dame (Catholic), Georgetown (catholic), Yeshiva (Jewish), Southern Methodist, Brigham Young (Mormon), The Islamic University of Minnesota, etc, and on and on.
  
  Your tax money, is subsidizing the education of Islamic terrorism. See
  
  https://www.investigativeproject.org/5288/islamic-university-of-minnesota-a-hotbed
  
  As far as that goes, the nation’s public schools are rapidly re-segregating. School districts are “seceding” from other districts, and the result is more segregation. see
  
  http://www.npr.org/2017/04/28/526085092/despite-racial-motive-judge-allows-alabama-city-to-secede-from-school-district
  
  When schools are financed by property taxes, the result is “educational apartheid”, and wealthy suburbs get excellent schools, and the inner-cities get crap.
  
  There are many educators, who feel that school choice is the “fast track” to integration. See
  
  http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/education/334608-school-choice-the-fastest-track-to-integration
  
  I also support publicly-financed education at the K-12 level as well.
  
  How could I (or anyone) support taxpayer-financed education at the university level, and not at the K-12 level? What magic occurs when a person graduates high school?
  
  I support religious liberty (Keep in mind, that I spent a year in Saudi Arabia, where the only legal religion is Islam). The US constitution guarantees no establishment of religion, and no interference in the “free exercise” of religion. The Supreme Court has ruled that providing parents choices in the education of their children, and redeeming vouchers at religious schools is entirely constitutional.
  
  I do not dislike public schools. I am the grandson and brother of public school teachers. I am authorized to substitute teach, at Fairfax public schools. (The public schools here in Fairfax are excellent).
  
  The host of this blog, graciously permits opposing points of view. A lot of people say that they support freedom of speech. It takes courage to publish views which are clearly at variance with their own.
  
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