Our friend and ally, Dr. Charles Foster Johnson, recently gave an interview in which he expressed his optimism about the incoming Biden administration. Dr. Johnson is leader of Pastors for Texas Children, which fights privatization and supports public schools. He has opened nine state affiliates, the latest one in Alabama. He is a champion of public schools and teachers and students. He understands that public schools need resources and community support, not competition and punishments.
Among his many insightful comments is this one:
Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos pushed private school vouchers. That is unlikely from the Biden administration. What is more of a threat is continued expansion of charter schools that, basically, are publicly underwritten private schools due to their independent private ownership. Traditionally, vouchers are the privatization model of choice for Republicans (rural Republicans excepted) and charters are the privatization model of choice for Democrats.
Accordingly, the standardized testing racket so enshrined in No Child Left Behind and Race to The Top must be dismantled. Why do we have them when teachers, parents, community leaders and children all hate them? Here’s why: corporate backers of privatization want to measure poor children rather than treasure them. Let’s take the billions we are squandering on burdensome and punitive assessment and re-channel that money back into athletic, musical, artistic and vocational programs that have been so severely cut because of them in the first place.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thank you to Dr. Foster (and Dr. Ravitch) for this link. After reading the interview with Dr. Foster in the link, please go to another article there with disturbing stats on the high percentages of white evangelical christians who support Trumpism. Not surprising, but good to see in the Baptist News. https://baptistnews.com/article/jones-white-evangelical-church-stands-in-the-way-of-racial-justice/#.X7lJ1S-ZN_U
Does it ever occur to these folks that maybe God wants them to use common sense and masks were invented to save lives and stop the spread of viruses through breathing them in? This is like telling everyone that if God wants us to have jellied cranberry sauce with our Thanksgiving dinner this year, then God will open the can… even though the can opener is in the drawer under the counter.
This is exactly what GOPer politicians have found to be their best scam; use religion as their excuse to cover laziness & bad deeds.
The Council for National Policy is a secretive group that started in the 1970s to turn a moderate conservative Republican party into the radical entity it is today. A new book by Ann Nelson, SHADOW NETWORK: MEDIA, MONEY, AND THE SECRET HUB OF THE RADICAL RIGHT she describes it’s efforts at subverting democracy as: “a force from the beginning, in terms of their electoral tactics, it has been a matter of weaponizing certain churches and pastors and really exerting tremendous pressure on them to use churches as instruments of a radical right ideology. And then using similar tactics to suppress votes for Democrats, especially in key battleground states.”
https://billmoyers.com/story/new-podcast-the-shadow-network/
The DeVos family and the Kochs have their fingerprints all over The Council for National Policy
“The Council for National Policy has traditionally been around 400 members. From the beginning, it’s included people with big money, a lot of them from the Texas and Oklahoma oil industries, but also the DeVos family of Michigan from the Amway fortune, and Betsy DeVos, of course. So, it has the big money to pay for things. It’s got the leaders of so-called grassroots organizations. Now, I say so-called, because they do not spring from the grassroots the way that you would expect from the name. They are organized with a great deal of money from the top down. So, for example, the National Rifle Association– their leadership is part of the CNP. They get money from the donors, they organize their millions of members, and you combine these with the strategists and the media owners. And I spend a lot of time in my book talking about the power of fundamentalist and conservative radio in swing states. Things that people on the East Coast overlook to a terrible degree.”
Dr. Foster is a great man, always has been. I am not sure about the realities of the Biden pick, but we still have to advocate and watch.
Let’s take the billions we are squandering on burdensome and punitive assessment and re-channel that money back into athletic, musical, artistic and vocational programs that have been so severely cut because of them in the first place.
What a great idea…using money to educate children!! Too bad so many politicians don’t think educating children is important. Let’s just test them repeatedly and then place the school under state government supervision and then see that nothing happens. [That’s what Indiana is continuing to do.]
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EdisonLearning to leave Roosevelt after making nearly $31M
April 3, 2020
EdisonLearning, the education corporation that the Indiana State Board of Education spent nearly $31 million on for managing Gary’s Roosevelt College and Career Academy during a flawed takeover, is leaving the school.
The announcement was made by the Gary Community School Corporation, which said EdisonLearning gave notice and said their withdrawal will be effective at the end of the school year, when EdisonLearning will end its partnership as joint overseer of Theodore Roosevelt College and Career Academy.
Interim Emergency Manager Dr. Paige McNulty released the following statement:
“In light of EdisonLearning’s decision to end its partnership with the district in the joint oversight of Theodore Roosevelt College and Career Academy (TRCCA), our focus is on the needs of the students. Our team is already at work exploring options, and we will be reaching out to the school community as we develop plans. Roosevelt is a giant pillar in Gary’s history, and we will take great care in making decisions that are both logical and beneficial to all who are impacted.”
McNulty said the district’s “highest priority is getting this right for the students impacted, who have already experienced a lot of changes over the past year. We applaud them for their resilience and commit to doing everything possible to support them during this time.”
State officials contracted with EdisonLearning in 2011 after Roosevelt failed the state’s accountability test for many years. School leaders objected to the takeover, but then Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett, citing a 1999 state law, was given the green light by the Indiana State Board Of Education to seize control of Roosevelt.
For the next nine years, the state would pump millions of dollars into EdisonLearning while Roosevelt’s students continued to lag behind the state in tests scores and graduation rates as the building crumbled under neglect.
In some years, EdisonLearning made nearly $5 million annually as they continued to underachieve with little to no accountability, according to a Crusader investigation, which highlighted EdisonLearning’s spotty past record at other school districts in the country…
“Let’s take the billions we are squandering on burdensome and punitive assessment and re-channel that money back into athletic, musical, artistic and vocational programs that have been so severely cut because of them in the first place.”
Can I hear an “Amen”? Come on. You can do better than that!
Our unions need to get with the anti-testing program and marshal protests against them in the streets. Until they do so, they are complicit in the ongoing child abuse by Deformers.
I so love that Rev. Johnson included vocational education on that list!
One of the arguments that you’ll hear from the test-and-punish, standardized testing numerologists is that the tests don’t really cost that much. States spend about 1.7 billion a year on the tests themselves. However, this is a drop in the bucket of the actual costs of the tests, which include computer systems to take the tests on; reporting systems; the costs of personnel doing data analysis, data walls, data chats, proctoring, and test prep; the costs of test prep materials; the costs of benchmark tests; the costs of test-preppy standard curricular materials, both online and in print. Staggering costs. Many, many billions more than just the costs of the tests themselves. And those are just dollar costs. Don’t even get me started on the opportunity costs!!! These are truly horrifying.
I agree with you!
“Corporate backers of privatization want to measure poor children rather than treasure them.” We already know the harmful impact of standardized testing, and we can generally predict that poor students do not perform well on them. As a result, testing is a scheme to target poor minority student for privatization instead of making a public investment that would be more equitable. In my opinion too many states are abrogating their duty to educate all students. Instead, privatization turns poor mostly minority students over to separate and unequal private companies. The state is sanctioning what so many crusaders marched and fought against in the quest for civil rights. Separate is never equal!
Foster mentioned that some of the races that Democrats lost were funded by the DeVos family. I wonder in how many congressional races DeVos money was a factor?
It’s the COLONIAL MODEL at work. Sickens me.
Thank you, Rev. Johnson!!!
How do we take the money back for arts, athletics, etc.
When I think about the time before all the testing and agony produced by its false statistics, one memory stands out. Teacher requests for resources to make programs possible during those days were met by the word, accountability.
The tests were the gateway, we were assured, to a cascade of money the public would be willing to supply if there were only results that could be seen. We complied, but no money. Lucy had pulled away the football. New goals, ever farther away must be met. Years turned into decades as common Core usurped other ideas of curriculum and failure became assured by testing that was unreasonable.
Still no money. Teaching became a job rated more stressful than that of the air traffic controller. No money. Adjusted for inflation, teacher salaries fell.
So imagine my skepticism when I read hopeful lines about the incoming administration. My first impulse is to scream “incoming” very loudly and crawl under a desk like it was the fifties.
Lucy pulled the ball, alright, but keep playing. You’re a good man, Charlie Brown.
Amen. Dr Johnson is more than insightful and incisive. He is inspiring. Goodness radiates from his words. He reminds us that our schools are very much part of our communities. They are deeply connected to congregations of faith as they themselves are congregations of harmony. Dr Johnson is a man of faith who inspired in me, today, a little faith in President-elect Joe Biden, a man of empathy. I am thankful that we have this opportunity to begin to heal our country and her many communities after decades of being pillaged and plundered by charter companies and testing companies. Time to put the destructive hostile takeovers and tax avoidance schemes to rest. This is our country.
“This is essential in restoring the calling to teach to the God-given moral stature it deserves. Thankfully, President-elect Biden has made public statements that communicate an understanding of this need. He made an oft-repeated promise on the campaign trail that he would appoint a public school teacher to the cabinet post.”
No, the moral statue it deserves is not “God-given”. That moral statue is man made and deserves the proper considerations as such. Positing a sky-daddy god as the moral arbiter is risible and ludicrous, the number one question being which version of that sky-daddy god? There has never been any agreement on which one throughout the centuries of that mythology which shows that this sky-daddy god to which he refers is non-existent and the product of the human brain, nothing more.
“How can people of faith make their voices heard at this juncture, and why should they?
There is a natural, resonant and harmonious connection between the local congregation and the local public school. At its core, education is a profoundly spiritual enterprise marked by relational dynamics of love. Teaching is a calling that comes from beyond oneself, just like the pursuit of faith. When the congregation in the school collaborates in partnerships of solidarity, the fabric of the community is strengthened and the public good advanced. Faith leaders all over America are coming to this wonderful conclusion and are forging these collaborations with educators. Our children are better for it.”
People of mythological faith beliefs have been making themselves heard, far too loudly in most instances, since the beginnings of public education in this country. Teaching is not necessarily “profoundly spiritual” for all teachers and I’m not so sure that it is “marked by relational dynamics of love”. Teaching should be marked by relational dynamics of mutual respect. As a teacher I did not love the students but I did my best to respect them.
“When the congregation in the school” indicates that the faith-believers have overstepped their bounds. Stay behind your pulpit. To hint that there is a congregation in a public school is to deny that that congregation is by necessity exclusive and segregationist in a religious fashion. What I see faith-belief leaders all over America doing is trying to insert they own version of the mythical sky-daddy god into the curriculum. I’ve seen it happen many times.
I don’t trust those who benefit, especially financially, from mythical faith belief systems, especially those who have the gift of gab, who can make such lofty appearing articles that are nothing more than a glorification of their own mythological faith belief system.
An Atheist taught me that Atheists have ethics, not morals. 😁
They happen to have both.
What do you believe is the difference between ethics and morals.
I completely disagree that religionistas have the market cornered on morals. Be that as it may, I believe this to be a good explanation (from dictionary.com): “While they’re closely related concepts, morals refer mainly to guiding principles, and ethics refer to specific rules and actions, or behaviors. A moral precept is an idea or opinion that’s driven by a desire to be good. An ethical code is a set of rules that defines allowable actions or correct behavior.”
Just now reading this interesting exchange. The statement should read, “When the congregation AND the school collaborate in partnerships of solidarity, the fabric of the community is strengthened and the public good advanced.” The word “in” is a typo. I regret the error, and I’m sure Baptist News Global does also. Needless to say, because we are on clear and demonstrated public record in word and deed, my belief in religious liberty and church/state separation is ironclad. By the way, the American institution best guarding that principle is the neighborhood public school!
Charles Foster Johnson has led the fight against vouchers in Texas and other states. He is a great ally who believes in separation of church and state as a guarantee of religious liberty. He does not benefit financially by his activism on behalf of principle.
Sometimes your moral superiority is condescending. In this case, it is misguided.
I’ve never claimed “moral superiority”. I question those things that many consider unquestionable. If that is “moral superiority” I think I’ll gladly take that description.
People of faith are entitled to same respect as those without it. Live and let live.
Duane, of course it should give people pause that almost all people adopt from among the hundreds of thousands of gods that humans have created over the centuries the god or gods of the culture into which they happened to be born and almost all profess certainty about whatever system they were born into. However, I want to say that a few years ago, I became involved with my local Humanists society, and there I encountered many people who had equally unsupportable believes in Lucretian/Laplacean-style materialistic determinism, which simply isn’t borne out by contemporary science. I was shocked to find, among them, a lot of stubbornness and resistance to evidence and argument. Alan Guth, the champion of Inflation Theory, which solved a great many outstanding problems in Cosmology, describes in his popular book on the subject mechanisms by which a sufficiently technologically advanced species could create a universe. Surprise.
Yikes. I really have to start proofreading before hitting the Send button. Beliefs, ofc.
Consider, Duane, Richard Dawkins, by profession a geneticist and a popularizer of genetics, but even in his field, his own narrow faith in an ideology prevents him, sometimes, from seeing clearly. In one of his books–I forget which one–he makes the claim that blind watchmaker evolution is a universal law and that we can be certain that wherever we go in the universe, it will be operating. In other words, he was claiming that the non-teleological nature of evolution–that it is blind, not directed–is a universal law, at the very time when we are in the process of gaining control of the very technologies that can and doubtless will make it teleological–directed by an intelligent entity (us). And elsewhere, ofc, he makes clear that he groks this. However, his own fanaticism sometimes pushes him over into scientism, not science, which is always, if properly understood, a matter of tentative understandings. The ancient savage looks at the sun moving across the sky and says, well, obviously, that’s a flaming chariot. Many of our current understandings are of that variety. We have Othello’s tragic flaw of being unable to abide uncertainty. Religious people often, but not always, have this, but so do people like Dawkins.
There are people who are religiously inclined, and even ones who are faith leaders, who are very sophisticated thinkers with profound ideas and little in the way of dogmatism. Consider the current Dalai Lama, who says that where Buddhism and Science disagree, Buddhism must adapt and evolve. Or consider the very great thinker Tielhard de Chardin, who made important contributions to physical anthropology and paleontology and advanced the hypothesis of evolution toward Godhead based on this very idea of the emergence of teleological evolution, something we are seeing happening before our very eyes.
I also wanted to say that I don’t think that the topic of religion ought to be considered taboo in polite conversation. It’s too important, for it touches deeply upon important philosophical topics, such as the nature of the universe, our place in it, and proper relations with other people. I also wanted to say that I would happily, happily break bread with the Rev. Charles Foster Johnson. He’s a great man. I was privileged to listen to a conversation between him and our esteemed blog moderator. Wow. That was a treat.
Dr Foster deserves respect for his activism on behalf of public education. He has gone to other states and encouraged other clergy to support public education. He believes, as most of us here do, that we should keep religion and affairs of the state separate.