Archives for category: California
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Why Charter Lobby Pushed San Diego Bond Issue

By dianeravitch
November 12, 2012 //
3

San Diego had a bond issue on the ballot. It passed handily.

It appeared to be a great victory for public schools.

But unknown to many, there was a sweet deal tucked into the bond issue.

The district will get $2.8 billion in loans, but $350 million is set aside for charters.

Decisions about how to allocate the money will be made by a committee, this article says, dominated by representatives of the charter industry.

Here is another name to add to the billionaire boys’ club: Irwin Jacobs of Qualcomm. This La Jolla billionaire believes that most students in the San Diego schools should eventually be in a charter school. Jacobs gave $80,000 to the campaign for the bond issue in San Diego. He was also one of the biggest contributors to the Obama campaign.

Another true believer in privatization of public education.

Categories California, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization

California: Prop 30 Passes, Prop 32 Loses

By dianeravitch
November 7, 2012 //
3

Governor Jerry Brown led a successful campaign to raise taxes to fund the state’s public schools and universities.

His Proposition 30 passed with heavy support from Los Angeles County.

Had it not passed, the cuts to education would have been devastating.

Hats off to Governor Brown and Superintendent Tom Torlakson for fighting to increase taxes to pay for educating the state’s children.

Due to prior anti-tax activism, California is now 47th in the nation in education spending.

Proposition 32, which was intended to hobble labor unions’ political activities by eliminating automatic dues checkoff for political contributions, was defeated.

Categories Budget Cuts, California, Education Reform

Charter Cash Loses in Santa Clara County

By dianeravitch
November 7, 2012 //
3

Charter school advocates and operators poured big money into Santa Clara County, California, to defeat Anna Song, a school board member who had dared to vote against a charter school.

Song was outspent overwhelmingly, by 25-1, yet she won.

This is a victory for parents and citizens against privatization.

A reader sends this update:

On a positive note, the huge investment in Santa Clara failed miserably. The Charter Industry spent something like $250k (against the incumbent’s $10k or so) to launch a smear campaign against a woman who voted against the renewal of one charter school. They even went after her husband. She still won in a landslide.

In another encouraging election here in Los Altos, CA, a charter-backed candidate who was the biggest single fund raiser also went down in flames. Part of her strategy was to hide the fact that she was associated with the charter school. Despite winning major endorsements including that of our local paper-of-record, she lost by a huge margin.

I think we need to be realistic on these elections: you can’t spend next to nothing and expect to defeat billionaire-backed campaigns. But the truth gives us huge leverage–10 to 1 in many cases.

Categories California, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform

Who Tried to Buy School Elections?

By dianeravitch
November 7, 2012 //
6

Robert Valiant has launched a website to gather information about who funded campaigns for charters and vouchers and against teachers, unions and public education.

If you have links to newspaper articles or other reliable sources, please post them to this website.

I hope that a law firm or investigative journalist will find out where Rhee collected money and which races she supported. She certainly influenced the legislature in Tennessee, where she helped Republucans gain a super-majority, enabling her ex-husband TFA State Commissioner Kevin Huffman to impose the full rightwing reform agenda.

http://dumpduncan.org/forum/discussion/42/registry-of-attempts-to-buy-education-elections-by-prizatizers.

Categories Bloomberg, Michael, Broad Foundation, Bush, Jeb, California, Charter Schools, Connecticut, Corporate Reformers, Democrats for Education Reform, Education Industry, For-Profit, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Indiana, Klein, Joel, Los Angeles, Louisiana, Luna, Tom, Merit pay, Privatization, US Education, Walton Foundation

Shadowy Groups Back Prop 32 in California

By dianeravitch
November 6, 2012 //
8

Far-right groups sent $11 million to try to crush labor unions in California.

No surprise there. Need to know more about real donors.

Too many billionaires in this country trying to silence voices of working people, especially teachers.

Categories California, Unions

Help! Someone Collect All the Elections that Privatizers Are Buying

By dianeravitch
November 6, 2012 //
18

I keep seeing articles about elections influenced by out-of-state and out-of-district contributions.

Sometimes, as in Los Altos, California, and in New Orleans, the elections are for local school board.

Sometimes, as in Louisiana, the election is for state school board.

Sometimes, as in Indiana and Idaho, the election is for state superintendent.

Sometimes, the election is a ballot initiative, as in Georgia, which is voting on whether to give the Governor the authority to create a commission to authorize charter schools even if the local school board objects; and in Washington State, where a referendum would create one of the nation’s most expansive charter laws; or in Michigan, where money is pouring in to oppose an initiative to make collective bargaining a right.

In school district after school district, state after state, PAC money is being bundled to promote candidates and issues with the same agenda: anti-union, anti-teacher, anti-public education, pro-privatization.

Some of the names are familiar: Bill Gates (in Washington), Michael Bloomberg (in Louisiana), Alice Walton (in Georgia and Washington), Joel Klein (in New Orleans), the DeVos family (American Federation for Children) in Michigan, Eli Broad (in Louisiana), Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst (in Michigan and in many districts). Much of the spending is targeted by Democrats for EducationReform (DFER), the Wall Street hedge fund managers group.

This cannot be sheer coincidence. In most places, the amount of money coming from outside is unprecedented. In Louisiana, the spending on a state board race was a multiple of 12 times what was previously spent.

To the naked eye, this seems to be a concerted effort to orchestrate a privatization of public education.

Big money undermining local control, democracy, and public education.

Categories California, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Klein, Joel, Louisiana, Luna, Tom, Michigan, New Orleans, Privatization

Please Vote. Your Vote Matters.

By dianeravitch
November 6, 2012 //
20

If you live in one of the battleground states, I urge you to vote to re-elect President Obama.

Though many of us oppose his Race to the Top, please vote for him for other reasons.

We can’t allow a reactionary, backward-looking Republican Party to take charge of this nation’s future. We can’t allow a rightwing administration to shape the Supreme Court.

I urge you to vote for President Obama. Once he is re-elected, we will continue to pressure him to strengthen our nation’s essential public education system. He might hear us. Romney won’t.

If you live in Washington State, vote NO on 1240 and show the billionaires that you won’t let them start the process of privatization.

If you live in Georgia, vote against the ALEC initiative and preserve local control.

If you live in Bridgeport, Connecticut, vote against the Mayor’s attempt to take away your right to elect the school board.

If you live in Los Angeles, vote for Robert Skeels for LAUSD school board.

If you live in Ohio, vote for Maureen Reedy for the legislature.

If you live in Minneapolis, vote for Patty Wycoff for school board.

If you live in Idaho, vote NO on Props 1, 2, 3: Repeal the Luna laws.

If you live in New Jersey, vote for Marie Corfield.

If you are in Perth Amboy, NJ, vote the “New Visions” slate: Nina Perkins Nieves, Benny Salerno, Jeanette Gonzalez and Maria Garcia for Board of Education.

If you live in Pennsylvania, vote for Richard Flarend.

If you live in California, vote yes on 30 to support public education and no on 32, meant to hobble unions.

Wherever you are, support the candidates who believe in democratically controlled public schools.

Wherever you live, oppose privatization and diversion of public funds to private hands.

Strengthen our democracy by supporting public education.

Support the schools whose doors are open to all.

Support the candidates who will fight for equality of educational opportunity.

Categories Accountability, ALEC, Budget Cuts, California, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, For-Profit, Los Angeles, Pennsylvania, Privatization

California Court Orders Shadowy Group to List Donors

By dianeravitch
November 5, 2012 //
1

In an important decision, a California judge ordered a group called “Americans for Responsible Leadership” to release the names of its donors.

The Arizona-based group has poured $11 million into two California ballot issues.

The group is pushing voters in California to defeat a tax increase that would benefit the schools of California.

The other issue would curb the influence of unions.

Let’s see if they comply before the election.

It will be interesting to learn where all that money is coming from to gut the funding of public education and the activities of unions.

This kind of information should have been available long before the election so voters were aware of who was paying to influence their decisions.

Categories California

Big $$$ Swamps Oakland School Board Race

By dianeravitch
November 4, 2012 //
0

School board elections in Oakland, California, are usually low-budget races, as they are in most places.

But this year, a PAC has amassed $185,000 to elect its slate of candidates. The California Charter School Association put up $49,995 and two wealthy individuals added nearly $100,000 more for the slate.

Also on the ballot is a $475 million bond issue. If it passes, the board will determine how it is spent.

Critics worry that the slate will favor charters and a privatization agenda. The head of the PAC says the thought never crossed her mind.

Categories California, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization

Why Robert Skeels Should Be Elected to LAUSD Board

By dianeravitch
November 4, 2012 //
1

A retired educator in Los Angeles writes:

Los Angeles is the only city in the big 3(New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago) that is not run by a mayor. It almost happened and is still a threat. Several years ago, when Mayor Villaraigosa did not get control of the schools, he threw money and support behind friendly board member candidates. This has been a disaster for Los Angeles children. One of the mayor’s favorites, Yolie Flores Aguilar, presented a plan to put LAUSD schools out to bid. This lead to disruption and more privatization. As a result, funding for traditional schools has been severely cut back with thousands of teachers laid off including librarians and nurses.

Robert Skeels has been a tireless advocate for all the children in LAUSD and if elected, would unseat Monica Garcia, one of the mayor’s favorites. This would end years of gridlock and political cronyism. It is even more important now because the candidates running for mayor next year have not shown independence from Villaraigosa’s failed policies, even though mayoral control in New York and Chicago has been an unmitigated disaster for the educational system in both these cities.

As an example, our mayor successfully pedaled the “Parent Trigger” law at a meeting of mayors from across the country even though the Parent Trigger has NEVER been implemented. It failed miserably in Compton, CA and now, in Adelanto, CA, a recent parent vote to pick a charter under California’s Parent Empowerment Act attracted only 53 voters, even though the school itself serves close to 700 students. And they call this Parent Empowerment?

Robert Skeels has revealed the true nature of the Parent Trigger whose two attempts in California were backed by Parent Revolution, which in turn is backed by the top school privatizers in this country. The tide is turning, with more and more members of the public realizing that there are hidden agendas within the privatization of our public schools. We need more potential board members, like Robert, to come forward and turn the tide all across the country to wrench control out of the hands of those whose only interest is to financially profit off of our public school children.

Categories Budget Cuts, California, Charter Schools, Los Angeles, Parent trigger
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