TFA Pursues a New Mission After 30 Years of Making Little Difference in the ClassroomTony Messenger of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote recently about Teach for America’s changing focus . Founded in 1990 to recruit college graduates to teach in urban and rural schools for a minimum of two years, TFA made bold claims about the success of its teachers in closing achievement gaps and raising test scores. For many years, they attracted hundreds of millions from corporate sponsors, f
Trevor Nelson Explains How Parents Fought Back Against Extremists in Arizona to Demand Safe SchoolsParent activist Trevor Nelson explains how parents organized to get accurate medical information to other parents and the public. Governor Doug Ducey took a strong stand against mask mandates, and anti-maskers turned school board meetings into screaming matches. Nelson organized parent opposition to policies that endangered their children. He tells his story here at ”Public Voices for Public Scho
Sarasota County, Florida: Chiropractor Signs Hundreds of Medical Exemption Forms for Students Whose Parents Oppose Mask MandateThe school board of Sarasota County passed a mask mandate to protect student safety, despite Governor Ron DeSantis’ strident opposition to such mandates. When parents learned that they could get a medical exemption form signed by a local chiropractor, they stood in long lines outside his office to get him to sign the form. When the Sarasota board received 1700 requests for medical exemptions, the
Jan Resseger: Ohio’s “Fair State Funding” Plan Is Grossly UnfairJan Resseger explains how the Ohio legislature, which is devoted to charters and vouchers, managed to cheat districts like hers while boasting about “fair student funding.” In the new state budget, the Ohio Legislature supposedly fixed an inequitable scheme for funding the state’s extensive private school vouchers. But it was a bait-and-switch. Public schools were losers, especially in poor distr
Reading Fiction Increases Empathy and Encourages Understanding of OthersMegan Schmidt wrote in Discover magazine about the value of reading fiction. Although written a year ago, this article is timely because it decisively refutes one of the central tenets of the Common Core, which encourages teachers to spend increasing amounts of time on “informational text” while decreasing time for literature. She began: Would the world be a better place if people read more books
Economic Policy Institute: Why Unions Are Good for AmericaThe union movement built the middle class. For most of the past century, big business and plutocrats have waged war on unions and have largely succeeded. As the following analysis by the Economic Policy Institute shows, the high point of the labor movement was in the in the late 1940s and early 1950s. As the strength of unions waned, inequality grew. The EPI study begins: Unions improve wages and
Public Health Specialist: The Ban on Abortion in TexasA friend who works in a government health agency sent me the following thoughts about the Texas abortion ban. The bill does not permit abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, which amounts to a ban since very few women know they are pregnant at that time. Citizens are offered a bounty of $10,000 for identifying any woman who obtained an abortion or who helped her get an abortion. The author reque
Florida: DeSantis Set to Abandon Standardized TestingGovernor Ron DeSantis has decided to drop standardized testing and replace it with “progress monitoring.” The devil is in the details. How will the state monitor “progress” without standardized testing? Is he trying to hide the poor performance of charter schools? Florida blogger Billy Townsend explains what’s happening here. He says Ron is ditching Jeb.
Washington Post Condemns DeSantis’ “Reckless” BehaviorThe Washington Post editorial board published a statement condemning Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ fierce opposition to mandates for masks and vaccinations. He wants to run for President as the candidate most like Trump. It wrote: Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a Republican, has descended to a jaw-dropping level of cynicism. At a news conference on Monday, he announced that if local governments i
Ohio: Vouchers Grow Despite Poor Performance and CostIn 2005, Ohio launched a new voucher program to “save poor kids from failing schools.” The voucher program served 3,000 students and cost $5 million. Now the state’s voucher program serves 69,000 students and costs Ohio taxpayers $628 million annually. Voucher advocates want more. The legislature continually rewrote the rules for eligibility to expand the number of students who can get a voucher.
Jennifer Berkshire: The Bipartisan Coalition Supporting Charter Schools Is DissolvingThe talented investigative journalist Jennifer Berkshire reports on the changing politics behind charter schools . Democratic support for charters, once led by the Obama administration, is waning. Betsy DeVos made clear that school choice is a Republican goal. She writes: In 2019, when West Virginia passed legislation that allowed for the creation of charter schools, it represented yet another fe
Carol Burris: For-Profit Charter Operator May Make $1 Billion by Selling His SchoolsCarol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education, wrote the following: As you know, the House is trying to block federal funding to charters controlled by for-profits. But it will be an uphill battle. I recently did an investigation into the private sale of 69 charters by for-profit NHA. It is jaw-dropping. Please read about it and share. This is a critical time to get the wor
California: Online Charter Operator Pleads Guilty to Fraud, Fined $18.75 MillionIt’s true that there are occasional stories of embezzlement or fraud in public schools, but none compares to the sheer audacity of California’A3 online charter chain. Its two cofounders—Jason Schrock and Sean McManus— concocted elaborate schemes and pocketed hundreds of millions of dollars of state funds. They both pleaded guilty and repaid hundreds of millions. Schrock, however, will not spend a
Nurse: The Seven Stages of CoronavirusThis is an arresting article that was written by respiratory therapist Karen Gallardo and published by the Los Angeles Times. I wish it was compulsory reading for everyone who refuses to wear a mask or to get vaccinated. She writes: I’m a respiratory therapist. With the fourth wave of the pandemic in full swing, fueled by the highly contagious Delta variant, the trajectory of the patients I see,
Texas Eliminates Accountability in Charter Schools for ELLs and SPEDTexas has gone overboard for charter schools, even though they consistently post worse results than public schools. In the state’s new plans, charter schools will not be held accountable for the performance of English-language learners or students with disabilities. That is grossly unfair to public schools but it should raise the ratings of charter schools. A trusted friend who works for the Texa
NPE Launches New Website with Stories from the Frontlines of Public School AdvocacyNPE ACTION’S NEW PROJECT TO BRING TALES FROM THE FRONTLINES OF PUBLIC SCHOOL ADVOCACY Public schools remain incredibly popular among Americans across the political spectrum, even under the strains of a global pandemic and a divisive political culture being inflamed by opportunists seeking to push radical, unpopular agendas. Parents, students, volunteers, and communities who rely on and cherish th
U.S. Treasury: Richest Americans Dodge $163 Billion inTaxesCBS News reported on an analysis by the U.S. Treasury showing that the richest Americans avoid paying $163 billion each year. The top 1% of Americans are avoiding paying an estimated $163 billion in taxes a year, according to the Treasury Department. In contrast, more than 99% of taxes on regular incomes — paid via a paycheck — get paid. That discrepancy is pushing the estimated tax gap, the amou
Los Angeles: Parents Support Vaccine MandateWhile some parents are disrupting school board meetings to protest mask and vaccine mandates, a parent group in Los Angeles thanked the school board for mandating COVID vaccinations to protect students, teachers, staff, and families from a deadly disease. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 9, 2021 CONTACT: Jenna Schwartz, Co-Founder, 310.994.9764 (c); PSTLAUSD@gmail.com Nicolle Fefferman, Co-Founder
Los Angeles: School Board Votes Tuesday on Rightwing Funding SchemeThe board of the Los Angeles Unified School District will vote Tuesday on a funding scheme promoted by conservatives and neoliberals. Its promoters call it “student-centered funding,” but that’s a euphemism for the “backpack full of cash” idea, which encourages school choice. Critics of SCF say it introduces free-market principles into school funding and will benefit charter schools while harming
Senator Robert Byrd Opposes the War in Iraq: 2003Senator Robert Byrd spoke eloquently against invading Iraq as a response to 9/11. He spoke against the wa r on March 19, 2003. The speech is prescient and wise. In 1991, I published a collection of speeches, essays, and poems called The American Reader. If I had a chance to revise it, I would add this speech. H/T Joe Jersey. When Congress voted to authorize the war in October 2002, there were 50
