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BREAKING NEWS: 96% of Chicago Teachers Authorize a Strike!

By dianeravitch
December 14, 2015 //
9

Just in: The members of the Chicago Teachers Union authorized a strike, if a deal cannot be negotiated with the Chicago Public School board, which is controlled by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. It is ironic that the state law was changed a few years ago, under pressure from Jonah Edelman and Stand for Children, to make it more difficult for Chicago teachers to strike. The law says that the union must win the approval of 75% of its members. Edelman boasted that CTU would never get 75% to vote for a strike. He was wrong. The CTU proved him wrong in 2012, when it went on strike after a near-unanimous vote. And this week it proved him wrong again. Edelman spent millions on the state’s best lobbyists to hobble the union. He lost; millions wasted that could have been spent putting nurses, teachers of the arts, and a certified librarian in every public school in Chicago.

 

 

 

IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Stephanie Gadlin

 

Chicago Teachers Union Details on Strike Authorization Vote: 96.5% of Educators Say “Yes”

 

CHICAGO – The Chicago Teachers Union released the following details regarding its recent strike authorization vote which was conducted over a three-day period December 9-11, 2015 in all schools where Chicago Teachers Union members are employed. The results indicate the following:

 

No. of Actual Votes: 22,678
No. of Eligible Voters: 24,752

 

Percentage of Members who Voted: 91.6 %
Percentage of Members who Voted ‘Yes’: 88%
No. of ‘Yes’ Votes: 21,782
Percentage of Members who Voted Yes: 96.05%

 
STATEMENT BY CTU VICE PRESIDENT JESSE SHARKEY

“Late last week Teachers, PSRPs, Clinicians—members of the CTU—voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike. The actual result was just over 96% of those voting marked ‘Yes’ with a 92% turnout. Rahm, Forrest Claypool—Listen to what teachers and educators are trying to tell you: do not cut the schools anymore, do not make the layoffs that you have threatened; instead, respect educators and give us the tools we need to do our jobs. In particular:

 

(1) Improve the teaching and learning conditions by reducing standardized testing, eliminate time-sucking compliance paperwork, and restore professional respect and autonomy to teachers on matters like grades. These improvements cost nothing;

 

(2) Staff our schools at an adequate level. We deserve reasonable class sizes, instruction in art, music, science and technology, a library with a librarian, a nurse;

 

(3) and, Help our schools and our communities address the social crisis in large swaths of our city. While we do not expect the schools to fix homelessness, broken immigration policy, crisis-level unemployment, and racism, we must address the undeniable fact that these problems spill over into our schools and devastate the lives of our children. We have modest demands to address these problems—allow our counselors to counsel, approve restorative justice programs in targeted schools, help with translation and bilingual services.

 

Chicago Teachers Union members do not want to strike, but we do demand that you listen to us. Do not cut our schools, do not lay off educators or balance the budget on our backs.”

Categories Chicago, Unions

Chicago Teachers Union Counts Vote on Possible Strike

By dianeravitch
December 12, 2015 //
1

The results of the voting on a possible strike by the Chicago Teachers Union won’t be available until the beginning of the week.

 

Even if the CTU membership votes to strike, there will be a period of fact-finding. The earliest a strike would take place, if the members approve the strike, would be March.

 

Due to the lobbying of anti-union Stand for Children, a strike requires approval by at least 75% of the membership. Jonah Edelman of Stand for Children fought for that approval margin and predicted (wrongly) that the CTU would never get 75% to agree to strike. In 2012, the union vote for a strike was approved by 98% of members voting.

Categories Chicago, Teachers, Unions

When Patrick Hayes Met Dr. Steve Perry in South Carolina, Bashing Teachers and Selling Charters and Vouchers

By dianeravitch
December 8, 2015 //
47

Over a number of decades, some fabulously wealthy right-wingers and the think tanks they support have determined to convince African-American families that privately managed charters and vouchers would “save” their children from “failing” public schools. If you are very rich and you don’t want your taxes to become outrageous, then it makes sense to persuade people who have little that poverty is just an excuse for bad teachers. Forget about poverty. Why should our society invest hundreds of billions of dollars in restoring our infrastructure and creating good jobs for everyone willing to work, when it is so much less costly to get people angry at teachers and public schools? Who cares if we spent two trillion (with a T) on war in the past dozen years? Why waste time imagining what half of that would have done to reduce income inequality in this country? So the right-wing think tanks adopted the views of their founders and their funders, which was that the 1% are job-producers, and they must not have higher taxes. Nope.

 

This is the background to the nasty confrontation between teacher Patrick Hayes and Dr. Steve Perry of Hartford, Connecticut. Dr. Perry brought his message about how poverty doesn’t matter, how kids are hurt by their teachers, and how they should be in charter schools and they should get vouchers to get away from teachers’ unions. South Carolina doesn’t have teachers’ unions, but that is beside the point. And of course, he talked about the miracles at his school in Hartford.

 

It is somewhat startling to think that African American families in South Carolina might take up the cause that once belonged to White Citizens Councils in the South, supporting vouchers to avoid desegregation.

 

Here is an audio file of the event.

 

Patrick Hayes had the effrontery to challenge Dr. Perry. Dr. Perry referred to Hayes as a Satan and a blogger (yes, a blogger!).

 

Well, read it for yourself. And ask yourself what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., might say today about those who say that poverty doesn’t matter, that vouchers are necessary to escape public education, and that unions are the enemies of oppressed minorities.

 

Someone has been hoodwinked. But let’s not talk about hoods in South Carolina.

Categories Charter Schools, Poverty, Race, South Carolina, Unions, Vouchers

Chicago Teachers Union Delegates Unanimously Endorse Strike

By dianeravitch
December 5, 2015 //
12

Facing massive layoffs and outraged by the Mayor’s closing public schools while opening non-union charter schools, the Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates unanimously endorsed a strike vote.

 

The decision about whether to strike will now go to the members who will vote over the period from December 9-11. The vote will last for three days to make sure that every member has a chance to vote.

 

Mike Klonsky says that Rahm Emanuel has become an albatross for the Democratic party.

Categories Chicago, Emanuel, Rahm, Teachers, Unions

Breaking News: L.A. Judge Issues Preliminary Injunction Against Charter Chain

By dianeravitch
December 4, 2015 //
9

Judge James C. Chalfant issued a preliminary injunction against the largest charter chain in Los Angeles, preventing the charter corporation from interfering with teachers’ rights to unionize. This is significant, because nationally, more than 90% of charter schools are non-union and attract support from anti-union, ultra-conservative foundations like the Walton Family Foundation to break the teachers’ unions.

 

The injunction, which was sought by California’s Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), follows a temporary restraining order the judge issued in late October when he ordered Alliance to cease activities that PERB and UTLA claimed were blocking the unionization effort.

The injunction is another legal blow to Alliance, which is LA Unified’s largest charter organization with 27 schools and around 700 teachers who are currently not represented by any union. After PERB sided with UTLA, the union won the restraining order, and PERB took the rare legal step of going to court itself against Alliance, filing a formal complaint in August.

Alliance officials have made no secret of their opposition to its teachers’ unionizing and have maintained that their actions are legal. Alliance spokesperson Catherine Suitor asserted that PERB and the court based their rulings on inaccurate information provided by UTLA and that UTLA is using delay tactics in court because it has not garnered the support of a majority of Alliance teachers….

 

In his ruling, Judge James C. Chalfant said Alliance administrators should be enjoined from:

Maintaining or sponsoring petitions on its website soliciting employee signatures that affirm opposition to unionization.
Polling certified employees about their positions on unionization.
Denying UTLA representatives access to school sites after-hours.
Blocking UTLA emails to Alliance employees.
The judge also ruled that Alliance officials must refrain from approaching any UTLA official within 100 feet outdoors or within 40 feet indoors (unless student safety is involved) and that Alliance officials must meet with UTLA officials to discuss implementing the preliminary injunction.

Chalfant’s earlier order invited the parties to argue in court on Nov. 17 why a preliminary injunction of 90 days should not be issued. But he ruled yesterday that his injunction would remain in effect until Alliance complied with the PERB administrative proceedings on all complaints.

Categories Education Reform, Los Angeles, Unions

Peter Greene: Won’t Someone Please Debate Campbell Brown?

By dianeravitch
December 3, 2015 //
16

Peter Greene reviews a puff piece about Campbell Brown in the Murdoch-owned conservative journal, and woe is Campbell. She wants to be taken seriously, but everyone ignores her. Worse, she has to share office space, because with a $4 million budget, apparently she can’t afford space of her own. We know she hates the unions and she sees them behind every conspiracy to foil her success. We know she also thinks that teachers should have no tenure or any other kinds of job protections because the ranks of public school teachers are loaded with sexual predators, or so she believes. Apparently, she loves to tell the story over and over to everyone who will listen that I once referred to her as pretty, or something like that, because it implied that she was on TV for her looks, not her brains. In other words, she is playing the victim.

 

It is not easy to see Campbell Brown as a victim. We know that her children attend an expensive Yeshiva (sorry, Campbell, my grandchildren went there too), and that she has a good life, except for her need to slam and belittle people who do work that is far more socially valuable than her own.

 

Peter notes the recently released FBI tapes of conversations between disgraced and indicted State Senate leader Dean Skelos and his son (also indicted); father Skelos told his son that he was heading into Manhattan to meet with Campbell Brown and some billionaires.

 

Maybe they were separate meetings. Maybe he wanted to assure Campbell Brown of his admiration for her brains and beauty, while he was meeting with the billionaires to pledge his support for more charter schools. Or maybe they were all at the same meeting, all agreeing that teachers are paid too much, have too much job security, and all public schools should be replaced by charter schools, where there are no unions.

Categories Corporate Reformers, Unions

NY Post:Those Evil Unions Control Parents

By dianeravitch
November 30, 2015 //
21

Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post hates the teachers’ union. It hates the union so much that it blames the union for whatever it doesn’t like. Today, the Post says the massive opt out in New York was controlled by the union. Imagine that: the parents of 220,000 children take orders from the union. Wow, who knew that parents were so easily manipulated?

 

As the Post sees it, the union doesn’t want teachers to be evaluated at all, so they pulled the puppet strings and the parents did as the union bosses told them. The stronghold of the union is New York City, where the number of opt outs was minuscule. Why didn’t the opt out movement succeed where the union was strongest?

 

Note to the editorial board of the New York Post: Please meet with the leaders of New York State Allies for Public Education. Let them explain to you why they led the opt outs.

Categories Education Reform, Opt Out, Parents, Standardized Testing, Unions

Please Read Jamaal Bowman’s Brilliant Open Letter to Cuomo

By dianeravitch
November 25, 2015 //
24

Jamaal Bowman wrote a powerful and important letter to Governor Andrew Cuomo. Bowman is a Néw York City middle school principal.

Please read and share. Help it go viral. It is an incisive critique of corporate reform. When did it become “liberal” to attack unions, career teachers, and public education? This used to be the agenda of the far rightwing of the Republican Party.

He writes:

“I hope this letter finds you and your family in good health and good spirits. I write not only to you, but also to those who share your view of public education….

“I also want to personally thank you for allowing me to provide testimony to the common core commission at the College of New Rochelle…..The work of the commission, along with your hiring of Jere Hochman as Deputy Secretary of Education, has me very excited about the direction in which we are moving.

“My excitement turned to devastation however as I watched your November 17th interview with David Gergen at the Harvard Kennedy School of Public Leadership [link to video is in Bowman’s post]. As an education practitioner for sixteen years, it was both frustrating and disheartening to watch the two of you pontificate about public education in what I consider to be a dangerous and irresponsible manner.

“Your discussion was wide ranging; covering topics from police reform to the new construction at LaGuardia Airport. As the conversation shifted to education, you told the audience that you are in constant conflict with the teacher union. You shared that your “unabashed” support for charter schools, to which you refer to as “laboratories of invention,” as well as your teacher evaluation mandate, are two of the causes of this conflict. You also went on to share your excitement around the possibilities of technology as a means to help circumvent the “machine” of the teacher union bureaucracy.

“Mr. Gergen, to whom you refer to as one of the experts and craftsman of his generation, recklessly framed the conversation in a way that greatly mis-categorizes the public education narrative. Mr. Gergen stated that teacher unions don’t want “young smart” people from Teach for America entering the profession. He then went on to praise charter schools as places that provide “24/7 support to children and families,” and “really work with the children themselves.” While Mr. Gergen made these comments, you nodded your head enthusiastically in agreement.

“There are two things that are incredibly careless about this conversation. First, it lacks a valid and reliable research base. Second, the two of you have a platform to really shape public discourse. As such, you must take extra special care to avoid facilitating misinformation regarding public education or any other topic. If you don’t, the perpetuation of child suffering will continue in schools throughout the state — as it does in schools all over the country.

“What does the data tell us about these widely discussed topics? First, public schools as a whole “outperform” charter schools. I place the word outperform in quotes because of our narrow view of what it means to perform in public schools today. The few charter schools that are celebrated for closing the alleged “achievement gap” have faced extreme criticism and scrutiny for their draconian test prep and recruitment practices, and boast incredibly high student and staff attrition rates. Some may argue these practices are the price to pay for achievement, but consider these questions:

“Are we ready to accept the instability and emotional trauma that comes with schools designed around draconian test prep practices?

“Does high performance on standardized assessments truly equate to what we all mean by achievement?
Research shows otherwise: In 2003, the “gold standard” of charter schools, KIPP, had a graduating class that ranked fifth in New York City on the math standardized tests. Six years after entering college, only 21% of that cohort had earned a college degree.

“In the landmark book, ‘Crossing The Finish Line: Completing College at America’s Public Universities,’ former college presidents William G. Bowen and Michael S. McPherson found that student high school G.P.A. was more predictive of college success than S.A.T. scores.

“As you can see Mr. Governor, high performance on standardized tests alone do not equate to a quality education. What research identifies as a determinate of quality schools, lies in a well rounded curriculum inclusive of both academic and adaptive skills, where students get to solve problems creatively, work with their peers, and experience both teacher and student centered pedagogy.

“As to your comments regarding charter schools serving as “labs of invention,” allow me to remind you that some of the most innovative schools in the country are public schools right here in your state. From the NYC iSchool, to Westside Collaborative, to Brooklyn New School, to Quest to Learn, there is amazing work happening in unionized public schools that we all can learn from. Charter schools that promote silent breakfast, silent lunch, silent hallway transitions, and have teachers walking around with clipboards to give demerits to students who misbehave, do not sound like labs of invention to me — they sound like labs of oppression.

“Your statement related to wanting teacher evaluations because “right now we have none” is categorically false. Teachers have been evaluated throughout my entire career. With regard to the new evaluation system, the issue isn’t that teachers are averse to evaluations, they just want evaluations that are fair and just. An evaluation that is 50% aligned to invalid and unreliable tests, created by a 3rd party for-profit company, aligned to new standards and curriculum with minimal teacher input, is both unfair and unjust. What makes matters worse is by continuing to turn a deaf ear to the research on child and brain development, we continue to have an achievement gap that will never be closed by an evaluation system tied to test scores.

“Furthermore, why are charter schools exempt from your teacher evaluation plan? That also doesn’t seem fair or just.

“Regarding Mr. Gergen’s comments, teacher unions aren’t afraid of “young smart” teachers entering the profession. On the contrary, that is what they want! Teacher unions oppose Teach for America (TFA) because the majority of TFA recruits leave the classroom within three years, with most leaving the profession entirely. This obviously creates a continued vacuum in our most vulnerable communities and has indirectly undermined the recruitment and stability of teachers via traditional pathways. Further, Teach for America has been around for 25 years and our so called “achievement gap” has grown. Their impact has been a net zero at best for the profession.

“Mr. Gergen also seems to think only charter schools support students and families 24/7. To this I say check my phone records, and the phone records of educators throughout the country. We all love our students as our own children and we are constantly in touch with families into the evenings and on weekends to support them with whatever they need. Mr. Gergen disrespects and undermines the profession with these nonsensical statements.

“Lastly, regarding your excitement for technology, technology is simply a tool to help us get things done more efficiently and effectively. It will not in and of itself “revolutionize public education” as you say. The education revolution begins with a paradigm shift driven by the needs and brilliance of the children we serve.

“If we really want to transform public education, Mr. Governor, we have to stop investing in purchasing, administering, and scoring annual assessments from grades 3-8. We know 3rd grade reading scores predict future outcomes, so let’s invest heavily in early childhood education, teacher training, and school support. Lets focus on birth to age eight programs, implement a strong literacy and Montessori curriculum, and institute portfolio based assessments and apprenticeships in grades 6-12. If we do this, you will have a model education system for the world to aspire to.

“Mr. Governor, you, like many of your elected colleagues, are lawyers, not educators. I am an educator. I have been throughout my professional life. I do not know the law, and would never try to speak with any conviction about what should happen in a courtroom. What’s most dangerous about the public education discourse is the fact that finance, tech, government, and the “elite” are all driving the conversation without educators included. They have the audacity, to make life-altering decisions for other people’s children, while sending their children to independent schools.

“The masses of people, which are our most vulnerable, continue to be handled without empathy or care. Empathy requires that we walk in the shoes of others; something that charter reformers, common core advocates, and Teach for America has never done.

“In closing, I want to turn your attention back to your announcement of the Common Core commission. Do you realize that in that speech you mentioned the word “standards” ten times, and the word “tests” fifteen times, while only mentioning the word “learning” one time? Standards and tests are meaningless if they aren’t grounded in learning. Learning is innate, natural, and driven by the needs of children. This is why we must change the conversation from standards and testing to teaching and learning. This fundamental flaw in ideology continues to lead our education system down a destructive path.

“Further, although you and Mr. Gergen discussed innovation as essential to moving the education agenda forward, during your Common Core commission announcement the words creativity, collaboration, and communication, which many experts believe are pillars of innovation, received a total of zero mentions. Innovation is not just about using a computer, tablet, or smartphone; innovation is a way of thinking, doing, and being.

“Thank you Mr. Governor for all that you do for our state. In the future please be mindful to handle the topic of public education with extreme care. Be weary of your pro charter school advisors. The charter school money train and gentrification plans are well documented. Our work isn’t about teacher unions, charters, or technology; our work is about children — and the future of our democracy.”

“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final say in reality.”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

—

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reform, Cuomo, Andrew, Teach for America, Unions

Chicago Teachers Union Plans Mass Rally on Monday

By dianeravitch
November 21, 2015 //
6

Facing an unprecedented round of new cuts and mass layoffs, the CTU will rally in protest on Monday.

MEDIA PLANNING ADVISORY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Stephanie Gadlin
November 20, 2015 312/329-6250 (office)

CTU’s Karen Lewis to lead thousands of members in Monday’s labor rally as members gear up to take strike authorization vote

CHICAGO –The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) will hold a spirited winter labor solidarity rally at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, November 23rd in Grant Park at Butler Field. Thousands of teachers, paraprofessionals and school clinicians will be joined by students, parents, elected officials, activists, clergy and others in a spirited event designed to showcase the union’s solidarity and prepare its members for an upcoming strike authorization vote. The rally, which will feature a keynote address by CTU President Karen Lewis and a special performance by Hip Hop group Rebel Diaz, is free and open to the general public and will include free food and hot beverages for participants.

Teachers will also pay special tribute to victims of Chicago’s gun violence, including Dr. Betty Howard, a special education teacher at Brooks Academy, who was killed by gunfire in May 2014, and the scores of CPS students impacted by the city’s homicides and out-of-control gun violence. The following is for media planning purposes. A press riser and “mult-box” will be made available for broadcast media; and other reporters.

WHO:

Chicago Teachers Union officials: President Karen Lewis, Vice President Jesse Sharkey, Recording Secretary Michael Brunson, Financial Secretary Kristine Mayle; CTU’s Big Bargaining Team; CTU Rank and File members; Loretta Johnson, secretary/treasurer of the American Federation of Teachers, Washington, D.C.; Illinois Federation of Teachers President Dan Montgomery; Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr., president Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, Ald. Sue Garza (10th Ward); Rep. Mary E. Flowers (31st); Rep. Robert Martwick (19th District); Ken Franklin, president Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308; Tommy Sams, president Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241; Keith Kelleher, president Service Employees International Union/HCII; Audrey Sauglin, president Illinois Education Association; Aislin Pulley, Black Lives Matter; Destiny Evans, student leader, Gwendolyn Brooks College Prep; Matthew Mata, student leader, Walter Payton Prep High School; family of the late Dr. Betty Howard, CPS teacher killed by gun violence; Joanne Murray, AFSCME rank and file leader; Elder Kevin Ford, St. Paul Church of God in Christ; Mike Siviwe Elliot, Chicago Alliance Against Political Repression; Atty. Rene Heyback, Chicago Coaltion for the Homeless; Asia Harris, spoken word artist; Katelyn Johnson, executive director of Action NOW; Anna Jones, Dyett Hunger Striker/Kenwood Oakwood Community Organization; Stephanie De Leon, student leader, Brighten Park Neighborhood Council; Rev. Paul Jakes, pastor New Tabernacle of Faith, MB Church; Rebel Diaz; and, others.

WHAT:

CTU Winter Labor Solidarity Rally & Community Tailgate

WHEN:

Monday, November 23, 2015
5:30 PM to 7:30 PM*

(A pre-rally speak out begins at 4:30 p.m. in preparation for the main event)

WHERE:

Butler Field, Grant Park

100 S. Lake Shore Drive

###

The Chicago Teachers Union represents nearly 27,000 teachers and educational support personnel working in the Chicago Public Schools, and by extension, the more than 400,000 students and families they serve. The CTU is an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers and the Illinois Federation of Teachers and is the third largest teachers local in the United States and the largest local union in Illinois. For more information please visit CTU’s website at http://www.ctunet.com.
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Categories Chicago, Unions

Michigan: How Far Will a Charter School Go to Prevent Teachers from Joining a Union?

By dianeravitch
November 4, 2015 //
15

This is the story of an enthusiastic young teacher who eagerly sought a position in a Michigan charter school, only to be disillusioned by the administration’s indifference to teachers and their views about their work.

When teachers in the charter school became frustrated by their powerlessness, they decided to form a union. Bad idea. The enthusiastic young teacher was out of a job and out of teaching.

The story is bigger than just one person, however. It is the story of how charters began with the sponsorship of the nation’s most important union leader, Albert Shanker, but is now vehemently opposed to unions.

Nationally, 93% of charter schools are non-union. Their teachers are at-will employees.

In Michigan, 79% of the charters operate for profit.

This was not what Shanker had in mind.

When reformers wonder why unions oppose charter schools, it is because the overwhelming majority of charter schools do not permit their teachers to join a union and to have a voice in their working conditions, in the curriculum, or discipline policies, or anything else.

The money behind the charter movement never wanted unions in their schools.

[Michigan’s] focus on free markets and privatization — 79 percent of Michigan’s charter schools are run by for-profit management companies— set a somewhat strained tone between the local unions and the charter movement. Nationally a similar phenomenon was occurring, resulting in the AFT and the National Education Association, the two largest teachers unions, taking national stances against charters as well. In 1993, one year after the first charter opened, Shanker himself renounced the idea, calling charters an anti-union “gimmick.”

As unions pushed against charter schools, the education reform movement shoved back with a narrative of schools in crisis, which largely blamed incompetent teachers, and the unions protecting them, for the achievement gap. Charter schools could do their part in this generation’s civil rights battle — education equality — by using their flexibility to get around unions and collective bargaining, and instead stand up for hiring-and-firing latitude.

While the Michigan Association of Public School Academies’ spokesperson Buddy Moorehouse says the coalition for charter school leaders “does not have an official stance on unions” (MT tried getting in touch with president Dan Quisenberry on several occasions but he would only speak through Moorehouse), their website indicates partiality explaining that most charter schools don’t have unions because they “prefer the ability to [be] innovative and remove the red tape element when a teacher is not performing.”

The Great Lakes Education Project, a Michigan-based charter advocacy group, more accurately highlights the dichotomy between unions and charter schools. Funded largely by the right-to-work, union adverse DeVos clan, the organization has been forthright in its declaration of union failures, stating on its website in 2004 that unions are “status quo forces looking to protect their cash cow.”

The entire article is worth reading to understand the politics of unions and charters. Unions are now trying to organize charter teachers, and they hail each school that they win as a big success, but the reality is that the charter movement is at heart a union-busting movement. Its leaders are hostile to unions, as they are to public audits and any other intrusion on their freedom to operate as they wish with public money.

Categories Charter Schools, For-Profit, Michigan, Unions
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