The Jeff Bryant Report: Why Teachers Don’t Trust Betsy DeVos, And Neither Should You
THIS WEEK: NEA Rejects Trump … Rich Won’t Pay For Schools … Koch School Choice … DeVos Boosts For-Profits … Rural-Urban Edu Gap
TOP STORY
Why Democrats Should Unite On A Charter School Moratorium
By Jeff Bryant
“This week, the nation’s largest labor union, the National Education Association, broke from its cautious regard of charter schools to pass a new policy statement that … wants a moratorium on new charters … The NEA’s action echoes a resolution passed earlier this year by the national NAACP calling for a moratorium on the expansion of charters and … a policy statement issued last year by the Movement for Black Lives … Now that labor and civil rights have come together in a unified call for a moratorium on these unregulated, privately-operated schools, prominent leaders in the Democratic party can champion this issue knowing they have a grassroots constituency that supports them.”
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NEWS AND VIEWS
Teachers Union Leader: We Won’t Work With Trump And Devos Because ‘I Do Not Trust Their Motives’
The Washington Post
“The president of the country’s largest labor union, Lily Eskelsen García of the National Education Association, told delegates at her organization’s annual gathering that they would not work with the Trump administration because the president and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos could not be trusted … Eskelsen García … accusing President Trump of residing ‘at the dangerous intersection of arrogance and ignorance’ … labeled DeVos as ‘the queen of for-profit privatization of public education’ … The NEA and Eskelsen García are strongly opposing the agenda of Trump and DeVos, who have made expanding alternatives to public education their chief education priority.”
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In The Land Of Bill Gates, A Standoff Over Money For Schools
Good
“Teachers being asked to foot the bill [is] a nationwide problem, due in large part to the fact that teachers, who are evaluated on student success, can’t do their jobs without basic supplies. But it’s surprising that in a prosperous state with a booming economy … schools can’t seem to put the coins together to pay for pencils and paste … Since the 1970s, Washington’s tax revenue has fallen 30% as a portion of state income; meanwhile … 13 billionaires living nearly tax-free – among them, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Microsoft’s Bill Gates – boast a net worth totaling $180.3 billion … Washingtonians pay ‘the fifth highest combined sales tax in the country.’ The result is the ‘most regressive tax system’ in the United States.”
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An Inside Look At How The Koch Brothers Are Flexing Their Political Muscle To Spread Message Of School Choice, ESAs
The Denver Post
“The Koch network’s six-figure campaign to promote school choice and education savings accounts, or ESAs… in Colorado involves the Americans for Prosperity Foundation and the Libre Initiative … which promote ESAs … Five states currently offer the accounts … The program allows parents to use taxpayer dollars for private school tuition, online learning programs, books, or tutoring … The Koch network considers Colorado an attractive state for its message because public charter schools are a bipartisan cause.”
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DeVos Is Discarding College Policies That New Evidence Shows Are Effective
The New York Times
“DeVos announced plans to dismantle a set of Obama-era policies devised to protect students and taxpayers from predatory for-profit colleges. Yet data released in the final days of the previous administration shows that the existing rules have proved more effective at shutting down bad college programs than even the most optimistic backers could have hoped … Close analysis of the more than 500 failing programs that haven’t appealed their status reveals … a substantial majority of them, 300 or so, have already been shut down … If the new rules gut the existing regulations, Ms. DeVos will have destroyed a highly effective tool for protecting students from for-profit colleges.”
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Rural Youth Chase Big-City Dreams
The Wall Street Journal
“As more young people decide to pursue four-year degrees, college towns are siphoning students out of the rural heart of the Farm Belt and sending them, degrees in hand … to the nation’s urban centers … Other states are struggling with rural population outflow to state-university towns … Many young people in rural communities now see college not so much as a door to opportunity as a ticket out of Nowheresville. The result is a redistribution of educated graduates to urban areas, which is helping to widen the divide in educational attainment between urban and rural areas.”
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