One of the most valuable sites online is KnowYourCharter in Ohio. This post lays out the waste of taxpayer dollars gobbled up by charters. Time to close the spigot of money going down the drain in Ohio, leeched away from public schools to fatten charter operators. Ohio has long been a hotbed of for-profit charter schools. While Ohio requires that all charter schools be technically non-profit, Ohi
Latest research review from NEPC: Simple comparisons reveal very little about the relative effectiveness of charter schools. View this email in your browser Tuesday, June 18, 2019 Publication Announcement Florida Report Offers Meager Insight into Charter School Performance KEY TAKEAWAY: Simple comparisons reveal very little about the relative effectiveness of charter schools. NEPC Review -> Docum
Ohio experienced the collapse of ECOT (Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow) earlier this year, wasting hundreds of millions of dollars meant for instruction. California recently indicted 11 people in the theft of more than $50 million connected to online charter schools, padding their enrollments with ghost students. Bill Phillis of Ohio has a suggestion. No reason for online charters to be pa
Karen Francisco, editorial page editor of the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette , is a great defender of democracy, honesty, and public schools. She is a keen observer of the school choice hustle in Indiana, where grifters and entrepreneurs are welcome to rip off the public. Thanks, Former Governor’s Mitch Daniels and Mike Pence, and compliant legislators. In this editorial, she explains how charter sch
Mercedes Schneider read the voluminous indictment of the founders of the online charter chain called A3. She describes the counts in the indictment in this post. She writes: In this post, I offer excerpts of the 67 counts detailed in the 235-page indictment of Sean McManus, Jason Schrock, and nine others who used weaknesses in California’s charter school laws to construct a network of fraud and l
Stephen Suitts is an adjunct professor at Emory University’s Institute for the Liberal Arts. He is the author of Hugo Black of Alabama: How His Roots and Early Career Shaped the Great Champion of the Constitution . Earlier in his career, Suitts served as the executive director of the Southern Regional Council, vice president of the Southern Education Foundation, and executive producer and writer
The Washington Post has a story today about America’s first gay first lady. She was Grover Cleveland’s sister Rose, who acted as his first lady because he was elected without a wife. In the summer of 1910, Evangeline Simpson Whipple told the caretaker of her home not to move anything in her absence. The wealthy widow was going on a trip, but would be back soon, she said. She never returned. When
Governor Gretchen Whitmer wrote a letter to the Benton Harbor school board, letting them know that it was up to them to accept the state’s offer, which meant the state would forgive the district’s debts and the district would close its beloved high school. Excuse me, Governor Whitmer, but why doesn’t the state offer to send support to this impoverished school district, not just forgive its debts.
Jitu Brown is leader of the Journey for Justice and a national civil rights leader. In this interview , he explains why he opposes school closings, charter schools, and vouchers, which have been disproportionately imposed on communities of color. Don’t believe the claims by corporate reformers that black and brown parents want privately managed charters where they have no voice. They want well-fu
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is poised to close the high school of Benton Harbor instead of giving it the resources and support it needs. Perhaps it is time to review the state’s funding formula, created by a generation of Republican legislator, Gov. Engler, Gov. Snyder, and Betsy DeVos. In this article , journalist Anna Clark describes what the public schools of St. Joseph, the twin city o
The West Virginia Republican members of the House rammed through an omnibus education bill that authorized charters for the first time in the state. Every Democrat opposed the bill, and seven Republicans broke ranks to oppose it. It passed 51-47. The West Virginia House of Delegates passed Wednesday its education omnibus bill (House Bill 206), after replacing its cap of 10 charter schools statewi
Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitme campaigned in Benton Harbor, promising to invest in schools and to reverse Republican Rick Snyder’s ruinous policies of state takeover and school closings. Once elected, she offered Benton Harbor a deal: the state will forgive your debts if you close the high school to cut costs. If you don’t take the deal, the whole district may be closed. The residents felt b
Adolph Reed Jr. and Cornel West blast the charter school advocates who dishonestly attacked Bernie Sanders’ plan for charter accountability as racist. This is an amazing article. Please read it in full. I am not supposed to quote more than 300 words without violating copyright law. I would love to post it all, but I can’t. You have got to open it and read it. Reed and West write: During the Reaga
This column by Paul Waldman was published by the Washington Post, where he is a columnist. At a fundraiser in New York attended by the usual Wall Street types, Joe Biden said some things that are raising eyebrows, for good reason, on two subjects. His comments on his friendly relations with segregationists are getting the most attention, but he also said something important about the wealthy peop
NPE Action is helping allies fight for their public schools across the country! We are turning the tide against privatization! We need your help! The Tide is Turning But We Need Your Help The narrative is shifting. As candidates jockey for position, public education issues are no longer relegated to soundbites. Major media outlets are reaching out to NPE Action to better understand why candidates
As promised, Governor Tom Wolf vetoed legislation to double the funding for vouchers. In his veto message, he said: “We have public schools that are structurally deteriorating, contaminated by lead, and staffed by teachers who are not appropriately paid and overstretched in their responsibilities. Tackling these challenges, and others, should be our collective priority,” the governor said in his
Paul Thomas Taught for nearly 20 years, then became a teacher educator at Furman University in South Carolina. He often writes about the media and its misperceptions of teaching. In this post , he laments the fact that the media is constantly in search of a scapegoat for whatever goes wrong in education. The latest scapegoat, he writes, is teacher education, and the latest lamentation is that tea
Remember the biggest charter heist in history? It wasn’t just in California. Bill Phillis writes: Individuals indicted in California $80 million charter scam involved in Ohio STEAM charter school operations Jason Schrock and Eli Johnson are among the 11 persons indicted in the $80 million charter schools scam in California. These two individuals are involved in the Ohio STEAM charters. In a
Steven Singer explains succinctly why charter schools are by definition a waste of money. No one has yet explained why it makes sense to have two publicly funded school systems, one public, the other under private management. He writes: You can’t save money buying more of what you already have. Constructing two fire departments serving the same community will never be as cheap as having one. Empo
ProPublica reports on its investigation of the funding and mission of Teach for America, in which it discovered that TFA is an arm of the charter movement, which aims to replace public schools with non-union private charter school. This is an eye-popping article, an exemplar of investigative reporting. It begins: When the Walton Family Foundation announced in 2013 that it was donating $20 million
Trump went to Orlando today to launch his re-election campaign. On the same day, the Orlando Sentinel published an editorial announcing the newspaper’s endorsement for 2020 : Anyone but Trump. Donald Trump is in Orlando to announce the kickoff of his re-election campaign. We’re here to announce our endorsement for president in 2020, or, at least, who we’re not endorsing: Donald Trump. Some reader
JUNE 18, 2019 Meyerson on TAP To the Barricades! How to Counter Trump’s New Deportation Orders. Inasmuch as virtually every policy Donald Trump implements is grotesque, it’s a good thing he telegraphs his punches. Last night, the Tweeter-in-Chief gleefully tweeted that his immigration goons would begin deporting “millions” of undocumented immigrants next week. The Supreme Three-Year-Old isn’t muc
Middle School Principal Jamaal Bowman has announced that he will challenge incumbent Congressman Elliot Engel. The New York Times reported: WASHINGTON — Jamaal Bowman, a middle school principal from the Bronx, announced on Tuesday his plans to challenge Representative Eliot L. Engel, the New York Democrat who leads the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee, in the 2020 race. The contest could
Attention Editors of U.S. News & World Report! Gina Caneva teaches in a high school in Chicago that received a high ranking from U.S. News & World Report, but she is not happy. She knows the rankings are destructive nonsense. They are a fraud. I began teaching 15 years ago at Corliss High School in the Roseland community on the Far South Side. Then and now, the school’s student body is nearly ent
Valerie Strauss posted a fascinating column about the biggest charter scam in history. She writes: Late last month, San Diego officials indicted 11 people in what they described as a charter scam that defrauded the state of California of more than $50 million in education funds. The indictment details a scheme in which an Australian man and his business partner in Southern California opened 19 ch
Veteran journalist Peg Tyre is in Japan right now, trying to learn more about their efforts to reform schools. She loves feedback from you. Will “Spinach” Stop Japanese Schools From Teaching Kids in A Way That Promotes Innovation? Here’s the project: The governments in Japan and South Korea say they want to educate students to become more innovative and creative in order to participate more fully
Mercedes Schneider was a little surprised that Bill Gates is setting up a lobbying organization. Why should he? He has been shelling out millions to buy Influence with state and federal policy makers for years. She writes: Whereas the idea of Gates paying individuals to lobby to alter policy in line with his billionaire preferences, the public should realize that Gates already has an oversized in
Susan Edelman reports in the New York Post that nine members of the NYC City Council complained that Chancellor Richard Carranza was hiring inexperienced cronies for top jobs. One of his hires was a former Disney executive who will serve as “chief experience officer,” which is ironic since he apparently has no education experience. Maybe he will be there to make sure that students and teachers ha
You are invited to the Annual Class Size Matters “Skinny Award” Dinner honoring those who have given us the “real skinny” on NYC schools: NY Attorney General Letitia James NYC Kids PAC Wednesday June 19, 2019 at 6 PM Casa La Femme, 140 Charles St. Join us for a delicious three course meal with a glass of wine and great company! Together we will celebrate our victories and gain strength for the ch
Our allies the Pastors for Texas Children have repeatedly blocked vouchers in Texas, and they are now celebrating a significant boost in state funding for public schools. They have helped to start similar organizations in other states to protect the separation between church and state. Dear Friend, Our nation is wracked by a politics of division, where special interests and big donors set the pol
Valerie Jablow, parent activist and blogger in D.C., wrote a scathing indictment of the leadership of the District of Columbia Public Schools. She is sure that the districts leaders are actively undermining public schools–a policy of benign neglect– and promoting charter expansion. A few weeks ago, the D.C. Public Charter School Board [sic] approved five new charter schools, despite the large num
In Florida, the Governor and legislators proclaim their love of “equality,” as they funnel millions of public dollars to religious schools that openly discriminate against LGBT students. The state currently spends $1 billion a year on vouchers and the Legislature recently voted to expand them. During pride month, Florida politicians love talking about their passion for equality. They’re much less
Mr. and Mrs. Bill Gates apparently feel they are not winning enough battles in the court of public opinion, so they have created a lobbying organization to promote their ideas in Congress and state legislatures. Will the Gates lobby push for Common Core? For more high-stakes testing? For more federal funding for charter schools? For evaluating teachers by the test scores of their students? For mo
Gary Rubinstein was one of the earliest members of Teach for America. I n this post , he looks at what has and has not changed in those years. You’d think that after 29 years, TFA training would have improved. But since they are supposed to be so data-driven, they should look at the most telling statistic about their quality of training. The quit rate for TFA has not changed from 29 years ago unt
Tom Ultican, retired teacher of physics and advanced mathematics, has become a scholar of the privatization movement. in this post , he reviews the efforts of the charter lobby to undermine the effort to reform the egregiously defective charter law in California. At times like this, you need a scorecard to keep track of the multitudinous organizations created by the billionaires who want to repla
Bill Raden of Capitol & Main has a sharp analysis of the recommendations from Superintendent Tony Thurmond’s Charter School Task Force. Plus, public school advocate David Tokofsky explains why Measure EE—which was supposed to raise $500 million annually for the schoolsof Los Angeles—failed. With allies like L.A.’s neoliberal supe Beutner running the Yes on EE campaign, who needs enemies? Beutner’
A few months ago, Governor Gavin Newsom and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond appointed a task force to make recommendations to the State Legislature about the needed reforms of the state charter law. Of the 11 people on the Task Force, several had ties to the charter industry, two work for the California Charter Schools Association, and others are employed by charter schools. I
Mercedes Schneider wrote a post about the abysmal failure of Measure EE in Los Angeles, which needed a 2/3 vote to pass but did not receive a majority. The turnout was shockingly low. Probably the measure should have been added to a general election. Special one-issue elections always have low turnout. That could cut either way but in this case it cut against the needs of children to have a quali
Civil rights icon Jitu Brown and Rochester activist Rosemary Rivera write that state takeover of the Rochester public schools is a bad idea. They write: We know that Rochester residents want the same thing: excellent public schools where it is a joy to teach and learn. The fact that this vision hasn’t been realized on a district-wide basis is painful, and there’s a growing sentiment that somethin
Peter Smagorinsky is a Professor of English Education at the University of Georgia. He often contributes to Maureen Downey’s blog at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In this post , he lets his students explain why they were inspired by Stephanie Johns, who teaches at Classic City High School in Athens, Georgia. As you read about this model teacher, Stephanie Johns, you may realize that experienc
Larry Lee reminds one and all that what matters most in education is not what happens in the State House or the think tanks or the conferences, but what happens when teachers meet students. He writes: All the battles we wage in the legislature, all the money spent to lobby, all the grand schemes we import from distant think tanks, all the paperwork we choke principals with, all the talk about “da
In a nail-biter, the Texas State Board of Education turned down a request to authorize a Gulen-affiliated charter school by a vote of 8-5. The applicant was Soner Tarim, who is leader of the Harmony Charter chain and applicant for a charter school called Woodlands Hills Charter School in rural Washington County in Alabama. Gulen charter schools always deny that they are Gulen charter schools but
In Flint, Michigan, all charges were dropped against the state officials who made the disastrous decision to change thesource of the city’s water supply, to save money. The Michigan solicitor general, Fadwa Hammoud, who took control of the investigation in January after the election of a new attorney general, said “all available evidence was not pursued” by the previous team of prosecutors. “This
Opposition research—negative information about one’s political opponent—costs thousands of dollars. It is valuable. President Trump told George Stephanopoulos that he would be willing to listen if a foreign government offered dirt about a political opponent. The law says that such offers should be reported to the FBI at once. Trump seems to be unfamiliar with the law and the Constitution (e.g., f
Citizens for Public Schools needs you now to stand up for public schools in Massachusetts. Three ways you can stand up and speak out for public education today! Take a few minutes today to raise your voice about these three important issues for our schools. 1) Less Testing, More Learning Citizens for Public Schools members will testify at a public hearing before the Joint Education Committee Mond
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 11, 2019 Contact: Owen Kilmer, SPLC Owen.Kilmer@splcenter.org // (334) 956-8209 John McDonald, UCLA JMcDonald@gseis.ucla.edu // (310) 206-0513 Report: Black students, students with disabilities among most likely to be struck in schools practicing corporal punishment Civil rights groups offer new insight into practice banned in majority of states MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Child
Three teachers at Summit Public Schools (privately managed charter schools calling themselves ”public”) were terminated without cause. The three were trying to organize a union to improve working conditions and had been offered contracts for next year when they were suddenly informed that they were no longer wanted. No teachers other than these three were fired. The Summit charter schools are fun
Colorado turned a school district over to a Florida-based management corporation. Adams 14 officials have signed an $8.3 million, four-year contract with Florida-based MGT Consulting, officially becoming the first district in the state to hand over management to a company. The state Board of Education in November ordered the Commerce City-based district of Adams 14 to hire an external manager for
Bill Raden of Capital & Main writes here about racial segregation in West Sacramento’s charter schools. Capital & Main has done an outstanding job covering the charter industry in California. Raden writes: Representing the newest form of green line in West Sacramento are charter schools — publicly funded but privately operated academies that are free from many of the regulations governing public
The Republican-controlled Legislature in Pennsylvania passed a bill to expand vouchers for religious schools. Governor Tom Wolf, a Democrat, announced that he would veto the bill. This is good news for public schools in the Keystone State! Here is a roundup of stories from the Keystone State Education Coalition: HB800: Gov. Wolf to veto $100M private and religious schools bill in Pennsylvania Pos
The National Education Policy Center published a review of an annual report by EdChoice, an advocacy organization for vouchers. KEY TAKEAWAY: Questionable methodology and misrepresentation of the research result in a misleading report not useful for decision-making or research purposes. BOULDER, CO (June 11, 2019) – A recent report from EdChoice presents itself as a yearly updated list and synthe
Jan Resseger reports here on the uncertain status of legislation intended to repeal Ohio’s state takeover law, which was shoved through without deliberation or debate. She writes: You will remember that on May 1, 2019, the Ohio House passed HB 154 to repeal Ohio state school takeovers, which have been catastrophic failures in Lorain and Youngstown under HB 70—the law that set up the state seizure
Lawrence A. Feinberg leads a valuable organization called the Keystone State Education Coalition, which reports on education issues in Pennsylvania. The big issue today is whether Democratic Governor Tom Wolf will veto a bill to expand the state’s voucher program by $100 million, a bill passed almost entirely by Republicans in the Legislature. He certainly should veto the measure because it will
David Gamberg is superintendent of two adjacent small school districts on Long Island in New York: Southold and Greenport. Gamberg is devoted to a philosophy of whole-child learning, in which play and a healthy body are as important as academics. He is constantly coming up with new ways to engage children’s imagination and creativity. His schools are alive with music, art, gardening, play, and, n
The Public Accountability Initiative is the place to go to follow the money. The team that produces these reports is called “Little Sis,” the opposite of Big Brother . Little Sis recently posted an eye-opening analysis of the funders of Teach for America. This post identifies the Hedge funders w ho hold large amounts of Puerto Rico’s debt and are demanding a reduction in pensions and public servi
CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) complained that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos did not give up her family holdings in a “brain enhancement” company called Neurocore. Neurocore operates brain performance centers that offer treatment for children and adults with anxiety, depression, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The company uses unproven “brain
Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools June 5, 2019 For immediate release: Statement of APPS Re CREDO study The CREDO study released today presents more evidence that the charter experiment foisted upon the state’s children has been a resounding failure, especially considering the enormous amount of taxpayer dollars that have been spent on charter schools. For many reasons, comparing charters t
Larry Buhl writes in Capital & Main that teacher churn is a serious issue in the charter industry, but high turnover rates may be a feature of the charter business model, because it keeps labor costs low. In Los Angeles, a 2018 study comparing charter- and traditional-school teachers between 2002 and 2009, found that elementary-school charter teachers saw 35 percent higher turnover than their tra
Cyber Charters in Pennsylvania are low-performing but profitable. The latest CREDO report finds that they continue to exhibit low performance. Their enrollments are growing despite their dismal outcomes. The Philadelphia Inquirer editorial board said this: A new report on charter school performance in Pennsylvania raises the latest red flag about cyber charters, showing that this sector of educat
Shawgi Telll writes that the latest study of charter schools in Pennsylvania by CREDO, the Stanford-based research group, reports unimpressive results. CREDO’s overall conclusion: The analysis shows that in a year’s time, the typical charter school student in Pennsylvania makes similar progress in reading and weaker growth in math compared to the educational gains that the students would have had
Nick Hanauer was a big supporter of charter schools. As he explains in this fascinating article, he swallowed the Corporate Reform Dogma whole. He believed that America’s “failing public schools” were the cause of poverty and inequality. Fix the schools and—poof—poverty and inequality will disappear. He writes: Taken with this story line, I embraced education as both a philanthropic cause and a c
Two teachers won recognition for excellence and a $20,000 stipend. Lynn Shon, who teaches science at M.S. 88 on Seventh Avenue, was given the Muller Award for Professional Influence in Education by the Math for America organization. Gary Rubinstein, a math teacher at Stuyvesant High School also won the award. Gary is well known to every reader of this blog. He is a great teacher, a great blogger,
John Merrow has challenged himself annually to bike the same number of miles as his birthday years. With every passing year, the target gets higher and the body gets older. He turns 78 on June 14. He jumped to a slightly early beginning. He did it! Accompanied by his daughter, he biked 78 miles. He invited his many friends and admirers to contribute $78 or a multiple of 78 to a charity of his cho
Celebrate! Meet Heroes Leonie Haimson and Tish James! Leonie is the CEO of Class Size Matters and Student Privacy Matters. Tish James is Attorney General of the State of New York. She is in charge of legal issues that will affect all of our lives. The event is a fundraiser for Class Size Matters on June 19. https://www.nycharities.org/Events/EventLevels.aspx?ETID=11186 Join us!
The graduation ceremony at a charter school in Detroit was disrupted when the two top students in the school used their addresses to criticize the school for “an inferior education and a culture of secrecy.” The school said the students being used by adults with an agenda, which is an odd and condescending thing to say about your best students. The pair accused Universal Academy on Detroit’s west
Only Bill Gates knows how many millions he has poured into getting charters authorized and funded by the state in Washington State. There have been four referendums, the last one in 2012, which passed by about one percent, over the opposition of civil rights groups, unions, and PTAs. Gates and friends (Jeff Bezos’ parents, Waltons, and assorted billionaires) outspent the grassroots groups by seve
Bill Phillis, former State Deputy Superintendent, watches over school spending and misspending in Ohio, in hopes that one day there will be equitable and adequate funding of public schools, instead of the current regime of school choice, waste, fraud, and abuse. Richard Allen Academy charter school audit cites fraud The state audit cited illegal payments to board members and the treasurer,
NBC News ran a story about how Democratic candidates are turning against charter schools. The reasons, says NBC, is DeVos and unions. The safe position for Democrats is to say that he or she opposes for-profit charter schools. Bernie Sanders went further by echoing the national NAACP and Black Lives Matter’s call for a national moratorium on new charters. In the story, everyone plays their expect
James Shelton has a storied history as a reformer. He led the education program at the Gates Foundation. He was East Coast leader of the NewSchools Venture Fund, which underwrites charters. He co-founded a company that was acquired by Edison Learning. He worked for McKinsey. He was Arne Duncan’s Deputy Secretary, where he oversaw the i3 program, which was part of Race to the Top. Then he moved to
Eugene Robinson, columnist for the Washington Post, wrote this persuasive commentary: What would a president have to do, hypothetically, to get this Congress to impeach him? Obstruct a Justice Department investigation, perhaps? No, apparently that’s not enough. What about playing footsie with a hostile foreign power? Abusing his office to settle personal grievances? Using instruments of the state
I wish you had a subscription to the Los Angeles Times so you could read this article in full. If you do, you should. The University of Southern California had one of the nation’s best graduate social work programs. In search of more revenue, it made a deal with an East Coast digital startup to establish an online degree in social work, and enrollment ballooned from 900 in 2010 to 3,500 in 2016.
John Merrow has created a challenge for himself. Every year on his birthday, he sets a goal of cycling the same number of miles as his age . This year he turns 78, so his goal is to bike 78 miles. He invites his friends to make a gift of $78 or some multiple of 78 to a recommended charity. This year he includes the Network for Public Education on his list (as he did last year). I just donated $78
Mercedes Schneider delved into the experience of Elizabeth Warren’s senior education advisor. He entered teaching through Teach for America. I hear that his linked-in profile has been deleted since this post appeared but you might want to check to see if it has been restored. I have met Elizabeth Warren twice, once in her Senate Office, about 2015, where we had a 30-minute conversation about educ
The New York Daily News published an opinion piece attacking Bernie Sander’s call for a moratorium on charter schools, echoing the NAACP and Black Lives Matter. The article claimed that Senator Sanders was hurting children of color. Carol Burris and I published a response in the same publication to the attack, which is included here.
Yohuru Williams and Carol Burris assess the expressed views of the Democratic candidates—thus far—on K-12 education. One hopes that the other candidates will soon state or clarify their views about privatization, testing, funding, and other important issues that the president can change. They should all be asked at town halls whether they will kill the federal Charter Schools Program slush fund,
Jan Resseger writes an in-depth account of the ongoing battle by teachers in West Virginia to keep charters and vouchers out of their state. They struck twice and they continue to fight. The Republican majority in the legislature is determined to introduce privatization, despite the poor results in other states. The Republican leadership have added provisions to the pending legislation to prevent
Mary Holden is a teacher in Nashville, Tennessee. I have met Mary on several occasions, usually when I was in Nashville. She spent 15 years teaching high school, then switched to middle school, teaching sixth grade. She wasn’t sure how she would react to the change. In short, she LOVED it! There are many weird things that happen in middle school that I never experienced as a high school teacher.
Michael Rice, the new State Superintendent in Michigan, is an experienced educator, not an ideologue or a politician. His plans are sensible. He wants to steer the state back to responsible policies. He was most recently
