The AFT keeps close watch on legislative action. I thought you might want to read what Randi wrote about Mitch (The Grim Reaper, as he calls himself) McConnell’s bill in the Senate. There’s not nearly enough funding to enable schools to open safely, and Republicans managed to stuff a voucher package into what is supposed to be a coronavirus relief bill. Would someone tell these Republican senators that the overwhelming majority of their constituents send their children to public schools? At a time of fiscal crisis, why do they want to take money away from public schools and give it to religious schools? Has anyone ever told them that every state voucher referendum has failed? Do they know that the latest referendum in Arizona went down by 65%-35%?
Randi writes:
Mitch McConnell finally released his bill today. I’m sure you’re not surprised, but the bill is bad. Simply put, it doesn’t match the scale of the crisis. I’m getting ready for the AFT convention, which starts tomorrow, but I wanted to make sure you heard about McConnell’s bill tonight.
What McConnell is proposing for education is woefully inadequate given the expenses schools will face to reopen safely. It also falls dramatically short by ignoring what schools actually need to reopen safely and, instead, prioritizes the president’s political agenda, tying the funding to in-person instruction and pushing for private school vouchers. And there is no money for states and no protections for healthcare workers.
Can you believe it? The GOP is actually using the pandemic to try to pass vouchers, because they couldn’t get them passed before. To rub salt in the wound, while this proposal includes no protections for workers on the frontlines of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, it does include a nice bailout for corporations and other employers to limit their liability if employees get sick on the job.
The Senate needs to hear from you right now. Send a letter to your senators and tell them that McConnell’s bill is bad.
While we’re going to be focused on our convention for the next few days, we still need to keep up the pressure on coronavirus relief legislation.
For those who are interested in our convention, it’s going to be exciting. We’ll have Joe Biden, Lin-Manuel Miranda, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a panel on Black Lives Matter, Diane Ravitch, Anand Giridharadas, and more.
You’ll be able to watch the programming on our website. And tomorrow night, I’ll be doing a Facebook live town hall with Dr. Anthony Fauci at 6:45 p.m. EDT.
I know we’re all busy, but I just want to thank you for consistently taking action. We’ve driven tens of thousands of emails and phone calls to the Senate. Let’s keep it going and stop McConnell’s bad bill.
In unity,
Randi Weingarten
AFT President
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Once again, labor unions are the only people advocating for funding for public schools.
No one in ed reform did anything for our schools, with “our” being +/- 90% of students.
The great irony is that charters are “public schools” so every single charter school student will benefit from the additional funding public school advocates obtain. I think they should! It’s just that charter supporters never lobby on behalf of public schools.
We have the voucher lobby and the charter lobby, but for some reason people who advocate on behalf of public schools (the schools that serve the vast, vast majority of students) are not allowed. And, the charter and voucher lobby work exclusively for those schools and not public schools, although charters benefit from any increase in public school funding, while public schools do not benefit from special charter funding.
We’re all ordered to support charter schools and private schools, but it isn’t reciprocal- in fact, many ed reformers actively lobby against additional funding for public schools WHILE lavishing public funding on the private and charter schools they prefer.
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Of course there aren’t a lot of public education lobbyists. That takes a lot of money, and public schools spend their money on, you know, actually educating kids.
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I read the convention agenda and saw that you will be receiving an award, Diane. Congratulations! It is well deserved. Celebrations and honors like these are so important in these times.
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Thank you!
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I read ed reformers and the argument is “of course teachers unions lobby for funding for public schools- their members work there”. Self interest! They caught you!
But this is also true of charters and private schools. If you’re the “founder” or “CEO” or “employee” or a contractor who sells to a publicly funded charter or private school under the ed reform definition you are also “self interested”, if I choose to attribute selfish intent to those people.
“Self interest” discredits advocacy for public schools, but does not discredit advocacy for charter and private schools. No one knows why. It’s just one of the completely incoherent beliefs in the ed reform echo chamber.
The only thing I can conclude reading ed reformers is the people who run and work in charter and private schools are just inherently BETTER people than anyone who works in a public school, because the exact same lobbying that gets public schools called “self interested” does not apply to the schools and people ed reformers prefer.
Their lobbyists are classier than our lobbyists, or something.
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Their lobbyists have more money than unions
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Voucher lobbyists pushed Mitch McConnell to include funding for private schools in the GOP bill. Charter lobbyists pushed Congress to include charters in PPP eligibilty.
If a voucher or charter lobbyist does this it as pure as the driven snow and inspired completely by love for children, but if a public school lobbyist does the exact same thing it’s icky union thugs making demands.
Entirely subjective and ideological. No rational basis to make one group heroes and the other yucky lobbyists, yet that’s the ed reform frame. Advocates for their schools are bold crusaders, advocates for our schools are self interested and greedy. Same money.
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There’s a rational basis. It’s called MONEY. Public schools can’tvafgord to wine and dine or send Congresspersons obmn fancy trips or whatever. Charter and private school lobbyists can, and do.
I’m not saying it’s moral or ethical, I’m just saying it’s rational–at least from legislator and Congressperson’s perspective.
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Sent the letters to my representatives, Rubio and Scott in Florida. Even though it is like “whistling in the wind,” I had to express my dissatisfaction. Using a devastating crisis to create federally funded vouchers, that nobody wants or needs, is disgraceful. This underhanded behavior has Betsy’s finger prints all over it. The only thing we can do is to vote blue in November even if we have to wear a hazmat suit to do it.
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“At a time of fiscal crisis, why do they want to take money away from public schools and give it to religious schools?”
Someone answered that in the post about DeVos and testing. It is the Katrina moment in action. Why do supporters of the present administration not sense that the people they vote for have one hand shaking theirs and the other shaking them down.
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yes, it feels like a “because they can” moment
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