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Archives for category: Network for Public Education
Meet your friends and allies from across the country at the Network for Public Education fifth annual conference in Indianapolis on October 20-21.
There is an all-star cast of speakers and panels.
Join us!
Don’t miss the chance to attend the Network for Public Education’s fifth annual conference in Indianapolis on October 20-21.
This will be the best one yet.
Register now!
Amazing keynote speakers! Amazing panels!
Meet your friends and allies!
Here is the link for registration.
https://events.bizzabo.com/NPE18INDY
Here is the link that shows all of the panels–they are wonderful this year!
https://events.bizzabo.com/NPE18INDY/agenda
Join us in the belly of the beast, Mike Pence country!
Meet the parents and teachers who are fighting to reclaim their public schools from the privatizers!
Mercedes Schneider: The Important NPE Report on Dark Money and How You Can Learn to Follow the Money
Mercedes Schneider reviews the new NPE report “Hijacked by Billionaires” and discusses her role in its early days.
She adds:
“For those wishing for more insight on following the money behind elections, I can offer another resource. Along with New York professor, researcher, and journalist, Andrea Gabor, Darcie Cimarusti and I will be participating in the following presentation at NPE’s 5th Annual Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana, October 20 – 21, 2018:
“Where Did All of This Money Come From?? Locating and Following the Dark Money Trail
“In this session, presenters will discuss the ways in which they use publicly available sites, including those of secretaries of state (campaign funding) and nonprofit tax form search engines, to discover individuals and organizations seeking to systematically spread ed reform privatization to cities and states across the nation. Audience members will be afforded opportunity to engage in Q&A with speakers and with each other. The intended audience includes individuals seeking practical information on how to discover exactly who is funding local/state elections, ballot initiatives, and pseudo-grassroots education groups.
“Come and learn how to expose the billionaires’ election purchasing.
“The more attention that is brought to this issue, the better.”
Peter Greene will attend the Network for Public Education’s 5th annual conference in Indianapolis on Oct 20-21.
You should be there too!
Every gathering has been better than the one before.
You will meet Peter Greene, Mercedes Schneider, Carol Burris, Anthony Cody, Leonie Haimson, and all your favorite bloggers from across the country.
Join us!
As regular readers of this Blog know, Phyllis Bush has been battling cancer for a long while, and reporting with humor and determination on her fight. So far, she is winning. Phyllis is an original member of the NPE board of directors. We are holding our annual meeting in Indianapolis this fall, October 20-21, at her urging.
Here Phyllis reports on the latest skirmish and also on her renewed energy to fight for the revival of decency in our politics.
I mention this only because it is a milestone. Today I am 80. I can’t believe it. That is so old. I mean really old. I don’t feel 80. I am full of piss and vinegar and spoiling for a fight. I’m angry that the country I love is rolling backward to before the New Deal. I’m angry that people who don’t love America are dissing our allies and showering kisses on tyrants. I want to kick some serious A—.
The year I was born was a bad year. 1938. A very bad year. Chamberlain went to Berlin and returned with a piece of paper promising “peace in our time.” 1938 was also the year of the Evian Conference, where 32 nations, including the U.S., met to consider “the Jewish Problem.” The delegates agreed that no one wanted to accept Jewish refugees. Sorry, no room for them. Germany was amazed that no one wanted “the Jews,” and they would have to devise their own solution. They did.
The next seven years were hell for the world. Many of my European relatives disappeared into Hitler’s camps and ovens. Somehow, the world came through. Many millions of people died before this scourge was eliminated.
I hope and pray we will come through this horrible era as well. A fascist in the White House, eager to define people and castigate them for their religion and ethnicity. A man so heartless that he would order border guards to rip children, babies, from their mothers’ arms, then lose them. This can’t continue. It is up to us to save our country.
Don’t send me birthday greetings. Send some money to the Network for Public Education. Anthony Cody and I co-founded it in 2013. We created it to fight the billionaires. They have the money. We have the millions of parents and teachers and graduates of America’s public schools on our side. Believe it or not, we have them on the run. We blog, and no one pays us. They have to pay out millions of dollars to set up bought-and-paid-for-blogs like The 74 and Education Post. We do it for nothing. No one pays me or Mercedes Schneider or Peter Greene or Tom Ultican or Gary Rubinstein or or Julian Vasquez Heilig or Jesse Hagopian or Nancy Bailey or Paul Thomas or dozens of other people who post about kids and teachers and schools and the corporate raiders.
If you want to, say Happy Birthday with a check to:
The Network for Public Education
PO BOX 150266
Kew Gardens, NY 11415-0266
Or make a donation online here.
We are a lean, mean organization with a staff of 1.5 people. We make as much noise as possible.
If you have a million, we won’t refuse it. If you have $5, that’s welcome too.
Plan to join us in Indianapolis October 20-21. We can celebrate the collapse of corporate reform together.
I’m angry about the fools in Washington, but right now I’m very happy because I know that DeVos and her wrecking crew will be footnotes in the history books. They will be forgotten, except as the bad people who fought democracy and lost. If they are remembered at all, it will be with contempt.
Courage, my friends, do the right thing, do what is best for children, do what matters most for real education, and you can look at yourself in the mirror every day and find the strength to keep fighting for what is right.
I’m staying around to cheer you on.
For immediate release:
Media Contact:
Carol Burris, Network for Public Education: 516-993-2141 (cell) cburris@networkforpubliceducation.org
NPE calls decision “politically motivated” and not in the best interest of American public school students.
New York City, New York —The Network for Public Education is deeply disappointed by the Supreme Court’s decision to rule in favor of the plaintiff in Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 3.1. By a 5 to 4 vote, the Court nullified the laws of 23 states and the District of Columbia that oblige those who are covered by public sector union contracts to pay “fair share” fees. Such fees cover the expense of the cost of negotiating and enforcing employment contracts. In doing so, the Supreme Court overturned the 40 year-old decision of a previous court that asserted the right of unions to receive payment from all they represent.
“This ruling is an extraordinary example of judicial activism on the part of a court whose majority claim to be aligned with conservative principles,” said Network for Public Education Executive Director, Carol Burris. “It is clear this was a politically motivated decision designed to reduce the power and voice of public sector unions—including all of the unions that represent teachers, nurses, custodians, instructional assistants and administrators in public schools.”
The implications of the decision go far beyond the protection of workers’ rights. It will have a deleterious effect on the well-being of all public school students. Teacher unions have been strong advocates for well-funded, safe public schools for America’s children.
NPE Board member and student and parent advocate Leonie Haimson said, “For more than fifty years, teacher unions have been a positive force in fighting for more funding and better conditions in our public schools, including smaller class sizes. Especially now when our public school system is under attack, we need strong unions to preserve, protect and strengthen our public schools from the privateers who are trying to undermine them by outsourcing education to corporations — whether charter schools, private religious schools or ed tech companies.“
NPE President, Diane Ravitch agrees. “The evidence is clear. Nations with strong student performance, such as Finland, have strong teacher unions. The best student scores on the NAEP exams are in states with strong unions, while weak scores are associated with states with so-called “right to work” laws. Unions give teachers a voice to advocate for more funding for schools and better working conditions. This provides great benefit for students. This is a sad day not only for our nation’s education professionals but for our nation’s children.”
About the Network for Public Education
The Network for Public Education (NPE) was founded in 2013 by Diane Ravitch and Anthony Cody. We are an advocacy group whose mission is to protect, preserve, promote, and strengthen public schools for both current and future generations of students. The goal of NPE is to connect all those who are passionate about our schools – students, parents, teachers and citizens. We share information and research on vital issues that concern the future of public education.
networkforpubliceducation.org
The speaker is Yohuru Williams, dean of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul-Minneapolis. You have probably seen him on public television. He is an inspirational speaker.
You can get more of the same on October 21-22 in Indianapolis, when NPE holds its sixth annual conference at the Marriott Hotel. We have a great lineup of speakers and workshops.
You have to watch Yohuru. You really do!
NPE and Schott Foundation Release Report Card for the States on Privatization of Public School Funds
Today, the Network for Public Education and the Schott Foundation for Public Education released the first ever state-by-state report card on privatization of public funds intended for public schools.
It is titled: “Grading the States: A Report Card on Our Nation’s Commitment to Public Schools.”
Where does your state rank?
Is your state diverting public funds for privately managed charter schools?
Does your state offer vouchers for unregulated, unaccountable religious and private schools?
Does your state have neovoucher schools that encourage corporations and wealthy individuals to underwrite the cost of religious and private education instead of paying taxes to support public schools?
Billions of dollars are being diverted from public schools to pay for tuition in nonpublic schools, some of which hire uncertified teachers and some of which enroll students who were previously enrolled in private schools.
The big takeaway from this report is that every dollar that goes to a charter school or a religious or private school is a dollar taken away from public schools whose doors are open to all, regardless of race, religion, gender, language. Disability, or LGBT status.
In reading the report, you will notice that the overwhelming majority of parents choose public schools in every state.
No matter how many programs are created to promote private alternatives, the public chooses their democratically controlled public schools.
This is a landmark report that identifies the states that fully support their public schools. Inform yourself so you are prepared to fight privatization and defend public education—of, by, and for the people. Not the billionaires. Not the hedge fund managers. Not the entrepreneurs. Not the religious zealots. Not the profiteers. Not Betsy DeVos.
For the people.
Diane Ravitch's blog 