Archives for the month of: March, 2018

Sara Roos, blogger in Los Angeles, poses this question. Why should Ref Rodriguez keep his seat on the LAUSD school board when he has been charged with commiting involving financial fraud during his election campaign? But that’s not all. Ref founded a charter school chain, which complained to authorities about Ref’s misuse of its funding.

Rodriguez, 46, faces three felony charges for conspiracy, perjury and procuring and offering a false or forged instrument, as well as 25 misdemeanor counts related to the alleged campaign money laundering.

At a preliminary hearing, prosecutors lay out their case before a judge, who must decide whether there is enough evidence for the defendant to stand trial. In court Wednesday, Judge Deborah S. Brazile, drawing on prosecutors’ estimates, said that the hearing in this case could last up to six days,

Unless there is a postponement, Brazile on May 9 will assign the case to a trial judge, who would have two days to begin the hearing.

Prosecutors say Rodriguez carried out a scheme in which friends and relativesdonated more than $24,000 to his campaign, with the understanding that Rodriguez would reimburse them fully. He could have donated the money legally to his own campaign, but Rodriguez allegedly broke the law by concealing the true source of the contributions — denying voters accurate information about support for his campaign, according to the L.A. County district attorney’s office and the Los Angeles Ethics Commission.

His cousin, Elizabeth Tinajero Melendrez, faces related misdemeanor charges. Prosecutors contend that she helped Rodriguez solicit and illegally reimburse the donors. She also has pleaded not guilty.

The case is complicated by separate conflict-of-interest allegations, first reported in the Los Angeles Times, that have to do with Rodriguez’s former role as a senior executive at a local charter school group.

Officials at the charter group, Partnerships to Uplift Communities, recently alleged that in 2014, Rodriguez signed or co-signed $265,000 in checks drawn on PUC accounts that were payable to a separate nonprofit under his control. That same year, they allege, Rodriguez authorized payments of $20,400 to a private company called Better 4 You Fundraising, in which he may have owned a stake at the time.

At a previous court appearance, Deputy Dist. Atty. Susan Ser said her team was examining whether to charge Rodriguez in the alleged conflicts of interest.

If he were a teacher, he would be fired.

If he were a principal, he would be fired.

If he were a superintendent, he would be fired.

But he stays on as a member because the charter school lobby spent millions to buy control of the board, and they can’t risk losing his seat in a new election. His vote may be decisive in choosing a new superintendent for the district.

Does California have ethics laws for public officials? Can they retain their position after indictment? If he is not guilty, he can run again. But it sets a terrible example for students to pretend that an indictment on felony offenses is a trivial matter.

Sara has a petition on her post. Please consider signing it.

Categories Accountability, California, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Los Angeles, Privatization

Oklahoma: Will Teachers Launch a Statewide Strike like West Virginia?

By dianeravitch

March 5, 2018 //

Oklahoma’s teachers are angry. They are among the lowest paid teachers in the nation, and teacher shortages are growing as colleagues move out of the state or give up teaching for something else.

Teachers across the state are seriously considering a statewide strike.

One teacher started a Facebook page and with a few days, 52,000 people had signed up for it.

Teachers from the state’s two urban centers gathered at a Moore public library Friday evening to weigh their participation and the timing of any such organized effort.

The meeting attended by about three dozen teachers from seven districts around the state was organized by Heather Reed, a teacher at Lee Elementary School in Oklahoma City. Reed said April 2 is the date currently under consideration because that’s “when it might hurt the most.”

“Our teachers are exhausted, tired,” Reed said.

Also in attendance was Larry Cagle, a language arts teacher at Edison Preparatory School in Tulsa.

“We are at a crossroads where either something positive happens … or we find ourselves coming back in August with a severely demoralized and depleted teaching corps,” Cagle said.

In 1990, a four-day, statewide teachers’ strike forced House Bill 1017 through the Legislature and then a vote of the people. The measure raised taxes for increased teacher compensation in exchange for a series of policy changes, including class-size limitations, mandatory kindergarten, training for school board members and parent education programs.

A new Facebook group called “Oklahoma Teacher Walkout — The Time Is Now!” (bit.ly/ thetimeisnowok) was created late last week and already has more than 52,000 members.

Interesting that this new teacher militancy is happening even as the U.S. Supreme Court is considering a case that is intended to kill teachers’ unions. Oklahoma is a “right to work” state, but that hasn’t stopped teachers from collaborating to demand higher pay and better working conditions.

Categories Oklahoma, Teacher Pay, Teacher Shortage, Teachers, Unions

New York City: Mayor Picks Richard Carranza of HISD as New Chancellor

By dianeravitch

March 5, 2018 //

Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced that he has chosen Richard Carranza, currently superintendent of schools in Houston Independent School District to be the next chancellor of the New York City public schools.

Before starting work in mid-2016 in Houston, Carranza was superintendent of schools in San Francisco for four years. He has also worked in Las Vegas and Tucson.

The good aspect of the choice: Carranza is not a hand-me-down from the Bloomberg-Klein regime.

The worrisome aspect of the choice: Carranza has no experience in the labyrinthine politics of New York City education or New York City politics, or Albany politics. He has a lot to learn.

Frankly, as I wrote again and again during the Bloomberg years, mayoral control is a failed concept. The mayor and his wife made the selection without a search committee. Bloomberg picked a new chancellor that he met at a cocktail party; she last three months.

It is time, past time, to restore an independent Board of Education to the City of New York, where members are not controlled solely by the Mayor and are part of any consequential decision making.

Categories Administrators, superintendents, New York City

California: Students in North Hollywood High School Fight Co-Location with Charter School

By dianeravitch

March 5, 2018 //

North Hollywood High may have to share its campus with a charter school, and these students aren’t happy about it

https://www.dailynews.com/2018/03/03/north-hollywood-high-may-have-to-share-its-campus-with-a-charter-school-and-some-students-arent-happy-about-it/

This is a traditional high school with several outstanding programs. Here is a petition started by students:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfakLUFOMDWv8z5WhpIE1iGYz3craxt9esI9E-glK2eN1BwEQ/viewform

The following is a list of “essential programs” that would have their classroom space eliminated or reduced. This high school has become a beacon of excellence in this community.

ESSENTIAL PROGRAMS, NOT “AVAILABLE” SPACES
To give up 14 classrooms to a charter, North Hollywood would need to eliminate or reduce spaces and programs that are at the heart of our students’ success, such as: College and Careers Center, computer labs, Parent Center, music room, weight room, workshops needed by Robotics teams, Student Government, Science Olympiad, Cyber Patriots, and other award-winning extracurricular programs.

Categories California, Charter Schools, Privatization, Resistance, Students

NAACP to Atlanta Board of Education: Do Not Give a Sole Source Contract to Relay “Graduate School of Education”

By dianeravitch

March 5, 2018 //

The Atlanta Board of Education will vote tonight on whether to give a $600,000 sole source contract to the Relay “Graduate School of Education” to train school leaders.

Edward Johnson, a champion of public schools and an advocate of systemic change based on the philosophy of W. Edwards Deming, has spoken out against this decision, and with good reason. Deming helped to transform Japanese industry based on principles of teamwork and collaboration and the recognition that accountability starts at the top, not the bottom. (To learn more about Deming, read Andrea Gabor’s excellent The Man Who Invented Quality, especially chapter 9, where she explains Deming’s opposition to merit pay. Her new book, After the Education Wars, directly applies Deming thought to education.)

Relay is not really a “graduate school of education.” It is an organization founded in 2011 by three “no-excuses” charter chains–KIPP, Achievement First, and Uncommon Schools–based on a charter teacher training program called TeacherU at Hunter College in New York City. Graduate schools of education have faculty members with doctorates in their fields; they have research programs; they have departments and courses devoted to pedagogy, psychology, philosophy, sociology, economics, history, and other aspects of education. Relay has none of these features. Its “schools” are managed by charter teachers, some of whom have a masters’ degree; they specialize in teaching how to raise test scores and impose strict discipline according to the canonical texts of Doug Lemov; if you search for a Relay campus, you are unlikely to find one. Relay is one of the ways in which corporate reformers are determined to destroy professional education, for teachers and administrators alike.

I wrote a letter to the Atlanta Board of Education, following Ed Johnson’s complaint, explaining that Relay was not the right choice.

The chair of the education committee of the Atlanta NAACP wrote too, urging that the agenda item for a sole source contract be deferred until other institutions were invited to submit proposals.

From: Lula Gilliam [mailto:education@naacpatlanta.org]
Sent: Monday, March 05, 2018 12:12 PM
To: mjcarstarphen@atlanta.k12.ga.us; jesteves@atlantapublicschools.us; epcollins@atlantapublicschools.us; lgrant@atlantapublicschools.us; bamos@atlanta.k12.ga.us; michelle.olympiadis@atlanta.k12.ga.us; nmeister@atlanta.k12.ga.us; Erika.Mitchell@atlanta.k12.ga.us; kandis.woodjackson@atlanta.k12.ga.us; cbriscoe_brown@atlanta.k12.ga.us; pierre.gaither@atlanta.k12.ga.us
Cc: jkahrs@gsu.edu; dcowan1@gsu.edu; bawilli@gsu.edu; president@naacpatlanta.org; AfQPE@aol.com; edwjohnson@aol.com; Marypalmer515@gmail.com
Subject: Relay Graduate School of Education Sole Source Contract

To: Atlanta Board of Education (ABOE) members

Good afternoon,

Community education activist, Ed Johnson, included the Atlanta NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) on an email thread that has raised several concerns. We have been informed that ABOE has an action on tonight’s (March 5, 2018) agenda that includes Item 7.05.

The Board will be voting to enter into a sole source contract with Relay Graduate School of Education (RGSE). The purpose is “for tuition for school leaders and central office supervisors to participate in the [Relay] National Principal and Supervisor Academy.” The contract amount is $600,000.00.

We are certain you are aware the terminology sole source denotes that no other entity can provide these services. Are you all familiar with the Principals Center at Georgia State University (GSU), which provides the very services that are mentioned in this sole source? Did you contact the Center about the contract and offer them an equal opportunity to provide these services? If not, please explain. Just in case you don’t have this, I am including the contact information for the Center’s executive staff: Dr. James R. Kahrs (jkahrs@gsu.edu) and Dr. Dionne Cowan (dcowan1@gsu.edu) as well as copying them on this email. Also copied are GSU president, Dr. Mark Becker, and Dr. Brian Williams, Director of the Alonzo Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence (Atlanta NAACP Education Committee – Co-Chair).

Founded in 1913, GSU graduates more African American students than any other college/university in the country. With this impressive distinction and a true testament of leadership training at its finest, seemingly, Georgia State’s longevity and outcomes negate that no other entity can provide the services described by ABOE. On the other hand, Relay Graduate School of Education was founded in 2011. What is their track record for success that has ABOE considering a sole source contract in the amount of $600,000.00?

The Atlanta NAACP would caution ABOE to tread carefully in the use of “sole source” and the doling out of public dollars. We highly recommend tabling this agenda item in order to offer this contract to the best possible provider. Our children and families deserve nothing less.

In the best interests of students and parents,

Lula M. Gilliam

Atlanta NAACP

Chair – Education Committee

Co-Chair -Labor & Industry Committee

970 Martin Luther King, Jr., Drive

Suite 302

Atlanta, GA 30314

(404)524-0580 (office)

(770)256-0275 (cell)

Categories Accountability, Atlanta, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Privatization

Utah Legislator Who Sponsored Charter Bill: They Are a “Grave Disappointment”

By dianeravitch

March 5, 2018 //

The legislator who launched charter schools in Utah declared that they are a “grave disappointment” to him.

Sen. Howard Stephenson, sponsor of the laws that launched charter schools in Utah, said Tuesday that the alternative schools have fallen short of their mission to improve education through innovation and competition.

The Draper Republican said he’s looking for a “fresh start” for charter schools, as their average performance on statewide tests is no better than that of their school district counterparts.

“I don’t want to discount the fact that many, many students have found success in these schools of choice but on average, we have not seen that occur,” Stephenson said. “That has been a grave disappointment for me as the sponsor of that [original] legislation.”

Stephenson thought that if he changed the composition of the state charter school board, that might fix things. First, he offered a prohibition on anyone who was currently a charter school board member or member of a charter governing board. But that would have cut some of the current board members, so he revised the bill to seek someone “with expertise in classroom technology and individualized learning.”

One of the charter members who might have been kicked off warned that the board needed someone with expertise in digital technology and “personalized learning” since that was the wave of the future.

Guess the word hasn’t reached Utah that “personalized learning” means “depersonalized learning” and that teachers and parents are rebelling against the replacement of teachers by machines.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Failure, Privatization, Technology, Utah

Arizona: No Cap on Corporate Tax Subsidy for Nonpublic Schools

By dianeravitch

March 5, 2018 //

Corporations in Arizona may soon pay no state taxes at all because the Senate cannot agree on a cap.

Instead of paying taxes, the corporations can subsidize private and religious schools. This means the state will have less money for its underfundedpublic schools, which enroll nearly 90% of the state’s children.

“On a party-line vote, the Arizona Senate gave preliminary approval Wednesday to changes in laws that give corporations a dollar-for-dollar credit against their state taxes for money they give to “scholarship tuition organizations.” These STOs, in turn, provide funds parents can use to pay the tuition and fees for their children at private schools.

“But Senate Bill 1467 was missing the promise made earlier by Senate President Steve Yarbrough, R-Chandler, to eliminate a provision in the law that, if not capped, could eventually mean corporations would pay nothing into the state treasury.“Under the original STO law, the diversion of corporate taxes was limited to $10 million.

“But proponents, led by Yarbrough, put in an automatic escalator, allowing that cap to rise by 20 percent a year. This past year the diversions totaled $74 million.

“The law will allow corporations to divert more than “$89 million this year, $107 million next year and $128 million the year after that.

“There is no limit. And at that rate, corporations could owe the state nothing by 2027.”

Until last year, the president of the State Senate, Republican Steve Yarbrough ran one of the organizations funneling tax dollars to nonpublic schools. Yarbrough was both president of the State Senate and leader of the Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization. Tuition organizations get to keep 10% of the tax money to pay for administrative services. His organization collected millions each year, and he was making about $150,000 a year to run the fund while writing laws to expand its funding. A sweet deal. For him. Not for public schools.

The Arizona Republic described the program in 2015:

”It was pitched as a small tax-credit program to help poor and disabled students attend private school.

“Eighteen years later, $140 million is now being diverted from the state treasury, most of it to pay private-school tuition for non-poor, non-disabled students.

“It was pitched as a program that would expand school choice. But fewer students are attending private school now than when the tax-credit program began, yet more and more money is being siphoned from the state to pay the private school tuition tab.

“This, Senate Majority Leader. Steve Yarbrough calls a triumph.”

Yarbrough stepped down from his private sector job in December 2017.

The Arizona formula: More money for private and religious schools, less money for public schools.

Categories Arizona, Funding, School Choice

Gary Rubinstein: Where Have the Reform Stars of Yesteryear Gone?

By dianeravitch

March 5, 2018 //

Gary Rubinstein admits that he misses the big names of reform whose stars have flickered out: Michelle Rhee, Joel Klein, Arne Duncan, Cami Anderson, and those others whose words could be picked apart and ridiculed.

Gary says the successors to the golden oldies are not nearly as much fun. He explains by quoting at length from the current leader of Teach for America, whose prose is flat, bland, and blah. She even quotes George W. Bush on the “soft bigotry of low expectations.” How low can you go? Well, maybe some day she will quote Donald J. Trump to inspire the troops.

He writes:

“The disappearance of the reform rock stars and replacement by this new breed of bland understudies was a first step in the collapse of the reform movement. Trump and DeVos surely have not helped Democrats continue to embrace ‘school choice’ as a viable solution. Then, you knew it had to happen eventually, Bill Gates recently came out and admitted that teacher evaluation reform didn’t work as well as he had predicted so he is going to instead work on curriculum development. Whether or not the reform movement is merely ‘playing possum’ right now and playing dead while really planning their next wave of attack (some are giddy about the upcoming Janus Supreme Court case), I suppose we will find out in the years to come.”