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North Carolina: EMERGENCY! STOP THE COUP!

By dianeravitch
December 15, 2016 //
8

From Public SchoolsFirst in NC:

 

“We are desperately trying to get 500 folks here at 430pm – we want to show strength before they close building at 5 pm – come for one hour – they will pass these laws but we can show our anger and we can bear witness- Please folks, I’m begging you, be a witness to this crime on Jones Street, be a witness to the right wing extremist taking over our North Carolina Constitution. Come witness a political coup underway to take away your voice and vote – if you can’t come then be relentless in your phone calling, your emailing, and your tweeting. Don’t stop, don’t get weary, and don’t give up, but a thorn in the side of bigotry. Please share –
WHY YOU ARE NEEDED to show up at 4:30 pm TODAY (and keep showing up and keep emailing and calling when you hear about their final votes!)

Folks we are in the midst of a political coup by the right wing conservative extremists. These are not patriots but powering grabbing white Republicans – they held a Jim Crow caucus consisting of white men (and a few token white women) to draft these bills against the will of the people in secrecy and with intent to take power from the people.
The GOP controlled General Assembly led by Senator Berger and Representative Moore, are using every dirty trick in the book to preserve their privileges since NC voters elected a democrat as their new governor.
In other words, the political elites – mostly Phil Berger, Art Pope, Thom Tillis, Richard Burris and Tim Moore are preserving their grip on power in any way they can, legally (even if undemocratic) and illegally (even if it costs our tax payers) – they are trying to sell this as normal, political business as usual but it is really an ‘overthrow’ of our democracy and our constitution and actually is only intended to preserve authority in the hands of the few.NC General Assembly has gone too far. They came to Raleigh under the pretense of protecting NC hurricane and forest fire victims but have now filed over 20 bills, including unprecedented laws that strip Governor-elect Roy Cooper of executive powers, hurt public education, create gridlock in the state and county boards of elections and circumvent the will of the people, and do further harm to the people of our state. Extremists in the legislature are upset about the outcome of our election and are trying to maintain their control.
HB 17 goes to extraordinary lengths to take away all powers of our Governor-elect, slashing the number exempt positions he can oversee from 1,500 to 300, and eliminating his ability to make appointments to university campus boards of trustees.
Additionally, the bill radically reorganizes governance of North Carolina’s public schools. In almost every possible way, the bill strips power from the State Board of Education to provide more authority to the newly-elected Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction. If the bill becomes law, it will certainly be challenged in court due to constitutional issues. The bill – which was unveiled under a cloud of secrecy last night – is quickly moving through the General Assembly without adequate public input or transparency.
The North Carolina State Constitution clearly gives the State Board of Education the responsibility for running our public school system. The State Board, which consists of 11 members appointed to eight-year terms by the Governor, would be stripped of its powers under HB 17. The new law would unconstitutionally place these powers with the newly-elected Superintendent of Public Schools, Mark Johnson, a lawyer with no experience running a state agency.
HERE IS A PARTIAL LIST:
House Bill 17 makes 1,200 of Pat McCrory’s political appointments permanent state employees, grants the NC Senate unprecedented approval over Governor-elect Cooper’s cabinet picks, and also removes Governor-elect Cooper’s power to appoint trustees to the UNC board and the state board of education.
House Bill 6 needlessly changes the Department of Information Technology from part of the Governor’s cabinet to an “independent” agency whose leadership would be chosen by the Republican Lieutenant Governor.
Senate Bill 4 allows McCrory to appoint the chair of the industrial commission before he leaves office and would drastically change the board of elections by giving the General Assembly the authority to choose half of its members and giving Republicans almost-guaranteed chairpersonship of the board for the foreseeable future.
Senate Bills 5 and 6 grant McCrory the power to appoint two last-second Special Superior Court judges. One of the appointees would be McCrory’s budget director, Andrew Heath, who has limited legal experience.

 

The people of North Carolina will not take these actions against our constitution, our democracy and our vote!. We demand that they respect our vote, end this Session and stop attacking our democracy.
Please join our People’s Assembly at 4:30 pm today at the NC General Assembly in the rotunda.”

Categories Accountability, Democracy, Fraud, North Carolina

It is Time to Abolish the Electoral College!

By dianeravitch
December 11, 2016 //
114

At last count, Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump by 2.7 million votes. She won 48.2% of the popular vote to his 46.2%. This is unprecedented. Never has the loser had a lead of 2.7 million votes over the winner.

 

It is time to abolish the Electoral College.

 

When people say that the Electoral College protects sparsely populated states against domination by the big cities, I say hogwash.

 

Why should the vote of someone in a rural area count more than the vote of someone in a big city?

 

Democracy means one person, one vote. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

The Electoral College is a vestige of a mindset that feared democracy, that sought mechanisms to protect against the rule of “the mob.” The Electoral College was designed to protect the power of the slave-holding states. Read law professor Paul Finkelman’s essay on “The Proslavery Origins of the Electoral College.” See also this article in The Nation.

 

The Constitution as originally written did not permit direct election of Senators; they were selected by state legislatures. That was changed by amendment in 1913. The Constitution as originally written did not permit voting by nonwhites, women, and people who did not own property. All of that was wiped away over time as undemocratic.

 

Now we are left with the last remaining protection against democracy: the Electoral College.

 

When people write in defense of the Electoral College, I ask whether they would be okay about having their Governor elected by district representatives, rather than popular vote. It makes no sense.

 

It makes no sense that we elect a president who lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes.

 

If the shoe were on the other foot, if the candidate of the other party had won, I would say exactly the same. We now have a national election and national media. Whoever is chosen by the majority of voters should be President of these United States.

 

 

 

 

 

Categories Clinton, Democracy, Trump

Clinton Leads Trump by 2.5 Million in the Popular Vote

By dianeravitch
November 30, 2016 //
52

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report says that Hillary Clinton now leads Donald Trump by 2.5 million in the popular vote.

 

Some commenters say, well, the Electoral College can’t be changed.

 

Funny, the original Constitution limited voting to white male property owners. It changed.

 

Imagine if the governor of your state was elected not by popular vote but by a state electoral college consisting of representatives from each district. Nuts, right?

 

In a democracy, the one with the most votes wins. Not in this democracy.

Categories Democracy, Politics

A Teacher in Nevada Gives Thanks

By dianeravitch
November 24, 2016 //
1

Angie Sullivan, second grade teacher in Nevada, gives thanks. If you want to thank Angie, a tireless advocate for her students, write her at angiesullivan0@gmail.com

 

Angie writes:

 

Happy Thanksgiving.

 

I am grateful for public schools which are central to American opportunity.

 

Public schools are the main protectors of social justice.

 

Public schools are central to democracy.

 

We educate everyone – no matter the need.

 

Public schools take all students.

 

My students are the center of my life.

 

We need to protect public schools not drown them with unfunded mandates while withholding resources. We will fail if Nevada continues to withhold resources while increasing demands every year.

 

Experiments across the USA to educate communities of color by forcing them into charters without skilled permanent labor are failing. Corporations and groups want to devalue what teachers do. It does not work. It is a scam.

 

See Detroit.

 

See the lawsuits.

 

Policy that there is no need for skilled labor and union busting did this.

 

Communities of color need to demand a neighborhood public school with RESEARCH BASED instruction. They also need to demand authentic education not just test preparation.

 

Communities of color need to demand a real permanent skilled veteran teacher. Filling at-risk schools with young folks who had five weeks of training one summer – does not work. Filling at-risk schools with large number of ARLs and Subs has got to stop. It is our communities of color without real teachers.

 

Teachers should not be temporary. Hiring warm bodies without pedagogy is a real problem in at-risk schools in Vegas.

 

Teachers know there is not a quick fix. We know literacy is hard work not a quick fad or gimmick to make someone outside the school cash. Real teachers are not on our way to a school board seat or some other position. We do not whisper in the ears of power. We do not have a public relations firm which announces all our achievements.

 

We just take care of kids.

 

We do the job – but we are tired of being abused.

 

Detroit is Vegas.

 

If we do not fight charters, this will be us at a rate of six schools in the ASD a year. Yes, ASD legislation did this to Detroit. Charters did this to Detroit. Union busting did this.

 

If our community does not stand up and demand funding for at-risk public schools – this will be us. We are being starved into failure.

 

We will be drowned in lawsuits. All students who do not have a real teacher -should be demanding one.

 

The reformer experiment has failed in Nevada. Nevada charters are failing.

 

The full data needs to be reported.

 

The reformer experiment destroyed Detroit. Detroit’s charters are failing. Detroit’s ASD failed.

 

We do not need to repeat the mistakes other places make. We need to change our laws to get our charter mess under control

 

I am grateful for public schools.

 

I am grateful for my sweet students and their families.

 

I am grateful for democracy and America.

 

Home Means Nevada.

Categories Democracy, Nevada, Students

Will Latino Children Be Thankful or Frightened?

By dianeravitch
November 24, 2016 //
9

I am a patriot. I love America. I believe in its promise, its hopefulness, its welcome to those seeking refuge. For me, it has always been the land of opportunity, the country where dreams may come true. My mother was an immigrant from Bessarabia. My father’S parents immigrated from Poland.

Thus, I get upset when people ridicule or humiliate those who are weaker, people who are peaceably going about their life and trying to become Americans.

This story was very upsetting because I could identify with the children and their families.

http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-edu-school-mood-20161116-story.html

Categories Democracy

Arthur Camins: U.S. Schools Don’t Fail at Test Scores, They Fail at Teaching Citizenship

By dianeravitch
November 22, 2016 //
28

Arthur Camins, director of the Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ, writes frequently about education issues.

In this post, written a year ago, he warned that the real problem in education is that we fail to prepare our students for the challenges of citizenship. The post was prophetic.

The phrase college and career readiness has become ubiquitous in education debates, but as a slogan without significant transformational direction. Of course, students should leave K-12 education with the knowledge and skills to succeed in the next phase of their lives. Of course, students’ experiences should open rather than restrict their choices and opportunities when they graduate. Of course, they should all graduate. Of course, young people need to develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions to be successful in the world of work. Ignoring that would be an irresponsible abdication, especially for students whose parents already struggle to make a decent living. It’s not that that these are misplaced goals. They are just insufficient.

We need an education system intentionally designed to engage students to understand their values and to learn how to become effective citizens. Which questions teachers ask or do not ask influences how their students understand the world and their role in it.

There are ways to teach that promote passivity, he writes. And there are ways to teach that encourage active engagement:

In the past, how have people worked together to improve the human condition in different societies? What has supported and thwarted those efforts? What features of governments support or impede peaceful resolution of conflicts? How do scientists make discoveries? How do engineers design solutions that improve people’s lives? How do literature and the arts help us understand and value one another and our environment? How can mathematics be used to help make better decisions? What changes are you interested in investigating? These are change-oriented questions that affirm students’ capacities and encourage them to imagine themselves as agents of improvement. These are engaging motivational questions. When student engage in such action-directed learning they can develop the values, confidence and mindset to make things better.

We need a rebirth in the teaching of history and civics. We need more than ever to teach students the importance of living together with others in peace and mutual respect. We need to teach them to respect the humanity and individuality of others.

Perhaps this is the state we are in after 16 years of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, focused exclusively on test scores, standardized testing, basic skills, and getting the right answer.

Civics is about asking the right questions, and questioning why those questions are “right,” not picking a bubble and saying it is the “right answer.”

Categories Accountability, Citizenship, Democracy, NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Race to the Top, Testing

The Problem of the Electoral College and Democracy

By dianeravitch
November 18, 2016 //
84

The latest tabulation of the popular vote shows that Hillary Clinton received in excess of one million votes more than Trump, and her lead is expected to grow.

https://www.thenation.com/article/hillary-clintons-popular-vote-victory-is-unprecedented-and-still-growing/

John Nichols writes:

“Hillary Clinton now leads the national popular vote for president by roughly one million votes, and her victory margin is expanding rapidly. That margin could easily double before the end of an arduous process of counting ballots, reviewing results, and reconciling numbers for an official total.

“But one thing is certain: Clinton’s win is unprecedented in the modern history of American presidential politics. And the numbers should focus attention on the democratic dysfunction that has been exposed.

“When a candidate who wins the popular vote does not take office, when a loser is instead installed in the White House, that is an issue. And it raises questions that must be addressed.”

Yes. Clinton has already won the popular vote by a dramatically larger number of ballots than anyone in history who did not go on to be inaugurated as president…

Clinton’s popular-vote margin over that of Trump is now greater than that of Richard Nixon over Hubert Humphrey in 1968, and that of John Kennedy over Nixon in 1960.

Clinton is now winning roughly 47.8 percent of the vote, according to David Wasserman’s count for the Cook report. That’s a little less than the level reached by Gore in 2000. As Clinton’s popular-vote margin increases, so, too, will her percentage. It is possible that she will win the popular vote with the highest percentage of anyone who has not taken office.

But the percentage that matters is Trump’s. The Republican nominee will become president with less popular support than a number of major-party candidates who lost races for the presidency. Trump is now at 47.0 percent of the popular vote, according to the Cook count. That is a lower percentage than were won by Mitt Romney in 2012, John Kerry in 2004, Gore in 2000, or Gerald Ford in 1976.

IS THIS ABOUT HILLARY CLINTON AND DONALD TRUMP?

No. Supporters of Clinton and critics of Clinton can kvetch about the virtues of her candidacy, and about what remains of the Democratic Party, for as long as their voices hold out. And Trump supporters can certainly announce that “the rules are the rules.” But this is about a higher principle than partisanship, and about something that matters more than personalities. This is about democracy itself. When the winner of an election does not take office, and when the loser does, we have evidence of a system that is structurally rigged. Those who favor a rigged system can defend it—and make empty arguments about small states versus big states that neglect the fact that many of the country’s smallest states (Delaware, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont) backed the popular-vote winner. But those who favor democracy ought to join their voices in support of reform.

There are national movements to address the mess that is made when the Electoral College trumps democracy. There are petitions that call for abolishing the Electoral College. California Senator Barbara Boxer this week proposed a constitutional amendment to do just that, saying: “This is the only office in the land where you can get more votes and still lose the presidency. The Electoral College is an outdated, undemocratic system that does not reflect our modern society, and it needs to change immediately.”

There is also the bipartisan National Popular Vote initiative. Promoted by the reform group FairVote, it commits states to respect the national popular vote (as part of a multi-state compact in which states with a majority of electoral votes commit to assign them to the candidate who gets the most votes) and to ending the absurdity of elections in which losers can become presidents.

IF SOMEONE TELLS ME I SHOULD “GET OVER IT,” HOW SHOULD I RESPOND?

Just tell them that you agree with Donald Trump, who in 2012 described the Electoral College a “disaster for democracy.” On Sunday, he told CBS’s 60 Minutes that he still agrees with himself—even if he is not prepared to defer to the will of the people in this instance. “I would rather see it where you went with simple votes,” Trump explained. “You know, you get 100 million votes and somebody else gets 90 million votes and you win.”

Blogger G.F. Brandenburg wrote that the electoral college is antiquated and obsolete, like “quill pens, buggy whips, powdered hair, and slavery.”

The Electoral College Should Be Retired or Abolished – Just Like Quill Pens, Buggy Whips, Powdered Wigs, and Slavery

Just how perverse is the Electoral College? Beyond your wildest dreams.

I have just calculated that one party could WIN the presidency with only 31% of the total popular vote, while their opponents could LOSE the presidential election with 69% of the popular vote.

I am neither kidding nor exaggerating.

It comes from the fact that small states and voting territories like WY, DC, VT, ND, AK are wildly over-represented in the Electoral College. In Wyoming, each Elector represents a total population of about 177,000 people. In DC, each one represents 197,000 people. In Vermont, it’s 207,000 people per Elector.

But in large states like TX, FL, and CA, the population is grossly under-represented in the EC. In Texas, there are about 715,000 people per Elector – over FOUR TIMES as many as in Wyoming. In Florida, there are 679,000 people per Elector, and in California there are about 668,000 people per Elector.

The difference mostly comes from the fact that each state has two Senators, regardless of population.

So, if one party is able to win a whole bunch of smaller-population states with 51% of the vote in each one, and the other one wins the rest of the relatively-few larger-population states with a lopsided 90% of the vote in each one, it is possible for the first party to get to 285 electoral votes by only getting 37 million votes, while the opposition could get 83 million votes but lose the election because they only got 253 electoral college votes.

In a country with about 330 million people, the winners could get by with the votes of only TWELVE PERCENT of the population!!!

That is just plain perverse: Party A gets outvoted by a TWO-TO-ONE margin and still wins the presidency!?!?!?

Categories Democracy

Jeff Bryant: Education Victories We Can Celebrate

By dianeravitch
November 14, 2016 //
10

Jeff Bryant, a wise observer of politics and education, offers solace at a time when supporters of public education fear the ascendancy of a Republican President and Congress devoted to privatization of schools.

He reviews the electoral victories for public schools.

Chief among them, of course, were the overwhelming defeat of charter school measures in Massachusetts and Georgia.

Another victory occurred in Washington State, where Bill Gates spent $500,000 into an effort to unseat Supreme Court justices who ruled that charter schools are not public schools. The Justice who wrote that decision, Barbara Madsen, was re-elected with 64% of the vote. Two other incumbents were re-elected.

Montana Governor Steve Bullock, a strong supporter of public schools, was re-elected, running against an advocate of school choice.

California voters passed measures to assure school funding.

One other piece of good news–and these days, any piece of good news is welcome–is that Maine voters narrowly agreed to raise taxes by 3% on upper-income taxpayers, to increase education funding.

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, Charter Schools, Corporate Reform, Democracy, Georgia, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, Politics, Supporting public schools

Today: Election Day: Please Vote

By dianeravitch
November 8, 2016 //
18

It’s over. Thank goodness.

Just one thing more is needed.

Go to the polls and vote. Knock on your neighbors’ doors and encourage them to vote. Offer them a ride.

Vote.

That is your duty as a citizen.

Democracy is not a spectator sport.

Please vote.

Categories Accountability, Clinton, Democracy, Trump

Marilyn Rhames: “I Don’t Want Your Job, I Want Change!”

By dianeravitch
October 27, 2016 //
8

I posted Robert Pondiscio’s proposal this morning that a talented African-American teacher-journalist should take Peter Cunningham’s job at Education Post, and that other white leaders of the reform movement should step aside because the reform movement has too many whites (with little or no teaching experience) in leadership roles.

The woman he recommended is Marilyn Rhames. She wrote a response to Pondiscio’s proposal.

In a sharp response, she reminds reformers that the point of “reform” is supposed to be about improving the education of black and brown children, not high-paying jobs for reformers.


“I wanted very much to believe that you had moved closer to acknowledging the racist paternalism that exists in reform circles after you lauded my “stellar” resume. But in highlighting my genius, you subtly sounded the alarm: Marilyn Anderson Rhames is a major black talent who could very well take your job, Peter Cunningham (and other white ed leaders who signed the diversity pledge). What a way to endorse multiculturalism!

My Ivy League educated, teacher-journalist-mother African American self has the potential to make a seismic shift in the systemic injustice that blocks black and brown children from a quality education, so why didn’t your piece frame me in that light? Instead, you positioned me as a threat. In your piece, I was the “other” in an us-versus-them fight for limited, high-paying ed reform jobs. Your title says it all: “Reform Leaders: You’re Fired.”

Ain’t I a reformer? In light of all my brilliance, your title should have been, “Black Reform Leaders: You’re Finally Hired!”

Your piece states that my ex-boss Peter Cunningham, and the many other middle-aged, privileged, non-educator white men who manage the education reform agenda that impacts millions of black and brown children living in poverty, need to step down from their six-figure salaries and let the “foot soldiers,” like me take their place. Why stop at Cunningham? You could have offered your nice-paying job at the Fordham Institute to me. I just may be more qualified than you to do your job, too!

Oh, I forgot, that to you would be “suicide.””

Marilyn,

I hope that you know that no high-performing nation in the world allows entrepreneurs, corporate charter chains, and non-educators to get public money to run privately controlled schools. You should also know, though your friends in the reform movement won’t tell you, that the surest path to a well-paying job and the middle class is a union job, with good pay, reasonable hours, and a pension. Surely you know that the money for the reform movement comes from the anti-union Walton family and Wall Street financiers. Rightwing governor’s like Scott Walker and Rick Scott love to create charters and offer vouchers while defunding the public schools that most black and brown children attend.

I invite you to stand with us to protect public schools from privatization and to fight for the resources and transformation in every state that will make every public school a good school for every child. We don’t have any billionaires on our side, but we have millions of parents and teachers and many others who understand that public education is a pillar of democracy. Privatization always produces inequality, winners and losers. Join us. We need you.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Democracy, Education Industry, Education Reform, For-Profit, Inequality, Privatization
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