Archives for category: Education Reform
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Congressional Leaders Take DeVos to Task and Demand Answers

By dianeravitch
May 22, 2019 //
25

A group of leaders in Congress wrote to Betsy DeVos to complain about her Department’s failure to demand accountability from the Charter Schools that win federal funding. She has $440 million to hand out to charters, and she has chosen to shower millions on corporate charter chains like IDEA, KIPP, and Success Academy. All of these chains are super rich. They don’t need federal aid.

The charter industry is angry because the House Appropriations Committee cut Betsy DeVos’s request from $500 million to $400 million. Tough. She uses the Charter School Program as her personal slush fund.

The fact is that the charter industry wants to play a game of pretending to be progressive while sleeping with Trump and DeVos. Sorry, that doesn’t make sense. You can’t be funded by rightwing ideologues and still be “liberal.” You can’t take Walton money and pretend to be progressive. You can’t be anti-union, pro-segregation and claim to be progressive. Nope.

As the charter industry grows more defensive, watch them cry  “racism.” Please note that many of the signatories of this letter are Black and Hispanic. Note that one of them is Jahana Hayes, the Connecticut Teacher of the Year who was elected in 2018.

The letter can be found here.

Categories Accountability, Betsy DeVos, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Hoax, Privatization, Trump, U.S. Department of Education

Stuart Egan: Graphics That Demonstrate the War on Public Schools in North Carolina

By dianeravitch
May 21, 2019 //
4

 

Stuart Egan has gathered some powerful graphics that demonstrate the war on public schools and their teachers in North Carolina. 

You will see, for example, that school grades are not a measure of school quality. They are quite decisively a measure of the affluence or poverty of the students who attend the school.

The schools are underfunded, teachers are underpaid, and fraudulent measures are used to assess students, teachers, and schools.

Categories Accountability, Education Reform, North Carolina, Poverty, Testing

Guess Which Democratic Senators Celebrated National Charter School Week?

By dianeravitch
May 20, 2019 //
31

These are the Senators sponsoring a resolution to celebrate National Charter Schools Week. You will notice that the Democrats who signed on as sponsors include Cory Booker (NJ), Michael Bennett (CO), Dianne Feinstein (CA), and the two Senators from Delaware (Coons and Carper). Let’s hope that the Democrats who did not sponsor this resolution had a finger in the air and realized that the winds are blowing strongly against all forms of privatization, including charters and vouchers. Perhaps it occurred to the non-sponsors that only 6% of American students are enrolled in privately managed charters. Nearly 90% attend public schools. Perhaps they did not want to be associated with the Trump-DeVos agenda.

Screen Shot 2019-05-15 at 2.56.57 PM

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

Peter Dreier: College Student Debt Is a National Scandal

By dianeravitch
May 20, 2019 //
15

 

Peter Dreier read the previous post about the billionaire Robert F. Smith giving a grant to erase the debt of the class of 2019, and he wrote to express his strong belief that government action is needed, not the generosity of philanthropists.

For college students across the nation, their student loans are a crushing burden that cause some to drop out and others to decide that they can’t afford a house, a car, or further education. Education is a right, which should be available at minimal or no cost for those who want to earn a degree.

He wrote:

I’m sure you agree that this bit of philanthropy is great for the students at Morehouse College and great PR for Mr. Smith, but this is NOT the way to reduce student debt in the U.S. There are more than 44 million student borrowers who collectively owe $1.5 trillion in student loan debt in the U.S. His gesture is getting too much and the wrong kind of publicity. We obviously shouldn’t have to depend on charity to meet basic economic and educational needs like college tuition and room-and-board. We need the federal government to erase the debt and, going forward, increase financial aid, while requiring the wealthiest universities and colleges to use their tax-exempt endowments to expand scholarship grants (not loans) to low income and middle class students. And we should end all federal financial aid to for-profit colleges, which are mostly rip-offs and a huge source of student debt, especially since so few students actually graduate, so they owe lots of money without a degree or decent job prospects.

It would have been better journalism if, in reporting the Morehouse story, reporters also noted that Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have great proposals around student debt that doesn’t depend on noblesse oblige. Access to financial aid for college students should be an entitlement, not a lottery. And billionaires like Mr. Smith should be paying much higher taxes so we can afford to give every college student a debt-free education.

My response:

i agree completely.

Categories Education Reform

Billionaire Pledges to Pay Student Debt of 2019 Morehouse College Graduates

By dianeravitch
May 19, 2019 //
6

Investor Robert F. Smith was invited to give the commencement address at Morehouse College, an all-male historically black college in Atlanta. Smith is the wealthiest black man in America, with a fortune estimated at $4-5 billion.

Smith began his speech by talking about his good fortune, having been bused to an integrated public school in Denver. 

Smith described being bused to a high-performing, predominantly white school across town in Denver, where he grew up. He said he’ll never forget climbing onto bus No. 13 to Carson Elementary.

“Those five years drastically changed the trajectory of my life,” he said. “The teachers at Carson were extraordinary. They embraced me and challenged me to think critically and start to move toward my full potential. I, in turn, came to realize at a young age that the white kids and the black kids, the Jewish kids and the one Asian kid were all pretty much the same.”

After talking about how he achieved success, he dropped his prepared remarks and announced that he was paying all the student debt of the class of 2019, some 400 young men. The students were stunned, then broke into cheers and tears, along with their families.

This was a beautiful act of genuine philanthropy. Mr. Smith is not controlling anyone’s life, he is giving without strings or conditions. I know many readers will react by saying that higher education should be tuition-free, and I agree. But it is not. So for now, I say, thank you for this generous and kind act, Mr. Robert F. Smith.

Since the Washington Post is behind a paywall, here are other sites on which to read this heart-warming story, including a video clip.

See here, here, here.

Something tells me Robert F. Smith will have many invitations to give commencement addresses in years to come.

 

Categories Education Reform, Higher Education, Philanthropy, Student Financial Aid and Student Debt

Southern Poverty Legal Center On Florida Vouchers

By dianeravitch
May 19, 2019 //
0

 

The SPLC wrote to Governor Ron DeSantis to protest the latest Florida voucher plan, which takes money intended for public schools, without the fig leaf of tax credits.

The SPLC writes:

By signing S.B. 7070 into law yesterday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis set his state on the path to further decimate its public schools through an unprecedented expansion of private school vouchers.

Florida already diverts nearly $1 billion of scarce public funds to unaccountable, under-regulated private schools each year through several different voucher programs. This massive diversion of public funds has led the state to fall from 24th among states in per-pupil funding to the bottom 10.

And even as Florida has spent more than any other state on private school vouchers, these programs have not proven to be successful, either in Florida or elsewhere. Research, in fact, shows a negative impact on academic achievement across the country. What’s more, private schools participating in Florida’s voucher programs are not held to the same standards, educational or otherwise, as public schools. 

We do have evidence about what works to ensure all students have opportunities to learn, grow, and thrive: investing in schools that value collaboration between educators, families, and communities, and focusing on wraparound supports like health care, counseling, after-school programs, and other neighborhood services.

Yet DeSantis and the Florida Legislature have chosen to set up dueling, non-uniform systems, where communities and their schools compete with private school vouchers for resources – and  lose.

Florida’s 3 million schoolchildren deserve better. Every child in Florida deserves a thriving public school – and a government that will work toward this goal.

Read more about the bill in this letter we sent urging DeSantis to veto the legislation.

Categories Accountability, Education Industry, Education Reform, Florida, Privatization, Vouchers

Pearson’s Plans for 2025: Make Sure You Are Seated When You Read This

By dianeravitch
May 19, 2019 //
31

Pearson has plans for the future. Its plans involve students, education, and profits. Pearson, of course, is the British mega-publishing corporation that has an all-encompassing vision of monetizing every aspect of education.

Two researchers, Sam Sellar and Anna Hogan, have reviewed Pearson’s plans. It is a frightening portrait of corporate privatization of teaching and of student data, all in service of private profit.

Pearson 2025: Transforming teaching and privatising education data, by Sam Sellar and Anna Hogan, discusses the potentially damaging effects of the company’s strategy for public education globally. It raises two main issues of concern in relation to the integrity and sustainability of schooling:

  1. the privatization of data infrastructure and data, which encloses innovation and new knowledge about how we learn, turning public goods into private assets; and
  2. the transformation and potential reduction of the teaching profession, diminishing the broader purposes and outcomes of public schooling.

You can also find a radio program featuring one of the researchers which discusses these issues at http://www.radiolabour.net/hogan-140519.html

 

Categories Data, Education Reform, For-Profit, Pearson, Privatization, Testing

Bernie Sanders’ Bold Plan for Education

By dianeravitch
May 18, 2019 //
118

 

Senator Bernie Sanders has produced an excellent plan for education .

Thus far, he is the only candidate to address K-12.

His first principle is crucial:

Every human being has the fundamental right to a good education.

Read the plan.

Sanders’ commitment to funding education is breathtaking. He intends to triple the funding of Title 1 for the neediest children. He proposes a national floor for per-pupil spending. He wants to reduce class sizes. He promises that the federal government will pay 50% of the cost of special education.

He promises to:

Significantly increase teacher pay by working with states to set a starting salary for teachers at no less than $60,000 tied to cost of living, years of service, and other qualifications; and allowing states to go beyond that floor based on geographic cost of living.

He also pledges to protect and expand collective bargaining rights and tenure.

He does not shy away from the charter industry.

He recommends a flat ban on for-profit charters. He endorses the NAACP resolution that calls for a new moratorium on new charters. He recognizes that charters are funded by billionaires and not in need of federal aid.

He says:

That means halting the use of public funds to underwrite new charter schools.

We do not need two schools systems; we need to invest in our public schools system.

This is a powerful program that addresses the three critical issues of our time.

First, the need for adequate and equitable funding.

Second, the need to restore teacher professionalization.

Third, the need to reject privatization.

What will

the other candidates do? Senator Sanders has challenged them to match his boldness. Will they?

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, For-Profit, Funding, Privatization

NYC: Join Me to Celebrate “Class Size Matters” On June 19

By dianeravitch
May 18, 2019 //
2

 

If you live in or near New York City, this is the one event you cannot miss. You will meet heroes of the Resistance. The dinner on June 19 is a joyous occasion where great people who care passionately about better education for all children meet, drink, and dine, o behalf of Class Size Matters, the organization founded by Leonie Haimson to fight for smaller classes, higher funding, Student Privacy, and less emphasis on testing.

The honorees are super. Tish James, The recently elected Attorney General of the State of New York, is a champion of public schools. She is also a key figure in demanding public accountability from the Trump Administration, drug manufacturers, and many others.

The event will also honor NYC Kids PAC, an organization that truly puts the interests of children first (unlike others who tried to co-opt the title).

Here is the information you need to order tickets.

Save the date! On Wednesday June 19 we will hold our annual Skinny award dinner at Casa La Femme on 140 Charles St. The honorees will be Attorney General Tish James for her steadfast and courageous leadership in supporting public school students and parents over many years; and NYC Kids PAC, the only political action committee that rates candidates on their positions on public education. Please reserve your ticket now — for a delicious three course dinner with wine and great company besides!

Join me at the Skinny Awards!

Why the Skinny Awards? Because they are the opposite of the Broad Awards! At the Skinny Awards, people are honored for supporting public schools, not privatization. And unlike the Broad Awards, the honorees get a plastic engraved doodad, not a six-figure check.

Categories Broad Foundation, Class Size Matters Org, Education Reform

Jackie Goldberg: Why I Love This Woman!

By dianeravitch
May 18, 2019 //
11

 

Capital & Main interviewed Jackie Goldberg about her views, her vision, her hopes for the future. My heart sang and my brain hummed as I read her inspiring words.  

Reading Jackie’s words was like eating comfort food. I kept saying to myself, “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

Read the interview and you will see what I mean.

Jackie knows we are in the middle of a war to save public education. She knows that there is big money determined to kill it. She knows that the hope for the future of our democracy depends in having a well-funded public school system that provides genuine opportunity to all children.

And she is prepared to go to the mat, in Los Angeles and in Sacramento, to get the funding that public schools need and to get the financial accountability that charter schools need.

I am reminded of the first time I met Jackie. It was December 6, 2018. I had heard about her for years as an iconic figure but our paths had never crossed.

Over the past several years, the billionaires were buying seats on the LAUSD and things were looking bleak. I kept hearing about this dynamo Jackie Goldberg, the only one who could turn things around. She was the Cy Young pitcher in the bullpen, the one held in reserve until the ninth inning.

Last December, I went to Los Angeles to receive an award from a progressive group called LAANE (Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy), which fights for fair wages for low-income workers, environmental protection, and a stronger public sector.

Jackie was there. We agreed to talk after the dinner. We sat in a crowded bar and talked for over an hour. I felt like I was talking to my mirror image yet our life experiences were very different. It was a joyous conversation.

When I returned to LA in February, I spoke at a fundraiser for her. Once again I was impressed by her knowledge, her experience, her passion for education and for children and for justice.

You could count me as her biggest fan but given the 72% win she just racked up, I’m guessing that there are many others in Los Angeles who have known her much longer and who love Jackie as much as I do.

It should go without saying that she is a hero of public education.

Cy Young just came in from the bullpen. Things are definitely looking up.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Democracy, Education Reform, Equity, Funding, Honor Roll, Los Angeles, Love
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