Peter Greene nails it here, in discussing how Trump and DeVos folded the federal Charter Schools Program into a big, fat block grant that states can spend however they wish.
For decades, Republicans have been wanting to eliminate social programs by turning them into block grants to the states. Now, as Valerie Strauss reported, charter school advocates are outraged. Brought to the dance and abandoned.
Open the link and see the great image Greene posts to make the point.
I have known for many years that right-wingers went for charters only because they lay the groundwork for vouchers.
I learned that when I worked in rightwing think tanks like the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and the Koret Education Program at the Hoover Institution.
The true right-wingers don’t give a hoot about charter schools except as a way to condition the American public to give up on public schools and place their faith in consumerism.
Charters pave the way for vouchers. They turn citizens, invested in public institutions, into consumers, looking out only for their own child.
Now that the Trump administration has a chance to show what it really cares about, it is vouchers (aka “Education Freedom Scholarships” or some other deceptive name).
DeVos wants every American child in a religious school or some other private school.
Not the kind that costs $25,000-50,000 a year.
The kind that costs $4,800 a year.
The kind that scoffs at the common good.
The kind that employs high-school dropouts as teachers (as in Florida), the kind that decides which children are acceptable and which are not allowed. The kind that kicks out students, staff and families who are gay, knowing that Trump’s rightwing Supreme Court will back them up.
The kind that accepts only “our kind.”
The Trump-DeVos show and the return of racism, sexism, xenophobia, and homophobia as acceptable public policy.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Peiter Grene and Valry Strass may think they’s all fancy pants with there colidge degrees an all, but let me ask you: kin Mr. Grene resite Bible versus or build a duck blinde? Kin Miss Strass dress a deer? Wel, if they had went to Bobs Real Good Floruhduh Skool, they mightuh larned some a these thangs instid of jist larning how to wright an spread Socialism. Shore, they’s good wrighters. I give em that. But theys Fake News an nos it. So we thank you, Donald J. Trump and Sister Betsy for tryin to lead Merika back on the path uh richousness tho I dont much cotton ta havin womin, even good Christien womin like Betsy, runnin thangs. Who nos what they might do at that time uh the month, no what I meen? They might blede all over some importint documints. An who says you need a colidge degree to be a gud teecher? My girlfrend Darlene’s cousin Tammi for instance. Lord can that girl bake! She kin make a peecan pie that you’d give yore Donald Trump SOTU Commimorative Gold Coin for, an thats why the girl graduates of Bobs Reel Good Floruhduh Skool dont have no problum findin husbands. Who wonts to marry some girl that comes out uh high skool not even no-ing if shes a girl half the time? I meen realy. Some peeple dont wont there kids learnin in skool to be transgendered veegan communist wiccan foreigner-lovin snowflake libtards, an thats why they use there Floruhduh voucher to send em to Bobs Reel Good Floruhduh Skool. Thar, Ive said my peace. Molon labe!
Complicit-
(1) The Center for American Progress whose board chair founded the BiPartisan Policy Center, where education policy programs are sponsored by Gates and Arnold.
(2) The US Conference of Catholic Bishops and, state Catholic Conferences e.g. Oklahoma’s site that spreads messaging from American Federation of Children and RealClear.
(3) The conservative SCOTUS Catholic justices who will rule in favor of Espinosa.
BTW- in Ireland where 96% of the elementary schools are religious, a baptismal record can be required for enrollment.
The Gates’ kids attended the secular Lakeside but, American children of the middle class and poor will be driven into religious school chains that buy Common Core curriculum, where students work one week a month for private companies and return the pay to the school, where obedience to patriarchal authority is taught and hypocritically, outed gay people are shunned.
DeVos has no problem with the fact that these cheap voucher schools often discriminate against LBGTQ people and any other subgroup a school decides is “unworthy.” When vouchers are presented in the form of “scholarships,” they also provide tax breaks for the already wealthy. If enacted on a large scale, a higher tax burden shifts to more working families, which is likely why the 1% supports these “scholarships.” It is another tax avoidance strategy. These donors care little about the quality of the education these “scholarships” provide because the wealthy will continue to send their children to the best private schools. Voucher schools often fail to prepare students for the demands of the future. It does not matter to wealthy donors as these schools are cheaper for the 1% than paying taxes.
Florida is actively expanding these worthless vouchers. Public education is not a commodity. It is a function of the state government. These vouchers allow the state to abrogate its responsibility to its young people. Public schools are essential in a democracy as they prepare young people to become future citizens and voters, and privatization is an existential threat to democracy.
Well-said, Retired Teacher
“unworthy” — exact description of the DeVos agenda
“hot-looking vouchers.” LOL. Great title, Diane!
Choice of all stripes is the enemy. Privatization, Vouchers, and Charters are the most damaging, and need to be stopped, no question. But the “choice” mindset is more widespread than that, and goes much deeper. Where I work, LAUSD, Magnet schools have grown exponentially in the past 2 decades, normalizing an alternative to traditional public schools. Adjacent school districts now make it easier for students to cross old boundaries. Which schools do you think are being left behind? And then scapegoated. And most recently, LAUSD has introduced “Zone of Choice,” initially for high school students, it will next year begin for 5th graders going into 6th grade middle schools. Not enough students enrolling in your middle school? Tough luck. You are at fault. In this atmosphere, where choice is given highest priority, it’s no wonder that we are no longer focused on doing all we can to strengthen our traditional public schools. Everyone is too busy getting theirs.