CNN reports that the government has spent more than $20 million for Trump’s weekend trips over 80 days–and will spend more in one year than was spent on Obama in 8 years. This would not be an issue if Trump had not ridiculed Obama for excessive spending on his vacations. Excessive?? Trump on pace to surpass 8
The nonpartisan group Media Matters has issued a call for an investigation of the staffing of the U.S. Department of Education. The call is directed at reporters, since there is little likelihood that either house of Congress would investigate
Gayle Green is a professor of English at Scripps College. She is writing a book about the corporate reform in higher education. In this article , she describes how corporate reformers have taken guidance from Orwell’s “1984” in their deliberate distortion of language to mask reality. She writes: “In this post-truth age that’s done away with facts, George Orwell’s 1984 has soared to the top of the
When I read this post by Steven Singer, I was so excited that I thought about devoting an entire day to it. Like posting it and posting nothing else for the entire day. Or posting this piece over and over all day to make sure you read it. It is that important. Steven’s post explains two different phenomena. First, why is standardized testing so ubiquitous? What does it have a death grip on public
The far-rightwing organization ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Coucil) owns the state of Indiana. ALEC is determined to crush public education. Check out ALEC exposed, a website that show the ALEC agenda for charters, vouchers, and state takeovers. ALEC hates democracy and local control. It hates local school boards, because they interfere with privatization. In Indiana, with Mitch Daniels as
Phyllis Bush is a retired English teacher in Indiana. She became active in the fight to save public schools in her state as the privatization movement gained steam under Mike Pence’s predecessor as governor, Mitch Daniels. Phyllis was one of the founders of Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education. She is a powerhouse, a passionate advocate with a wonderful sense of humor, and a wise woman.
The National Education Policy Center is inviting high schools to apply for recognition as a “school of opportunity.” A School of Opportunity is one that works hard to make sure that all children have equal opportunity to succeed. The deadline for applying is May 1. Learn more by going to this site: schoolsofopportunity.org High schools still have three weeks left to apply for recognition for work
What we have learned about Betsy DeVos is this. She doesn’t like public schools, unless they are “great schools,” which they seldom are, because they are government schools, dead ends, and godless. In this article , Emma Brown of the Washington Post describes the schools that DeVos loves: they are religious; they are Christian; they don’t have to be accountable to the state; their teachers don’t
In response to the report from “In the Public Interest” about waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars in California facilities funding, Laura Chapman responded that the state doesn’t care if it wastes money: This shows why the state will do nothing about fraud, waste, abuse. This is current information about charter school financing in California. Begin Quote: Through the passage of Propositi
From California parent, Joan Davidson, about her visit with teacher Larry Lawrence to the offices of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, which received $180 million in federal funding when Arne Duncan was Secretary of Education, to write tests for the Common Core standards. SBAC was supposed to have 25 states, but it now has only 15. The other consortium is PARCC, which has shrunk from 25
Alan Singer writes here about the resistance to the DeVos-Trump miseducation agenda, which has no core idea other than to replace public schools with charters and vouchers. If you see the photograph that accompanies his article, you will recognize the DeVos smirk. It is the smirk of an entitled billionaire who knows what is best for you and everyone else, and who takes instruction from no one. Th
The nonpartisan group In the Public Interest has released a major new report on wasteful spending on charter schools in California. It is called Spending Blind: The Failure of Policy Planning in California’s Charter School Facility Funding. The bottom line is that California spends on charter schools without planning, without supervision, and without accountability. Vast sums of public money have
Robert Natelson, a retired constitutional law professor who is allied with the ultra-conservative Heartland Institute, writes in this opinion article that the Supreme Court may well strike down the state prohibitions on funding religious schools (known as “baby Blaine Amendments) because of their origins in anti-Catholic bias. If this happened, it would pave the way for government to divert publi
Joseph Batory, a retired superintendent in Pennsylvania, has been speaking out loud and clear about the deliberate defunding of public schools in Pennsylvania and other issues. In this post , he describes the betrayal of the public schools by the Legislature: The betrayal of Pennsylvania public schools by the State legislature began in the early 1990’s when Pennsylvania government consciously des
Miles Kampf-Lassin writes in The Chicago Reader that Rahm Emanuel’s plan to deny high school diplomas to students who don’t have a definite commitment from a college, the military, or a trade school is a farce. He writes: On its face,
