Expanding charter schools is the passion of Betsy DeVos.
Lest we forget, it was also the passion of the Obama administration, which spent eight years promoting the wonders of charter schools.
In the last months of the Obama Administration, with John King as Secretary of Education, the U.S. Department of Education awarded $100 million to California and to KIPP to open more charter schools.
“KIPP Public Charter Schools and the California Department of Education have received federal grants together worth nearly $100 million to expand and start more public charter schools.
“The California Department of Education won $49.9 million to run a grant competition for charter school operators, to support nearly 500 new and expanded public charter schools.
“A consortium of the KIPP Foundation and the KIPP California Region won nearly $48.8 million over three years.
“Among schools benefiting from the award are four growing KIPP Bay Area schools: KIPP Heritage Academy and KIPP Prize Preparatory Academy in San Jose, KIPP Excelencia Community Prep in Redwood City and KIPP Bridge Academy in Oakland. Each of the schools may receive up to $500,000 over the three-year grant period for expansion.”
All that money to expand a charter chain that was first introduced to a national audience in performance at the Republican convention of 2000, when George W. Bush was nominated for the Presidency.
Betsy DeVos will enjoy the results, but hold Secretaries Arne Duncan and John King and President Obama accountable. John King is now president of Education Trust, which supports high-stakes testing as the path to equity (which it never has been and never will be since all standardized tests mirror family income). Arne Duncan works for Laurene Powell Jobs’ Emerson Collective.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thanks, Diane, for reminding us of the complicity of Obama and Duncan—among other Democrats—in the selling out of public schools and their students. The recent stir over DeVos underscores the need to force Democrats to come out of the shadows and state their position. I recently attending a small fundraiser for two “progressive” Democrats that are in contested primaries. Neither one mentioned public education, even through as state legislators they have great say in this issue. So many Democrats still don’t know that support for public education is a winning issue. Sadly, at this point, it’s imperative to appeal to these politicians self interest—the notion of a common good is the furthest from their minds.
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Chuck,
You are right and all of us who become involved in the next race must insist that Democrats state where they stand on charters and vouchers (the DeVos agenda).
Corey Booker is the worst. I hope he stays as Senator. He was very close to DeVos and gave two speeches to her American Federation for Children (Vouchers) group. Of course he opposed her nomination and pretended to be shocked,shocked,shocked.
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Yes, of all of them, Booker leaves the most sour taste—as Lincoln would say, “the base alloy of hypocrisy.”
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exact words for Booker’s game: the base alloy of hypocrisy
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Somehow there must be a visual chart of connect the dots.
Arnie Duncan, John KIng, KIPP, K-12,Inc., Michael Kirst, (now pres. of the CA School Board appointed by Gov. Brown who favors charters) and all have merged together to ruin CA Public Education.
No matter whether San Francisco or San Diego, the entire state is suffering. And broke!
And since the CA teacher’s public pension fund has failed and out of money, the school districts have to keep adding more and more funds towards the pensions of teachers.
The state is broke.
But wait! Jerry Brown has found $100 Billion for the Train to Nowhere.
Similar to the Boston ‘big dig’. A waste of billions while kids, parents and teachers suffer.
So there is no CA money for teacher’s pensions equals less for kids.
Way to go to all the politicians who made this happen!
Who do we trust now?
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I agree — this SHOULD be an issue in the California governors race. I hope it is so that primary voters are well aware they can vote for the candidate of public education or the candidate of charters.
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If you’re looking for where ed reformers focus on public school students, look at ed tech marketing.
They have disdain for public schools unless they’re trying to sell us ed tech product.
They drop all the anti-public school electioneering when they’re making the sale. Public schools are big buyers and public school students are very convenient test subjects.
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So true.
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Your last paragraph, Diane, is so true.
Will the DEMs “GET IT?” I sure hope they have an “eureka moment.
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Amazing isn’t it, in such a bell weather state, we’re stuck with the concept of ‘public’ charters when they don’t exist. All charters are in operation to make money for the operators. I hate that Obama cozied up to educators only to sell them out with charters that have been at the forefront of re segregation of public schools. On the k-12 education in California, public schools are trashed by charters, not because they are better but because their more politically popular and generate revenue for private concerns. It’s a great disservice to taxpayers, a feeding frenzy for rich individuals and businesses.
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Perhaps some enterprising grad student should write a book about education policy and politics in California. So much to cover, and very different from places like Florida or New York. Fortunately, the state teachers retirement system is not “broke,” but the governor’s solution to a perceived shortfall, passed with little debate, puts great pressure on local districts to contribute money they don’t currently have. Further, the governor’s new funding formula for districts, while helpful, still has not restored school budgets to pre-2008 levels. So local districts are essentially treading water while slowly sinking. Charters, of course, suck out more money.
Meanwhile the Democratic candidates for governor (the Republicans are almost non-existent statewide) are all over the map. Eastin and Chiang probably have the “best” education positions, but Newsom has already been endorsed by CTA and CFT, and Villaraigosa burned his education bridges years ago, which makes him the darling of the hedge funders/ed reformers. Newsom leads in the polls, but not by much.
Another well-funded “ed reformer,” Marshall Tuck, could win the election for Superintendent of Public Instruction, further muddying the education waters in the state. Tuck narrowly lost four years ago, and his opponent, Assemblymember Tony Thurmond, though endorsed by both CTA and CFT, isn’t that well known statewide.
In short, ed policy and politics in California is daunting all on its own right now.
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NPE endorsed John Chiang for Governor.
Marshall Tuck is the candidate of the Eli Broad claque of privatizers.
Betsy DeVos and Trump should campaign for Villaraigosa and Tuck.
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Why aren’t the candidates’ positions on public education being made an issue? In Virginia, the supporters of public education worked very hard in a serious grass roots effort to make people aware of the issue and the candidates’ positions.
And the candidates were forced to publicly state where they stood and answer questions about public education. Virginia parents made it an issue and the media could not simply ignore it and pretend that public education was not to be discussed except with platitudes.
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It’s not an issue because CTA and CFT endorsed a candidate who has said next to nothing about education. Now, with the endorsement in hand, he doesn’t have to say a word about it.
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