Why Are Billionaires Funding School Board Races in Louisiana?
There are few investigative writers in education journalism these days. It is disturbingly rare to find writers who look behind the press releases, the hype and spin.
One place that cries out for investigative journalism is Louisiana, the locus for the most extreme privatization schemes. The governor is now imposing the New Orleans model on the entire state, and many hold up New
One place that cries out for investigative journalism is Louisiana, the locus for the most extreme privatization schemes. The governor is now imposing the New Orleans model on the entire state, and many hold up New
The Referendum in Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport will be voting on whether the mayor should control the schools.
Mayoral control is high on the agenda of the privatization movement, because it allows one official to close public schools and hand them over to private corporations without paying attention to public opinion. Often there are hearings, but members of the public are limited to two minutes, and no one listens to them anyway. The mayor’s appointed board does whatever he wants them to do.
It is not as if mayoral control has a great record. Chicago has had mayoral control since 1995, and the district is among the lowest-performing in the nation on NAEP tests. Cleveland has had mayoral control for fifteen years, and its academic record is worse than Chicago’s. Washington, D.C., has had mayoral control since 2007, and it
Mayoral control is high on the agenda of the privatization movement, because it allows one official to close public schools and hand them over to private corporations without paying attention to public opinion. Often there are hearings, but members of the public are limited to two minutes, and no one listens to them anyway. The mayor’s appointed board does whatever he wants them to do.
It is not as if mayoral control has a great record. Chicago has had mayoral control since 1995, and the district is among the lowest-performing in the nation on NAEP tests. Cleveland has had mayoral control for fifteen years, and its academic record is worse than Chicago’s. Washington, D.C., has had mayoral control since 2007, and it