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Tell McDonald’s “NO” to McTeacher Nights

By dianeravitch
October 14, 2015 //
62

Stop marketing in schools. open this link to see all the links in the press release that follows.

Contact: ​​​​​​​​Embargoed for release:
Kara Kaufman, (617) 695-2525​​​​​​​
October 14, 2015
Josh Golin, (617) 896-9368
MEDIA RELEASE

3 million teachers to McDonald’s: We’re not lovin’ it

Adding to corporation’s woes, nation’s largest teachers union rejects McTeacher’s Nights, marketing in schools

BOSTON, MA –Today, the National Education Association (NEA) and more than 50 state and local teachers unions challenged McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook to end McTeacher’s Nights, the corporation’s most exploitative form of kid-targeted marketing.

The call, issued in a letter written and organized by Corporate Accountability International (CAI) and Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC), comes as McDonald’s struggles to climb out of seven consecutive quarters of nose-diving sales in the US and continues to lose families—its core customer base. The letter builds upon a growing movement of parents and health professionals who are demanding McDonald’s end its kid-targeted marketing, and an increasing number of institutions—most recently the Cleveland Clinic—that are severing ties with the corporation.

On McTeacher’s Nights, McDonald’s recruits teachers to “work” behind the counter and serve burgers, fries, and soda to their students and their students’ families. The corporation heavily brands the events, even going so far as to provide uniforms and branded shirts for teachers to wear behind counters. In return, McDonald’s donates only a small portion of the event’s proceeds. The events take advantage of cash-strapped schools and use teachers to sell junk food directly to their students in order to create brand loyalty.

At McDonald’s most recent shareholders’ meeting, the Chicago Teachers Union denounced the practice on behalf of teachers in the corporation’s own urban school district.

“It is wholly inappropriate for McDonald’s to exploit cash-strapped schools to market its junk food brand, while miring its workers in poverty, effectively hollowing out the tax base for our schools,” said Jesse Sharkey, vice president of the Chicago Teachers Union. “In Chicago we face potentially devastating cuts to our schools, yet one of the world’s richest corporations operating in our backyard is exploiting this situation by eroding the school food environment and our students’ health in the long-run.”

Not only are McTeacher’s Nights harmful for children’s health, they are also chronically poor fundraisers. Schools typically receive only 15 to 20 percent of the event’s proceeds, often amounting to only one to two dollars per student. According to research conducted by CCFC, of 25 schools that participated in McTeacher’s Night events, only five raised more than $1,000.

“Frankly, it’s disrespectful for a multi-billion dollar corporation such as McDonald’s to throw pennies at our schools while it uses our teachers to market its products,” said Melinda Dart, vice president of the California Federation of Teachers and president of the Jefferson Elementary Federation of Teachers. “At a time when we are working hard to help our youth adopt healthy habits, this corporation and its junk food simply have no place in our schools.”

In public statements, executives have waffled around the scope of McDonald’s marketing in schools. For instance, shortly after executives publicly denied putting Ronald McDonald in schools, McDonald’s USA President Mike Andres told investors on a December 2014 investor call that McDonald’s has to be “in the schools.” During that call, Andres also cited a presence in schools as part of the corporation’s “heritage.”

Despite executives’ statements, McDonald’s continues to market directly in schools by sponsoring McTeacher’s Nights and sending Ronald McDonald into schools under the guise of physical education and reading programming. It has also sold branded fast food in school cafeterias.

Today’s call was backed by authorities in the field of education, including Diane Ravitch, Ph.D., Research Professor of Education at New York University; Nancy Carlsson-Paige, Professor Emerita at the Graduate School of Education at Lesley University; and Kevin G. Welner, Professor and Director, National Education Policy Center, University of Colorado Boulder.

Michelle Obama and the USDA have announced new proposals to stop the practice of promoting junk food in schools. The American Academy of Pediatrics and four federal agencies have also recommended restricting junk food marketing to kids.

Since 2013, more than 360 McTeacher’s Night events have been documented in more than 30 states.
###

Institutions calling on McDonald’s to end McTeacher’s Night events include:

● National Education Association
● National Education Association Healthy Futures

● National Education Association state affiliates
○ California
○ Florida
○ Vermont

● National Education Association local affiliates
○ Los Angeles
○ Milwaukee

● American Federation of Teachers state affiliates

○ California
○ Georgia
○ Michigan
○ Missouri
○ Ohio
○ Oklahoma
○ Pennsylvania
○ Utah
○ Vermont
○ West Virginia

● American Federation of Teachers local affiliates

○ Albuquerque
○ Atlanta
○ Birmingham
○ Boston
○ Chicago
○ Houston
○ Los Angeles
○ Savannah

Additional quotes:

Melissa Cropper, President of the Ohio Federation of Teachers

“It’s shameful that McDonald’s is using the tragic underfunding of our public schools as a marketing opportunity. Teachers should never have to sacrifice their students’ health in order to earn a few extra resources for their classrooms. Through McTeacher’s Nights, McDonald’s is exploiting cash-strapped schools to hawk a junk food brand that is making children sick.”

Andy Ford, President of the Florida Education Association

“Teachers should never have to choose between funding their classrooms and teaching their students to grow into healthy adults. We are proud to stand with our teachers in promoting our students’ health, not the profits of a multi-billion dollar corporation.”

Eric C. Heins, President of the California Teachers Association

“As educators we care deeply about the well-being and safety of our students. The science on this issue is clear: junk food is not only bad for children’s health, but is one of the leading causes of diseases like obesity and Type 2 diabetes. That is why we urge McDonald’s to stop targeting our children.”

Richard Stutman, President of the Boston Teachers Union

“Though McDonald’s claims McTeacher’s Nights are about fundraising, the truth is they’re about marketing. While McDonald’s reaps the PR benefits, teachers are forced to compromise their values and students are tricked into associating McDonald’s food with healthy eating practices—something that couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Mark Noltner, Teacher and parent

“When my daughter came home from school and told me the teachers were wearing McDonald’s shirts to promote an upcoming McTeacher’s Night, I was outraged. It’s hard enough helping my daughter navigate the minefield of unhealthy marketing; the last thing she needs is her teachers hawking junk food. And as a teacher myself, it infuriates me that McDonald’s would manipulate the trust that teachers develop with their students.”

Josh Golin, Executive Director, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood

“Of all McDonald’s underhanded tactics to promote its brand to children, using teachers to lure elementary school students is the most unconscionable. Children are uniquely vulnerable to marketing, but when the pitchman for a product is their own teacher, they don’t stand a chance.”

Sriram Madhusoodanan, Director, Value [the] Meal campaign at Corporate Accountability International

“McTeacher’s Nights exploit budget shortfalls, co-opt and manipulate teachers and prey on children. Such a tactic lands McDonald’s squarely in the Hall of Shame, right next to its mentor, Big Tobacco. At a time when the public health community is decrying marketing in schools, this corporation shows it will stop at nothing to target our kids.”

Categories For-Profit

Journalists: Ask The Candidates These Questions

By dianeravitch
October 13, 2015 //
9

The Network for Public Education created a list of questions that journalists should ask the candidates. In this post on Salon.com, I explained NPE’s agenda to improve our public schools and to repel the corporate assault on them.

K-12 education issues, of huge importance to the future of our nation, were almost completely ignored in 2012. They should not be overlooked in 2016 because the very existence of public education is under attack. Billionaires hope to privatize urban districts, then move into the suburbs and elsewhere.

For those of us who believe that public education is a public responsibility, the time to become active is now.

We oppose the status quo of testing and privatization. We seek far better schools, equitable and well-resourced, where creativity and imagination are prized, not test scores. We seek equality of educational opportunity, not competition for scarce dollars.

Please join the Network for Public Education and help us build a new vision of education for each child.

Categories Charter Schools, Closing schools, Corporate Reform, Data and Data Mining, Education Industry, Education Reform, For-Profit, Politics, Privatization, Scandals Fraud and Hoaxes, School Choice, Standardized Testing, Vouchers

U.S. Department of Education Continues to Pay Billions to Predatory For-Profit Colleges

By dianeravitch
October 13, 2015 //
16

If you have read recently that the U.S. Department of Education cracked down on predatory for-profit colleges, don’t believe it.

Read this story in today’s New York Times.

When the Obama administration agreed to erase the federal loan debt of some former students at Corinthian Colleges, a for-profit school that filed for bankruptcy in the face of charges of widespread fraud, education officials promised to “protect students from abusive colleges and safeguard the interests of taxpayers.”

But the Education Department, despite a crackdown against what it calls “bad actors,” continues to hand over tens of millions of dollars every month to other for-profit schools that have been accused of predatory behavior, substandard practices or illegal activity by its own officials or state attorneys general across the country.

Consider the Education Management Corporation, which runs 110 schools in the United States for chefs, artists and other trades. It has been investigated or sued in recent years by prosecutors in at least 12 states. The Justice Department has accused the company of illegally using incentives to pay its recruiters. And last year, investors filed a class-action lawsuit, contending that the company engaged in deceptive enrollment practices and manipulated federal student loan and grant programs.

Education Management nonetheless received more than $1.25 billion in federal money over the last school year.

The career training and for-profit college industry has been accused in recent years of preying on the poor, veterans and minorities by charging exorbitant fees for degrees that mostly fail to deliver promised skills and jobs.

Despite stepped-up scrutiny, hundreds of schools that have failed regulatory standards or been accused of violating legal statutes are still hauling in billions of dollars of government funds. They include tiny beauty schools with staggering loan default rates and online law schools with dismal graduation records and no bar association accreditation. Without government funds, which account for the overwhelming bulk of revenue, few of these institutions could attract students or stay in business.

 

The for-profit higher education industry hired the best lobbyists from both parties, and this is the result. Government-funded fraud against students goes on. Business as usual.

Categories Education Industry, For-Profit, Higher Education, Scandals Fraud and Hoaxes

Bernie and Hillary on Charters

By dianeravitch
October 1, 2015 //
96

Charters kill unions. Ninety percent of charters are nonunion. Their sponsors want it that way..

Personally, I am completely opposed to for-profit charter schools. I think they are an abomination. I believe that every cent paid by taxpayers should be dedicated to the needs of children and their teachers, and not a single cent should be paid to investors.

https://dianeravitch.net/2015/07/12/bernie-sanders-on-education/

Q. What are your views on private school vouchers, tuition tax credits, and charter school accountability and transparency?

BS: I am strongly opposed to any voucher system that would re-direct public education dollars to private schools, including through the use of tax credits. In addition, I believe charter schools should be held to the same standards of transparency as public schools, and that these standards should also apply to the non-profit and for-profit entities that organize charter schools.

This is what was on her blog from our questionnaire for HRC:

https://dianeravitch.net/2015/07/12/hillary-clinton-on-education/
Q. What are your views on private school vouchers, tuition tax credits, and charter school
accountability and transparency?

HRC: I strongly oppose voucher schemes because they divert precious resources away from financially
strapped public schools to private schools that are not subject to the same accountability
standards or teacher quality standards. It would be harmful to our democracy if we dismantled
our public school system through vouchers, and there is no evidence that doing so would
improve outcomes for children.

Charters should be held to the same standards, and to the same level of accountability and
transparency to which traditional public schools are held. This includes the requirements of civil
rights laws. They can innovate and help improve educational practices. But I also believe that
we must go back to the original purpose of charter schools. Where charters are succeeding, we
should be doing more to ensure that their innovations can be widely disseminated throughout
our traditional public school system. Where they are failing, they should be closed.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, For-Profit, Politics

Laura Chapman: What Charters Do Best

By dianeravitch
October 1, 2015 //
90

People often wonder why hedge fund managers and entrepreneurs are so devoted to the proliferation of charter schools and so hostile to public schools. If you survey the research, it is clear that they get about the same results overall as public schools. There are some that get high scores, but they usually get them by cherry picking the most motivated and able students. Some are fly-by-night operations.

What’s the lure? I believe that some number of the 1% who love charters are motivated by a desire to do good. Others think the free-market of choice and competition will work wonders. Still others are motivated by profit. None are at all concerned that they are inflicting grievous harm on a basic public institution that is central to our democracy. Or they they are experimenting on other people’s children.

Laura H. Chapman reminds us of the power and allure of profits.

She writes:

In Forbes magazine, 2013, by Allison Wiggin.

“About the only thing charters do well is limit the influence of teachers’ unions. And fatten their investors’ portfolios.

In part, it’s the tax code that makes charter schools so lucrative: Under the federal “New Markets Tax Credit” program that became law toward the end of the Clinton presidency, firms that invest in charters and other projects located in “underserved” areas can collect a generous tax credit — up to 39% — to offset their costs.

So attractive is the math, according to a 2010 article by Juan Gonzalez in the New York Daily News, “that a lender who uses it can almost double his money in seven years.”

It’s not only wealthy Americans making a killing on charter schools. So are foreigners, under a program critics call “green card via red carpet.”

“Wealthy individuals from as far away as China, Nigeria, Russia and Australia are spending tens of millions of dollars to build classrooms, libraries, basketball courts and science labs for American charter schools,” says a 2012 Reuters report.

The formal name of the program is EB-5, and it’s not only for charter schools. Foreigners who pony up $1 million in a wide variety of development projects — or as little as $500,000 in “targeted employment areas” — are entitled to buy immigration visas for themselves and family members.

“In the past two decades,” Reuters reports, “much of the investment has gone into commercial real estate projects, like luxury hotels, ski resorts and even gas stations. Lately, however, enterprising brokers have seen a golden opportunity to match cash-starved charter schools with cash-flush foreigners in investment deals that benefit both.”

More at.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2013/09/10/charter-school-gravy-train-runs-express-to-fat-city/

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reform, Education Industry, For-Profit, Unions

California: Will Governor Brown Sign Bill to Ban For-Profit Charter Schools?

By dianeravitch
September 30, 2015 //
34

Governor Brown has until October 11 to sign or veto legislation that would ban for-profit charter schools in California. it is outrageous to squander taxpayer dollars on profits for investors and outrageous executive salaries. This bill should be a slam dunk for Governor Brown, a man with a keen sense of justice. Now I hope the legislature tightens oversight of nonprofit charter schools and reviews their executive salaries to be sure that they really are nonprofit. And while they are at it, they should ban charter schools in affluent communities, which violate the spirit if the charter movement, which wassupposedto help the neediest kids, not to enable rich parents to create a publicly-funded private school for their children.

Here is the legislation awaiting Governor Brown’s signature:

“For-profit charter schools: Charter schools run by for-profit corporations would not be allowed in California under the terms of AB 787, authored by Assemblyman Roger Hernández, D-West Covina, which passed the Legislature. Six for-profit charter schools operate in the state, and California Virtual Academies, managed by the for-profit K12 Inc., is the largest. The bill’s author noted that K12 paid its top six executives a total of nearly $11 million in 2011-12, while the average California Virtual Academies teacher’s salary was $36,150, about half of the average teacher pay in the state. The author raised the question of whether a for-profit corporation would try to limit services to students to increase profits.”

Categories California, Charter Schools, Education Industry, For-Profit

Georgia: Gov. Deal’s Phony Reform Will Damage Public Schools

By dianeravitch
September 30, 2015 //
9

Governor Nathan Deal likes to point out that both his parents taught school, but it’s not clear what kind of school they taught. Clearly he doesn’t like public schools. He has proposed legislation based on Tennessee’s failing “Achievement School District.”

Jack Hassard, a Professor Emeritus of Science Education at Georgia State University, explains that Governor Deal’s plan will set in motion “the infrastructure to tear Georgia’s public schools apart.”

The author of the plan was a young reformer with three years of teaching experience. Her name is Erin Haimes. She has now set up a consulting firm and is being paid to help districts figure out how to avoid the consequences of the law she wrote.

Hassard writes:

“Where does this path take public education in Georgia? It’s a path that is based on fear. It’s a path that is based on competition. It’s a path that is based on greed. It’s a path that is based on opinion and not knowledge.

“As others have said, the plan that will be voted on in the 2016 election, and will be supported by a group that Hames will lead, and will be targeted by organizations and families outside of Georgia who stand to make a financial killing in the state.”

Categories Charter Schools, For-Profit, Georgia, Scandals Fraud and Hoaxes

How Charter Operators Rip Off Taxpayers

By dianeravitch
September 29, 2015 //
8

This article explains the financial shenanigans of unscrupulous charter operators. Not every charter founder rips off taxpayers, but the public needs to know when charter schools are set up to benefit greedy investors, not children.

“Eileen Appelbaum, co-author of the important book Private Equity at Work, flagged an important article in Philly.com on how a secretive consulting firm that was previously investigated for corruption and a local law firm are engaged in complex, high cost bond deals to implement an asset stripping strategy that Appelbaum and her co-author Rosemary Batt have called out as a private equity enrichment scheme that impairs operating businesses. It’s bad enough to see this sort of thing take place in the dog-eat-dog world of Corporate America. It’s even worse to see it take place in charter schools, where the losers are students, by virtue of unjustifiably large portions of charter fees go to unproductive rental payments and financing fees, as opposed to education, and to taxpayers, who over time face inflated costs to fund profiteering masquerading as education.”

The article then refers to the scandalous real estate deal to finance a luxurious building for the String Theory charter school in Philadelphia.

“The nub of the looting strategy is the acquisition and leaseback of lavish buildings to house charter schools. Because charters are correctly perceived to be risky tenants, bond financings for these purchases are at junk bond rates, meaning high financing costs are heaped on top of what would already be unjustifiably high rental charges, by virtue of putting schools in educationally unproductive glamorous digs. And of course, in an environment where it’s business as usual to lard up bond deals that could be done on a plain-vanilla basis with far more complicated deals that lower interest rates a smidge in return for allowing consultants to charge hefty fees and the financiers to dump risks worth more than the cost savings on the hapless borrower through derivatives, the financial rent extraction can occur at an even greater scale on a high-cost financing.”

And this is a quote from a story at Philly.com:

“In 2007, Independence Charter School issued a bond for $18 million dollars with help from the PIDC for the purchase and renovation of the vacated Durham Elementary at 16th and Lombard streets. That school had been built in 1907 and maintained by the district with tax dollars for a century. Now, millions in debt and interest from Independence’s charter bonds are also being paid off with tax dollars.
In situations like these, [Rutgers professor Bruce Baker said, taxpayers are paying for the same buildings twice, while relinquishing public ownership of those properties.
“It’s not that anyone is doing anything ‘wrong,’ ” he said, “But rather that public policy permits a bad deal for the public — one that essentially gives away a public asset while charging transaction fees along the way.”

How long will this theft of public property be allowed to continue?

The cases cited in this article are not isolated. There are a growing number of charter schools that buy the property the school will use, using publicly-financed bonds, then pay rent to themselves, at exorbitant rents.

These practices have been perfected by for-profit charter corporations, but some faux-nonprofits do it too.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, For-Profit, Scandals Fraud and Hoaxes

New For-Profit Charter Chain Expanding, Buying Two Ohio Charter Chains

By dianeravitch
September 23, 2015 //
14

A new, for-profit charter chain named Pansophic is planning to take over charter chain schools in Ohio. The linked story was published in June, but there have been no follow-ups since then. Either the deal was completed or is pending.

Pansophic is a new company founded by Ron Packard, formerly of McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, and the online giant K12. As CEO of K12, Packard was paid $5 million yearly.

The company also expects to acquire charters run by for-profit Mosaica in Ohio. Pansophic will become the biggest for-profit charter chain in Ohio.

“Akron-based White Hat Management reportedly sold off management of 12 elementary charter schools Friday to an out-of-state, for-profit company that could acquire a third charter school company, an attorney for the charter schools’ public boards said.

“The two deals would make Pansophic Learning the largest for-profit operator of Ohio charter schools, which has become a taxpayer-funded $1 billion private industry.”

White Hat has produced poor academic results for 20 years.

Now, Ohio’s for-profit charter schools will be outsourced to a Virginia corporation that also focuses on the bottom line: profit.

Are these for-profit schools really public schools or are they profit centers that hoodwink parents to enroll their children?

This is what Ohio’s charter law says (thanks to reader Bethree):

“Opening paras of Ohio charter school law: “3314.01 (A) (1) A board of education may permit all or part of any of the schools under its control, upon request of a proposing person or group and provided the person or group meets the requirements of this chapter, to become a community school… (B) A community school created under this chapter is a public school, independent of any school district, and is part of the state’s program of education…”

Is a school owned by a for-profit corporation in Virginia still a “community” school? Is it a “public” school?

How much more of this flimflam will the voters and taxpayers of Ohio tolerate? Do they care about the education of their children?

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, For-Profit, K12 Inc., Ohio

Turner-Agassi Starts $1 Billion Fund for New Charters

By dianeravitch
September 23, 2015 //
38

It is alarming to see private capital and equity investors getting into the business of financing charter schools. And making a handsome profit. Of course, they would not invest unless the profit were there.

If you think the privatization of public education represents “positive social change,” this may be the fund for you.

Turner Capital, in partnership with tennis star (and high school dropout) Andre Agassi, predict returns of 12%. In these days of low interest rates, that is a handsome return.

“LOS ANGELES—Turner Impact Capital has launched the Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund II to invest up to $1 billion in charter school development nationwide. The fund plans to build 130 charter schools for best-in-class operators by 2020. This is an evolution in Turner’s social-impact investment model, which simultaneously produces investor returns—as much as 12%—while promoting and motivating positive social change.

“Bobby Turner, CEO of Turner Impact Capital, expects the fund to hit $400 million in commitments by late November 2015. The remaining $600 million of the $1 billion fund will be secured through construction debt. “We’ve already had our first closing with more than $150 million, and we expect to close out the fund by the end of November,” Turner tells GlobeSt.com. “We are also incredibly excited to announce that we have partnered with Merrill Lynch to offer up to $100 million of the fund to clients of their private banking platform. It is exciting for us because it is an opportunity to enable individual investors, not just institutional investors, and high net worth individuals to be a socially impactful investor.”

“In addition to Merrill Lynch, the investors in the fund include the University of Michigan endowment, the Texas Permanent School Fund and Citibank. The fund has a $5 million investment minimum and will focus on developing the facilities in dense and distressed neighborhoods nationwide. The schools will be net-leased to charter school operators. “We build environmentally friendly and learning-friendly educational facilities for best-in-class charter school operators,” says Turner. “In essence, we are a build-to-suit private equity fund with the caveat that we provide a bridge to ownership.”

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, For-Profit
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