Moody’s: Charter School Expansion Credit Negative for LAUSD BY KEELEY WEBSTER NOV 3, 2014 10:05pm Charter school giant KIPP School’s announcement that it would more than double its Los Angeles enrolment by 2020 is a credit negative for Los Angeles Unified School District, according to Moody’s Investors Service. To continue reading, log in, register or subscribe below.
Philadelphia was warned about its bond rating by Moody’s.
For many years, North Carolina had a national reputation as the most progressive state in the South. Its leaders worked across party lines to increase educational opportunity and improve the schools. Now, however, the Governor and the Legislature are in a race to the bottom. Teachers’ salaries are near the bottom of the nation. The exodus of experienced teachers is at a historic high. The legislature has funded charters and vouchers, in an effort to defund and harm public schools.
Matt Caggia, a social studies teacher in Wake County, describes this bizarre situation, in which the legislature puts corporations first and students last.
For a comprehensive summary of the damage done to public education in North Carolina by its elected officials, read this article by Duke University economist Helen Ladd and her husband Edward Fiske, former education editor of the Néw York Times.
Nevada is soon to vote on whether to tax big business to raise more money for public schools. The state’s public schools are among the worst funded systems in the nation. Big business is pulling out all the stops to kill the Initiative. They warn that it will kill the economy and jobs.
“There may be a good reason the elites of the Nevada business community are so vehemently campaigning against The Education Initiative.
“But it’s not what you think.
“There’s certainly a reason you’re seeing billboards, TV ads, mail pieces and spokespeople endlessly parroting the line that The Education Initiative is a “deeply flawed,” “job-killing” tax that will cost the state business.
“But what if it’s not the shortcomings of the tax that’s behind the anti-tax campaign?
“What if there’s another reason the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, the Nevada Resort Association, the Nevada Mining Association and their allies of convenience in organized labor fear and hate this tax?
“What if they hate it not because of its flaws (and there are a few) but because of its successes?
“The Nevada State Education Association actually succeeded in writing a tax that the corporate elite of Nevada tried and failed to stop in court.
“The teachers union had the unmitigated gall to succeed in gathering more than the required number of signatures in the various congressional districts of Nevada. And they went on to boldly champion the measure in the Legislature as lawmakers (especially Democrats) uncomfortably squirmed in their seats.
“And now, having survived court challenges, legislative indifference and a campaign of more than $2 million spent against it, the voters are about to have their say on Question 3.
“Could that be what Nevada’s corporate elite despises about The Education Initiative most of all?
“The Nevada Legislature was long ago captured by the commercial interests that run the state — first mining, then railroads, then gambling, land development and general business. The cumbersome, Balkanized legislative process makes it easy to kill bills, especially with a majority of friendly lawmakers from both parties on your side.
“The courts are a less certain prospect (after all, judges failed to stop the petition from going forward). But Nevada’s courts are generally quite friendly to business.
“The executive branch? Gov. Brian Sandoval — who now pledges an earnest effort to reform the state’s tax system in 2015, predicting success where his predecessors have failed — is not exactly an independent. He’s come out squarely against The Education Initiative from the start.
“But direct democracy? The people themselves? Well, that’s a frightening prospect for Nevada’s corporate elite, because the people are, at the very least, unpredictable.”
Imagine that! Business elites bought every elected official, but they haven’t figured out yet how to buy the public. Let’s see if all that advertising and TV manages to persuade the public to vote against the interests of their own children.
Eleven national civil rights groups issued a joint statement to President Obama and Secretary Duncan calling for an end to the regime of test-based accountability.
Their statement was reminiscent of a similar one objecting to Race to the Top in 2010. At that time, Secretary Duncan did his best to bury the groups’ objections.
The statement was signed by:
Advancement Project, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, National Opportunity to Learn (OTL) Campaign, National Urban League (NUL), NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF), National Council on Educating Black Children (NCEBC), National Indian Education Association (NIEA) and Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC).
Their statement includes recommendations to improve the needed supports and services for children.
Number one is “1. Appropriate and equitable resources that ensure opportunities to learn, respond to students’ needs, prioritize racial diversity and integration of schools, strengthen school system capacity, and meaningfully support improvement.”
Among the needed resources are:
“Qualified, certified, competent, racially and culturally diverse and committed teachers, principals, counselors, nurses, librarians, and other school support staff, with appropriate professional development opportunities, including cultural competency training, and support and incentives to work with students of greatest need; and
Social, emotional, nutritional, and health services”
They write:
“The current educational accountability system has become overly focused on narrow measures of success and, in some cases, has discouraged schools from providing a rich curriculum for all students focused on the 21st century skills they need to acquire. This particularly impacts under-resourced schools that disproportionately serve low-income students and students of color. In our highly inequitable system of education, accountability is not currently designed to ensure students will experience diverse and integrated classrooms with the necessary resources for learning and support for excellent teaching in all schools. It is time to end the advancement of policies and ideas that largely omit the critical supports and services necessary for children and families to access equal educational opportunity in diverse settings and to promote positive educational outcomes.”
Angie Sullivan is a teacher who regularly emails a long list of legislators, education advocates, journalists….and me. Here is her outraged commentary about Democrats who collect money from teachers and betray them and refuse to fund public schools. And her outrage at her own state union for supporting Democrats who don’t support public education. In many other states, the Democrats act no different from Republicans in their fealty to privatization and high-stakes testing. See New York and Connecticut as examples.
I think it is time for CCEA [Carson County Education Association] to pull away from NSEA, the state. This political endorsement process is very tragic. I have never seen such a mess and so many bad decisions on too many levels to even speak about here.
To me it was a simple year – no TEI [The Education Initiative] – no endorsement, no money. Doesn’t have to mean we are not friends – just have to focus on TEI.
That would mean NO to almost everyone except about 5 people.
So Oct 10th my union gave $10,000 to Justin Jones to keep the Nevada Senate Democratic? Surely we could NOT have given it to Justin based on his education voting record or actually doing anything productive for public schools.
If I thought the Nevada Senate Democrats would act like this:
I would be the yellow dog democrat Ive been my whole life. Straight ticket. But the abuse I have received over the last few years has opened my eyes to just how sick my party and union can be.
Justin is no good as an education candidate. The End.
I have begged and pleaded with my union and others to stop rewarding democrats and any others “because the other side is so much worse”.
What could be worse than ALEC legislation?
What could be worse than championing privatizing by charter?
What could be worse than loss in pay, benefits, and retirement?
What could be worse than threatening teachers like we are dogs?
What could be worse than no funds, no revenue, no plans to fund?
What could be worse than not supporting the TEI? In fact campaigning — by strategy — to do the opposite?
I’m supposed to be frightened by vouchers? Parent Trigger co-sponsored by Jones is worse than vouchers. Parents voting to kill their neighborhood schools?
Why do we insist on rewarding this bad behavior? In case Justin Jones wins, he does what to us next? Carry out his threats to “do something about evaluations”?
I have to put up with that.
What kind of favor does Jones deserve taking $10,000 from my union and $10,000 from Students First too? Both?
Who gave him this NSEA money? A committee who votes for endorsements as a clump? Murillo? Does Ruben get special favor from Justin Jones for himself?
Have we asked the members?
So Jones gets the money and to publish we love him . . . but the voter flyer excludes his name? So he got halfway endorsed? We gave him money but do not encourage anyone to vote for him. ok.
And what about all the candidates who we denied – because they wouldn’t be positive about TEI? What do they think when we give money now . . . to those with some mysterious perceived power?
CCEA needs to have more power and control over government relations in the south. The tail needs to stop wagging the dog and the dog needs to stop hiding in Carson City. And if a candidate from any party brings ALEC education reform or votes against us – we need to kick them out.
These education democrats like Justin Jones are not real – they need to be ousted from our endorsements. DFER (Democrats for Education Reform) are simply conservative democrats pushing a privatizing agenda on public schools. They are worse than a Republican — because they have infiltrated, bribed, and been bought privatizing reformers.
Proud to have a child in a charter – and trying to pass this as a democratic value?
Someone needs to get some backbone and stand up to these privatizing democratic bullies – because kids deserve advocacy – and a lot better endorsement system than this willy nilly NSEA parade – what a nightmare.
Nevada has one of the most underfunded and inequitably funded school systems in the nation. Nevada has a ballot measure, called “The Education Initiative,” or TEI, to raise money for the schools. Guess who is opposed to it?
“BIG BUSINESS FIGHTS NEVADA BALLOT INITIATIVE: Nevada businesses have poured more than $2 million into defeating an initiative on the November ballot that would tax businesses to raise an estimated $700 million a year for public education. The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and the Nevada Resort Association are among the biggest opponents of the initiative, called Question 3. The tax would apply to businesses with more than one million dollars in revenue each year and it would apply a 2 percent tax to a portion of the businesses’ revenue.
“- The Nevada AFL-CIO was initially a sponsor of Question 3 – but dropped its support. The union cited concerns that it could cost members their jobs and raise the cost of living in the state when it voted to not support the initiative [http://bit.ly/ZoNAFt ]. The Nevada State Education Association is the initiative’s other sponsor. NSEA – which collected nearly 150,000 signatures to put Question 3 on the ballot – argues that the funds can be used to reduce class sizes, purchase technology for the classroom and make other improvements to Nevada schools. Supporters had raised over $1 million to support Question 3 as of the most recent filing deadline, and total spending on both sides is expected to be significantly higher. More from the Star-Telegram: http://bit.ly/1vodMhi.”
The School Reform Commission of Philadelphia, controlled by the state, recently canceled the teachers’ contract to extract savings from the teachers’ benefits to plug a huge budget gap created by Governor Corbett’s $1 billion in cuts to education in the state. Corbett apparently hopes to privatize as many public schools as possible during his tenure. He likes to blame teachers for budget crises instead of his budget cuts. He is up for re-election in a few weeks. He should lose. He is a disaster for public education.
For Immediate Release
October 15, 2014
Contact:
Kate Childs Graham
202-615-2424
kchilds@aft.org http://www.aft.org
American Federation of Teachers Launches Political Ad Buy on Philly School Crisis
WASHINGTON— The American Federation of Teachers Committee on Political Education has launched an ad buy that tells the true story of the teachers’ contract in Philadelphia. The six-figure radio ad buy—which features Philadelphia educators Steve Flemming and Sharnae Wilson—started airing in the Philadelphia media market Oct. 14.
“You have to wonder why Gov. Corbett’s School Reform Commission is more determined to misrepresent contract negotiations as a pretext for imposing concessions than to work with the teachers and support staff in Philadelphia who have been the glue holding schools together,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten. “Gov. Corbett has been blaming and attacking them for months on end. Now, weeks before he is up for re-election, his School Reform Commission pulls this stunt. It’s unacceptable and voters won’t stand for it.”
“Something doesn’t add up,” said Philadelphia Federation of Teachers President Jerry Jordan. “We put $24 million in healthcare savings and $10 million in wage freezes on the table 14 months ago. The School Reform Commission refused the money and then stopped negotiating altogether in July. If they were serious about helping kids, they would work with us, not try to break us.”
Ad script
Steve: My name is Steve and I teach third grade. I absolutely love teaching.
Sharnae: My name is Sharnae. My passion has always been teaching.
Steve: The budget cuts are having a huge impact.
Sharnae: There are too many students in the classroom. We have to buy our own supplies.
Narrator: From old textbooks to outdated equipment to overcrowded classrooms, our Philadelphia teachers are up against many challenges … and yet they keep going.
Steve: We teach our hearts out every single day.
Sharnae: Hoping things will get better.
Narrator: Gov. Corbett cut $1 billion from Pennsylvania’s schools. Fourteen months ago, Philadelphia teachers put millions in healthcare savings on the table. But Gov. Corbett’s School Reform Commission refused to accept their offer. And now? The School Reform Commission is trying to pull the plug on our teachers’ contract. Choosing to spend money in the courtroom instead of the classroom.
Sharnae: The students are suffering.
Steve: Something must change.
Narrator: Send a message to Gov. Corbett and the SRC. Tell them to stand with our kids, our schools and our teachers. Vote Nov. 4.
Paid for by American Federation of Teachers Committee on Political Education. The American Federation of Teachers is responsible for the content of this ad.
Do you remember when the charter school idea was first circulated in 1988? Do you remember how the idea was sold in the 1990s? We were told that charters would save the taxpayers millions or billions because they would be lean and efficient: no central bureaucracy.
Surprise! Now charters are suing in Néw York and DC for the same funding as real public schools, you know, the ones that are required to accept English language learners, kids with disabilities, and unmotivated kids.
And guess who is siding with them to drain more money out of the public schools: the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights.
The bait? Charters will save money and get dramatic results for the neediest kids.
Says Greene::
“So here comes the switch. We pitched charter schools as more economical, more efficient, lower-cost alternatives. Now that we’ve got them up and running, we want more money. This is simply a continuation of the policy goal, adored and nurtured from corporate boardrooms to federal offices– the policy goal of shoving public schools aside and replacing them with charter schools. I don’t imagine that public schools will ever be completely done away with, because the charters will need some place to send the students that they refuse to educate, but those public schools will be stripped of resources and filled with the students that nobody wants.
“It is really one of the oldest business tricks in the book, used by everyone from John D. Rockefeller to Jeff Bezos– undercut your competition, and once you’ve bled them dry, boost your price as much as the market will bear. Charters just refine the technique by having federal and state government serve as the vampiric mechanism by which the competition is sucked dry.”
Earlier this year, Eva Moskowitz and the Wall Street hedge fund managers who support her NYC charter chain, Success Academy, thoroughly defeated Mayor Bill de Blasio. The mayor thought he could limit the expansion of her charters, even thought he could charge her rent for the use of public space, but her backers launched a $5 million negative advertising blitz against de Blasio.
Governor Cuomo, the recipient of nearly $1 million in campaign contributions from backers of Miskowitz’s charters, pledged his loyalty to her. The Néw York legislature quickly passed legislation guaranteeing her the right to expand, forbade the city from charging rent to charters, and required the city to pay the rent for private space for charter schools.
Here is the result, as reported in the Wall Street Journal and reposted by blogger Perdido Street.
“Lease documents show the city is paying almost $18,000 in rent for every student at the Success Academy that opened last month in Washington Heights, in the former Mother Cabrini High School.
…
“The Department of Education descriptions of the 10-year contracts, obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request, say the city will pay $39 a square foot in the coming three years for Success Academy Washington Heights and Success Academy Harlem Central; its analysis found a market range of $24 to $27 a square foot for comparable space. The rents will rise over time.”
“The rental fees come on top of $13,777 for every student that taxpayers provide to charters, which are publicly funded and independently operated.”
Says Perdido Street blogger:
“The city’s paying nearly $32,000 a student for Eva’s charters.
“That’s what Eva Moskowitz’s charter schools cost.”
Florida never ceases to amaze. In 2012, the voters overwhelmingly defeated a constitutional amendment to permit school vouchers, yet the Legislature keeps finding ingenious ways to siphon off public funds for vouchers.
Now, Julie Delegal writes, a local school board member–presumably elected to strengthen and support his district’s public schools–has come out strongly in opposition to the Florida School Boards Association’s lawsuit against private school vouchers.
What you need to know to understand this story is that former Governor Jeb Bush loves vouchers, and everyone on his team does what Jeb wants.
This is how her article begins. It is worth reading it all to see how the privatization movement is trying to starve public education and send money to unaccountable private schools:
Duval County School board member Jason Fischer is a nice young man. But in politics, I’ve learned, it’s the nice young men you have to watch. His most recent actions reveal that he’s a foot soldier in the war to destroy public education. And his bread may be getting buttered by lieutenants in the Jeb-Bush-brand, school privatization movement — the ones who are affiliated with his employer, Uretek Holdings. Fischer’s recent activities put him squarely in the camp that has been systematically destroying Florida’s public schools for more than a decade. As both governor and puppet-master, Bush has overseen the implementation of a punitive school-grades system and an overreaching teacher-accountability scheme. Meanwhile, the Bush camp has promoted privatization — and the funding choices that go with it – while the Legislature has been starving our public schools. Despite Gov. Rick Scott’s claims that he’s boosted spending for education, The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says that, in real dollars, per pupil spending in Florida public schools is still not up to pre-recessionary levels. Fischer has come out strongly against the lawsuit filed by the Florida School Boards Association, which questions the constitutionality of Florida’s private-school voucher program. He not only published a guest editorial in the Jacksonvlle Times Union, he also asked his fellow public school board members to pass a resolution condemning the suit. Voucher funding now drains state coffers by more than $300 million yearly. Duval Superintendent Nikolai Vitti is on record saying that privatization — voucher schools, charter schools, etc. — could siphon away up to $70 million from Duval next year. With support from the FEA, the NAACP, the League of Women Voters, the Florida PTA, and other education advocates, the FSBA is asking a Leon County judge to declare the tax credit voucher program unconstitutional on two grounds. Plaintiffs say that by permitting corporations to pay their taxes to the voucher program called “Step Up for Students,” instead of to the Florida treasury, the program creates a separate, shadow school system. The Florida Constitution, the suit points out, calls for a single, “high quality,” and “uniform” public school system. The Constitution also forbids aid to religious institutions, and the majority of schools funded by “Step Up” are religious schools. The response to the lawsuit from voucher supporters is, essentially, “You’re picking on poor children who need to have ‘choice,’ you big meanies.”
Is there hope for public education in Florida? Yes. Parents must organize and fight this attack on their public schools. School boards must be vigilant against privatization. Working together, they stopped the “parent trigger” twice in the Legislature. They have the power, and they can’t let down their guard for a minute. The privatization movement never rests, and neither should the defenders of public education.
