Archives for category: Privatization
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Report From Denver: Public Education Advocates Win a Seat on School Board: Extraordinary

By dianeravitch
November 9, 2017 //
8

The Denver School Board is supposed to be bought and paid for by Dark Money, so public education advocates rejoiced when they elected one person to the seven-member Board.

Jeannie Kaplan, a former member of the board and now a tireless activist, tells the story here. She says it was EXTRAORDINARY!

“Dr. Carrie Olson, 33 year DPS teacher, soundly defeated incumbent, “reformer,” Mike Johnson., and she did so with $33,747 in her campaign war chest and a completely volunteer “staff.” The dollars and vote totals cited in this post can be found here and here. As of the last campaign finance report Mr. Johnson had raised $101,336 on his own and was the beneficiary of $42,777 from Democrats for Education Reform( DFER) dark money and $6320 Stand for Children dark money. His 11,193 votes cost his campaign $13.44 each; Carrie’s 11,121 votes cost her $2.73 per vote. He spent almost 5 times as much per vote as she. Extraordinary.”

Jeannie’s underfunded (almost unfounded) Group is called ODOS (Our Denver Our Schools). In one race, it supported a dynamic high school graduate named Tay Anderson. The union, however, decided to support a candidate who is from TFA and works for the TFA leadership training program, which grooms TFA Teachers to get involved in political roles. The latter candidate swamped poor Tay, and now TFA has two seats on the Denver board.

As you can see, Denver is a hotbed of political intrigue and big money.

But ODOS is celebrating because it elected one member to the board.

Given the odds, that was quite an accomplishment.

Categories Dark Money, Democrats for Education Reform, Denver, Privatization, School Choice, Stand for Children

Jeff Bryant: Northam Won By Repudiating Not Only DeVos But Obama’s Education Policies

By dianeravitch
November 9, 2017 //
73

Jeff Bryant sees the Virginia election, as do I, as an affirmation of a progressive approach to education.

Education is an important issue to parents everywhere and is the biggest item in state budgets. Taxpayers want to know that their money is well spent.

Northam ran against the DeVos privatization policy. But he also ran against Obama’s policies of charter schools and high-stakes Testing.

He points the way to victory for Democrats in other state races.

Support a strong and much improved public school system that seeks to meet the needs of all children.

Categories Accountability, Betsy DeVos, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization, School Choice, Testing, Vouchers

Ohio: ECOT Enrollment Drops, Overall Charter Enrollment Falls for Fourth Year in a Row

By dianeravitch
November 8, 2017 //
8

Stephen Dyer writes that enrollments in the online for-profit Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow have dropped.

The enrollments in Ohio’s charter sector have fallen for the fourth year in a row.

Maybe the public is catching on, as a result of scandal after scandal. The major newspapers in the state have vigorously pursued the problems of the charter sector. The public is beginning to understand that squandering their tax money on private, unaccountable schools hurts their public schools.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization

Texas: Advice to Public Schools from State’s Most Powerful Elected Official: STARVE!

By dianeravitch
November 8, 2017 //
6

In Texas, the Lt. Governor is considered the state’s most powerful elected official. That man is Dan Patrick, a flamboyant former talk show host who hates public schools. Patrick recently spoke in Houston.

Please read this brilliant reaction by Cort McMurray, a Houston area businessman.

A snippet of a great piece:

“Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick was in town this week, talking schools, school finance, and property tax reform. These are favorite topics for Patrick, who, before becoming arguably the most powerful man in state government, was a Houston media personality, best known for undergoing an on-air vasectomy during a live radio talk show. In his 2015 inaugural address, tucked between the Stetsoned hubris and the cowboy booted jingoism and the liberal quotation of Scripture, Patrick bemoaned the failure of “our inner city schools” and invoked Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech to articulate a dream of his own, a “dream of the day every child gets a quality education so they can break the binds of poverty and live the Texas and American dream.”

“It was a “conversation” in which a middle-aged white man was having a “conversation” in a room filled with middle-aged white men and women, talking about “people in the inner city.” Mr. Patrick likes to talk about the “inner city.” It’s a phrase he uses often. He talks about “inner city” schools, which are invariably “failing,” and inner city residents, who are “losing their homes” because they can’t afford to pay the gosh-darn property taxes: It’s not the lousy economy or the drugs and gangs or the relentless tectonic grind of decades of tone deaf public policy that’s ruining the places where the poor folk live. It’s property taxes.

“Patrick speaks about “the inner city” with the smooth confidence of a man who’s never experienced the challenge but knows the precise solution. He’s the loudmouthed guy at the end of the bar, explaining how to hit a Clayton Kershaw slider. He’s the clueless uncle, giving an expectant niece his sure-fire, drug-free tips for managing pain during childbirth. He’s the eternal talk show host, all honeyed words and callus-free hands.

“What Patrick wants has little to do with bringing hope or light to the shadowy spots in our benighted inner cities. What Patrick wants is the evisceration of the Texas public school system, replaced with a quasi-public collection of “charter schools.”

“Property taxes are the primary means of financing public education in the state. Earlier this year, Education Week, a highly respected newspaper, published Quality Counts, its 20th annual analysis of performance in U.S. schools. Texas ranked 42nd out of 50 states and the District of Columbia in student performance, 42nd in “student chances for [post-high school] success,” and 45th in quality of school funding.

“Patrick’s solution to a stretched, struggling, woefully underfunded system? Cut the funding. Starve the schools. Starve them to death.“

The writer doesn’t mention Patrick’s passion for vouchers, which he has promoted for years. The rural districts have allied with urban districts to block them.

You can quote research or you can look at Michigan, where charter schools have proliferated for many years. On national tests, Michigan used to be in the middle of the pack. Now it has fallen to the bottom. Or D.C., one of the lowest performing districts in the nation, which has had charters and vouchers since 2004.

Categories Accountability, Budget Cuts, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Funding, Privatization

Mercedes Schneider: The Life and Death of the Black Alliance for Educational Options

By dianeravitch
November 7, 2017 //
0

Mercedes Schneider employs her well-honed skills as a forensic analyst of reform organizations to dissect the history and recent demise of Black Alliance for Educational Options.

You will not be surprised to know that Betsy DeVos appears in the story that Schneider wrote.

Categories Accountability, Betsy DeVos, Black Alliance for Educational Options, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization

Howard Fuller Reflects on the Years He Spent Working for Conservatives Billionaires to Promote Privatization

By dianeravitch
November 7, 2017 //
20

Howard Fuller recently decided to close down the organization Black Alliance for Educational Options, which received funding from billionaires to promote charters and vouchers to African Americans. BAEO was funded initially by the rar-right Bradley Foundation, then added millions from the Walton Family Foundation, the Gates Foundation, and others, all to sell privatization to people who need good public schools, good healthcare, and good jobs, not free markets.

Now, Fuller tells ace education journalist Alan Borsuk that a $15-an-hour minimum wage would mean more to kids in central cities than better curriculum (or, may we assume, School Choice).

The billionaires got good return on investment. BAEO lined up support among key blacks to pass charter legislation in Alabama, Mississippi, and D.C.

But Fuller has second thoughts. The damage is done. Will he now repudiate the conservatives who pumped millions into BAEO to perpetuate the hoax that privatization is “the civil rights issue of our time”?

“One force behind his changing views: A deeper understanding of the life circumstances of young people and the difficulties a school has in changing the trajectory of their lives.”

Nice.

Will he reach out to the Walton Family, whose Walmart stores employ more than one million people, and persuade them about the importance of paying $15 an hour and giving them enough hours of employment to support their families?

Will he tell the powerful Bradley Foundation? The Gates Foundation, whose idea of fighting poverty is to promote the Common Core Standards?

Fuller was a bitter critic of trachers’ unions. Has he figured out that union jobs are a godsend for Black and Hispanic workers, providing better pay than non-union jobs and a measure of job security. Fuller appeared in “Waiting for Superman” harshly criticizing public schools, teachers, and unions.

Has he figured out that he helped to shred the route to the middle-class for many of the families and children he claims to care about? Has he noticed how many of the thriving charter chains are run by wealthy white men?

Was he cynically used? Was he duped? Was he a willing collaborator? On reflection, does he think that children and parents of color benefitted or were harmed when their local schools were taken over by corporate charter chains?

Howard Fuller is a smart man. I hope he speaks out and explains more about his decision to close BAEO. I welcome a submission to this blog.

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, Black Alliance for Educational Options, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization

Law Professor: Is There a Limit to How Much States May Prefer Choice Programs Over Public Schools?

By dianeravitch
November 7, 2017 //
23

Readers of this blog have noticed that many states spend far more time legislating about school Choice than about the public schools that enroll most students. Once charters and vouchers are introduced, public schools seem to become an afterthought, despite the fact that most students attend them.

Derek Black, a Professor of Law at the University of South Carolina, asks whether there are limits to the preference that states show to school choice programs over public schools.

Here is an abstract of his paper:

“Rapidly expanding charter and voucher programs are establishing a new education paradigm in which access to traditional public schools is no longer guaranteed. In some areas, charter and voucher programs are on a trajectory to phase out traditional public schools altogether. This Article argues that this trend and its effects violate the constitutional right to public education embedded in all fifty state constitutions.

“Importantly, this Article departs from past constitutional arguments against charter and voucher programs. Past arguments have attempted to prohibit such programs entirely and have assumed, with little evidentiary support, that they endanger statewide education systems. Unsurprisingly, litigation and scholarship based on a flawed premise have thus far failed to slow the growth of charter and voucher programs. Without a reframed theory, several recently filed lawsuits are likely to suffer the same fate.

“This Article does not challenge the general constitutionality of choice programs. Instead, the Article identifies two limitations that state constitutional rights to education place on choice policy. The first limitation is that states cannot preference private choice programs over public education. This conclusion flows from the fact that most state constitutions mandate public education as a first-order right for their citizens. Thus, while states may establish choice programs, they cannot systematically advantage choice programs over public education. This Article demonstrates that some states have crossed this line.

“The second limitation that state constitutions place on choice programs is that their practical effect cannot impede educational opportunities in public schools. Education clauses in state constitutions obligate the state to provide adequate and equitable public schools. Any state policy that deprives students of access to those opportunities is therefore unconstitutional. Often-overlooked district level data reveals that choice programs are reducing public education funding, stratifying opportunity, and intensifying segregation in large urban centers. Each of these effects represents a distinct constitutional violation.”

The full article is here.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization, School Choice, Vouchers

Donald Cohen: Will the Los Angeles School Board Grant Charters Freedom from Accountability?

By dianeravitch
November 6, 2017 //
10

Tomorrow is the day when we find out whether the millions invested by Dark Money in electing a majority of the school board pays off for charter operators.

The charters want public money without public accountability. They don’t want to be pestered by Investigations of waste, fraud, and abuse. And the LAUSD board decides tomorrow. They want to be called “public schools” when it’s time to get public money, but private schools when it’s time to be accountable.

Donald Cohen writes here about what’s at stake.

“A number of Los Angeles charter schools up for renewal this week are throwing a tantrum if they don’t get their way. Charter school operators have refused to comply with Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) charter school policies and say they won’t include some district standard requirements they don’t like in their charter application. For example, they are refusing to comply with special education rules and the ability of the district to pursue investigations of fraud and other illegal practices.

“They say they should not be subject to basic transparency, accountability and oversight requirements. California charter school operators have plenty of autonomy as the state law grants them. But that doesn’t mean they get to do things that harm education, that allow fraud to go undetected and uninvestigated and allow them to set their own rules on basic educational policies and programs such as school discipline and special education.

“And today in Los Angeles, given the very public problems and investigations related to charter school operators at LAUSD it couldn’t be a worse time to reduce oversight and accountability mechanisms. One recently elected school board member and founder of Partnerships to Uplift Communities (PUC), a charter school network in the region, has been charged with three felonies for campaign finance violations and the school district is asking the PUC’s operators about potential conflicts of interest and delayed reporting of financial transaction.

“Charter operators are objecting to the ability of the district’s inspector general to investigate all possible malfeasance and to limit the scope of investigations they do conduct. The District should be able to pursue any possible violation of the law in the quickest and most effective way. The Office of the Inspector General, upon initial investigation, can determine the full scope needed. But failing to treat allegations as seriously as they could potentially be will inevitably allow problems to go unaddressed.

“Charter operators also want to be allowed to become part of a Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) that may be hundreds of miles away and that have far less ability to oversee the schools. Several small districts in rural areas of the state welcome distant charters into their SELPA and the fees that come with it. Los Angeles is correct to require local charters to be part of the local SELPA so that special education students and programs in individual schools are tightly integrated into the local school district. Special education students need to be able to access and rely on services and programs that are available district wide. Special education students often change schools as they encounter challenges and seek the best situation for their education; somtimes back and forth between both charter and district schools.

“The charter operators also object to using the district’s student disciplinary processes. We have seen, in California and across the nation, that independent charter schools have used expulsions and suspensions as a way to “push out” under-performing students who may reduce an individual school’s testing averages or require additional resources. To prevent this, disciplinary procedures, including whether to use restorative justice methods, must be fair, transparent and equally established and implemented in all schools. Allowing charter operators to define their own processes is an invitation to discriminate and unfairly treat some students and families.”

Will the board give the charters what they want? Will they split the difference, to avoid the appearance of being the billionaires’ puppets, or will they insist that charter schools accept the accountability that accompanies public money?

Categories Accountability, Education Industry, Education Reform, Los Angeles, Privatization

North Carolina: New For-Profit Charter School for 2,000 Plus Students Will Open

By dianeravitch
November 6, 2017 //
11

The North Carolina State Board of Education unanimously approved the opening of a for-profit charter school that will enroll more than 2,000 students in Cary. The school will be operated by Charter Schools, USA, a Florida corporation owned by Jonathan Hage, a friend of Jeb Bush. Not an educator, Hage has built a very large business by owning for-profit charters.

The State Board of Education unanimously approved Cardinal Charter Academy West Campus, which plans to educate up to 2,180 students in kindergarten through 12th grade. The new school, modeled after the existing Cardinal Charter Academy in Cary, represents the latest effort by charter school operators to target the fast-growing western Wake County area…

Critics say charter schools are targeting the more-affluent families who live in western Wake, where test scores are higher and the percentage of low-income students is lower than the Wake County school district average. Charters are taxpayer-funded public schools that are exempt from some of the regulations that traditional public schools must follow.

But supporters say they’re meeting the need for school choice, citing the long waiting lists for Cardinal Charter and packed parent information sessions.

Cardinal Charter West would be managed by Charter Schools USA, a Florida-based for-profit company that could receive more than $2 million a year from the new school.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article182268141.html#storylink=cpy

At the same meeting of the state board, a charter school in rural Bertie County was closed because of its low enrollment and poor academic standing.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, North Carolina, Privatization

The Best Candidates for the School Board in Denver

By dianeravitch
November 5, 2017 //
5

Dark Money is pouring in to Denver to maintain control of the school board by advocates of privatization and high-stakes testing.

Vote for the candidates endorsed by Our Denver Our Schools. This is an organization of local Denver residents who do not have piles of billionaire cash from out of state.

This is their slate. They will fight for better education for all children, not for privatization.

Xochitl “Sochi” Gaytan, District 2
Dr. Carrie Olson, District 3
Tay Anderson, District 4
Robert Speth, At Large

This is The People’s Slate.

Tell the billionaires that Denver kids and public schools are not for sale.

Categories Accountability, Corporate Reformers, Dark Money, Education Industry, Privatization
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