Archives for category: California
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Teachers at California’s Largest Virtual Charter School Unionize

By dianeravitch
April 13, 2018 //
2

 

Uh-oh. This wasn’t in the business plan. Teachers at the K12 Inc. virtual charter school in California created a union. They threatened to “logout” if management didn’t recognize them and agree to their demands. Management caved at CAVA.

While CTA welccomed the additions, some members were unhappy to embrace teachers in a for-profit virtual charter that has been subject to fines and investigations for its behavior and consistently gets poor results.

“Inspired by walkouts in West Virginia and Oklahoma, teachers in California’s largest online charter school were prepared to strike if their new union could not reach an agreement with their school’s management.

“But California Virtual Academies, which includes nine schools and contracts with K12 Inc., the biggest for-profit charter school operator in the country, and the fledgling union of California Virtual Educators Unitedhave settled on their first contract, union representatives announced Wednesday. Among the teacher demands the school has agreed to: some limits on the number of students they oversee, more flexibility in interacting with students and parents, and a whopping 17.8 percent increase in pay…

”As a unionized staff, CAVA teachers belong to a small club within the charter sector. Only 11 percent of charter schools are unionized nationally, down slightly from 12 percent in 2010, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Charter schools make up about 7 percent of the nation’s public schools. About 70 percent of all teachers nationwide participate in unions or employee associations, according to the U.S. Department of Education.”

The contract must be ratified by the nearly 500 teachers who belong to the new local.

”K12 Inc.’s financial arrangements with the schools it helps run in California were the subject of an investigation by the East Bay Times. The paper found that the schools had little independence from K12 Inc. and that the Herndon, Va.-based management company charged fees for its service that were at times far in excess of what the schools could afford. Teachers employed by K12 Inc. were pressured to inflate student enrollment and attendance numbers, which help determine state funding. The paper also reported that half of the schools’ students were proficient in reading and only a third were proficient math. Many students that enrolled in K12 Inc. did not graduate.

“K12 Inc. reached an $8.5 million settlement with the California Attorney General in 2016 over allegations that the company misled parents about how well students were doing in the California schools it manages. The company did not:admit to any wrongdoing.

“K12 Inc. and online or cyber charters in general have been under increasing scrutiny both in California and beyond. That’s been driven in part by the ascent of Betsy DeVos to U.S. Education Secretary. DeVos is a supporter of online schools—touting them as a means to bring school choice to rural areas—and an early investor in K12 Inc.”

 

 

 

 

Categories California, For-Profit, Unions, Virtual Charter Schools

The Network for Public Education Action Fund Endorses Tony Thurmond For California State Superintendent

By dianeravitch
April 11, 2018 //
9

 

 

The Network for Public Education Action Fund is pleased to endorse Tony Thurmond for the post of State Superintendent of Public Instruction for the state of California. As an organization, we are committed to the improvement and preservation of public education. We oppose privatization in all ite forms, including charters, cybercharters, and vouchers. Thus, Tony Thurmond was the right choice for us, in light of his record.

“The Network for Public Education Action is proud to endorse East Bay Assemblyman, Tony Thurmond, for California State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

“Assemblyman Thurmond has been a member of the State Assembly since 2014. He serves on the Assembly Committee on Education, and has made education policy his top priority. Before serving in the legislature, he was on the West Contra Costa Unified School District Board for four years.

“Thurmond is passionate about improving public schools. His public school education prepared him for a 20-year career in social work, where he ran after-school programs and taught life skills and career training. Those years of experience provided him with a unique perspective into the lives of California’s youth.

“Thurmond told us that he will “ensure that every California student gets the education they need to realize their potential,” adding that “California is the 6th largest economy in the world, yet ranks 46th in per pupil spending in the United States. We cannot continue to underfund California’s public education.”

“He understands that class size has proven to be one of the most important factors in a child’s learning. Thurmond said that he will “support legislation, policy changes, funding to reduce class sizes.”

“Charter school issues are sure to be a central focus of the election. Thurmond’s opponent, Marshall Tuck, is a former charter school executive and CEO. In 2014, Tuck ran an unsuccessful campaign for State Superintendent, losing to incumbent Tom Torlakson. Tuck was heavily funded by outside money from national charter advocates, including Michael Bloomberg, Eli Broad, the Waltons, Laurene Powell Jobs, Arthur Rock and John Arnold. Thurmond stated that, “California’s voters don’t want this election to be bought by the Walton family, Eli Broad, and other billionaires who want to privatize public education.”

“Thurmond has made his position clear on charters. He has co-authored and voted for laws to increase accountability for charter schools and to ban for-profit charter schools. He believes that “charter schools must be measured through the same lens as public schools, follow the same guidelines, and be held publicly accountable.” He also believes that “charter schools should be authorized by local districts. Local districts host the charter and provide the services that the students and the charter will need – they are much better suited for this than the county or state.”

“Thurmond has vowed to “lead the resistance against Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos and their agenda to undermine and defund our public education system,” promising that he will not support policies that seek to divert taxpayer dollars from public education to private schools.

“Thurmond has already received numerous endorsements, including the endorsement of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Torlakson. Thurmond will be on the general election ballot on November 6th. NPE Action urges our over 21,000 supporters in California to educate and inform your friends, family, neighbors and colleagues about Thurmond’s campaign and the importance of this election for the future of public education in California.”

 

Categories California, Education Reform, Networkfor Public Education Action Fund

California: John Chiang Proposes Dramatic Cuts to Cost of Higher Education

By dianeravitch
March 28, 2018 //
12

State Treasurer John Chiang, who is running in the Democratic primary for Governor, has proposed dramatic reductions in the cost of higher education. He wants two years of tuition-free community college, accompanied by sharp reductions—nearly 50%— in the cost of tuition at four-year state campuses.

https://johnchiang.com/the-latest/press-releases/john-chiang-higher-education-plan-cuts-tuition/

Categories California, Higher Education

George Miller, Fake Liberal, DFER Favorite

By dianeravitch
March 25, 2018 //
25

 

I posted the 2012 Democrats for Education Reform list of electoral favorites, which included Cong. George Miller of California, then chair of the House Education Committee and an architect of NCLB; Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who fought to keep high-stakes testing and NCLB punishments in the new ESSA and is now a possible candidate for president in 2020. A few years ago, the California Democratic Party passed a resolution denouncing DFER for advancing corporate policies and urged them to drop the D from their name.

Miller was the most powerful Congressional Democrat on education issues, and Nancy Pelosi follliwed his lead. Virginia Congressman Bobby Scott is now chair of the committee, and he too was on the DFER LIST.

A reader who lives in Miller’s district describes what happened:

“Miller was my Congressman. I too had an unpleasant encounter with him at a local hearing where he showed up to personally push to convert one of the high schools in my district to charter. Since then that high school has among other things, experienced huge teacher turnover. Key senior classes have had multiple substitutes with “emergency crediamtials.” They hired an “executive director” whom they pay a quarter million dollars a year,! whose primary job seems to be opening more charters in our county who will hire him as a “consultant” and who hired his wife as an administrator for a salary of $170,000 per year. He also recently put one of the Candidates for Superintendent if the County Office of Education on his payroll as an “Assistant Prinicipal”. The County Office approves charters if they are turned down at the District level.”

Categories Accountability, California, Charter Schools, Closing schools, DFER

DFER’s Choices for 2012: Still Relevant

By dianeravitch
March 25, 2018 //
10

The hedge fund managers created an organization called “Democrats for Education Reform” to advocate for charter schools and high-stakes testing, including evaluating teachers by the test scores of their students (VAM).

In the comments section, someone recalled that George Miller was one of the architects of No Child Left Behind, and I remembered having an unpleasant encounter with Miller in 2010, after the release of my 2010 book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education. I was invited by Connecticut Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro to a private dinner at her home to talk about the book to the Democratic members of the House Education Committee, and Miller was there. In my talk, I was highly critical of NCLB. Miller was outraged. He defended it vociferously.

Yesterday I remembered that I had received an invitation to a fundraiser in 2012 for George Miller from DFER at a posh restaurant in Manhattan. The cost of each breakfast was $1,250. Miller did  not have an opponent. I did not attend.

Miller has since retired. I was told that Nancy Pelosi relied on him as the leading education expert in Congress

Here is the list of Democrats (pro-charter, pro-high-stakes testing) endorsed by DFER in 2012. You may be surprised to see who is on the list, including Congressman Bobby Scott, who succeeded Miller as the leading Democrat on the House Education Committee, and Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, now a leading voice for gun control, but sponsor of the Murphy Amendment to ESSA, which was intended to preserve the George W. Bush punitive consequences of testing. Although every Democrat on the Senate HELP committee (including Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders) supported the Murphy Amendment, it was defeated by the Republican majority on the committee. Had it passed, schools would still be judged by AYP. And, of course, Jared Polis was on the DFER list; he is now running for governor of Colorado. He is a zealous supporter of charter schools.

This year, DFER’s big cause is the governor’s race in California, and their candidate is Antonio Villiraigosa, the former mayor of Los Angeles, who is carrying forward the DeVos agenda of privatization by charters.

Categories Accountability, California, Charter Schools, Democrats, Democrats for Education Reform, NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Privatization

Sacramento: Charter School Closes Abruptly, Leaving Students in the Lurch

By dianeravitch
March 20, 2018 //
24

 

Paramount Collegiate Academy in Sacramento, California, closed its doors in mid-February. Parents received notice on the same day that the school closed, leaving students to find another placement in mid-year.

The charter school had been turned down by the school district, turned down by the county board of education, but approved over their objections by the state board of education, which has never seen a charter it can’t approve.

Parents started showing up at San Juan Unified School District asking to enroll their children after they received a letter from the El Camino Avenue school announcing it would be closing that same day. The letter said the school board was initiating bankruptcy proceedings…

The letter said that the board voted to close the school in a special meeting because of financial problems caused by low enrollment and undisclosed issues with a new landlord.

Fortunately for the students, the public schools are available to take them back. They would have little chance of getting into another charter in mid-year.

California needs a governor who will appoint a state board of education that is not a doormat for charter operators.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/education/article199107149.html#storylink=cpy

 

Categories Accountability, California, Charter Schools, Privatization

California: Why the State Board of Education Will Never Say No to KIPP

By dianeravitch
March 15, 2018 //
14

 

Expanding charter schools is the passion of Betsy DeVos.

Lest we forget, it was also the passion of the Obama administration, which spent eight years promoting the wonders of charter schools.

In the last months of the Obama Administration, with John King as Secretary of Education, the U.S. Department of Education awarded $100 million to California and to KIPP to open more charter schools. 

“KIPP Public Charter Schools and the California Department of Education have received federal grants together worth nearly $100 million to expand and start more public charter schools.

“The California Department of Education won $49.9 million to run a grant competition for charter school operators, to support nearly 500 new and expanded public charter schools.

“A consortium of the KIPP Foundation and the KIPP California Region won nearly $48.8 million over three years.

“Among schools benefiting from the award are four growing KIPP Bay Area schools: KIPP Heritage Academy and KIPP Prize Preparatory Academy in San Jose, KIPP Excelencia Community Prep in Redwood City and KIPP Bridge Academy in Oakland. Each of the schools may receive up to $500,000 over the three-year grant period for expansion.”

All that money to expand a charter chain that was first introduced to a national audience in performance at the Republican convention of 2000, when George W. Bush was nominated for the Presidency. 

Betsy DeVos will enjoy the results, but hold Secretaries Arne Duncan and John King and President Obama accountable. John King is now president of Education Trust, which supports high-stakes testing as the path to equity (which it never has been and never will be since all standardized tests mirror family income). Arne Duncan works for Laurene Powell Jobs’ Emerson Collective.

 

Categories Accountability, Betsy DeVos, California, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Privatization, School Choice, U.S. Department of Education

Roxana Marachi: KIPP Refuses to Abide by Conflict of Interest Law, But Gets Approved Anyway

By dianeravitch
March 15, 2018 //
8

Roxana Marachi, professor at San Jose State University, writes here that KIPP refuses to abide by the state’s conflict of interest law (that’s for the little people in public schools) but won approval of new charters by the state board anyway to open two new charters, despite public opposition.

Her post contains a wealth of documents showing the failure of KIPP to enroll the same proportions of ELLs and students with disabilities as nearby public schools, as well as documents about the damage that charters are doing to public schools in California.

This is great news for Betsy DeVos!

But bad news for public schools in California, where the state board rubber-stamps every charter proposal that comes before them, regardless of the views of elected local boards.

 

Categories Accountability, Betsy DeVos, California, Education Industry, Funding, KIPP Charter Schools, Privatization

Julian Vasquez Heilig: Why California Should Ban For-Profit Charters and Hold All Charters Accountable

By dianeravitch
March 15, 2018 //
6

 

Julian Vasquez Heilig testified to a State Senate Committee on Education about why charters should be held accountable and be transparent. As chair of the California NAACP Committee on Education, he cites the findings of the national NAACP, which recommended banning for-profit charters and requiring that all charters be authorized ONLY by the local school district, to be sure that they meet local needs instead of replacing  public schools.

Yesterday, the State Board of Education approved two KIPP charters for districts that had rejected them. In California, a charter school can be rejected by the local board, rejected by the county board, and appeal to the state board, which was packed with charter supporters by charter-friendly Governor Jerry Brown.

At the charter hearing, Angela Der Ramos, the CTA State Board liaison for the Dr. Oscar F. Loya Elementary School, said:

KIPP is trying to muscle their way into the SF School District, despite the fact that the District and the County denied the charter.

There is no location, so they would force one of the public schools to share their space.

Over and over, the current state board approves charters that are not wanted by the community. The failure rate of these charters is alarming. 39% fail. And there are clear reasons why. Lack of oversight, lack of transparency, budget shenanigans…

The teachers tend to be uncredentialed, inexperienced, and unsupported, as evidenced by the high turnover rate of faculty.

NAACP is in the house speaking against this charter, as is SF School Board candidate Alison Collins, CTA, and reps from the district and county. They already said no twice. Will this board go against the wishes of the community and approve a charter at the expense of public schools?”

The state board gave its answer: Yes, we will go against the wishes of the community and approve KIPP charters at the expense of public schools. We don’t care what the local community wants.

WHY can’t KIPP find communities where they are welcome?

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

California Democratic Party Offers Advice to Trump

By dianeravitch
March 13, 2018 //
5

 

This is good reading!

The California Democratic Party wrote up some pointers for Trump while he visits there.

An excellent reminder of the differences between Trump and Democrats in the Golden State.

Personally, I sincerely hope Trump makes time to visit charter schools and praise them as the capstone of the Trump-DeVos agenda. California’s charter-friendly environment makes Betsy DeVos very happy. After all, California has more charter schools than any other state.

Categories Betsy DeVos, California, Democrats
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