NJ Ed Truth Squad Call to Action! Part 1
We interrupt this Teacher Appreciation Week to bring you a call to action:
Two pieces of information crossed my cyber desk this morning at the crack of dawn:
1. The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to approve bipartisan legislation to expand access to charter school funding.
2. This very sad accounting of Newark Superintendent Cami Anderson's proposed conversion of a successful and beloved elementary school—Hawthorne Avenue—into a charter school. I write about this in my next post.
First, the House bill
Sadly, one of the few things many Democrats and Republicans both in Congress and around the nation agree on is taking money out of public education to expand charter schools. While some Democrats want to do the right thing but are simply ill-informed, far too many have shown their true colors by abandoning the core values and principles of the party in favor of the almighty dollar. New Jersey's own Mother Crusader, aka Darcie Cimarusti, reports on the boatloads of money being spent on behalf of Shavar Jeffries in the Newark mayoral race (election is 5/12) by groups and individuals with ties to DFER (Democrats for Education Reform).
Of course, education 'reformers' and the politicians they fund on both sides of the aisle have co-opted the civil rights rhetoric even though their laws and regulations—starting with Race to The Top—have resulted in more segregation in our nation's public schools. Diane Ravitch quotes a study by George Washington University Professor Iris Rothberg:
"There is a strong link between school choice programs and an increase in student segregation by race, ethnicity, and income. The risk of segregation is a direct reflection of the design of the school choice program."
But according House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) when commenting on the bilMarie Corfield: NJ Ed Truth Squad Call to Action! Part 1: