On April 10, representatives of communities around the country will converge in D.C. to demand the firing of Arne Duncan and the reversal of the Obama administration's policies on public education. There is an unbroken line of bipartisan continuity, grassroots activists for public education say, between the education policies of Republican George Bush and Democrat Barack Obama. Even before Bush Secretary of Education Rod Paige declared teachers unions to be"terrorists," organized educators were targets in the crusade for corporate-friendly school reform.
Activists claim that the Obama administration's current "Race To The Top" awards federal education dollars to states based largely on how many public schools they disband and privatize, and how many public school teachers they fire. This wholesale dismantlement of public education and the scattering of public school workforces will have profound consequences well beyond education for inner city communities.
Most urban public school teachers actually live in and near the communities where they teach. The majority are women, often minority women, who have struggled for years to attain advanced degrees and additional certifications. They take part in frequent high-level instruction to hone and enhance their skills. Even when they are not the heads of their