Jeff Bryant – Trump’s Education Budget Feeds School Privatization At The Expense of Students

5/18/2017 – Trump’s Education Budget Feeds School Privatization At The Expense of Students:

Trump’s Education Budget Feeds School Privatization At The Expense of Students

THIS WEEK: Truth About Vouchers … Segregation Worsens … School Choice Poll … Vouchers Fail Special Ed … Bad News From LA

TOP STORY

Trump’s Education Budget Feeds School Privatization At The Expense of Students

By Jeff Bryant

“The vision of ‘education reform’ coming from the Trump administration and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos entails cutting direct aid to students, especially those from low-income families, in order to expand the private sector’s financial footprint in education. That at least is what’s reflected by a leaked budget document obtained by the Washington Post … Deep spending cuts … sever funding to … federal government supports that largely serve children and youth from low-income households … More money would go to incentivize ‘alternatives to traditional public schools’ at the K-12 level and increase the costs of college loans, a federal program with significant ties to the financial services industry.”
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NEWS AND VIEWS

The Promise And Peril Of School Vouchers

NPR

“‘Social justice has come to Indiana education,’ Gov. Mitch Daniels said in 2011 after the state made several big changes to its education system. Among those changes was the new voucher program … In 2013, Mike Pence … oversaw a dramatic expansion of the program. Lawmakers added new pathways for students to qualify, making the voucher more accessible to children who had never attended a public school. They also expanded the program’s reach to include some middle-class families. Voucher enrollment doubled … Today, more than half of all voucher students in the state have no record of attending a public school.”
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GAO Study: Segregation Worsening In U.S. Schools

USA Today

“America’s public schools – 62 years after the Supreme Court’s historic Brown v. Board of Education decision – are increasingly segregated by race and class … Both the percentage of K-12 public schools in high-poverty and the percentage comprised of mostly African-American or Hispanic students grew significantly, more than doubling, from 7,009 schools to 15,089 schools. The percentage of all schools with so-called racial or socio-economic isolation grew from 9% to 16%. Researchers define ‘isolated schools’ as those in which 75% or more of students are of the same race or class … Charter schools … may take minority and poor students from larger more diverse public schools and enroll them into less diverse schools.”
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AP-NORC Poll: Most Know Little About Charter Schools

ABC News

“Americans know little about charter schools or private school voucher programs. Still, more Americans feel positively than negatively about expanding those programs … 55% of respondents say parents in their communities had enough options with regard to schools, about 4 in 10 feel that the country in general would benefit from more choice … About 7 in 10 respondents feel that both charter schools and private schools funded with taxpayer money should meet the same education standards as public schools.”
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For Families With Special Needs, Vouchers Bring Choices, Not Guarantees

NPR

“When it comes to vouchers for special ed, the problem, say legal experts, is twofold: not enough rights and not enough money … The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, guarantees children with disabilities a ‘Free Appropriate Public Education,’ known as FAPE … Religiously based schools, which make up a majority of private schools … don’t even have to follow the Americans with Disabilities Act, the federal law that guarantees basic accommodations like wheelchair access.”
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Charter Supporters Win Control Of Los Angeles School Board

Diane Ravitch’s Blog

Education historian Diane Ravitch writes, “Two pro-charter candidates swept to victory … in Los Angeles … It was the most expensive school board race in U.S. history. At least $14 million was spent, most of it by the charter forces … Only 75,000 people voted. This marks the first time that the board of LAUSD has a pro-charter majority. It was an exceptionally dirty campaign … Charter operators want a larger share of LAUSD construction funds and more of its buildings. They will now encounter no opposition from the board … LAUSD will now become a dual school system, with no constraints on charter growth.”
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5/18/2017 – Trump’s Education Budget Feeds School Privatization At The Expense of Students: