Another victory for the Trump-DeVos agenda of school choice, this one in Puerto Rico, which is still struggling to recover from massive hurricane damage.
Politico Morning Education reports:
SCHOOL CHOICE PROPOSAL MOVES AHEAD IN PUERTO RICO: One of the island’s legislative chambers approved this week an education reform plan that would usher in charter schools to the territory and roll out a program of school vouchers in 2019. The plan was pitched by Gov. Ricardo Rossello as the island’s education system grappled with a tough recovery and mass migration to the states following Hurricane Maria. It has been criticized by teachers unions, which fear that turning over education to private entities will disrupt public schools there.
– The legislation allows for the creation of charter schools, or for the conversion of existing public schools into charters. Schools must be run by non-profit operators, and must be non-sectarian. Students from across the island would be able to participate in enrollment lotteries, though schools have to give preference to students in neighboring communities. Teachers who chose to work for charter schools in Puerto Rico would be given a leave of absence from the Education Department, which would hold their jobs for up to two years.
– Responding to concerns that Puerto Rico’s system would emulate post-Katrina New Orleans, where nearly all students attend charter schools, lawmakers instituted a cap on the number of charter schools equal to 10 percent of all public schools there.
– As for school vouchers, lawmakers are proposing a rollout in the 2019-2020 school year that would allow 3 percent of students to attend schools of their choosing – including private schools. That number would rise to 5 percent the following year. It’s unclear how much money would be granted to each student, but the legislation calls for no more than 70 percent of what is already allocated per public school student.
The lesson: If you can’t fund your schools adequately, offer school choice instead. It will intensify social and economic segregation and it won’t improve education, but it will give the illusion of reform.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Is anybody surprised at this?
I’m not.
😦
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Nope. They are heartless bottom feeders.
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Reblogged this on It's Not Easy to Have Faith and commented:
Unfortunately, those who make government based decisions about education usually have only a myopic view of the ways in which education policy affects students.
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SCREAM! 🤯
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DeVos excels at one thing… constantly exceeding her own heights of stupidity and with such devoted intentionality.
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Crooks and frauds that worship at the altar of avarice are relentless in their greedy quest for more, more, more, and more wealth.
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Privatizers are opportunistic vultures that exploit the misery of others. Like New Orleans they attack during the recovery from a natural disaster when people are too weak to fight back.
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Exactly.
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They attack after financial disasters too.
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How are they planning on financing this?? Just a couple of years ago, some hedge fund guy wanted to close schools in Puerto Rico in order to pay him.
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This is not fair! Haven’t they suffered through enough disasters in Puerto Rico?
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Anyone who has paid more than 5 minutes of attention to this wonderful blog knew that this was going to happen in Puerto Rico as soon as the devastation of the hurricane became apparent. Deformers are predatory, cynical, opportunistic parasites.
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” If you can’t fund your schools adequately, offer school choice instead. It will intensify social and economic segregation and it won’t improve education, but it will give the illusion of reform.”
Or: “If you cannot fund public schools, just give out vouchers which take away money from public schools, so you have even less money for public schools.”
Logical.
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Puerto Rico’s financial problems are not new, as we can learn from John Oliver.
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt-mpuR_QHQ"<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt-mpuR_QHQ
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As you can see at 15 minutes in this pre-hurricane video, cutting back from education was already suggested to Puerto Rico by some moneymen, so the school privatization bill has been prepared for a while, and the hurricane just sped everything up.
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Puerto Rico was an economic train wreck before the hurricane. Due to a quirk in the federal bankruptcy laws, territories cannot re-organize their finances the same way as states can. Therefore, PR is hampered from gaining an economic solution, the same way as it could, if it were a state.
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Puerto Rico’s economy was wrecked by hedge fund managers who bought up its bonds at a deep discount, then demanded to be paid in full.
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We treat territories terribly.
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Colonialists never felt compelled to protect the welfare of their colonies as they did those who live on the homeland.
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P.R. is not a colony of the USA. It is a self-governing commonwealth, which by free association, is a territory of the USA. Individuals born on the island are US citizens by birth, but do not pay US taxes. The islanders may relocate to the mainland of the USA at any time, just like a person can move from Vermont to New Hampshire.
There have been a number of plebiscites (non-binding referenda) over the past several years. Islanders keep rejecting statehood (primarily because of taxes), and they keep rejecting independence as well.
It looks like the “status quo” is going to be with the island for the foreseeable future.
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P.R. is technically NOT a colony.
But it is in actuality treated exactly like a colony.
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I disagree. P.R. gets more federal spending than it generates in taxes. The island is net recipient of federal spending. Islanders are free to leave, and reside on the mainland, at any time, without any visa or quota. The island gets a non-voting delegate in the house of representatives. Many on the island get food stamps, and other federal largesse.
The islanders are free to emigrate to any country of their choice any time. The island could, if a majority would concur, apply for and receive statehood at any time. (This is highly unlikely, because the tax burden would be tremendous). The island could vote for independence, but again, the cost to the islanders would be immense.
The only reason that the island is a commonwealth, is so that the islanders could be classified as citizens, and therefore be subject to the draft for military service in World War One. The island became a commonwealth in 1917.
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Charles,
If it were Houston or Florida, Trump would care.
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Charles, did you watch the video?
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Don’t confuse Charles. He has his views and sticks to them.
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Brains made of cured cement never gets confused.
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I have seen this video. I am well-aware of the status of American citizens in the territories. My supervisor on my last contract, was a fine Puerto Rican gentleman. We spoke often about the situation in P.R. He flew back to the island frequently. My late father was retired military, he served temporary assignments at Ramey Air Force Base on the island.
I live in metro WashDC. Citizens of our nation’s capital are Americans, and they pay US taxes, but they can only vote in presidential elections. They have a non-voting delegate in congress. This is “taxation without representation”. At least the US citizens in the territories are free of most US taxes.
All of the territories receive more in federal spending, than they contribute in taxes. If P.R. wants statehood, the islanders could apply for it anytime. The islanders choose to remain in commonwealth status, by their own preference.
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Being in Commonwealth status does not reduce their status as citizens. Even if PR receives more in federal spending than they pay in taxes, how does that explain or excuse the federal government’s neglect in the face of a humanitarian crisis? Is federal aid denied to any states that receive more than they pay? That is simply an indicator of high poverty, not a moral failing.
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Territories like PR are not the only areas that might not generate enough taxes to support the state’s government and infrastructure.
Which States are Givers and Which are Takers?
“Alternatively, we could use the “state dependency” map as an opportunity to reflect on a different paradox—the longstanding role of the far-away federal government as an agent of community. Because of federal programs, people in places like South Carolina and Mississippi are getting a helping hand not from their neighbors a few blocks away or in the next county over, but from residents of Delaware, Minnesota, Illinois, and Nebraska.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/05/which-states-are-givers-and-which-are-takers/361668/
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Even though the Virgin Islands are US territory (The US purchased the islands from Denmark) US citizens returning from the Virgin Islands, have to clear customs, just like they had visited a foreign nation. see
http://traveltips.usatoday.com/american-virgin-islands-domestic-flight-110028.html
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The legal and voting status of US citizens in the territories has no bearing on whether the US government should offer our fellow citizens humanitarian aid. The USA sends many millions of dollars in humanitarian aid to many nations, when the need arises. I am personally appalled that our own fellow citizens do not get as much consideration, as earthquake victims in Armenia.
When a disaster on US soil occurs, our government does not go in with a bunch of CPAs, and determine how much the victims have paid in taxes.
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Thanks for clarifying, Charles. Your earlier comments implied that we should not send federal assistance to Puerto Rico because the island is a Commonwealth, not a state, and they don’t pay enough taxes.
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SO MUCH said in just a few lines: “The lesson: If you can’t fund your schools adequately, offer school choice instead. It will intensify social and economic segregation and it won’t improve education, but it will give the illusion of reform…”
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“You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.”
— Rahm Emanuel
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Shock Doctrine. Katrina. Predictable.
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