Archives for the month of: November, 2017
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Arizona: Koch Brothers Fund “LIBRE Institute” to Sway Latinos Toward Vouchers

By dianeravitch
November 22, 2017 //
13

In Arizona, the legislature wants to remove all limits to the expansion of vouchers. Despite the many voucher plans already enacted, 85% of students are still enrolled in public schools. This past summer, parents, teachers, and public spirited citizens collected over 100,000 signatures on petitions to halt the implementation of the new law until a referendum is held. The referendum is scheduled for the spring of 2018.

Voucher advocates are desperate to stop the referendum. They expect that vouchers will be rejected, as they have been in every state where a referendum on vouchers was conducted. Pro-voucher groups are funding lawyers who are trying to find a way to block the vote.

Meanwhile, groups funded by the infamous Koch brothers have launched an advertising campaign targeted at Hispanic voters called “the Libre Institute.”

Laurie Roberts of the Arizona Republic describes their efforts here:

“The Koch network is stepping up to protect its investment in Arizona.

“An out-of-state group called the LIBRE Institute on Thursday launched a “six-figure grassroots initiative to empower and educate families in Phoenix about the policies increasing their educational opportunities.”

“Translation: Charles and David Koch and their conservative/libertarian network of zillionaire donors are prepared to spend whatever it takes to ensure that Arizona voters can’t – or won’t – kill the expanded voucher program approved earlier this year by Gov. Doug Ducey and the Arizona Legislature.

“Koch involvement is nothing new

“Already, the Koch network and associated dark money groups have spent millions to get a governor and Legislature that would push for and pass universal vouchers.

“Already, the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity is suing to try to knock Prop. 305 – the citizen referendum aimed at vetoing our leaders’ universal voucher law – off the 2018 ballot.

“Now comes the plan the Koch-funded LIBRE Institute to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars targeting Arizona Latino families with ads, mailers and phone calls about the wonders of educational choice. Given that we already have plenty of educational choice, I’m guessing the campaign is really about the state’s new universal voucher law – the one that’s on hold thanks to a true grassroots referendum effort by a citizen group called Save Our Schools Arizona.”

I have opened the link to Roberts’ article three times.

The first time I opened it, I encountered two video ads promoting vouchers.

The second time, the ads were for commercial products.

The third time, the voucher ads were back.

Ironic that a story criticizing the fake “Libre Institute” contains ads funded by the same organization.

Yet again, we will discover whether big money can cancel and control democracy.

Categories Arizona, Billionaires, Koch Brothers

“The Data Monster Ate My Baby”

By dianeravitch
November 22, 2017 //
12

Blogger Victoria Young warns about the voracious appetite of the Data Monster.

It is coming for your children.

She writes:

“Will we one-day look back and wonder why we let Big Data devour our children’s lives in bits and bytes?
Will we scratch our heads in confusion over why we let data become a major driver in so many aspects of our lives?

“Surely we can see that the tech giants are profiting while the greater society suffers? Maybe not.

“But we do know that Americans care about their own right to privacy.

The issue of who is gathering information and what information is being gathered is considered to be an important dimension of privacy control by nearly all American adults.” Pew Research Center (Views About Data Collection and Security)

“But I wonder, why don’t Americans care about protecting children from the BIG DATA Monster?

“When the biggest concern directing the nation is the workforce/military supply-chain for the global economy, it makes perfect sense to allow the tech industry to have access to all education, health, employment, and income records. And what could go wrong with that?”

Read it all.

“Will we one-day look back and wonder why we let Big Data devour our children’s lives in bits and bytes?
Will we scratch our heads in confusion over why we let data become a major driver in so many aspects of our lives?

Surely we can see that the tech giants are profiting while the greater society suffers? Maybe not.

But we do know that Americans care about their own right to privacy.

“The issue of who is gathering information and what information is being gathered is considered to be an important dimension of privacy control by nearly all American adults.” Pew Research Center (Views About Data Collection and Security)

“But I wonder, why don’t Americans care about protecting children from the BIG DATA Monster?

“When the biggest concern directing the nation is the workforce/military supply-chain for the global economy, it makes perfect sense to allow the tech industry to have access to all education, health, employment, and income records. And what could go wrong with that?”

She says contact your legislator by 11/15, but I didn’t get this in time for that deadline. Contact them now.

Categories Data, Data and Data Mining, Education Reform, Privacy and Privacy Rights

Missouri: Governor Stymied in His Effort to Oust State Superintendent

By dianeravitch
November 21, 2017 //
9

Missouri Republican Governor Eric Greitens wants to remove the state superintendent and install his own choice, a buddy who believes in privatization.

The state board is, by law, supposed to be independent, not politically subservient, but Greitens appointed members who were supposed to do as he told them.

One of his five appointees refused and was removed.

When the vote was called, the board split 4-4, so for now the governor won’t get his way.

More than three hours after the meeting ended, Greitens responded by slamming local school district officials and education organizations, saying the state earmarked more money for schools this year, but the money didn’t result in higher pay for teachers and improved test scores.

“Today, the system works for insiders and bureaucrats who get paid real well, but it fails too many students, families, and teachers,” Greitens said. “There are a lot of people committed to the status quo. They’ve been willing to harass and intimidate anyone who stands up to them. That won’t stop us from doing what’s right. We’re fighting to get results for Missouri teachers and students.”

The four recent appointees who supported Vandeven’s ouster included Eddy Justice, Doug Russell, Sonny Jungmeyer and new member Jennifer Edwards.

Vandeven’s supporters say she is doing a good job and that Greitens is meddling with a school board that operates independently of politics.

“It is critical that the independence of the state Board of Education be maintained so the board can make the best policy decisions for the nearly one million students in Missouri’s public schools,” said Melissa Randol, executive director of the Missouri School Boards’ Association.

Imagine that! The state spent more money on education this year, but test scores didn’t go up!

Categories Administrators, superintendents, Charter Schools, Missouri

Vicki Cobb: Literacy, Politics, and Racism

By dianeravitch
November 21, 2017 //
14

Vicki Cobb, writer of children’s books, writes here about the appearance of Professor David Omotoso Stovall of the University of Illinois at the New York State Reading Association conference in upstate New York.

He “gave an electrifying keynote address to an audience of mostly white, mostly female and mostly middle-aged reading teachers. The gist of his statement was that literacy, the ability to read, was a political act that was the first step in empowering children to be thoughtful citizens. It could also disrupt the famous Chicago inner-city Public Schools’ reputation of being a pipeline to prison. Adorable black and brown five-year-olds enter buildings with metal detectors, gray walls, and barred windows. Stovall questions what message that sends to these beginning learners. How many of these young human beings discover the joy of learning in this environment? Dr. Stovall is a literacy activist for all children. He was hoping to enlist some of these New York teachers in understanding that literacy is the underlying responsibility of a free government. That they are, indeed, on the front lines.

We live in a free society where public policies are supposed to evolve from public discourse that is predicated on an informed electorate. David Stovall’s work rethinks how schools are currently managed so that the love of reading is not present even if children can decode words on a page. I decided to interview him about his thoughts on how to change the system to bring inner-city children into university spaces.”

What follows is her interview. You will enjoy reading it.

Categories Inequity, Racism

Betsy DeVos’ Brother Erik Prince May Run for Senate in Wyoming

By dianeravitch
November 21, 2017 //
14

Education Week reports that Betsy DeVos’ Brother Erik Prince May run for Senate Against the incumbent GOP Senator John Barrasso. If he runs, Prince would have the blessing of Steve Bannon, who has threatened to run a challenger against any Republican incumbent who does not share his extremist views and his nativism.

Bannon’s first foray into ousting Republicans was his intervention in the Alabama Senate Race, where he is supporting the eccentric Roy Moore. Moore has been removed from the bench twice for defying the laws. He has also been accused by several women of sexual assault when he was in his 30s.

“In recent weeks, DeVos’ younger brother, has reportedly shown interest in running for the Wyoming U.S. Senate seat in 2018 that’s currently held by GOP Sen. John Barrasso. Prince is the founder of Blackwater, a private security firm that drew attention and controversy during the Iraq War, and now runs Frontier Services Group, an aviation, logistics, and security firm. Barrasso was first elected in 2006 and reelected in 2012, although CNN reported last month that Steve Bannon, President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist, put Barrasso on a list of Republicans he wants to defeat in the primary process. Bannon has supposedly supported Prince’s interest in a Senate run…

“Prince’s views on education aren’t clear. He attended Hillsdale College, a private college in Michigan whose president, Larry Arnn, was briefly mentioned as a possible Trump nominee for education secretary before DeVos got picked. According to a Grand Rapids Press story cited by Business Insider and Newsweek, Prince said he became disillusioned with Washington while working as a White House intern under President George H.W. Bush because he saw “homosexual groups being invited in.”

The DeVos family has given millions to anti-gay groups including the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family.

Categories Betsy DeVos

Stephen Dyer: How Kids Not in Charters Are Hurt By Charter Funding

By dianeravitch
November 21, 2017 //
7

Stephen Dyer, a fellow with Innovation Ohio and former legislator, explains how the charter funding system in Ohio takes money away from students who are not in charters.

“It’s really easy to sit back and make esoteric arguments about how Ohio’s charter school funding system hurts kids who are not in charter schools. And there’s a recognition from leaders in the Ohio General Assembly that the funding system — which diverts state funding meant for a district to a charter — is a shell game that leave school districts with far less state revenue than the state says they need to effectively educate their students. This, in turn, forces school districts to use sometimes large segments of their locally raised revenue to make up the difference.

“But what does that mean for a kid attending a local public school district?

“As an example, I’m going to use a student in Columbus City Schools. Let’s assume he or she started first grade in the 2005-2006 school year, which would make this student a senior this year (by the way, I was first elected to the Ohio House in 2006. Wow, does this make me feel old!)

“Anyway, I looked at how much state funding this student lost each year of their career because charter schools receive so much more per pupil state funding than Columbus City Schools would have received for the same kids. (Looking at state funding reports here and doing addition and subtraction based on number of students in Columbus before and after charter students leave, as well as how much state funding comes to Columbus before and after charter students leave.)

“Yes, I know charters can’t raise local revenue. However, the legislature has chosen to not put its money where its school choice mouth is and create a separate fund to make charter schools whole. Instead, they make up a chunk of the local funding disparity by removing extra state funding from the local school district’s bottom line, forcing local property taxpayers to do their work for them.”

Check out his graphs and data.

So, for every student who began their Columbus City Schools career in 2005-2006, they have received $10,548 fewer in state revenue, with another $1,142 set to be lost this, their senior year (charter enrollment is so volatile, this figure could change substantially during the year). To give you a sense of scale, that amount equals about the amount of state funding these Columbus students received their first three years of school — in many ways the most important years.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Funding, Ohio

Steven Singer Wrote a Book…For You!

By dianeravitch
November 21, 2017 //
7

Steven Singer wrote a book! You probably know his Blog called “Gadfly on the Wall.” I often repost his writing because he writes with clarity and passion and first-hand experience.

His book is “Gadfly on the Wall: A Apublic School Teacher Speaks Out on Racism and Reform.”

It was published by Garn Press.

Steven explains here why he wrote a book and how it feels to see it in print.

He writes:

“How did this happen?

It was only three and a half years ago that I sat down at my computer and decided to write my first blog.

And now I’ve got a book coming out from Garn Press – “Gadfly on the Wall: A Public School Teacher Speaks Out on Racism and Reform.”

Like the title says, I’m just a public school teacher. I’m not important enough to write a book.

A blog? Sure. That could disappear any day now.

All it would take is WordPress deleting the site or maybe the power goes out and never comes back or a zombie apocalypse or who knows…

But a book. That’s kinda’ permanent.

It has mass and takes up space.

That won’t just poof out of existence if someone unplugs the wrong server.

It would take some sort of conscious effort for a book to go away. People would have to actively work to destroy it. They’d have to pile those rectangular paper bundles in a fire pit, douse them in gasoline and light a match.

Otherwise, they’d just maybe sit in a basement somewhere in boxes, unopened and collecting dust.

Or could it really be that people might actually crack the spine and read the things?

It’s a strange sort of birth this transition from cyberspace to 3-dimensional reality.

And it’s about to transpire with selected bits of my writing.

I am flabbergasted. Shocked. Almost in denial that this is really happening.

Did I mention that I’m a public school teacher? No one is supposed to listen to us.

School policy is made without us. Decisions impacting our kids and our careers are made by people who haven’t seen the classroom in years – if ever. And when we politely raise our hands to let people know that something isn’t working, the best we can hope for is to be ignored; the worst is to be bullied into silence.

Read the rest. Steven has a beautiful quote from Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” that all of us can live by.

Categories Joy, Teachers and Teaching

Indianapolis: On the Way to Phasing Out Public Schools

By dianeravitch
November 21, 2017 //
17

Indianapolis is a hotbed of privatization, where the DEFER-style Mind Trust has allied with the forces of rightwingers Mitch Daniels and Mike Pence to bid farewell to democratically-controlled, community-based public schools. The latest addition to the privatization toolkit is “unified enrollment.” When parents begin to look for a school placement, there is no neighborhood school, no zoned school. Instead, they look for a school on a list that combines both charter schools and public schools, each of which is identified by their offerings or specialty. Thus, consumerism is firmly established, and charter schools are turned into the equivalent of public schools, even though they have private management and may operate for profit.

The idea of OneApp was funded by the charter-pushing, anti-union Walton Family Foundation in New Orleans and other cities controlled by privatizers.

Categories Charter Schools, Indianapolis, Privatization

Wisconsin: What Happened to Teachers After Scott Walker Crushed the Unions?

By dianeravitch
November 21, 2017 //
24

David Madland and Alex Rowell of the Center for American Progress reviewed the impact on education of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s infamous Act 10, enacted in 2011, which crushed unions.

Some teachers left the profession or the state. Salaries and benefits declined. The average age and experience of teachers declined. Teachers moved from district to district, seeking higher pay.

They wrote:

“Six years ago, the state of Wisconsin passed the highly controversial 2011 Wisconsin Act 10, which virtually eliminated collective bargaining rights for most public-sector workers, as well as slashed those workers’ benefits, among other changes. These attacks on public-sector workers are spreading throughout the country. Iowa recently passed an Act 10-inspired law with similar policies affecting public-sector workers and their unions.1 Other states and members of Congress are considering enacting such policies, and with its ruling on Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the U.S. Supreme Court may act to weaken public-sector unions and teachers’ ability to collectively bargain.

“This issue brief examines the impact of the law on Wisconsin’s K-12 public education system and state economy. While this brief focuses on Act 10’s impact on Wisconsin teachers based on the data available, the same forces driving changes in the teaching workforce can also affect the broader public sector. Proponents of Act 10 insisted that reducing collective bargaining rights for teachers would improve education by eliminating job protections such as tenure and seniority-based salary increases. As Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) argued, “We no longer have seniority or tenure. That means we can hire and fire based on merit, we can pay based on performance. That means we can put the best and the brightest in our classrooms and we can pay them to be there.” However, the facts suggest that Act 10 has not had its promised positive impact on educational quality in the state.”

Teachers have lower pay, lower pension and health insurance benefits. There is more turnover as teachers move from one district to another seeking higher pay. Act 10 had its intended effect of smashing unions, which represented 14.1% of workers in 2011, but only 9% now.

What kind of country thinks the way to get better teachers is to cut their pay and benefits?

Scott Walker is a puppet of the Koch brothers. His vision of the future is mean and stupid.

Categories Koch Brothers, Teacher Pay, Teachers and Teaching, Unions, Walker, Scott, Wisconsin

The Richest People in America Should Pay Higher Taxes

By dianeravitch
November 21, 2017 //
52

Here is a list of the Richest people in America, compiled by Forbes.

Note that the Koch brothers, Charles and David, together have more money than Bill Gates ($84 Billion.)

Here is Forbes list of America’s richest families.

The two lists are confusing when seen together because the Gates family and the Bezos family are not on the second list but families with far less billions are.

Oh, well.

During the Eisenhower administration—the 1950s—the highest marginal tax rate was 91% for those at the very top. There was less income inequality then than now. The average CEO made about 20 Times more than the average worker. Today, the average CEO makes 270 times more than the average worker.

Here is a valuable article showing the decline in the progressivity of income tax rates from 1960-to 2004. In 1960, there were many more tax brackets, and those at the top paid a rate of 71.4%. Today they pay about 35%, not including loopholes and deductions.

Income inequality underlies much of the social and economic misery in our society.

Read “The Spirit Level,” by Richard Wilkinson, et al, which makes the case that greater equality creates happier, healthier societies.

Obviously the Republicans are not going to make a turn towards increasing the progressivity of taxes.

But it is a goal we should work towards.

Categories Billionaires, Inequality, Justice
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