Sara Roos writes in the new L.A. Education Examiner that more charter millions are flowing into the school board race. The biggest spender is billionaire Bill Bloomfield, who has thus far spent nearly $4 million to defeat pro-publics school incumbents. He says he is “against special interests,” but fails to recognize or admit that he alone is putting his thumb on the scale to support a pro-charter candidate. The charter industry, backed by a long list of billionaires, is a special interest with far deeper pockets than the union.

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Los Angeles, Privatization

14 Comments Post your own or leave a trackback: Trackback URL

markstextterminal says:

March 1, 2020 at 3:31 pm

How is this man, who has millions of dollars with which to influence elections, not himself a “special interest.” Sheesh, the hypocrisy!

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- ciedie aech says:
  
  March 2, 2020 at 12:36 pm
  
  in fact the very epitome of ‘special interests’
  
  Reply
Helen Lundergan says:

March 1, 2020 at 4:09 pm

You obviously have done your research in your intelligent topics.
But your “style” of running your orange topics titles together is one of the most unintelligent annoying ways I have ever seen. Whose stupid idea was this? Ever hear of skipping a line to make your titles comprehensible?

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- dianeravitch says:
  
  March 1, 2020 at 9:52 pm
  
  Ask WordPress.
  All I do is write words.
  Wordpress decides the design and format of titles.
  
  Reply
  - markstextterminal says:
    
    March 2, 2020 at 8:57 am
    
    Diane: your blog is always a triumph of substance over style, which is revivifying in our largely superficial times. I too have some of the same problems with WordPress, if that palliates the remarks above (“stupid”? Really?). Best regards, Mark
  - dianeravitch says:
    
    March 2, 2020 at 12:10 pm
    
    Thank you, Mark. I have a deep reservoir of knowledge drawn from decades of experiences in the policy world, as well as my studies of the history of education. I try to bring them to bear on current issues. That’s the substance. I look for bloggers and others who can add to what we know and to elevate their voices when I learn from them. I seek to nationalize the struggle to preserve and improve our nation’s public schools and to remind everyone that there are vandals at the gate looking to make a profit. We will expose them, call out their names, and make a case that what belongs to the public should not be given away or purchased.
  - markstextterminal says:
    
    March 2, 2020 at 12:25 pm
    
    Like enthusiastically.
- Joe Jersey says:
  
  March 2, 2020 at 9:18 am
  
  I have no problem with the orange topics titles. It’s the actual articles that count and they are excellent, on point and very comprehensive. In my opinion, this is the premier education blog for exposing the charter cheerleaders, the privatizers and the the billionaire boys and girls clubs.
  
  Reply
  - dianeravitch says:
    
    March 2, 2020 at 11:45 am
    
    Thank you, Joe Jersey.
    
    My job is the words, not the graphics.
LeftCoastTeacher says:

March 1, 2020 at 5:14 pm

Thank you, Red Queen. Keep the details coming. Hopefully, since the funding source of the negative ads was in the Times after the antiSemitic flyers drew attention, voters will not be fooled. Hopefully, few Angelinos like the idea of having their votes bought.

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Chiara says:

March 2, 2020 at 7:22 am

This really should be a bigger story:

“The more than 167,000 Florida students now using state scholarships to pay private school tuition — at an annual total cost of more than $1 billion — do not take the same standardized tests as their public school counterparts. And the results of the tests they do take are not public, nor are their private schools’ graduation rates.

That means there is little available on scholarship students’ outcomes and few academic studies to mine for information on their progress.”

Ed reformers, who have spent the last 20 years jamming more and more testing into PUBLIC schools, exempt the private schools they prefer from any “accountability”.

What a bunch of phonies. They demand every public school student be subjected to any and all testing and ranking and endless measurement schemes, but exempt their voucher schools from the same requirements. They scold public school parents for objecting to their ludicrous measurement schemes, but give the private schools they prefer a complete pass on “accountability”.

The only coherent, consistent theme in ed reform is that they are anti public school. The rest is incoherent and makes no sense.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/os-ne-voucher-programs-academic-quality-20200228-gmiapwktkrezjnidsrptsbiq44-story.html

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- dianeravitch says:
  
  March 2, 2020 at 12:40 pm
  
  You are right. As I just wrote in another response, their teachers do not need to be certified; they don’t even have to be high school graduates. Their religious freedom protects them from any oversight.
  
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Chiara says:

March 2, 2020 at 7:29 am

Didn’t ed reformers all scold us for objecting to standardized tests? How do they justify that they exempt publicly funded private schools from the tests they demand every public school student take?

What happened to their principled commitment to “accountability”? That went out the window with their ideological goal of privatizing K-12 schooling coming within reach?

Feel free to object to standardized tests if your kid is in a public school. Ed reform exempts private schools from those requirements- no reason your kid should have to serve as their guinea pig when they don’t apply this theory to their private schools.

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- dianeravitch says:
  
  March 2, 2020 at 12:39 pm
  
  In Florida, the state has imposed a strict and unreasonable accountability plan on public schools but voucher schools are not subject to the same accountability. Their students take a “nationally normed test,” but not the state tests. They don’t get punished for low scores. They can hire uncertified teachers, even high-school dropouts as teachers. They get public money with no accountability or oversight as to what they do, what they teach.
  
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