Toxic Philanthropy Part 1: Surveillance – Wrench in the Gears

Toxic Philanthropy Part 1: Surveillance – Wrench in the Gears

Toxic Philanthropy Part 1: Surveillance

We are living through desperate times: populations dislocated by climate catastrophe and dispossessed by state violence. Many are attempting, unsuccessfully, to navigate economic systems grounded in low-wage, disposable labor and insurmountable debt. The cost of living continues to rise, especially in cities where wealth is concentrated in the hands of speculative investors.

Stable housing is hard to find; food insecurity is real. Addiction is rampant with limited treatment options, and affordable healthcare is beyond reach. Meanwhile, education is being privatized as children are plugged into devices and told to cultivate a “growth mindset.” Digital tracking of mental health and social-emotional competencies is being normalized. It’s as if the Davos / Fourth Industrial Revolution crowd knows things are about to get much, much worse, and is rapidly locking systems into place to track and manage citizens before they become ungovernable.

As the buying power of the working class withers, capital must find new ways to circulate. Increasingly it will flow into investment markets created by outcomes-based service contracting. Such a model will fuel growth in P3 public-private partnerships and enrich those consulting firms, like Ridge Lane LP, angling to broker agreements. Seed funding to jumpstart this transition was part of the Federal Budget in February, the Social Impact Partnerships Pay for Success Act.

Against such a backdrop, we must critically examine the toxic network of arrangements that have been made between non-profit health and human service organizations (including public education systems), predatory venture philanthropy, and companies that have developed technologies to turn citizens into “impact” commodities that can be tokenized and traded like toxic bundled mortgages in derivatives markets.

Branding poverty-mining as “what works” government makes it easier for finance and technology interests to convince elected officials that wringing profit from the misery of society’s most vulnerable is something that could actually be made palatable enough to sell to the unsuspecting masses. Whether living in abandoned warehouses or tents in Kensington, in rural Indian villages, or refugee encampments, those needing access to services Continue reading: Toxic Philanthropy Part 1: Surveillance – Wrench in the Gears

A White Supremacist Murdered Two At My Supermarket: Kentucky teacher speaks out against racist violence and the school-to-prison-pipeline – I AM AN EDUCATOR

A White Supremacist Murdered Two At My Supermarket: Kentucky teacher speaks out against racist violence and the school-to-prison-pipeline – I AM AN EDUCATOR

A White Supremacist Murdered Two At My Supermarket: Kentucky teacher speaks out against racist violence and the school-to-prison-pipeline

In October, two Black grandparents were gunned down by a white supremacist in a Kroger supermarket in Louisville, Kentucky, sending shock waves through the Black community.

The shooter was recorded on surveillance video trying to get into a predominately Black church just before the killing. Michelle Randolph, who teaches fourth grade in a school with a majority of Black and immigrant students in Jefferson County, Kentucky, lives in the neighborhood and shops at the Kroger that was targeted.

Randolph helped organize the over 5,000 Kentucky educators who shut down schools in 30 counties and rallied with students, parents and unionists on the state Capitol for education funding. Kentucky educators were part of the “Red State Revolt,” which included strikes that shut schools down in more than five states dominated by Republican legislatures — including West Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona and North Carolina — and won many millions of extra dollars in education spending for their school districts.

Jesse Hagopian, a Seattle high school ethnic studies teacher and co-editor of the book Teaching for Black Lives, interviewed Michelle on the fight against racism and the struggle for education in an article that first appeared in Socialist Worker.

Jesse: Thanks for taking the time to talk after a long day in the classroom.

Michelle: My pleasure.

Jesse: I wanted to first ask you about the recent escalation of racist, hateful violence. There were the mail bombs sent to political opponents of Trump. Then there was the attack on the synagogue that killed 11 people, which has been called the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history. And in the midst of these, there was the racist killing of two Black grandparents in Kentucky, Maurice Stallard and Vickie Lee Jones, while they were doing their weekly shopping at the Kroger supermarket. Tell me about the Continue reading: A White Supremacist Murdered Two At My Supermarket: Kentucky teacher speaks out against racist violence and the school-to-prison-pipeline – I AM AN EDUCATOR

Kansas’ next governor says job protections for teachers should be restored statewide | The Wichita Eagle

Kelly would ‘welcome’ bill to restore teacher due process | The Wichita Eagle

Kansas’ next governor says job protections for teachers should be restored statewide

TOPEKA 

Kansas Gov.-elect Laura Kelly said she would welcome a bill to again provide thousands of public school teachers with statewide due process protections that were eliminated years ago.

During an interview Thursday with McClatchy, she also said that she wants to strengthen the state’s civil service system, which has lost thousands of employees over the past several years.

Under due process, teachers have the right to an administrative hearing before they are fired. Advocates say that provides protection from wrongful termination. Opponents say decisions about whether to extend due process should be made by local school boards and districts, not state lawmakers.

Lawmakers and then-Gov. Sam Brownback eliminated that right from state law in 2014. Teacher unions and Democrats – including Kelly – have wanted to reverse the decision ever since.

“I voted against eliminating due process for teachers and I would welcome a bill that repeals what we enacted in 2014. I fully expect that there will be efforts to do that during the legislative session,” Kelly said.

Previous bills to restore teacher due process have not advanced to the governor’s desk. But some measures have found support among lawmakers in the House. In 2017, for example, Continue reading: Kelly would ‘welcome’ bill to restore teacher due process | The Wichita Eagle

Tony Thurmond beats Marshall Tuck in California schools chief race Charter school backers spent millions on statewide races in 2018. They still lost twice| The Sacramento Bee

Tony Thurmond beats Marshall Tuck in California schools chief race | The Sacramento Bee

 Charter school backers spent millions on statewide races in 2018. They still lost twice.

When former charter school executive Marshall Tuck called Assemblyman Tony Thurmond to concede over the weekend, it marked another defeat for charter-school advocates in California.

Thurmond was elected California’s top education official in the wave that led more liberal-leaning voters to cast ballots. Although both are Democrats, Thurmond had the party’s endorsement.

He also was backed by teachers unions, who were outspent more than two-to-one.

Independent groups supporting Tuck spent more than $36 million this cycle. Prominent education reform supporters, including frequent political donor Bill Bloomfield, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and philanthropist Eli Broad were among the biggest contributors to those efforts. Tuck’s official campaign raised another $5 million.

“The group of people who have provided significant funding to candidates that are associated with a charter-friendly agenda have proven that they don’t have the ability to capture statewide offices,” said John Rogers, an education policy expert at UCLA.

It’s only the latest big loss the pro-charter school movement has suffered in California.

In June, many of the same donors were disappointed when their chosen candidate for California governor Antonio Villaraigosa didn’t make it out of the primary despite their more-than $20 million effort to bolster him.

Tuck also ran for schools chief unsuccessfully in 2014, when incumbent Tom Torlakson beat him – again with support from the teachers unions.

The California Teachers Association provided most of the more-than $16 million independent effort supporting Thurmond. His campaign raised more than $3 million. Labor unions and the California Democratic Party were among the biggest donors for both Continue reading: Tony Thurmond beats Marshall Tuck in California schools chief race | The Sacramento Bee

CURMUDGUCATION: Is This The End Of Ed Reform Policy?

CURMUDGUCATION: Is This The End Of Ed Reform Policy?

Is This The End Of Ed Reform Policy?

From time  to time Mike Petrilli (Fordham Institute) grabs himself a big declaration and goes to town. Last week, the declaration was "We have reached the end of education policy."

He frames this up with references to Francis Fukuyama's book about the end of history, and I don't know that he really ever sticks the landing on creating parallels between Fukuyama's idea (which he acknowledges turned out to be wrong) and his thoughts about ed policy, but it establishes an idea about the scale he's shooting for-- something more sweeping and grandiose than if he'd compared ed policy to video game arcades or no-strings-attached sex.

His thesis?

We are now at the End of Education Policy, in the same way that we were at the End of History back in 1989. Our own Cold War pitted reformers against traditional education groups; we have fought each other to a draw, and reached something approaching homeostasis. Resistance to education reform has not collapsed like the Soviet Union did. Far from it. But there have been major changes that are now institutionalized and won’t be easily undone, at least for the next decade.

Okay. Well, first I'd argue that he has it backwards. It was reformsters who championed centralized top-down planning and the erasure of local governance, often accomplished with raw power and blunt force, so if somebody has to be the Soviet Union in this analogy, I think they fit the bill.

He ticks off the gains of the reformist movement. Charters are now fact of the landscape in many cities. Tax credit scholarships, a form of sideways voucher, are also established. He admits that the growth of these programs has slowed; he Continue reading: CURMUDGUCATION: Is This The End Of Ed Reform Policy?