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Putting Students Last: The Alabama Story

By dianeravitch
March 2, 2013 //
11

The following post was written by Larry Lee, who lives in Alabama and writes often about education and politics. He describes the passage of a bill to create tax credits for students to go to private and religious schools.

School kids make a poor rope in a political tug of war.

Anyone in Alabama who doesn’t believe this should’ve been in Montgomery Feb. 28 when the Republican controlled legislature voted to approve what some reporters called “a legislative bombshell.” The Senate approved what is officially known as the Alabama Accountability Act of 2013 on a vote of 22-11. The House of Representatives vote was 51-26.

It’s hard to tell if opponents were more upset about the contents of the bill or the tactics used to get it approved.

But one thing is certain, in spite of protestations by those on the prevailing side; this battle was not about school kids. If it was about education, why did Dr. Tommy Bice, the state’s superintendent of education, not know about it? After all he is the one person most accountable for the education of 735,000 public school students.

Why did the State Board of Education, with six elected Republican members and two elected Democratic members not know about it? After all, they are the only elected body in the state whose sole responsibility is overseeing education policy.

If this was really about education, why did the Republican leader of the Senate, who says he’d worked on this for a week, tell reporters that he worked hard to keep what he was doing a secret from even those who had signed on in good faith to support the original bill?

“We knew they would oppose what we were trying to do,” he said.

Interpretation: Since we had hatched up a scheme to fundamentally change public education in this state, the last thing we wanted was input from professional educators.

Yep, makes sense to me. Maybe next time the legislature will tackle a healthcare issue. I sure hope they make sure no doctors or nurses know what they are doing.

What was the scheme used to pass the bill?

Go to a conference committee composed of three House members and three Senators (Four Republicans and two Democrats) where each body is supposed to iron out their differences and report the compromises back to their respective bodies. But instead of doing this, an eight page bill went into the committee and morphed into one of 28 pages that was much different than the original bill.

This is when the fur hit the fan because the rules of both bodies prevent a conference committee from reporting out a bill that is substantially different than the original one. But obviously when you are doing something for school kids, why pay attention to rules? After all, isn’t that what we all teach our own kids to do, just ignore the rules you don’t like.

As I think of all of this I keep thinking back to the night of Feb. 19 when the State Department of Education recognized 20 high-poverty schools (the very kind of schools the backers of this legislation say they are so concerned about) as Torchbearer Schools.

All 140 members of the House and Senate were invited to attend this event by Governor Bentley. Only one Senator came. It was not the majority leader. Maybe he was hidden away somewhere working on legislation to benefit education and didn’t have time to visit with 20 of the top principals in Alabama and ask for their input.

Time after time we hear legislative leaders talk about “Alabama values.” Is this what we saw in practice this week? I was born in Alabama. Mother and Daddy were born in Alabama. Grandma and Grandpa were born in Alabama. So I’m about as qualified to know our “values” as anyone. And what was on display in Montgomery Feb. 28 bore no resemblance to the Alabama values I was taught.

But the only value any of us really need to heed is on page 1,414 of my King James Version of the Bible. Matthew 7:12—Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.

It’s a sad day for all of us when our political leadership tramples on such a simple truth.

Larry Lee led the study, “Lessons Learned from Rural Schools”, and is a long-time advocate for public education and frequently writes about education issues.

Categories Alabama, Education Industry

How to Get a Docile Workforce

By dianeravitch
January 22, 2013 //
32

Some people have wondered what happened to the much ballyhooed film “Won’t Back Down.”

Recall that it was featured on NBC’s “Education Nation,” which is the showcase for the corporate reform movement; one of its stars was interviewed on “Ellen”; it had an elegant opening party at the New York Public Library; Michelle Rhee hosted showings at the two national political conventions.

Should have been a big hit, right? Wrong.

It opened in 2,5000 theaters and disappeared within a month. Hardly anyone wanted to see it.

But it lives! The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is showing it around the country to business organizations, to convince them that the local public schools are awful and that they must support charter schools. Think of it: Schools where children learn to obey or get kicked out.

Here are the events planned for this week in Birmingham, Alabama, where businesses are still looking for the best way to train their workforce:

 

“Greetings,

On behalf of the Birmingham Business Alliance, I would like to thank each of for agreeing to participate in our panel discussion next week in conjunction with our “Breaking the Monopoly of Mediocrity in Education” tour.  As we continue to work towards providing all students in the state of Alabama with quality education options and creating a dynamic workforce, it is important to have dialogue with those who are not only advocates for better education but, who are also actively working to bring about change.  Attached you will find the final agenda as well as talking points for each panel.  Within each panel, if there is an issue that you feel should be addressed, please don’t hesitate to send your suggestion.  A more detailed email will be sent on Tuesday of next week and will address any concerns or changes that are brought to my attention by panel participants.  Again, we are excited to have each of you participate in this interactive forum.  Please feel free to forward the invitation and registration link to any of your contacts or distribution list who would be interested in attending.

Thank you and we look forward to your participation.

L. Waymond Jackson, Jr.
Director – Education and Workforce Development
birminghambusinessalliance
THE CHAMBER FOR REGIONAL PROSPERITY
505 20th Street North, Suite 200
Birmingham, AL 35203
(205) 241-8117 (office)
(205) 324-2560 (fax)
www.birminghambusinessalliance.com<http://www.birminghambusinessalliance.com/>

On January 24th and 25th please join the Birmingham Business Alliance, the U. S. Chamber of Commerce and the Institute for a Competitive Workforce as we kick-off their national tour “Breaking the Monopoly of Mediocrity in Education.”  The tour will focus on the various methods of education reform, business community involvement and engaging the community to become catalyst for change in education and workforce development.  Most recently, this tour has visited cities such as Memphis, Indiana, and Phoenix to name a few.

Day one consists of a screening of the movie “Won’t Back Down” featuring Academy Award Nominee, Viola Davis (The Help), immediately followed by a networking reception and opportunity to discuss the education reform issues addressed in the film.

Day two features a panel discussion comprised of area business and education leaders sharing ideas regarding education reform and how best to align the workforce needs of industry with K-12 , post-secondary, and higher education.  Topics to be discussed include, The Importance of Pre-K and Early Childhood Education, and How to Achieve a Ready to Work and Engaged Workforce.

Registration for this event is free and due to limited seating we encourage you to register before the event.  For a complete listing of panel participants please view the attached agenda; to register click on the link below.  Also, included in your “free” registration on Thursday, January 24th are popcorn, drinks, and hors d’ oeuvres and breakfast and lunch are included on Friday, January 25th.  Thanks and we look forward to seeing you next week.

Categories Accountability, Alabama, ALEC, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, Privatization, Unions

Alabama Governor: No Charter Schools

By dianeravitch
August 9, 2012 //
10

Alabama is a deep red state. The governor and the legislature are Republican.

Yet this past spring, they rejected charter legislation, and the governor announced that he would not raise the issue in the next session.

What happened?

Veteran political observer Larry Lee explains it here.

Although charters have their strongest appeal to conservatives, they contain a contradiction.

The ALEC model legislation for charters says that the state should have a charter board that can override local control.

The idea of eroding local control for the sake of charters didn’t sit well with Alabama Republicans.

Also, every education group in the state opposed the legislation.

But at the end of the day, Alabama Republicans decided not to abandon local control of their public schools.

 

Categories Alabama, Charter Schools

When StudentsFirst Came to Alabama

By dianeravitch
July 31, 2012 //
3

Earlier this year, there was a big push to get charter legislation passed in Alabama. It failed. One of the pronents for charter legislation was StudentsFirst, which sent in an organizer from Florida to build support. She said that StudentsFirst has 17,000 members in the state, but when SF called a meeting in Montgomery, only 25 people showed up, some about half were anti-charter. A writer from Alabama sends this account:

So here is the deal with StudentsFirst.  I can become a member by going toChange.org and signing a petition that says nothing about this organization and if I write favorable comments about “pro reform” then someone with StudentsFirst  may even send me a gift card to my favorite restaurant.
And how do I know all of this?  Because a good friend signed a petition at Change.org and soon got an email from StudentsFirst welcoming her as a member.  And because I’ve met the field rep from Florida who is offering the chance at a free meal.
The Alabama Legislature went through a vigorous battle about whether or not to allow charters schools last spring and the lady in question was one of six lobbyists StudentsFirst registered with the Ethics Commission to support this bill.
I well remember the day I went to a brown bag luncheon at a local church to learn more about StudentsFirst.  At least that’s what I thought I was doing, but actually, I was instead encouraged to write letters, visit legislators and do whatever I could to pass the bill.  The free lunch lady referred to above ran the meeting.
She was nice, but hardly a warm person.  Said she lived in Florida where she taught school for eight years.  There were maybe 20-25 folks at the gathering.  She told us StudentsFirst had 17,000 Alabama members.  I wondered why none of them bothered to show up since at least half of the crowd did not seem to favor charters.
I’m on the state advisory board of a pre-K program.  The state director of this organization was also at the meeting and at one point distributed copies of an article detailing info about the Gulen Charter movement.
The lady from Florida did not appreciate this and quickly said this was just a scare tactic and that my friend should not be a bigot.
Well, being Alabama born and raised, I can probably spot a bigot about as well as the next guy.  And the one Ms. StudentsFirst accused of such ain’t one in no form or fashion.  You don’t work with high-poverty families for 20 years in this state if you are.
So I find it quite interesting that the lady who did the accusing that day in the church dining hall is now saying that her character is under attack because someone forwarded one of her emails!!!!
One other thing I remember from that meeting was that the lady told us StudentsFirst was in Alabama because the Governor and the Legislature invited them.  A few days later the Gorvernor’s chief of staff told me that the Governor DID NOT invite them.
I’ve never owned a new car in my life.  Which means I always buy used ones.  But I can gurantee you that if StudentsFirst was in the used car business, I would never been one of their customers.
Oh.  The charter bill failed and the Governor recently said he will not push this legislation next year.
Categories Alabama, Charter Schools, Education Reform, StudentsFirst

What Alabama Really Needs

By dianeravitch
June 4, 2012 //
0

Alabama is one of our poorest states. It has a large number of children living in poverty in urban areas but also in rural areas.

This past spring, there was a heavy-duty political effort to pass charter school legislation in Alabama. The effort failed, but is likely to be revived in the next session. Charter schools are supposed to raise test scores, and their promoters say that one day, with more and more charter schools and ever-higher test scores, there won’t be any poverty. Test scores are supposed to be the best antidote to poverty.

Not everyone believes that the world works that way. Not just because there are large numbers of college graduates who are unemployed and underemployed, but because poverty is a mass phenomenon in this country and will never be overcome simply by getting more students to learn how to pick the right bubble on a standardized test. Not just because the tests are normed, and half of those who take them will always be in the bottom half by design, but because far more is needed to lift up people’s lives and provide economic stability and mobility than opening charter schools, some of which will be good, some of which will not.

Larry Lee is an Alabamian who has spent many days and months and years traveling the back roads of Alabama. When he was working for the state, he and his colleagues wrote a moving report on successful schools in rural districts. Lee described impoverished schools that were closely tied to their communities, where parents and teachers worked together to meet the basic needs of children, where schools survive because of the sacrifices of teachers, principals, parents, and the community. Finding teachers for schools in rural areas is never easy, and most come from the community and feel “called to teach.” Please read this report and think of it the next time you hear someone say that we are already spending too much on our schools.

Larry Lee is no fan of charter schools. He sees them as a diversion from the state’s responsibility to support a sound, basic education for all its children. But he know that the advocates will be back next legislative session. And he knows that charters won’t help the children and the communities that are always left behind.

Diane

Categories Alabama, Charter Schools
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