Big Education Ape: Oct 2, 2019

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Peter Greene: Betsy DeVos Enlists Help Of Kellyanne Conway And American Enterprise Institute To Sell $5 Billion School Choice Program

Betsy DeVos Enlists Help Of Kellyanne Conway And American Enterprise Institute To Sell $5 Billion School Choice Program

Betsy DeVos Enlists Help Of Kellyanne Conway And American Enterprise Institute To Sell $5 Billion School Choice Program

On Tuesday, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway sat down with Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute to make one more pitch for DeVos’s Education Freedom Scholarships. The program seems unlikely to succeed on the federal level.

What Is She Selling?

The EFS are what’s known as a tax credit scholarship. Several states have them, and they work like this: a donor gives money to a scholarship organization, then that program issues a scholarship for a student to attend a school, while the government credits some portion of the donation against the donor’s tax bill. In the case of DeVos’s program, the amount would be 100%. If I donate $100,000 to a scholarship organization, I pay $100,000 less in federal taxes.

What Are The Problems With Her Program?

DeVos has been plugging the program with variations of the following quote from Tuesday’s discussion:

“Our Education Freedom Scholarships proposal…doesn’t grow the government bureaucracy one tiny bit…It doesn’t impose any new requirements on states or on families. It doesn’t take a single dollar from public school students, and it doesn’t spend a single dollar of government money. And it doesn’t entangle schools with federal strings or stifling red tape. In fact, it can’t. And that’s by design.”

None of these statements are accurate. The program would certainly CONTINUE READING: Betsy DeVos Enlists Help Of Kellyanne Conway And American Enterprise Institute To Sell $5 Billion School Choice Program

More than 30,000 children under age 10 have been arrested in the US since 2013: FBI - ABC News

More than 30,000 children under age 10 have been arrested in the US since 2013: FBI - ABC News

More than 30,000 children under age 10 have been arrested in the US since 2013: FBI

The recent arrests of two 6-year-old students in Orlando, which prompted outrage and the firing of the officer who restrained one child's hands with flex cuffs, mirrors a persistent problem confronting law enforcement and schools with thousands of children arrested annually and treated like "mini-adults," experts said.

Stunning annual crime statistics compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) show that between 2013 and 2018 (the most recent year for which complete data is available), at least 30,467 children under the age of 10 were arrested in the United States. And the numbers skyrocket for children between the ages of 10 to 12 with 266,321 arrested during the same six-year time span, according to the data.

Rules about the age children can be arrested vary around the world. In England and Wales, for instance, the age of criminal responsibility is 10, with alternative arrangements for those under 10. In Scotland, it is 8.

In the United States, 34 states have no minimum age for delinquency (according to the most recent data), while most of the rest have set the age at 10, according to government data. The federal system prefers to defer to the state delinquency system for minors, according to the Congressional Research Service, although the federal tradition, is reported to be seven.

And 24 states have no minimum age to transfer juvenile cases to adult criminal court according to the Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency CONTINUE READING: More than 30,000 children under age 10 have been arrested in the US since 2013: FBI - ABC News

It's Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... A VERY BUSY DAY | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

It's Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... A VERY BUSY DAY | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

Media Literacy Week Is October 21st – 25th – Here Are Related Teaching & Learning Resources

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

OpenClipart-Vectors / Pixabay Media Literacy Week is From October 21st to the 25th. You might be interested in: The Best Tools & Lessons For Teaching Information Literacy – Help Me Find More The Best Tools To Help Develop Global Media Literacy

The Best Resources For Learning About Dunning Kruger Effect

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

TeroVesalainen / Pixabay I’ve applied The Dunning Kruger Effect in my classroom (see New Metacognition Study & How I’m Thinking Of Applying It In My Classes – Feedback Welcome! ). And I’ve previously posted about a good TED-Ed video on the topic that, however, I don’t think is usable in the classroom because of its title (see Useful New TED Video & Lesson On The Dunning-Kruger Effect ). You might

The National Day Of Writing Is On Oct. 20th – Here Are 37 Related Teaching & Learning “Best” Lists

29by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

Free-Photos / Pixabay From The National Council Of Teachers Of English: The National Day on Writing® (October 20), an initiative of the National Council of Teachers of English, is built on the premise that writing is critical to literacy but needs greater attention and celebration. Every year NCTE and enthusiastic participants around the world continue to grow this event. Since 2009 we’ve seen hu

Betsy DeVos calls federal school vouchers ‘the conservative answer to what ails American education’ -- and says, incorrectly, that they won’t cost the government any money - The Washington Post

Betsy DeVos calls federal school vouchers ‘the conservative answer to what ails American education’ -- and says, incorrectly, that they won’t cost the government any money - The Washington Post

Betsy DeVos calls $5 billion school tax credit plan ‘the conservative answer to what ails American education’ -- and says, incorrectly, that it won’t cost the government money
Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway participated in same event.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, appearing Tuesday at a D.C. think tank with presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway, called her $5 billion federal tax credit plan that would fund scholarships to private and religious schools “the conservative answer to what ails American education.” And she said, incorrectly, that it won’t cost the government any money to implement.

DeVos and Conway appeared at the conservative American Enterprise Institute (see video below) for a discussion about the Trump administration’s Education Freedom Scholarships proposal. The scholarships would be funded by individuals and businesses who want to privately donate but who would then receive a federal tax credit for doing so.

President Trump’s 2020 budget plan includes $5 billion to pay for those tax credits, on a dollar-for-dollar basis: A dollar for a scholarship gets you a $1 tax credit. (The president’s budget proposal also would cut Education Department spending by nearly $9 billion. Congress is not expected to approve the tax credit program or the budget cuts.)

DeVos has been clear since becoming education secretary in 2017 that her chief priority was expanding alternatives to traditional public schools, which she once called “a dead end.” As she has in the past, DeVos on Tuesday hailed the proposal as one that would not take money away from public schools, and this time she said it wouldn’t use any “government money” — even though the $5 billion used to cover tax credits means government money would be involved.

She said:

Our Education Freedom Scholarships proposal . . . doesn’t grow the government bureaucracy one tiny bit. . . . It doesn’t impose any new requirements on states or on families. It doesn’t take a single dollar from public school students, and it doesn’t spend a single dollar of government money. And it doesn’t entangle schools with federal strings or stifling red tape. In fact, it can’t. And that’s by design.

The Education Department did not respond to a request for comment.

DeVos’s comments — including this one: “Big union bullying is … unfair to the many students and CONTINUE READING: Betsy DeVos calls federal school vouchers ‘the conservative answer to what ails American education’ -- and says, incorrectly, that they won’t cost the government any money - The Washington Post

DeVos' security detail cost $6.24M during the past year - POLITICO

DeVos' security detail cost $6.24M during the past year - POLITICO

DeVos' security detail cost $6.24M during the past year

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ security detail is projected to cost $7.87 million from now through the end of September 2020, a spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals Service told POLITICO today.

The Marshals Service said the final cost of protecting DeVos in fiscal 2019, which ended Monday, was $6.24 million. That’s down from $6.79 million in fiscal 2018 and less than the service’s projection last year — $7.74 million — for fiscal 2019.

The service did not disclose why the secretary's protection is expected to cost more in the upcoming year.

The U.S. Marshals Service, which began providing a protection detail for DeVos in February 2017, “regularly conducts threat assessments on Ms. DeVos to determine threats to the secretary’s safety,” according to an official statement.

DeVos’ security detail is highly unusual — the past four Education secretaries have been protected by the Education Department’s own small security force. Her security detail was initially ordered by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

An agreement between the department and the Marshals Service establishes roles, responsibilities and terms between the agencies “to monitor and mitigate threats against the secretary.”

The Marshals Service said the number of personnel assigned to the detail is “commensurate with the existing threat and based on USMS protective service requirements, experience and methodology.

“For reasons of operational security, we will not disclose the number of CONTINUE READING: DeVos' security detail cost $6.24M during the past year - POLITICO

Navigating Racist Triggers: The Unsettling Impact of Current Events on the Immigrant Experience | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Navigating Racist Triggers: The Unsettling Impact of Current Events on the Immigrant Experience | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Navigating Racist Triggers: The Unsettling Impact of Current Events on the Immigrant Experience

As Donald Trump continues to fuel white nationalism with his recent tirade against four members of Congress who are all women of color, the essence of what it means to be American is in a seismic shift. The values of the constitution, the leadership elected to uphold it, and the American people are in direct conflict and the threat to already vulnerable communities like mine is real. The question that keeps getting louder in my ears is: Am I safe?

As much as we are a nation of immigrants, nativism [born from the original immigrants], is inextricably part of our history. So while there’s nothing new about Trump’s sentiments of an ‘Us versus Them’ dynamic, what is different is the overt speech he’s using to incite racist, anti-immigrant, and mob-like rallying. Using the presidency as a platform to gaslight tensions that have been intensifying in recent years is not only irresponsible but it’s dangerous. Hearing the president’s steady drumbeat of comments validating hate is stirring a deeply seeded reminder that I – like many others - have to be prepared to defend my nationality, my culture, and even my humanity. And before I hear another suggestion that we challenge these threats at the ballot box in 2020, I want to know what we can do now.

The growing crisis at the border and the threats of raids in target cities have triggered the paralyzing fears of my childhood. The panic of growing up in a home of mostly immigrants is a defining part of my identity and the imminent threats we faced still haunt me today. Hearing the clamoring for a wall and the denials of what is happening the in the detention centers on one side and watching the trauma-filled family reunions and testimonials of immigrants at the border on the other, pinches a nerve that immediately flashes me back in time. Throughout the ‘90s – in the shadow of our nation’s capital – I grew up in a house where nearly a dozen immigrants could have been targeted on any given day.

Born to Latin American immigrants, and raised among refugees, I was U.S. citizen and should’ve felt safe. Instead I lived in fear of the same threats I see children and families facing today. Most of my relatives came through networks of coyotes who CONTINUE READING: Navigating Racist Triggers: The Unsettling Impact of Current Events on the Immigrant Experience | Schott Foundation for Public Education

LAUSD earmarks $5.5 million to ease sharing between charter and public schools - Los Angeles Times

LAUSD earmarks $5.5 million to ease sharing between charter and public schools - Los Angeles Times

Can charter and public schools share space without fights? LAUSD’s $5.5-million solution

Five schools, including three charters, share the Westchester High School campus, making for a potential headache when it comes to drop-off and pick-up, serving food and using the library and athletic fields.

A plan unanimously approved Tuesday by the Los Angeles Board of Education won’t fix all the logistics at schools like Westchester, but it offers $5.5 million to make sharing campuses more manageable and collegial. The funding works out to about $100,000 for each of the 55 campuses that host one or more charters in the nation’s second-largest school system.

The funding represents a notable collaboration between board members Nick Melvoin, a charter ally, and Jackie Goldberg, a charter critic. It comes just one week after an unrelated but key compromise between the same two camps over controversial fees that senior district officials want to collect from charters.

These recent actions show that board members can work together on divisive issues. They also underscore the importance of upcoming school board elections, especially with new rules that give school boards more authority to reject new charters.

No one likes this sharing between charters and district schools, said Melvoin, “but we can do more to provide support to our district schools by easing the burden of sharing a campus. We can help the day-to-day operations run a little smoother, and maybe even promote a new spirit of collaboration.”

“I made substantial changes to Nick’s original motion and he accepted all of them,” said Goldberg, who added that the end result should be smoother lunch lines, easier student drop-offs and better play spaces.

The complications around sharing campuses are not all logistical. In some cases, a new charter school, which is run by a nonprofit board of directors, has recruited CONTINUE READING: LAUSD earmarks $5.5 million to ease sharing between charter and public schools - Los Angeles Times

Image result for charter school co-location

CURMUDGUCATION: The 14,752nd Real Promise Of School Choice

CURMUDGUCATION: The 14,752nd Real Promise Of School Choice

The 14,752nd Real Promise Of School Choice

AEI hosted a pep rally for the DeVos $5 million scholarship tax credit, and afterwards, Rick Hess put up the latest entry in AEI's 60 second that "reminds" us of the "real promise" of charters and choice:

Yes, apparently the real promise of choice is that it will empower educators to start up schools where they can do their thing. This has to be the six gazillionth tweaking of the charter argument, and one of the least convincing to date.

After all, the argument for the longest time was that choice was necessary to rescue students from failing public schools and the failing teachers who failed there. Hess says that the real promise of choice is not higher math and reading scores, but of course that was exactly the promise of school choice; if it was not a real promise it was certainly a marketing promise. These score-raising charters would be staffed by Teach For America folks, or other alternative path folks, because CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: The 14,752nd Real Promise Of School Choice