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California: How Will Governor-Elect Gavin Newsom Reshape the State Board of Education?

By dianeravitch
December 22, 2018 //
32

Capital and Main offers some interesting speculation about what Gavin Newsom might do to change the state board of education.

Governor Jerry Brown was totally on board with unlimited charter expansion. His board rubber-stamped almost every appeal from a charter school that had been denied by school districts.

What will Governor Newsom do?

Bill Raden writes:

This week, the nonprofit education news site EdSource pointed out that, although it will take years to fully reshape the Jerry Brown-appointed, 11-member board, Newsom’s first opportunity will come on his January 7 inauguration day. That’s when current president Michael Kirst, who was instrumental in California’s adoption of dubious Common Core State Standards, retires. Departing a week later will be Trish Boyd Williams, whose pro-charter charter enthusiasm and career ties to corporate-reform cash have been the bane of local school boards. Also leaving in 2019 will be Bruce Holaday. The term of Karen Valdes, who was appointed to fill a vacancy in 2017, ends in January.

The EdSource article that Raden links here explains that Newsom will have a state board in which every member was appointed by Brown.

Currently seven of the 11 members of the board are slated to stay on. If they do, it could take several years before Newsom can put his stamp on the board — and assure continuity from the Brown era that spawned a plethora of landmark reforms over the past eight years.

Categories Accountability, California, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization

A Progress Report from the Network for Public Education

By dianeravitch
December 18, 2018 //
4

Please read this year-end report from the Network for Public Education. You will learn about an important addition to our staff and plans for the future.

2018 was a great year for Public Education, despite the fact that the U.S. Secretary of Education—for the first time in history—is a foe of public schools and a religious zealot.

Teachers in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona, Colorado, and North Carolina heroically stood together and demanded fair funding for their schools and their students. They said “Enough is enough!” They changed the national narrative, restoring to public view the fact that 85-90% of American students attend public schools, not charter or religious schools. Most of our public schools are underfunded, and most of our teachers are underpaid. According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, 29 states were spending less in 2018 than they spent in 2008. “Choice” is NOT a substitute for funding. Choice takes money away from schools that are already underfunded and diverts it to privately managed schools that are unregulated and unaccountable.

In state after state, teachers and parents led the blue wave that elected new governors, broke Republican supermajorities, and flipped the House of Representatives.

In one of the biggest electoral victories for education of 2018, parents and teachers in Arizona beat the Koch brothers and squashed a vast expansion of vouchers. Another was the ouster of Scott Walker in Wisconsin by Tony Evers; the sour grapes Republican legislature just rushed through legislation to strip powers from the new governor, in a blatant rebuff of the voters’ choice.

In California, Tony Thurmond beat Marshall Tuck for State Superintendent of Instruction, even though the charter billionaires gave Tuck twice as much money as Thurmond, saturating airwaves across the state. Duncan, of course, endorsed Tuck. The charter billionaires placed their money on the wrong horse in the governor’s race, betting on former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who came in third.

Friends, everyone senses it. Despite their vast resources, the privatizers are losing. They know it. Some say “Don’t call me a Reformer.” Others, like Arne Duncan, insist loudly that “Reform is not dead,” a sure sign that he knows it’s dying. All they can do now is lash out, double down, and destroy whatever has escaped their grasp.

It’s not about the kids. It never was. It’s about their egos and/or their bank accounts.

We now know that “Reform” means Privatization, and maybe it’s time to call them what they are: Privatizers.

Categories Accountability, California, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, Joy, Justice, Network for Public Education, Privatization, Resistance

California: Teachers in Los Angeles and Oakland Preparing for Confrontation

By dianeravitch
December 16, 2018 //
9

Bill Raden of Capital & Main reports on potential strike developments in Los Angeles and Oakland.

Two California teachers unions, which are currently deadlocked in separate contract talks with their respective school districts, are on the verge of launching the West Coast’s biggest teacher walkout since 1989. What happens next will decide far more than fair wages for career educators. At stake are broader principles of equity, expressed as contract demands for smaller class sizes and less testing, the addition of sufficient health and social services staff, and an investment in community schooling and fair funding — aimed at restoring public education as a public good for all Californians, rather than as a private interest granted to the lucky few…

Meanwhile, an estimated 90 Oakland Unified teachers skipped classes December 10 in a one-day wildcat sickout to protest some of the state’s lowest teacher pay — against a backdrop of California’s fast-rising living costs. But a more fundamental grievance is with the $60 million that Oakland Unified must cut over the next two years. It has led superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell to adopt a draconian district downsizing plan that could close up to 24 mostly low-income neighborhood public schools and coordinate the remainder of the 87-campus district with the city’s 34 charters on things like enrollment and transportation. The strategy has been likened to a “portfolio model,” the controversial template for privatized district governance that favors charter expansion at the expense of traditional public schools.

It also bears an uncanny resemblance to “Re-Imagine LAUSD,” the prematurely leaked but still mostly secret pet portfolio plan of L.A. Unified supe Austin Beutner — just one of the issues behind the takeover by 50 placard-carrying protesters at the L.A. school board meeting last Tuesday. Students, parents and teachers seized the floor and unfurled a banner of union-aligned demands: an end to random student searches; reductions in class sizes and testing; and the hiring of more health workers, community schools and per-pupil funding. For good measure, they also chanted down attempts by board president Mónica Garcia to restore order, a caterwaul that eventually drove Beutner and his board allies from the room…

If November’s blue wave means the tide has indeed turned against California’s market-driven ed reformers, grassroots activists aren’t resting on any laurels. That’s why they are circulating a petition launched by the Oakland Public Education Network (OPEN), asking Governor-elect Gavin Newsom to abide by four seemingly common sense hiring principles:

*No conflicts of business interests

*Education-related appointments must strictly mirror California’s 90/10 proportion of public-to-charter-school enrollments

*No more Betsy DeVoses guarding the regulatory henhouse (i.e., appoint only seasoned, public school-committed educators to the Advisory Commission on Charter Schools)

*Genuinely partner with the public schools community to uproot what OPEN considers the predatory incentives and equity barriers that it says are the legacy of California’s 25-year-long ed reform wrong turn.

Categories Accountability, California, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Los Angeles, Oakland, Privatization, Resistance, Teachers, Unions

California: Gavin Newsom’s Three Challenges

By dianeravitch
December 11, 2018 //
18

In education, Governor-Elect Gavin Newsom has three major challenges.

The incoming administration of Governor-elect Gavin Newsom will not be cleaning up a mess. Governor Jerry Brown has been a good steward of the state during his time in office.

But Newsom faces three distinct challenges in the field of education. Although Governor Brown significantly increased spending for education, California has large unmet needs and much catching-up to do to maintain its edge as an incubator of talent and innovation, and of equal opportunity for all.

First, to fund K-12 education.

Second, to restore California’s historic tradition of tuition-free higher education.

Third, to pass legislation to assure charter school accountability and transparency and to hold charters to the same ethical standards as public schools.

Categories Accountability, California, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Funding, Higher Education, Privatization

Oakland Teachers: Enough Is Enough!

By dianeravitch
December 10, 2018 //
5

Teachers in Oakland, California, are preparing to strike. The following press release explains why.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE * FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE * FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACTS:

The Wildcat Underground, Oakland High School Educators United

Twitter:​​ @WildcatUndrgrnd
IG:​​ wildcat_underground
FB:​​ Wildcat Underground

Miles Murray,​​ English Teacher, Oakland High OEA Rep: (510) 684-2956
Suzi LeBaron​​, Science Teacher and Department Head/Pathway Director: (707) 695-6873 Cole Margen​​,
History Teacher and Oakland High OEA Rep: (925) 300-8634
Alex Webster Guiney​​, Special Education Teacher: (415) 722-7668

Oakland Unified does not remember the past and is condemning its teachers and students to repeat it.

The teachers of Oakland Unified School District have been working without a contract since 2017.

Oakland Education Association (OEA, AFL-CIO) bargaining with the district reached an impasse last spring. Like a glacier calving in global warming, the rumbling and cracking is escalating in Oakland public schools.

Teachers at Oakland High School are some of the most vocal in the district and are organizing for the inevitable fight.

In the coming weeks, there will be a series of actions, including an Educators Day Out, which will include a march and rally at Oakland City Hall by 70 Oakland High educators, plus students, families, and supporters, on a scheduled school day before winter break.

“You can call it a walk-out or a work stoppage if you want. It is not an official OEA action. Our union has been following the rules in negotiations for almost two years and the district continues to stall, except when moving in the wrong direction. Teachers at Oakland High have had enough. We need to take action to be heard, and the actions will only escalate from here, and hopefully spread to other sites before the School Board does more damage. We must make our city government realize that that the health of our city depends on strong, equitable, public​ schools,” said Miles Murray, English teacher and Oakland High OEA representative, who said that a strike is not off the table. “In fact, it’s looming and hopefully this and, other ‘Wildcat Underground’ actions will show the district, city officials, and our fellow teachers the high level of solidarity, organization, and fortitude we have. If the district finally offers a raise to match inflation, sane class sizes, and all the rest of our demands that will truly benefit our students, we won’t have to strike.”

In 1996, Oakland teachers went on strike in January and didn’t return until spring. Unfortunately, many of the issues teachers face in Oakland have not changed substantially since 1996. In fact, they look eerily similar. Oakland continues to lead state school districts in the percentage of its budget paid to consultants and top-salaried district-level administrators.

“Systemically, nothing has changed in 22 years, since our last strike. It’s scary that OUSD has not figured out how to evolve and improve in more than two decades,” said Alex Webster Guiney, a Special Education teacher and school site OEA rep. “OUSD administration still does not recognize the inherent value of teacher satisfaction and longevity,” she added.

1996 STRIKE HISTORY HERE:

https://libcom.org/library/oakland-teachers-strike-1996-iww?fbclid=IwAR1BscKe60H-EQSnkJ63Ag3VCJrhjMid PiWhdFuqk4RGkqyxd9RlcNtoIIY)

Oakland teachers make considerably less than teachers in surrounding districts in the Bay Area where the cost of living is similar, or even less than in Oakland. The cost of living in Oakland has risen astronomically as San Francisco has tapped it for commuter tech housing, and as the city has experienced a renaissance in restaurants, bars, and shopping. With all of this, rents have skyrocketed as Oakland educators continue to fall behind.

“It is ridiculous that the majority of educators in Oakland can barely afford to live in the community in which we teach,” said Oakland High OEA rep Cole Margen, a history teacher in Oakland High’s RISE Academy, which serves a population of recent immigrants and students learning English as a second language. “Our salary caps out at 80 thousand after 20 years in the district and that is nowhere near enough to live on, or retire on, if we want to support ourselves and our families -– especially with the housing bubble that has so lovingly accommodated the tech exodus from San Francisco.”

By comparison teachers in surrounding districts rise to higher salaries earlier in their careers, and finish much higher with more secure retirements for their time spent teaching.

“The primary difference between Oakland and many of these districts is the percentage of black and brown students we educate,” said Suzi LeBaron, a science teacher, department head, and pathway director at Oakland High. “You can look at the demographics and the comparative salaries and see a clear trend. This is institutional racism at work and no one is talking about it. Vultures in the form of consultants and top-salaried administrators continue to circle and pick our district apart, because that is OUSD’s history.”

A newly credentialed teacher with a BA starts in Oakland at $46,570. Our median rent for a 1-bedroom apartment is $2,330/month. (Oakland demographics, 25.3% Hispanic/Latinx, and 28% African American).
In Fremont, where the median rent is $2,086, a teacher starts at $66,398, nearly $20,000 more. (Fremont demographics, 14.8% Hispanic/Latinx, and 3.3% African American).

In Mountain View-Los Altos district, where the median rent is about $450 higher than Oakland, the starting salary is $82,819. (Mountain View demographics, 21.7% Hispanic/Latinx, and 2.2% African American).

In fact, even though Mountain View teachers don’t get a raise in the first five years, at the end of those five years they have earned ​$170,611 MORE ​​than a 5-year teacher in Oakland. That’s the difference between home stability and no home stability. Oakland teachers cannot continue to work to better the lives of our students while their own livelihood is at risk. They can no longer tolerate a system of attrition.

Another point of contention is the education of children with special needs: “These children are disproportionately assigned to our public schools because their applications can be rejected by charter schools,” Guiney said. Charter schools are NOT obligated to provide services to children with special needs, but public schools are. As a result, OUSD wants to raise the cap on Special Ed class sizes in order to balance out overcrowding in general ed classrooms. “Adding more high-need children to a Special Ed classroom in order to reduce the number of children in general ed classrooms is an inefficient way of handling overcrowding, and will only end up reducing the quality of education for all students,” Guiney added.

Unfortunately, OUSD’s continued financial woes are the result of continuing sloppy mismanagement due to the historic attitude that students in Oakland didn’t, and still don’t, matter as much as students in surrounding communities.

OUSD supports a larger percentage of consultants, upper-level managers, and administrators than other state school districts, and a smaller percentage is spent on direct services to students (include the salaries and retention of their teachers). This is a classic example of educational redlining.
Instead, the district is increasingly relying on additional sources of revenue (parcel taxes and state support for career and technical education, as two examples) to keep programs robust for students. The actual work of teachers, however, continues to be minimized.

Additionally, the growth of private and public charter schools in Oakland (staffed with non-unionized teachers) has resulted in a well-documented “white flight” from Oakland’s public schools, further emphasizing inequities.

While OUSD talks about the possibility of closing 24 public schools, the district has approved a large number of largely-unregulated charter schools that continue to drain resources and students from public schools, with no proven outcomes. In fact, OUSD has recently hired another top-level (highly paid) administrator to oversee the Office of Charter Schools, all the while refusing to bargain with its nearly 3.000 public school educators represented by OEA.

Categories Accountability, California, Oakland, Racism, Teacher Pay, Unions

Petition Addressed to Gavin Newsom and Tony Thurmond

By dianeravitch
December 5, 2018 //
9

The Color of Change, an online civil rights group, posted this online petition addressed to the newly elected leaders of California.

Congratulations on your victories! Many of us campaigned for you, donated to you, and voted for you. Now we write to ask you to represent us – the public school students, families, teachers and taxpayers of the great state of California.

Given that a mere ten percent of California’s public school students attend charter schools, we sincerely request you make the following changes immediately upon taking office:

1. Ninety percent (or 10 out of 11) of your nominees to the State Board of Education (SBE) ought to come from traditional public schools and districts, not charters or pro-privatization groups. Current SBE Members disproportionately represent charters, or have financially benefitted from their relationships to charters.

2. Similarly, staff the California Department of Education’s (CDE) Advisory Commission on Charter Schools (ACCS) with seasoned educators from traditional public schools, and those who have “unwound” failed charters. Again, current members disproportionately represent the charter school industry, and pro-privatization groups.

3. Staff the CDE’s Charter Schools Division with a staff which will oversee and regulate the charter sector and individual schools, rather than enable and coddle them. Charge them with protecting kids, families, teachers and taxpayers from faulty education practices, fraud, waste and abuse.

4. Commit to participating in a conversation with the public school community about increasing funding for our schools and reforming existing charter law, including the appeals process and Proposition 39.

Why is this important?

It’s time to put our resources and support behind the educators and schools which continue to teach the overwhelming majority of California’s school children.

As you make staffing and personnel choices, we urge you to get the foxes out of the henhouse at the California Department of Education (CDE). The current configuration of the CDE devotes a disproportionate amount of staff and resources to a movement and agenda funded largely by billionaires which is underperforming, unaccountable, segregationist, rife with financial waste, and undemocratic.

Please consider adding your name.

If you want to learn more about the lack of supervision or oversight or accountability in California’s charter industry, read this report from the Network for Public Education.

Categories Accountability, California, Charter Schools, Corruption, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization

Los Angeles: Our Public Schools Are Not for Sale!

By dianeravitch
December 4, 2018 //
4

This full-page ad appeared in the Los Angeles Times a few days ago. It was paid for by the United Teachers of Los Angeles.

thumbnail

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, Broad Foundation, California, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Reform, Los Angeles, Privatization, Resistance, Supporting public schools

Tom Ultican: An Astonishing $61 Million Spent on Tuck v. Thurmond Race

By dianeravitch
December 3, 2018 //
17

There has never been an election for State Superintendent of Public Instruction like the one recently concluded in California between Marshall Tuck and Tony Thurmond. Tom Ultican says that $61 Million was spent. It might eventually be even more.

This was an epic showdown between charter supports and charter skeptics.

The charter billionaires spent heavily on former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. He didn’t get to the runoffs.

“When Villaraigosa lost badly in the June 6 primary, many of the same billionaires listed above turned their full attention toward electing Marshall Tuck SPI.

“Following a brief career in investment banking, Tuck took a job at the politically connected Green Dot charter schools. Steve Barr a former chair of the Democratic Party who had served on national campaigns for Bill Clinton, Gary Hart and Michael Dukakis founded Green Dot charter schools in 1999. He hired Tuck in 2002 to be Chief Operating Officer (COO) and eventually promoted him to President and COO.

“When Los Angeles Mayor Anthony Villaraigosa was rebuffed in his efforts to take control of Los Angeles Unified School District, he convinced a few donors to underwrite the takeover of ten schools in areas which had suffered years of poor standardized testing results. They created a non-profit called Partnership for LA. Villaraigosa tapped Marshall Tuck to lead the Partnership.

“Tuck was extremely unpopular at the Partnership. The Sacramento Bee reported, “Teachers passed a vote of no confidence at nine of the schools at the end of the first year, leading to independent mediation.”

“During this education reform era in which connections are more important than skill, experience and training, Tuck remained in good standing with the Destroy Public Education (DPE) financiers. Subsequent to loosing the formerly most expensive SPI race in California’s history; Tuck’s benefactors took care of him. Despite no training as an educator, he was given a job as Educator-in-Residence at the New Teacher Center. Bill Gates provides much of the centers funding including grants totaling $26,305,252 since 2009…

“In Tuck versus Thurmond, the direct giving only accounted for 12% of total money spent. Although the direct money spent was comparatively small, it was revealing. In this race the contribution limit was $7,300 and it could be given twice (once for the primary and once for the general). Tuck received 377 maximum contributions for a total of $2,748,500. Thurmond received 170 maximum contributions for a total of $1,234,854.

“The race is generally viewed as a battle between billionaires and teachers unions, but that obscures some realities. Tuck’s maximum contributions came from 259 sources of which 257 were individuals. Thurmond’s Maximum contributions came from 129 sources of which 16 were individuals. Tuck received max contributions from 76 non-employed people, 65 financial industry employees, 39 corporate executives and 29 billionaires. Thurmond received a maximum contribution from one billionaire, Tom Steyer and two corporate executives, Stewart Resnick and Linda Ray Resnick, who also were maximum contributors for Tuck.

“The groups who gave maximum contributions to Thurmond were almost all organized by labor unions. Surprisingly, much of the money came from voluntary contributions and not union dues. For example, the California State Retirees PAC, made a maximum contribution to Thurmond. The largest amount contributed to the PAC by the 1404 contributors was $15.50. Another example is The California Federation of Teachers COPE which made two max donation to Thurmond. The money came from 1326 member organizations like the San Jose Federation of Teacher Local 957 whose members made voluntary contributions totaling to $73,391.

“It was the PACs who drove the election financially.”

You have to open the post to see the excellent LittleSis diagram of the billionaire funding of the Tuck campaign.

No doubt about it. Propivatization was the issue on the ballot in this race.

“When the year began, many supporters of public education were concerned because the candidate apposing Marshall Tuck was a one-term Assemblyman from Richmond, California with no name recognition. Not only that, he was a black man vulnerable to the race card. Then the Judases at the Association of California School Administrators endorsed Marshall Tuck for SPI.

“That might have been the point at which Thurmond demonstrated he was a special guy. On the weekend of January 20th he spoke at the CTA delegates meeting. He already had their endorsement since October, but in this speech the delegates met a charismatic candidate who brought them to their feet cheering. He declared “no privatization of public schools in California. Not in this state. Not on my watch.”

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, California, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Privatization

California: Thurmond Says No New Charters Without New Funding

By dianeravitch
November 28, 2018 //
14

State Superintendent-elect Tony Thurmond urges a halt to new charters unless there was new funding provided for them. He recognized, as few charter advocates do, that opening charters without funding them harms existing public schools.

https://www.politico.com/states/california/newsletters/politico-california-pro-preview/2018/11/20/thurmond-targets-charter-schools-137523

The charter industry, which opposes any accountability, transparency, or regulation, spent nearly $40 million trying to stop Thurmond.

Categories Accountability, California, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Funding, Privatization

California: Charter Billionaires Spent $62 Million on State Races but Lost the Two Big Ones

By dianeravitch
November 27, 2018 //
13

The charter billionaires spent about $62 million to push their single issue in the state elections but lost the two big statewide races. They did better in legislative races, unfortunately, where it was easy to swamp their opponents.

Advocates for charter schools outspent almost everyone else trying to sway California elections in 2018.

Pro-charter groups helped break spending records trying to swing the race for Superintendent of Public Instruction, the most expensive down-ballot fight in California this year. They were also the top sources of outside spending in the race for governor — and even state Senate and Assembly races.
In total, charter school advocates made $62 million in independent expenditures on this year’s elections, according to a KPCC/LAist analysis of campaign finance data.

But most of that money was spent on losing efforts.

Last week, Marshall Tuck conceded the superintendent race to outgoing State Assemblyman Tony Thurmond. Pro-charter groups — most notably the advocacy group EdVoice — spent a total of $34 million trying to elect Tuck.

They were up against significant opposition: the state’s largest teachers unions and the California Democratic Party spent about $20 million to support Thurmond.

The loss comes after a disappointing gubernatorial primary in June. The political wing of the California Charter Schools Association spent $22 million trying to get former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa into the general election for Governor. Villaraigosa didn’t even come close.

They will now curry favor with Gov.-Elect Newsom.

Pro-charter groups fared somewhat better in state legislative races.

Combined, EdVoice and the California Charter Schools Association spent more than $5.9 million on those races. CCSA Advocates was the largest single source of independent expenditures in state legislative races.

In a down-ballot state legislative race, an independent expenditure of several hundred thousand dollars “is a lot of money,” Sonenshein [of Cal State L.A.] said.

In all, charter groups spent money trying to sway 17 state Assembly or Senate contests. In 13 races, charter school groups supported the winning candidate; eight of these winners were safe incumbents who held their seat by a double-digit margin.

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, California, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization
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