Archives for category: Supporting public schools
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Diane Ravitch Launches the NPE Video Series on the Fight for Public Education

By dianeravitch
September 17, 2017 //
9

The Network for Public Education commissioned a series of short video clips to explain the issues in education today. The filmmaker is professional filmmaker Michael Elliot, who is a parent of children in the New York City public schools.

NPE is fighting for the future and the very existence of public education. We oppose the relentless attacks on public schools, teachers, and the teaching profession by unaccountable billionaires, entrepreneurs, and public officials like Betsy DeVos. We oppose the status quo, in which privatization is offered as the remedy for inequitably funded public schools.

We believe in the importance of democratically controlled, adequately resourced public schools staffed by professional educators. Good public schools are essential to democracy. We want to improve them, strengthen then, make them better for every child.

This short clip, in which I am the speaker, is the first of a series of eight, each addressing different reasons to fight for our schools.

The audience consists of parents, educators, and other citizens. It was filmed in a warehouse in Brooklyn.

We want our message to reach the largest possible public. Please put it on Facebook, tweet it, share it with your friends and family.

Categories Betsy DeVos, Citizenship, Democracy, Network for Public Education, Supporting public schools

What Betsy DeVos Saw in Omaha

By dianeravitch
September 14, 2017 //
17

Betsy DeVos did not visit a public school in Omaha, somewhat strange since almost all children in Omaha attend public schools.

She visited the Nelson Mandela Elementary School, then visited a Catholic school. Her snub of public schools was blatant.

At the Mandela school, she was greeted by the founder, Dianne Seeman Lozier and by students and teachers wearing pro-public school stickers.

Several teachers and students wore “NE (Heart) Public Schools” stickers.

While Mandela is a private school funded by the Lozier Foundation and William and Ruth Scott Family Foundation, Lozier said in a release that school officials do not support charter schools, which DeVos has championed. The school has a strong cooperative relationship with OPS [Omaha Public Schools], she said.

“We agree with Secretary DeVos on rethinking how schools engage and teach students, however, we want to be clear that we are not advocates for charter schools,” Lozier said. “We don’t think taking money away from public schools is the right decision and are adamant that public school systems need those dollars to educate all students.”

In February, Mandela Principal Susan Toohey told The World-Herald that she was “extremely disappointed” by DeVos’ confirmation, which came on a razor-thin 51-50 Senate vote.

“We absolutely don’t think taking money away from public school systems is the right decision,” Toohey said then.

Nebraska was not fertile ground for DeVos’ message of all-choice-all-the-time.

Nebraska Loves Public Schools!

Categories Betsy DeVos, Charter Schools, Nebraska, Supporting public schools

See “Backpack Full of Cash” in Boston or Schedule a Viewing in Your Community

By dianeravitch
September 11, 2017 //
9

There will be a screening of “Backpack Full of Cash” in Boston on September 13. Everyone is invited. The film was made by professionals at Stone Lantern Productions and narrated by Matt Damon.

If you don’t live near Boston, go to the website, contact the producers, and arrange a screening in YOUR community.

If you recall, the Network for Public Education called on PBS to show “Backpack Full of Cash” to make up for showing a three-hour series attacking public schools and promoting the Betsy DeVos libertarian view. That show was funded by four libertarian foundations, as well as DeVos and Koch money. Despite the fact that NPE and The Daily Kos inundated PBS with more than 200,000 emails, they have not shown “Backpack.”

But you can see it by setting up a screening in your community.

Categories Corporate Reform, Supporting public schools

YOUR HELP IS NEEDED FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN ARIZONA! Voucher Referendum Clears Legal Hurdle!

By dianeravitch
September 8, 2017 //
4

The parents and educators who gathered signatures successfully met the legal requirements–and surpassed them–to get a referendum on the ballot in 2018 on vouchers. The legislature recently passed a law to extend vouchers to everyone, removing all limitations. Arizona’s public schools are already underfunded. Vouchers, even if few apply, as is typically the case, will drain even more resources from the public schools.

The referendum will be known as Proposition 305.

According to the Blog for Arizona, quoting the Arizona Capitol Times:

The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office has validated 86.6 percent of a sample of signatures collected by Save Our Schools Arizona, putting the school voucher referendum on track to reach the 2018 ballot.

The majority of the roughly 108,000 signatures deemed valid by the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office were gathered in Maricopa County, and now, SOS Arizona’s statewide validation average sits at about 87 percent overall.

That gives SOS Arizona a comfortable margin of error; with an 86 percent validation rate, the referendum would have nearly 93,000 valid signatures, about 18,000 more than it needs to make it to the ballot.

Elections Director Eric Spencer reiterated what Reagan announced via social media, adding that barring the pending legal challenges SOS Arizona still faces, the outlook for the referendum is “sunny.” He anticipated a notice of certification would be sent to the governor’s office on Sept. 11, the deadline for the remaining three counties to report results.

But if those counties were to report tomorrow, Spencer said, the Secretary of State’s Office is ready to certify what will be billed as Proposition 305 on the 2018 general election ballot.

Results from Cochise, Yavapai and Yuma counties are still pending.

“We feel like this validates – pun intended – everything that we’ve been saying all along,” said SOS Arizona spokeswoman Dawn Penich-Thacker.

“You don’t get rates like that by cutting corners or trying to cheat the rules, and this speaks loudly to the fact that we played by the rules, we did it right, we took incredible care to ensure every voter who signed would be heard,” she said, referring to allegations made in a lawsuit against the referendum. “At this point, the voucher proponents are opposing the voters of Arizona.”

The first of two lawsuits filed against the petitions was dropped–the one implying that the petitions were gathered by paid felons. The second lawsuit–which criticizes the signatures–is unlikely to succeed.

The voucher proponents, says another source in this story, are “coming unglued” at the prospect of facing a referendum where the public gets its say. The voucher supporters are the Goldwater Institute (Arizona-based), Americans for Prosperity (the Koch brothers, also known as the Kochtopus), and American Federation for Children (the Betsy DeVos creation, which should be renamed Americans for Vouchers or Americans for the Elimination of Public Schools).

This is a big win for advocates for public schools. Please go to the SOS Arizona page and donate whatever you can to help them. They are facing billionaires, and the billionaires will try to exhaust the resources and energy of SOS with frivolous lawsuits.

Give whatever you can. I have contributed. If you can send $5 or $10 or $50 or $100, or more, please do.

They need our help!!!

Categories Arizona, Betsy DeVos, Supporting public schools

Thank You, LeBron James and Dr. Dre, for Giving Back Where It Counts!

By dianeravitch
August 29, 2017 //
19

Now that charter schools are all the rage among the rich and powerful, we are accustomed to hear about celebrities who underwrite their own charter school, like Andre Agassi (whose namesake charter school in Las Vegas is one of the lowest performing schools in Nevada, Sean “Diddy” Coombs, sponsor of a charter in Harlem, and Pitbull, the misogynistic, foul-mouthed rapper who has his own charter school in Miami and speaks at national charter school conferences.

How refreshing it is to learn about two celebrities who are giving back to the public schools, which enroll the vast majority of children of color and need the help of their friends.

LeBron James and Dr. Dre are superstars in sports and music. They too could have put their name on a charter school. They didn’t.

LeBron James made a gift of $1 million to his alma mater, a Catholic School, St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, to build a new state-of-the-art gymnasium. He is also working with the Akron public schools to provide college scholarships and to open a new school for at-risk students. James has a motto: “I promise…to never forget where I came from.” The new public school for at-risk children is called the “I Promise” school.

Dr. Dre made a gift of $10 million to Compton High School in Compton, California, where he grew up. The gift will be used to build a performing arts center with a 1,200 seat theater and digital media production facilities.

LeBron James and Dr. Dre are giving back.

Categories Funding, Supporting public schools

Texas: The Billionaire Who Supports Public Schools

By dianeravitch
August 23, 2017 //
36

Yes, Virginia, there is one billionaire in America who supports public schools, not charter schools.

His name is Charles Butt. He became fabulously wealthy through ownership of a large chain of small-town grocery stores.

He must be a genius because he understands that it makes no sense to create a parallel system of publicly funded but privately managed schools.

Inside Philanthropy writes:

“Texas has the second-highest number of public school students in the U.S., just after California. Some 5 million kids are enrolled in more than 1,000 public school districts around the state. And nowhere is the K-12 population growing faster than in Texas, which is projected to see a 14 percent increase in students enrolled between 2014 and 2026. Already, the state is struggling with teacher shortages and experts believe the problem could get much worse.

“Enter Charles Butt, a Texas grocery mogul with a net worth of over $10 billion, who earlier this month announced his latest push to improve public education in his state, launching a $50 million initiative aimed at teacher training. The grants will provide scholarships for aspiring teachers and technical support for teacher training programs across Texas.

“The gift from Butt, chairman and CEO of the HEB grocery chain, is the latest in a multimillion-dollar effort to improve Texas education. Earlier this year, Butt gave $100 million to establish a leadership institute for school administrators.

“Beyond the size of Butt’s gifts—among the biggest for K-12 in recent years—what’s significant about these commitments is that Butt is not focused on bolstering charter schools or the array of nonprofits that support choice and accountability strategies. Instead, this mega-donor is looking to improve leadership and teaching in the traditional school districts that still educate the vast bulk Texas school children—and will for the foreseeable future.

“Whatever you may think about charter schools, funders have struggled to scale this approach to improving student outcomes. Butt has apparently concluded that his giving will have the greatest impact by bolstering the school system that exists, as opposed to building out a parallel K-12 universe. These days, more top donors seem to be thinking along the same lines as Butt. Even as existing charter funders double down on this strategy, it appears that fewer of the new mega-donors arriving in K-12 are focusing on choice.”

I sure wish I knew who those other “top donors” are. Where are those other “mega-donors”?

Thank God for Charles Butt.

He sees what billionaires like Gates, Broad, and the Waltons don’t: Help the schools where 85-90% of the students are. Do not fund Betsy DeVos’s privatization agenda.

Categories Billionaires, Supporting public schools

Colorado: “The Most Important School Board Race” in the Nation

By dianeravitch
August 7, 2017 //
3

Douglas County, Colorado, will have a crucial election this fall between its current board majority and challengers. Some say it is the most important school board race in the nation.

Douglas County is the most affluent school district in the state. Yet wealthy Coloradans have showered money on pro-privatization school board members and candidates. On the other side is a pro-public education slate.

The rightwing majority consists of four members on a board of seven. The majority created a voucher program. Its anti-teachers policies have led to a high rate of exodus by experienced teachers.

The Douglas County voucher program is currently under appeal in federal courts.

Two slates are competing in the race for school board.

The differences between them are stark if you read this perceptive article. One is tied to corporate reform/Republican circles, the other is actually pro-public school.

Categories Colorado, Education Industry, Privatization, Supporting public schools, Vouchers

Mercedes Schneider: A Film You Must See about the Passion for Teaching and the Importance of Human Interaction in the Classroom

By dianeravitch
August 5, 2017 //
4

Mercedes Schneider was invited to screen a film titled “Passion to Teach,” which was produced and directed by career teachers, Bart Nourse and Sandria Parsons.

She loved it! She provides information about how you can arrange a screening.

She writes:

Passion to Teach is a phenomenal film that poignantly defies the processed-food-product nature of top-down, politically-popular, test-score-centered education reforms.

I have two favorite parts. The first involves an assignment in which students and volunteer adults recreate immigrant arrival at Ellis Island and the subsequent application process for gaining US citizenship.

The second involves the end of the film, an ending that celebrates the teacher-student connection that extends well beyond a student’s time in a beloved teacher’s classroom.

However, the major point of the Parsons-Nourse film is not merely to celebrate the teacher-student relationship. It is to fuel pro-public-school activism.

Categories Accountability, Education Industry, Real Education, Supporting public schools, Teachers and Teaching, Testing

Liberia: Teachers Oppose Outsourcing of Schools to For-Profit Bridge International Academies

By dianeravitch
July 31, 2017 //
14

The Liberian Teachers Association and other African teachers groups published a protest against the commercializations of the nation’s schools.

“In January 2016, in a controversial move, the Government of Liberia announced its intention to outsource its primary and pre-primary education system to a US-based for-profit corporate actor, Bridge International Academies (BIA). Following considerable opposition to this unprecedented move the Government conceived a pilot program, Partnership Schools for Liberia (PSL), where eight actors would operate 93 schools in the first year.

“Despite claiming that PSL would be subject to a rigorous evaluation through a Randomized Control Trial (RCT), six months into the trial, the Ministry of Education (MoE) decided to increase the number of schools to 202 in the project’s second year. Serious unanswered concerns, including children being denied access to their local schools, have not been enough for the government to pause and reflect. This rush to expand the pilot before independent research is available has been rightly criticized by the international academic and research community and the appointed RCT team who questioned the government’s capacity to hold providers accountable.

“In addition to lack of independent evidence supporting the government’s actions, the PSL is also plagued with a lack of transparency. To date not one of the eight current Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) between the service providers and the MoE have been made public. Despite the secrecy surrounding the PSL, information that has entered the public domain thus far gives rise to serious concerns about the sustainability of the program.

“This lack of independent evidences, transparency and resultant lack of accountability does not make for good policy nor good governance. Furthermore, the increased power put into the hands of undemocratic, often foreign private institutions that make decisions with little community input and accountability undermines our voice and sovereignty over our education system and our nation as a whole.

“We fear, once having outsourced our schools through this PSL arrangement we will never be able to get them back. We will be at the mercy of large corporate operators who will seek to maximize profit at the expense of Liberia’s children and their future.

“The many unanswered questions give rise to genuine concern about the future direction in the provision of quality education for all.

“Considering:

“• Liberia’s 2011 Education Law which guarantees free and compulsory education for all.
“• The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education Kishore Singh’s words which describe the intended outsourcing of Liberia schools as “violating Liberia’s legal and moral obligations,” and that “such arrangements are a blatant violation of Liberia’s international obligations under the right to education.”
“• The absence of clear, independent, and public research supporting the PSL program.
“• Serious ongoing issues including the lack of community input, transparency, and accountability of the program.
“We call on the government to immediately abandon the PSL program.
The children of Liberia deserve evidence based, sustainable improvements in public education, including:
“• Free, quality, early childhood education
“• Free, compulsory, quality primary and secondary education
“• A focus on gender equality and girls’ education
“• Quality teaching and learning environments and resources
“• Quality alternative education for over-age children.
“• Policies focusing on the most marginalized children.
“• Effective, negotiated school and system monitoring and supervision.

“We need:

“• Quality teacher training and on-going professional development; and
“• Our teachers to be properly supported and remunerated, on time, and respected.

“Acknowledging the challenges that continue to impact on the provision of education, we reiterate our preparedness now, as we have in the past, to work constructively with the government and any other interested parties to develop a sustainable Liberian plan leading to the ongoing improvement in the provision of quality education for all Liberian children.

“SIGNED:

National Teachers’ Association of Liberia (NTAL)
Civil Society and Trade Union Institutions of Liberia (CTIL)
National Health Workers Association of Liberia (NAHWAL)
Roberts International Airport Workers Union (RIAWU)
Coalition for Transparency and Accountability in Education (COTAE)
Diversified Educators Empowerment Project (DEEP)
National Christian Council of Liberia (NCCL)
Union of Islamic Citizens of Liberia (UICL) Monrovia Consolidated School System Teachers’ Association (MCSSTA) Liberia Education for All Technical Committee (LETCOM)
Concern Universities Students of the Ministry of Education Local Scholarship Program (CUSMOP)
United Methodist Church Human Rights Monitor (UMCHRM)
National Association of Liberian School Principals (NALSP)

“With the support of:
Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT)
Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT)
South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) Uganda National Teachers Union (UNATU) Education International (EI)”

Categories For-Profit, International, Students, Supporting public schools, Teachers and Teaching, Unions

Do You Want to Host a Community Screening of “Backpack Full of Cash”?

By dianeravitch
July 18, 2017 //
4

Sarah Mondale, Vera Aronow, and Stone Lantern Films have created an excellent professional documentary about the fight to save our public schools from corporate reformers. It is called “Backpack Full of Cash.” They have been showing it at local film festivals. You can host a screening in your community.

When PBS aired the slick privatization propaganda called “School Inc.,” the Network for Public Education called on PBS to show “Backpack.” NPE generated nearly 12,000 emails to PBS. The Daily Kos duplicated our campaign and generated more than 160,000. See the film and you will agree that it deserves a wide audience.

I received this message from the Backpack team:

“Tell your friends, our campaign is up and running!

“We’re happy to announce that our BACKPACK FULL OF CASH grassroots screening campaign is up and running! BACKPACK, a new documentary narrated by Matt Damon, explores the real cost of privatizing public education. The film focuses on how charters, vouchers and other market-based “reforms” are impacting the 90% of American students who rely on public schools. Thank you to the hundreds of people around the country who have inquired about screening opportunities so far. We are making our way through the list and are grateful for your enthusiasm and patience. We’ve begun planning screenings with parents, teachers, students, universities, civic groups, churches, and more. If you haven’t heard from us yet, we’ll be in touch soon.

“In the meantime, you can see the film in a few places this summer:

“1. The Macon Film Festival (Macon, GA) –– Friday, July 21, 3:30pm, Theatre Macon and Saturday, July 22, 11:45am, Cox Capitol Theatre.(filmmakers in attendance)

“2. The Wisconsin Public Education Network Summer Summit (Lake Mills, WI) –– Wednesday, August 9, 3pm, Lake Mills High School.(filmmakers in attendance)

“3. The New York State Writers Institute, University of Albany, SUNY (Albany, NY) –– Friday, September 8, 7pm, Page Hall. (filmmakers in attendance)

“In addition to all this action, we just returned from wonderful film festivals across the country including Seattle International Film Festival, Nashville Film Festival, FilmFestDC and a five-event tour of Alberta, Canada, hosted by Support Our Students Alberta––where privatization is an emerging issue. Backpack attracted a big crowd in each place.

“Get involved this summer! Go to www.BackpackFullofCash.com and request information about how you can host a screening in your community. Make a tax-deductible donation to help fuel the BACKPACK Community Engagement Campaign. We cannot do this without your support.

“Thank you!

“Sarah Mondale, Vera Aronow, and the BACKPACK team”

Categories Resistance, Supporting public schools
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