BILLIONAIRES ARE THE BIGGEST THREAT TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS
For Education “Disruptors” Like Bill Gates And Betsy DeVos, COVID-19 Isn’t A Crisis—It’s An Opportunity.
The COVID-19 crisis is shaping up to be a golden opportunity for those eager to shake up public education.
In recent months, as schools closed to limit the spread of COVID-19, millions of students, teachers, and administrators have been forced to flip a switch and embrace distance learning. Many states have hinted that this situation could continue well into the next school year.
Now, panic is spreading among public school advocates as key proponents of “disruptive” education models scramble to capitalize on the chaos.
First came the news, in late April, that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who has long been a political and financial supporter of school choice schemes, has been authorized by Congress to hand out $307 million in grant money to state departments of education—provided they use the funds to “reimagine” (read: privatize) K-12 schooling.
Then, in early May, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that he would be working alongside billionaire education reform advocate Bill Gates to construct new ways of delivering instruction in the COVID-19 era.
Gates, of course, has a long history of tinkering with public schools from a philanthropic distance, using his billions to fund everything from small high school programs to the spread of charter schools in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans.
Much of Gates’s work has been controversial and short-lived, such as his efforts CONTINUE READING: Billionaires Are The Biggest Threat To Public Schools - PopularResistance.Org