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Edward F. Berger: We Must Recover from the School Choice Movement and Reclaim Our Public Schools

By dianeravitch
June 15, 2016 //
27

Edward F. Berger is a retired educator who lives in Arizona and builds community support against privatization of public schools.

In this post, he explains the failure of charter schools (which he calls “partial schools”).

This is how the school choice movement went wrong:

Politicians, ideologues, so-called libertarians, and crooks attracted by profit motives, took over the charter school experiment. They decided, with no educational data to back their decisions, that charter schools, regardless of whether they worked for children or not, whether they served America’s need for an educated populous or not, would become stand-alone schools that could be run with little accountability, certification, or even democratically elected boards. Now, tax money is often used to create private Real Estate empires. Our tax dollars that we pay for children and their education are siphoned off to individuals, corporations, and companies that contract with charters to provide “services.” Is it any wonder that hedge fund operators and the self-appointed reformers see charter schools and outfits like K-12 as income generators? Is it any wonder that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies cannot keep up with the criminal activities of those milking the system? These thefts are criminal even if approved by legislatures. Are you surprised that the largest Charter School operator in America is a Turkish political movement using our tax dollars to bring their people (they call them teachers) into America to support a political agenda in a foreign land?

Groups motivated by Koch, ALEC, and those with hedge fund mentalities of fraud and greed, have gone against the clear and expressed wishes of the great majority of Americans (exceeding 85%) who support community based, public, comprehensive schools. Let’s be very clear. The great majority of Americans want children exposed to and involved in these areas of learning: Art, music, the sciences, history, civics, theater, health, languages, social studies, reading, writing, critical thinking, physical education, athletics, cooperative experiences, computer sciences, computer literacy, clubs, projects, research… and this is only a partial list of what public comprehensive schools provide. We citizens want the development of self-motivated children, children with ethics and empathy. Children with heart. Constant testing for data does not serve our children.

Parents, educators, and communities united can push back against the corruption in the charter industry.

Categories Accountability, Arizona, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization

Arizona: Parents and Teachers Will Protest Budget Cuts at Capitol on Thursday #NowItStarts

By dianeravitch
May 17, 2016 //
2

This just in:

 

 

Arizona education supporters, led by the state’s Teacher of the Year Christine Marsh and Valley Interfaith Project (which is the local affiliate of the Industrial Areas Foundation), will launch an effort this Thursday, May 19, to signal to the public and to policy makers that the abysmal lack of education funding in Arizona is not acceptable.

 

The rally, called #NowItStarts, will be held on the Arizona State Capitol grounds at 4 p.m. in Phoenix to draw attention to the nearly $2 billion in cuts to Arizona public schools, which have stymied teacher pay raises, slashed classroom spending, and left the state’s aging school facilities in disrepair.

 

The rally comes in the aftermath of a controversial ballot proposition being voted upon today.  Proposition 123, a lawsuit settlement brokered by Gov. Doug Ducey, would end a protracted lawsuit filed when the state withheld voter approved inflation funding from Proposition 301, a voter approved measure from 2000 that legislators ignored during recession budget shortfalls. 

 

The measure, which has deeply divided supporters of public schools, would replace 72% of the funding due to the schools and would draw largely on the state’s land trust fund to resume inflation funding.  If it passes, the state would still rank 48th in per pupil spending, spending $3,000 less than the national average.

 

“Regardless of whether Proposition 123 passes or fails, it’s not OK that Arizona education is so underfunded and undervalued by the powers-that-be,” said Marsh, an AP English instructor in Scottsdale.   

Categories Arizona, Budget Cuts

Arizona Voucher Bill for Half the Children in the State Advances in Legislature

By dianeravitch
March 27, 2016 //
14

The appropriations committee in the Arizona House voted 8-5 to approve vouchers (called “Empowerment Scholarship Accounts”) for about half of the state’s 1.1 million students. One of the supporters of the bill wanted vouchers for every student in the state. The vouchers will drain students and funding from public schools. There is no evidence that vouchers improves education, but it is a red-button issue for libertarians, who want to eliminate public schools. They seem unaware that every nation with successful schools has a strong public school system, with neither vouchers nor charters. I cannot explain why Republicans are so unwilling to call vouchers by their rightful name. They have come up with all kinds of euphemism (“opportunity scholarships,” “education savings accounts,” etc.), but a voucher is a voucher is a voucher. Vouchers have not improved the schools or the educational outcomes of children in Milwaukee, the District of Columbia, or Cleveland. But when dealing with ideologues, facts are irrelevant. Republicans in Arizona are determined to wipe out public education, step by step, starting with vouchers for special education, then expanding until it is vouchers for all.

 

 

A House panel voted late Wednesday to let more than half the 1.1 million students in Arizona schools use public dollars to attend private and parochial schools.

 

 

The 8-5 vote by the Appropriations Committee follows the failure of supporters of vouchers to line up the votes in the House to open the door for all students. Sen. Debbie Lesko, R-Peoria, said she hopes this scaled-back proposal gains more support.

 

 

Lesko also crafted this version of SB 1279 to try to overcome opposition from those who say that the vouchers are used largely by families who already can afford to send their kids to private schools.

 

 

It limits eligibility to students whose family income qualifies them for free- or reduced-price lunch programs. For a family of four, that figure is $44,863 a year.

 

 

Stacey Morley, lobbyist for the Arizona Education Association, said the most recent figures show about 565,000 students participating in those programs.

 

 

But that may not cover everyone who would be eligible.

 

 

Morley said high schools are not required to have such programs. Nor are charter schools.

 

 

That means the number of children whose family income would qualify them could be higher.

 

 

Lesko told lawmakers they should not worry there would be a sudden flood of children, armed with scholarships worth about $5,400 a year, fleeing public schools and taking with them the state aid that had gone to those schools. She said state law limits vouchers to no more than one-half percent of public schools students, or about 5,500 youngsters.

 

 

But Rep. Mark Cardenas, D-Phoenix, pointed out that cap disappears after 2019.

 

 

And Rep. Justin Olson, R-Mesa, conceded his goal is to eventually make vouchers available to every public school student in Arizona.

Categories Arizona, Vouchers

Arizona: Vouchers for All?

By dianeravitch
February 29, 2016 //
12

A reader in Arizona reports that a State Senate committee just passed legislation that would lift all limits on vouchers by 2020. Every Democrat and one Republican opposed the bill. Why destroy public education? Since when did radicalism get confused with “reform”? True reformers want to improve institutions, not blow them up. True conservatives conserve community institutions that serve our democracy. The promoters of this scheme are radicals, not conservatives.

This is unfiltered rightwing ideology. No high-performing nation in the world has replaced its public schools with school choice. No voucher program in this country has produced impressive results. Every little church in the state will open or expand its school and hire uncertified teachers. This is not progress. This is stupidity.

Our reader adds:

“It is likely to pass given the makeup of our legislature and its connections to ALEC. The only hope is that Governor Ducey will veto it. He is pro-privatization and under normal circumstances would likely sign the bill but his own proposed funding plan might be in jeopardy if he did so. That means that there’ a chance that he’ll veto it!”

Categories ALEC, Arizona, School Choice, Vouchers

Gene Glass: The Shame of Arizona’s Elitist Charter Schools

By dianeravitch
February 29, 2016 //
4

Gene Glass, renowned researcher of education, lives in Arizona, where charter schools are proliferating without accountability or transparency. They are certainly not serving the children with the greatest needs, which was the original purpose of charter schools.

 

In this post, he describes the state’s most “successful” charter schools.

 

To sum it up: “They Recruit, They Skim, They Flunk Out The Weak … They are Arizona’s Top Charter Schools”

 

He cites a blog–Arizonans for Charter School Accountability–which investigated the demographics of the state’s top 20 charter schools. Their enrollments are overwhelmingly white and Asian, unlike the enrollments in any of the state’s public school districts.

 

Their students are 86% white and Asian, only 2% Black and 11% Hispanic. Some have no ELLs. Some have no students receiving free lunch.

 

And they are the best charter schools in a state where the governor and legislature want more.

 

Glass writes:

 

Eleven of these 20 schools are run by corporations: BASIS and Great Hearts.
One truly weeps.

Categories Arizona, Charter Schools, Hoax

Ed Berger: The Robber Barons of Arizona

By dianeravitch
February 3, 2016 //
13

Edward F. Berger is a champion for children and public schools in Arizona. He writes in this essay that the state is controlled by a tiny claque of very wealthy people who want to starve the public sector. This small minority is well-organized and well-funded. Berger compares them to the Robber Barons of the 19th century whose goals were money and power.

 

Berger writes:

 

Arizona is run by a well-organized minority. They work to undermine and control representative democracy, elected boards and officials, public schools, environmental regulations, any law that limits the powers of corporations, and interference in their affairs by The People. They believe in the right to rape, rip and run for personal gain while demanding free and unregulated access to natural and national resources. They attack workers’ organizations, associations and unions, taxes on individual wealth, and laws that hold individuals responsible for activities that damage others, the planet, and a sustainable future….

 

Fred Koch, father of the infamous Koch brothers, created a powerful empire. He had an ideology of freedom from government intervention that his sons inherited.

 

Berger writes:

 

Fred was a founder of the John Birch Society, a movement based on:The destruction of public education, the privatization (control) of prisons, racial inequality, and denial of workers’ rights to organize. He was able to inculcate two of his sons (Charles and David Koch) to believe that they are the rightful heirs of his mission and will determine the future of America.

 

When the John Birch Society gained disrepute, they dropped that name and formed dozens of subversive* organizations. The largest in the US and Arizona is the American Legislative Executive Council (ALEC). If your elected representative is a member of ALEC, be afraid and get them gone! Another is the Goldwater Institute. The corporate leadership of Arizona Public Service (APS) and its holding company, Pinnacle West Capital corporation, is deeply involved with the Koch-ALEC-Goldwater Institute politicians. One can not underestimate the subversive work of the Goldwater Institute (a false 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization) with a purely political agenda. Through its minions, the legislators and governors placed in office by the power of this minority, they were recently able to place a Goldwater Institute lawyer on the Supreme Court of Arizona. As an example of their reach, in 2015 the Goldwater Institute filed suit in far off Massachusetts to challenge that state’s ban on corporate contributions to political candidates. A stated goal of the Goldwater Institute is to support charter schools and vouchers. They lead the pack of active and disruptive organizations working in the state sowing, cultural division, anti-teacher, anti-education, anti-unions, and pro-corporations movements….

 

Most of the members of the state legislature are in the Koch-ALEC-Goldwater Institute pocket , or they are forced to cooperate with the extreme right to keep from being ostracized and rendered ineffective for their constituents. Voters are discouraged from voting. It looks like Governor Doug Ducey is being groomed to take on the work of Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who followed the Koch dictates to his ruin. The governors and legislators in many states are being placed by the Koch-ALEC machine. They have used gerrymandering and control of the primaries to ensure that key members of the republican right do not have to fear re-election. The Koch-ALEC machine has made inroads into the US Chamber Of Commerce, and the United States Supreme Court, forcing rulings like Citizens United….

 

Public education in the state of Arizona is being systematically dis-mantled.The budget is being used to starve and destroy public schools, and to privatize every aspect of government to gain access to, and profit from, our tax dollars. Public school financing, and thus education programs, have been arbitrarily cut and then reinstated at a fraction of what they need to operate. Governor Ducey plays a game of ‘cut deep and then give a little back,’ so he can brag about his support, while starving and destroying the state’s public schools, universities, and service sectors. His agenda is not for the children and families of Arizona, it is for a small, well-organized minority. He is trying to prove to his masters that he can be the new Scott Walker or Rick Snyder and he can make Arizona go the way of Wisconsin and Michigan.

 

This is not what the people of Arizona want, writes Berger, but the grip of the plutocracy is so tight that people have given up the power of democracy. Less than 40% turn out to vote.

 

Berger remains hopeful. He thinks the time is approaching when the people of Arizona elect a government that serves them, not the Robber Barons.

 

 

 

 

Categories ALEC, Arizona, Billionaires, Democracy, Education Reform

Arizona Governor Ducey is a #Deadbeat Dad

By dianeravitch
January 23, 2016 //
3

Blogger David Safier in Arizona noted that Governor Doug Ducey wants to start a social media campaign to publicly shame “deadbeat dads” who don’t pay child support. But as Safier explains, the biggest deadbeat dad in the state is Governor Ducey, who makes false promises about funding the education of Arizona’s children.

 

Safier has started a hashtag campaign naming Ducey as a #deadbeat.

 

Safier writes:

 

“Whenever Ducey talks about his commitment to education, people in the immediate vicinity should shout, “Bullshit!” For people who don’t like swearing in public, shout, “Deadbeat!” And for those who prefer tweeting to shouting, use the #deadbeat hashtag to comment on Ducey’s anti-education, anti-children agenda on Twitter.”

 

Here Safier gives the backstory on Ducey’s elaborate hoax:

 

“A new school funding plan was passed by the legislature and signed by Doug Ducey. Emphasis on the word “plan.” There’s no guarantee schools will get any more money than they’re getting now. The plan is to let voters decide whether or not to increase school budgets. Still, Ducey and his legislative buddies are risking injury by repeatedly patting themselves on the back for their generosity. “Landmark deal!” they proclaim. “We’ll lead the nation in the amount we’re increasing school funding!” “We support our children!” “We support our teachers!” “We support our schools!”

 

“Um, no. No congratulations are due. The people who have illegally underfunded our schools all these years deserve blame and shame, not congratulations.

 

“I like to use analogies to explain things, and my favorite on the education funding issue is to compare Arizona Republicans to deadbeat dads and moms. I like it because it’s not really an analogy. It’s a statement of fact. They’ve refused to spend $330 million a year in educational child support that’s required by law. According to the judge, they’re already more than a billion dollars behind on their child support payments, and counting.

 

“Here’s what they’re congratulating themselves for. If the voters give them they go-ahead, they’re willing to pay 70 cents on the dollar of what they owe, and 60 percent of it will come out of the kids’ trust fund.”

 

Ducey=#deadbeat

 

 

 

 

 

Categories Arizona, Education Reform, Funding, Hoax

Breaking News: Arizona Governor Appoints Libertarian to Supreme Court

By dianeravitch
January 6, 2016 //
9

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey appointed Clint Bolick of the Goldwater Institute to the Arizona Supreme Court. Ducey bypassed many experienced jurists by choosing Bolick.

 

Bolick has litigated many cases to fight government regulation of all kinds. He strongly supports vouchers and charters. He defended vouchers in Wisconsin and Ohio.

Categories Arizona, Charter Schools, Education Reform, Vouchers

Arizona: Parents Say NO to Koch Brothers, ALEC, and Other Privatizers

By dianeravitch
December 22, 2015 //
20

Edward F. Berger reports that districts across the state–all but a handful of small rural ones–voted to adopt school bond issues, despite a campaign by the Koch brothers, ALEC, and other forces intent on killing public schools.

 

Despite choices everywhere, nearly 90% of parents still choose public schools. And despite nonstop propaganda, parents and seniors voted to fund their community public schools.

 

Berger writes:

 

It has been over twenty years since frustrated educators, idealists, and those wanting to destroy public education offered School Choice, and partial schools, as options for parents. These experiments have been given more than a fair test. The results of this gamble are now clear. The great majority of parents – nearly 90% – have examined the options and support community public comprehensive schools with full curricula and services. They demand schools with democratically elected school boards and complete financial accountability. There is no doubt about what parents, educators, and citizens want and what children need. The frightening thing is that a minority in power ignore the will of the people.

 

There can be no doubt that parents reject the school choice option. Most parents never placed their children in incomplete education programs. A majority of those who let their children be experimented on have regretted their decisions. Many are now aware that that public comprehensive schools offer much more than partial schools. Children need more than drilling and practice just to pass tests in math, English, and a few select subjects. Yet the political forces and the self-appointed reformers that have taken control of states and local school districts refuse to respond to the will of the great majority. None of these self-aggrandized kings have ever been vetted, trained, or are experienced as educators, yet they force their ideologies on the great majority.

Categories Arizona, Education Reform, Parents, Resistance

Ed Berger: Can We Save Our Public Schools in Arizona?

By dianeravitch
October 26, 2015 //
6

Ed Berger says that if schools are judged by who chooses them, the people of Arizona have spoken: 85% of the state’s children are in public schools. Yet the policymakers keep trying to find ways to funnel public money to private operators of charters and vouchers. The culprits are financed by the Koch brothers, encouraged by ALEC, and most are motivated by simple greed.

He writes:

Will our community be able to save our public schools? The election for a bond, and override funding is November 3. I could wait until the results are in, but here are the issues. Citizens be aware:

The overwhelming majority of parents want their children in public schools. Not charter schools, partial schools, religious schools, or schools which keep out parents, destroy the joys of childhood, and use force as motivation. Parents have choice and they have chosen. Over 85% of Arizona parents have chosen public schools.

The overwhelming majority of parents want their child exposed to many disciplines as well as math and reading. They want their children exposed to art, humanities, science, social studies, history , government, health, physical education, and languages. They want their child to love learning and love their learning community. Parents want their children prepared as interdisciplinary, self-directed learners ready for the future.

They want childhood’s magic honored with time to play and explore and do the things children must do to develop into healthy adults. They want pre-K through great K-12 programs.

Parents know that childhood is a critical developmental time for their child. They like and support the way public school classrooms and the curricula are developmentally appropriate. They know that foundation skills are acquired at different times for each child and that forcing learning to pass standardized tests or other inappropriate measurements damages children.

They want full services for their child. School safety. Safe transportation. A school nurse. Counselors and mentors. A good lunch program and breakfast and snacks for kids who would otherwise go hungry. They want school clubs, newspaper staff, annual staff, business clubs, science club and science fairs, and dance. They want field trips, assemblies, and Americanization.

They demand trained and certified teachers. Most parents know that today’s certified and experienced teachers are many times more effective than teachers in the past. The education profession is advancing and very effective. If there is a learning conflict, they have choice within the system.

The overwhelming number of parents and community members understand that the community has built and provided safe and well-maintained buildings – well-maintained that is until tax dollars they pay for schools have been taken away by a small handful of ideologues who are robbing our communities. In every community, these destructive people always vote NO to damage the opportunities of others.

If you agree with the list of things children need – and parents and citizens demand – note that few are provided by the charter or partial schools. For example, qualified, experienced certified faculty and administrators. Publicly elected school boards. Financial accountability and academic accountability. All of the above are an integral part of our public schools.

IF the great majority of citizens do not want their tax dollars directed away from our students and schools why are they ignored?

BECAUSE those who want to destroy public education or rob kids to profit from our tax dollars have used their power in the Legislature and government to create a system where every charter or other partial school supported by our tax dollars must duplicate what the citizens are already paying for in public schools. Charters must use state dollars that follow the child to duplicate facilities, accounting, utilities, support staffing, libraries, computes, classrooms and physical education resources. The citizens end up paying twice for the same services. The money that citizens intend for children is not there for the majority of kids, teachers, building maintenance, books and supplies or the things children need. The irony is that as few as 10% of the students are enrolled in these partial schools, but they wreak havoc and have the potential to destroy quality education for the majority of students. This is not an accidental consequence. It is being done intentionally.

Categories Arizona, Funding, Privatization
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