The Center for American Progress has been the think tank of centrist Democrats and a refuge for veterans of the Obama administration and the would-have-been Clinton Administration. The media calls it “progressive,” but on education its agenda was aligned with the mainstream of the Republican Party. It never supported vouchers but it was all-in for charter schools. Now that Betsy DeVos is the new
Are you longing for a return of Race to the Top and its principles of high-stakes testing, competition, and charter schools? Then Senator Michael Bennett of Colorado is your man. He released his plan today in Iowa and it won praise from Arne Duncan. Try to forget that Race to the Top and George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind were virtually the same. Try to forget that both failed, having inflicte
Since that infamous event on November 8, 2016, when the U.S. government was taken over by the loony and cruel Rightwing, I have said that two things would help us through the next four years: Art and humor. They would enable us to see the world as it is and as it should be and to dream of a better future. No one has been a more reliable source of humor than Randy Rainbow. Watch this short video t
In this post, Carol Burris lays out a devastating bill of indictment against the charter industry in Pennsylvania . Technically, it is run by “non-profit” Boards, but most of the time those words are fig leaves for for-profit corporations that are growing rich with the help of the state legislature. Governor Wolf recently announced his determination to hold charter schools accountable, and the ch
Carl Petersen, a veteran of the charter wars in Los Angeles, writes her about the serious defect in the charter reform law. The law finally allows local school boards to determine whether proposed charter schools will damage the fiscal stability of the public schools, a welcome change. But it also allows the unelected County Board of Education to overturn the decisions of the elected district sch
With so much billionaire cash sloshing around California to promote charter schools and to disparage public schools, it can be difficult to know which groups are real and which are Memorex. Here is one that definitely is not a real parents’ group. It is called Speak Up and it is populated with people who are embedded in the charter sector. It recently chastised L.A. Superintendent Austin Beutner
The House that Bush Built Billyan errs and Common Cores Rickety stairs and creaky floors Leaky roofs and shaky stoops That’s the house that Bush built Flooded basements, cracked foundations Broken casements, termite nations Sagging beams and cracking seams That’s the house that Bush built Failing kids and firing teachers Software bids and testing leechers Standardizing and capitalizing That’s the
Parents and students demand a seat at the table in Providence as state leaders prepare to take control of district. https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20190904/students-parents-demand-formal-role-in-state-takeover-plan-for-providence-schools A group of high school students and Providence parents have filed a motion with the state Department of Education Wednesday demanding a formal role for p
Finland’s educational success became an international sensation when the nation’s students unexpectedly topped the PISA test a few years back. The Finns really don’t care much about rankings and standardized tests, and they were as surprised as everyone else. Thousands of visitors came to Finland to find out what they were doing. Then Finland slipped out of first place, and the gossip mill began
The original rationale for charter schools was that they would be innovative, would be accountable, and would have lessons to share with public schools. We now know that the only innovation associated with charter schools is the adoption of stern discipline, reminiscent of schools a century or more ago. We now know that charter lobbies fight any accountability. They no longer see themselves as co
During the era in which Mayor Michael Bloomberg took control of the New York City public schools (2002-2012), the city increased the number of selective admissions schools and set a uniform and very high standard for entry to gifted and talented programs. To enter the latter, children as young as four took a standardized test, and could gain admission only by scoring in the very top of the distri
Jessica Bakeman and a team of investigative reporters at WLRN in Florida report here on the state’s takeover and privatization of Jefferson County, the state’s first all-charter district. It was forced on the district by the state against the wishes of local elected officials and funded by state legislators with close financial ties to the charter school company (and its for-profit parent) that t
Nina Turner of the Bernie Sanders campaign speaks out against charter school expansion. Watch this. Every Democratic Presidential Candidate should follow Bernie’s lead. He has the pulse of the people on this issue.
The headquarters of the Walton/Walmart billionaires is in Bentonville, Arkansas, so it is not surprising that the Walton Family Foundation and the members of the family (net worth: $100 billion) have decided to privatize the public schools of Arkansas. Arkansas is a poor state. It doesn’t have an abundance of private schools that are as good as its underfunded public schools but the Waltons want
Researchers Christopher Lubienski and Joel Malin note that a growing number of states have adopted voucher plans on the assumption that vouchers will “help poor kids escape failing public schools,” but the reality is that a substantial body of evidence finds that vouchers actually harm student academic performance. After two decades of choice advocates arguing that school vouchers in particular i
Betsy DeVos was sad to see that Alabama had only four charter schools. So she awarded $25 million to an organization tasked with generating more private charters to drain money away from the state’s underfunded public schools. The state charter commission has been mired in controversy since giving its approval to a Gulen charter school in a rural district where it was not wanted. The rationale fo
Davis Guggenheim, director of the ill-fated agitprop anti-public school, anti-union film “Waiting for ‘Superman,'” has directed a paean to the genius of billionaire Bill Gates called “Inside Bill Gates’ Brain,” a frightening thought when you think about it. The last place I would want to be trapped is inside the brain of a guy who thinks he is as smart as he is rich. Yech! Steven Singer didn’t li
Michael Kohlhaas has been drip-drip-dripping emails between and among the charter industry’s bigwigs in Los Angeles. He reveals in this post that he filed a public records request for the emails and his request was granted by the in-house counsel for Green Dot charter chain, Keith Yanov. Lo and behold, Mr. Yanov has “transitioned” to the private sector, meaning that he either quit or was fired. K
This is a fascinating article by Mary Tuma, published by the Austin Chronicle about the annual meeting of ALEC in Austin, the liberal city in the heart of red red Texas. ALEC–the American Legislative Exchange Council–is a hotbed of rightwing politics, funded by the Koch brothers, Betsy DeVos, major corporations, and other malefactors of vast wealth. (If you want to learn more about ALEC, read Gor
This is a short and fascinating video about an iconic photograph : the 11 ironworkers having lunch on a steel beam high above the New York City skyline, as they constructed Rockefeller Center in 1932. Just right for Labor Day.
Mike Klonsky, veteran activist in Chicago, reports that Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a bill abolishing the state Charter School Commission. As Mike says, “We count our victories one by one,” and this is a big one. It spells the end to the reckless charter expansion encouraged by Republican Governor Bruce Rauner and Democratic Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel, concentrated in Chicago. Rauner and Rah
Michael Kohlhaas is combing through the treasure trove of leaked emails about the inner world of the Los Angeles charter industry. He recently posted about the short and strange debut of Ganas Academy. It got a grant of $325,000 from the Walton Family Foundation. The founder proceeded to pay herself $13,000 a month, spent $63,000 on consultants, and another $15,000 on lawyers, and so on, and soon
Caleb Crain has written a wonderful essay-book review in the current issue of The New Yorker about the state of unions today, referring to several recent books about unions. Where once they were part of the fabric of American society, they have increasingly been marginalized since the Reagan era, as big bosses, automation, and a hostile political climate combined to reduce their membership dramat
Stephen Greenhouse was the labor reporter for the New York Times for 19 years. In this interview with the California-based Capital & Main, Greenhouse reviews the history of the labor movement, the role it played in building a middle class, and its decline. He goes on to describe strong portents of a revival of power for working people. https://capitalandmain.com/steven-greenhouse-on-labors-silenc
Bill Phillis writes that Ohio’s State Takeover law punishes districts that serve children of color who are poor. The Republicans who run the state do not believe in local control, except in their own districts. Beware! They may come for your district next! School districts that the state has seized and others it plans to takeover have two things in common: extremely high percentage of disadvantag
Ed Johnson responds to the Atlanta Association of Educators and explains why he is running for the school board. I am posting two of his responses because I don’t think you will find any school board candidate in the nation who has responded as thoughtfully as Ed Johnson. Ed Johnson Candidate, Atlanta Board of Education District 2 1. What is your concern and goals for the students of District 2?
Atlanta is holding a special election on September 17 to fill the vacant seat in District 2. This election is crucial, because the current board majority, dominated by TFA alums, is committed to the so-called Portfolio Model, which means an abdication of the board’s responsibility and a proliferation of private charters. Ed Johnson, a dedicated and well-informed citizen of Atlanta, should be elec
Read this article by E.J. Montini in the Arizona Republic to learn how the Koch-funded ALEC controls Governor Doug Ducey and the state legislature in Arizona. ALEC was behind the voucher legislation that was overturned by voters earlier this year. He writes: About 30 of Arizona’s Republican state lawmakers, along with Gov. Doug Ducey, attended the annual convention of the American Legislative Exc
In this fall’s school board elections in Cincinnati, one of the candidates will be a TFA alum who is trying again after almost being kicked out of the Democratic Party three years ago. Ben Lindy is the director of Teach for America in Cincinnati. He attended elite suburban schools, then graduated from Yale College and Yale Law School. After he taught in rural North Carolina, he tried to start his
Last May 10, Jeanne Allen of the Center for Education Reform sent a tweet my way. Allen is a big advocate for every kind of school choice, except for public schools. Before she started her current gig, she worked for the far-right Heritage Foundation. For years, her organization has been a big cheerleader for charters and has opposed any effort by states to regulate them or hold them accountable.
Dr. Anika Whitfield is a remarkable woman. She is a podiatrist. She is an ordained Baptist minister. She has volunteered as a tutor in the public schools of Little Rock for many years. She is active in Save Our Schools Arkansas and Grassroots Arkansas. She is a fighter for social justice and equity. She wrote the following letter to Johnny Key, who is Commissioner of Education in the state. Key w
What do you know about the American Legislative Exchange Council or ALEC? It is right now the single most influential private organization in the nation. This article, though three years old, gives a good overview of the ALEC education goals, mainly to privatize public funding for schools and to eliminate teachers’ unions. This is not surprising, because the DeVos Foundations and the Koch Foundat
No one has been more effective at describing and fighting the spread of GERM than Pasi Sahlberg, the Finnish educator now working to reform education standardization in Australia. I recently visited Pasi and his family in Croatia. He and his Croatian-born wife have two beautiful children, ages 7 and 3. The boys are tri-lingual (English, Finnish, and Croatian). The older boy is learning Chinese.Th
Tempers have flared in San Francisco because of a panorama of murals created during the Depression by a Communist painter who depicted Washington as a slave-owner and a killer of Native Americans. Critics of the
