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Wisconsin: Join the Resistance! Here! Now!

By dianeravitch
November 15, 2019 //
3

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Contacts: Heather DuBois Bourenane, Executive Director, Wisconsin Public Education Network, (608) 572-1696, hdb@WisconsinNetwork.org; Dr. Julie Underwood, President of the Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools board of directors, julie.madison.wisconsin@gmail.com, (608) 469-2287

View this release online here.

 

Lawmakers Held Accountable for Votes on Education with Report Cards

As districts statewide receive state-mandated report cards, public education advocates demand an assessment of lawmakers who set budgets that determine schools’ ability to succeed

 

As the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction issues its annual school and district report cards today, the nonpartisan Wisconsin Public Education Network is doing the same for state legislators.

 

The organization’s Legislative Report Cards provide much-needed political context for understanding how the DPI assesses school and district performance. They assess state lawmakers across five categories: K-12 budget overall, special education, bilingual/bicultural needs, mental health and public funding of private schools. The report cards are available to the public at http://www.WisconsinNetwork.org/blog/report-cards.

 

The DPI’s school and district report cards fulfill a state mandate to hold all schools “accountable” to taxpayers. That mandate was put forward in 2011, the same year Wisconsin saw the largest cuts to education funding in state history.

 

In conjunction with its Legislative Report Cards, the Wisconsin Public Education Network has issued the following statement:

 

“In Wisconsin, our lawmakers use report cards to hold our children and their schools accountable for circumstances and state-level policy decisions that are beyond their control. How well a school does on a report card is often closely connected to factors like revenue limits, the number of students living in poverty, the number of English-language learners and the resources available for serving students with disabilities. 

 

What the report cards do not reveal is the fact that Wisconsin is last in the nation in state support for students with disabilities, and last in the nation in state support for English language learners. The state does not live up to its commitment to support student mental needs and we lack a coherent state policy to support children challenged by poverty. We can trace these failures back to the statehouse, not the classroom.

 

 It only makes sense that we hold lawmakers accountable for their education votes.

 

Parents and communities are told that school report cards represent a single ‘snapshot’ of student performance, but that snapshot becomes a frozen image impacting property values and undermining the successes that cannot be accounted for using test scores and other data points. Research shows that test scores often measure little more than economic status. Holding our schools accountable for student needs while failing to provide sufficient resources to ensure student success is unfair and unethical.

 

Senator Luther Olsen has often said the state report cards should be used as a ‘flashlight’ and ‘not a hammer’ to demonstrate where we can best meet the needs of our students and schools.

 

 

We present these legislative report cards in the same spirit. They reflect a single snapshot: a picture of the budget votes of the elected officials who determine how much state aid is provided to our public schools. 

 

In 2019, Wisconsin legislators approved a budget that cut nearly $1 billion from the governor’s proposed public education budget, withholding much-needed aids for special education, mental health and English language learners, while failing to meet the much-touted goal of providing two-thirds of school funding.

 

Given the state’s continued refusal to provide the funding needed to close Wisconsin’s opportunity gaps, we are holding lawmakers accountable for their education votes.

 

The 2019 Legislative Report Cards reflect a failure to meet the expectations that were outlined clearly by the Blue Ribbon Commission on School Funding, at the budget hearings of the Joint Committee on Finance and by parents, board members, educators and school leaders statewide.

 

Public education should not be a partisan issue. Support for schools should not fall along party lines. We strongly encourage all who care about great public schools to take time to provide targeted support and encourage improvement from those legislators who fail to meet Wisconsin’s high expectations for supporting student success. Every child attending public school in Wisconsin deserves an equal opportunity to succeed, and our lawmakers, just as our schools, must be held accountable for making that opportunity equally accessible to all.”

 

 

About Wisconsin Public Education Network (WPEN)

 

Wisconsin Public Education Network is a nonpartisan grassroots coalition supporting strong public schools that provide equal opportunity for all students to thrive. The Network is a project of the Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools (WAES), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions can be sent to: P.O. Box 6592, Monona, WI 53716. Learn more at http://www.WisconsinNetwork.org.

 

Categories Accountability, Education Reform, Funding, Wisconsin

Wisconsin: Did Foxconn Fool Scott Walker?

By dianeravitch
November 5, 2019 //
2

Foxconn is the giant Taiwanese tech company that manufactures electronic products for major tech companies around the world. They are known for poor working conditions and long hours, also for employee suicides on the job. When Scott Walker was governor of Wisconsin, his great coup (or so he thought) was to woo Foxconn to open five “innovation centers” in the state. This was supposed to create jobs. Foxconn won billions in tax breaks and incentives. That was 2017. But not a single innovation center has opened, and according to this article, none is on track to open. While Walker made grandiose plans for Foxconn, he cut the budgets of schools and universities, which is the usual place to spur innovation.

Looks like he was hoaxed.

Electronics manufacturer Foxconn’s promised Wisconsin “innovation centers,” which are to employ hundreds of people in the state if they ever get built, are officially on hold after spending months empty and unused, as the company focuses on meeting revised deadlines on the LCD factory it promised would now open by next year. The news, reported earlier today by Wisconsin Public Radio, is another inexplicable twist in the nearly two-year train wreck that is Foxconn’s US manufacturing plans.

The company originally promised five so-called innovation centers throughout the state would that employ as many as 100 to 200 people each in high-skilled jobs, with the Milwaukee center promising as many as 500. Those jobs were to complement the more than 13,000 jobs Foxconn said its initial Wisconsin electronics manufacturing factory would bring to the US, in exchange for billions in tax breaks and incentives that Governor Scott Walker granted the company back in 2017.

Categories Budget Cuts, Economy, Funding, Hoax, Walker, Scott, Wisconsin

Carol Burris: Why Charter Schools Are Unnecessary

By dianeravitch
April 14, 2019 //
13

 

Carol Burris is the executive director of the Network for Public Education. She is a lifelong educator, first a teacher of Spanish, then an award-winning principal of a high school in New York.

She writes here to explain briefly why charter schools are unnecessary and are not public schools.

“When I was a high school principal, I also ran an alternative school called The Greenhouse. It was small–its average enrollment was 17 students. The students were older–juniors or seniors–who were credit-deficient or who, for personal reasons, needed an alternative setting.

“Greenhouse saved lives and reduced our dropout rate to less than 1%. It was run (and is still run) by a wonderful teacher, Frank Van Zant. I gave Frank ample resources with teachers from South Side going to the school to provide content instruction for one or two periods a day. I trusted him and gave him freedom. It has (and still has) a full-time social worker. Hours for students were more flexible. Instruction was small group. I called the Greenhouse a delicate ecology. I was careful to place in the program only those students who really needed it.
“Our students on suspension also benefitted. They would receive instruction there at the end of the day so that they were well educated and counseled when out of school and could more easily transition back.
“All of that innovation and I did not need “a charter” to do it. The ultimate authority was the School Board. The kids who graduated received a South Side diploma. In fact, by the time I left, 100% graduated with a NYS Regents diploma.
“I am weary of hearing that charter schools are public schools. That is a lie.  Public schools are governed by the public, not by a private corporation.
“Charter advocates will say Wisconsin has “public charters” because they are authorized by the school district. However, all of those district authorized schools, thanks to Scott Walker,  are now run by for-profit or nonprofit corporations. Publicly-governed charter schools without a private board are not allowed.  I do not believe there is even one public charter school–that is a charter school run by an elected school board–in the United States. Is there one left?”
Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Hoax, Innovation, Lies, Privatization, Walker, Scott, Wisconsin

Wisconsin: Charters and Vouchers Strip $193 Million from Public Schools

By dianeravitch
April 4, 2019 //
10

 

Yes, charters and vouchers take money from public schools, which enroll nearly 90% of students.

In Tuesday’s election, a pro-public school slate swept the Milwaukee school board. It will be interesting to see what happens with that city’s heavy dose of privatized charters and vouchers.

In Wisconsin, a legislator revealed that school choice removes $193 million in state aid from public schools. 

“MADISON, Wis. — A new report shows voucher and charter schools will reduce aid to public schools by nearly $193 million.

“Democratic state Rep. Sondy Pope released an analysis Thursday that the Legislative Fiscal Bureau prepared for her. The report shows voucher and charter schools will consume $192.9 million that could have gone to public schools this year.”

There’s only one pot of State money for K-12 schools. Dividing it three ways makes all sectors suffer.

Categories Budget Cuts, Charter Schools, Funding, School Choice, Vouchers, Wisconsin

Wisconsin: Sore Losers! Scott Walker Calls Special Session to Block Will of Voters

By dianeravitch
December 3, 2018 //
12

In the Wisconsin gubernatorial election, the odious Governor Scott Walker was beaten by State Superintendent of Education Tony Evers. The results will be certified today. Last Friday, Republicans passed legislation to try to thwart the will of the voters.

This came from the Center for Media and Democracy, which is a watchdog agency that blows the whistle on corruption:

Dear Defender of Democracy,

This is urgent.

On Monday, December 3rd, the Wisconsin Elections Commission will certify the results of the Nov. 6th elections won by Democrats Tony Evers, Mandela Barnes, Josh Kaul, and Sarah Godliewski.

On the same day, Republicans in the legislature will attempt to silence the voice of the people and undo the results of the election by stripping authority from Governor-elect Evers and Attorney General-elect Kaul before they are even sworn in.

Here’s what you need to know:

Sore losers, Scott Walker, Robin Vos, and Scott Fitzgerald, have called a special lame duck session to upend the will of the voters and pass five massive bills they released at 4:30 p.m. on Friday.

On the list of things they plan to ram through the legislature:

1. Moving the date of a key election to give their hand-picked candidate a better chance at winning a pivotal 2020 Supreme Court race. This move will cost over $7 million and has been decried by nonpartisan election officials in all corners of the state.

2. Narrowing opportunities for early voting, despite a federal judge’s ruling two years ago that struck down similar restrictions as racially discriminatory.

3. Preventing Evers and Kaul from withdrawing the state from a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, a key promise of the Democrats in their recent campaign.

4. Taking away a number of positions from the State Attorney General’s office and giving them to the GOP so they can have a different group of taxpayer-paid lawyers on key cases like the pending challenge to their gerrymandering of Wisconsin districts.

5. Locking in GOP control of the cesspool called WEDC, which has been a hotbed of corruption under Walker and is managing the controversial $4.5 billion give-away to Foxconn.

6. Rule changes that would compel Evers to implement a work requirement for BadgerCare and limit the administrative powers of the governor.

And who knows what they will do once the lame duck session starts?

“I’ve said all along I’m committed to working across the aisle, but I will not tolerate attempts to violate our constitutional checks and balances and separation of powers by people who are desperate to cling to control. Enough is enough,” Evers said in a statement.

We don’t usually put out a call for action, but when our democracy is on the line CMD is there.

Please call your State Senator on Monday at 608-266-9960. Forward this email and encourage friends and family in other parts of the state to do the same. If you have extra time, call the sore losers listed below.

If you want to testify at the only public hearing on the bills, that will be Monday starting at 12:30 p.m. in the Capitol, Room 412 East, and should go most of the day.

There will be a #RespectMyVote rally sponsored by Indivisible on the State Street steps of the Capitol at 5:30 p.m. Monday.

Read and share our articles on the lame duck by clicking here.

Thank you for all you do to defend democracy!

SORE LOSER ROLLCALL

Gov. Scott Walker:
(608) 266-1212, govgeneral@wisconsin.gov, walker.wi.gov/contact-us

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester):
(608) 266-9171, rep.vos@legis.wisconsin.gov

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau):
(608) 266-5660, sen.fitzgerald@legis.wisconsin.gov

Categories Corruption, Walker, Scott, Wisconsin

Vouchers Defeated in Arizona Overwhelmingly, Democrats Take Control of the House

By dianeravitch
November 7, 2018 //
24

There were wins and losses yesterday, and they are not all decided at 2 am, when I wrote this post. Some states have not yet declared a winner (thinking of Wisconsin, where I hope that Scott Walker was beaten).

Some losses that I mourn: Beto O’Rourke; Stacey Abrams; Andrew Gillum. All defeated by reactionaries of the worst sort.

Some significant victories:

Democrats gained control of the House of Representatives, which means they have the power of the purse, the power to hold hearings, and the power to block some of Trump’s worst plans. That is huge. Hurrah for checks and balances!

Vouchers were overwhelmingly beaten in Arizona by the teachers and moms of SOS Arizona, who scored a knock-out punch against the Koch brothers, giving vouchers their 21st consecutive loss at the ballot box. The margin was 2-1 against vouchers. Congratulations, SOS Arizona!

Real Democrats gained control of the New York State Senate, ousting the fake Independent Democratic Caucus, who voted with Republicans.

In a very close race, it appears that Democrat Tony Evers beat the vile Scott Walker for Governor of Wisconsin.

Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, was elected Governor of Michigan.

Janet Mills, a Democrat, was elected Governor of Maine, and the outgoing Governor Paul LePage announced he was relocating to Florida.

Laura Kelly, a Democrat, was elected Governor of Kansas, beating Trump acolyte Kris Kobach.

Billionaire Democrat Pritzker beat billionaire Republican Rauner in Illinois.

Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, was elected Governor of New Mexico, ending the war on teachers in that stare.

All three states that gave Trump his margin of victory in 2026–Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania—are now controlled by Democrats.

It would have been great to take the Senate, but let’s rejoice about taking the zHouse, beating vouchers in Arizona, and winning important governorships.

Categories Education Reform, Politics, Vouchers, Wisconsin

Andrea Gabor: In Many States, Schools Will Be a Deciding Factor in Vote

By dianeravitch
November 5, 2018 //
3

Andrea Gabor surveys the election and reminds us that while Trump has dominated the coverage of the election, school issues will be front and center in many states.

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-11-05/midterm-elections-where-schools-not-trump-are-the-focus

“National issues are getting most of the attention in the run-up to Tuesday’s midterm election, including health care, immigration and President Donald Trump.

“Yet from Arizona to Kentucky to Wisconsin, politics also remains fiercely local. Especially in states that cut school budgets as a result of the 2008 recession and Republican-sponsored tax cuts, public school funding has become a hot-button issue in many state legislative and gubernatorial races, often scrambling party loyalties. Six years after the Great Recession, most states were still spending less on schools than they were before 2008, according to a 2016 report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

“Teachers in several Republican-dominated states led a political groundswell earlier this year, with walkouts that closed schools. Over 300 teachers are running for political office in the midterms, more than double the number that did so in 2014. While many of the teacher candidates are Democrats hoping to unseat Republicans who cut school funding and promoted privatization in the form of charter schools and private-school voucher programs, educational activism cuts across party lines.

“In Arizona, a small group of mothers and teachers organized to oppose a 2017 law that expanded the state’s voucher program, which steers taxpayer dollars from the state’s public schools to private and religious schools. More than 100,000 people signed a petition to put their referendum on the ballot, provoking a counterattack from Americans for Prosperity, an organization backed by the conservative activists David and Charles Koch. It sued, unsuccessfully, to have it taken off of the ballot. Both sides have identified the referendum on the voucher law as a top priority.”

After years of budget cuts, some districts and states are likely to increase investment in education. And in a sign of the times, the anti-public school Governor Scott Walker claims to be “the education Governor.” Hopefully, voters will not be fooled.

Categories Arizona, Budget Cuts, Education Reform, Funding, Kentucky, Koch Brothers, Walker, Scott, Wisconsin

Betsy DeVos’ Family Gives $2 Million to Far-Right Candidates

By dianeravitch
October 29, 2018 //
13

During her confirmation hearings, Betsy DeVos pledged not to make political contributions while she was Secretary of Education.

But, knowing her penchant for parsing words, we may now assume that she was not covering the political donations of her family, which continue.

This latest review of political donations by Ulrich Boser and Perpetual Baffour of the Center for American Progress shows that the DeVos family gave $2 Million to far-right candidates.

My hunch is that they gave far more than $2 million, through Dark Money PACs that do not disclose the names of their donors.

The report finds:

“Even by the loose standards of U.S. campaign finance laws—and President Donald Trump’s blatant corruption—the donations by the family members of a Cabinet official have been brazen. In February 2018, Richard DeVos, Secretary DeVos’ father-in-law, gave $1 million to the Freedom Partners Action Fund—a political action fund that has long been associated with far-right causes. Over the past year, the DeVos family has also given $350,000 to the Republican Congressional Leadership Fund and another $400,000 to the Republican National Committee.

“The DeVoses have also donated to specific candidates for federal and state office. Wisconsin’s far-right firebrand, Gov. Scott Walker (R), for example, has received more than $635,000 over the past decade from the DeVos family—including $30,000 in 2018. Bill Schuette, Michigan’s Republican attorney general who is running for governor, received almost $40,000 over the past year.

“But it seems that the state of Arizona is of particular interest to the DeVos family’s political agenda. Rep. Martha McSally (R), who is in a tight race for a U.S. Senate seat, landed $54,000 in contributions from the family this cycle—more than any other U.S. Senate candidate received from the DeVoses. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) has likewise received more in campaign contributions from the DeVos family than any gubernatorial candidate across the country this election cycle, raking in $50,500 in donations.”

In Wisconsin, a vote for Scott Walker is a vote for Betsy DeVos.

In Michigan, a vote for Bill Schuette is a vote for Betsy DeVos.

In Arizona, a vote for Martha McSally is a vote for Betsy DeVos.

A vote for these candidates is a vote for charter schools and vouchers.

A vote for these candidates is a vote to privatize public schools.

Categories Accountability, Arizona, Betsy DeVos, Charter Schools, Dark Money, Education Industry, Michigan, Privatization, School Choice, Vouchers, Wisconsin

Jan Resseger: The Power of Grassroots Organizing, Part 2

By dianeravitch
October 26, 2018 //
1

Jan Resseger writes here about the grassroots organizers she met at the Network for Public Education conference in Indianapolis. Her first report appeared yesterday.

This is part of her report:

One of the highlights at NPE’s Conference were presentations on excellent community organizing that is finally making a difference. Yesterday’s post and today’s describe two very different and encouraging initiatives.

What if parents, teachers and community united across an entire state to insist that the state fund its schools adequately? Well, advocates in Wisconsin are doing just that. As a bit of context, remember that Wisconsin has the nation’s oldest and one of the largest voucher programs and that the Bradley Foundation, located in Wisconsin, has historically been among the most lavish funders of the school privatization movement that drains tax dollars out of the public education budget.

Today, however, the Wisconsin Public Education Network has been mobilizing citizens and pulling together a mass of local parent and advocacy groups around a unified, pro-public school agenda across Wisconsin. Executive Director Heather DuBois Bourenane explains: “The Wisconsin Education Coalition is the hub for education advocacy in Wisconsin. We are a project of the Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit. Our work is supported by voluntary contributions of our partners around the state… Our partners don’t always agree on every issue or policy, but our common ground is always rooted in our deep commitment to the success of every student in every school.” The organization’s website displays a map of the Coalition’s partner organizations—at least 39 of them across Wisconsin.

Launched last summer at the Wisconsin Public Education Network’s 4th Annual Summer Summit, the #VotePublic Campaign has invited, “all supporters of public schools to make public education a focus of all elections—local, state and national. Knowing where candidates stand on issues impacting our public schools is essential to electing strong supporters of our students. #VotePublic is also a challenge to hold our elected officials accountable for making votes that benefit our students and public schools once elected.”

The #VotePublic platform demands fixing the school funding formula “to prioritize student needs over property values”; working for funding fairness; restoring funding including the state’s obligation to meet mandated costs for special education; raising standards for licensure of educators and providing hiring incentives; making private and privately-operated schools receiving tax dollars fully accountable; and forcing the state to pledge not to expand the state’s already large private school tuition voucher program.

In Wisconsin, advocates have set out to reframe the political conversation. Besides spreading thousands of yard signs and postcards across Wisconsin announcing the campaign’s theme: “I Love My Public School & I Vote,” the coalition has packed its website with accessible information to educate the state’s supporters of public education. Posted there is toolkit with easily reproduced materials There are also facts and figures and copies of public speeches and legislative testimony from the organization’s leaders.

And there are explanations and graphs including one that is particularly applicable for the Wisconsin gubernatorial election in two weeks. Governor Scott Walker has been trying to brand himself “the education governor” because the legislature raised school funding this year—a budget he signed. But the urgency of the need for more funding this year also reflects on his leadership, “In 2011-12, lawmakers reduced district budget limits by 5.5%, which resulted in an average decrease of $529 per student to districts’ budgets.” Even this year’s budget increase won’t bring the state back up to its educational expenditure level before Walker’s cuts. The 2011 spending reduction was unprecedented, as was another Scott Walker priority—Act 10—the 2011 law to destroy public sector collective bargaining in Wisconsin.

Categories Network for Public Education, Networkfor Public Education Action Fund, Resistance, Wisconsin

NPE Action Endorses Tony Evers for Governor of Wisconsin!

By dianeravitch
October 9, 2018 //
2

The Network for Public Education Action Fund endorses Tony Evers, currently Wisconsin’s superintendent of schools, for Governor! Voters must kick Scott Walker out. He is an enemy of public schools and public universities and academic freedom. He was and is a puppet of the Koch brothers. Vote for Tony Evers on November 6. Restore the Wisconsin Idea!

​The Network for Public Education Action enthusiastically endorses Tony Evers for Governor of Wisconsin. Tony is running against Governor Scott Walker who has aggressively attacked public education through defunding public schools, attacking teachers and their collective bargaining rights, and pushing voucher programs and charter schools.
Among the 50 states and Washington D.C, Wisconsin was ranked 44 out of 51 on the Network for Public Education’s and the Schott Foundation’s Privatization Report Card. It was ranked the worst in the nation for its charter school policies. Wisconsin’s dismal score is the result of the state’s expansion of privatization, dilution of student civil rights, and the lack of transparency and accountability for charters and vouchers. Walker is responsible, along with a compliant legislature, for Wisconsin’s shockingly low rating.
Tony Evers, in contrast, has focused on educational improvement during his tenure as State Superintendent of Schools. He has proposed full funding of 4-year-old kindergarten and what he calls a “transformational budget.” Voucher supporters view him as a threat because he has asked for much needed reforms.
Here is what Evers has to say:

“No more false choices. There’s a better way, and that is the high road…. We need to prioritize mental health, we need to shatter the decade-long freeze on special education funding, we need to reform our broken school funding system, and we need to restore and expand crucial student support services.”

Although we do not agree with Ever’s support for charter schools, he is clearly the better choice this election. Please vote for Tony Evers for Governor on November 6.

Categories Networkfor Public Education Action Fund, Walker, Scott, Wisconsin
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