Archives for category: Privatization
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What Happens When the Bills Come Due?

By dianeravitch
February 4, 2013 //
5

We have had at least ten years–in the case of Milwaukee, 22 years– of listening to boasting about how choice and competition will change everything. Charters and vouchers will close the achievement gap. They will prepare students who are college-ready. The bottom five percent of schools will be in the top twenty percent of schools. The graduation rate will rise to 90 percent in X years. On and on.

All too often, gullible policymakers choose hope over experience.

At some point, the bills come due.

EduShyster asks a simple question: how are the graduates of “no excuses” schools doing in college? Did those years of filling in the blanks and obeying without question prepare them well?

This is an amazing article. EduShyster has great sources and gets surprising information. Consider this nugget:

“In each of the four school years for which SAT and AP data are available on the [state’s] website (school years 2006-2007 through 2009-2010, City on a Hill’s SAT scores were lower in every single subject than those of both Boston Public Schools and New Bedford Public Schools…When one looks at City on a Hill’s AP scores, its ability to prepare students for the rigors of college appears even more dubious.”

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, Privatization

Why Does Minneapolis Have So Many Segregated Charter Schools?

By dianeravitch
February 3, 2013 //
32

Minneapolis is one of America’s prettiest cities in one of its most beautiful states. But it has an ugly secret.

It has a charter sector that has resurrected segregation. Myron Orfield of the University of Minnesota Law School regularly tracks segregation in the Minneapolis-St. Paul schools. He says that seeing the charters–one white, one black–in the same neighborhood, feels like the Jim Crow era in the Deep South. Orfield estimates that three-quarters of the charters are segregated schools. Orfield’s 2012 study found that charter schools in the Twin Cities are more segregated and get worse results than public schools.

As NPR put it, summarizing Orfield’s study, said: “Nearly 20 years after Minnesota passed the nation’s first charter school law, charters in the Twin Cities continue to perform worse, are more segregated than traditional public schools and are forcing those traditional public schools to become more segregated.”

John Hechinger, a crack reporter for Bloomberg News, visited the Twin Cities and came away with the same reaction. He too saw the revival of the era preceding the Supreme Court’s Brown decision against “separate but equal” practices.

Sad that an idea that began with liberal impulses turned into a force for resegregation.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Privatization, Segregation , Racial Isolation and Integration

More on Oregon Charter Scandal

By dianeravitch
February 2, 2013 //
16

An earlier post reported that officials in Oregon are trying to recover $20 million from two Oregon charter founders. A reader in Oregon added the following information:

In 2010, AllPrep academies, Oregon’s home-grown charter founded by educational entrepreneur Tim King (a former North Clackamas School District teacher) began having financial problems. A decade previously, King founded three charter schools in that district: New Urban High, Clackamas Middle College and Clackamas Web Academy. In 2008, he left to start the AllPrep and other charter schools in a half-dozen small districts across the state, from Sheridan to Estacada to Sisters to Burns.http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2010/05/allprep_charter_school_network.html

In 2009, Whitney Grubbs (then dissemination grant coordinator for Clackamas Web Academy) wrote this opinion piece in the Portland Tribune.
http://portlandtribune.com/component/content/article?id=51075
“As controversy surrounding the proper role of on-line education in Oregon’s K-12 system began to mount, Clackamas Web Academy principal Brad Linn knew what he had to do. ‘I was very confident that we had a great program that was serving the needs of a diverse group of kids in our community, ‘ said Linn, a first-year principal. ‘But I knew if we really wanted people to stand up and take notice of our small charter school, we had to improve our test scores.’ ”

King’s legacy still exists with Clackamas Web Academy. The Oregonian puts their test scores in the bottom tier.
http://www.edline.net/pages/Clackamas_Web_Academy
http://schools.oregonlive.com/district/North-Clackamas/
http://schools.oregonlive.com/school/North-Clackamas/Clackamas-Web-Academy/

Director of Head Start in Portland since 1975, Ron Herndon wrote one year ago, “follow the money.” As the governor’s ill-advised proposal became law, we must “keep tabs on how many ’30 pieces of silver’ and well-connected committee members are rewarded from state coffers.”http://portlandobserver.com/2012/01/proven-educators-not-called-upon/

Whitney Grubbs, a former Stand for Children team leader and an attorney, had already advanced up the ranks. She is Governor Kitzhaber’s P-20 policy advisor under Dr. Rudy Crew, Kitzhaber’s appointed Chief Education Officer, who heads the Oregon Education Investment Project and replaced our elected State Superintendent of Education.
http://dasapp.oregon.gov/statephonebook/display.asp?agency=12100&division=12105

For more:http://www.facebook.com/OregonSaveOurSchools/posts/462571257118317

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

Beware! Education Reformers Are Coming for Your School Board

By dianeravitch
February 2, 2013 //
58

Jonathan Pelto wrote this guest post. A former state legislator, he blogs about politics and education in Connecticut at “Wait, What?” –which can be found at jonathanpelto.com. I think the title of his blog refers to the fact that what is happening these days is often unbelievable.

During the 2012 election cycle, we saw the corporate “education reform” lobby begin to play their hand when it comes to the notion of local control of public education.  Their approach is a simple one.  If you don’t agree with our position, we’ll simply change the rules or work to defeat your local elected board of education.

As far as the corporate education reformers are concerned, the end justifies the means and if the cost of getting what you want requires destroying our nation’s age-old commitment to local control of education, so be it.

And we certainly aren’t talking about local parents banding together to ensure that their voices are heard.  We are talking about billionaires and millionaires and the major education reform companies, organizations and foundations dumping tens of millions of dollars into state and local efforts to elect handpicked accomplices or even, where necessary, changing the rules to make it easier to open charter schools and dismantle the core elements of a broad-based public education system.

Take for example the political involvement of education reformer and New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg.  Mayor Bloomberg has been a very busy guy.  Not only is he the Chief Executive Officer of New York City where he is leading a successful effort to privatize much of that city’s public education system, but he has become a leading example of this “my way or the highway” approach to destroying local public education.

In Bloomberg’s case there was his $20,000 check for Residents for a Better Bridgeport, a political action committee seeking to do away with the democratically-elected board of education and replace it with one appointed by the local pro-education reform mayor.  There was also the $75,000 check to California Charter Schools Association Independent Expenditure Committee, and on the same day in October, Bloomberg wrote a check for $10,000 to Neighbors for School Board 2012 (Oakland). The three “education reform” candidates that the group was supporting in Oakland also received checks from Bloomberg for the maximum allowable amount.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg dropped a check to Education Voters of Idaho for $200,000 to defend a set of reform proposals and $80,000 to Indiana’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, reformer Tony Bennett, who has now moved his destructive activities to the State of Florida.

In state after state, the super-rich, corporate executives and education reform entities spent millions to influence local elections.  When the final reports were filed in Bridgeport, the corporate education reform industry and its supporters spent more than $560,000, a state record, in their effort to take away the right of local citizens to elect their own board of education.  In that case, they failed, but they are already moving forward on efforts to undermine what’s left of the democratically-elected board.

In “So You Wanna Buy a School Board Seat…,” fellow pro-public education blogger, Edushyster, wrote about the situation in Minneapolis, Minnesota while another pro-public education blogger Jersey Jazzman wrote “How To Buy a School Board Race 3000 Miles Away,” about the same thing happening in Perth Amboy, New Jersey.

In Minnesota, the push to elect a pro-charter school, TFA alumnus came from Teach for America and 50CAN, a national charter school lobbying group, as well as, other corporate executives.  50CAN was set up by Connecticut resident and education reform activists Jonathan Sackler, a corporate director of Purdue Pharma. The present Chairman of 50CAN is Mathew Kramer, the President of Teach for America. 

It will come as no surprise, but Sackler, with a check for $50,000, was also the largest donor to the Bridgeport effort that is mentioned above.

And in New Jersey, Jersey Jazzman asked, “Why would California multi-millionaires be interested in a school board race in the small city of Perth Amboy, NJ?

It seems absurd, and yet it’s true: four wealthy Californians and one wealthy Coloradan – heavy hitters in the tech, financial, and health care sectors – have contributed tens of thousands of dollars to a slate of candidates running for the school board in Perth Amboy, a city of 50,000 with a majority Hispanic population.

 

From Connecticut to California and New Jersey to Idaho, the story is the same.  The charter school industry is spending record amounts to lobby government officials and buy local boards of education. 

 

But their tactics are very clear.   Backing up their lobbying effort is a broader strategy to change the rules and change the players as a way of ensuring they can build their charter schools and further privatize America’s public education system.

 

If General Eisenhower were alive today, it wouldn’t simply be the military-industrial complex he’d be warning us about, it would be the even more devious and dangerous education-industrial complex.

 

Keep your eyes open and don’t be surprised to find these corporate reformers playing their politics with your local boards of education

 

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Reform, For-Profit, Privatization, Testing

Did Jeb Bush Use His Foundation for Financial Gain?

By dianeravitch
February 1, 2013 //
39

Lee Fang has published a blockbuster investigation of Jeb Bush’s foundation. Fang is an investigative writer for the Nation Institute.

Last year he published a stunning exposé about the online industry in which Bush and his chief lobbyist were central players. That article followed the money.

In this new article, he digs into the financial entanglements of Bush, based on emails that were obtained by a public interest group.

To understand the great push for online learning, charters, vouchers, and union-busting, read this.

Follow the money. Here is an astounding article about the thousands of emails that were released and what they contained about Bush’s activities through his “Foundation for Educational Excellence.” Read this article from Valerie Strauss’s Answer Sheet.

Categories Bush, Jeb, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, Privatization

Jeb Bush Foundation Under Fire for Conflicts

By dianeravitch
February 1, 2013 //
8

Coach Bob Sikes reports here that Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Educational Excellence is under fire by groups who claim that it is promoting the for-profit interests of its corporate sponsors.

The Bush foundation, which presumably has a tax exemption, claims that 90% of its funding comes from philanthropic donors, not corporations.

This investigation in Maine shows the relationship between the Bush foundation, its chief strategist, and the corporations that stood to benefit financially from the activities of the Bush team.

And any investigation into the connection between the Foundation for Education Excellence and its sponsors should definitely look at the Ten Elements of Digital Learning. (Notice the long list of corporate sponsors, all in the business of selling digital products.)

Categories Bush, Jeb, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, Privatization, Testing

Amazing Release of Bush Foundation Emails

By dianeravitch
February 1, 2013 //
3

This is the release of emails in response to FOIL of “In the Public Interest.”

Read to see interchange between Bush foundation and corporate interests.

Categories Bush, Jeb, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, On-Line Education, Privatization

Walton Funds School Closing Hearing in Chicago

By dianeravitch
January 31, 2013 //
10

This is amazing. According to the Chicago education research journal Catalyst, the Chicago Public Schools received nearly half a million dollars from one of the nation’s most rightwing foundations to sponsor “community engagement” on school closings.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants to close as many as 200 schools. He also wants to open more charters, which would be non-union and would mean another dramatic decline in the number of African-American teachers. Who better to facilitate the decimation of public education than the Walton Foundation, known for its love of voucher, charters, and privatization?

Categories Chicago, Closing schools, Privatization, Walton Foundation

Is the Tide Turning?

By dianeravitch
January 31, 2013 //
11

The Journey for Justice brought civil rights activists from across the nation to Washington, D.C., where they presented their demands to Secretary Duncan.

This is an important development because until now the leaders of the corporate reform movement have called themselves leaders of the “civil rights issue of our times.” This phrase has been bandied about by Joel Klein, Condoleeza Rice, Mitt Romney, Michelle Rhee, Michael Bloomberg, and Arne Duncan, as they applaud the closing of schools in minority communities, attack unions, and privatize public schools.

Now grassroots activists are speaking out in defense of their schools and communities. They are reclaiming the leadership of the civil rights from the 1%. Add to this the determination of the Garfield teachers in Seattle, the student protests in Portland, Oregon, and Providence, Rhode Island.

Something is in the air. Teachers, students. school boards, and parents are beginning to see what is happening, to understand that what is happening in their community is not a local issue but a determined, coordinated effort to privatize their schools.

Spring is coming.

Here is a first-hand account of the events associated with the Journey for Justice:

1/30/13
Dear SOS,
Many activists went to Washington, DC on a “Journey for Justice” to protest the school closings that are targeting our minority students living in impoverished communities.
Hear what transpired and be inspired.

This email came from Jaisal Noor- his coverage of the day

“Parents and Students Demand Nationwide Moratorium on Schools Closings
//”Journey for Justice” activists rally in DC to DOE investigate alleged Civil Rights violations in school closings
link: http://youtu.be/pCGrkb1qc7o

Chicago Parent and Activist Jitu Brown at “Journey for Justice” Hearing in DC
//Part 2 of TRN’s coverage of the “Journey for Justice” DOE Hearing on School Closings
link: http://youtu.be/1PX7y9-GWzI

New Orleans Parent and Activist Karran Harper Royal at “Journey for Justice” Hearing in DC
//Part 3 of TRN’s coverage of the “Journey for Justice” DOE Hearing on School Closings
link: http://youtu.be/c00PWQl8wLk

JAISAL NOOR: PUBLIC SCHOOL PARENTS AND STUDENTS FROM 18 CITIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY GATHERED IN WASHINGTON, DC THIS WEEK TO DEMAND A NATIONWIDE MORATORIUM ON SCHOOL CLOSINGS.
FEDERAL PROGRAMS LIKE RACE TO THE TOP OFFERED FINANCIAL INCENTIVES TO CITIES AND STATES FOR RADICALLY CHANGING THEIR SCHOOLS, INCLUDING FIRING STAFF AND SHUTTING SCHOOLS DOWN. WHILE THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TOUTED THE COMPETITIVE MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR PROGRAM AS A WAY TO IMPROVE EDUCATION AND BETTER PREPARE STUDENTS FOR COLLEGE AND THE WORKFORCE, MANY PARENTS, STUDENTS AND TEACHERS SAY THE CHANGES ARE DISPROPORTIONATELY AFFECTING LOW-INCOME COMMUNITIES OF COLOR.

(CLIP HELEN MOORE) “I came here to demand, I am demanding an education for our children. We pay the money, we have a right to have our kids educated”

THAT’S HELEN MOORE, A DETROIT EDUCATION ACTIVIST. SHE WAS ONE OF HUNDREDS WHO ATTENDED A HEARING TUESDAY IN WASHINGTON DC CALLING FOR A NATIONAL MORATORIUM ON SCHOOL CLOSINGS. BROWN WAS PART OF A GROUP THAT FILED A TITLE VI CIVIL RIGHTS COMPLAINT LAST SUMMER CHALLENGING THE POLICIES. SHE SAYS SCHOOL CLOSINGS IN DETROIT, A CITY ALREADY MARKED BY HIGH RATES OF UNEMPLOYMENT, VACANT HOUSES AND FORECLOSURES, ARE DESTABILIZING THE COMMUNITY.

(CLIP HELEN MOORE) “The neighborhood start going down as the families start moving out. They don;t want to be told what school to go to because there is no other school.

WHEN A SCHOOL IS CLOSED, THE STUDENT POPULATION OFTEN HAS TO TRAVEL TO A DIFFERENT SCHOOL BUILDING OR RE-APPLY TO GO BACK TO THEIR SCHOOL. ADDITIONALLY, THE STAFF IS OFTEN REPLACED AND RESOURCES ARE REGULARLY CUT, SOMETIMES IN FAVOR OF A CHARTER SCHOOL THAT IS OPENED IN THE SAME BUILDING.

SETH GALANTER IS WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION’S OFFICE OF CIVIL RIGHTS. HE SAID THEY ARE INVESTIGATING PEOPLE’S CONCERNS AND THE 6 TITLE VI COMPLAINTS THAT WERE FILED:

(CLIP SETH GALANTER)” When we look at these things, i need to emphasize, we cannot deal with every harmful decision that happens. sometimes people are negatively affected, but that doesn’t mean civil rights violation. THe question we are asking is if there’s an intent to discriminate or decision to make an illegal closing. Not only investigate weather to close schools, which schools to close, and how these decision impacted and affect on students. ”

AFTER THE HEARING, HUNDREDS OF PARENTS AND STUDENTS MARCHED TO THE MARTIN LUTHER KING MEMORIAL FOR A RALLY, CONTINUING THEIR CALL FOR JUSTICE. JOEL VELASQUEZ , A PARENT FROM OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA SAYS HE FOUGHT PLANS TO SHUT HIS SON’S SCHOOL BY LEADING A 3-WEEK LONG SIT-IN AT LAKEVIEW ELEMENTARY.

(CLIP JOEL VELASQUEZ) “After a year of trying to meet with officials, superintendent, we were left with no options, we took our school back. ”

HE WAS JOINED AT THE RALLY BY OAKLAND EDUCATOR AND ACTIVIST MIKE HUTCHINSON WHO SAYS SCHOOL CLOSINGS AND INCREASED CHARTER SCHOOLS ONLY TARGET THE CITY’S LOW INCOME COMMUNITIES

(CLIP HUTCHINSON) “If you look at a map of Oakland, we have the flatlands and the hills. In the flatlands, which are less affluent, that’s where all the school closures have happened, thats where all the charters are. There are no school closures and charters in the hills. If charter schools and school closures are the best option I would expect them to be applied across the board, but I haven’t seen that happen”

A DELEGATION FROM NEW ORLEANS, THE CITY WITH THE HIGHEST PROPORTION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN THE COUNTRY, ALSO TRAVELED TO DC. STUDENT TERREL MAJOR SAYS HIS PUBLIC SCHOOL GETS LESS RESOURCES THAN THE CHARTER SCHOOL THAT SHARES THE SAME BUILDING.

(CLIP TERREL MAJOR)”Like when the storm Issac came, after we came back from the storm, – their side of the cafeteria- we sit on different sides, their side of the cafeteria and our side was damaged for weeks. It made me feel lesser than, that I didn’t really matter in our own school.”

MAJOR CALLS THAT DISCRIMINATION. DESPITE THE CHALLENGES, SOME ARE ENCOURAGED BY THE GROWING GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT AGAINST SCHOOL CLOSINGS, INCLUDING NEW ORLEANS PARENT AND ACTIVIST KARRAN HARPER ROYAL.

(CLIP KARRAN HARPER ROYAL) I think we are at a turning point because there are people organizing around the country. In Seattle its testing, we are organizing around school closures, there are teachers organizing around evaluation systems. We are at a critical point because we are not getting the desired outcomes. ”

IN ADDITION TO A NATIONWIDE MORATORIUM ON SCHOOL CLOSINGS, ACTIVISTS ARE CALLING FOR SUSTAINABLE SCHOOL TRANSFORMATION, INCREASED RESOURCES AND A COMMUNITY-BASED INPUT PROCESS . ORGANIZERS HAVE VOWED TO RETURN TO WASHINGTON IF THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION DOES NOT TAKE ACTION. REPORTING FOR THE REAL NEWS AND FSRN, THIS IS JAISAL NOOR IN WASHINGTON.”

—

Melody
Colorado Information Coordinator
Save Our Schools
saveourschoolsmarch.org
http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/285175064843594/

Categories Charter Schools, Closing schools, Corporate Reformers, Duncan, Arne, Education Industry, Parents, Privatization, Students, Testing, U.S. Department of Education, U.S. education, Unions

Philadelphians Fight School Closures

By dianeravitch
January 30, 2013 //
2

The School Reform Commission of Philadelphia plans to close 37 schools to save money while opening charter schools.

Parents, students, teachers, and others are fighting back.

The city’s schools have been under state control for the past decade.

The School Reform Commission was urged by management consultants–the Boston Consulting Gtoup–to privatize more schools, even though Philadelphia tried it a decade ago and it didn’t work.

Categories Boston Consulting Group, Charter Schools, Closing schools, Corporate Reformers, Parents, Philadelphia, Privatization, Students
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