These are the Senators sponsoring a resolution to celebrate National Charter Schools Week. You will notice that the Democrats who signed on as sponsors include Cory Booker (NJ), Michael Bennett (CO), Dianne Feinstein (CA), and the two Senators from Delaware (Coons and Carper). Let’s hope that the Democrats who did not sponsor this resolution had a finger in the air and realized that the winds are blowing strongly against all forms of privatization, including charters and vouchers. Perhaps it occurred to the non-sponsors that only 6% of American students are enrolled in privately managed charters. Nearly 90% attend public schools. Perhaps they did not want to be associated with the Trump-DeVos agenda.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thank you for posting this. The winds of change blow strong in the education world, but presidential candidates Bennet and Booker make clear they are in support of what can only be recognized as the failing status quo.
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Jeannie, exactly the right phrase.
Disrupters are defending the failed status quo.
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As a New Jersey resident and a supporter of public education, I am dismayed that Cory Booker sponsored this resolution. But not surprised.
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I guess Booker wants to go down with the ship.
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The DFERS are BAD.
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Yep! These pro-charter Dems should be called out at every single opportunity and shamed for supporting charters over public schools. And don’t let them get away with saying that they support both. They want money taken from public schools and given to privately operated charters that are given the freedom to kick out the students they decide aren’t profitable for them to teach.
Every charter that exists means a higher proportion of expensive to teach students in public schools because charters are incentivized to only teach the students who are cheap and easy to teach because that is what brings greedy charter CEO financial rewards from billionaires and the federal government for those “good results”.
Pro-charter Democrats intentionally harm public schools by praising these charters and overlooking how harmful their actions are to public schools. They need to be called out for embracing the lies that the charter movement tells.
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“Pro-charter Democrats intentionally harm public schools by praising these charters and overlooking how harmful their actions are to public schools. They need to be called out for embracing the lies that the charter movement tells.”
AMEN.
No more equivocating on charter schools or weasel words like “public” charter schools. Charters are no more ‘public’ than Boeing.
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It would be great to see if there are published resolutions like this in every state, and who signed them, especially Democrats. I wonder if NPE is set up to help in a crowd-sourcing project like this?
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What ever happened to “Public Schools Week”?
Is it still recognized? I don’t hear much of it.
That used to be a thing when I was in grade school in the 70’s and 80’s.
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I’m surprized and disappointed
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Let’s make sure these charter supporters are all on the same ship when it sinks so they are swept out of office for the rest of their lives.
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There must be an error. Last summer, Cory Booker told a student newspaper in Indiana that he wasn’t a privatizer.
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The NEA in Delaware- what are they doing to condemn privatization?
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a question which should be asked over and over and with more and more volume: WHY has the NEA in any state chosen to be been silent about so much abuse
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I would think that Cory Crooker is hedging his bets (as in, NO, he will NOT be the 2020 Dem nominee), & that we will see him in the near future as a captain of private industry (Big Pharma, charter schools, investment firm, hedge funds), making big $$$$$$.
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I agree. He’ll be the face of one of them for big bucks!
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The Booker Way
Betting on hedges
Hedging on bets
Reneging on pledges
Defaulting on debts
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Thus my wish the Corey Booker gets nowhere near the nomination.
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Is there a national public school week?
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Keep pushing those Pintos Cory, we have to sell a whole lot full.
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I am ashamed of Senator Feinstein from California. Maybe if a group of young people went to her office to meet with her in support of public schools and maybe the Green New Deal she would listen to them or at least treat them with respect. Nah, probably not.
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By the way, the resolution hailing charter schools was passed unanimously, by consent.
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I’ve observed Feinstein since 1992. She’s as dumb as a brick and less useful. The assassination of George Mosconi turned out to be the best career move of her life. Wish all you could find out who she really is like with some of her former staffers do on a late night over some drinks.
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The term ‘charter’ seems innocuous enough.
The insidiousness of charters, however, lies in 3 big areas that we who truly support public schools should demand of candidates:
1) They denounce for-profit charters, including those which indirectly profit via real estate, maintenance, etc.
2) They denounce no nonsense charters which can cherry pick students & dismiss those who don’t conform—all the while holding on to the $.
3) They denounce the deprofessionalization of teachers in TFA-affiliated charters in particular (KIPP)
The two-and-through pipeline out of the classroom must stop, and support of career teachers is essential.
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One more reason why I am feeling the Bern.
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Feel it!
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Parochial and private schools also lose enrollment to charters. This may explain why some elected officials have lost enthusiasm.
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Elected officials may have lost enthusiasm for Charters, but I bet they now want some vouchers and/or a tax plan for promoting parochial/private schools. They haven’t lost enthusiasm for “deform”, they have just switched to Plan B now that Plan A has been exposed as a fraud and an injustice towards children and teachers. I must admit….I send child #2 to a religious private school that WE pay for. I don’t want religious and/or private schools to accept vouchers because then we will have no place to go to get away from Pearson/PARCC, Common Core, the stupid standardized tests, the test prep curriculum, and the endless data gathering. When/if private/parochial schools accept voucher funds, they will have to give something to the government in return….. That is why we NEED to preserve the separation of Church and State. Don’t be fooled by slick talking public officials….most of them lie.
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Private schools that teach LD and autism students sometimes have purchase of service students from public schools. The purchase of service students have to take the state standardized tests at the private school.
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Stupid me. I would have thought a resolution honoring education, [real education] would have been appropriate. But, guess that is why I am an EX teacher,
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For the first time (at least for me), yesterday the PBS Newshour mentioned that Booker is having trouble due to his support for charter schools. It was a tiny crack in the hard stone wall usually protecting that subject.
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