The charter industry has its eyes on the schools of Puerto Rico, which were devastated by Hurricane Maria.
This is the time for disaster capitalism.
The Island was in fiscal distress before the hurricane.
“Efforts are underway in Puerto Rico to reform the island’s education system, with post-Katrina New Orleans—the only city in the country to have a school system that is entirely composed of charter schools—as a point of reference. But teachers and local residents are fighting back with a guerrilla campaign to reopen the public schools themselves.
“There are currently no charter schools in Puerto Rico. But the Intercept’s Aida Chavez wrote, “Last month, Puerto Rico’s Public-Partnership Authority director spoke optimistically about leveraging federal money with companies interested in privatizing public infrastructure.” As NPQ and others have noted repeatedly, this response is part of the crisis capital playbook known as Shock Doctrine.
“Puerto Rico has been in an economic depression for over a decade and its schools were struggling before Hurricane Maria. Between 2006 and 2016, 700,000 students left the island. Earlier this year, Puerto Rico closed 200 schools as part of its austerity effort.
“Further, 90 percent of the island’s public-school students were low income before the hurricane. Last year, fewer than half of the island’s students scored proficient in Spanish, math, English, or science. The graduation rate is at 75 percent.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“The Schlock Doctrine”
A crisis, as a rule,
Should never go to waste.
A crisis, as a tool,
Should further charter case
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Sad indeed, particularly if the privatizers are only focused on profit. It seems that our politicians are failing us though, leaving the people open to the advances of the sharks.
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The great white male gods have come to rape and pillage again. Anyone who doesn’t cooperate with them become dead meat. This is the American WAY.
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Even before the hurricane, hedge funds were eyeing Puerto Rico as a target. Hedge funds tend to look for vulnerabilities and exploit. Puerto Rico was already in debt. Now that Hurricane Maria has devastated the island, in the words of Rahm Emanuel,”‘Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste,” will be the guiding principle.
It is disturbing that the government is refusing to open the cleaned schools It sounds like the same scenario we have repeatedly witnessed, the collusion of the government with big money. With a poverty rate of 90%, the public schools are easy targets for privatizers. After all the chaos the island has endured, I don’t know if the people can organize enough to resist the profiteers.
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Hedge funds bought up Puerto Rico’s debt at pennies on the dollar, expecting to be paid at full value. They ran TV ads from fake PR widows, begging Congress not to bail out PR. They wanted to be repaid $1.00 for every .10 they invested.
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CROSS POSTED AT: https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Puerto-Rico-Privatizers-S-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Charter-Schools_Money_Privatization-Of-Schools_Puerto-Rico-Devastation-171112-886.html…WITH THIS COMMENT
And if you go to the Diane Ravitch blog, and put ‘charter school fraud’ in THE ‘SEARCH” field,: https://dianeravitch.net/?s=charter+school+fraud you will read about the ways in which those ‘privateers’ who build the ‘infrastructure’–THUS, own the buildings– so when he school ‘fans’ as it does when charlatans run education, they get to sell THE REAL ESTATE.
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Puerto Rico is already broke and ‘we’ want to charge for school? Have we not become the most immoral country in the world? I tend to think so. And for our very active Christian Right, may I remind them that “the love of money is the root of all evil”. And the US is gallantly out there proving it….not just in Charter Schools but everywhere that they can privatize…..and avoid raising wages… monopolize…or lower taxes on the already filthy rich corporations.
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We have so much income inequality that our country supports policies to benefit the oligarchy, many of whom are members of ALEC. ALEC offers ready made bills that legislators can take back to their states. Most of the bills benefit the 1%, and they often suppress democratic participation.
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What an opportunity for parents of children attending NYC charter schools to call out the board members and donors of the charter networks who hold Puerto Rico’s debt.
Maybe Jennifer Lopez, who announced she would be working with Governor Cuomo to help Puerto Rico, can ask the governor to call up the debt holders that donated generously to his campaign.
These already obscenely wealthy investors could easily afford to forgive significant amounts, or at least reveal how much of a discount they bought the debt to work out a humanitarian outcome in light of the devastation of Hurricane Maria.
THE UNKNOWN: Of the Puerto Rico debt investors Diane mentions, there are many who remain anonymous thanks to protection by shell corporations that hide their identities.
Three investors went public, however, attending the Ravitch Fiscal Reporting symposium at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, where they claimed Puerto Rico is actually solvent (what?), they can afford to pay and that the repayment program will lead to “better education”. Link: http://periodismoinvestigativo.com/2017/10/old-colleagues-gather-in-a-group-that-requires-puerto-rico-to-pay-the-debt/
THE KNOWN: A number of Wall Street’s Puerto Rico debt holders run charter school networks, with at least three being donors to or current/former members of the Success Academy board of directors:
Andrew Feldstein of BlueMountain Capital
Dan Loeb of Third Point Management
John Paulson of Paulson & Co.
Mark Gallogy of CenterBridge Partners (on the board of the ROADS charter network).
Paul Tudor Jones of Tudor Investment
David Tepper of Appaloosa Management
Seth Klarman of the Baupost Group
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Great idea, Jake. I didn’t know about the Ravitch Fiscal Reporting symposium. That is the work of my ex-husband, Richard Ravitch, who is a tireless advocate for fair and equitable solutions to public problems. He is deeply involved in trying to help Puerto Rico escape its crushing burden of debt. But we don’t trade stories.
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I remember Richard!
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The Ravitch Fiscal Reporting program at CUNY J School was offering $10-20k grants for journalists to go cover the fiscal impacts of hurricanes Maria and Harvey. The latest Nov 6 deadline has passed, though.
Something I never realized was that Puerto Rico was such a lucrative tax haven from 1976-2006 for big businesses (like Pfizer) who relocated there as the economy became less agrarian and manufacturing-based. But when the tax haven status was repealed in 2006, the big companies left, gradually leading to today’s debt crisis.
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Someplace, I saw that Rick Scott, governor of Florida, was doing “outreach” to Puerto Ricans re-locating to his state that they could sign up to attend virtual charter schools.
The chicanery knows no bounds.
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I hope Puerto Ricans turn Florida into a blue state
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In case people have missed it, this is what is arriving in Puerto Rico as food aid:
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Puerto Rico was a train wreck, before the hurricane hit. The island is facing bankruptcy, but because of a provision in federal law, territories/commonwealths cannot take bankruptcy. It is estimated, that the costs of rebuilding the educational infrastructure of Puerto Rico, is going to cost over a billion ($1,000,000,000) dollars. Since Puerto Ricans do not pay federal taxes, the costs will be borne by us mainlanders.
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the cost of imperialism and colonialism is high
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…and most of it is paid by the colonized.
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The US took control of the island, as a result of the Spanish-American war. The islanders (now) do not want independence. There have been several non-binding plebiscites (referenda) where the islanders were polled. Independence never gets anything close to a majority, in the non-binding plebiscites. The islanders choose not to apply for statehood, because statehood will bring federal taxation. The association of the islanders, to be in commonwealth status, appears to be in the foreseeable future.
As long as Puerto Rico is a US commonwealth, we mainlanders will share the burdens of our fellow American citizens.
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Puerto Rico enjoyed three days of independence from Spain, then was turned over to the US as spoils of war.
In every plebiscite, the pro-statehood party earns about 48% of the vote and the pro-status quo party receives about 48%. The difference votes for independence.
However, these plebiscites are meaningless, as they carry no weight with the United States because they are not binding in any form. The last vote was overwhelmingly pro-statehood becasue the pro-status quo party boycotted. (The current governor, Ricardo Rosselló, is pro-statehood, and San Juan’s mayor, Carmen Yulín Cruz, is pro-status quo.)
The status quo party fears losing its language and culture if thay should become a state. The pro-statehood party seeks the protections and status of statehood. Most independentistas see an independent Puerto Rico as a dream.
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The pro-statehood people want to get their hands on the revenue from the mainland. see
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/314021-statehood-for-puerto-rico-an-insane-proposition
If the island ever decides to apply for statehood (not likely), the islanders will have to pay federal taxes.
The island got commonwealth status in 1917, so that the islanders would be American citizens, and then the males would be subject to conscription. The USA was involved in World War I, and many islanders were drafted.
The previous governor is opposed to statehood. see
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/314021-statehood-for-puerto-rico-an-insane-proposition
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Are you deceiving or what?
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Please let that die. I have no reason to post a falsehood. Read the article in the Hill, and see for yourself, what a past governor of P.R. has to say about the subject. I stand on my statement.
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