Archives for category: Parent trigger
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The Most Important Voice in State Education Policy

By dianeravitch
October 19, 2012 //
3

The most important voice in state education policy today is the American Legislative Exchange Council, known as ALEC.

ALEC has 2,000 state legislators as members, and dozens of corporate sponsors, including the biggest names in business.

Here is an excellent summary of ALEC’s legislative priorities.

ALEC writes model legislation. Its members carry it home and introduce it as their own in their states.

ALEC promotes charters and vouchers.

ALEC likes the parent trigger.

ALEC likes it when the governor can create a commission to approve charters over the opposition of local school boards.

ALEC favors unregulated, for-profit online schooling.

ALEC wants to eliminate collective bargaining.

ALEC doesn’t think teachers need any certification or credential.

ALEC opposes teacher tenure.

ALEC likes evaluating teachers by test scores.

You should learn about ALEC. Read up on it. It is the most influential voice in the nation on education policy.

Categories ALEC, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, For-Profit, On-Line Education, Parent trigger, Privatization, Teacher Evaluations, Teacher Tenure, Testing, Unions, US Education

Ironies of the First Parent Trigger

By dianeravitch
October 18, 2012 //
9

At Desert Trails Elementary School in Adelanto, California, the “parent trigger” law is taking effect after court battles.

Parents who asked to take their name off the petition to hand their school off to a charter chain were told by a judge that they were not allowed to remove their names.

Now, it turns out, only parents who signed the petition in favor of a charter will be allowed to participate in choosing the charter operator. The others have no voice.

And, hmm, the parent who has been most vocal, will not be a parent in the school when the charter takes over.

Desert Trails is overwhelmingly populated by children who are low-income and English-language learners.

Below are charters that want to run Desert Trails.

This will be interesting to watch over the next few years.

Desert Trails API

http://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/Acnt2012/2012GrowthSch.aspx?allcds=36675876111918

LaVerne API

http://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/Acnt2012/2012GrowthSch.aspx?allcds=36750440118059

Norton Space(run by the Lewis Center)

http://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/Acnt2012/2012GrowthSch.aspx?allcds=12629016007983

Categories California, Parent trigger

The Movie Nobody Wants to See

By dianeravitch
October 15, 2012 //
11

That anti-union, anti-public education movie is a historic flop.

Will Hollywood get the message?

Or will the billionaires keep saying that they “won’t back down” no matter how small the audience. A $19 million movie is chump change for them.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Reform, Parent trigger

Is Michelle Rhee the Ann Coulter of Education?

By dianeravitch
October 14, 2012 //
20

Jeff Bryant asks whether Michelle Rhee is the Ann Coulter of education.

Rhee expends great energy insisting that Democrats support the hard-right agenda of ALEC. She tries to sell the idea of a bipartisan consensus to eliminate collective bargaining rights, teacher tenure, test-based evaluation, and privatization via charters and vouchers.

Democrats would be wise to stick to their historic agenda of equality of educational opportunity and public education.

Rhee has no popular base for her agenda. Although she claims two million members, most of those “members” seem to be people (like me) who innocently signed an online petition supporting teachers. When she held a rally in Hartford, Connecticut, last fall, no one showed but media and a handful of onlookers.

What she does have is a load of money, contributed by Rupert Murdoch, the Waltons, and assorted rightwing billionaires. She uses it to support Republican candidates and the few Democrats who endorse vouchers or promise to oppose unions.

Her relentless promotion of the anti-union film “Won’t Back Down” demonstrated her lack of any popular backing. The film had the worst opening weekend in thirty years of any movie in wide distribution (2500 screens), and immediately died at the box office, despite heavy marketing and advertising. The Regal cinema chain (owned by Philip Anschutz, whose company Walden Media produced the film) is now offering two tickets for the price of one. But in these hard economic times, it’s tough to sell a story in which the union members are the bad guys and the entrepreneurs are the good ones.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, For-Profit, Parent trigger, Rhee, Michelle, Testing, Unions, Vouchers, Walton Foundation

Debate in Philadelphia: Parent Vs. Privatizer

By dianeravitch
October 13, 2012 //
1

Ken Derstine, a retired teacher and now an advocate for public education, wrote up a commentary on a recent debate in Philadelphia.

Helen Gym, a leading parent activist in Philadelphia, debated Matthew Brouillette of the Commonwealth Foundation about the “parent trigger” on WHYY.

It is funny that a parent has to explain why the “parent trigger” is a bad idea that will diminish the role of parents and hand public schools over to un-accountable charter schools.

Please listen to the debate. Helen Gym is amazing.

She should be invited to appear on Education Nation next year and to speak the next time PBS or CNN or Fox News brings on a privatizer. She has real credibility. She is a public school parent.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, Parent trigger, Parents, Philadelphia, Privatization

Who Is Paying for Charter Referendum in Washington State?

By dianeravitch
October 10, 2012 //
3

A reader sent the list of contributors to the campaign for 1240 in Washington State, which authorizes charters. See here and here for more about 1240.

Please read the list. Not clear if anyone on it is a parent of a public school student. What you will see is a list of billionaires in the high-tech sector.

Will big money buy the referendum?

Is public education for sale to the billionaire boys’ club?

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Reform, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Parent trigger, Privatization, Walton Foundation, Washington State

Follow the Money, Again

By dianeravitch
October 8, 2012 //
8

Here’s a hard-hitting investigative report on the money pouring into California to beat the unions by cutting off dues collections. The face of this campaign is Gloria Romero, who flipped to the right and is now the face of Democrats for Education Reform, the pro-privatization Wall Street hedge fund managers’ group.

Seems the Koch brothers tossed in a few million, which makes it hard to maintain the pretense that the anti-union campaign is warm, fuzzy and progressive.

The only error that I spotted is calling ALEC “neoconservative.” It is a reactionary organization pushing radical schemes to suppress voter rights, relax gun control, crush unions, relax environmental regulation, and privatize public education, among other things.

Categories ALEC, Corporate Reformers, Democrats for Education Reform, Education Industry, Education Reform, For-Profit, Parent trigger, Privatization

Bill Moyers on ALEC

By dianeravitch
October 3, 2012 //
4

Because I was traveling in Texas over the weekend, I didn’t see Bill Moyers’ report on ALEC. I watched it last night, and I hope you will too.

If you want to understand how we are losing our democracy, watch this program.

If you want to know why so many states are passing copycat legislation to suppress voters’ rights, to eliminate collective bargaining, to encourage online schooling, to privatize public education, watch this program.

ALEC brings together lobbyists for major corporations and elected state officials in luxurious resorts. In its seminars, the legislators learn how to advance corporate-sponsored, free-market ideas in their state. Its model legislation is introduced in state after state, often with minimal or no changes in the wording.

Watch Moyers show how Tennessee adopted ALEC’s online school bill and how Arizona is almost a wholly owned ALEC state. Watch how Scott Walker followed the ALEC template.

Moyers could do an entire special on ALEC’s education bills. ALEC promotes the parent trigger, so that parents can be tricked into handing their public schools over to charter chains. ALEC promotes gubernatorial commissions with the power to over-ride the decisions of local school boards to open more charters. ALEC promotes vouchers. ALEC, as he noted, promotes virtual charter schools (Pearson’s Connections Academy and K12 wrote the ALEC model law). ALEC has model legislations for vouchers for students with special needs. ALEC has a model law to allow people to teach without credentials. ALEC has legislation to eliminate tenure protection. ALEC has model legislation for educator evaluation.

It is all so familiar, isn’t it?

ALEC wants nothing less than to privatize public education, to eliminate unions, and to dismantle the education profession.

Categories ALEC, Education Industry, For-Profit, K12 Inc., On-Line Education, Parent trigger, Teacher Evaluations, Teacher Tenure, Tennessee, Testing, Unions, US Education

Poor Boxoffice for Anti-Union Film

By dianeravitch
October 1, 2012 //
11

The film “Won’t Back Down,” which publicizes the idea that parents should seize control of their public school and turn it over to a charter operator, has been heavily promoted. The movie was shown at both national political conventions by Michelle Rhee; it had a glamorous opening in New York City and extensive publicity as part of NBC’s Education Nation, and full-page ads in major newspapers, as well as expensive ads on network television.

But opening weekend for WBD was a disaster. According to industry sources, WBD had the worst opening weekend of any film in wide distribution (more than 2,500 screens) in 30 years. That’s quite a record.

Pundits can ponder why. Maybe in the midst of a terrible economy, the prospect of seeing a movie in which the union is the villain isn’t all that appealing. Maybe it is time for a movie about heroic teachers in Chicago who stand up to the powerful elites in their city and fight to make sure that their students get small classes, art teachers, social workers, and textbooks on the first day of school. The leading figure could be a brilliant woman who is a chemistry teacher with 20 years of teaching experience. She is articulate; she is unintimidated by the rich and powerful men who try to silence her.

Do you think?

Categories Education Reform, Parent trigger, Unions

A Remarkable Investigative Reporter

By dianeravitch
October 1, 2012 //
10

Stephanie Simon of Reuters has written one blockbuster story after another. She has done the digging and investigation that make her stories genuinely valuable. In education, as more newspapers cut back their in-depth education reporting, this kind of investigative journalism is becoming increasingly rare.

She wrote stunning articles about the privatization momentum in Louisiana, about TFA, about profiteers jumping into education, about the parent trigger, and about testing in kindergarten.

She is truly fair and balanced, never taking sides, but clearly explaining the issues in context, with attention to their consequences.

Categories Charter Schools, Childhood, Pre-K, K, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, Jindal, Bobby, Louisiana, Parent trigger, Privatization, Teach for America TFA
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