Jeb Bush, the puppet-master of corporate reform, is convening his annual “summit” of people who support his love of charters and vouchers. The queen of school choice is the superstar of the event: Eva Moskowitz.
Peruse the agenda to see who supports Jeb Bush’s efforts to privatize public education.
The registration fee is $649, enough to keep out the riffraff.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Pure echo chamber. Not a single public school supporter or advocate among them.
The only mention of public schools will be to compare our schools unfavorably to the charter and private schools they promote.
In a country where 85% of families attend public schools, we can’t manage to rate a single advocate at this gathering of hugely powerful people. That’s a shame.
At what point do we admit this “movement” is either completely irrelevant or actively harmful to the vast, vast majority who attend public schools? Public schools have no role in a “movement” that is supposedly ABOUT public education. That’s ludicrous.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I look forward to listening to charter and voucher proponents OPINING on the public schools they don’t run, don’t and didn’t attend, and don’t support.
Where is the convention where public school leaders meet and opine on the shortcomings of charter and private schools? When is that held?
Be a cold day in hell when that’s permitted. It’s vitally important that we never hear from any powerful person who actually values and supports public schools. Echo chamber denizens only, please! God forbid there should be an actual debate.
LikeLike
It is the usual assembly of privatization pirates, ideologues, edupreneurs and paid mouthpieces. These people are not going away as long as there is money to be made by considering public education a market based commodity. Fueled by dark money, they will continue to insert themselves into policy at all levels of government. People need to catch on that “reform” is not a real movement. It is the will of the 1% planning to offer working people less than they had before.
I see Raj Chetty is going to reaffirm the “zip code” argument. Nothing new or interesting, only the same old lies and exaggerations, none of which are evidence based.
LikeLike
Can’t wait for this session: “Addressing Critical Gaps in Teaching Capacity.” Haven’t we heard it all before? I imagine TFA will lead. Yawn.
LikeLike
Ed reformers like to claim they are “agnostics” but I was taught (in public schools) not to swallow assertions without reading the record.
Here’s how “agnostic” they are:
“The system we have today with over 13,000 government-run, politicized, unionized monopolies is probably not the best governance model for 2014 and going forward,” he said.”
I don’t mind that they seek to eradicate public schools- that’s an opinion – wrongheaded and tragic in my view and an approach we will deeply, deeply regret if they succeed, but they’re entitled to it.
I DO mind that they don’t reveal this ideological goal to the public when they run for office. That’s not fair to public school families or public school students and since public school families make up 85-90% of school families, it’s pretty important for us to know that we’re electing people who are OPPOSED to our schools.
Don’t tell us you support our schools. You don’t. We can’t have a real debate if one side insists on hiding the ball.
LikeLike
Public schools have served this nation well. What is needed is a commitment to equity and integration in order to create a more civil society. Common schools are the most efficient and effective way to accomplish this goal. It is wasteful to splinter our resources so that no schools operate at full potential, and neither do our students.
LikeLike
The “summit” is on December 5th, which was just declared a national day of mourning. I do not mean to be disrespectful to the Bush family, but I do wonder if the charter cheerleading will be postponed.
LikeLike
“Summit”, the word shouts Gates egomania and impatient opportunists.
Of course, Harvard and Stanford will have representatives at the meet-up. And, there’s the token Black person, Howard Fuller from Michigan, where charter school churn has been brutal on Black families and, where 80% of charter schools are for-profits.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sounds like a Batman line-up. Perhaps they could debut some new anti-public Ed groups. Might I suggest “Kleptocrats-4-Reform” or perhaps “Billionaires-8-Our-Budget”?
LikeLike
Both slogans are a perfect fit.
LikeLike
ALL that $$$$$ spent on the Common Corpse, high stakes testing, charters, vouchers could feed people and provide shelter plus even provide education and books as well. But oh no, the deformers are not about equality or opportunity. The deformers are about Jim Crow.
LikeLiked by 1 person
an absolute yes; at the very top of the educational reform money tree, the goal IS separation and selection
LikeLike
Education and the Welfare State…https://educationandfreedom.com/2017/10/29/first-blog-post/
The War between Equality and Individual Freedom… https://educationandfreedom.com/2017/12/29/the-war-between-equality-and-individual-freedom/
LikeLike
Interesting writings! Thanks for sharing them, Jeff.
“Instead of manning barricades, isn’t there a better way somewhere in the Radical Middle? Compromise used to be a hallmark of American Democracy, but it is no longer. Why?
I suggest that what is missing is the third word in the cry of the French Revolution and the current motto of the French Republic: Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité. Fraternity is kinship, togetherness, and union; a group of folks sharing common interests.”
One of the problems with the current political situation is that the “radical middle” is so far right, that progressives and progressive thought are left out of the picture. In many instances that “bipartisan middle” has given those of us in public education the shaft and the students suffer, see NCLB, RaTT and ESSA.
French philosophers and thought?? Heaven forbid macho Amurikans would actually listen to the French. And even now that “fraternite” is manifesting itself in massive protests. You’re right though that we Americans might benefit from reading and understanding not only the French but other sources of information/thought.
LikeLiked by 1 person