Bill Raden of the California progressive website Capital & Main is one of the state’s best education writers.
In the latest issue, he brings good news about the victory of David over Goliath, plus an important insight into the rigging of the state law by Netflix billionaire Reed Hastings.
First, the good news:
“In a David vs. Goliath win, a coalition of East L.A. families, teachers and community groups announced last week that the City of L.A. has pulled the plug on a new “mega-KIPP” charter school development. The project was part of a $1 billion joint venture between former tennis star-turned charter school landlord Andre Agassi and money manager Bobby Turner to develop up to 130 charter properties across the country. The Boyle Heights community had been battling the 625-student facility since it was unveiled in the fall of 2017 and had filed suit against the city in January over its failure to conduct an environmental impact study. Opponents had argued that building the massive charter school in an area already at overcapacity (and facing declining enrollment) would have been fatal for neighborhood public schools that are currently fighting for survival. “We united the community,” said longtime Boyle Heights activist Carlos Montes. ‘We got the letter from the City of L.A. Planning Commission, terminating the project. So this is a victory. If you fight, you can win.’”
Then comes the stunning explanation of the culprit who turned the charter law into a license to raid the public treasury:
“Correction: The L.A. Times’ March series (here, here and here) on California’s laissez-faire charter authorization fiasco contained one glaring omission. Investigative reporter Anna M. Phillips itemized a lurid list of the brazen self-dealing, financial conflicts of interest and outright fraud primarily abetted by lax charter oversight laws — but herself overlooked how those scandals were all brought to you by TechNet, a 1990s Silicon Valley venture capital group with a dystopian moniker out of The Terminator. Led by Netflix billionaire Reed Hastings, TechNet pushed through Assembly Bill 544, the 1998 law that supercharged California’s originally benign Charter School Act of 1992 into a charter-minting machine, essentially by rewriting both the spirit and the letter of an elected school board’s authorizing mandate from “may grant a charter” to “shall not deny a petition.” Phillips also failed to mention the heroine of the story — Assemblyperson Christy Smith(D-Santa Clarita), whose AB 1507 currently seeks to limit charters to the jurisdiction of their authorizing district. Smith’s bill is one of several reforms being debated by the state Assembly Education Committee on April 24 at 1:30 p.m. You can catch the live action here.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Oh, Reed Hasting will be mad! He doesn’t like “meddling” by local officials.
How dare these people have any say in the schools they build and fund.
well put
“mega-KIPP” sounds like one of those monsters that Godzilla fights. Beware….they sometimes spring back to life. (“Head for the Hills!”)
It’s kind of amazing they’ve been able to establish huge national chains of charter schools, while denying they are doing this. I mean, there they are, the chains expand every year, yet all the cheerleaders still chant in unison “these are local schools!” and the whole echo chamber nods in agreement. There’s real cognitive dissonance in ed reform. It’s like Starbucks insisting they’re a small business. It wouldn’t fly in any other sector, but in ed reform the claim is enough.
What happened to Agassi’s chain, with the classes of 150, the staff paid 15 bucks an hour and the kids staring at screens all day? I haven’t seen a gushing article promoting the chain in months. Did he cut back on marketing? Has he merged with KIPP because “the brand” is better? They should put out an industry newsletter. Just take it entirely to the commercial realm. It would be more honest and transparent.
I think all seven heads on the Lernaean Hydra look like Reed Hastings. Chop … Chop … Chop … Chop … Chop … Chop … Chop!
Reblogged this on Crazy Normal – the Classroom Exposé and commented:
Discover what it takes to defeat the seven-headed Hydra corporate charter school industry and Reed Hastings one of its leading vampires.
California needs to banish Reed Hastings. We should start up a venture capital group with a dystopian name like NetKill to push an assembly bill though the legislature (apparently that’s how it works) to kick Reed Hastings out of the state for good. “…Hastings shall not deny a petition to kick him swiftly in the pants before he leaves…” is how that should go. First make him pay taxes for once.
Do your kids take music lessons? Are your kids on a community sports team? How about foreign language lessons? Cooking classes? A tutor? You should stop paying, because after all, those instructors are making a profit! How dare they? How dare anyone make a profit for providing a service! Especially if it is a service that educates children in accordance with the wishes of their parents. My, my, not that!
You compare a music teacher to a bank president paid $31 million a year? Oh, my. We see things very differently.
Do you have your tongue tucked deep into your cheek?
There’s a huge difference between “making a profit” and earning a living paycheck to paycheck.
What Is Profit?
Profit is a financial benefit that is realized when the amount of revenue gained from a business activity exceeds the expenses, costs, and taxes needed to sustain the activity. Any profit that is gained goes to the business’s owners, who may or may not decide to spend it on the business. Profit is calculated as total revenue less total expenses.
What is a paycheck?
a check for salary or wages made out to an employee based on a set salary no matter how many hours the employee works or one an hourly wage based on the number of hours the employee works
I refrained from calling him stupid. Or an idiot. I should not be so rude.
I’m willing to cross the line and the rude when it comes to dealing with “stupid” and “ignorant” fools that refuse to pay attention.
For years, I followed the polite and patient path as I attempted to and always failed to reason with people who were clearly racist, stupid and ignorant and then my patience wore so thin, it became transparent and brittle like really thin ice. That caused me to end a friendship that had lasted more than sixty years starting in grade school. I even blocked him from being able to send me e-mails. He is the only person I have blocked.
I’d had it with his Fox News, Hannity, Limbaugh, Alex Jones type of freak reasoning and horribly flawed lectures on why he was always right and I was always wrong.
Notice that United Teachers Los Angeles is absent in this story. That is because UTLA, following orders from AFT and NEA, supports charter school interlopers. It’s difficult to work both sides of the street but our unions do it unabashedly.
The National Union, sometimes — but many of the local branches do not agree with the national level.
The NEA and AFT are layered. Most school districts have a local branch, either NEA or AFT (Teachers in each district voted long ago to determine the national union that would represent them). The next layer is the state level and I think NEA and AFT both have a branch for each state.
Just because NEA and/or AFT support something doesn’t mean all the teachers’ unions do because every step is democratic. Teachers in school districts vote for their local president and reps and those union presidents are often classroom teachers who are still teaching. Teachers in each state vote for their state president and who attends the state level councils or whatever they call it.
Bubbles: yes. What a mess. It’s hard for small people out here when these 800 lb gorillas are hefting their support with one another for a little while, then suddenly …. not. Very confusing. Thanks.