Archives for category: Wall of Shame
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Disgrace in San Antonio as Charter Vultures Destroy Public Education

By dianeravitch
October 22, 2018 //
27

This article by Tom Ultican tells the sordid story of rich elites who have cynically decided to destroy public education in San Antonio.

They have cumulatively raised at least $200 million to attract charter operators to San Antonio, a figure which includes funding by the U.S. Department of Education and local plutocrats. The lead figure is a very wealthy woman named Victoria Rico, who sits on the boards of multiple charter chains. Rico and her friends have decided to re-engineer and privatize public education in San Antonio. Rico is working closely with Dan Patrick, the State’s lieutenant governor, who loves vouchers, hates public schools, and was the Rush Limbaugh of Texas before winning election to the State Senate.

Was there a vote taken in San Antonio? No. Was the public asked whether they wanted to abandon public education? Of course not. The titans don’t believe in democracy. They know what’s best for other people’s children.

They have hired a superintendent, Pedro Martinez, who was “trained” by the unaccredited Broad Superintendents Academy, which encourages school closures, privatization, and top-down management. Martinez has worked in school districts but was never a teacher or a principal and apparently knows nothing about pedagogy. Martinez is a member of Jeb Bush’s Chiefs for Change, which promotes privatization and technology in the classroom. He is also a big fan of the faux Relay “Graduate School of Education,” which specializes in charter teachers training new teachers for charter schools and has no professors or research programs.

As a native Texan, this whole deal made me physically ill. It stinks to high heaven. Everyone facilitating this private takeover of public schools should be ashamed of themselves.

They are not “doing it for the children.” They are doing it for their own egos. There are more failing charter schools than failing public schools. What right do they have to destroy the public schools of San Antonio? Who elected them? They have won plaudits from Betsy DeVos, the Koch brothers, and ALEC. They should be held accountable for their assault on democracy. I noticed that the Texas philanthropist Charles Butt refused to participate in this unholy cabal; he prefers to invest his fortune in supporting public schools.

I take this opportunity to name Victoria Rico, Pedro Martinez, and all their rightwing enablers to the Wall of Shame.

Categories Accountability, Betsy DeVos, Billionaires, Broad Foundation, Charter Schools, Chiefs for Change, Corporate Reform, Democracy, Education Industry, Fraud, San Antonio, School Choice, Texas, U.S. Department of Education, Wall of Shame

Who Are the Funders of Jeb Bush’s School Privatization Efforts?

By dianeravitch
August 19, 2018 //
31

Jeb Bush has been promoting school choice and disparaging public s hoops for years. Betsy DeVos was a member of the board of his Foundation for Excellence in Education until Trump chose her as Secretary of Education.

Jeb Bush invented the nutty notion of giving a letter grade to schools.

Jeb Bush zealously believes in high-stakes standardized testing and VAM. In Jeb’s Odel, Testing and letter grades are mechanisms to promote privatization.

Who funds his foundation?

See the list here.

The biggest donors in 2017 were Gates, Bloomberg, and Walton, each having given Jeb more than $1 Million for his privatization campaigns.

Categories Betsy DeVos, Bloomberg, Michael, Bush, Jeb, Charter Schools, Closing schools, Corporate Reform, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, School Choice, Segregation, Standardized Testing, Vouchers, Wall of Shame, Walton Foundation

Steven Singer: Meet Mr. and Mrs. Public School Sabotage

By dianeravitch
July 22, 2018 //
14

Guess who they are?

You don’t need three guesses.

A clue to the right answer: they are not actually married to one another.

They are members of this blog’s Wall of Shame.

Read Steven Singer to find out if you are right.

Categories Humor, Wall of Shame

NYC Educator: Working Class Traitor Makes Good

By dianeravitch
July 21, 2018 //
66

Arthur Goldstein reports here that Mark Janus, who sold out unionized workers by lending his name to a Supreme Court case against unions, has left his public-sector job to work for the conservative public policy think tank that funded the case. For the speed with which he sold out, and for his eagerness to harm working people, Mark Janus is hereby added to the blog’s “Wall of Shame.”

“Mark Janus, who lent his name to the anti-union lawsuit to screw American working people, has scored a really cool gig with a right-wing think tank. This should be a lesson to us all. It really pays to be the first one to sell out your brothers and sisters nationwide. You collect your union-negotiated retirement benefits, get some cool job sitting around an office somewhere, and you don’t really have to do anything ever again. Was this a deal he made in advance? I don’t see why not.

“So Janus has really paid off for Janus. It’s only the rest of us who will suffer. You see, if you actually study history, you find that Americans do better when they are unionized, not occasionally, not sometimes, but always. You find that unionized workers make more money than non-unionized workers, and you find that non-unionized workers make more money too when union flourishes.

“You will also find that union has been rolled back since Reagan was President. This is part of a concerted anti-union program in the United States and it’s sorely reduced the number of unionized workers. Now when government boasts of job creation it’s often as not jobs that pay minimum wage and come without health insurance or any benefits whatsoever. In fact, many crappy fast food jobs make you sign disclaimers that you won’t jump ship for other crappy fast food jobs. This removes the possibility of the competition that Republicans argue will improve the economy.

“We are a selfish country, and we choose to be that way even when we are screwing ourselves. We have a national news network that caters to the needs of the uber-rich. It’s somehow managed to persuade a great swath of the country that they too might be uber-rich one of these days, and that they therefore must support rules that expand the rights of the uber-rich.

“Of course, that’s not the only way you manipulate the public. You manage them through racism and xenophobia. You make them terrified of Muslims. You make a big thing out of not allowing them entrance to the United States, unless they come from countries with which you do business, in which case they’re fine. You then ignore all terrorist acts committed by white people, because if you demonize white people there goes your base. How are we gonna Make America Great Again if we contend the characters on Leave It to Beaver were terrorists?

“It isn’t easy to get people to act against their self-interest. Fox couldn’t exist, for example, if American hadn’t done away with The Fairness Doctrine, which required broadcasters to present both sides of an issue, rather than simply spout right-wing propaganda. But we’re way down that road now, and it will take a sea change to turn back.

“Janus contended he had to leave his First Amendment rights at the door when he went to work. In reality, unions have separate political funds. I contribute to one. Even though I sometimes disagree with UFT endorsements, I want union to be able to fight things like the Constitutional Convention. Now that we’re in an actual existential crisis, I want union to be able to fight even more…….”

Categories Education Reform, Wall of Shame

Arizona: Koch Brothers Lose in Court, Seek to Quash Referendum Against Vouchers

By dianeravitch
April 2, 2018 //
7

Parents and teachers in Arizona gathered over 100,000 signatures to force a referendum on the unlimited expansion of vouchers. The Koch brothers and the DeVos family are pushing for vouchers, and they sent in their top legal team to try to stop the referendum. They are terrified of democracy.

They fought the referendum in court and they lost. The parents and teachers won. The referendum was going forward.

Now they have a new trick up their sleeve. The masters of dark money will get the legislature to repeal the original bill and re-enact it, so as to block the referendum. The SOS Arizona team will have to start all over, by gathering signatures for a new referendum and hiring lawyers to defend the referendum.

The Koch brothers and the DeVos family are hereby added to the blog’s Wall of Shame. They hate public schools and they hate democracy.

Please send a contribution to SOS Arizona to help them continue the fight for public schools!

This came in today from SOS Arizona:

Just when we thought we were safe…They’re at it again. Within 2 weeks of the Arizona Supreme Court’s dismissal of the dark-money lawsuit brought against SOSAZ, the Legislature is preparing to repeal Prop 305 entirely or replace it with another ESA expansion bill. 

From the moment we turned in 111,540 signatures last summer, voucher supporters have been scheming to “bait and switch.” Especially since polls have indicated that Prop 305 will likely be defeated if voters have their say. Voters know that vouchers hurt our schools, our kids, and our state.

Bottom line–the state with the WORST funding for schools should be the LAST state to divert public funds to private schools.

How can you help ensure that Prop 305 will get to the ballot so we can defeat the voucher expansion once and for all?

  • Call Governor Ducey’s office at 602-542-4331 and say you oppose any voucher expansion replacement bill;
  • Contact your representatives and senator now to let them know any replacement bill is unacceptable. Hint: here is how they voted on the original voucher expansion bill last year.
  • Sign the SOSAZ Pledge to Vote No on Prop 305, and ask 10 of your friends to do the same;
  • Talk to 10 friends, family, neighbors and colleagues. Our passionate volunteers are our biggest allies. Help us get the word out!

Our work to protect our volunteers’ hard work and signatures does not come cheap. Please help us meet our bills with a one-time or recurring donation today.

Thank you for all you do!

Beth Lewis

Chair, Save Our Schools Arizona PAC

Categories ALEC, Arizona, Betsy DeVos, Democracy, Vouchers, Wall of Shame

Stuart Egan, the Parent of a Boy with Down Syndrome, Responds to DeVos’ Cruelty

By dianeravitch
October 23, 2017 //
5

Stuart Egan, NBCT high school English teacher in North Carolina, describes what happened when he and his wife learned that the child she was carrying had Down Syndrome. They were advised that abortion was an option, even though it is not an option in their state, where it is illegal. They didn’t want an abortion. Now, they have a beloved son, Malcolm.

Egan will not judge those who made other choices. “I also will never carry a child in a womb. Neither will Donald Trump, Mike Pence, or all of the other “men” who stand to gain from their positions of power.”

But he is outraged by those who defend the rights of the unborn and take away the rights of children after they are born.

Betsy DeVos has decided to withdraw federal guidelines that protects Malcolm’s rights in school.

Egan takes it personally.

He has written a beautiful essay expressing his personal outrage.

“It seems that many of the politicians and policy makers like DeVos who claim to be hardline “pro-lifers” are helping to privatize the very institutions that are giving “life” to many individuals. And they are doing it in the name of free-markets, where people are supposed to be able to choose what they want hoping that the “market” controls prices and quality.

“How ironic that many politicians who proclaim to be “pro-life” become “pro-choice” when it pertains to those who are already born.”

Betsy DeVos has earned her place on this blog’s Wall of Shame. As a Jew, I cannot Judge her religious views. As a human being, I judge her cruel. Uncaring. Indifferent to those in need. Mean.

Categories Betsy DeVos, Special Education, Wall of Shame

Walton Family Foundation Planning to Move into Middle-Income Districts in New York City

By dianeravitch
September 27, 2017 //
17

Time for a friendly puff piece from Inside Philanthropy about one of the nation’s most malevolent foundations: The Walton Family Foundation.

Walton has two goals: privatizing education and eliminating teachers’ unions.

It pledged to spend $1 billion to achieve those aims.

It subsidizes many mainstream media, even NPR and Education Week, to make sure that it gets favorable coverage for its nefarious goals.

And now, Inside Philanthropy reports that the Waltons have decided to plunk a couple of million dollars down in New York City and spread the wealth so that some of it goes to traditional antagonists, like Teachers College, Columbia University.

Who funds Inside Philanthropy? I can’t tell from its website. I did notice an earlier article about the Waltons, which claimed that individual members of the Walton family were reaching out to what appear to be liberal organizations, like the Center for American Progress. The writer didn’t even think to ask whether the Walton family members were purchasing the voices and independence of those groups they subsidize.

The Waltons noticed the research about the importance of economic and social integration so they have decided to open seven new charter schools in New York City that will lure in middle-class kids. Thus, in the name of integration, they can both promote privatization of public dollars and do their union-busting at the same time. Why should only poor kids go to charters? Think of the possibilities as Walton millions open charters for middle-class kids too!

Give them points for cleverness.

The Waltons earned their place on this blog’s Wall of Shame, and there is no reason to see anything coming from a family of billionaires that fights unions in their own stores and fights paying a minimum wage and subsidizes the evil American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which is devoted to destroying democracy.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, New York City, Privatization, Wall of Shame, Walton Foundation

Barclay Key: The Tragedy of Little Rock, Sixty Years After Eisenhower Sent in the 101st Airborne to Protect Nine Black Students

By dianeravitch
September 26, 2017 //
18

In 1957, Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, accepted nine black students, while white parents jeered and protested. President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent in the 101st Airborne to safeguard the students and to carry out the order of a federal judge.

That was sixty years ago.

How much has changed? Now Little Rock’s public schools are segregated again. At the behest of the Walton Family (which owns Arkansas), the public schools were taken over by the state. The man in charge is not, never was, an educator. The ostensible reason for the takeover was that six of the city’s 48 schools were “failing.” Since then, three of the 48 schools have been closed. More are on the chopping block, including schools with a long and honorable history.

Barclay Key, a historian at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, writes the sad story of the past sixty years here. (What! The Walton family forgot to buy the history department!)

It appears that the Walton family wants to turn Little Rock into the next New Orleans, the next Memphis. It wants to wipe out public schools and replace them with charters. It wants to silence the voice of local citizens and give them no role in determining the future of their schools.

Key writes:

The two most striking parallels between the past and present are the insistence by white leaders that they know what is best for Black families and students and the recurrent role that local white business leaders play in undermining the public school system and prioritizing their prerogatives for the city…

Sixty years ago Little Rock epitomized desegregation struggles in the South, but the city now follows a path worn by New Orleans, Memphis, and other cities wracked by the proliferation of charter schools. Like they have over the past sixty years, politicians and business leaders presume to know what is best for public schools, and their decisions reflect a preoccupation with the latest trends in business rather than research-based pedagogy. The replacement for the elected board, state education commissioner Johnny Key, was appointed by the new Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson despite having no experience as an educator. Key appointed a superintendent who was generally trusted by the city’s white elites, but that superintendent was promptly replaced when he openly criticized the inefficiency of expanding charter schools in a district that has been gradually losing students for years. With the exception of reconstituting one school, the state made no substantive changes at the distressed schools.

“Reflections of Progress” will serve as the theme for the sixtieth anniversary of the desegregation crisis. Things have certainly changed, but the standard is too low if we measure progress by events that unfolded in 1957. Reflecting on progress since 1967 would be more appropriate and sobering. White men again make all decisions for the school district. They act with the support of the Chamber of Commerce and, today, the Walton charter school lobby controlled by the state’s powerful Walton family. Since the state takeover, many of the same bureaucrats have their six-figure salaries. Many of the same children cannot read. Little Rock periodically commemorates the 1957 controversy, but it constantly relives 1967.

The Walton Family Foundation is engraved on this blog’s Wall of Shame. It doesn’t stand alone, but it has a place of pre-eminence on a wall that lists those who have used their money and power to betray democracy, public schools, and the American dream.

Categories Arkansas, Charter Schools, Education Reform, Segregation, Wall of Shame, Walton Foundation

Harvard Shames Itself by Staging a Koch-Sponsored Betsy Lovefest–No Dissenting Voices Allowed

By dianeravitch
September 25, 2017 //
64

The Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University has always been pro-school choice, pro-charters, pro-vouchers.

But now the PEPG–headed by the General of the School Choice Movement Paul Petersen–has outdone itself.

It is staging a two-day celebration of Betsy DeVos and the Trump agenda of public school-bashing, funded by the Koch Brothers and other rightwing foundations.

There is nary a critic of this radical rightwing agenda, not as a presenter or a panelist.

The conference is called “The Future of School Choice.”

The Charles Koch Foundation is a major funder, but after it became clear that his name was embarrassing, it was removed from the list of sponsors.

How shameful that Harvard would lend its name to a one-sided effort to cheer on the destruction of public education and would give a platform to a woman with no academic credentials.

As the writer for the New Republic, Graham Vyse, points out, the Harvard Institute of Politics invited Sean Spicer and Corey Lewandowski to accept fellowships, so the University apparently has low standards.

Apparently Jeff Sessions is about to give a speech about “free speech” in which he will decry “political correctness” on campus, meaning I assume the refusal to debate issues.

Do you think he will single out Harvard’s PEPG for refusing to hold a debate about the future of school choice and excluding those who recognize the civic importance of public education and the failure of charters and vouchers to live up to their claims?

I’m not holding my breath.

I am adding Harvard’s Program on Education Policy and Governance to this blog’s Wall of Shame for its failure to permit even the most minimal expectations of academic and scholarly fairness, and for turning itself into a propaganda mill for the privatization movement, at the behest of Big Money.

Categories Accountability, Betsy DeVos, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization, Propaganda, School Choice, Vouchers, Wall of Shame

Little Rock: The Waltons Pull a Fast One and Buy Another School for Conversion to Charter

By dianeravitch
August 12, 2017 //
11

Arkansas belongs to the Walton family, the richest family in the U.S., which runs the state like its personal plantation. If the Waltons cared about children, they might focus their spending on child health and well-being in Arkansas, but instead they spend $200 million a year spreading charters where they are not wanted. The family claims credit for launching one of every four charters in the nation. And of course they are very generous to Teach for America, which supplies the low-wage, non-union, short term employees needed to star charters.

Max Brantley, former editor of the Arkansas Times, is not afraid of the Waltons. He writes fearlessly about their domination of the state.

Their latest outrage involved the Waltons’ swift and secretive purchase of Little Rock’s Garland School. The sale was not advertised. There were no bids other than the Waltons’. Brantley assumes they mean to use it for charters.

The Waltons recently maneuvered to have the entire Little Rock district taken over by the state, even though only 6 of 48 schools didn’t meet state standards. This was a power grab. It removed the elected board, making it easier for the Waltons to pick over the bones of the district.

For their contempt for public education, their lust for power, and their determination to impose their will on others, I add the Walton family to the Wall of Dhame.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Privatization, Wall of Shame, Walton Foundation
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