Up until now, you probably thought of Betsy DeVos as an entitled billionaire who cares about nothing but charters and choice. You may have even concluded that she was indifferent to civil rights, since she has refused to say whether she
Carol Burris analyzes Betsy DeVos’ narrative about vouchers in this post. What she describes goes far beyond the whims of a billionaire zealot. She describes the step-by-step plans of rightwingers who have long planned to undermine the very idea of public education as a civic responsibility. DeVos said when she spoke at Brookings a few weeks ago that she in “not a numbers person.” She is also “no
The Texas PTA is furious at Lt. Governor Dan Patrick and His allies to the State Senate. Just when it seemed that the legislature was going to increase funding for the stat’s woefully underfunded public schools, the Senate insisted on attaching voucher legislation. The House had already defeated vouchers, but the Senate came back a second time and was defeated again. The Senate Gelb the budget ho
This is a case of cognitive dissonance. Or, when presented with two sharply contrasting narratives, whom do you believe? Tom Toch started a think tank in D.C., FutureEd, which is funded by foundations such as Walton, Bezos, and Raikes (Jeff Raikes previously led the Gates Foundation). In its latest bulletin, the lead article by Tom Toch says that the policies put in place by Michelle Rhee and her
Senator Elizabeth Warrren has created an online program called “DeVos Watch” to hold Betsy DeVos accountable for her oversight of student debt. The online platform will be hosted on Senator Warren’s website. She wrote this opinion article for CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/31/opinions/devos-watch-opinion-warren The Trump administration is pondering whether to turn over responsibility for student
Dallas is holding a crucial school board election. Early voting started on May 30. The election is June 10. The balance of power hangs on this run-off election. Lori Kilpatrick is a teacher and a mother of a child in the Dallas public schools. Lori is in a run-off with businessman Dustin Marshall. Marshall supports all the failed corporate reform ideas, like Jeb Bush’s A-F school grading system ,
Mile Klonsky reviews Tom Toch’s paean to the “Revolutionary changes” launched by Michelle Rhee. He is impressed by Toch’s data. But…. “Okay, now that I’m done FBing about #convfefe, I can get down to more serious business — revolution. It seems a revolution has taken place in D.C. and I somehow missed it. “But Tom Toch didn’t. Toch, a leading pro-reform, education policy expert and a highly regar
How many times have you heard Trump or DeVos claiming that their privatization plan for public schools is “the civil rights issue of our time”? They heard the same line from Obama and Duncan and even Mitt Romney, so we can’t credit them with originality. Where they differ from Obama and Duncan is that they have made it clear that they intend to eviscerate the government agencies that enforce civi
Charter schools are not public schools. They are private schools that contract with the state. This week, a charter school in Southfield, Michigan, announced it was closing three weeks before the end of the school year. Staff and students were stunned. http://www.fox2detroit.com/news/local-news/258195926-story Taylor International Academy closed abruptly on Wednesday. No doubt, Betsy DeVos would
NPE Statement on Charter Schools https://wp.me/p3bR9v-2st The Network for Public Education believes that public education is the pillar of our democracy. We believe in the common school envisioned by Horace Mann. A common
