I said I won’t repost blogs anymore, except for very rare occasions. I intend to stick to my promise.
So don’t consider this a repost. Consider it an introduction.
An ally in Florida sent me two blogs by Billy Townsend.
Here are the ones I read. I subscribed to his blog.
He wrote this blog for the benefit of Jennifer Berkshire, co-author of A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door.
He says that Florida is the state that put the nation at risk. He explains why. Great reading.
In this one, he lays out exactly how to get Biden’s attention: prepare to run a primary against him for ignoring/betraying the parents and teachers devoted to public education. Active opposition, he says, will get the wolf away from the schoolhouse door.
In this one, he describes how the voucher schools that Florida wants more of include a large number of segregated and unaccredited schools. How cynical that Florida figured out a clever way to restore segregation by lying to black parents. He asks:
Is it any wonder Florida’s FTC vouchers have a 61 percent 2-year drop out rate?
I have noticed that voucher studies typically overlook or minimize or obscure attrition rates. I remember a voucher study of Milwaukee by pro-voucher academic Patrick Wolf where he noted that voucher schools had higher graduation rates when compared to public schools. In the original study, the attrition rate was 75%. When Mercedes Schneider jumped on that statistic, Wolf said he made a error and lowered the dropout rate to 56%. Of course, 56% is a huge attrition rate too. (See here too and see here as well.)
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“Low Capital Voucher Jim Crow exists at scale in every county and community in Florida. It’s not a Polk-specific issue. The Orlando Sentinel’s Pulitzer-deserving “Schools without Rules” reporting makes that clear. It took me about four hours to do the data entry here and sort it. You should do the same in your community. It will show you the same thing. You can search schools by zip code on the SUFS site.”
The fact that the voucher doesn’t cover the cost of nearly any of the existing private schools is never mentioned in ed reform promotions of vouchers, which is just incredibly dishonest.
They have a whole set of low income voucher schools because better private schools cannot cover costs with just the voucher. They’ve created two sets of private schools- the lower quality schools for the voucher kids and the higher quality schools for the private pay kids.
They HAD to know this would happen unless they’re all utterly innumerate.
When ed reformers all repeat, in unison, that vouchers mean lower income students can choose the private schools that higher income people use it’s just a lie. It isn’t true. They’re tricking people into supporting vouchers. The marketing phrase they all use is simply a lie.
It’s also amusing that ed reformers ignore the same statistic in voucher schools that they ignore in charter schools- attrition.
The attrition rate makes the other stats meaningless.
This is an extremely well written post on the power of necessary activism. Townsend explains with clarity why those that value public education cannot sit on the sidelines. The duplicitous Democratic party has gotten away with manipulating and lying to millions of public education families and teachers for far too long. The unions and parents should call Biden’s bluff now, before the 2024 election. In fact, this post should be sent to the leaders of both unions and the White House. NPE should send this post to its grassroots affiliates and encourage members to write to the White House. It is time for public school supporters to be counted. Activism is the only way to let Democrats know that we will not be ignored. Nothing says “step on me” better than doing nothing. There is power in numbers.
JebbBush created national education policy. His brother George made it a national mandate. Florida and Texas are both mediocre in national rankings. A Texas parent group tweeted, “Don’t Florida us.”
Townsend explained the Florida failure brilliantly. “Not just because the Florida Model is cruel and inhuman and discriminatory — it is — but because it’s brutally incompetent, ineffective, and damaging to our national strength. We need to make Florida the face of a new “A Nation at Risk” moment. “
Wow! If you haven’t already decided to subscribe, do so.
Wow is right. That was incisive. The part about how Trump used Bush’s education failures against him to defeat him so handily matched my recollection of the event, and that’s just for example.
Before I read this article, I watched a replay of this week’s L.A. Board meeting. They were talking about how do deal with segregation. A report authored by charter school advocates like the astroturf group, Parent Revolution, noted that integration is better for everyone. Charter schools were part of the problem, when pressed by one of the minority good Board members, Jackie Goldberg. It noted that District programs that use test scores for admission create hyper-segregated schools. Test scores cause systemic oppression. The solution, the report said? More of the same, of course.
But who am I to talk? I should be running for office myself. My recent work with Diane and my teachers union have given me all the tools I need to mount a strong campaign, even here in L.A., where billionaires have turned our elections into terrifying, high priced, often anti-Semitic, antidemocratic attack ad brawls. I should run for office. I am not the fearful type. Usually. I feel a constant tug of guilt for not running. My only excuse is my love of teaching, my desire to keep teaching. My only excuse is starting to wear thin. If things do not change soon, my job title will be mislabeled as teacher. I will be test prep tech support technician.
A hard decision. Teaching gets in our blood. If I had to make that decision I don’t know which way I would go although given the way teaching is being eviscerated maybe there is only one choice. As Townsend said, you can even have a huge impact losing.
Thank you for your understanding and insight. Education politics cannot be escaped.
Just subscribed to his blog. It’s informative and insightful. One of the reasons why I support Substack.