This is good news!
The House Appropriations Committee issued its budget report. Betsy DeVos requested an increase for the federal Charter Schools Program, from $440 million a year to $500 million. But the education appropriations subcommittee cut the appropriation to $400 million. This is a program that is riddled with waste, fraud, and abuse, as the Department of Education’s own Inspector General pointed out in the past, and as the Network for Public Education pointed out in its recent report called “Asleep at the Wheel: How the Federal Charter Schools Program Recklessly Takes Taxpayers and Students for a Ride.”
Thank you to Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), chairperson of the education appropriations subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. She is a deeply knowledgeable member of Congress who is committed to equity and works tirelessly to meet the needs of the American people for well-funded public schools
The NPE report found that one-third of the charter school funded by the federal government either never opened or closed soon after opening, costing taxpayers close to $1 billion in wasted funds.
Here is the report of the House Appropriations Committee. It increased the funding of well-respected programs that DeVos and Trump wanted to slash or kill, while cutting back on the Charter Schools Program (start reading at page 182).
Just in the last year, Secretary DeVos gave $116 million to a single charter chain, IDEA, which intends to flood the small El Paso district with charters; and she gave a grant of $86 million to KIPP. This concentration of funds in the hands of corporate charter chains was certainly not the intent of the program, which was meant to spur start-ups and innovation, not to enlarge established charter chains. KIPP, in particular, is amply funded by the Walton Family Foundation and a dozen other major foundations. It is hard to understand why this wealthy and powerful charter chain needs federal aid.
The Democratic state parties in California and Colorado have denounced DFER as a corporate front that should drop the word “Democrat” from its title.
Real Democrats support public schools, democratically governed and open to all, not corporate charter chains or private management.
By the way, the NPE report had no external funding. It was produced by the research of our brilliant staff and written by Carol Burris and Jeff Bryant.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Shame on the Democrats! How can they justify $400 million for charters when they weaken public education, when the NAACP asks for moratorium and when NPE releases a report of $1billion in waste and fraud from federal charter programs. Let’s start taking names of the complicit “yes” votes, and put them on the wall of shame. How about voting to implement some accountability in this run away train of profiteering at the expense of our young people!
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It is a small step in the right direction. However, as long as the federal government continues to incentivize charters, students’ lives and public schools will be harmed. Money for charters becomes a load of pork for the barrel with no evidence to support the expenditure.
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SHAME on the DEMOCRATS … YES!
With DEMS like this who needs the GOPers?
So much of what Diane has in her new book, The Wisdom and Wit of Diane Ravitch = come true. So SAD and really BAD.
Then there’s Booker, Hickenlooper, Bennett, Polis, Biden … the list is LONG.
What happens to campaign contributions?
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/042716/what-happens-campaign-funds-after-elections.asp
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In a normally functioning Congress—which hasn’t existed since 1993—the “shame on the Democrats” mantra is misplaced. Unlike the current executive branch, the appropriations process is a give-and-take one that includes a majority and a minority party. Minority parties always get something. But as this report proves over and over again, they didn’t get much at this stage of the process. Now the real game is in the Senate.
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Sadly, Democrats generally give, and Republicans take.
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oh, that 2020 becomes the year when those YES votes matter to a large percent of voting citizens
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Man, I hate it when that happens! You ask for $500 Million and they short you $100 Million! So rude!
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LMAO!
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What a surprise, the party that claims fiscal responsibility wastes money on duplicate schools so that grifters can get rich.
It proves the phoniness of blather from the Hoover Institute.
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It should have been trimmed to 0 as in zero.
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Agreed. We have to write our senators to make sure the cut is sustained.
None of the corporate charter chains should be get federal aid.
KIPP gets tens of millions from the Waltons and the other oligarchs. Why is it getting federal money too?
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The answer—and I’m saying it’s a good one, just stating the facts—is that Congress loves the idea of public-private partnerships. Not advocating, just deciphering.
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NOT saying. Aaarrrgghh.
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I’ll take it a step further than zero. There shouldn’t be any corporate charters to fund. But, this is a $40 to 100 million dollar gain for public education. Also, just want to reiterate that Dick and Betsy are fools, not just intellectual lightweights but fools. Ask Dick a thoughtful question and his eyes water. Ask Betsy any question and she looks like a deer in headlights while she replies with “grizzlies”.
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In a couple of past lives, I used to scour these reports and memorize sections. Here’s a tip for those who have real lives, click the link to the report and as you scroll down look at one recurring line every time a budget category has numbers, and focus on “Change from the budget request.” It’s usually followed by a + sign with big numbers behind it. In plain English, these are the repudiations of Individual-1’s budget proposal. While Pelosi and Schumer dither on other issues, this subcommittee had taken the symbolic rolled up newspaper and smacked the dog right in the nose—at least in these three departments (Labor, HHS, and Education).
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So sick of DeVos’ blatant bias. Just another transferral of wealth from the middle class to the elites. Grizzly Madam and her confederacy of dunces can’t leave town soon enough.
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I will say this about Betsy Devos. This woman is very good at handing out money. From her millions of dollars donated to the GOP to now spending hundreds of millions of dollars on charter school people Devos knows how to give money away.
Too bad Betsy was not a public school supporter we might all have gold trim in our classrooms instead of mold…..
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