Politico Morning Education reports that charter advocates are furious in response to Warren’s K-12 education plan , especially her intention to cut off federal funding for charters. They are especially frustrated because she is not accepting corporate donations for her campaign, and they can’t buy her support.
CHARTER ADVOCATES BLAST WARREN’S PLAN: While drawing praise from teachers unions, Warren’s hard-line approach to charter schools in a new K-12 plan is under fire from a Democratic group that says her stance is “out of touch” with voters and will hinder opportunities for black and brown students.
— The plan, which would cost some $800 billion over 10 years, would ban for-profit charter schools, end the main source of federal funding for all types of charter schools, and end federal funding for their expansion.
— “While we agree with the Senator that for-profit charters should be banned and that public charter schools should be held to high standards, limiting high-quality options that have been proven to increase equity within the public school system is the wrong plan for Democrats,” said Shavar Jeffries, Democrats for Education Reform’s national president, in a statement
In case anyone from Politico reads this, the Network for Public Education isnot funded by unions and is not a union front. DFER is funded by Wall Street and should be identified as such.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Save us from the DFERS. They are so WRONG about so much.
I can’t vote for a DFER … it’s a matter of conscience for me.
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Stand strong Elizabeth. Don’t let those corporate thugs bully you!
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Diane Apparently, “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Tells a Story Betsy DeVos Loves to Hear.” I couldn’t read the story–it’s behind a paywall, but it’s linked below. Here’s what I could get from it:
QUOTE: “Personal stories are used by politicians to try to get their ideas to resonate with the public. Sometimes, they use anecdotes that opponents say make the opposite case. A recent speech from a particularly high-profile and controversial Democratic member of Congress allows us to explore this tension in education debates.
“On Saturday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., gave a speech at a rally for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in which she talked about moving with her family from New York City to the suburbs in order to improve their lot in life and help her access a better education. She told… ” END
I’ve seen (what looks like) this “knowledge problem” in Congresspeople before. (Ignorant projection?) They too-easily set national and state policy from generalizing TOO QUICKLY AND UNCRITICALLY from their own singular experience.
To be confirmed: but it sounds like Ocasio-Cortez had a bad experience in public school and a good one in private school after moving. We all know this can happen and that real reform of PUBLIC schools is not objected to by any of us. But then she generalizes to think HER EXPERIENCE is the ONLY experience. And so, in her thinking, she lends to too-easily towards disregarding the whole picture and uncritically joining the anti-public-school parade of ignorance and political ill-will.
If I have it right in her case, someone needs to talk to her about “the big picture” of public/private education? CBK
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2019/10/AOC-story-betsy-devos-school-choice.html?cmp=eml-enl-eu-news2-rm&M=58961902&U=&UUID=19a3bfa50e7c3500ca6359b823d96d69
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I think AOC just went to a better public school in the suburbs.
Plus her father went to a NYC public high school, Brooklyn Tech.
But I think your post is very important because too often candidates use the rhetoric of education reform even when they support public schools. And “every child deserves a great school regardless of their zip code” is something Warren and Sanders keep saying without recognizing what is so harmful about repeating that ed reformer talking point.
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez moved from the Bronx to Yorktown Heights in Westchester County, NY. Her comments relate to the budget disparities between city and suburban schools where classes are smaller and more more programs are available. Suburban school districts get more money for instruction, but people also pay more in taxes for suburban schools in New York. By funding schools through property taxes, urban schools are shortchanged.
As far as her second comment about the school wanting to place her in a remedial program because she spoke English at home, it is hard to comment without more facts. In New York students whose parents indicate they speak another program at home are entitled to a screening for ESL. It does not automatically place them in a remedial program. Since we only have her childhood recollection of the situation, it is difficult to comment on what actually took place.
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AOC supported a candidate, citing specifically as her reason, his opposition to charter schools.
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AOC’s family moved from the Bronx in northern NYC to a suburb, where she attended a public school.
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I would LOVE to see Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren directly criticize DFER.
Bernie and Elizabeth should be saying something like “As we all know, DFER is funded by billionaire hedge funders who likely don’t send their own children to public schools and believe money spent on public schools should be instead given to their friends who run private charters for the kids they decide are worth teaching. We disagree with Shavar Jeffries and the anti-public school billionaires who fund his organization. And the public – the parents who don’t want money taken out of their public schools and given to billionaires’ friends — agrees with us.”
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Yes and yes. I would also like to see them both criticize CAP for their positions on charters & CAP’s donors behind the reform agenda.
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I think Sanders does not stand a chance to win because of his age and recent heart attack.
When I donate, my money will go to Elizabeth Warren but only after she has the nomination and is “the only one” running against the lying fraud-blob in the White House.
I will not donate to anyone in the Democratic Flock of candidates.
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Sadly, I think you are probably right about Bernie. He’s 78, had a heart attack and often loses his voice because he campaigns so hard and gives 100%. Even before he ran for president in 2016, I noticed that his voice would become hoarse after shouting at his many rallies. Unfortunately, this makes him appear older. BUT…..I will vote for him in the primary because he is right on so many issues, he has been fighting for the people his whole career. He’s not a corporate stooge or flunky. I think he’s tough enough to survive a first term in office, fingers crossed. The presidency is like having 100 tons of cinder blocks dumped on your chest, it ages all the men who take on this burden.
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I think the only way Sanders could beat Trump is if he ran with Warren as his VP running mate. That way, if Sanders dies in office, Warren steps into the presidency and the voters will know this. A vote for the Sanders-Warren ticket is one the anti-Trump/GOP voters cannot lose.
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and maybe he won’t have to shout anymore! 🙂 I would be hoarse, too.
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I just read this great article that should be sent to anyone that criticizes Bernie or Warren’s plan. It is a great indictment of all the charter cheerleaders and their endless marketing and lies. https://dissidentvoice.org/2019/10/miserable-bankruptcy-of-charter-school-cheerleaders/?fbclid=IwAR3uKOacwr2K-QdSM7wfaRm9iU_E16esPJky7wtlDkLwCO78fyzp_wSmLf0
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The work of author, Shawgi Tell, is often posted by Diane. Looking forward to the article as a Ravitch post.
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Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education and commented:
limiting high-quality options that have been proven to increase equity within the public school system is the wrong plan for Democrats. Where are the “high-quality” options? I haven’t seen any.
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Warren now has an education plan that promises withdrawing federal funds from charter schools. A good step forward. Best thing now, though, is to send funds to Bernie. I did several times b/c Bernie is the engine that pulled the debate towards progressive policies and strong critiques of economic inequality, corporate looting of the nation, and the long unmet needs of the majority—healthcare for all, $15/hr minimum wage, free public college, canceling student debt, etc. These policies owe their continuing prominence to Bernie’s continuing campaign.
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Feel the Bern!
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Feel the Bern!
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By the way, Warren is with striking teachers in Chicago today.
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“Grifters Outraged by Warren’s K-12 Plan”
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The media was mostly correct in some of the criticism of Kamala Harris which seems to have derailed her candidacy…..but I believe they missed a larger fault….of her own, whether forced upon her by advisers or not….When she announced, it was great, and a lot of it had to do with her stand in favor of public schools in classrooms. We know that the media finds that a boring subject, too complex to deal with….but the general public grasps a lot of the problems with schools that Bill Gates and Arne Duncan had no interest in. SHHHHH….be quiet, Kamala. Quit talking about education….and if your numbers continue to drop……..no one will ever blame your seeming loss of interest in public education as an important subject.
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You realize education IN-O-VA-tion will only be possible if Warren is nice to the rich people who own charters.
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Betsy DeVos is indubitably outraged by the Warren K-12 education plan. The self-titled “Democrats” who are furious in response to the plan have so much in common with the Republicans and the Trump administration! Birds of a feather squawk together.
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We Florida Men must, respectfully, register a protest. We’re proud, here in Florida, of our unique and colorful history of selling swampland and erectile dysfunction creams to Yankees.
Do you think it an accident that Don the Con himself has his Winter Whiter House at Mar-a-Lago?
So, let me just say that Senator Warren’s new education plan, like her many other plans, is EXTREMELY UNFAIR to the proud grifters, hucksters, con artists, scammers, profiteers, extortionists, swindlers, mountebanks, charter executives, Chiefs for Change, and others in the trade that made ours the interesting state that it is. Yes, these people prey on others, but, you know, that’s nature’s way.
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DFER: Democrats for Enriching the Rapacious
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Everyone touting Warren’s education’s proposal for public education needs to wrap their minds around the fact that the REAL fight is against pay for success finance that will use big data (ed-tech) to track children, especially poor children as human capital impact investments for global hedge funds. I don’t really care what she says about charters. She has a long history with TFA; this is no “conversion.”
Many of human capital investment hedge funds are based in Boston. The policies and the tech to accomplish this new system of “innovative” finance based on public-private partnerships has been refined at Harvard Kennedy School and MIT.
This is from Warren’s plan; this is the money quote: “transparency requirements on this new funding so that we can understand what investments work best and adapt our approach accordingly.” Note “what investments WORK.” This is “what works” government.
Oh, and weighted funding is a ALEC initiative to have money follow students in preparation for a future of digital vouchers, badges, and learning ecosystems. Don’t be misled. https://wrenchinthegears.com/2018/09/07/could-weighted-education-funding-campaigns-be-advancing-an-alec-backed-agenda/
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Thanks for this comment and your other great work, AWrenchintheGears.com
The best candidate is a socialist Democrat.
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PUBLIC/PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS = falling for the same game: testing, testing, testing, labeling, dividing, segregating as a means to “prove” worthiness to big money investors
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I am with you here, wrench. The only revenue stream for public schools that we need is through taxes. Obviously, a lot of work needs to be done on equitable funding, but no public/private partnership is needed or wanted.
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DFER has taken money from ALEC and the Kochs among others, so how would they know what Democrats should do?
https://billmoyers.com/story/hedge-funders-built-pro-charter-political-network/
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Elimination of professional licensing is an ongoing Koch network goal. The scheme jeopardizes the 99%’s health and safety and their opportunity to build a middle class. The same Koch/DFER playbook that justified charter schools as beneficial to black people is evident in the licensing plot.
Theft of ownership and governance of their schools from people of color is the plot of the self-appointed/labeled “reformers”.
The Kochs can always be expected to cause harm. It’s their record. We’ve seen it with their justice reform. Koch’s ALEC was a driving force in stand your ground legislation and the 3 strikes law.
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Yes, Yes and Yes Senator Warren.
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“How We Ended Up with the Myth of Evil Labor Unions”- a TPM article that describes a deliberate narrative foisted on the citizens by msm which was based on right wing moralizing instead of data- echoes of the Myth of Evil Public Schools that the NYT/CAP promotes.
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Wow. Great article. Thanks for the referral.
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The tactics of the right wing are well used and vary little. Their and Neo-liberals’ underlying, contrived arguments range from preposterous to unsupportable imaginings born out of ideology e.g. the Laffler curve, Stephen Levitt’s drivel (he’s author of Freakonomics).
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It is really telling that the ONLY discussion of Warren’s plan in ed reform is around charters.
The vast majority of the plan is ABOUT public schools. These “education experts” ignore that?
I thought they were concerned about low income kids? Quadrupling federal funding of low income schools isn’t important or worthy of discussion?
Just call yourselves charter and voucher advocates. Stop pretending this is about “public education” and then completely ignoring students who attend public schools.
This isn’t an “education” movement. It’s a charter and voucher movement. They simply don’t value our schools or our kids and this is reflected in everything they do. Public school students do not exist in edreformworld. They’re an afterthought that comes in only after The Agenda is met.
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Has there been any discussion in ed reform of either Warrens or Bernies plan that does NOT revolve around charter schools?
Why don’t these full time, paid education activists ever talk about students in public schools?
It’s bizarre. They are public education activists who exclude 90% of public school students and there are thousands of them. There are whole ed reform dominated university departments where hundreds of employees pretend our schools and students don’t exist.
It’s ludicrous. I have a suggestion. Maybe we could think about hiring a couple of people who are interested in public schools. Not clear what we’re paying for here- there’s already a well-funded private sector charter/voucher lobby. We need to replicate it in government and academia?
Wake me up when someone in ed reform remembers that public schools exist. Then maybe we’ll get some analysis of what is mostly a plan for PUBLIC schools.
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Here’s the extent of the ed reform analysis of the Warren plan for PUBLIC schools:
“Warren, who famously “has a plan for that,” also called for dramatically increased education spending and a raft of policy changes.”
90% of students merited a throw away mention. From people who call themselves “public education advocates” and insist they are “agnostic” as to schools.
Today like every day in echo chamber world it’s charters, charters, charters. Some days they switch it up and talk about vouchers.
I don’t mind that they’re professional charter and voucher advocates and don’t lift a finger on behalf of the students in the unfashionable public sector schools- it’s a job like any other- but I think it’s incumbent upon them to admit this. They’re misleading the public.
https://www.the74million.org/article/charter-supporters-deride-warrens-proposed-crackdown-on-charters-as-out-of-touch/
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It’s a vicious cycle. Media leads, people follow like sheep w/sound-bites they’ve picked up from charter-press-echo-chamber. I was looking at Valerie Strauss’ Answer Sheet description of Warren’s ed program. Unfortunately either she or more likely the editor added to the Headline “And How She Plans to Pay for It.” The summary—like Politico’s here—had a too much about charters (yet missing some key details), no detail on Title I– plus a too-abbreviated para on how she plans to fund it. The comment thread (voluminous) gets completely sidetracked, w/ ¾ chasing the headline, declaring how unfundable & unrealistic it all is, & the other ¼ sallying off into arguments about charters, many of which were off-base since the summary didn’t include important stuff.
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Expanding to a facet of the right wing, international, education plotting that should be on the radar of Dem candidates-
Trump’s ambassador to Hungary, David Cornstein, supports the authoritarian Orban government which kicked a university out of the country. In 2018, the Soros-founded Central European University was forced to close in Hungary. In the bordering country, Ukraine, Russian supporter and Ukrainian oligarch, Dimitry Firtash, who is mentioned frequently in the Capitol hearings relative to Trump, funded the founding of the Ukrainian Catholic University which was blessed by Pope John Paul II. Prosperity Catholics who
support Trump and oppose Pope Francis, consider Pope John Paul II, the Catholic Church’s preferred steward.
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Tim Busch’s Napa Institute encouraged donors to support Ukrainian Catholic University. A favored speaker at Napa is Cardinal Raymond Burke, a harsh critic of Pope Francis.
The Ukrainian Weekly, in reference to Ukrainian Catholic University, appears to promote that odd Koch PR that links democracy and anti-communism while ignoring wealth concentration and oligarch rule.
Another university, one that the Koch’s fund with millions, is Catholic University of America- possibly an international model for libertarianism or social Darwinism.
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Yes, yes, yes… AFT President Randi Weingarten joined Elizabeth Warren on the picket line yesterday in Chicago. Late to the game, Liz.
And Randi Weingarten was also present with Senator Sanders in Lordstown, Ohio on Sunday April 14, 2019 with the Lordstown Teachers Association to discuss how General Motors’ Lordstown plant closure is hurting the community—and how to fight back. You know, appearing in the area where votes that were lost on the margin gave us tRump.
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Third Way/CAP’s Beto or Buttieg helping labor? Unlikely.
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