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Friday, March 17, 2017

TGIF Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

TGIF Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all



by dianeravitch / 34min
Listening to CNN. Sean Spicer said that British intelligence wiretapped Trump Tower on behalf of the Obama administration. British intelligence said the claim was nonsense, and the British Prime Minister demanded an apology. When 



by dianeravitch / 17min
Hat tip to Bill Moyers’ website for this article in The Intercept: Zaid Jilani reports in The Intercepr that Trump’s budget is copied from the Swamp-dwelling, Establishment, Beltway right wing Heritage Foundation. https://theintercept.com/2017/03/16/trump-the-outsider-outsources-his-budget-to-insider-think-tank/ Nothing in the budget protects the blue-collar and rural people who voted for him. In
by dianeravitch / 1h
Count on Mercedes Schneider to review Trump’s budget proposal. It is as bad as you heard. She says, “At least he doesn’t call himself an ‘education president.'” True, he is the anti-education president. He is the first who wants to tear down 

Massive Resistance Works: Join the NPE Protest Against Budget Cuts and Privatization
by dianeravitch / 49min
The Network for Public Education is launching a campaign to fight back against the Trump-DeVos budget cuts to public schools and budget gains for privatization. Open this link , join our action, and send it to your friends!
Peter Greene: Michigan’s Blueprint for the Next 30 Years (Note: When You are in a Hole, Stop Digging)
by dianeravitch / 55min
Peter Greene has a remarkable facility to read dreary documents and sum them up, so that we don’t have to read them. This is a public service that he does on behalf of all of us. He reviews Michigan’s blueprint for the next 30 years, created at the behest of Governor Rick Snyder. The essential problem Michigan has is that it spent the last 10 years or so following the DeVos blueprint for change a
Thomas Ultican: America Has an Amazing Public School System, Don’t Listen to the Naysayers
by dianeravitch / 1h
Tom Ultican teaches physics in San Diego after a career in the private sector. He likes evidence. He reviews the failure of various privatization schemes. Vouchers have failed to “save” children, and voucher schools are often far worse than public schools. Charters are scandal-ridden, supported too often by profit-seekers. He writes: American Schools Rock! Don’t be fooled. “By the middle of the 2
Missouri: Bill to Expand Charter Schools Passes House, Goes to State Senate
by dianeravitch / 2h
The privatization steam roller continues to move through the Republican controlled states. The Missouri House of Representatives narrowly approved a bill to expand the number of charter schools in the state. The bill now moves to the Senate. After more than five hours of debate Wednesday and more than an hour of debate Thursday, the measure advanced to the Senate on an 83-76 vote. Charter schools
If Federal Funding for Corporation for Public Broadcasting is Enacted, the Public Media System Will Collapse
by dianeravitch / 8h
Media experts warned that the elimination of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting will bring an end to public media in small and rural communities. The giants in large markets like New York City will survive, but not the smaller markets. “Public radio and television broadcasters are girding for battle after the Trump administration proposed a drastic cutback that they have long dreaded: the de

YESTERDAY

Trump’s Cuts to Science Funding Stun Researchers
by dianeravitch / 9h
The federal government has long been a major funder of basic and advanced research, but if Trump’s budget cuts are sustained, science and basic research will be gutted. Research on climate change will be eliminated. Let’s face it. The people in charge of the federal budget are ignoramuses, anti-intellectual, and hostile to science, creativity, and culture. To call them Neanderthals would be an in
New York Times: Flynn Was Paid $65,000 by Russian Firms in 2015
by dianeravitch / 18h
The links between the Trump campaign and the Russian government continue to emerge. Here is a story in the New York Times reporting that Michael Flynn received $65,000 from Russian firms for speaking fees. One was a payment of $45,000 to deliver a speech at the Russia Today dinner, where he was seated next to Putin. If you look at the photo accompanying the story, you will see Green Party preside
Nicholas Kristof: What Jesus Said to Paul of Ryan
by dianeravitch / 19h
This is a great column by Nicholas Kristof, recounting an imagined conversation between Jesus and Paul Ryan. Jesus tells Ryan (here called “Pious Paul”) why he has an obligation to help the needy, and Ryan tells Jesus that he doesn’t want people to become dependent on handouts. A must-read.
Samantha Bee Offers Advice to Former NC Governor Pat McCrory about Finding a Job
by dianeravitch / 19h
Former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory is having trouble landing a job because he is so closely identified with HB2, the bill that said that transgender persons had to use the bathroom aligned with their birth certificate rather than their choice. Samantha Bee said that McCrory needed to broaden his resume . “Sorry you’re having trouble finding a new job,” the “Full Frontal” Twitter account w
Annenberg Institute for School Reform Speaks Out Against Trump Executive Orders
by dianeravitch / 20h
The Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University issued the following statement: We at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University denounce the continuous assault by the Trump administration on the communities that we are committed and dedicated to serve. We reject the harmful actions of President Trump’s divisive policies and hateful rhetoric, which are in direct c
AASA Denounces Trump-DeVos Budget Cuts and Privatization Priorities
by dianeravitch / 21h
AASA Executive Director Responds to President Trump’s FY18 Budget Proposal Alexandria, Va. – March 16, 2017 – Earlier today, President Trump released details for his FY18 budget proposal. It is a “skinny budget,” in that it only covers discretionary funding, and within that, doesn’t fully list the impact on all discretionary programs. The proposal cuts funding to the U.S. Education Department by
Trump’s Draconian Budget Cuts: A Win for the Military, a Loss for Civil Society
by dianeravitch / 22h
Thanks for Jim Harvey of the National Superintendents Roundtable for this breakout of Trump’s budget cuts: On Thursday, March 16, the Trump administration released a preliminary budget plan for Fiscal 2018 that proposed huge increases in defense-related spending and corresponding cuts in domestic programs, including education. According to stories in The Washington Post, the budgetary impact acro
A Miracle Drug for Our Era
by dianeravitch / 23h
Are you feeling depressed? Anxious? Worried about the future? This is a drug that promises immediate relief.
The DeVos-Trump Budget to Privatize Public Schools: A Disaster for Public Education
by dianeravitch / 1d
The Washington Post has some of the details of the DeVos-Trump budget for the U.S. Department of Education. It is a bloodbath for public schools and teacher education, and a bonanza for school choice and privatization. “The Trump administration is seeking to cut $9.2 billion — or 13.5 percent — from the Education Department’s budget, a dramatic downsizing that would reduce or eliminate grants for
Betsy DeVos Delivers the Morning Announcements at an Anonymous Public Schools
by dianeravitch / 1d
Imagine Betsy DeVos giving the morning announcements. It might sound like this: It starts like this: Good morning, students of the Goldman Sachs Holy Trinity Lehman LearningFirst Inc. Elementary School! I am thrilled to be delivering your morning announcements today, which I am currently delivering outside using a megaphone because protesters have blocked me from entering your building. Before we
Gary Rubinstein on the Miraculous Data from Charter Schools that Is Miraculously Distorted
by dianeravitch / 1d
Gary Rubinstein has a peculiar habit of insisting on integrity of reporting. He gets hot and bothered when people claim “miracle achievements” but hide the facts or distort them. He noticed an article in USA Today that both appeared to criticize charter schools and at the same time to claim that some of them had achieved astonishing college graduation results. The bottom line, said USA Today, was
Trump Budget Proposals: Draconian Cuts to EPA and State Department, Big Gains for Military and Border Patrol
by dianeravitch / 1d
The Trump administration offered a budget that would deeply cut the Environmental Protection Agency and the State Department, eliminate the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, as well as the Legal Services Corporation. There will be cuts to the Department of Education but it is not clear which programs will be hit. The cuts fall heavily eve


As Feared, Trump Proposes to Eliminate Federal Support for the Arts and Humanities, Public Radio and Television
by dianeravitch / 1d
Trump has proven himself to be a true barbarian by proposing to eliminate the modest federal funding for the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Why should there be a 
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