Archives for category: Vouchers
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Scandal Deepens in Louisiana: Will Anyone Investigate?

By dianeravitch
May 21, 2013 //
8

Tom Aswell, investigator journalist and blogger, is covering and uncovering evidence of fraud in the Louisiana Course Choice program.

Hundreds of students were somehow registered for online courses without the knowledge of the students or their parents. How did this happen? This would mean a massive transfer of funds from Louisiana taxpayers to online corporations based in Texas, connected to former Secretary of Education Rod Paige.

What a tangled web of connections.

Course Choice is part of Jindal’s privatization plan, along with vouchers. The Louisiana Supreme Court ruled recently 6-1 that Jindal may not use the funding dedicated to public schools to pay for vouchers and course choice. But John White is undeterred by inconveniences like court rulings.

New Yorkers will be interested to note that former NYC Deputy Chancellor Eric Nadelstern, who worked for Joel Klein and was John White’s boss, endorsed the online courses that are part of the scandal.

Categories Louisiana, Privatization, Vouchers

Big $$$ Behind NC Privatization Bills

By dianeravitch
May 21, 2013 //
9

Same old story in North Carolina as elsewhere: big money from reactionary millionaires funding the theft of public education. American Federation for Children is based in Michigan. It supports vouchers.

Wake the town and tell the people.

Large, out-of-state donors fuel North Carolina’s school “choice” movement
More than $90,000 funneled to state legislative campaigns in 2012

By Lindsay Wagner

In March of 2012, North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis and ten other state lawmakers flew to Florida on the dime of Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina (PEFNC), an organization known for endorsing conservative education reform initiatives, including school vouchers.

In the year that has followed, North Carolina has absorbed a flood of more than $90,000 in campaign contributions to lawmakers friendly to the school choice movement.

The stated intent of last year’s trip was to educate North Carolina lawmakers about Florida’s tax credit scholarship program, which encourages companies to donate scholarship money for low-income children to attend private schools by providing matching state tax dollars. Critics of the Florida program say it’s a thinly-disguised voucher scheme that diverts funds from the public school system to send kids to private institutions that are not held to the same high standards applied to public schools.

The Florida trip, which cost $8,300, was clearly billed as “educational,” rather than “influential,” by PEFNC in an effort to ensure that the trip did not violate NC lobbying laws.

Since the Florida gathering, lawmakers in the North Carolina legislature have introduced more than 20 bills related to school choice. Rep. Marcus Brandon, one of the eleven lawmakers who went to Florida, argues that “it is unconstitutional not to give students a choice” when it comes to their education. He has introduced six bills related to school choice this session, including two bills that would bring vouchers to the state.

Brandon was also one of several lawmakers who, in 2012, received campaign donations from PEFNC’s PAC as well as individual PEFNC funders.

Though not indicative of any apparent unlawful activity or purpose, the story of where this money originated and how it flowed shines a revealing light on a movement that bills itself as a grassroots effort driven by the demands of average families.

American Federation for Children

Earlier this month, a reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published a copy of the American Federation for Children’s (AFC) “2012 Election Impact Report.” The report reveals that AFC, a well-known national school choice advocacy organization, funneled more than $90,000 to the 2012 election campaigns of Republican and Democratic North Carolina lawmakers who support school choice, with the help of two local PACs in North Carolina.

Categories Charter Schools, North Carolina, Privatization, Vouchers

Louisiana Scandals: The Course Choice Mystery

By dianeravitch
May 20, 2013 //
10

One of Governor Jindal’s “reforms” is called Course Choice. This is supposed to allow public school students to sign up with private vendors, using public school dollars extracted from their local school. Most of the vendors are online operators.

Course choice and vouchers were the centerpiece of Jindal’s plan to privatize public education, by funding these choices from the state’s Minimum Foundation budget. Unfortunately for the governor and his State Superintendent John White, the state’s highest court said that it was unconstitutional to spend the money dedicated to public schools on vouchers and Course Choice. The court decided by a vote of 6-1, which in the eyes of most people is decisive.

One of the state’s investigative bloggers discovered that some 1,100 students had enrolled— without their knowledge— in an online course offered by a Texas corporation.

How could this happen? Why were Louisiana dollars shipped to a Texas company when the students and their parents didn’t know they had signed up? How did the corporation get their contact information?

Will the legislature provide alternate funding for vouchers and Course Choice?

Will there be a legislative investigation of this curious “choice”?

An interesting detail. The state department of education is in a frenzy trying to identify the leaker of salacious details about their prized programs.

Categories Louisiana, Privatization, Stand for Children, Vouchers

Walton Family Foundation Invests in “Advocacy”

By dianeravitch
May 16, 2013 //
5

This blogger follows the money. That is his hobby and his passion. In this post, he tracks Walton funding for “advocacy.”

I put advocacy in scare quotes because foundations are tax-exempt and supposedly non-political. Yet the tax laws apparently allow them to put some of their money to work advocating for what appear to be political goals, in the case of the Waltons, the privatization of public education.

When it comes to funding “advocacy,” the Gates Foundation is right up there with multi-millions.

Say this for the Waltons: they are consistent. They don’t attempt to hide their agenda. They like charters and vouchers. They don’t like anything involving regulation or government.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, Privatization, Vouchers, Walton Foundation

Will Public Education in Texas Survive the Next Two Weeks?

By dianeravitch
May 15, 2013 //
8

On May 27, the legislature ends its session. Supporters of public education are keeping fingers crossed that no damaging measures pass in the next two weeks.

The head of the Senate Committee on Education, Dan Patrick, loves vouchers and most anything except public schools. The head of the House Committee on Public Education, Jimmie Don Aycock, is a Republican who believes in public schools.

Meanwhile various lobbying groups are fending off or advancing their own views.

Raise Your Hand Texas generally supports public schools and is opposed to vouchers.

Texans for Education Reform is strong for online charters and charters in general.

Texas parents and teachers are fortunate to have a wealthy Texan who supports public schools, name of Charles Butt.

Mr. Butt made his fortune in the grocery business and he has a keen sense of civic duty.

The sides are not clear-cut. Mike Feinberg of KIPP is a member of the board of Raise Your Hand Texas, which is anti-voucher.

Texans for Education Reform mouths the usual deform platitudes about how they are “for” something (privatization) and their opponents are just against.

Meanwhile, parents are eager to see the legislature restore some of the $5.4 billion they cut from the public schools two years ago–before they discovered the state had a surplus.

 

 

Categories Budget Cuts, Charter Schools, Texas, Vouchers

North Carolina: Public Schools and Students Endangered by Radical Agenda

By dianeravitch
May 14, 2013 //
36

Legislation is advancing in North Carolina that will harm the state’s underfunded public schools and strike a blow against its beleaguered teachers.

North Carolina is a right-to-work state, so there is no collective bargaining, and teachers have no voice in policy decisions about education.

Among the worst of the new bills is a proposal to fund a voucher/tax credit program, removing $90 million from public schools so that 1% of the state’s 1.5 million students may attend private and/or religious schools.

Another bill would strip away due process rights from teachers, so that teachers would have no right to a hearing if fired, no matter how many years of experience they have.

The new legislation would restrict eligibility for preschool, reducing the number of children who may enroll, and remove class size limits for some elementary grades.

Make no mistake (President Obama’s favorite expression, mine too): this legislation will save money in the short run but will cost the state far more in the long term. The Legislature is planning not only to harm public education, but to harm the children who benefit by being in preschool and in classes of reasonable size.

Former Congressman and State Superintendent Bob Etheridge said: “To the folks now running our state government in Raleigh, education reform is just another code word for cut, slash and burn.”

Governor Pat McCrory, who supports the radical anti-teacher, anti-public education agenda, has just named Eric Guckian as his Senior Education Advisor. Guckian was regional director of New Leaders in North Carolina (which recruits “transformational” leaders) and before that, was executive director of Teach for America in the state. He has been a consultant for the Gates Foundation and worked with KIPP. The following comes from the Governor’s press release:

“I am honored and humbled to serve as a member of Governor McCrory’s team,” said Guckian. “This is a critical time for education in our state, and I’m looking forward to working with committed teachers, leaders and community members to ensure that all of North Carolina’s students, regardless of circumstance, achieve an excellent education that will put them on the pathway to a better life; a life of honor, prosperity and service.”

Guckian joins John White in Louisiana and Kevin Huffman in Tennessee as TFA alumni in state-level positions serving reactionary administrations.

Categories Childhood, Pre-K, K, Class size, Corporate Reformers, North Carolina, Privatization, Teach for America TFA, Teacher Tenure, Vouchers

Crazy Crawfish Explains It All for You

By dianeravitch
May 10, 2013 //
5

When the Louisiana Supreme Court handed down a crushing 6-1 defeat for Bobby Jindal’s voucher plan, State Superintendent John White immediately declared victory. The court said it was not ruling on the merits of the case but on its funding: the state may not spend money dedicated to public schools to pay for vouchers and course choice (eg, K12, Connections, and other for-profit providers).

This may seem puzzling to those of who do not live in Louisiana but the locals understand.

Crazy Crawfish worked at the Louisiana Department of Education, and he explains it here for you. Johnn White has adopted a slogan called “Louisiana Believes” (every bold program must have a new slogan).

As CC explains, John White believes in completely denying reality. White has dual credentials: TFA and Broad. That helps explain his commitment to spinning whatever he doesn’t like and, as he once put it, “muddying the narrative.” When you do that, no one knows what to believe.

Categories Jindal, Bobby, Louisiana, Vouchers

NEPC Grades ALEC Score Card for State Policy

By dianeravitch
May 10, 2013 //
1

The National Education Policy Center is an invaluable resource. It keeps tabs on the half-baked research that pours forth from advocacy groups pretending to be think tanks.

Its latest report reviews ALEC’s “report card” on the states.

You will not be surprised to learn that he states with the highest scores are those with vouchers, charters, and unregulated home schooling.

Its ratings are similar to those of Michelle Rhee. The “best” states are not the ones with the best education, but the ones that match ALEC’s ideology. The highest marks go to states that are abandoning public education for a free-market model of private providers.

Categories ALEC, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, National Education Policy Center, Vouchers

Jeanne Allen Responds to Bruce Baker

By dianeravitch
May 9, 2013 //
53

After the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled 6-1 that the funding for vouchers was unconstitutional, Jeanne Allen urged Governor Jindal to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. Bruce Baker chastised Allen and said she needed a civics lesson about how federalism works.

Jeanne Allen responded here. In her response, she says that there were criticisms of her family on this blog. I did not see every comment, but nothing posted here referred to Jeanne’s family, only to her published views.

Categories Charter Schools, Louisiana, Vouchers

Voucher Decision a Blow to Jindal 2016 Campaign

By dianeravitch
May 8, 2013 //
5

Good article in the Washington Post about the major decision by Louisiana’s top court to strike down funding of vouchers with public school dollars.

More than 700,000 students in the state, only 8,000 have vouchers. Many vouchers used in schools that resolutely refuse to teach modern science, math, or history. Funny place for Jindal to stake his claim. He is determined to find the money some other way, though he would surely prefer to carve it out of the public school budget.

Jeanne Allen of the pro-voucher Center for Education Reform wants Jindal to appeal decision to the US Supreme Court, but nothing in the US Constitution guarantees the right to use public funds to pay for religious schooling.

6-1 is a pretty big rejection.

Categories Louisiana, Vouchers
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