The Network for Public Education is very fortunate to have successfully persuaded Marla Kilfoyle, former national executive director of the BATS, to join us as our national coordinator of grassroots activities. This is the first newsletter of our grassroots groups, created by Marla. If your group wants to join, please contact Marla, so she can list your activities. The link is in the newsletter.
One of Jeb Bush’s signature initiatives–and possibly the stupidest–was giving schools letter grades of A-F. Schools are complex institutions with many individuals engaged in their work, some doing better jobs than others, some essential, some not. No complex institution should be graded A-F. No individual child should be graded with a single letter, A-F. Imagine if your child came home with a rep
Julia Keleher will one day have engraved on her tombstone: “She Destroyed the Public Schools in Puerto Rico.” She joins the blog’s Wall of Shame for her shameless assault on public schools, the teachers’ union, and the students of Puerto Rico. Keleher r esigned her position as Puerto Rico’s Secretary of State earlier this week . Her resignation comes after two years of top down education reform.
Lisa Haver is a public school activist in Philadelphia. Here she writes about the long, drawn-out and very expensive proceedings to close down a failing charter school in that city. She writes: When the School District of Philadelphia targeted Germantown High School for closure just one year before its 100th anniversary, there was no legal recourse for students or families. No law required the Di
Democracy is under attack, not only in D.C., but in the state capitols. To understand just how serious this attack is, how insidious it is, how well-funded it is, please open the link . This new USA Today/Arizona Republic/Center for Public Integrity in-depth investigation is a bombshell report on the thousands of “copy-and-paste bills” introduced and passed in state legislatures which purport to
I am astonished by the media uproar about Joe Biden and his habit of hugging and patting people (notably, women) on the back or the head. The #MeToo movement is about women who have been raped or sexually assaulted, not about friendly hugs or pats on the head. Turning Biden’s friendly gestures into sexual assault is ridiculous and diminishes the seriousness of sexual assault. When you contrast Bi
When the California Teachers Association and the California Charter School Association stand side-by-side to applaud a law about charters, you have to wonder who wrote the law and whether it will rein in charter corruption. The latest reform effort was a law to guarantee charter transparency and accountability. Former Governor Jerry Brown vetoed a similar bill twice. The State Board of Education
Congressman Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, speaks here about the Trump campaign’s numerous dealings with the Russian government. Everything he says is in the public record. Nothing is merely rumor or speculation. Schiff says what Trump did, what he admits to doing, is not OK. I couldn’t agree more. The bar for ethical behavior by a presidential candidate just dropped s
Denisha Jones was recently invited to give a lecture at Sarah Lawrence College, and she turned it into this article. She describes the corporate threat to education and children, which was named GERM (the Global Education Reform Movement) by Pasi Sahlberg. Jones calls on teachers to become advocates and activists on behalf of children, protecting them from GERM. You will enjoy reading the article
Alan Singer writes here about Promesa, a charter chain in Texas owned by Southwest Key, the same company that runs detention center for immigrant children. As is often the case, the big profits are in real estate. Here is an excerpt from a powerful article: At one Texas Promesa charter school site, vermin roam the halls, offices, and classrooms and the roof leaks when it rains. The non-profit Sou
! It is illegal for teachers to strike in Mississippi but they are considering a strike anyway. Legislators offered them a paltry $1,500 raise while setting aside $2 million for vouchers. The eyes of the nation are on Mississippi. Strike! The legislators won’t pay you any mind unless you put on your red T-shirt, make a sign, and gather at the State Capitol. Don’t agonize, organize! Strike!
Opt Out lives! https://www.newsday.com/long-island/education/schools-ela-opt-outs-test-boycott-1.29381145 Meanwhile computer glitches across scattered districts caused student answers to disappear and other problems. Computer-based assessment is a dumb idea.
Citizens for Public Schools issued a statement today calling on the state to stop lying about parents’ right to opt out of state testing: For immediate release, April 3, 2019 Contact: Lisa Guisbond, Executive Director 617-959-2371 (cell) Citizens for Public Schools Calls on MA DESE to Remove Misleading Information on MCAS Participation Immediately With MCAS testing season upon us, Citizens for Pu
In a remarkable show of solidarity, students at 700 elementary and secondary schools in Ontario planned a mass walkout today to protest the government’s imposition of mandatory e-learning in high school, a ban on cellphones, and increased class sizes. “Students have started a movement with a very clear message: Hands off our education,” said organizer Rayne Fisher-Quann in a statement. “Students
Residents of the West End of Providence were startled to discover that a charter school was moving into a community facility–the John Hope Settlement House–without advance notice. Providence City Councilwoman Mary Kay Harris said the petition was started after a community meeting on Friday at John Hope regarding the interest from the Wangari Maathai Community School to be housed there prompted mo
In every state that has authorized virtual charter schools, these schools are marked by two characteristics: 1. They are very profitable. 2. The “education” they provide is abysmal. Typically, they have high attrition, low graduation rates, and low scores on state tests. The state fails to monitor them for quality. Students and taxpayers are fleeced. The latest example is the Indiana Virtual Scho
Yes, charters and vouchers take money from public schools, which enroll nearly 90% of students. In Tuesday’s election, a pro-public school slate swept the Milwaukee school board. It will be interesting to see what happens with that city’s heavy dose of privatized charters and vouchers. In Wisconsin, a legislator revealed that school choice removes $193 million in state aid from public schools. “M
Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider interview Arizona Republic reporter Craig Harris about the charter school scandals in Arizona, the “wild west” of charters. Harris was a member of the investigative team that won the prestigious George Polk Award for its coverage of charter schools in their state. You can listen here. Or, you can read the interview here. Here is a small excerpt, where they be
The Texas House of Representatives endorsed sweeping legislation to fund public schools. Representative Dan Huberty (R-Houston), chairman of the House Public Education Committee, steered the legislation to a nearly unanimous vote. “House Bill 3 would increase base funding for each student by $890, fund full-day pre-K for low-income 4-year-olds in most school districts, compress tax rates for all
Jennifer Rubin was hired by the Washington Post to be its “conservative” columnist, to counterbalance its liberal tilt on national issues (on education, the Washington Post is far-right and pro-privatization, with the exception of Valerie Strauss). But then Rubin encountered Trump, and she was horrified by the hash this man made of her fiscally responsible, conservative principles. In this articl
Massachusetts’ Civil Rights groups and teachers’ unions are outraged by a racist question in the state ELA Test. “In response to accounts about racially troubling questions embedded in this year’s 10th-grade English Language Arts MCAS exam, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the Boston Teachers Union, the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Education Justice Alli
i get a daily news summary from the Boston Globe and several other newspapers. This arrived this morning: “ In the late 1700s, there were more than 60 million bison roaming North America, but because of commercial hunting and slaughter, there were just 541 animals left 100 years later. Thanks to preservation and rescue efforts, there are about 31,000 in existence today, in national parks and on r
A progressive slate backed by the Working Families Party and the Milwaukee teachers’ union swept the school board election in Milwaukee. I received this statement from Rob Duffey of the Working Families Party: “Last night in Milwaukee the Wisconsin Working Families Party won big, electing a slate of five pro-public school champions who flipped the Milwaukee city school board from a pro-privatizat
The board of Houston Independent School District is reviewing three charter networks founded by one woman, who is both the highest ranking employee and pays her “related companies” $17 million dollars. Lois Bullock runs the networks and pays rent to companies she owns. “Over the past half-decade, Bullock’s company has served as the landlord for Energized For Excellence Academy, taking in $10.8 mi
A federal judge ruled that Charter Day School’s dress code –which requires girls to wear skirts and does not permit them to wear trousers or shorts–is unconstitutional. “Yes, the boys at the school must conform to a uniform policy as well,” Senior U.S. District Judge Malcolm J. Howard wrote. “But plaintiffs in this case have shown that the girls are subject to a specific clothing requirement that
Republicans were once the party that advocated for local control of schools. No longer. Now they support state takeovers. This is the Big Bad Wolf technique. State Control makes it easier to privatize public schools. No need to listen to parents or communities. No raucous school board meetings. No democracy. State control of schools is autocracy in action. In Arkansas, a state that is almost whol
Bob Braun was a reporter for New Jersey’s biggest newspaper—the Star-Ledger—for fifty years. Now he writes what he wants, without any constraints. In this post , he lacerates the series of articles about charter school corruption and theft of public dollars in New Jersey because it failed to reach the logical conclusion of the evidence it produced. The logical conclusion would be to call off the
This article is the last of a five-part series called “Cashing in on Charter Schools,” published by northjersey.com and USA Today New Jersey and written by Jean Rimbach and Abbott Koloff. The post examines possible fixes for the problems and profiteering described in previous entries in the series. This concluding article in a series that revealed widespread theft of public funds is deeply disapp
Caitlin Reilly of “Inside Philanthropy” writes that philanthropies no longer see charter schools as the means to transform American education. Although a few have doggedly doubled down on their commitment to charters, there seems to be a broad shift underway. Reilly calls it an “inflection point,” a point where change is undeniable. She writes: “Though charter schools have acquired a powerful all
The militant Chicago Teachers Union issued a statement following the election of Lori Lightfoot, who was not its first choice. The CTU celebrates the end of the nightmare rule of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Governor Bruce Rauner. And it commemorates the historic leadership of its President Emerita Karen Lewis, who inaugurated a historic awakening of teacher militancy with the Chicago teachers’ strike
Sometimes it helps to solve a mystery when you put it out there for public review. Like posting photos of the “Ten Most Wanted Criminals” in every postoffice. Tips come in. An hour ago, I learned the identity of the person who named the members of the Task Force that is supposed to propose reforms to the state’s notoriously weak charter law. Seven of the 11 members of the Task Force are connected
Blogger Red Queen in LA (Sara Roos) has combed through tax filings to reveal the exorbitant salaries paid to charter school execitives, demonstrating that the ban of for-profit charter corporations has not limited the raid on taxpayers’ dollarsby charter profiteers. At the same time that charters executives are pulling down hefty salaries, charter enrollments are declining. She writes: “Overall,
The New York State Allies for Public Education issued this statement in opposition to State Commissioner MaryEllen Elia’s efforts to “bribe, coerce, manipulate, and threaten students and parents into complying with a broken assessment system.” NYSAPE has led the opt out movement for several years. About 20 percent of eligible students in grades 3-8 do not take the state tests. About half the stud
Bill Raden of Capital & Main presents us with this puzzle: how did it happen that seven of the 11 members of Gavin Newsom’s Task Force in charter school reform are part of the charter industry? The Fox is in charge of the henhouse. Since the Task Force is supposed to examine the fiscal impact of charters on public schools, why is the industry judging itself? Shouldn’t the Task Force have been com
This post is part 4 of a series published by northjersey.com and USA Today New Jersey. Written by Jean Rimbach and Abbott Koloff, it is called “Cashing in on Charter Schools.” It explores the many ways that charter operators exploit taxpayers. This post describes how charter operators and real estate developers are cashing in. “ I nterest-only mortgages with rates that grow each year. Multimillio
Garn Press, one of the nation’s valuable independent publishers, has compiled a collection of my most important essays. I am grateful for their hard work and dedication in bringing the book to fruition. The book is titled “The Wisdom and Wit of Diane
