Archives for category: Charter Schools
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Chicago: Charter Chain Does Not Permit Girls to Go to Bathroom for Menstrual Emergency

By dianeravitch
May 3, 2018 //
28

 

NPR Illinois has been covering the harsh disciplinary policies at the high-scoring Noble Network of charter schools.

After publishing one piece about “dehumanizing” discipline, NPR learned about another issue. Girls who are bleeding because of their menstrual period and need to go to the bathroom at once must wait for an “escort,” if the incident happens during class. If the escort is late, the girl bleeds on herself. Sometimes they are allowed to tie a sweater around their waist to hide the blood on their trousers, and they won’t get a demerit.

Two teachers persuaded the administration to let girls wear black trousers instead of khaki, to hide the bloodstains.

Would any public school do this to students? Is this inhumane discipline resreserved for low-income students of color in “no-excuses” charter schools?

Be sure to read the comments. Many were posted by people who say they are current or former teachers at the Noble Network.

Categories Charter Schools, Chicago, Discipline, Education Reform

LAUSD Will Pay Zillionaire Banker $350,000 As Superintendent

By dianeravitch
May 2, 2018 //
59

Parent activists are still in a state of shock in Los Angeles in reaction to the board’s selection of the totally unqualified banker Austin Beutner as Superintendent. 

Reportedly a billionaire like his pal Eli Broad, although possibly only a multimillionaire, he will be paid $350,000 for his inexperience.

The first order of business will be downsizing the district, which has lost students to charter schools. Instead of fighting to regain students, Beutner will encourage the growth of privatization.

He is the quintessential corporate reformer who can be counted on to bring the mindset of a corporate raider: cut costs, cut staff, reorganize, downsize.

Beutner is everything that Broad loves in a Superintendent: a reformer dedicated to swing the axe, close schools, and fire educators.

Howard Blume writes:

””Beutner and members of the board majority seem unlikely to continue targeting charter schools as part of the problem. On the contrary, they are widely expected to take steps to encourage their growth in a range of schooling options for families, especially with academic performance lagging at many traditional campuses.

”That means the district has to look to other ways to increase revenue — a goal held in common with the prior board — and may try to reduce district spending by shrinking the traditional school system. Savings could come through employee layoffs, closing campuses and freezing or reducing salaries and benefits.”

 

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Los Angeles, Privatization

Reader: What the Boston Globe Did Not Say About Massachusetts Charters

By dianeravitch
May 2, 2018 //
25

 

Christine Langhoff, retired teacher in Massachusetts, writes:

 

The big news of the week of course, was the ruling by the MA Supreme Judicial Court that the cap on charters is constitutional. Coverage in the putative newspaper of record, The Boston Globe, sought to portray the decision as public schools and teachers hating on charters.

“The court fight escalated the long-running battle over charter schools, which are controversial because they do not have to be unionized, operate independently of local school districts, and are given more flexibility to set their curriculums, budgets, and staffing levels.”

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/04/24/state-high-court-rejects-challenge-charter-school-cap/j6eoQGIp6JY2p0CxcZzLmO/story.html

Importantly, as Professor Cunningham points out, John Henry, The Globe’s owner and publisher, is Klarman’s business partner. Klarman, the billionaire hedge funder, contributed $3 million to the Yes on Question 2 faction. He also holds some $92 million in Puerto Rico’s debt, which bodes ill for the islanders as they face the impending, sweeping charterization of their public schools.

https://www.alternet.org/hedge-funder-puerto-rico-charter-schools

By contrast, Clive McFarlane, writing in the Worcester Telegram, unafflicted by allegiances among business partners, had this perspective:

“Mr. Nicolette (executive director of the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association) and other supporters will continue to point to the charter schools that are doing well, while highlighting the traditional public schools that are struggling.

But they won’t tell you about the attrition rates of students attending charter schools, that the top 11 and 17 of the top 20 schools statewide with the highest attrition rates are charter schools.

They won’t tell you that the top seven schools with the highest dropout rates (ranging from 21 percent to 54 percent) in the state are charter schools.

They won’t tell you that the top nine schools in the state with the highest churn rate (the percent of students leaving and arriving during the school year) are charter schools.”

http://www.telegram.com/news/20180425/clive-mcfarlane-states-high-court-rejects-argument-for-lifting-cap-on-charter-schools

The interests of the elite make it clear that though decisive victories against the charter industry have been won, the proponents are not about to walk away.
So, though we’ve won three times in the struggle to keep our “best in the nation” public schools here in Massachusetts, don’t count the charteristas out. Seems there’s a lot of money riding on them.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Reform, Massachusetts

Teachers of the Year Confront DeVos about Choice

By dianeravitch
May 1, 2018 //
85

 

Betsy DeVos has spent decades advocating for school choice.

What a shock for her when she met the teachers of the year and they told her that charters and vouchers were defunding their schools.

Categories Betsy DeVos, Charter Schools, Courage, School Choice, Teachers, Vouchers

Ohio: How Would You Grade John Kasich’s Legacy in Education?

By dianeravitch
May 1, 2018 //
19

 

When I saw that the Thomas B. Fordham Institute was grading the education legacy of John Kasich, I knew we would not agree. Its report begins by crediting Kasich for copying Jeb Bush’s simple-minded letter grading for schools, which makes less sense than giving a single letter grade to a child. Kasich tried to wipe out collective bargaining but was rebuked by the public in a referendum. He has given free reign with little or no accountability to charter entrepreneurs and presided over scandal after scandal in the charter sector, currently, the $1 billion wasted by ECOT. He has been indifferent at best, but certainly hostile, to the very concept of public schools, whereas his state was once a leader in advocacy for excellent public schools. Like all rightwing Republicans, he pushed for vouchers, and Ohio has a voucher program for “poor kids trapped in failing schools.” Ironically, the Fordham Institute commissioned a study of Ohio’s voucher program, led by David Figlio of Northwestern University, which determined that students who enrolled in voucher schools fared worse than their peers who remained in public schools.

During the Republican primaries of 2016, Kasich posed as the “moderate” in the race, and compared to the others, maybe he was. My friends in New York couldn’t understand why I thought he was a rightwing ideologue, no different from Jeb Bush, but pretending to be the “adult in the room.”

Bill Phillis, the retired Deputy Commissioner of Education in Ohio, and founder of the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy, comments on the Fordham review of Kasich.

He writes (the comments in brackets are mine, not Bill Phillis’):

An April 17 Fordham review of the Governor’s education legacy shows Fordham and the Governor seem to be on the same page regarding education issues.
 
Fordham:
 
  1. The Governor established the A-F Report Card. Fordham laments that it is now in jeopardy. [My comment: good riddance to a dumb idea.]
  2. The Governor provided passionate support for the Third Grade Guarantee. Fordham says the jury is still out on the effects of it. [My comment: Holding back third-graders is a proven way of lifting your fourth-grade scores.]
  3. The Governor’s early efforts focused on lifting limitations on the creation of new charters and providing facility assistance, but then supported charter sponsor evaluations and additional charter school accountability. Fordham says charter accountability could be a lasting legacy for the Governor. [My comment: Charter accountability? That would be innovative.]
  4. The Governor attempted to eliminate public employee collective bargaining but failed. Then he championed Teach for America (TFA) and statewide teacher evaluations. Fordham wonders if these changes will last. [My comment: Swell idea to smash unions and introduce inexperienced, unprepared teachers who will leave in two years.]
  5. The Governor, early on, focused on expanding private school choice. Fordham laments that many of Ohio’s lowest income students have little opportunity to access private school choice. [My comment: Fordham funded research demonstrating that kids who use a voucher fare worse than kids in public schools.]
  6. The Governor eliminated the “evidence-based” school funding model. Fordham says the current school funding formula is a vast improvement over the evidence-based model. [Bill Phillis: Wow…how so? Me: Evidence and Kasich’s education policies have never actually met.]
 
Fordham relishes the fact that the money-follows-the-child idea is now an integral part of budget discussions.
 
Fordham, like Betsy DeVos, subscribes to the myth that school funds belong to the students-not the system-you know, the Ohio constitutionally-required system of common schools.
 
So what would be a great education legacy for a governor? A governor that would accomplish the constitutional requirement that the state secure a thorough and efficient system of common schools would go down in history as the “education” governor.
If you live in Ohio, you should subscribe to Bill Phillis’ newsletter.
William L. Phillis | Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding | 614.228.6540 | ohioeanda@sbcglobal.net| www.ohiocoalition.org
 
Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Failure, Ohio

Steven Singer on “Democrats” for High-Stakes Testing and Privatization of Public Schools

By dianeravitch
April 30, 2018 //
25

 

Steven Singer reviews the decision by the Colorado Democratic party to tell the “Democrats for Education Reform” to stop calling themselves “Democrats.” DFER, he writes, is neither “Democrat” nor is it advocating for “education reform.” It is a group of wealthy hedge fund managers who pour large amounts of money into election to promote standardization, profitization, and privatization. They are clueless about the value of public schools and about the needs of students and teachers. They don’t care. They have money and they do what they want, without regard to collateral damage.

He writes:

Henceforth, “Education Reform” shall be Education Sabotage – because that’s really what it is.

It is about deliberately obstructing goods and services that otherwise would help kids learn and repurposing them for corporate benefit.

Likewise, I propose we stop using the term “School choice.” Instead, call it what it is – School Privatization.

Anyone who uses the older terms is either misguided or an enemy of authentic education.

Perhaps this seems petty.

They’re only words, after all. What does it matter?

It matters a lot.

As Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote:

“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.”

We cannot effectively fight the forces of segregation, standardization and privatization if we have to constantly define our terms.

Professor Maurice Cunningham of the University of Massachusetts, who specializes in the deployment of Dark Money to promote school privatization, has suggested the term “Financial Privatization Cabal.” Great term, too many syllables.

We could just call them the “Privatizers,” because that is the word that represents the common goal of DFER and Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump, Scott Walker, Rick Scott, and the other thieves of language and the common good.

Categories Charter Schools, Democrats for Education Reform, DFER, Education Industry, Privatization, Testing

NPE Action Fund Endorses Elizabeth Markowitz for Texas State Board of Education

By dianeravitch
April 28, 2018 //
1

 

The Network for Public Education Action Fund endorses Elizabeth Markowitz for a seat on the Texas State Board of Education.  

The Network for Public Education Action is pleased to announce its strong support for Elizabeth (Eliz) Markowitz for the Texas State Board of Education, District 7. Dr. Markowitz is a highly qualified candidate. She told us, “I’ve been an educator at various public Texas institutions for the past 15 years, have authored and co-authored a number of books focused on various academic subjects, worked with future school teachers to prepare them for the classroom, and received my doctorate in Curriculum & Instruction – Learning, Design, and Technology.”

Her stand on our issues is certainly aligned. Her priorities are curriculum reform, improving the way we attract, train, and retain educators, and revising the Texas approach to standardized testing. She believes in community governance of schools and small class sizes. Here is what she had to say regarding vouchers and charters:

I do not support “school choice” schemes that use public school funds to support charter, private, or sectarian schools. I believe that public tax money should only be used to support a system of free public schools, and I oppose the implementation of school voucher or tax credit programs that harm the Texas public school system both financially and academically. The rise of charter schools in Texas has led to increasing inequity in the education of our youth, as it benefits the affluent and harms the underprivileged. I have not advocated for a charter school.

For all of the above and more, we give our strong support to Elizabeth Markowitz. Please be sure to vote for her in November.

You can find a copy of the this endorsement here: http://npeaction.org/2018/04/27/npe-action-endorses-elizabeth-markowitz-texas-state-board-education/

Carol Burris

Executive Director of NPE Action

Pol. adv. by NPE Action

Donations to NPE Action (a 501(c)(4)) are not tax deductible, but they are needed to lobby and educate the public about the issues and candidates we support.

Please make a donation today.

 

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, NPE Action Fund, Privatization, Texas

Philadelphia: School Reform Commission Approves Expansion of Majority-White Charter, with Real Estate Self-Dealing Issues

By dianeravitch
April 28, 2018 //
8

The lame-duck School Reform Commission in Philadelphia, which ceases to exist on June 30, voted to award a third charter to Franklin Towne Charter school, which currently has two charters serving majority-white populations. The SRC called on the charter operator to make a greater effort to achieve diversity. The current K-8 charter is 75% white; the high school charter is 83% white. They are located in diverse neighborhoods and do not reflect the neighborhood.

What makes this decision peculiar is that the owner of the Franklin Towne charter chain has engaged in ethically dubious real estate deals. As The Notebook reported, the CEO of Franklin Towne is involved in one of those real estate deals where the charter company is both landlord and tenant.

The debt of Franklin Towne Charter network is long-standing, incurred through a series of circular real estate arrangements that were used to purchase and construct school buildings and rent the buildings from companies that its CEO created.

A 2010 report from the city controller found these arrangements at nine different charter school operators around the city and described it as a way of “transferring taxpayer-funded assets to non-profits that are not accountable to the School District.” 

The report found Franklin Towne’s high school to be among those nine. CEO Joseph Venditti leased the school’s already-purchased property to a for-profit entity he created, Franklin Towne Holdings LLC, and then subleased it back to the school. He also doubled his own compensation over the course of three years. 

As CEO, Venditti took the building bought by the high school with bonds and leased it to Franklin Towne Holdings. The holding company sub-leases the building back to the school, which pays rent to the holding company. Venditti signed the lease and sublease as both CEO of the school and manager of Franklin Towne Holdings LLC, according to the 2010 city controller’s report. 

Franklin Towne is no longer collecting state reimbursements for rent payments, but a 2014 audit of the high school’s finances found that the same circular leasing arrangement was still in place. According to the audit, this agreement will not expire until January 2033.

Franklin Towne has since expanded to open a K-8 school called Franklin Towne Elementary. Audits of that school found it is in the same sort of relationship with the Richmond Street Development Corp., a nonprofit, which collects rent on the already-purchased school building.

Richmond Street Development Corp. was established by the elementary school in 2009 to acquire land and construct a school building, according to the 2014 audit. And Franklin Towne Charter Elementary is “the sole member of the corporation.” 

The school also “effectively appoints a voting majority of the board” and Richmond Street Development Corp. is “economically dependent on Franklin Towne Charter Elementary School for financial support,” according to the audit. 

The Charter Schools Office’s evaluation of Franklin Towne’s proposed new middle school, which the School Reform Commission will consider on Thursday, would be set up with a similar arrangement. This time, the high school itself would be acting as the landlord by subleasing a portion of the building to the new middle school. 

These kinds of financial shenanigans are not uncommon in the bizarre world of charter school finance.

But the question is, why would the School Reform Commission ignore this report of Franklin Towne’s shady finances?

The SRC can’t say they were not informed.

Lisa Haver, retired teacher and public school activist, suggested some possible reasons for the SRC’s readiness to award a new charter to the Franklin Towne charter chain in her testimony to the School Reform Commission before they voted to approve expansion:

Testimony of Lisa Haver to the School Reform Commission

April 26, 2018

There is no need in the Frankford/Tacony community for another Franklin Towne Charter.  Franklin Towne already gades 6-7-8 in its K-8 school. The only reason that company needs a new school is to secure its own bottom line.

I taught at Harding Middle School in Frankford for over 10 years. It seemed that there were 2 exits for graduating 8th graders: one for the African-American and Latino students to Frankford High, and another for the white students to Franklin Towne Charter, which should be renamed the Lower Northeast Democratic Ward Leaders Apartheid Real Estate Charter Company.  How does a school in ANY neighborhood in this city, in particular that neighborhood, explain an 83% white enrollment rate? That alone is reason to deny.

As I said about Aspira, what we see here is a Real Estate company/bank that happens to run charter schools.

As CEO, Venditti took the building bought by the high school with bonds and leased it to Franklin Towne Holdings. The holding company sub-leases the building back to the school, which pays rent to the holding company. Venditti signed the lease and sublease as both CEO of the school and manager of Franklin Towne Holdings LLC, according to the 2010 city controller’s report. 

 Venditti is the proposed “incorporator” of the middle school. He is also the CEO of the high school. The high school is proposed to be the management organization for the middle school, as well as its landlord.

 The Charter Schools Office’s evaluation of Franklin Towne’s proposed new middle school…would be set up with a similar arrangement. This time, the high school itself would be acting as the landlord by subleasing a portion of the building to the new middle school. 

 Is it the business of the SRC to fund this pyramid scheme—with taxpayer dollars?

 FTC board pays Venditti $226K to manage two schools, which is almost the amount Dr. Hite is paid to mange 200 schools.  What we don’t know, because of the legal firewall charters are allowed to set up, is how much Venditti makes off of the real estate dealings.

Of all of the political connections of the FTC board, this is the crucial one:

Ryan Mulvey, a board member for Franklin Towne’s elementary school, is a legislative aide for State Sen. John Sabatina Jr., a Democrat, and would also be on the board of the middle school if it is approved.

 Sabatina is the ward leader who supported Commissioner Green’s failed run for Congress.  In fact, Mr. Green’s address on his filing form, 7718 Castor Avenue, 2nd floor, is a commercial property whose sign says “Sabatina Associates”.  Ryan Mulvey’s brother, Scott Mulvey, was Mr. Green’s chief of staff when he was a city councilman.  Thus, Mr. Green, who should have recused himself when he voted to approve this application in February, must recuse himself now from any vote on FTC.

 

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Funding, Philadelphia, Privatization, Segregation , Racial Isolation and Integration

Boston: Billionaire Seth Klarman, Charter Love, and Dark Money

By dianeravitch
April 28, 2018 //
17

 

Maurice Cunningham is a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts who has become an expert on the subject of Dark Money. He has his own name for the billionaires devoted to charter schools. He calls them the “Financial Privatization Cabal.” That’s clever and accurate but I stick with “corporate reformers” because there are fewer syllables.*

Cunningham (no relation to the charter-loving Peter of the same last name) has done a deep dive into the Dark Money funders of the 2016 campaign to expand charter schools in Massachusetts via a referendum called Question 2. A New York City organization called Families for Excellent Schools (FES) arrived on the scene to bundle and dispense Dark Money and renamed itself Great Schools Massachusetts. (FES was funded by the Waltons and has now been replaced by a new group which calls itself Massachusetts Parents United, also Walton funded.)

What is Dark Money? It is money given to political campaigns by donors whose identities are hidden. The donors do not want their names to be revealed. So they give to a group like “Families for Excellent Schools.” After the charter lobby lost in Massachusetts in 2016, beaten by a sturdy coalition of teachers, parents, and volunteers, the state’s Office of Campaign and Political Finance conducted an inquiry and fined FES for failing to disclose the names of its donors. The fine was $426,00, along with a five-year ban on future political activity in Massachusetts. Shortly thereafter, FES folded due to a #MeToo scandal involving its executive director.

Before it closed its doors, FES was required to reveal its donors. One of them was  billionaire Seth Klarman.

Maurice Cunningham has checked out Klarman and found that he is one of the top donors to the Republican Party in New England. He doesn’t like Trump, so he recently gave $222,000 to the Democratic Party. That was front-page news in the Boston Globe.

Cunningham wonders why Klarman’s gift of $222,000 to the Democrats made the front page, but his gift of $3 Million to the pro-charter campaign in 2016 didn’t merit even a mention. 

But then relentless Maurice Cunningham discovered this:

“Klarman also is a part owner of the Fenway Sports Group, the Boston Red Sox parent company that is led by principal owner John Henry. Henry is also owner and publisher of The Boston Globe.”

Blood is thicker than water. Money is thicker than blood or water.

It is way past time that I name Maurice Cunningham to the honor roll of this Blog for his indefatigable sleuthing and pursuit of Dark Money. As always: Follow the money.

PS: To learn more about Stand for Children as a conduit for Dark Money and about Strategic Grant Partners read this post by Cunningham. 

*He explains:

“A NOTE ON TERMINOLOGY: I’ve failed to come up with a catchy name for the dark money funders so for now I’ve settled on “Financial Privatization Cabal.” Financial since most of the dark money is coming from the financial services industry. Privatization, because I believe their intention is to privatize public services. Cabal because it denotes a secret plot.”

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, Boston, Charter Schools, Dark Money, Fake, Honor Roll, Massachusetts, Walton Foundation

The Corporate Plan to Prepare Our Children for a Life of Servitude

By dianeravitch
April 28, 2018 //
35

 

In this insightful and harrowing article, we can see clearly the contours of a devilish plan, hatched in the corridors of ALEC and other corporate-controlled entities. The centerpiece of the plan is the destruction and privatization of public education, which all of us own and paid for with our taxes.

Read it and get involved. Join the Networkfor Public Education. Join your local advocacy group. Never despair. Don’t stop fighting.

It begins like this:

It was the strike heard ‘round the country.

West Virginia’s public school teachers had endured years of low pay, inadequate insurance, giant class sizes, and increasingly unlivable conditions—including attempts to force them to record private details of their health daily on a wellness app. Their governor, billionaire coal baron Jim Justice, pledged to allow them no more than an annual 1% raise—effectively a pay cut considering inflation—in a state where teacher salaries ranked 48th lowest out of 50 states. In February 2018, they finally revolted: In a tense, nine-day work stoppage, they managed to wrest a 5% pay increase from the state. Teachers in Oklahoma and Kentucky have now revolted in similar protests.

It’s the latest battle in a contest between two countervailing forces: one bent on reengineering America for the benefit of the wealthy, the other struggling to preserve dignity and security for ordinary people.

If the story turns out the way the Jim Justices desire, the children of a first-world country will henceforth be groomed for a third-world life.

Gordon Lafer, Associate Professor at the Labor Education and Research Center at the University of Oregon, and Peter Temin, Professor Emeritus of Economics at MIT, help illuminate why this is happening, who is behind it, and what’s at stake as the educational system that once united Americans and prepared them for a life of social and economic mobility is wiped out of existence.

The Plan: Lower People’s Expectations

When Lafer began to study the tsunami of corporate-backed legislation that swept the country in early 2011 in the wake of Citizens United—the 2010 Supreme Court decision that gave corporations the green light to spend unlimited sums to influence the political system—he wasn’t yet clear what was happening. In state after state, a pattern was emerging of highly coordinated campaigns to smash unions, shrink taxes for the wealthy, and cut public services. Headlines blamed globalization and technology for the squeeze on the majority of the population, but Lafer began to see something far more deliberate working behind the scenes: a hidden force that was well-funded, laser-focused, and astonishingly effective.

Lafer pored over the activities of business lobbying groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) – funded by giant corporations including Walmart, Amazon.com, and Bank of America—that produces “model legislation” in areas its conservative members use to promote privatization. He studied the Koch network, a constellation of groups affiliated with billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch. (Koch Industries is the country’s second-largest private company with business including crude oil supply and refining and chemical production). Again and again, he found that corporate-backed lobbyists were able to subvert the clear preferences of the public and their elected representatives in both parties. Of all the areas these lobbyists were able to influence, the policy campaign that netted the most laws passed, featured the most big players, and boasted the most effective organizations was public education. For these U.S. corporations, undermining the public school system was the Holy Grail.


After five years of research and the publication of The One Percent Solution, Lafer concluded that by lobbying to make changes like increasing class sizes, pushing for online instruction, lowering accreditation requirements for teachers, replacing public schools with privately-run charters, getting rid of publicly elected school boards and a host of other tactics, Big Business was aiming to dismantle public education.

The grand plan was even more ambitious. These titans of business wished to completely change the way Americans and their children viewed their life potential. Transforming education was the key.

 

 

 

Categories ALEC, Betsy DeVos, Billionaires, Charter Schools, Closing schools, Corporate Reform, Dark Money, Democracy, Disruption, Education Reform, Koch Brothers
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