Archives for category: Georgia
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Georgia Charter Referendum Passes Easily

By dianeravitch
November 7, 2012 //
3

Voters in Georgia passed an amendment to the state constitution enabling the governor to set up a commission to approve charter schools over the objection of local school boards.

The margin of victory was 58-42.

This is an ALEC-inspired model law, meant to strip away the powers of local school boards.

It had major financial support from Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst, Alice Walton of the Walmart fortune, a member of the Gap family, charter school operators, and other supporters of privatization.

Critics fear that charters will restore racial segregation.

One certain result is that public schools’ budgets will be cut to pay for charter schools of uncertain quality across the state.

Chalk up a big win for the rightwing privatizers.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, Georgia, Privatization, Rhee, Michelle, StudentsFirst, Walton Foundation

Georgia Charter Amendment Likely to Pass

By dianeravitch
November 6, 2012 //
11

With half the vote counted, Georgia voters are likely to pass an amendment to the state constitution re charters. The governor will be able to create a commission to approve charters, giving charters a way to bypass local school boards.

Since the governor is a strong advocate of charters, his commission will likely be a rubber stamp for charter proposals.

This idea to gut local control is an ALEC priority.

Since all money for charters is deducted from public schools, the latter can anticipate layoffs and budget cuts.

Categories ALEC, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Georgia, Privatization

Is This Legal Graft?

By dianeravitch
November 6, 2012 //
11

Motoko Rich of the New York Times has written a good article about the Georgia charter referendum.

We already knew that big donors from out of state funded the pro-charter vote. What I learned from this article was that charter corporations also funded the Yes vote.

She writes:

“The roster of contributors in Georgia includes several companies that manage charter schools, including K12 Inc., Charter Schools USA and National Heritage Academies. In all, committees supporting the ballot measure have collected 15 times as much as groups opposing the measure, according to public filings.”

The charter corporations listed here operate for profit.

Somehow this seems unethical. Isn’t it like a payoff or a sort of legal graft to buy support for a measure that benefits the corporation?

Yes, I understand that it happens all the time. I understand that tobacco companies and oil companies spend money to win public support and contracts. I’m not naive.

But I never imagined that for-profit charter corporations would give money to candidates and ballot questions to get contracts. If the referendum passes, they make money.

It just smells bad. It stinks.

It’s not about education. It’s about greed.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, For-Profit, Georgia, K12 Inc., On-Line Education, Privatization, Segregation , Racial Isolation and Integration

Help! Someone Collect All the Elections that Privatizers Are Buying

By dianeravitch
November 6, 2012 //
18

I keep seeing articles about elections influenced by out-of-state and out-of-district contributions.

Sometimes, as in Los Altos, California, and in New Orleans, the elections are for local school board.

Sometimes, as in Louisiana, the election is for state school board.

Sometimes, as in Indiana and Idaho, the election is for state superintendent.

Sometimes, the election is a ballot initiative, as in Georgia, which is voting on whether to give the Governor the authority to create a commission to authorize charter schools even if the local school board objects; and in Washington State, where a referendum would create one of the nation’s most expansive charter laws; or in Michigan, where money is pouring in to oppose an initiative to make collective bargaining a right.

In school district after school district, state after state, PAC money is being bundled to promote candidates and issues with the same agenda: anti-union, anti-teacher, anti-public education, pro-privatization.

Some of the names are familiar: Bill Gates (in Washington), Michael Bloomberg (in Louisiana), Alice Walton (in Georgia and Washington), Joel Klein (in New Orleans), the DeVos family (American Federation for Children) in Michigan, Eli Broad (in Louisiana), Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst (in Michigan and in many districts). Much of the spending is targeted by Democrats for EducationReform (DFER), the Wall Street hedge fund managers group.

This cannot be sheer coincidence. In most places, the amount of money coming from outside is unprecedented. In Louisiana, the spending on a state board race was a multiple of 12 times what was previously spent.

To the naked eye, this seems to be a concerted effort to orchestrate a privatization of public education.

Big money undermining local control, democracy, and public education.

Categories California, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Klein, Joel, Louisiana, Luna, Tom, Michigan, New Orleans, Privatization

America’s Largest Charter Chain Is…?

By dianeravitch
November 1, 2012 //
25

No, it is not KIPP. It is the Gulen charters, a group of nearly 150 charters located in many states and loosely affiliated or “inspired by” a reclusive Turkish cleric, Fethullah Gulen. Mr. Gulen lives in seclusion in the Poconos but leads a major political movement in Turkey.

The Gulen charters often specialize in math and science. They have a board of directors composed of Turkish men. Some though not all of their teachers are Turkish. They have names like Harmony, Magnolia, Horizon, and Sonoran. Check here for a full list.

To find out more about the Gulen schools, check this website.

To learn about the Gulen movement, read this.

To read about Gulen schools in Texas and lucrative deals for Turkish construction firms, read here

To read about Gulen schools that were audited in Georgia, read here

To read about a Gulen school and its treatment of autistic students in Minneapolis, read here..

Categories Charter Schools, Georgia, Minnesota, Privatization, Special Education, Testing

Are Georgia Public Schools for Sale?

By dianeravitch
October 29, 2012 //
5

Billionaires are dumping campaign cash into Georgia referendum on charters.

Georgia already has nearly 200 charters, but the governor of Georgia wants to enact an ALEC law that gives him the power to override local control and open charters wherever he (and his hand-picked commission) choose.

Nearly 80% of the funding for the ballot initiative has come from out of state sources.

Alice Walton of Arkansas has dropped $600,000 to increase the number of charters in Georgia.

Doris Fisher of San Francisco has added $250,000.

Plenty of money from the billionaires to increase privatization.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Reform, Georgia

Big Money to Buy School Boards

By dianeravitch
October 27, 2012 //
9

It’s happening in local school board races around the nation.

Out-of-state money is pouring in to capture seats on local school boards.

The money comes from billionaires like Michael Bloomberg and Reed Hastings, owner of Netflix, and Alice Walton of the Walmart family. They fund candidates who support privatization of public education. Their resources overwhelm local candidates.

The first high-profile race to attract big money was last year in Denver, when large amounts of money arrived from businessmen with no previous interest in school board races, targeted to defeat Emily Sirota, a Denver mom. Sirota threatened control by hard-line privatizers.

Earlier this year, millions of dollars were spent by out-of-state donors to hand control of the Louisiana state school board to Governor Jindal, so he could pursue his privatization plans.

In Washington State, the charter referendum is financed by a handful of billionaires, some local, like Bill Gates, some not, like Alice Walton of Arkansas.

In Georgia, the charter referendum is funded almost entirely by out-of-state donors like Walton of Arkansas.

Now in little Los Altos, California, out-of-state money is targeting a charter school critic with negative ads. The school board member had raised questions about a charter school serving some of the wealthiest residents of the district.

The privatization movement may not have a popular base, but it is adept at marshaling big money to buy support and elections. The only way to stop them is to build an informed public.

Categories California, Charter Schools, Colorado, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Georgia, Louisiana, Privatization

Who Is Paying for Charter Referendum in Georgia? UPDATE: Link Added!

By dianeravitch
October 21, 2012 //
2

An article in a Georgia newspaper identifies the money behind the charter referendum.

Remember that Governor Nathan Deal wants the power to create a state commission to approve charters even though the local school board turns them down. This is based on ALEC model legislation. It serves corporate interests while spurning local control.

The advocates raised almost half a million dollars as of September 1. Almost all of that money came from out of state donors. A big donor was Alice Walton of the Walmart family in Arkansas, who is also a big contributor to the charter campaign in Washington State.

At the same time, the opposition to the referendum had raised less than $90,000, and there were no big donors.

On this charter issue, big donors are swamping local democracy. We seem to be moving rapidly back to the age of the robber barons, only this time it’s the schools they want to buy, not the railroads or other basic industries (they have already outsourced most of them).

Categories ALEC, Charter Schools, Education Reform, Georgia, Walton Foundation, Washington State

Crucial Referendum in Georgia

By dianeravitch
October 18, 2012 //
1

In November, voters in Georgia will vote on an important referendum to amend their state constitution.

The goal of the amendment is to allow the government to appoint a commission that can impose charter schools in districts over the objection of local school boards. More than 90% of the money to support the referendum is pouring into Georgia from out of state contributors.

This proposal comes from ALEC, which is so eager to push privatization that it is ready to abandon local control. This is a clear sign that the ALEC agenda is a radical agenda, not a conservative one.

Conservatives are lining up to support local control, including John Barge, the State Superintendent of Education.

Categories ALEC, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Reform, For-Profit, Georgia, Privatization

Open Letter to Georgia Teachers

By dianeravitch
May 27, 2012 //
6

In my experience, if you want to find a sympathetic ear in the media for public education, find someone who has a relative who teaches. Jon Stewart never fell for the teacher-bashing mania because his mother was a teacher. I have been interviewed on several occasions by talk show hosts who confessed that their mother or father was a teacher. They know how hard teachers work, and they share my outrage at the negative treatment of teachers and public schools today.

Yesterday someone sent me an article by Dick Yarbrough, a columnist in Georgia, thanking teachers for making it through another year. I immediately sensed that he had teachers in the family. Towards the end of his article, he mentions that four members of his family are teachers. That’s why he can’t stomach the absurd claims by legislators that teachers represent a class of overpaid, lazy people who are ripping off the public. Addressing teachers, he writes:

“Your rewards for your efforts are unpaid furlough days, larger class sizes, no pay increases (but increased expenses) and a second-guessing public that seems to feel you should be able to stop all of society’s ills at the classroom door. And then there are the politicians who promote “school choice.” That “choice” doesn’t seem to include making public schools better but it does include making all the other choices more attractive.”

What a pleasure to discover this very supportive open letter to the hard-working teachers of Georgia.

Diane

Categories Georgia, Teachers and Teaching
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