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Statement by Russian Anti-War Committee
by dianeravitch / 21h
I just watched a documentary about Mikhail Khodorovsky called Citizen K. It is streaming on Prime Video. He was one of the original oligarchs in Russia, said to be the richest man in Russia, with a fortune of $15 billion. He began to criticize Putin and to speak out for democracy, and no surprise, he was arrested for tax evasion and given a long prison sentence. He was then charged with embezzlem
Arizona: Cyber Ninjas Owe More Than $2 Million for Refusal to Release Records
by dianeravitch / 22h
Remember the Cyber Ninjas? This Florida-based group was hired by the Arizona State Senate to recount the ballots in the state, which had previously been recounted multiple times. Arizona Republicans we’re hoping for evidence that the recount would reverse Biden’s narrow win in the state and feed Trump’s Big Lie that the election was “stolen” from him. The Cyber Ninjas had no experience in recount
Steve Hinnefeld: Indiana Legislature Ends Session with Minimal Damage to Schools
by dianeravitch / 23h
It’s pretty sad when the best thing you can say about the state legislature is, “It could have been worse.” But that’s blogger Steve Hinnefeld’s conclusion . You can almost hear him breathing a sigh of relief that the Republicans didn’t do more harm. The 2022 session of the Indiana General Assembly produced plenty of bad news, but at least there’s this: When it comes to education, it could have b
Kentucky: Charter Bill Appears to be Dead for Now
by dianeravitch / 1d
Tina Bojanowski, a teacher and member of the Kentucky legislature, tweeted last night that HB 9, the charter funding bill, appears to be dead for this session. A great victory for parents, students, teachers, and taxpayers in Kentucky! She tweeted: HB9, the charter school bill, was pulled from the committee agenda. It’s likely we stopped it – for this session. @TinaForKentucky
MAR 17
Arnold Schwarzenegger Speaks to the Russian People and Tells Them the Truth
by dianeravitch / 1d
Arnold Schwarzenegger is a very popular figure in Russia. He is one of the very few people whom Putin follows on Twitter. Schwarzenegger posted an eloquent, powerful message to the Russian people and to Russian soldiers in Ukraine. He spoke of his deep love for Russia. And he said he wanted to tell them the truth about what was happening in Ukraine. He said that Putin had lied to them. He said th
Russia Lies
by dianeravitch / 1d
The large theater in the center of the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol sheltered large numbers of women and children. Huge signs marked it with the Russian word “CHILDREN” to protect it. The theater was demolished by a bomb. Yesterday President Biden called Putin a “war criminal.” Putin was outraged. He said this insult was “unforgivable.” The New York Times described the aftermath of the bom
The Companies That Are Still Doing Business in Russia
by dianeravitch / 1d
Dana Milbank wrote about the companies that have stopped making money in Russia to protest its invasion of Ukraine and its ruthless attacks on civilian targets. And those who didn’t. Milbank said that all of us can help Ukraine by refusing to patronize the businesses still operating in Russia. Zelensky asked this of us when he spoke to Congress yesterday. Milbank writes: Zelensky made another ask
Jan Resseger: Federal Education Budget Is Disappointing
by dianeravitch / 1d
Jan Resseger reviewed the federal education budget for next year and found it disappointing. Although schools received large grants to get them through the COVID crisis, the other big budget promises evaporated. With private school choice programs draining money away from the public schools that educate the vast majority of our children, this is bad news indeed. The scandal-scarred federal Charte
Good News! World Bank Withdraws Support from For-Profit Bridge International Academies
by dianeravitch / 1d
In a blow to privatization of education, the World bank has withdrawn its support for Bridge International Academies. BIA has been opening for-profit schools in African nations, which discourages public support for public schools. Civil society organizations and teachers’ unions in Africa have warned of the dangers of allowing a for-profit company to take over education in impoverished nations. V
Kathryn Joyce: The Tiny Christian College That Is Leading the War Against Public Schools
by dianeravitch / 1d
Kathryn Joyce, an investigative reporter for Salon, has written a three-part series for Salon about Hillsdale College, the ultra-conservative Christian college that has entered the charter industry. This is first in the series. Hillsdale was originally founded to preserve the classical tradition in education, but it evolved into a far-right incubator of ideas and officials for the Trump administr
MAR 16
Michigan: Join the Fight Against DeVos Voucher Plan!
by dianeravitch / 2d
The latest from Michigan, where Betsy DeVos is leading a campaign for vouchers: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE News from For MI Kids, For Our Schools ***MEDIA ADVISORY*** March 15, 2022 Contact: Sam Inglot, 616-916-0574, sam@progressmichigan.org New Coalition Forms to Stop DeVos Voucher Proposal For MI Kids, For Our Schools launches campaign to oppose DeVos voucher effort to take hundreds of millions of d
Gary Rubinstein: The Incredible Shrinking TFA
by dianeravitch / 2d
Gary Rubinstein was part of the earliest cohorts of Teach for America. He became friends with many of the pioneers of TFA and the charter movement. Many years later, he became disillusioned and became a friendly critic. Over time, his criticism became sharper as he realized that TFA and the charter leaders were making unsupportable claims. He is now an experienced math teacher at one of New York
Georgia: State Senate Rejects Vouchers!
by dianeravitch / 2d
The Georgia State Senate decisively rejected voucher legislation, by a vote of 29-20. The Georgia Senate on Tuesday again rejected private school voucher legislation that would have offered annual subsidies to students who switched from public schools. Senate Bill 601 failed 20-29 — an even wider margin than the rejection of a similar bill in 2019 . The new bill would have set aside $6,000 per ye
Jennifer Berkshire: How Sane People Swept School Board Races in New Hampshire: Lessons for Democrats
by dianeravitch / 2d
Jennifer Berkshire is on a roll. It seems she writes a great article every other day–or is it every day? She has a new article in The Nation about the New Hampshire school board elections. It is titled “How Progressives Won the School Culture War,” but I doubt that the people who won the school board races call themselves “progressives.” I would say they are sane, rational, intelligent citizens w
MAR 15
A Horrifying Day in Mariupol, Ukraine
by dianeravitch / 3d
It is deeply upsetting to sit at home in a warm place, with plenty of food and water, and to read the stories from cities under siege in Ukraine. If Putin thought that Russian forces would get a warm welcome, he was badly misinformed. If he thought he was “liberating” the people of Ukraine, he was badly misinformed. Most of us were unprepared to believe that there would be another ground war in E
Conservatives: On the Wrong Side of History Again
by dianeravitch / 3d
Leonard Pitts Jr., a columnist for the Miami Herald, opines that conservatives have always been on the wrong side of history. They fought the civil rights movement. They fought women’s rights. Now they’re fighting gay rights. He writes: They have never once been right. Did you ever notice that? Do you ever think about it? Never once. Oh, in matters of, say, foreign affairs or military strategy, o
Michigan: GOP Candidate Says He Tells His Daughters to “Lie Back and Enjoy It” If Raped
by dianeravitch / 3d
Robert Regan is running for the Michigan House. At a recent live-stream event, he stunned his colleagues when he said that he tells his daughters to “lie back and enjoy it” if they are raped. His daughters are not in his corner. One of them urged people not to vote for him when he ran in 2020. He responded that his daughter had been brainwashed by going to the University of Colorado, which filled
Texas: How Stupid Is Lt. Governor Dan Patrick?
by dianeravitch / 3d
Lt. Governor Dan Patrick of Texas explains in this video why he wants to eliminate tenure in the colleges and universities of Texas. He believes in “academic freedom,” he says, but he thinks the legislature should govern what is taught in universities. He lashed out at professors who want to teach “critical race theory.” He believes that there is no academic freedom for those who want to teach th
MAR 14
Andy Spears on Privatization in Tennessee
by dianeravitch / 4d
Andy Spears is the publisher of the Tennessee Education Report. He writes in the current issue of T he Progressive about the well-funded effort to privatize education funding in Tennessee. Republican Governor Bill Lee and the legislature are determined to gut local control and to outsource taxpayer dollars to out-of-state organizations to open charter schools. This drive for privatization ignores
Peter Greene Is Happy about the Declining Number of TFA Recruits
by dianeravitch / 4d
Peter Greene was pleased to learn that the number of applications to Teach for America has steadily declined since 2013. In a way, it’s not surprising because “the entire teaching professional pipeline has been drying up.” TFA blames the pandemic but it’s decline started long before the pandemic. TFA used to boast that it’s ill-trained recruits were superior to those with professional training, e
Washington State: State Audit Finds Charter Schools Hiring Uncertified Teachers
by dianeravitch / 4d
Bill Gates struggled for years to bring charter schools to Washington State, over the opposition of parent groups, teachers, and civil rights organizations. He lost three state referenda, but won the fourth—barely—by blitzing voters with a multimillion dollar campaign that the opponents could not match. Be careful what you want. First a CREDO report found that the charters did not outperform the
MAR 13
One Small Way to Help Ukrainians
by dianeravitch / 5d
Many of us are looking for ways to help people in Ukraine. The Red Cross. Doctors Without Borders. There are many great humanitarian organizations you can support. In addition, many Americans have found a way to send money directly to Ukrainians. They are renting rooms or apartments on AirBNB that they will never use. But the hosts in Ukraine will receive the money, if they are still alive. You c
Learn About UnKoch My Campus
56by dianeravitch / 5d
The Koch Foundation has made gifts to over 300 institutions of higher education. These gifts are restricted, given to create an “institute” or “center” where libertarian ideas can be promoted on campus. In one such center, a speaker was invited to lecture on “The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels.” Universities should be open fora where different ideas can be debated, but it’s absurd to have a center d
Jeff Bryant: Community Schools Solve an Important Problem in Education: Trust
by dianeravitch / 6d
Jeff Bryant writes in The Progressive about the success of community schools in building trust between schools and parents. Rightwing activists and politicians have made an issue of the gulf between schools and parents and stirred up angry parents to demand “control” over what is taught. He begins: Leslie Hu remembers the very day, a Thursday in March 2020, when her school, Dr. Martin Luther King
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all