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Good News! No Funding for Charter Schools in Kentucky!

By dianeravitch
April 6, 2018 //
10

 

This is a victory for parents, educators and other citizens who love public schools: The Kentucky Legislature passed a two-year budget that does not include funding for charter schools. 

The charter lobbyists are still working the halls, hoping to turn it around, but the clock is running out.

Two Louisville Republicans (where charters are likeliest to open) said they would not support funding charters if public school funding was cut. Public school funding was actually increased, but higher education and other government programs were cut.

Legislators understand that there is only one pot of money, and funding charters means less money for public schools. They may have paid attention to the failure of charters in their neighbor Tennessee, which have been divisive, expensive and ineffective.

 

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, Kentucky, Privatization

Kentucky: Legislators Break “No New Taxes” Pledge But Give Tax Cuts to Rich

By dianeravitch
April 5, 2018 //
4

 

This editorial in a Kentucky newspaper thanks teachers for breaking a legislative deadlock. There will be new taxes. There will be money for pensions. But watching the Republican Legislature jump through hoops to prove how conservative they are can make your head spin. There will be new cuts to education to fund tax breaks for the rich.

They have learned nothing.

”First some good news: Teachers were heard.

“Lawmakers knew that fired-up educators and pro-education Kentuckians, who filled the Capitol for weeks, were watching.

“That’s a big reason the Republicans who control the General Assembly abandoned some of Republican Gov. Matt Bevin’s and their own worst ideas for cutting public pensions and public spending.

”Instead, lawmakers chose — of all things — to raise taxes. Many had to break the pledge that they had signed to oppose all tax increases. They responded to the needs and demands of Kentuckians rather than answer to distant anti-government puppet masters. That’s refreshing and encouraging.

”Unfortunately (bad news starts here), rather than investing in educating Kentuckians and building 21st century infrastructure, Republican lawmakers gave away a big chunk of that new tax revenue in the form of tax cuts that will most benefit affluent individuals…

”As Jason Bailey of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy writes, “In an economy where most income growth is at the top and where corporations are experiencing record profits, a tax system that taxes them less while taxing low- and middle-income people more will result in slower revenue growth,”

“Republicans, who proudly say that once their tax plan becomes law Kentucky will be among the 10 states with the lowest income taxes, are devoted to the notion that low income taxes trigger economic growth. Time will tell.

“More likely, though, new budget crises are in Kentucky’s future — at which point lawmakers will have to take their pencils to the tax exemptions and economic incentives that drain billions from state coffers and that went largely unexamined in this session.”

The Kentucky Republicans don’t need to wait and see. They could just look at Kansas and Oklahoma as states where their ideas were tried and failed.

”Meanwhile, despite almost $250 million a year in net new revenue, Kentucky will still underfund education, even though it would have been worse under Bevin’s budget or the budget passed by the Senate.

“A decade-long disinvestment in higher education will continue. Kentucky has cut almost a quarter-billion dollars in state support for higher ed since 2008.

“On the up side, the state will continue to fund transportation and school employee health insurance at close to current levels. Bevin had proposed shifting much of the cost of running school buses onto local districts.

“But the budget makes many cuts in education, including preschool, textbooks and instructional resources, family resource and youth service centers, extended school services, teacher professional development.

“Lawmakers did the most important thing they could to solve the underfunding of public pensions: They fully funded public pensions. Rebuilding the once healthy pension funds will take decades, but the only way to do it is one year at a time.”

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/opinion/editorials/article207865339.html#storylink=cpy

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories Funding, Kentucky, Pensions

Wave of Wildcat Teachers’ Strikes in Kentucky and Oklahoma

By dianeravitch
April 2, 2018 //
19

Wave of Teachers’ Strikes: Kentucky and Oklahoma — Interviews Available [On Twitter]

  Currently in Oklahoma, Elk is the senior labor reporter at Payday Report and just wrote the piece “Wave of teachers’ wildcat strikes spreads to Oklahoma and Kentucky” for the Guardian.
He writes: “On Friday, teachers in Kentucky went out on illegal wildcat strikes in more than 25 counties against the wishes of union leaders to protest against draconian changes to the state’s … pension plans. …

“While Oklahoma has the country’s lowest tax on oil and natural gas production, teachers’ salaries remain stubbornly low, at 49th in the nation.

“The strikers have been buoyed by a successful strike by their peers in West Virginia, their first statewide work stoppage since 1990, which ended with them winning a 5 percent pay rise and other concessions.”
TAMMY BERLIN, (502) 797-2638, tammy.berlin@jcta.org
Berlin is vice president of the the Jefferson County Teachers Association in Kentucky. She said today: “We thought we killed this ‘reform’ bill twice and then they attached some of it to a sewage bill, appropriately enough. They passed it in record time from committee to both houses. That was done illegally, they didn’t have the required actuarial analysis — so there will be legal changes. Today is the last day of the session and they’re trying to pass a budget. We want them to fund education by closing loopholes. There’s a strong push to give money to charter schools even though they don’t have the funding for that. … We don’t want a regressive tax. Teachers will be meeting in Louisville beginning Wednesday.”

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 421-6858, (202) 347-0020; David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

April 2, 2018

Institute for Public Accuracy
980 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org

Categories Kentucky, Oklahoma, Resistance, Teachers

Kentucky: Teachers Walk Out in Response to Legislators’ Attack on Pensions

By dianeravitch
March 30, 2018 //
17

Teachers in many districts in Kentucky closed down public schools in response to the Republican attack on their pensions. 

Schools in eight Kentucky school districts were closed Friday as teachers across the state protested Republican changes to their pension system, CBS News reports.

In Lexington and Louisville — the state’s two largest school districts — hundreds of teachers took sick days or refused to show up for work after state lawmakers passed a bill changing the structure of pension benefits for future teachers.

The strike may be hard for reformers and the libertarians in the GOP to understand: the teachers in Kentucky are not striking for themselves but for their profession.

This wildcat strike follows weeks of protest by teachers to the Legislature and the Governor.

CNN says that the legislature pulled a bait-and-switch, dropping the original bill against which teachers were protesting and putting the changes into a bill about sewage services. Was that a direct insult to teachers?

The action in Kentucky follows the wildcat strike in West Virginia and precedes the likely walkout in Oklahoma, scheduled for Monday April 2. Teachers in Oklahoma demand higher pay (pay in Oklahoma is at or near the worst in the nation despite a booming energy industry in the state that gets huge tax breaks).

These strikes and walkouts are happening in states where unions are not strong. In fact, Kentucky,  West Virginia, and Oklahoma are “right to work” states.

Note to reformers: If the Janus decision goes against the unions, you will still have to contend with the power of organized teachers. No matter what law is passed, teachers who are underpaid and disrespected have the power to walk out. There are not enough TFA scabs in the nation to replace them all.

No teachers, no schools.

Categories Education Reform, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Pensions, Teachers, Unions, West Virginia

Kentucky: Network for Public Education. action Endorses Gay Adelmann for State Senate!

By dianeravitch
March 11, 2018 //
0

 

The Network for Public Education Action Fund enthusiastically endorses Gay Adelmann for State Senate in District 36 in Kentucky. 

Gay is an activist for public schools and against privatization and looting of the public domain.

“She is the co-founder/president of Dear JCPS, a stakeholder advocacy group in Jefferson County, and the co-founder/president of Save Our Schools KY, a statewide public education advocacy group. Her body of work as an advocate should be all the evidence voters need to believe her campaign promise to “fight to end corruption and protect public schools, healthcare, pensions, and workers’ rights.”

“The citizens of Kentucky are becoming highly aware of the threats to public education, posed by charter schools and voucher legislation, and Gay has been at the forefront of that awakening. She understands that basing a teacher’s evaluation on test scores “leads to high turnover, gaming of the system and demoralizing of some of our hardest working teachers who are truly called to serve.”

“She told us that “the idea that the money should follow the child is one of the greatest fallacies of this entire movement. As a taxpayer, I do not want my tax dollars to be used to pay for a child’s charter school or private school education. I want them to remain in my community schools for the schools to determine the best ways to utilize those funds to serve all students in our community.”

“Gay is also keenly aware that Kentucky is facing a budget and pension crisis, and that the Governor is looking to solve that crisis “on the backs of teachers and students.”

“No one is better prepared to tackle the current threats to public education in Kentucky than Gay. Please do everything you can to support her in the primary election on May 22nd.”

Categories Kentucky, Networkfor Public Education Action Fund

Louisville: Takeover by Secretive Group of the Elite?

By dianeravitch
February 10, 2018 //
8

 

Parents and education activists in Louisville are very upset about a quiet coup taking place behind closed door. A group of about 80 of the city’s business leaders has been meeting to decide how to solve the city’s problems, and one of them is the public schools. Needless to say, they do not trust democracy and are looking to the Republican leadership in the state to take over. The elitists are called LA SCALA, “the Steering Committee for Action on Louisville’s Agenda.” Others call them the Louminati, a reference to the Illuminati, a secretive group of power brokers.

Here is a summary:

Comedy, Tragedy at La SCALA
…behind the curtain of powerbrokers’ group

By Chris Kolb 

La Scala theater in Milan was founded by the Empress Maria Theresa and paid for by 90 wealthy Italians in exchange for luxurious boxes where they could enjoy the world’s finest artistic performances, including comic and tragic operas.

There is much about Louisville’s own SCALA that is comic. For instance, David Jones — Elder and Younger — and 70 of the most wealthy people in town have been brainstorming for months about how to solve all our problems. Here’s what they came up with: a Wal-Mart in West Louisville, more direct flights to the coasts and giving our barely functioning state government control over our schools.

In a city with over 100 homicides in 2017, more than 6,000 homeless children in public schools, and horrible air quality — to name a few bleak realities — what really makes Elder Jones see red is low-income citizens coming together to ask Wal-Mart to make a few minor changes to its proposed store design. I suspect Jones isn’t really upset about Wal-Mart but about normal people taking collective action to challenge corporate power. Imagine the hit to the pocketbook he might take if we all came together to fight for quality, affordable healthcare. Elder Jones also brought together Louisville’s self-professed powerbrokers to address the humanitarian crisis of the layovers he has to endure when flying to California wine country for the weekend. Satire really does write itself sometimes.

And then we come to education, which is where comic blends into tragic. Like Macbeth spurred on by his wife who is willing to throw all of Scotland into chaos in the naked pursuit of power, Younger Jones — spurred on by his father — is willing to throw our public schools and our children’s lives into the roiling tempest that is Kentucky state government. This is the same government that is unlikely to even pass a budget, has no current House Speaker due to a sex scandal, and has a governor so blinded by hatred of public schools that he tries to change the laws of mathematics to challenge the fiscal qualifications of the democratically-elected School Board. There’s a reason we continue to perform classics such as Macbeth: We remain plagued by a power-hungry nobility who will sacrifice the common good in seeking to rule over us plebeians.

Returning to comedy, Jones the Younger’s logic for a state takeover of JCPS is reminiscent of Sigmund Freud’s case of the man accused of damaging a kettle he borrowed from his neighbor. The man gives three reasons he is not responsible for the damage: He returned the kettle undamaged; it was already damaged when he borrowed it; and he had never borrowed the kettle at all. By completely contradicting each other the three reasons reveal the truth: It was indeed the neighbor who damaged the kettle.

Likewise, Younger Jones first says that academic achievement is largely determined by where you live, how much money your parents make and your race. I’m not optimistic that this state government is going to end segregation, poverty and institutional racism in Louisville if it takes over JCPS.

Second, Jones says that SCALA members are concerned about education from a workforce perspective. Is the real issue that corporate heads want more worker bees to generate additional wealth for them to capture (while wages remain stagnant)?

Third, Jones says the real problem is that state laws make it difficult for school boards to govern. I’ve been on the School Board for 13 months and, while there are always bureaucratic annoyances in any organization, we’ve been able to make significant progress in that short time. This includes cleaning up the many messes left by the Jones-Hargens-Hudson trio.

Like the neighbor who gave contradictory reasons for the damaged kettle, Younger Jones accidentally reveals the truth in blaming everything but himself: Jones found JCPS ungovernable because Jones himself is very bad at governing. We shouldn’t really be surprised. Many among the wealthy are used to making colossal messes, refusing to accept responsibility, and leaving the clean up to others. The ancient Greeks gave us a word for this level of arrogance so astounding it offends the gods themselves: hubris.

Thankfully, my colleagues and I have made tremendous strides to clean up the mess. Though much work remains, we will soon be able to turn our full attention to ensuring that every child has access to innovative, meaningful, challenging, and rewarding learning and professional experiences no matter their zip code, race, gender or native country. Anytime Louisville’s nobility wants to actually assist JCPS, I’d be happy to help them find ways to do so. Of course, first they’d have to invite at least one public education professional to a secret SCALA meeting, which doesn’t look like it’s happening anytime soon. •

Chris Kolb represents District 2 on the Jefferson County Public Schools Board of Education and is a professor of anthropology and urban studies at Spalding University. He may be reached at: chris@kolbforschoolboard.com

The article is followed by one defending LA SCALA as a perfectly appropriate exercise of civic duty.

It’s important to appreciate how SCALA began — not in some diabolical, smoke-filled vault as our critics would suggest, but with PNC Bank President Chuck Denny and Humana cofounder David Jones, Sr. seeing the need for such a group here in Louisville. They began the process of forming SCALA by hosting a group of 12 business and religious leaders in March 2017 and asking them if they believed such a group should exist in Louisville. The response was unanimous, and the 12 attendees were tasked with informally nominating other potential members who were either CEOs or the lead decision maker within their organizations.

The organizational meeting of the larger group was held in April 2017 and the committee members were charged with listing what they personally believed are the top issues facing Louisville needing to be addressed, with the top responses being education, public safety, improved and increased non-stop commercial air service, pension reform, and tax reform. Subcommittees were formed, and members were invited to participate in various subcommittees or simply participate in the broader committee by learning more about the critical issues impacting our community.

Here is the bottom line: If the purpose of LA SCALA is to eliminate democratic control of public schools, then it deserves all the opprobrium directed its way. If it instead opposes privatization and lobbies the Legislature for greater resources and stronger public schools, then it is a civic boon. The decision belongs to LA SCALA. Stand with democracy or against it. Your choice.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, Kentucky, Louisville, Privatization

Kentucky: A Fabulous Strategy to Replace Legislators Hostile to Public Schools

By dianeravitch
February 2, 2018 //
6

 

I have always said that the three groups best equipped to fight corporate reform were students, parents, and retired educators. Given the amazing success of Pastors for Texas Children in blocking vouchers, I must add a fourth category. These are people who cannot be accused of having an ulterior motive. They are free to speak out and act.

Kentucky activists, mainly retired educators, are fielding candidates to challenge legislators who harm public schools. Forward Kentucky has the story.

“One of the striking stories of the 2018 elections in Kentucky is how many educators and former educators are running, and how many other candidates listed public schools and education as a prime reason for their entering the race. How did this happen?

“In this post, Gay Adelmann of Save Our Schools KY (and a ForwardKY contributor) describes her own work, and the work of others, to be sure that incumbents who voted against public education had a pro-public-school challenger. Many groups were involved, but kudos to Gay and the other people in this story for lining up a large number of educators to run.

::[Gay Adelman writes]:

“Last November, Lucy Waterbury, myself, and Bob Wagoner and Tim Abrams with Kentucky Retired Teachers Association met to discuss ways that we could work together to support public education. We lamented the fact that many well-intended legislators don’t fully understand the unintended consequences poorly planned legislation can have on our public schools. We also discussed how many of these legislators have not set foot in a public school in a decade or more, and often their own children attend private schools. The only way to understand and write meaningful legislation that will positively impact public education outcomes is to have lived it. So we said, “Who better than retired teachers to run for office? They’re retired, so they have time on their hands. Plus they’ve lived the experience.”

“During the conversation, we talked about the fact that most educators are female. In addition, because women outlive men in general, most retired teachers are females. It’s somewhere in the 90% range.

“Wouldn’t it be great if we could get retired teachers to run for office? We looked at each other and said, “We need a few good women!” And it stuck. The idea of A Few Good Women Kentucky was born.

“In December, Lucy and I returned to speak at the KRTA monthly event. We encouraged them to help us identify retired superintendents, principals, and well-known teachers who were willing to step up.

“In the meantime, David Allen, formerly of KEA, was doing some more work in his circles. He reached out to multiple teachers and educators he knew, encouraging them to run. He started posting messages on social media and in Kentucky Teachers in the Know, a closed group on Facebook. Once we learned of his efforts, we tag-teamed to support his efforts through marketing, data, and cross-promotion, educating people about the importance of getting educators to run. We also made an effort to minimize duplication, so that we would not have multiple candidates filing against each other.

“We also connected with the Kentucky Initiative, attended local party meetings, followed up on leads, and reached out to anyone we thought would make a good candidate.

“Our target list was different than the target list of other groups. We specifically wanted to make sure that anyone who voted against public education and 2017 did not run unopposed in 2018. Party was not as important as their understanding of the threats to public education. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t some overlap.

“A Few Good Women KY worked with other members of Save Our Schools KY, KDP, the Kentucky Initiative, NKP, and Indivisible District 4, and sent feelers out to other groups as well. We would hear of someone considering it and tag team to help them understand the importance of filing, and offer to help them connect with groups and services to support their campaigns, since this was going to obviously be a year of grassroots campaigns. In the debut episode of Women on Watch, Joni Jenkins referred to it as a $200 insurance policy. Having a challenger keeps legislators on their toes and prevents them from voting on or introducing bills the remainder of the session without having to answer for it in November.

“In addition to recruiting current or retired educators, we also identified those with a track record of being outspoken champions for public education: School board members, grassroots activists, and public school parents.

“In fact, I realized my own senator did not have a public education champion running against her. And, she showed she was susceptible to being swayed by Koch rhetoric when she voted for charter schools, despite the warning of many of her constituents (myself included). So, I decided if I was going to talk the talk, I needed to walk the walk, and I filed to run for State Senate.

“It’s more important than ever to provide voters with assistance in navigating through the corruption and hidden agendas. A Few Good Women KY will offer tools to educate voters on how to spot and avoid Koch candidates, as well as literature for candidates to take with them when they canvas their neighborhoods. And, we will showcase candidates who have a proven track record in favor of public schools. We want to make it as clear-cut as possible for voters. We don’t have any money, so we have to work harder AND smarter at getting the word out.”

Money matters, but dedication, enthusiasm, and knowledge can beat the Koch Brothers.

Go for it, Kentucky!

You inspire us all!

Categories Education Reform, Kentucky

Kentucky: Koch Brothers Send in Their Shill to Push for Privatization

By dianeravitch
November 27, 2017 //
15

Gay Adelmann, co-founder of Save Our Schools Kentucky, reports that the Koch Brothers have landed. They are not welcome.

Gay wrote this article that was published in the Louisville Courier-Journal. Families in Jefferson County (Louisville) want the state legislature to stop messing with their public schools. Many of the meddling legislators are associated with ALEC, the far-right group that doesn’t believe in local control or democracy. Please read her article.

In addition, she sent out this letter warning about the unwanted arrival of the field operation of the Koch Brothers. She hopes they leave town soon, and empty-handed.

She writes:

“Hello friends,

“I hope you had a wonderful holiday. I wanted to give you the latest news from Kentucky.

“The expression goes, “If you want to hide something, the best place is plain sight.” Well, the Koch operatives have gotten so comfortable hiding in plain sight in Kentucky, they’re starting to get a little sloppy. In fact, they sent a rookie in to start up a new “independent, non-partisan, privately funded research organization” and he’s been playing a little too fast and loose with the “research.”

“From making an outrageous claim earlier this year about gang violence being behind the increase in murders in Louisville (in order to push some agenda, I’m sure),

http://wfpl.org/gangs-are-behind-louisvilles-growing-homicides-study-says/

“to this unbelievable piece blaming universities for the opioid crisis and babies out of wedlock (more Koch agendas at play).

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/opinion/contributors/2017/09/19/universities-opioid-crisis-jordan-harris/677901001/

“Wait, what? And the media gives this guy a platform? Yeah, sadly.

“This admitted “millennial-is-just-a-marketing-ploy” executive director of Pegasus Institute was featured on a painful podcast encounter with one of his critics following his gang violence piece. This led to this insightful follow-up assessment from said critic via a blog on Medium.

View at Medium.com

“But he escaped my radar until this past week, when he made the mistake of going after the local school board for the largest district in the state. He claimed a state takeover was the “last best hope” for the urban district that serves 101,000 of some of the state’s highest poverty (and therefore lowest performing) students. Who is this guy? How did he become such an expert on Louisville, or pedagogy for that matter? Is he even aware that in just the past year or so, our community put pro-public education board members in place, and just 6 months ago, that board removed an ineffective superintendent? Our work is just getting started! And since these same greedy carpetbaggers are also currently going after our teachers’ pensions, local control over our student assignment plans – and ramming a shiny new charter school law down our throats – some of us weren’t having it!

“Connecting the Koch dots is easy when you’ve got Koch Institute in your bio and Art Laffer on your advisory board, as this guy does! To help expose these Koch fiends to the rest of our community, I wrote the following opinion piece, which appeared in today’s Sunday paper.

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/opinion/contributors/2017/11/25/dear-jcps-school-takeover-opinion/889979001/

“I am reminded of another expression my uncle shared with me at the start of my career in financial services 25 years ago. He said, “Remember: Pigs get fat. Hogs get slaughtered.” Folks, the hogs have arrived, and they’re running amok. It’s time we sharpen some knives, turn up the heat on the grill, and send them the message they are not welcome in Kentucky.

“Thanks,

“Gay

Categories Education Industry, Kentucky, Koch Brothers, Privatization

Kentucky: Legislators Push Charter Schools While Undermining Racial Integration

By dianeravitch
September 27, 2017 //
11

Kentucky is a Republican state with both houses in the hands of the Republican party and a Republican governor. The Republicans are doing their best to undermine public schools. They were late in passing charter legislation, and they passed it only recently. Now the legislature is intent on undoing the racial integration of public schools in Jefferson County (Louisville).

Gay Adelmann, co-founder of Save Our Schools Kentucky, attended a recent legislative session and reported back on the discussion, which had nothing to do with improving public schools and everything to do with implementing the privatization agenda of ALEC.

The Republican legislators blame busing for all the ills of public schools. They think that ending busing will bring a new day to Kentucky. Obviously, none of them has ever read any research on the benefits of racial integration to both white and black students.

After listening to them fulminate about “those children,” she offered her own suggestions:


Faulty arguments repeated the theme: “Imagine what you could do if you ended busing.”

No, imagine what we could do if you:

Fully funded our schools.

Ended high-stakes testing.

Placed students’ interests above adults.

Protected our public schools from corporate threats.

Asked us how you can help!

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, Kentucky, Privatization, Segregation , Racial Isolation and Integration

Texas Pastors to Kentucky Pastors: Join Us in the Fight Against Racism and Vouchers

By dianeravitch
September 18, 2017 //
55

Those of us who believe in the importance and necessity of a much improved public education system are fortunate to have the support of pastors who understand the importance of separation of church and state. They also understand that the state will in time put its heavy hand on the affairs of the church if the church becomes dependent on the state. And they know too that a church that needs public subsidy lacks the support of its own congregants.

The leader in this grassroots fight against privatization of public schools is Pastors for Texas Children. It has helped Oklahomans organize Pastors for Oklahoma Kids. It is now working with faith-based groups in Arizona and Arkansas to ward off the attack against public schools. The leader of Pastors for Texas Children, Charles Foster Johnson, will speak at the convention of the Network for Public Education in Oakland from October 14-15. Please come to hear about the important work that is happening at the community level.

In this post, Reverend George Mason explained at a meeting in Simmons, Kentucky, why pastors must join together to protect the rights of African-American children. Rev. Mason is senior pastor of the Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas.

Racism is not the root of all problems of public education in America, but the problem of racism is rooted in public education in America. It should be the mission of the church of Jesus Christ to call it out and root it out.

Public education is under assault in this country. And whom do you think suffers most when it does?

Racism has always prevented black Americans and other people of color from fully grasping the promise of prosperity our country says is dangling just within reach of every child who studies and works hard. Black American children have never had equal access to quality education, and yet they have been blamed for not achieving anyway.

The heroic efforts of people who founded schools like Simmons are to be lauded. The example of successful black Americans who had to work twice as hard as people like me to get where they are today is remarkable. But neither is any excuse for our complacency. Cherry-picking African Americans to praise so we have moral license to condemn many others who haven’t, because of unjust and unequal educational systems we continue to defend, is a sin against God.

You know the history. From slavery to Jim Crow segregation, white Americans have been afraid to be exposed as frauds in our assertion that we have God-given intellectual superiority. We have clung to a lie about ourselves; and it is idolatry, not theology. We have to repent of the contrived notion of whiteness as rightness that has become operational policy in our approach to public school education. It’s not enough for us to feel sorry for our history; it’s necessary for us to atone for it.

Pastors for Texas Children was formed in 2011 as a mission and advocacy organization to ensure that every child of God in Texas have access to a quality public education. We match churches with local schools, creating mentoring and tutoring relationships with students, and providing needed material support to compensate for our state’s failure to fulfill its constitutional duty to fully fund these schools. We advocate for just laws and adequate budgets.

Currently in Texas, and nationwide, we have a privatizing movement underway that wants to peel off taxpayer dollars to private schools through voucher programs. As always, these educational entrepreneurs see themselves as messianic figures, saving disadvantaged students from educrats and bureaucrats who only want to keep their jobs at the expense of the kids. But that argument is bogus.
Voucher programs take our tax dollars and give them to private schools without public accountability. Charter schools do a similar runaround. Vouchers are a ruse designed once again to privilege the privileged and underprivilege the underprivileged.
The people who cry for accountability all the time only want accountability when other people are in charge. And they employ all sorts of negative narratives to support their claims public schools can’t succeed. It’s either corruption of administrators or mismanagement of funds or the breakdown of the black family that makes education impossible. All these arguments are marshalled to undermine public education in favor of moving money and people toward charter schools and private schools.
The performance data, however, don’t back up the claims of failing public schools and thriving charter schools; nor do state experiments in voucher programs justify the upending of a public education system, which was created to strengthen democracy and reinforce our country’s high ideals of patriotism and citizenship. Something else is going on, and we all know what it is. It’s what it’s always been.
After Brown vs. Board of Education, whites fled the public schools for the homogeneity of private schools. When public schools were forcibly integrated, every form of creativity was called upon to maintain white advantage. Black kids and white kids now went to school together, but black teachers—who were invaluable role models in segregated schools—were let go all over the country. Schools were never ordered by the courts to integrate black teachers. Think of it.

Then consider the code language we use in educational reform. Local control, school-based decision making, and here’s the big one—choice. Sounds good in principle, but so did the lofty notion of states’ rights that was used to justify slavery and segregation. The outcome has hardly been different, because when the people in charge locally only answer to people like them, they choose in their own favor time and again, and nothing changes to equalize opportunity.

In Dallas, 95% of our school district is non-white. 90% of students are on partial or full food subsidy. White flight is rooted in white fright. Yet the one thing proven to improve performance in public schools is real racial and economic integration. Know why? Because children haven’t yet learned how not to love their neighbor. They work together and play together and want each other to succeed. It’s their parents and paid-for politicians who don’t know how to do this.

Cornel West was right when he said that “justice is what love looks like in public.” And public education is a fertile field for justice work. It’s one way white Christians can move from private sorrow over our racist history to public repentance. It’s a beautiful way for us to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Faith and learning, churches and schools, preachers and teachers: all these are organically related. All of us are called to love God and love our neighbor. This is the perfect intersection to keep the Great Commandment.

Charlie Johnson leads Pastors for Texas Children. It was Suzii Paynter’s brainchild to start with, when she worked for another organization back in our state. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Fellowship Southwest are working hard to support this work.

Pastors and churches are busy cheering on kids, encouraging teachers and principals and superintendents. We also try to convince politicians of the error of their ways, and when they persist in their perdition, we work to elect new ones who will make good on the promise to all our kids.

You ought to have a chapter in your state too. We can help you. Talk to Suzii or me afterward, or email Charlie.

Here’s the thing: 400 years is long enough, dear Lord! The children of Angela must ever be before our eyes and in our hearts, because they are God’s children and our sisters and brothers. All children’s lives matter only if black children’s lives matter. And one way we can prove we believe that is to make sure the public in the public education system means all the public.

Pray for us, and join us.

Categories Kentucky, Racism, Separation of church and state, Texas, Vouchers
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