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Recipe for Privatization of Public Education

By dianeravitch
November 4, 2012 //
6

A reader from Washington State sends this comment:

Here is a satirical “Recipe for How To Change The Nation’s Schools.” I am a 33 year classroom teaching veteran currently working on the campaign to stop the charter school initiative in WA state. It doesn’t look good as Bill Gates and friends spend $9 million on ads (we have no ads).

RECIPE for Taking over a Nation’s Public Schools

Ingredients:
• A Few Super Wealthy Families (that have never attended public schools)
• Powerful Religious Groups convinced that what is wrong with the nation is caused by public education.
• Lobbyists for Private Corporations Waiting To Cash In on Public Money.
• A Political System that allows legislation to be “bought” where campaign money is uncontrolled.
• The illusion that the Public School System is Broken (despite the fact that it has steadily gotten better over time according to the NAEP)
• A few convincing movies to create a negative version of public schools to sway public sentiment.
• A pretense at reform by mandating progress on test scores with unattainable, unsupported goals that ensure turmoil and failure. Tie funding to those scores so they become all consuming. Also, remember that testing is big business for our friends.
• Someone to Blame: Teacher Unions (this is an especially important ingredient since they are the only organization with enough influence to stop the process of taking over the public schools)

Directions:

Put all the ingredients together, stir well. When the time is right, buy legislation with millions and millions of dollars that puts into place the kind of privately controlled schools you really want. Also, do this in a way that further weakens neighborhood public schools by stealing their funding and resources.

Finally, sit back and enjoy you what you have created: A new version of Public Schools where teacher’s cannot unionize, where creationism can be taught as scientific truth with public funds, and where corporations can better control education of the public more to their liking while their friends cash in on the profits.

The frosting on the cake: Yes, it was a little expensive buying these ingredients, but now we have the public permanently financing our project!

 

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, For-Profit, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Privatization, Religion, Testing, Washington State

The GOP Destruction of Public Education in Michigan Continues

By dianeravitch
November 3, 2012 //
17

The people of Michigan have received the report of the “Oxford Foundation” on the future of education in that state.

The authors of the report have nothing to do with Oxford University or Britain.

They are not part of a foundation.

They are Republican operatives carrying out the wishes of Governor Rick Snyder to destroy public education in Michigan.

The ideas the report advances are Governor Snyder’s plan to make education “any place, any time, any where, any how, any which way but up or down.”

The basic plan is that anyone can supply education. It is not a public responsibility.

What we now call public education will disappear, if Rick Snyder and the “Oxford Foundation” has its way.

It’s into the free market, with spoils and riches for all!

Good education for those who can afford it.

Boot camps for the rest.

 

Categories ALEC, Corporate Reformers, For-Profit, Global Education Reform Movement (GERM), Michigan, Privatization, US Education

Why Washington State Should Vote No on 1240

By dianeravitch
November 2, 2012 //
5

This article explains succinctly why certain members of the billionaire boys club have decided that Washington State absolutely positively must have charter schools. Their recipe for school reform: the free market. And why not? The free market works for them. Will they put their own children (or in the case of the Bezos family, grandchildren) in charter schools? Don’t be silly.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Parent trigger, Privatization, Unions, Walton Foundation, Washington State

Shadowy Group Funds Idaho Luna Laws

By dianeravitch
November 2, 2012 //
3

A group called Education Voters of Idaho refused to disclose its donors until required to do so by a court order.

The biggest donor is a businessman who is an investor in K12, the online charter corporation ($250,000); the second biggest donor is Mayor Michael Bloomberg ($200,000).

EVI promotes the anti-union, anti-teacher, privatizing policies of state superintendent Tom Luna. Supporters of public education are seeking to repeal the Luna laws, which are deceptively called “Students Come First.” The phrase echoes Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst and Joel Klein’s Children’s First.

Luna has received heavy funding from technology corporations, and his laws mandate the purchase of a laptop computer for every student, and every student must take two online courses for graduation. They eliminate tenure and seniority. They require that student test scores count for 50% of every educator’s evaluation, including district superintendents, principals and teachers. All educators will have a one or two year contract. They initiate bonus pay based on test scores for all educators. Teachers will not get a written explanation if the principal decides to fire them.

A sample of one of the laws:

School districts no longer have to prove a financial emergency before reducing teacher numbers. School boards can reduce teacher numbers at their discretion but cannot consider seniority when deciding who to eliminate.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, Idaho, Luna, Tom, On-Line Education, Privatization, Teacher Evaluations, Teacher Tenure, Technology, Computers, Testing, Unions

Who Is Thriving in the New World of New Orleans?

By dianeravitch
November 1, 2012 //
5

Into my mailbox came this link, which suggests there are some mighty big winners in the new education world of New Orleans.

Read it and gasp.

Advocates say that New Orleans is a national model. The documents here raise questions about who benefits from the avalanche of money poured into the city’s new way of doing business.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, For-Profit, New Orleans, Privatization

Will the East Coast Learn from the Gulf Coast?

By dianeravitch
October 31, 2012 //
10

Thomas J. Adams, on the faculty of Tulane University, has a startling and funny column at Huffington Post about what the East Coast can learn from the Gulf Coast.

Now, New York, New Jersey, and other states have had their own version of Hurricane Katrina. Ours is Sandy.

Adams says we can do what New Orleans did:

The absolute first thing you have to do is fire all your public school teachers. Just fire them. We all know education is broken in this country and that teachers are to blame. So why not take this opportunity to do what you helped us do back in 2005? It might create a bit of confusion when the power gets turned back on and the debris gets removed, but that’s a small price to pay for our children’s future. Besides, if there’s a shortage of teachers we can help with that the same way you helped us. We certainly have a surfeit of energetic recent college graduates who we’ll happily send up there to fix your ailing schools. They may have no experience and most peer-reviewed education research concludes they’re not as effective as your former teachers, but they bring energy to the classroom! Sure, they may only stay for a year or two, but their M.B.A. and law school applications will be so much stronger because of it and they’ll make quality education a national issue.

Then he says, what follows easily is complete privatization and new opportunities:

After you get rid of your teachers it will be that much easier to turn control of your schools over to a variety of non- and for-profit groups. Don’t worry, you need not be concerned about whether these schools are effective or not, whether they cherry pick students, cook their test scores, get rid of education professionals in favor of computers, what kinds of salaries their board members are taking in, etc. As you’ve told us many times on countless of your leading editorial pages, this is the model for education reform in the country. In fact if you’re as lucky as us, this will lead you down an easy road to a voucher system in the next few years. Educational equality will come shortly thereafter, I promise.

While the privatization fever is raging, next to go is public housing, then free clinics.

Read it and remember that Arne Duncan said that Hurricane Katrina was the best thing ever to happen to education in New Orleans. I’m waiting to hear if he says the same about Hurricane Sandy.

Categories Charter Schools, For-Profit, New Orleans, Privatization, Unions, Vouchers

Michelle Rhee Shows Her True Colors

By dianeravitch
October 31, 2012 //
38

Michelle Rhee is endorsing and funding rightwing candidates across the nation, showering cash on those who are opposed to teachers’ rights and unions and support privatization of public education.

In Ohio, she is using her StudentsFirst millions–collected from anonymous billionaires, millionaires and corporations–to support opponents of public education.

An Ohio blogger writes:

Now, here in Ohio, Michelle Rhee’s true colors simply cannot be ignored.  Rhee has chosen to fund multiple candidates in Ohio who are running for the Ohio House this year, citing their individual votes to support the Kasich budget that cut public education funding by $1.8 billion as a reason for StudentsFirst’s support.  Let me restate that: StudentsFirst supports these candidates because they supported Kasich’s budget that cut $1.8 billion from school funding.
PlunderBund (http://s.tt/1rpCF)

Of all her endorsements in Ohio, the most disgusting is that Rhee is supporting a candidate with no education experience running against Maureen Reedy, an experienced and admired teacher. The two are candidates for an open seat in the 29th district.

Maureen Reedy was a teacher for 29 years. Rhee claims to “love” effective teachers. Maureen Reedy was Ohio’s Teacher of the Year in 2002. But Michelle Rhee is supporting her Republican opponent.

Maureen Reedy has pledged to expose the frauds that allow profiteers to waste millions of taxpayers’ dollars in Ohio. She has pledged to support public education in the state legislature. And that is why Rhee opposes Maureen Reedy.

This election tells us who Michelle Rhee is. She supports far-right Republicans, not Democrats. She supports those who voted to defund public education. She supports those who advocate for privatization of public education and who benefit from ineffective, for-profit schools. She does not support effective teachers. She opposes effective teachers.

Forget what she calls herself.

Judge her by her actions.

She is a rightwing Republican who hates public education and those who support it.

Want to know why Rhee opposes Maureen Reedy? Here is an excerpt from an article Reedy wrote for the Columbus Dispatch:

Charter schools are a poor investment of Ohio’s education dollars and have a worse track record than public schools in our state; there are twice as many failing charter schools as successful ones, and one in two charter schools is either in academic emergency or academic watch, compared with only one in 11 traditional public-school buildings. Five of seven of Ohio’s largest electronic-charter-school districts’ graduation rates are lower than the state’s worst public-school system’s graduation rate, and six of seven of the electronic charter schools districts are rated less than effective.

And finally, the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow has failed in every identified state category for eight years, a worse track record than the Cleveland City School system, which is under threat of being shut down by the state. The Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow is run by unlicensed administrators. Lager, in addition to his $3 million salary, earned an additional $12 million funneled through his software company, which sells products to his charter-school corporation. Just how much does the average teacher in the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow earn you may ask? Approximately $34,000 per year.

Categories Budget Cuts, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, Ohio, Privatization, Rhee, Michelle, StudentsFirst, Vouchers

The Pennsylvania Cyber Gold Rush

By dianeravitch
October 31, 2012 //
1

Pennsylvania has 16 full-time cyber charter schools. Of the twelve that have been around long enough to report on test scores, only one made AYP this year. Last year, two made AYP. Eight are in corrective action status. None has ever been closed. The other four were authorized earlier this year.

Last summer, the offices of the state’s largest cyber charter school was raided by the FBI, which apparently had many questions about where the money is going in an enterprise that collects more than $100 million every year. The board of that school fired its top staff but the investigation continues.

A review of the cyber charters by CREDO at Stanford University concluded that they get terrible results: their students have low scores, low graduation rates, and high attrition rates. A spokesperson for CREDO said: “whatever cyberschools are doing in PA is definitely not working and should not be replicated.”

But the cyber charters just keep growing, as they spend more and more money to recruit students and more and more money to lobby legislators.

So what does the future hold for cyber charters in Pennsylvania in light of evidence that cyber charters get poor education results and need greater oversight?

Eight more cyber charter schools just applied to the state for authorization.

The state auditor complained that the cyber charters overbill the state.

But aside from his report, has the governor or legislative leaders or the state commissioner of education expressed concern about the growth of the state’s lowest performing education sector?

Are you kidding? This is not about improving education. It’s not about “the kids.” This is the edu-business.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Reform, For-Profit, Pennsylvania, Privatization

Missouri Public Schools Under Siege

By dianeravitch
October 30, 2012 //
4

Citizens in Missouri have awakened to the rapid advance of the privatization movement. They have formed an organization called Missouri Public School Advocates to awaken the public and push back against the privatizers.

Missouri Public School Advocates
A Strong Voice for Missouri Public Schools

Calling All Public School Supporters!

The Public Schools are under siege throughout this country.

In Missouri, serious efforts by the State General Assembly to dismantle quality Public School programs date back to the implementation of term limits in 2002 and the large scale change in the membership of that body in 2004.

Learn more about what we do here.

The effort to downsize government and greatly reduce the available resources to fund the Public Schools and the effort to privatize the delivery of education services and erode the strength of the Public Schools is coming from right wing intellectual think tanks, wealthy corporations and individuals, and state legislators who either genuinely believe that the Public Schools are failing or see the delivery of education as a golden opportunity to secure government funding for private enterprise.

Because of these efforts, State Support for the Public Schools is at a low ebb.

Now a group of Distinguished Educators have said, “Enough is enough”. We have formed a non-profit organization entitled MISSOURI PUBLIC SCHOOL ADVOCATES to unite Public School Supporters throughout the State and make a difference.

We want your help to Stop State efforts to reduce Public School funding and to Stop State action to subsidize private education entrepreneurs. JOIN THE MISSOURI PUBLIC SCHOOL ADVOCATES AND LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD.

Missouri Public School Statistics

>In 2010, 8 out of 10 Missouri Public School Districts reduced their number of classroom teachers. There are now 2500 fewer teachers for Missouri kids.

>For the current school year, the State Foundation Formula is $420 million dollars below its statutorily required level.

>Missouri now ranks 46th out of 50 states in average salary for Public School teachers and is more than $10000. per teacher below the national average.

>With regard to State Support of total Public School funding, Missouri is even worse ranking 47th. Missouri pays only 30.6 per cent of K-12 funding while the national average for State Support is 45.5 per cent.

>And in 2011, Missouri sank to 47th in per pupil funding for State Colleges and Universities. The average rate of tuition for Missouri’s four year institutions of higher learning has nearly doubled over the last decade.

How Do I Join Missouri Public School Advocates?

Go to the Missouri Public School Advocates (MPSA) website at mopublic
schooladvocates.org and click on Membership Button. Our current roster of MPSA members is listed online.

Memberships start at just $10.00!

When you become a member of MPSA, you will:

>Ensure that the Public Schools have a strong voice speaking out on their behalf,
>Unite Public School supporters throughout Missouri under an inclusive umbrella, which will provide real policital clout,
>Support candidates for the Missouri General Assembly who are truly Public Education Supporters.

About MPSA
MPSA is completely non-partisan. We are open to anyone who is a supporter of the Public Schools.

We believe the Public School is the Institution that has done the most to make our country great.

This Institution has provided an opportunity for every child to acquire an education and to become a productive and self-supporting human being.

For all inquiries or other communication, please contact us at the information below.

Contact Information
Address:
14373 Conway Meadows Ct. E.
Chesterfield, MO 63017
Email: Gary Sharpe, President
info@mopublic
schooladvocates.org
Phone: 573-230-3388

Please send all correspondance to Gary Sharpe at 14373 Conway Meadows Court E., Chesterfield, Missouri 63017 or info@mopublicschooladvocates.org. Thank you.

Categories Budget Cuts, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, For-Profit, Privatization

Charter Sponsor Is Very Successful

By dianeravitch
October 29, 2012 //
6

Vavan Gureghian runs a successful charter school called the Chester Community Charter School. The school is nonprofit, but Mr. Gureghian supplies its good and services through his for-profit company and collects millions of dollars as a management fee. Meanwhile the local Chester Upland public schools–whose funds pay for the students in the charter school–is in bankruptcy and under the control of a Governor-appointed “chief recovery officer.” Poor Chester Upland has been controlled by the state for most of the past decade,  yet gets blamed for the fiscal insolvency that the state has deepened and may now use as an excuse to eliminate its public schools.

The following is copied from the newsletter of the Keystone State Education Coalition, which sends out a daily newsletter with news from Pennsylvania:

“Vahan Gureghian was Governor Corbett’s largest individual campaign donor at $384,000.  His Charter School Management Company runs the Chester Community Charter School, Pennsylvania’s largest brick and mortar charter.  Chester is one of Pennsylvania’s poorest urban school districts. 

Does the $28.9 million noted below represent taxpayer funds that were NOT spent in the classrooms of Chester Upland?  We don’t know, because Mr. Gureghian has been fighting a Right-to-Know request for the past several years.  A controversial provision that would have exempted him from the Right-to-Know law was removed from SB1115, the charter school bill that was defeated last Wednesday.

http://homesoftherich.net/2012/01/pennsylvania-couple-building-20000-square-foot-palm-beach-mansion/”

Please open the link, here too.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, For-Profit, Pennsylvania, Poverty, Privatization
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