Archives for category: Education Industry
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Bernie Sanders Calls for Tough Restrictions on Charter Schools

By dianeravitch
May 17, 2019 //
71

 

CNN says that Senator Bernie Sanders will deliver a major address on education on Saturday. 

He will call for a flat ban on for-profit charters.

He supports the NAACP’s call for a moratorium on new charters.

Most important is this:

The Vermont independent also will call for a moratorium on the funding of all public charter school expansion until a national audit on the schools has been completed. Additionally, Sanders will promise to halt the use of public funds to underwrite all new charter schools if he is elected president.

That would mean elimination of the federal charter slush fund, which has wasted nearly $1 billion on schools that never opened or that closed soon after opening. This program, called the Charter Schools Program, was initiated in 1994 to spur innovation. It is currently funded at $440 million a year. Secretary DeVos used the CSP  to give $89 million to KIPP, which is already amply funded by the Waltons, Gates, and other billionaires and is not a needy recipient. She also has given $225 million to IDEA, part of which will be applied to opening 20 charters in El Paso.

If Senator Sanders means to eliminate CSP, that’s a very good step forward.

Every other Democratic candidate should be asked what they will do about the federal charter slush fund.

 

Categories Accountability, Betsy DeVos, Charter Schools, Education Industry, For-Profit, KIPP Charter Schools, Privatization, U.S. Department of Education

Howard Blume: After Jackie’s Win in L.A., a New Political Landscape in Education

By dianeravitch
May 17, 2019 //
4

 

Howard Blume writes in the Los Angeles Times about the new political landscape in education after Jackie Goldberg’s landslide election to the LAUSD school board.

Jackie met with Superintendent Austin Beutner, and both pledged to work for the passage of Measure EE, a tax proposal that would raise $500 million in new revenues for the public schools.

More than anything else, Goldberg is stressing the need for better funding — a point of agreement among many combatants in the education wars, including charter supporters.

“We’ve been starving schools,” Goldberg said during an appearance Wednesday at Micheltorena Street Elementary in Silver Lake. “It is a crime that we are not investing in children the way they did when I was a kid….”

Goldberg’s win turned around a losing streak for the teachers union. Until Tuesday’s election, charter school supporters, fueled by wealthy donors, were outspending the unions in L.A. school board contests. And in July 2017, candidates they backed claimed a board majority.

Charters are privately operated, mostly nonunion and compete with district schools for students and the funding that follows them. They enroll close to 1 in 5 district students. It will not be easy to find the way forward on charters, because most rules governing their expansion and oversight are made at the state level.

While the L.A. teachers union has remained a political force, its influence in local board elections was being eclipsed by charters.

With its success Tuesday, the teachers union might be riding something of a national wave, said Julie Marsh, professor at USC’s Rossier School of Education.

“We’re seeing some shifts in the narrative around charter schools,” Marsh said. Charter backers long have pointed to the bipartisan appeal of these schools, but their embrace by President Trump and his polarizing Education secretary, Betsy DeVos, “make it difficult for Democrats to associate with these reforms….”

Goldberg insisted Wednesday — as she has before — that she has no agenda to push Beutner out.

Her presence, however, could circumscribe Beutner’s long-awaited district reorganization. In campaign appearances, Goldberg said she suspected Beutner of secretly crafting a plan that would favor charter school expansion. As evidence, she and others cited the work that consultants for Beutner had done in other districts. She vowed to oppose any such effort.

In recent appearances, Beutner has emphasized that he envisions helping district-run schools operate more efficiently and effectively.

As a candidate, Goldberg had much in common with board member George McKenna, who also had a strong base even without the teachers union. He too allied with the union to win office against a well-funded opponent.

McKenna’s win, in 2014, contributed to the departure of then-Supt. John Deasy because he defeated an opponent who’d strongly supported Deasy.

Goldberg, like McKenna, is no union vassal, although her preferred policies align closely with those of United Teachers Los Angeles. In reality, all seven board members are more nuanced in their beliefs than the stark contrasts represented by their supporters.

 

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Los Angeles, Privatization

Southern Education Foundation Reports on Budget Proposals

By dianeravitch
May 17, 2019 //
7

The Southern Education Foundation posted a very handy analysis of the education budgets of southern states. 

Florida’s budget is a big win for Jeb Bush and Betsy Devos. Governor Ron DeSantis has proposed a small increase in funding for K-12 public schools (about 5%), but the outlay for vouchers will grow by 50% from 2018-2020, and the outlay for charter facilities will triple in the same time period. Spending on colleges, universities, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities is flat.

In Louisiana, Governor John Bel Edwards has flat funded most everything, including vouchers, but has proposed $101 million to give every teacher a pay raise. He is one of only two Democratic governors in the south.

In all of the southern states, the vast majority of students attend public schools from K-12. In states with charters and vouchers, the vast majority of students will be shortchanged so that a small minority can attend charter schools and religious schools. Their “freedom” comes at the cost of equity for all.

Georgia’s Governor Brian Kemp has added nearly $500 million for teacher pay raises. There is also a curious $2.2 million for a “chief turnaround officer.” I wonder how the state will find that magician.

In Mississippi, Governor Phil Bryant has flat funded most everything, but added $25 million for teacher pay raises. I guess he is satisfied with the status quo.

In Alabama, Governor Kay Ivey proposes a 29% increase in funding for Pre-K, a 4% increase in teacher pay, a small increase for higher education and HBCUs, and a small increase (under 10%  for K-12) schools.

Tennessee’s Governor Bill Lee adds new money for charters and vouchers, since privatization is his highest priority. From 2018-2020, K-12 public schools get a small increase; vouchers are introduced with a new allocation of $25,450,000; $71 million is budgeted in 2020 for teacher pay raises; Pre-K is flat funded; higher education gets a small increase; and there is a new appropriation of $30 million for school safety.

In South Carolina, Governor McMaster flat funds K-12 public education and Pre-K; he adds $48.3 million for safety and school resource officers; and introduces $100 million for something I can’t interpret, a “Rural School District Economic Development Closing Fund.” He also includes a $12 million boost for the state’s virtual charter, despite a mountain of evidence that such schools are low-performing and often nothing more than scams.

In North Carolina, the other Southern Democratic governor is Roy Cooper. He proposes to flat fund charters and vouchers. He proposes $216 million for teacher pay raises and a fund of $10 million for retaining and recruiting teachers. Pre-K gets a big boost, and K-12 public schools get a small increase. He also adds new programs of $40 million for wraparound services and $15 million for school safety.

Remember, these are budget proposals and they must be approved by the Legislature in each state.

 

 

 

 

Categories Accountability, Education Industry, Funding, Privatization

Tom Ultican: Jeb Bush’s Disastrous Florida Education Mess

By dianeravitch
May 16, 2019 //
24

 

You may hear choice zealots boasting about Jeb Bush’s “Florida Model.” As Tom Ultican explains here, they are delusional or  just making stuff up (to put it politely). 

Ultican relies on Sue Legg’s excellent report and digs down to show that the motivation behind Jeb’s so-called A+ plan was profits and religion, not education.

Jeb Bush and his friends have made Florida into a low-performing mess that can’t attract or retain teachers. But it has become a magnet for profiteers, grifters, and fundamentalists.

Ultican writes:

When the A+ Program was adopted in 1999, Florida had consistently scored among the bottom third of US states on standardized testing. The following two data sets indicate no improvement and Florida now scoring in the bottom fourth…

Last year, 21 percent of Florida’s students were enrolled in private and charter schools. The Florida tax credit scholarships (FTCS) went to 1,700 private schools and were awarded to over 100,000 students. Most of those students are in religious schools. Splitting public funding between three systems – public, charter and private – has insured mediocrity in all three systems.

Privatization Politics and Profiteering

To understand Florida’s education reform, it is important to realize that its father, Jeb Bush, is the most doctrinal conservative in the Bush family. He fought for six years to keep feeding tubes inserted into Terri Schiavo, a woman in a persistently vegetative state. Jeb was the Governor who signed the nation’s first “Stand Your Ground” self-defense law. During his first unsuccessful run for governor in 1994, Bush ‘“declared himself a ‘head-banging conservative’; vowed to ‘club this government into submission’; and warned that ‘we are transforming our society to a collectivist policy.”’

This is a deeply researched and eye-popping post.

Read it to arm yourself against rightwing propaganda.

The Florida Model is an abject failure.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, Florida, For-Profit, Hoax, Privatization, Vouchers

Canada: Conservatives Urge Charters and Privatization to “Fix” Test Scores

By dianeravitch
May 16, 2019 //
16

 

Grant Frost writes here about the plans of the new Conservative premier of Alberta to fix the schools by introducing charters and market competition. Grant attended the last NPE conference in Indianapolis. He makes clear here what has been muddy in the U.S. Privatization of public schools is a conservative goal.

Frost writes:

There is a very famous anecdote about McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc and his take on business. According to legend, after speaking with an MBA class at the University of Texas in 1974, Kroc accepted an invitation to join some of the students for few few beers. During that rather laid-back social event, Kroc asked the MBA students, “What business am I in?” — to which all the students replied, quite obviously: “The hamburger business.” Kroc paused (presumably for dramatic effect) and told them they were wrong. He was not in the hamburger business. He was in the real-estate business.

Every McDonald’s restaurant that I have ever seen sits on a prime piece of real estate in whichever town it’s implanted itself. By some accounts, McDonald’s is the largest owner of real estate in the world — most of it, of course, purchased using the proceeds from the sales of the aforementioned hamburgers. But, in the end, the burgers are just the means to the end.

Now, take that same business model and apply it to local public schools. Once Kenney allows charter school operators to own property, the same premise will come into play.

Charter schools, it should be remembered, are set up to operate outside the public system. They are offered up as alternatives to traditional schools, usually after a fairly long and substantive campaign has been undertaken to convince the general population that traditional schools are failing….

The beauty in this for the edu-preneurs is that once the public buys in, parents will line up around the block to get their kids into the charter school, even in the face of evidence that the public system is actually doing well. After all, parents want what is best for their kids, and using another business strategy called FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) charter school proponents find it relatively easy to exploit parental unease.

And, of course, every single student comes to the door of the new charter school with a backpack full of taxpayer dollars in the form of per-student funding, a percentage of which can now be used by the charter school backers to buy a piece of what is undoubtedly prime real estate.

So, among all the rhetoric coming from Kenney about pipelines, the environment and student GSAs, this is one little nugget that — should it be acted upon — will open up the Canadian education system in ways that we could never have imagined possible a generation ago. Canadian schools will be open for business, with the ground they sit upon being the ultimate prize.

Welcome, Alberta, to the era of McEducation. It probably will not be long before the rest of us follow your lead.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, International, Privatization

NEA State Report Card on Charter School Laws: Not Good!

By dianeravitch
May 16, 2019 //
8

 

The National Education Association released its 2019 report card on the charter industry, and the findings were dismal.

As one would expect, public money+weak regulation+lax oversight=fraud, waste, and abuse.

Of the 44 states that allow charters schools (plus D.C. and Puerto Rico), only five jurisdictions rate “mediocre” or better.

The report, titled “State Charter Laws: NEA Report Card,” concludes found that nearly every state (44 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico currently have charter schools) is failing to require adequate oversight over the charter school sector. Statutes in forty states received “F” grades. Five states that have laws requiring some oversight received “mediocre” ratings, with grades ranging from “D” to “C-“.

Maryland is the only state that received an “adequate” rating – a grade of “B-”.

The report card’s grades were based on four tenets that the NEA set forth in its 2017 report:

  1. Charters must be genuinely public schools in every respect.
  2. Charters must be accountable to the public via open and transparent governance.
  3. Charters must be approved, overseen, and evaluated by local school boards.
  4. Charters must be providers of high quality education for their students.

Almost every state’s charters received a grade of F.

There have recently been comments posted on this blog insisting that Minnesota actually does have “public charter schools,” but the NEA assigns a grade of F to the charters in that state.

Overall, it’s not a pretty picture.

According to the NEA report, a number of states do not require even the most rudimentary, commonsense protections that parents and communities rightly insist upon for all other taxpayer-funded schools.  Furthermore, many states don’t bother to require charter school teachers to meet the same certification requirements as public school teachers. And in too many states, charter school operators are allowed to establish a school, almost no questions asked. Community input is either not solicited or ignored, or both. In addition, they are often given the green light despite the absence of any analysis determining if such a school is even necessary.

The report notes the growing backlash against charters, as the public realizes that they do not cost less, they are not more accountable, and they do not produce better education than the public schools they displace.

The teachers’ strikes of the past year have targeted charters as part of the Trump-DeVos-ALEC plan for privatization of public education, and striking teachers have demanded a moratorium (California) or no charter law at all (West Virginia).

The charter industry desperately needs accountability, the one thing it promised when its advocates began touting the virtues of charters in the late 1980s. That promise has not been kept, and now the charter industry threatens the financial stability of public education.

 

 

 

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Privatization

Cynthia Liu: After Jackie Goldberg’s Win, How to Keep Momentum Going

By dianeravitch
May 15, 2019 //
4

Cynthia Liu, a journalist in California, writes:

With public education champion Jackie Goldberg’s win on the LAUSD school board seat, it’s time for public school advocates to keep the momentum surging! Update on charter accountability bills: 1507 was voted on Monday and passed out of assembly and goes to the California State Senate. YAY & THANK YOU to all who called and voted YES.
 
But two additional bills need to get to the Assembly for a floor vote.
 
Call today (Wednesday) or Thursday (morning) and say,
 
Script: “Hi I am asking the assembly member ________ to vote AB1505 & AB1506 out of the appropriations committee so that they can go to the floor for a full vote. I do not want them to die in committee on Thursday.”
 
These folks are high priority, but everyone should call. Look up your California legislator here: http://www.legislature.ca.gov/legislators_and_districts/legislators/your_legislator.html
 
FYI AB1505: Local school board only to approve charters, and only if they don’t harm existing public schools, don’t repeat public school programs, and state facilities needs. 1506: revisits a cap on charters.
 
Charter accountability IS the path to racial and socioeconomic equity! 
 
— Aguiar Curry AD4 Lake, Napa, Yolo (not W Sacto), parts of Sonoma, Solano
916-319-2004, 530-757-1034
Fax 916-319-2104
 
— Carrillo AD51 East LA, Eagle Rock (**appropriations committee member)
916-319-2051, 213-483-5151
Fax 926-319-2151
 
— Cervantes AD60 Corona, El Cerrito
916-319-2060, 951-371-6860
Fax 916-319-2160
 
— Cooper AD9 Elk Grove, Lodi
916-319-2009, 916-670-7888
Fax 916-319-2109
 
— Daly AD69 Anaheim, Santa Ana
916-319-2069, 714-939-8569
Fax 916-319-2169
 
— Gloria AD78 San Diego
916-319-2078, 619-645-3090
Fax 916-319-2178
 
— Gray AD21 Modesto, Merced
916-319-2021, 209-726-5465
Fax 916-319-2121
 
— Grayson AD14 Vallejo, Pleasant Hill
916-319-2014, 925-521-1511
Fax 916-319-2114
 
— Kamlager Dove AD54 Crenshaw, Culver City, Westwood, Inglewood
916-319-2054, 310-641-5410
Fax 916-319-2154, 310-641-5415
 
— Limon AD37 Santa Barbara, Ventura
916-319-2037, 805-564-1649
Fax 916-319-2137, 805-564-1651
 
— Low AD28 Silicon Valley Cupertino, Saratoga, Los Gatos
916-319-2028, 408-446-2810
Fax 916-319-2128, 408-446-2815
 
— Rubio AD48 Azusa, El Monte, Covina/W Covina
916-319-2048, 626-960-4457
Fax 916-319-2048, 626-960-1310

 

 

 

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

New York: Add Your Name in Support of Bill to Affirm Parents’ Right to Opt Out of State Testing!

By dianeravitch
May 15, 2019 //
26

 

The New York Legislature is considering legislation to affirm that parents have a right to opt out of state testing, and that school officials have an affirmative duty to inform them of their rights. The current testing regime is invalid and unreliable. It does not inform instruction. It has no purpose other than to demoralize students and teachers. Please add your name in support of this legislation. 

The New York State Allies for Public Education urges you to:

Write your Legislators to sign onto the OPT OUT bill

TAKE ACTION NOW by supporting Senator Jackson and Assemblyman Epstein by getting your own NYS Senator and Assembly Member to show their support by signing onto the proposed legislation as a co-sponsor. This is the opportunity we’ve been waiting for years and there is no time to lose. Senate bill S5394 and Assembly bill is forthcoming.

Families HAVE THE RIGHT TO REFUSE the New York State grades 3-8 ELA and math assessments. Nevertheless, and as we have seen over the past several years and throughout the state, too many schools disregard that right, fail to communicate it clearly, or worse, take punitive measures against children when their parents exercise their rights.  

Simply enter your name & address, and the form will automatically generate emails addressed to your specific elected officials. PLEASE SEND your letters TODAY and share with anyone else who wants to see our rights and our children’s rights respected!

Thank you for all of your continued advocacy to protect children and bring whole child policies to your schools!  

 

Categories Accountability, Education Industry, New York, Opt Out, Resistance, Testing

Jeff Bryant: Why Many Democrats and Progressives Are Abandoning Charter Schools

By dianeravitch
May 15, 2019 //
34

 

 

Jeff Bryant explains why many Democrats and progressives are backing away from the charter school idea. It is not just because Trump and DeVos are pushing charters, though surely that is one reason.

Arne Duncanpromoted charters as enthusiastically as DeVos. But something has changed.

Bryant writes:

The politics of charter schools have changed, and bipartisan support for these publicly funded, privately controlled schools has reached a turning point. A sure sign of the change came from Democrats in the House Appropriations Committee who have proposed a deep cut in federal charter school grants that would lower funding to $400 million, $40 million below current levels and $100 million less than what the Trump administration has proposed. Democrats are also calling for better oversight of charter schools that got federal funding and then closed.

This is a startling turn of events, as for years, Democrats have enthusiastically joined Republicans in providing federal grants to create new charter schools and expand existing ones.

In explaining this change in the politics of charter schools, pundits and reporters will likely point to two factors: the unpopularity of Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, an ardent charter school proponent, and teachers’ unions that can exert influence in the Democratic Party. But if the tide is truly turning on bipartisan support for charter schools, it is the charter industry itself that is most to blame.

Read on.

Categories Accountability, Betsy DeVos, Charter Schools, Duncan, Arne, Education Industry, Privatization

Oakland: Charter Supporters Wonder Why No One Loves Them Anymore—and Blame the Unions

By dianeravitch
May 15, 2019 //
17

At the annual conference of the NewSchools Venture Fund, which raises millions to launch charter schools, there was a sour and tremulous mood, according to Matt Barnum in Chalkbeat. 

A group from the Oakland Education Association picketed outside the meeting, and the conveyors focused in on “the unions” as their big problem. It was especially galling to them that some of their own charters had been the target of strikes. The report did not indicate that anyone thought seriously about the teacher turnover for which charters have become noted. Nor about the gap between the sky-high salaries for charter administrators and lowly teachers.

Nor did there seem to be any self-awareness about the near-daily scandals in the charter industry. Did they discuss the public revulsion to for-profit charters or for-profit EMOs and CMOs? Apparently not.

They were aware that the teachers’ strikes during the past year specifically targeted charter schools, but they didn’t know why. Must be those damn unions. They really didn’t get that they were not only left out of Red4Ed, but seen as the enemy of teachers in states that had weak unions.

The level of self-scrutiny, as reported here, seemed defensive and shallow.

The event offered a look at how charter leaders from across the country are coming to grips with new limits on their growth and political clout. And there are signs that their anxiety is warranted, with charters losing support particularly in blue states and cities and among Democrats.

NewSchools attendees were reminded of the opposition when dozens of protestors, organized by the Oakland Education Association, gathered outside the conference hotel downtown. One of their chants: “Hey, hey, ho, ho, charter schools have got to go.”

“They are a leech onto the public system,” said Harley Litzelman, an Oakland teacher who protested at the event.

But charter backers also used the event to explain how they’re planning to confront what they see as the danger posed by teachers unions, internal and external.

The charter industry will never understand what went wrong until they stop looking for enemies and examine their own ranks and their own behavior.

Several years ago, I was invited to speak at Rice University in Houston by KIPP and TFA. At that time, I warned them that if the charter industry did not clean out its Augean stables and get rid of the grifters, entrepreneurs, dilettantes, and crooks, they would all be tarnished. They didn’t listen. They still lack the capacity to look inside to learn why things are going so badly.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization
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