Archives for category: Education Reform
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Arthur Camins: Mutual Obligation Makes Us Human

By dianeravitch
June 29, 2018 //
43

Arthur Camins recalls his father’s rise from poverty to the middle class, and his political evolution, reminds Camins about what matters most.

“Countless state, local, and national offices across the country are controlled by Republicans who care only about protecting the privileges of wealthy white folks. They will spare no expense nor let anything stand in their way- not the health or education of children, seniors or the disabled; not the fate of blameless children of immigrants; not the threat of annihilation from a nuclear war; not the steady erosion of the right of every citizen to vote; not even the sustainability of life itself on the planet. Nonetheless, Americans elected them. Americans need to vote to defeat them.

“The dangers are imminent. For the foreseeable future an electable progressive third party is a pipe dream. Unless and until the Democratic Party unambiguously regains the trust and loyalty of working people and does so explicitly across racial lines, there is no hope of reversing the tide of growing inequality, alarming erosion of democracy, and destruction the environment.

“The New Deal and to a lesser extent, the Great Society made social obligation through government action a normative value. However, the political failure to link racism with broader inequality sowed the seeds of an individualism that is defined by selfishness.

“My father’s Democratic Great Depression- and World War II-influenced generation is gone. The most recent chance to build cross-racial solidarity– the Great Recession– was squandered. However, that opportunity can yet be reclaimed.

“A WPA-like massive job creation project to rebuild roads, highways, bridges, develop clean energy, and fund scientific and medical research was never seriously considered– at least as a rallying point if not achievable legislation. Instead we got some private sector so-called shovel-ready projects.

“Federal action avoided complete disaster, but the nation got nothing on the bold unifying scale of Social Security to deal with dwindling retirement incomes or Medicare to address the unaffordability of health care. Universal guaranteed healthcare for all was never on the table–even as moral and economic principle. Instead we got limited, private insurance-based, high-deductible plans. For the vast majority of Americans with employer-provided health insurance, the Affordable Care Act was easily perceived, once again, as being for them, not all of us. Nothing is on the horizon to substantively address the unaffordability of housing.

“On education– another potential unifier– Democrats, instead of addressing burdensome property taxes, pushed taxpayer funded, privately governed charter schools and high-stakes tests, with a hefty measure of anti-union rhetoric.

“Whereas the New Deal wrought decades of allegiance to the Democratic Party, their response to the Great Recession ended in voter cynicism, a drop in voter turn-out among African Americans, and the election of a racist, wealth-protecting Republican.

“Disconnected from either the unions or social movements that catalyzed the New Deal or Great Society programs, my father ascribed progress to great men. Because FDR and LBJ responded with tangible actions, they won his allegiance. Those same forces and responsive Democratic men and women can win back the allegiance of a vast cross-section of Americans.

“In fact, it is when we bound in a web of mutual that we are most fulfilled and reach our greatest human potential.

“That is the winning Democratic platform.”

Categories Democracy, Education Reform

Steven Singer: To Shun Sarah Huckabee Sanders is to Show Respect for Her

By dianeravitch
June 29, 2018 //
76

Steven Singer explains a paradox: Shunning Sarah Huckabee Sanders is actually a sign of respect. He calls it “the height of respect.”

He writes:


Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders went to the Red Hen restaurant and was refused service because she works for the Trump administration.

But while many far right and mainstream media outlets are decrying the restaurateur’s decision as discourteous, they seem to have missed the point.

Discourteous?

It was exactly the opposite.

There was no greater way to show Sanders respect than to deny her service.

After all, she defended the Supreme Court’s recent ruling for a conservative baker’s right to refuse to make a cake for a gay couple’s wedding.

If Sanders thinks it’s a good thing for this baker to be able to deny service to someone because this potential customer’s lifestyle violates his moral convictions, then she should also support the owner of the Red Hen denying her service because her lifestyle violates the owner’s moral convictions.

And make no mistake – this isn’t a rebuke of Sanders. It’s a celebration.

Twice in the New Testament Jesus, himself, is quoted prescribing what has come to be called The Golden Rule.

In Matthew 7:12:

“Do to others what you want them to do to you. This is the meaning of the law of Moses and the teaching of the prophets.”

In Luke 6:31:

“Do to others what you would want them to do to you.”

Sanders and other Trump Republicans have done onto others in just this manner. Therefore, that is how they must also want to be treated.

Isn’t that exactly what the owner of the Red Hen did?

She knew Sanders was in favor of business owners refusing service based on their own personal religious convictions.

Sanders life violates the owner’s religious convictions.

Therefore, she should deny Sanders service.

Got that?

I actually tweeted exactly these sentiments right after the Red Hen honored Sanders by evicting her, doing to her what the baker did to two gay men in Colorado. Biblical.

Categories Education Reform

Charles Blow: Trump Remakes America with the Help of a Supine and Broken GOP

By dianeravitch
June 28, 2018 //
17

Another powerful column by Charles Blow of the New York Times. He has my proxy.

Donald Trump, a lying, bullying, womanizing autocrat-idolizer, is fundamentally transforming America in very real and lasting ways, in ways that have left decent people slack-jawed, enraged and exasperated.

He has overtaken and destroyed the structure of the Republican Party, unleashing its ugliest elements to chant his praise and stroke his ego like drunken apostates dancing around a golden calf.

He has attacked American institutions that seek truth and justice, like the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the press, because he wants to weaken America’s faith in truth and facts themselves.

He has shunned and denigrated America’s traditional allies and cozied up to America’s traditional enemies, in one of the most bewildering presidential postures the country may ever have seen.

And now, with the retirement of the Supreme Court moderate Anthony Kennedy, Trump will be able to solidify the court’s conservative majority for a generation.

Elections have consequences. Not voting has consequences. Falling for Russian propaganda has consequences. Voter suppression has consequences. Taking the absolutely ridiculous position that there would be little difference between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump has consequences.

The most lasting consequence is in the Supreme Court, which has lifetime appointments.

So now, if you are a woman, a minority, an immigrant, a person who is L.G.B.T., the rights you have acquired could be in jeopardy.

If you are just a decent person who believes in expanding equality, respecting choice and identity and civil rights, your vision of America is in jeopardy.

This is for the long game; this is for all the marbles.

Conservative strategic thinkers are not caught up in the moment’s outrages and absurdities. They are thinking in terms of generations and eras.

They know as well as I know that the demographic tide is moving against them and will soon wash away much of their power.

Therefore, their strategy is to slow that progress as much as possible, if not reverse it.

That is why there is so much energy to restrict immigration, both illegal and legal. That is why there is such a push for voter restrictions, suppression and disenfranchisement. That is why there was so little resistance to mass incarceration.

Conservatives want to arrest America’s development and send our country into regression. This is about the maintenance of their power long after they have lost the dominance of numbers.

The courts are an insurance policy in their strategy of impeding progress.

Conservatives want to reserve the right to use religion as a weapon, to control other people’s bodies and to judge some people as less worthy of full participation in the American experience because of whom they love, how they identify, where they are from or which God they worship.

They want to protect what they call “American culture,” which is more aptly described as white culture. No matter how advantage was gained, no matter how privilege was acquired, it is the province of the deniable, scrubbed clean of blood and tears. Present privilege, power and prestige must be preserved.

That is one reason that the court’s decisions on the Affordable Care Act were closely watched and in some ways controversial. At its core, Obamacare is about the interconnectedness of civil societies. It asked those with more to help support the health and well-being of those with less.

Categories Education Reform

North Carolina: Another Embezzlement Scandal at a Religious Voucher School

By dianeravitch
June 28, 2018 //
3

North Carolina gives out public money to private and religious schools with little or no oversight. Do not be surprised that some people take advantage of the open cash register and help themselves to taxpayers’ money that should have done to public schools.

This is what Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos hopes to see in every state.

In the latest case of embezzlement, the former headmaster of a Christian school was indicted on multiple counts of stealing $134,000 of public money.

“The former headmaster at Rutherfordton’s Trinity Christian School, Tiffany Walker, was indicted by a grand jury earlier this month on 137 counts of embezzlement and obtaining property by false pretenses while serving in her official capacity at the school…”

“According to press accounts, between July 2016 and December 2017 Walker wrote herself checks from the school’s bank account on a regular basis, totaling nearly $35,000. She also used school credit cards to make more than $100,000 in personal purchases.

“Trinity Christian is a private school in western North Carolina that has participated in the state’s publicly funded Opportunity Scholarship Program since its inception. Between 2014 and 2018, the school has taken in $327,178 worth of scholarships, also known as school vouchers, that low-income families have received from the state to use toward private school tuition.

“The school voucher program is promoted by advocates as a pathway toward improved academic achievement for poor students who are not succeeding in their local public schools. Vouchers enable some of these students to access private educational options; however, throughout its existence the program has faced criticism not only for lawmakers’ failure to ensure participating private schools employ high academic standards, but also the fact that there is little in the way of robust financial oversight for the millions of public dollars that are being funneled to privately managed schools.

“Because Trinity Christian does not receive at least $300,000 on an annual basis in voucher funds, the school is not legally obligated to file a financial review with the state agency tasked with overseeing the Opportunity Scholarship Program. The headmaster’s fraudulent activity was only discovered when the school was undergoing an optional reaccreditation review process and began gathering documentation for a financial audit, according to Trinity Christian’s board chairman, Grant Deviney…

“If the name Trinity Christian School rings a bell, that’s because it’s also the name of the state’s largest voucher school located in Fayetteville – and that school, too, has been in the news over the past year and a half.

“In a Wake County courthouse last summer, Trinity Christian’s (Fayetteville) athletic director and high school teacher Heath Vandevender pleaded guilty to embezzling nearly $400,000 in employee state tax withholdings over an eight year period while serving as payroll manager for the school.
Vandevender entered into a plea deal struck with the state that allowed him to serve three months in prison, pay a $45,000 fine and be placed under supervised probation for five years. He was also required to serve 100 hours of community service. Vandevender has already repaid the nearly $400,000 owed to the state that he embezzled.

“Following his plea deal, Vandevender continued to work and coach at Trinity Christian (which is run by his father, Dennis) while serving his jail sentence on the weekends as part of a work release option. The school is home to one of the state’s top high school basketball programs and has produced high profile players like Joey Baker, who recently decided to graduate early to join the Duke Blue Devils, and Dennis Smith Jr., who spent just one year playing for NC State University before joining the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks.

“Trinity Christian (Fayetteville) has received more than $2 million in school voucher funds since 2014 and continues to be the state’s top recipient of publicly-funded vouchers despite the revelation that public funds were embezzled by a school employee over nearly a decade. The flow of taxpayer dollars to the school has not stopped despite the fact that Vandevender, now a convicted felon who was responsible for the embezzlement, continues to teach and coach at the school. It’s not clear if he continues to manage payroll operations as well.

“Remarkably, Vandevender’s fraudulent activity was not uncovered by way of oversight mechanisms required by the Opportunity Scholarship Program. As the state determined Trinity Christian to be eligible to participate in the program in 2014 and then began sending millions of public dollars to the school through scholarships awarded to low-income families, Vandevender was nearing the end of an eight year period of embezzling hundreds of thousands of employee payroll tax dollars, which only came to light thanks to an investigation by the state’s Department of Revenue.

***

“North Carolina places few requirements on private voucher schools to account for how the taxpayer dollars they receive are used to educate students.

“While private voucher schools receiving more than $300,000 annually in taxpayer dollars must undergo a financial review that is then submitted to the state, that requirement only captures a very small percentage of the schools that currently receive public dollars. Last year only ten voucher schools out of more than 400 were subject to that requirement. And a financial review is not nearly as robust or revealing as a financial audit, which means fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars could still continue under the radar.

“This indicates that the overwhelming majority of private voucher schools are free to spend public funds as they choose, out of the public eye.”

Really, who cares how they spend the money? Who cares if it’s stolen or pays for the personal expenses of the headmaster or the coach?

If legislators don’t care and taxpayers don’t care, just keep shoveling the money out the door and forget about it.

Categories Accountability, Betsy DeVos, Education Reform, Fraud, North Carolina, Vouchers

Tweet by @JerseyJazzman

By dianeravitch
June 27, 2018 //
35

From @JerseyJazzman:

“This is exactly right. @DFER_News set the table for today, as did @FiftyCAN, @StudentsFirstNY, the charter industry, and a whole host of other “liberal” education “reformers.” Great job decimating the party you all claim to belong to, guys.”

Phonies.

Categories Education Reform

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy Is Retiring

By dianeravitch
June 27, 2018 //
79

The authoritarian anti-democratic Trump gets another seat on the Supreme Court.

Remind me again why the choice for president in 2016 didn’t matter?

Categories Education Reform

Public Sector Unions Respond to Janus Decision

By dianeravitch
June 27, 2018 //
22

Th U.S. Supreme Court released a decision today intended to cripple public sector unions by reducing their resources and members. Non-members who receive benefits negotiated by unions will no longer be required to pay agency fees. The decision benefits the Republican Party, since unions are part of the Democratic Party base.

Public sector unions respond here:

Contact:
Andrew Crook
o: 202-393-8637 | c: 607-280-6603
acrook@aft.org
Marianne von Nordeck
AFSCME
202-812-0091
Sara Lonardo
SEIU
202.730.7332
Staci Maiers
NEA
202-270-5333

WASHINGTON– The following statement was issued by leaders and members of AFSCME, AFT, NEA and SEIU following the decision by the United States Supreme Court to rule against working people and in favor of billionaire CEOs and corporate interests in Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, holding that requiring fair-share fees in the public sector violates the First Amendment of the Constitution.

MEDIA AVAILABILITY at Noon Eastern with public service union presidents and members to discuss the decision. RSVP to andrew@feldmanstrategies.com (link sends e-mail) for dial in information. Follow #UNION today.

As millions of American workers recommit to their unions and launch new organizing drives and as support for labor unions has risen to its highest level in years, it is shameful that the billionaire CEOs and corporate special interests behind this case have succeeded in manipulating the highest court in the land to do their bidding. This case was nothing more than a blatant political attack to further rig our economy and democracy against everyday Americans in favor of the wealthy and powerful.

Public service workers—teachers, social workers, firefighters, 911 operators—are more determined than ever to stick together in their unions. Unions remain the most effective vehicle for the power in numbers working people need to secure their rights and freedoms, and provide a pathway to the middle class. We will remain a strong and vibrant force for working people, and will continue fighting to sustain our families, improve our workplaces and to make our communities stronger regardless of the court’s ruling.

Today’s decision sends our economy in the wrong direction. But it is also a rallying point. We call on elected leaders and candidates to do everything in their power to make it easier to unite in unions and build more power for all working people.

Union leader and member responses:

“Unions will always be the most effective force and vehicle to propel working people into the middle class. Despite this unprecedented and nefarious political attack – designed to further rig the rules against working people — nothing changes the fact that America needs unions now more than ever. We are more resolved than ever to fight like hell to win for our members and the communities they care so much about. AFSCME members don’t do this work to get rich. They do it because it’s a calling — and for that service, they deserve respect. They deserve the same freedoms as the CEOs and billionaires who continue to rig the rules against everyone else. The American labor movement lives on, and we’re going to be there every day, fighting hard for all working people, our freedoms and for our country.” – Lee Saunders, President, AFSCME

“No court case, win or lose, could ever change how important my work and service is to me and the community I care about. My union gives me the strength, freedom and the tools I need to help people and to provide for my family. That’s why I’ll always stick with my coworkers, no matter what. We’re going to keep doing what we’ve been doing: organizing and talking to coworkers and community members, building power for working people.” – Stephen Mittons, AFSCME Council 31 member, Child Protection Investigator for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services

“Don’t count us out. While today the thirst for power trumped the aspirations and needs of communities and the people who serve them, workers are sticking with the union because unions are still the best vehicle working people have to get ahead.

“Strong unions create strong communities. We will continue fighting, caring, showing up and voting, to make possible what is impossible for individuals acting alone. The teacher walkouts this spring, with educators fighting for the funding children need, were an example of how we will continue to make that case—in the halls of statehouses and the court of public opinion, in our workplaces and communities, and at the ballot box in November—through organizing, activism and members recommitting to their union.

“This is a dark day in U.S. jurisprudence. Swung by a Trump-appointed justice with a long history of ruling for the wealthy and corporations over regular people, the Supreme Court overturned a 40-year unanimously decided precedent that has given teachers and firefighters, nurses and cops, a path to a better life for themselves and their communities.

“More than forty years ago, the court recognized that collective bargaining for teachers and other public sector workers benefits those workers, their employers and their communities. Union representation, if chosen by a majority, is the glue that holds us together. That wisdom has now been abandoned by the slimmest majority.

“The dissenting justices saw this case for what it really was—a warping and weaponizing of the First Amendment, absent any evidence or reason, to hurt working people. Not only was Abood well within the mainstream of First Amendment law, it has been affirmed six times and applied to other cases upholding bar fees for lawyers and student activity fees at public colleges.” -Randi Weingarten, President, AFT

“Regardless of the Supreme Court ruling, the teachers in our district will stick together to make sure we have a say in the future of our kids. We are a small union in a rural and conservative part of Ohio. But nearly all of the teachers in our district are full dues-paying members—because we know that teachers’ ability to create a safe learning environment for kids and make teaching a viable profession comes directly from being part of a strong union.” – Holly Kimpon, a high school biology and anatomy teacher, AFT member and president of the Genoa Area Education Association in Ohio

“Today’s radical decision by the Supreme Court is a blatant slap in the face for educators, nurses, firefighters, police officers and all public servants who make our communities strong and safe. We are living in a system that is rigged to benefit special interests and billionaires, all at the expense of working people. Those behind this case know that unions amplify workers’ voices and transform their words into powerful and collective action. Even though the Supreme Court sided with corporate CEOs and billionaires over working Americans, unions will continue to be the best vehicle on the path to the middle class.” – Lily Eskelsen García, President, National Education Association (NEA)

“Fine arts programs were being cut from my school and students were missing out on subjects like arts and music. My union negotiated with the district to bring back music so our students could have a well-rounded curriculum. When some school principals tried to renege on the agreement, as a union, we stepped up. Educators came together through our union and spoke out for what our kids need. Strong unions build strong schools and strong communities. We need unions now more than ever.” – Alex Price, band director and instrumental music teacher, Belmont High School and Wright Brothers Middle School in Dayton, Ohio

“This decision is yet another example of how billionaires rig the system against working people, but SEIU members won’t let the extremists behind this case divide us. We will stay united, help workers who are fighting to form unions, and call on our elected leaders to do everything in their power to make it easier for working people to join together in unions.” – Mary Kay Henry, President, SEIU

“My coworkers and I are not going to let this court decision stop us from sticking together in our union. We know that we are stronger together, and that matters when we are working to ensure our community is resilient when faced with disasters like earthquakes or floods. We won’t let any court case, billionaire, or propaganda campaign divide us.” – Sara Campos, Department of Human Services, SEIU Local 503 in Salem, Oregon

# # # #

Categories Education Reform

San Antonio: Charter Invasion Endangering Public Schools

By dianeravitch
June 27, 2018 //
7

This is a gripping account of the move to privatize large numbers of public schools in San Antonio. This is the work of the business community and a neoliberal Democratic establishment mayor, determined to turn public schools over to Out-of-state charter chains.

https://therivardreport.com/charter-takeovers-erode-san-antonios-public-school-system/

“While school privatization “reformers” are backed by big money donors and corporations, opponents include San Antonio’s Our Schools Coalition of community members, teachers, and parents, the Movement for Black Lives, the Network for Public Education, and the NAACP – the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization.

“It’s big corporate money versus civil rights organizations, community groups, and teachers. The choice could hardly be starker. That’s why charter advocates pretend this argument is about teachers’ contracts and unions that are scared of change: if they were to tell the public the truth, they’d lose the argument before it started.

“Who supports [Superintendent] Martinez’s plans for charter collaboration in SAISD? San Antonio Charter Moms, an advocacy group for charter expansion, and what is loosely referred to as “the business community.”

“Parents, teachers, students, community groups do not.

“In fact, in order to hand over Stewart Elementary to a New York-based charter company, Martinez and his board drowned out debate, community and teacher input, and consultation.

“Parents, community members, and teachers repeatedly called on Martinez and the board of trustees to consult and partner with them in deciding the future of their neighborhood school. Again and again their calls were ignored by the district leaders whose job is to serve them and act in their interests. Again and again district leaders refused to consider alternatives to plans which had been devised behind the scenes ​many months earlier. While the Stewart community was excluded at every turn, Democracy Prep was being courted by district leaders.

“Stewart teachers, parents, and students were effectively dismissed and denied the chance to escape the State’s “improvement required” rating by a district leadership unwilling even to make its contract with Democracy Prep conditional on the school’s failure to meet standards.

“But last week, preliminary STAAR scores indicated that Stewart Elementary could obtain a passing, or “met standard” rating from the state, SAISD Deputy Superintendent Pauline Dow said. While final STAAR results and the State’s accountability ratings won’t be released until August, those of us trained on the state calculators for school performance are certain Stewart Elementary will finally emerge from its “improvement required” status.

“Regardless, Democracy Prep is slated to take over Stewart on July 1.

“A campus that could be safe from state sanction is being dismembered and sold off, all but two of its teachers leaving rather than work for the charter company with high teacher turnover rates (34 percent across all campuses last year), low expectations for teacher qualifications (as few as 44 percent of teachers being certified), and regressive and punitive disciplinary practices (28 percent suspension rate). Many students have opted to leave, even under district pressure to remain, and the campus’s future remains uncertain.

“It could have been a different story, and now we have proof that our most underperforming campuses can turn themselves around without the “expertise” of outside charter companies.

“San Antonio’s public schools are far from perfect, and we should move boldly to transform them into the schools our children deserve. But handing them over to private, profit-seeking entities isn’t the way to proceed. Powerful forces are doing everything they can to cash in on the privatization of public education in this country. They are desperately working to shape a narrative which – if they succeed – will have you fighting the people you should be supporting, and supporting the people you should be fighting.”

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

Ken Bernstein: Where We Are Today as a Nation, My Personal View

By dianeravitch
June 27, 2018 //
60

Ken Bernstein is a teacher of government and history. In this post, he reflects on the current political situation.

Ken says our nation is in grave danger. He sees the daily degradation of our laws and our Constitution. He is worried.

I have noticed that in recent days, the media has warned that we must not react too strongly when the president makes extreme statements. Taking a stand against Trump’s racism and xenophobia merely encourages his base, they say. The media say that those of us who are outraged by his behavior and his language are causing divisions in the country.

The question is whether we should normalize Trump’s words and deeds.

If we do, we change the nature of the country. Should we ignore his assault on civil liberties and civil rights? Should we ignore Trump’s claim that white nationalists and avowed members of the KKK include “some very fine people”? Should we ignore his statement that the free press is “the enemy of the people” (a term attributed to Stalin)? Should we ignore his attacks on Muslims, Mexicans, Canadians, the EU, and anyone else he doesn’t like? Should we ignore his policy of separating parents and children at the border and putting children into cages, then blaming it on Democrats? Should we ignore his bullying of McCain, Warren, Sanders, and anyone else who dares to disagree with him? How can we?

Trump ridicules people daily, in tweets and rallies. But no one dare respond for fear of alienating his base. Let’s be clear: He is the source of today’s vicious and uncivil climate.

That’s a bridge too far. For me. And for Ken Bernstein.

Categories Education Reform

About the Supreme Court Decision and the Travel Ban

By dianeravitch
June 26, 2018 //
70

Listening to the news this morning, I heard Trump supporters cheering the Supreme Court Decision endorsing the (Muslim) Travel Ban. They said it protects our country. It supports national security.

As I recall, 15 of the 19 terrorists who participated in the atrocities of 9/11 were Saudis. Why isn’t Saudi Arabia on Trump’s list? Why isn’t Egypt on the list? Does it have anything to do with the locations of properties or investments of the Trump Organization?

Does anyone doubt that the sole intent of this ban was to make a symbolic gesture that is anti-Muslim? I thought Gorsuch was supposed to be the great defender of religious liberty? Guess not.

http://time.com/4629308/donald-trump-business-deals-world-map/

Categories Education Reform
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