Peter Greene paints an ugly picture of the dominant forces of privatization in Florida and their plans to destroy public education and share the spoils.
He begins by asking these questions:
Here are two not-entirely-academic questions:
Is it possible to end public education in an entire state?
Can Florida become any more hostile to public education than it already is?
Newly-minted Governor Ron DeSantis and a wild cast of privatization cronies seem to answer a resounding “yes” to both questions.
The trick they play is to say that anything funded by the public, no matter who owns it, runs it, or uses it, is “public,” by definition.
Florida has become a playground for for-profit entrepreneurs and religious zealots, and the new governor Ron DeSantis is on their team.
He describes the leaders of a group that calls itself the “School Choice Movement,” and they are people who never give a moment’s thought to the public interest or the common good.
There is a lot of dirty politics in the Sunshine State, and a good deal of money to line someone’s pockets. Up until now, the courts have blocked the goals of the privatizers, which directly violate the state constitution. But Governor DeSantis just replaced some of those pesky judges to get the courts out of his way.
Greene writes:
Calling charter schools public creates a nice batch of smoke and mirrors, allowing DeSantis and his cronies to privatize giant chunks of Florida’s school system while still proclaiming, “No need to worry. You still have public schools!” You could completely shift the education system to privately owned and operated schools while still reassuring parents, taxpayers, and, perhaps, courts, that you haven’t done a thing because it’s still all public schools.
It’s not just marketing. It’s stealing the Mona Lisa and hanging up a Polaroid picture of the painting in its place. It’s kidnapping your spouse and replacing them with an inflatable doll. It is a gaslighting of epic proportions.
In the meantime, Florida taxpayers, you probably should not try to just stroll into the public governor’s mansion you paid for or borrow one of those public vehicles that you bought for officials to drive around in (especially don’t try to commandeer a public army tank). Instead, I would keep a close eye on your public schools while you’ve still got them. And if it’s already too late in your county, don’t be sad– your loss of public education has at least made some of your leaders really wealthy.
And the rest of us need to pay attention, too. Remember– Betsy DeVos is among the many people who think Florida is an educational exemplar.
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education and commented:
Well, if betsey approves then it must be the best thing since sliced bread. Gag, choke, puke, ugh!.
If there is a reason to run away and run away fast.
If there is no way to stop DeSantis in the courts, perhaps The League of Women Voters which has a network throughout the state, should start a petition on the definition of a public school on the ballot. With enough signatures the question would have to be brought before the public. It may be the only way to derail DeSantis’ semantic manipulation to transfer public funds out of public schools.
“The trick they play is to say that anything funded by the public, no matter who owns it, runs it, or uses it, is “public,” by definition.”
That was always the logical and inevitable end point of ed reform.
It’s also exactly what they denied they were doing for 20 years. Not only were the critics right, ed reform has gone much further towards privatization than critics 20 years ago ever dreamed.
The public were misled about the goals of this “movement”. All one has to do to see this is look at the states they control.
Florida is so loosely regulated and so far along on complete privatization I don’t think their reported numbers are reliable anymore. They can’t track gains or losses because they don’t track the students in the privatized sectors at all. It’s all self-reported. There’s no meaningful oversight of the privatized portions of the system. As that portion gets bigger and bigger the numbers they report will be less and less reliable. Garbage in, garbage out.
Under the incredibly rigorous reasoning process used in ed reform, every single defense contractor is “public”.
Have they given this ANY thought? What it means that they define “public” as “publicly funded”?
It’s ridiculous. Outside of the echo chamber they would be laughed out of the room with this “analysis” but they all repeat it like it means something. It’s a campaign slogan.
According to this loose interpretation of the term “public,” it can be argued that any doctor that accepts Medicare is a public doctor. DeSantis just switched out a number of Scott’s appointments. If he has stocked the court with Tea Party judges, we have a huge problem.
Let’s check in on the thousands of public employees at the US Department of Education and see how they’re spending their workweek:
“This proposal would empower students and families to choose the best education setting for them – regardless of where they live, how much they make, and how they learn.”
Chalk up yet another week where they return absolutely no value to public school students and families, in fact, completely exclude NINETY PER CENT of the country, and lobby for private and charter schools.
Ridiculous. This is where this “movement” has led us. We pay tens of thousands of public employees to work on private school promotions that are completely irrelevant to the vast majority. There isn’t a public school student in this country who would know the difference if any of these people stopped showing up for work. I’d much prefer to pay teachers more, frankly. DC can just close up shop.
I’m old enough to remember all the way back to 2008 when ed reformers assured us they wouldn’t support vouchers. Now they all lock-step cheerlead vouchers.
They’re all lobbying for a FEDERAL voucher now:
https://blog.ed.gov/2019/02/6-things-to-know-about-the-education-freedom-scholarships/
Literally everything people were alarmed about when this lobbying effort started has happened, and more. This is beyond Barry Goldwater’s wildest dreams.
I believe that it is possible to phase out publicly-operated schools in an entire state. Florida may be first. That is one advantage of having 50 states, is that you have 50 state laboratories, where new ideas can be tried on a small scale.
How sick. Why not privatize the military, the police, and the fire departments? Who needs public services? Why not phase out legislatures and Congress?
That is the end goal of the Koch brand of libertarianism … to privatize the public sector and strip the federal government of its power to govern. The Koch want-to-be result will be a Theocratic Kleptocracy ruled by all-powerful billionaire oligarchs. The Kochs are extremist Catholics that have also criticized the current Catholics Pope. That means an end of the U.S. Constitution and the protections it offers.
It’s also obvious that Bill Gates, Betsy DeVos, Trump (a fake billionaire with more debt than actual wealth), the Walmart Walton family, the Koch family, Eli Broad and too many more to name here have a similar agenda.
It is not sick. And do not go down that ridiculous road about privatizing the military again.
Some communities do not operate a municipal fire department. The city government of San Mateo Calif, phased out its fire department many years ago. Scottsdale, Ariz contracted out its trash pickup decades ago.
As far the US military, it is more private than you think. The Army does not make bullets, they turn to private contractors. The Navy does not build boats, all are made by private firms. The Air Force buys its planes. The military is a public/private partnership. I know, I evaluate telecommunications systems for the Army/Marine Corps.
I can predict with some certainty, that more states/municipalities are going to be partnering with private firms for delivery of educational services.
Already, public school systems are contracting out educational services for special-needs students. More are certain to follow.
Why not privatize the military? You think privatization is superb. Would we have better soldiers, better officers, and better equipment if we gave the Defense Department to Erik Prince, Betsy’s brother? He has already offered to take charge of the war in Afghanistan with his army of mercenaries. He could probably save the government billions of dollars. Unnecessary civilian jobs like yours, Charles, could be eliminated. Think of the savings! Let competition reign. One mercenary army in Afghanistan, another one in Syria.
and those willing themselves to SEE this happening surely cannot be surprised: of course those in Trump’s corner fantasize about private non-accountable military action when controlling another country’s resources is more and more transparently the goal
“And do not go down that ridiculous road about privatizing the military again.”
Charles, privatizing the military isn’t a silly road. It’s already happening.
America’s Addiction to Mercenaries
“Washington’s reliance on private contractors to fight its wars has mutated into a strategic vulnerability …
“Private military contractors perform tasks once thought to be inherently governmental, such as raising foreign armies, conducting intelligence analysis and trigger-pulling. During the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, they constituted about 15 percent of all contractors. But don’t let the numbers fool you. Their failures have an outsized impact on U.S. strategy. When a squad of Blackwater contractors killed 17 civilians at a Bagdad traffic circle in 2007, it provoked a firestorm in Iraq and at home, marking one of the nadirs of that war.” …
“Today, 75 percent of U.S. forces in Afghanistan are contracted.” …
“Contracting is big business, too. In the 2014 fiscal year, the Pentagon obligated $285 billion to federal contracts—more money than all other government agencies received, combined. That’s equal to 8 percent of federal spending, and three and a half times Britain’s entire defense budget. About 45 percent of those contracts were for services, including private military contractors.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/08/iraq-afghanistan-contractor-pentagon-obama/495731/
Here is a very articulate and reasoned explanation on why the government must operate the national defense.
see
Go to 20:00 mins.
Even the most pro-free market persons, see the absolute need for a government-run military.
I am a veteran. I served as a civilian GS employee for the Defense Department. I have served in the combat zones of Iraq/Afghanistan as a contractor, and I have worked projects in the Pentagon.
I know more about national Defense, than you ever will.
Please drop any discussion about privatizing the national defense.
Oh, no, give national defense to Erik Prince. Give him a few billion and let his mercenaries take over our wars.
We could save money, get rid of the Defense Department, eliminate your job, and voucherize our national defense.
You think privatization works for every other part of the public sector. Why not the military?
Erik Prince has moved to China where he is training his next mercenary army or China’s elite special forces — who knows what he is up to in China. I guess his type of military doesn’t fit well in a country like the U.S. with its Constitution and 1st amendment rights.
“He (Erik Prince) is now chairman of Frontier Services Group (FSG), which announced in December that it is setting up a “forward operating base” in Yunnan to provide logistics and unarmed security training services to facilitate OBOR-related projects in Southeast Asia. Just as he positioned himself to profit from George W. Bush’s military adventurism in Iraq more than a decade ago, he is poised to benefit from this decade’s dominant theme: a global realignment around China’s economy.”
https://qz.com/957704/the-american-mercenary-behind-blackwater-is-helping-china-establish-the-new-silk-road/
Erik struck out in the U.S. when he suggested the Afghan and Iraq war be turned over to mercenary armies like his. It makes sense, he’d move to China after being rejected by the U.S.
More evidence that the world loyalty to his birth country doesn’t exist. I think his sister Betsy also has no loyalty to the U.S. Constitutional Republic.
Erik would move back to the US in a minute if Trump gave him control of the Defense Department.
The Senate would go along as they always do.
Poor Charles would lose his job.
Q You think privatization works for every other part of the public sector. Why not the military? END Q
I do not think that privatization would work for every other part of the public sector.
I do NOT advocate privatization of the national defense. No way. See the video, at 20:00 minutes.
I am not an anarchist, and I strongly support the need for a federal government.
Oh, you only advocateprivatization of public schools, which are vital to our future.
Q Unnecessary civilian jobs like yours, Charles, could be eliminated. END Q
I let most of the hateful remarks pass. But I resent this remark. The modern military is high-tech. The telecommunications equipment and computers/software must be thoroughly evaluated, before millions of dollars are spent, and soldiers’ lives are put at risk.
My engineering job is very necessary. And because i am a contractor, and not a full-time federal employee, my skills can be put to use, at a much lower cost, than if I were a GS.
My work is vital and cost-effective.
When Erik Prince takes charge, he won’t need you.
Every time you fool me into thinking there might be something redeemable about you, you post garbage like this. To quote The Who, I won’t get fooled again.
We already have a laboratory of a completely privatized school system in New Orleans, post Katrina. NOLA is exemplary of on the ground outcomes of a privatized school system. It’s a hot mess of lost children, discrimination, massive instability in the teaching force, segregated schools, & dispersed, fractured communities. Not to mention the fraud & corruption across the charter industry that rarely is held to account.
https://www.aperfectstormthemovie.com/
It isn’t a new idea. I believe it has already been tried in Chile and Sweden. How many times do we have to try a failed idea before we throw it on the trash heap?
School choice has also failed wherever tried in the US. The kids get worse education, worse test scores, uncertified teachers, and the Bible as science.
There are a number of countries where a significant proportion of students are educated in privately managed schools. Well over 60% of the students in the Netherlands, for example, attend privately managed schools.
Here is some information for OECD countries: https://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisaproducts/pisainfocus/48482894.pdf
The Netherlands do not allow non-educators to open schools. Many charter schools are opened by entrepreneurs, rappers, athletes, chains. That is unheard of in the Netherlands.
If charter schools could not started by non-educators, like in the Netherlands, would that make a difference? If so, it seems like a reasonable change that the states that allow anyone to start a charter school might want to consider making to their charter laws.
How do you feel about capping the salaries of charter operators to no more than a principal’s salary?
That might well be reasonable, but would it would seem to be the same as capping school superintendent salaries at no more than a principal’s salary. Would that be a good policy for traditional public schools?
Maybe the sooner Florida ends up underwater because of global warming, the better off the people in Florida will be as they leave the state, hopefully to other states that are more supportive of public schools.
The first real estate I want to hear is underwater in Florida is Trump’s Mar-a-Lago.
This is VERY off-thread, but just wanted to make sure people see it. Arne Duncan had an opinion column (3/4 of the page!) in today’s Chicago Sun-Times. As I’d said, I’m bad at links, but you can look it up on search engine: “CPS Among National Leaders in Gains–Under an Appointed Board.” Ugh!! If someone has the time & wherewithal, please send in the link; it should be read. It is disgusting. For someone who thinks the schools are SOOOO wonderful “under an appointed board,” why, then, does he send his own children to the private U. of C. Lab School?
This article was written in response to the viewpoint of both mayoral run-off candidates that “have expressed a preference for one of these alternatives* (favoring “an elected school board or some hybrid version of elected & appointed members”) & that “Polls suggest that a majority of Chicagoans favor an elected school board or some hybrid version of elected & appointed members.” Here, he states, “I would like to make the case that abandoning mayoral control would be a mistake, one w/significant consequences for students.”
*To be clear, he is wrong–neither candidate has come out in favor of a “hybrid” version–that was Bill Daley (&, I believe, Paul Vallas).
He goes on to talk about the L.A. school board elections (poor voter turnout, despite the fact–according to him–that “more than $17 million was spent on recent school board elections in L.A.”). So what does the large money # have to do w/anything?!
Anyway, I highly recommend just reading this “opinion” (& that’s all it is–an opinion, & an ill-reasoned one, at that).
Can he please go away & leave the CPS students, parents, educators & communities alone?
Oh–& in the “Letters to the Editor” on the same page, a letter from Chgo. International Charter School Parents (2 of them): “Teachers Union’s Best Interests not Always Students’ Best Interests.” You can imagine…
Like the Disruption zindustry of Which heis aleader, Arne Hates democracy. Loves state takeovers and mayoral control.
Florida has a lot of “snow birds” who have a second house in Florida. These people have money and their first residence is in another state. People with another home in Florida don’t care. I suspect they like an uneducated populous so they have serfs to serve them.
Same with Hawai’i. People with second homes in Hawai’i are the rich like Zuckie and don’t really care about the people. In fact, I think they like an uneducated populous. This way the entitled can order the “natives” around to do their biddings.