CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS ARE MORE SEGREGATED THAN DURING JIM CROW ERA... CHARTER SCHOOLS HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THIS

CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS ARE MORE SEGREGATED THAN DURING  JIM CROW ERA... CHARTER SCHOOLS HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THIS

There is some evidence to suggest that California schools are more segregated now than they were during the Jim Crow era. This is due in part to demographic shifts and changes in residential patterns, as well as the growth of charter schools.

Charter schools are publicly funded schools that operate independently of the traditional public school system. Proponents argue that charter schools provide more choice and flexibility for families, while opponents argue that they exacerbate segregation by cherry-picking students and siphoning resources away from traditional public schools.

Research has shown that charter schools in California tend to be more racially and economically segregated than traditional public schools. A study by the UCLA Civil Rights Project found that 80% of black students in charter schools attended schools that were intensely segregated (defined as a student body with less than 10% white students), compared to 38% of black students in traditional public schools.

Charter schools also tend to serve fewer students with disabilities and English language learners, further contributing to segregation. In addition, some charter schools have been accused of discriminatory enrollment practices, such as requiring parents to attend lengthy meetings or sign contracts that are difficult for low-income families to fulfill.

Overall, while charter schools may offer benefits to some families, there is evidence to suggest that they contribute to segregation in California schools. Addressing this issue will require a multi-faceted approach, including efforts to promote diversity and integration within charter schools, as well as broader policy changes to address the underlying causes of segregation in the state's schools.

CALIFORNIA CHARTER SCHOOL ASSOCIATION IS FUNDED BY BILLIONAIRES THAT SEEK TO REPLACE PUBLIC EDUCATION WITH CHARTER SCHOOLS AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS , WHO ARE THESE BILLIONAIRES 

The California Charter School Association (CCSA) is a non-profit organization that advocates for charter schools in California. The organization is funded by a variety of sources, including foundations, corporations, and individual donors. While some of the donors to the CCSA are affiliated with the charter school industry, others are not.

That being said, there are several billionaires who have donated to the CCSA or who are known to support the charter school movement more broadly. These include:

Eli Broad: A philanthropist and businessman who made his fortune in real estate and insurance. Broad has been a major supporter of charter schools and has donated millions of dollars to the CCSA.

Reed Hastings: The co-founder and CEO of Netflix, Hastings has been a major supporter of charter schools in California and elsewhere. He has donated millions of dollars to charter school organizations, including the CCSA.

Alice Walton: The daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton, Alice Walton is one of the richest people in the world. She has been a major donor to charter school organizations and has supported efforts to expand charter schools in California.

Michael Bloomberg: The former mayor of New York City and billionaire businessman, Bloomberg has been a major supporter of charter schools and education reform efforts more broadly. He has donated millions of dollars to charter school organizations, including the CCSA.

It is important to note that while these billionaires may support charter schools, they are not the only ones who do so. There are many individuals and organizations who believe that charter schools can provide valuable alternatives to traditional public schools, particularly for low-income students and students of color. However, there are also concerns about the potential for charter schools to exacerbate inequalities in the education system and the need for strong oversight and accountability measures.

HOW DOES CITIZENS UNITED SUPREME COURT DECISION AFFECT THE FUNDING AND EXPANSION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS 

The Citizens United Supreme Court decision, which was issued in 2010, has had a significant impact on the funding and expansion of charter schools. The decision allowed corporations, unions, and other organizations to spend unlimited amounts of money to support political candidates and issues through independent expenditures, which are not coordinated with political campaigns.

As a result of the Citizens United decision, wealthy individuals and organizations have been able to donate large sums of money to political action committees (PACs) and other groups that support charter schools. This has led to a significant increase in funding for charter schools, particularly in states where there is a strong political push to expand charter school options.

In some cases, the increased funding from outside sources has led to the expansion of charter school networks, such as the KIPP network, which has received significant support from philanthropic organizations and wealthy donors. This has allowed these networks to open more schools and serve more students.

However, the Citizens United decision has also raised concerns about the influence of money in politics and the potential for wealthy donors to use their financial resources to shape education policy. Some critics argue that the increased funding for charter schools has come at the expense of traditional public schools, which may not have the same access to outside funding sources.

Overall, the impact of the Citizens United decision on the funding and expansion of charter schools is complex and multifaceted. While the decision has provided a significant source of funding for charter schools, it has also raised concerns about the role of money in education policy and the potential for wealthy donors to shape the education landscape.

There is some evidence to suggest that California schools are more segregated now than they were during the Jim Crow era. This is due in part to demographic shifts and changes in residential patterns, as well as the growth of charter schools.

Charter schools are publicly funded schools that operate independently of the traditional public school system. Proponents argue that charter schools provide more choice and flexibility for families, while opponents argue that they exacerbate segregation by cherry-picking students and siphoning resources away from traditional public schools.

Research has shown that charter schools in California tend to be more racially and economically segregated than traditional public schools. A study by the UCLA Civil Rights Project found that 80% of black students in charter schools attended schools that were intensely segregated (defined as a student body with less than 10% white students), compared to 38% of black students in traditional public schools.

Charter schools also tend to serve fewer students with disabilities and English language learners, further contributing to segregation. In addition, some charter schools have been accused of discriminatory enrollment practices, such as requiring parents to attend lengthy meetings or sign contracts that are difficult for low-income families to fulfill.

Overall, while charter schools may offer benefits to some families, there is evidence to suggest that they contribute to segregation in California schools. Addressing this issue will require a multi-faceted approach, including efforts to promote diversity and integration within charter schools, as well as broader policy changes to address the underlying causes of segregation in the state's schools.

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The movement to privatize public schools marches on during coronavirus pandemic - Network For Public Education

The movement to privatize public schools marches on during coronavirus pandemic - Network For Public Education

The movement to privatize public schools marches on during coronavirus pandemic

Legislatures in 35 states have proposed bills to enact or expand voucher programs or charter schools. A few have passed; others have failed. Still others are sitting on governors’ desks or are stalled in the state’s House or Senate. Several are obvious attempts to please right-wing donors with no chance of moving out of committee. So far, eight states have enacted one or more bills.

A flurry of proposed school privatization legislation appearing on state dockets has been the pattern for several years. What is different this year is their success, albeit limited. In prior years, few, if any, reached the finish line. So what is different about 2021?

You can read the rest of Carol’s post in The Answer Sheet here. 

The movement to privatize public schools marches on during coronavirus pandemic - Network For Public Education

The movement to privatize public schools marches on during covid-19 pandemic - The Washington Post

The movement to privatize public schools marches on during covid-19 pandemic - The Washington Post

The movement to privatize public schools marches on during covid-19 pandemic

While many Americans see 2021 as the year that may bring back something close to normalcy after the covid-19 pandemic, it has instead been declared the “Year of School Choice” by the American Federation for Children, an organization that promotes alternatives to public education and that was once headed by Betsy DeVos.

Anyone who was thinking that the departure of DeVos as U.S. education secretary would stem the movement to privatize public education should think again.

In numerous states, legislatures have proposed or are considering legislation to expand alternatives to the public schools that educate most American schoolchildren, often using public funding to pay for private and religious school.

This post looks at some of the latest state actions. It was written by Carol Burris, a former prizewinning principal in New York and now executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group the Network for Public Education, which opposes charter schools and the privatization of public education.

Former lobbyist details how privatizers are trying to end public education

By Carol Burris

Legislatures in 35 states have proposed bills to enact or expand voucher programs or charter schools. A few have passed; others have failed. Still others are sitting on governors’ desks or are stalled in the state’s House or Senate. Several are obvious attempts to please right-wing donors with no chance of moving out of committee. So far, eight states have enacted one or more bills. CONTINUE READING: The movement to privatize public schools marches on during covid-19 pandemic - The Washington Post

Jeff Bryant: The Story of a School That Beat Back a State Takeover and Thrived | Diane Ravitch's blog

Jeff Bryant: The Story of a School That Beat Back a State Takeover and Thrived | Diane Ravitch's blog

Jeff Bryant: The Story of a School That Beat Back a State Takeover and Thrived

Jeff Bryant reports here on the inspiring example of a so-called “failing school” in North Carolina that not only succeeded in blocking

a state takeover, but then heightened community collaboration to turn the school into a community school.

North Carolina passed a state takeover plan based on Tennessee’s failed Achievement School District. The state listed several schools that were targets for takeover and charterization. Community outrage slowed the state’s plan, and only one school was taken over.

This is the success story of one that got away from the clutches of the state and the privatizers.

Bryant writes:

As soon as Anna Grant’s busy workday at Forest View Elementary School in Durham, North Carolina, ended, she would head toward the next school where she was CONTINUE READING: Jeff Bryant: The Story of a School That Beat Back a State Takeover and Thrived | Diane Ravitch's blog

Everything You Wanted to Know About Bill Gates, But Didn’t Ask | Diane Ravitch's blog

Everything You Wanted to Know About Bill Gates, But Didn’t Ask | Diane Ravitch's blog

Everything You Wanted to Know About Bill Gates, But Didn’t Ask

Walter Isaccson, author of best-selling biographies and former editor of TIME, wrote this awestruck article about Bill Gates in 1997. At the time, Bill was the richest man in the world, his marriage to Melinda was new, and he hadn’t yet decided that he was the smartest man in the world and knew everything better than those who had worked in their profession for years. This is Bill Gates before he decided to reinvent American education. It’s also a fascinating peek into the lifestyle of zthe then richest man in the world (he’s #3 now, behind Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk). And it includes a curious detail about Bill’s personal life: once a year, he spends a weekend with a woman friend, where they commune and discuss weighty things.

Several news outlets reported that Melinda Gates began to meet with divorce lawyers in 2019 because of Bill’s relationship to Jeffrey Epstein, convicted pedophile. Melinda thought he was repulsive, Bill did not. Bill said he had neither a business relationship nor a friendship with CONTINUE READING: Everything You Wanted to Know About Bill Gates, But Didn’t Ask | Diane Ravitch's blog

Capital & Main: Eli Broad Wanted to Destroy Public Education | Diane Ravitch's blog

Capital & Main: Eli Broad Wanted to Destroy Public Education | Diane Ravitch's blog

Capital & Main: Eli Broad Wanted to Destroy Public Education

Upon his death recently, Eli Broad received many laudatory obituaries, describing his philanthropic contributions to the arts and medical research. He even built an art museum in Los Angeles, named for himself. Modesty was not one of his virtues.

Less noted was his determination to disrupt and destroy public education. Not only did he launch an ambitious plan to privatize 50% of the public schools in Los Angeles, but his Broad Superintendents Academy “trained” scores of aspiring superintendents in his philosophy, which meant top-down, tough management and a willingness to close schools with low test scores and replace them with charter schools, no matter how much the schools were loved by students, teachers, parents, and the local community. Anyone could apply to his Academy regardless of previous job experience or lack of education experience.

I was invited to meet Eli Broad at his penthouse apartment on Fifth Avenue in New York City about ten years ago. He explained to me that he didn’t know anything about education but knew management. Lack of management skills, he said, was the biggest problem in education.

I have yet to see any evidence that Broad leaders were CONTINUE READING: Capital & Main: Eli Broad Wanted to Destroy Public Education | Diane Ravitch's blog

Bill Gates acknowledges an affair with an employee, which Microsoft investigated - The Washington Post

Bill Gates acknowledges an affair with an employee, which Microsoft investigated - The Washington Post

Bill Gates acknowledges an affair with an employee, which Microsoft investigated

The confirmation of the affair and investigation comes two weeks after Gates and Melinda French Gates announced plans to divorce

SEATTLE — Bill Gates acknowledged through a spokeswoman that he had an extramarital affair with a Microsoft employee, which Microsoft said led its board to investigate the “intimate relationship” shortly before he resigned from the board last year.

It is not clear what role the investigation or the affair, which took place two decades ago, played in the decision the Microsoft co-founder and his wife, Melinda French Gates, made to divorce after 27 years of marriage. When they announced their divorce earlier this month, the couple posted identical and simultaneous tweets saying that “after a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage.”

In a divorce filing that day, French Gates called the marriage “irretrievably broken.”

“There was an affair almost 20 years ago which ended amicably,” Gates’s spokeswoman, Bridgitt Arnold, said in an emailed statement.

French Gates’s divorce lawyer, Robert Cohen, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Members of Microsoft’s board in 2019 looked into a Microsoft engineer’s allegations that she had a sexual relationship with Gates, according to Microsoft spokesman Frank Shaw.

“Microsoft received a concern in the latter half of 2019 that Bill Gates sought to initiate an intimate relationship with a company employee in the year 2000,” Shaw said in an emailed statement. “A committee of the Board reviewed the concern, aided by an outside law firm to conduct a thorough investigation. Throughout the investigation, Microsoft provided extensive support to the employee who raised the concern.” CONTINUE READING: Bill Gates acknowledges an affair with an employee, which Microsoft investigated - The Washington Post

Jan Resseger: Will the Biden Administration Revive the Failed Policies of NCLB and Obama? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Jan Resseger: Will the Biden Administration Revive the Failed Policies of NCLB and Obama? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Jan Resseger: Will the Biden Administration Revive the Failed Policies of NCLB and Obama?

A few years ago, someone coined the term “zombie policies” to describe policies that fail again and again, yet never go away. One such zombie is “merit pay,” which has never succeeded yet never dies an ignominious death or loss of reputation.

I mention this because our current education system is hampered by at least 20 years of zombie policies, beginning with No Child Left Behind, then Race to the Top, then Trump’s fervent support for privatization.

In 2010, when my book “The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing abd Choice are Undermining Education” was published, I participated in a debate with Carmel Martin, one of the key strategists of the Obama Department of Education. She defended every aspect of the Bush-Obama approach: high-stakes testing, closing low-performing schools, charter schools, evaluating teachers by student test scores, and so on.

A year or so later, I was invited to the White House Executive Offices to meet Obama’s top education team: Melody Barnes, chief of the White House domestic policy CONTINUE READING: Jan Resseger: Will the Biden Administration Revive the Failed Policies of NCLB and Obama? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Let’s Review How Bill and Melinda Gates Spent Billions of Dollars To Change Public Education (Valerie Strauss) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Let’s Review How Bill and Melinda Gates Spent Billions of Dollars To Change Public Education (Valerie Strauss) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Let’s Review How Bill and Melinda Gates Spent Billions of Dollars To Change Public Education (Valerie Strauss)

Valerie Strauss is a reporter and op-ed writer for the Washington Post. This opinion piece appeared on May 6, 2021.

Now that the philanthropic Bill and Melinda Gates have announced they are divorcing after 27 years of marriage, let’s look at the controversial investments they made together to reform K-12 public education — and how well those worked out.

Together, the two have been among the most generous philanthropists on the planet, spending more over the past few decades on global health than many countries do and more on U.S. education reform than any of the other wealthy Americans who have tried to impact K-12 education with their personal fortunes.The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has spent billions of dollars on numerous education projections — such as creating small high schools, writing and implementing the Common Core State Standards, evaluating teachers by standardized test scores — and the couple has had enormous influence on what happened in classrooms across the country. Their philanthropy, especially in the school reform area, has been at the center of a national debate about whether it serves democracy when wealthy people can use their own money to drive public policy and fund their pet education projects. The foundation’s financial backing of some controversial priorities of the Obama administration’s Education Department put the couple at the center of this national conversation.

Critics have said that many of the foundation’s key education projects have harmed public schools because they were unworkable from the start and CONTINUE READING: Let’s Review How Bill and Melinda Gates Spent Billions of Dollars To Change Public Education (Valerie Strauss) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

CURMUDGUCATION: More Koch Ed Privatization

CURMUDGUCATION: More Koch Ed Privatization

More Koch Ed Privatization

The Koch Network is getting with the times and launching an edu-reform substack. Yay.

The substack is co-hosted by Lisa Snell, director of K-12 education policy for Stand Together, aka the Charles Koch Institute. Previously she spent 23 years as Director of Education at the Reason Foundation. Her co-host is Adam Peshek, who is part of the same Kochtopus, having arrived Jeb Bush's ExcelinEd (formerly FEE). Peshek also works at Yes, Every Kid, a rebranding of some standard reform ideas. 

Their new platform is called "Learning Everywhere," and so far, they're playing all the hits. "Time to scrap the factory approach to education" is the first... issue? ...post? What are we going to call these substack things?  The subheading is "Individualization, not standardization, empowers learners to thrive," which kind of captures one of the odd whiplashes in the reform movement; I'm betting that while he was at ExcelinEd, Peshek spent a lot of time advocating for the Common Core standards, the one-size-fits-all standardization that Jeb Bush backed right into a conservative buzzsaw. But standardization is no longer where it's at.

The piece starts out with an unintentionally apt story about the Air Force's discovery of the problem with averages. In the early 1950s, the Air Force was having problems with pilots who had trouble flying--turns out that a cockpit built to "average" specs doesn't actually fit anyone, so they changed their approach to cockpit seat design (you can thank this development for the adjustable seat in your car). 

This is meant to be a story about how individualization is the key to everything, and I think it works, but I want to point out that while the Air CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: More Koch Ed Privatization

Maurice Cunningham: Who Got Suckered? Secretary Cardona or Readers of The74? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Maurice Cunningham: Who Got Suckered? Secretary Cardona or Readers of The74? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Maurice Cunningham: Who Got Suckered? Secretary Cardona or Readers of The74?

Maurice Cunningham is a professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts. His specialty is following the gobs of money poured into “education reform.” His exposes of Dark Money in the 2016 charter expansion referendum was a crucial element in turning the public against the referendum (you can read more about him in his blogs and in my book Slaying Goliath.)

In this post, published here for the first time, Professor Cunningham writes about the innocence or naïveté of Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, who met with a billionaire astroturf group and thought he was reaching out to ordinary parents and families.

Cunningham writes:

Who Got Suckered, Secretary Cardona or Readers of The74?

“The Pro-privatization education blog The74 recently published To Rebuild Trust with Families, Ed. Dept. Seeks Input from Outspoken Parents Group. The story purports to be about how Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona “seeks” the advice of parents and thus turns to the National Parents Union. But the CONTINUE READING: Maurice Cunningham: Who Got Suckered? Secretary Cardona or Readers of The74? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Shawgi Tell: Public Opposition to Charter Schools Steadily Growing | Dissident Voice

Public Opposition to Charter Schools Steadily Growing | Dissident Voice

Public Opposition to Charter Schools Steadily Growing

Over the years, as more problems with charter schools have been exposed, analyzed, and critiqued, more people have come to see the need for opposing them and for defending public education and the public interest. Criticism and rejection of these privately-operated schools has become more mainstream in recent years and it is safe to say that opposition to charter schools will keep growing so long as neoliberals and privatizers impose more charter schools on society.

Public school boards and many different education advocacy groups, along with more legislators, former charter school teachers, many public school teachers, countless teacher educators and teacher education students, teacher unions, and myriad rights and justice groups are just some of the forces that are increasingly speaking out and taking action against charter schools. Many others have also heard of charter schools, and even with little or no investigation, they tend to approach charter schools with some skepticism. The days when charter schools were blindly embraced and investigation was deemed unnecessary are gradually fading. More people are doing their homework and learning about the numerous problems these segregated contract schools create.

Recent Actions

In April 2021, the Buffalo Public School Board voted to close two Buffalo charter schools that have been failing for years. There is also a legal push to pass a moratorium on charter schools for the next three years in the city. And in the past year even the New York State legislature has also become a little CONTINUE READING: Public Opposition to Charter Schools Steadily Growing | Dissident Voice

Good News from Oakland! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Good News from Oakland! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Good News from Oakland!

Several years ago, the Walton Family Foundation and the Gates Foundation decided that it was not enough to open new charter schools. No, they had to devise mechanisms to make sure that school officials put charters on an equal footing with public schools and that the public didn’t care whether schools were run by their elected school board or a private board of directors.

The Gates Foundation created something called “the Gates Compact,” paying districts to treat public and charter schools the same.

The Waltons played a different angle. To advance their agenda of embedding charters and wiping out any differences between public schools and charter schools, they pushed for the adoption of a common enrollment form. The two sectors are intermingled, and neither students nor parents know which schools are public and which have private or corporate management.

In Oakland, where a slate of pro-public school parents won the last school board election, the board voted to eliminate the OneApp system.

Jane Nylund, a parent activist in Oakland, sent the CONTINUE READING: Good News from Oakland! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Florina Rodov: I believed the charter school myth — until I learned about the reality and who was behind it - Alternet org

I believed the charter school myth — until I learned about the reality and who was behind it - Alternet.org

I believed the charter school myth — until I learned about the reality and who was behind it

I fell for the charter school hype. I agreed with former President Obama's education secretary Arne Duncan who advocated for "school choice." I trusted the research that said charters "close [the] achievement gap" for Black and Latino students. When I saw "Waiting for 'Superman,'" I rooted for the kids in the documentary to escape their failing public schools by snagging spots at charter schools. And though I encountered very few bad teachers in my four years teaching and 12 years learning at public schools, I never questioned why Time published stories about "Rotten Apple" teachers being swept out of classrooms by wealthy education "reformers."

I believed the hype so much that in 2012, knowing almost nothing about charter schools and having no administrative experience, I joined a friend in submitting a half-baked petition to the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) with the intention of starting our own charter school. When LAUSD denied it, we presented it to the Culver City Unified School District, which also, rightfully, rejected it.

Still intrigued by charters, in 2016 I interviewed for an English teacher position with a woman I'll call Ellen Peters, the principal and co-founder of Savior Academy, a charter school serving grades six through 12. (The names of the school, administrators and students have been changed for this story.) Her assertion that the close bond between students and staff made it feel "like a family" inspired me to sign a non-union contract on the spot, though the school had recently lost its co-founder Cathy Reynolds (name changed), who CONTINUE READING: I believed the charter school myth — until I learned about the reality and who was behind it - Alternet.org

Why Tax Billionaires Out of Existence | tultican

Why Tax Billionaires Out of Existence | tultican

Why Tax Billionaires Out of Existence

 

By Thomas Ultican 4/22/2021

Twenty years of studying education policy, politics and practices has been awakening. Seeing billionaires inflict their often misguided and unpopular beliefs on our nation’s public schools has made it clear how undemocratic and dangerous extreme wealth is. They have established voucher programs routinely sending taxpayer money to religious schools even though these programs have lost decisively whenever submitted to voters. In her book Slaying Goliath, Diane Ravitch labeled these 0.1% of Americans as disrupters. She asked and answered the question “what do disrupters want?” They want:

• Inexperienced teachers with little or no training from organizations like Teach For America.
• To replace teachers with machine teaching (“blended learning” – “personalized learning”).
• To move fast and break things including school systems, historic schools and communities.
• To eliminate local democratic control over schools.
• To eliminate teacher tenure and seniority rights.
• To eliminate teacher defined benefit pensions.
• To eliminate teachers unions.
• To evaluate teachers and schools with standardized test scores.
• To lower taxes and reduce spending on education.

Controlling the Political Process

In 2018, the Network for Public Education (NPE) produced a masterful report detailing how school board elections are being stolen from local residents. In the introduction to “Hijacked by Billionaires: How the Super Rich Buy Elections to Undermine Public Schools,” the authors state, “This report provides some insight into how the very wealthy insert themselves into local elections through direct contributions, Independent Expenditure Committees and even non-profit organizations.”

The Billionaires Cited in “Hijacked by Billionaires”

In my post-election analysis of three elections, “School Board Elections 2020:  CONTINUE READING: Why Tax Billionaires Out of Existence | tultican