Bill Phillis is a retired state deputy commissioner of education who is dedicated to the preservation and improvement of public schools in Ohio. He has dedicated his retirement years to publicizing the harm that vouchers and charters do to public schools. He founded the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy. The Ohio State Constitution guarantees a uniform system of public schools, a commitment that the Republicans who control the state have repeatedly violated with impunity.
The latest gambit from the Republican privatizers called “the backpack bill,” symbolizing the idea that each child has a “backpack full of cash” to spend in any way their family chooses. They really need to see the wonderful documentary “Backpack Full of Cash.” You can rent the documentary and show it in your community.
Phillis writes:
THE OHIO UNIVERSAL VOUCHER CAMPAIGNERS USE CRITICAL RACE THEORY TO ENTICE FOLKS TO SUPPORT HB290 (UNIVERSAL VOUCHERS) IN A SLICK MAILER
The HB290 crusaders have produced and sent a fundraising mailer signed by one Aaron Baer to an undisclosed list of folks. The seven-page letter warns recipients that public schools are indoctrinating our children into radical anti-Christian ideology, “Critical Race Theory, and trans advocacy”. “They are being trained to hate America”, the letter says. They evidently combed through the classrooms of Ohio and found 4 students whose teachers were doing something that hinted at support for CRT or other controversial issues. They didn’t mention the 100,000 plus public school educators that are working selflessly to grow upstanding citizens.
The author of the letter makes such revealing statements as:
- “…many of Ohio’s public schools have been failing our students for more than a generation.”
- “…I initiated the Backpack Bill (HB290)…” (A couple legislators who sponsored the bill indicate they initiated the bill.)
- “…The Backpack Bill ensures every Ohio student can have access to high quality education…”
- The P.S. to the letter includes the statement, “Ohio students are trapped in failing public schools…”
The Backpack voucher campaigners are perpetuating the myth of the “failing public school monopoly” as a key plank in their campaign platform.
Public school advocates, who believe HB290 is too extreme to pass, need to wake up.
Follow the link to read the 8 Lies About Private School Vouchershttps://vouchershurtohio.com/8-lies-about-private-school-vouchers/
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The No Child Left Behind Act Has Put The Nation At RiskVouchers Hurt Ohio
William L. Phillis | Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding | 614.228.6540 |ohioeanda@sbcglobal.net| http://ohiocoalition.orgSign up for our newsletter!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thank you, Bill Phillis, the unsung hero of Ohio schools! Sadly, this latest attack could conceivably destroy public education. Which may be what some Republicans want, because good, pluralistic public schools do the unthinkable in the view of narrow-minded folks–teach kids to think! Narrowly focused military & business types, and some religious leaders, just want kids to learn how to follow directions. For public education to take that direction would be suicide for America. The Northwest Ordinance–drafted by Thomas Jefferson–said that in Ohio and the other states carved out of the territory, education would be forever encouraged. He meant “education,” not “indoctrination.” However much the right-wingers who push narrowly focused schools might disguise their views, they don’t want “education,” they do want a totalitarian indoctrination. Now is the time for all good men and women to do as Bill is doing–come to the aid of their country, by supporting free “public” schools.
Ed reform is relentlessly and consistently anti-public school. Read that mailer and tell me they aren’t.
The reflexive, dogmatic public school bashing is standard practice in the “movement” and ed reform itself is such a narrow echo chamber I don’t think they even recognize it themselves. It’s kneejerk- they cannot write the phrase “public schools” without putting “failing” in front of it.
We are paying (at least) hundreds of public employees in Columbus to spend entire workdays bashing public schools. It’s the only work they do. Nothing positiive or productive for public school students in the state, no actual contribution, just endless ideological marketing and promotion of charter and private schools and bashing public schools.
Ohio public schools have dropped in national rankings every single year since the ed reform echo chamber captured state government. They came in promising to “improve public education”, they’ve been directng policy for 20 years, and they haven’t added any value at all to any public school anywhere in the state.
Ed reform and ed reformers do not serve students who attend public schools. As long as we continue to set public school policy at their direction public school students will be poorly served. Hire out of the ed reform echo chamber, get echo chamber, anti-public school policy. Until that changes the states public schools will contiue to decline.
Ed reformers just lobbied successfully to vastly expand Ohio vouchers. Now, without a shred of evidence that vouchers “improve public education” and with no analysis at all of the last voucher expansion, they will spend the next six months lobbying for yet another voucher program. There is, as usual in the echo chamber, no dissent. You won’t find a single ed reformer in opposition, or even any real questions on whether privatizing public schools is wise- it’s all paid cheerleading.
If you’re hiring these folks as consultants in public schools ask yourself if that is a good value for public school students. Can anyone point to ONE positive contribution any of them have made to any public school in this state over the last 20 years?
Here’s a typical “analysis” of vouchers in the echo chamber:
https://www.educationnext.org/ripple-effect-how-private-school-choice-programs-boost-competition-benefit-public-school-students/
Read it. It’s cheerleading. It’s marketing and promotion presented as unbiased analysis.
All improvements in any public school are attributed to vouchers. It shouldn’t suprise anyone really, that the ed reform echo chamber – which is dogmatically and ideologically opposed to the existence of public schools – cannot even imagine that a public school could improve for any other reason than private school vouchers.
The anti-public school bias infects everything they do. The entire “movement” operates wholly from a position that privatized or private schools are better than public schools, and all their research and analysis flows from that belief.
These are the people we’re paying to “improve public schools”? What an absolute rip off for public school students.
I encourage people to read within the ed reform echo chamber. Go and read any of the consultants, experts, lobbyists that are funded by any of the ed reform billionaires and try to find a single positive mention of any public school, anywhere.
You’ll notice something else too- there won’t be a single negative reference to any charter school or voucher program or publicly funded private school.
Lockstep bashing of public schools, lockstep cheerleading of charter and private schools, and this is ACROSS the ed reform echo chamber, including the ed reform groups at universities.
They’re all paid by the same people and they all recite the same line – anti-public school and pro charter and voucher. There is no dissent.
There won’t be any real analysis of this explosion of vouchers in ed reform. It’s forbidden. Only public school criticism is permitted- there is no criticism or real analysis of privatized programs at all. The uninamity is such that one can exchange one ed reformer for another- you’ll have difficulty telling the difference between Koch or Walton or any of the university ed reform programs and the lobbying groups. They’re interchangeable. Duncan or Bush or DeVos- no real difference. No matter which flavor of ed reform you choose you’re getting the same thing- more charters, more vouchers, and nothing of value for public schools.
Remember 20 years ago when ed reform started and “liberal” ed reformers assured us they were wholly committed to public education and the system wouldn’t be privatized?
Twenty years later and they haven’t delivered at all for students in public schools and the system moves further toward privatization every single year.
It’s their ony real accomplishment- they have presided over 20 years of privatization. Other than that? Nothing. In some states, like Ohio, they have actual declines. Still, we’ll continue to pay them all and continue to hire exclusively within the echo chamber for another 20 years. If we stick with this crew every state in the country will have a $5400 voucher as a replacement for public education. They don’t do anything else.
Gosh, by now, the quibble about Education vs
Indoctrination should be settled. The old
“proof is in the pudding” comes to mind.
What causes one to capitilate to badges
and names, to large societies and dead
institutions? (RWE)
Is cultural standing based on
“badges and names”,the fruit of
education or indoctrination.
Is our “exceptionalism” a matter
of education or indoctrination?
Is it education or indoctrination
that spills blood on all the lands,
or places a folded flag into
mother’s hands? (J Mayer-Belief)
Disguising indoctrination as education
seems to be a “must have” in order to
perpetuate the lavish mythology
surrounding government, that is at
odds with the results.
very nicely said: “Is our “exceptionalism” a matter
of education or indoctrination?”
This has nothing to do with Ohio’s ongoing battle with the “reformers,” but I am just frustrated enough to whine here. Why, on the one hand, do we attack Facebook for their numerous failings and then turn around and use Facebook to publicize whatever effort we are encouraging? Every time I get close to succumbing, some new revelation about Facebook becomes public. The most recent wave of revelations revolted me. Thankfully this post has provided other ways to respond, but social media seems to be taking over spreading the news, often with little concern for the veracity of the content..
Because Facebook is the only social media platform old people are comfortable with.
It’s not called Facebook anymore. They changed the name to Meta a couple days ago, hoping the different name would shield the company from seemingly intensifying scrutiny. Don’t worry, they still won’t let you leave or delete your account without a fight. They won’t leave you alone. You are not in control, no matter your age.
It’s a monopsony. Your other options belong to the same company. And really, who needs to use the other option to send streams of emojis and selfies.
Returning to the issue of backpacks full of cash, to match the power of the voucher syndicate, you need not Faceb— Meta but lobbyists and large campaign donations. That’s where the monopsony turns into a monopoly. Ain’t Chan-Zuckerberg a gem.
Lies, dirty tricks, misinformation, and even violence are the only ways libertarians/Trumpists, that want to own and control everything, even how we are allowed to live our lives, can achieve their dystopian goals leading to anarchy for everyone where even murder has been legalized as it already has been in stand-your-ground states.
“Stand Your Ground Laws Are A License to Kill”
https://everytownresearch.org/report/stand-your-ground-laws-are-a-license-to-kill/
Click to access _stand_your_ground_kills_-_how_these_nra-backed_laws_promote_racist_violence_1.pdf
The American Bar Association conducted an in-depth study of the results of those laws, and this is only part of their long conclusion/recommendations:
“For states that desire to combat violent crime, it is recommended that legislatures do not enact Stand Your Ground laws because empirical evidence shows that states with statutory Stand Your Ground laws have not decreased theft, burglary, or assault crimes. For states that have already enacted Stand Your Ground laws, it is recommended that they repeal those laws.”
Click to access SYG_Report_Book.pdf
I think libertarians are also responsible for those Stand-Your-Ground laws.
The Stand Your Ground Laws are ALEC, a Koch-funded organization.
The article, “An insider’s look at the evolution of the choice scholarship program”, is worth a read.
It was posted 4-22-2021, written by “the voice” for non-public schools, as the state’s “school choice legislation was crafted”. (Southwestern Indiana Catholic Community Newsletter)