McClatchy News reports that the FBI is investigating the timing of Russian cyber attacks timed to support Trump campaign when it was on the defensive. “Federal investigators are examining whether far-right news sites played any
Reader Chiara. Has written innumerable comments pointing out that the parents and teachers of public schools have been shut out of policy circles. Why? Nearly 90% of the children in the United States attend public schools, not
You will note that all of Betsy DeVos’s stories are about struggling students who were rescued from failing public schools by choosing to go to a charter school, a religious school, a home school, or a virtual charter school. Apparently she has
Sarah Blaine, a lawyer and parent in New Jersey, calls on the legislature to block the use of PARCC as a graduation requirement for students in the state. As she notes in this article, the New Jersey Assembly voted overwhelmingly to block the State Board of Education from imposing this nutty requirement. The bill now moves to the State Senate, and she urges senators to vote for the bill. She writ
Julian Vasquez Heilig will debate Christopher Stewart tonight. It will be live-streamed. The proposition is: “Charters and Vouchers are the Answer.” I will be rooting for Julian, who knows the research and knows that privatization has never produced better education for the neediest kids. Julian is a member of the board of the Network for Public Education.
Tuesday, March 21, 2017 Senate Bill 3 Testimony Good afternoon, Senators. My name is Sara Stevenson, and I’ve been a librarian at O. Henry Middle School in Austin for 14 years. Previously, I taught English at St. Michael’s Catholic Academy for ten years, so I have a great respect for Catholic education. I also write opinion pieces for The Austin American-Statesman, The Houston Chronicle, and The
Vouchers, also known as education savings accounts and tax credits, failed in the lower house of the state legislature in Arkansas. The legislator who sponsored the bill hails from Bentonville, the home of the Walton Family (Walmart) corporation. Given the accumulation of research showing the failure of vouchers in Milwaukee, Cleveland, D.C., Louisiana, Indiana, and Ohio, you have to wonder why T
Jennifer Rubin was hired by the Washington Post to represent a conservative viewpoint in its editorial column. However, she is appalled by Trump’s tweets and lies. She describes here how Comey humiliated Trump at the House hearing yesterday. He can’t lie his way out of the mess he has created, she says, nor create a big enough distraction to change the subject.
If you are anywhere near Austin, join me for a discussion about schools, school reform, and children on March 29 at 6:30 pm at the Austin Marriott. The event is sponsored by Friends of Texas Public Schools. http://fotps.org/events/dinner-diane-ravitch/
Buzzfeed reports that an internal quarrel has broken out between the news room and the opinion pages of the New York Times about an article featured on the editorial opinion page by journalist Louise Mensch. (I posted Mensch’s article). A civil war between news and opinion has broken out at the New York Times. In a Times op-ed posted online Friday, Louise Mensch, a writer and former member of the
This is a useful and informative summary of the highlights of today’s hearings, where intelligence officials confirmed that they are investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. They also said they knew of no evidence that Trump Tower was wiretapped. The most amusing part of the summary is the compilation of tweets by Trump. He thinks the day’s exchanges
Sarah Jaffe interviews labor organizers in a group called the HedgeClippers who are mobilizing against the corporations backing the Trump regime. One of their campaigns is to organize bank workers. Bank workers in other countries are unionized. Why not in the U.S. as well? The Hedge Clippers campaign looks at hedge funds and private equity, thus hedge clippers clipping their power. It basically s
ProPublica writes about the abuses that occur in certain for-profit schools designed especially for difficult children. The very concept of a public school that operates for profit is absurd, because every dollar from taxpayers is meant for the children, the teachers, and the schools, not investors. But this article is specifically about a for-profit chain for difficult students. An alternative s
Mary Gonzalez is a member of the Texas House of Representatives. She is now serving her third term in the House, and she is deeply concerned that the state and the federal government want to destroy public education. The goal of school choice, she says, is to create a separate and unequal system of schools for the state’s 6 million students. She writes: In 2011, the Legislature cut $5.4 billion i
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 20, 2017 More information contact: Lisa Rudley (917) 414-9190; nys.allies@gmail.com NYS Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE) http://www.nysape.org Link to Press Release New York’s Largest Grassroots Education Advocacy Organizations Join Forces to Urge Parents to Opt Out of NYS Common Core State Tests Across the state, grassroots education advocacy organizations includ
I will not post anything again for a while today, unless there is breaking news. You need time to read this article in full. It is a long article by Jane Mayer of the New Yorker , who has written major books about the dark money fueling
