Here’s Betsy DeVos’s financial disclosure form. Read what Trump’s billionaire education nominee included — and left out. - The Washington Post

Here’s Betsy DeVos’s financial disclosure form. Read what Trump’s billionaire education nominee included — and left out. - The Washington Post:

Here’s Betsy DeVos’s financial disclosure form. Read what Trump’s billionaire education nominee included — and left out.

Congress has scheduled a Jan. 11 confirmation hearing for Betsy DeVos, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for education secretary, even as opposition to her is growing and Democrats are reportedly trying to postpone the proceedings until she fully discloses information about her finances and conflicts of interest.

DeVos is a Michigan billionaire who is a former Republican Party state chairman and a longtime school-choice activist. Public school advocates oppose her nomination because of her involvement in the expansion of unregulated charter schools in Michigan, her support of school vouchers and her comments that critics see as hostile to public schools, such as in 2015 when she said:

We are the beneficiaries of start-ups, ventures and innovation in every other area of life, but we don’t have that in education because it’s a closed system, a closed industry, a closed market. It’s a monopoly, a dead end.

The Senate must confirm a president-elect’s choice for Cabinet positions, and before each hearing, nominees are given a questionnaire to fill out. Below is the complete questionnaire given to DeVos, with her answers. Asked to list her potential conflicts of interest, she essentially punts:

Politico reported that Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, wants the hearing postponed until DeVos fully answers financial and conflict of interest questions.

Republicans on Capitol Hill have told reporters that it is standard procedure for nominees to wait until after confirmation hearings — but before the actual committee vote — to complete financial disclosure forms. Not really. President Obama’s two education secretaries, Arne Duncan and John B. King Jr., both completed their paperwork before their confirmation Here’s Betsy DeVos’s financial disclosure form. Read what Trump’s billionaire education nominee included — and left out. - The Washington Post:

Jersey Jazzman: More Mapping "Kingdom Gain" Through School Vouchers

Jersey Jazzman: More Mapping "Kingdom Gain" Through School Vouchers:

More Mapping "Kingdom Gain" Through School Vouchers

A few posts ago I made some maps that showed how school voucher programs around the nation invariably result in tax dollars overwhelmingly flowing to religious schools; specifically, Catholic and other Christian schools.

Remember that our incoming Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, has championed vouchers because they will, in her own words, lead to "greater Kingdom gain." In other words: voucher programs, by design, exist to support religious instruction.

Voucher supporters will claim that the Supreme Court's decision in Zelman v Simmons-Harris settled the constitutionality of vouchers back in 2002. But any fair reading of the majority's decision shows they predicated their argument on the idea that families were being given a "choice" to attend either religious or non-sectarian schools; therefore, voucher programs are facially neutral and not in violation of the First Amendment's establishment clause.

As David Souter points out in his dissent, however, the "choice" given to families isn't really a choice at all; it has the formal appearance of a "choice," but in reality, voucher programs give parents the "choice" of sending their children to a segregated, underfunded public school or a school that forces children to engage in religious practices. That's hardly neutral.

The Zelman majority does flips and twists to get around the so-called "Lemon Test," a legal precept that came out of the landmark Lemon v. Kurtzman case of 1971. The Lemon Test has three prongs:

• The statute must have a secular legislative purpose. (also known as the Purpose Prong)
• The principal or primary effect of the statute must not advance nor inhibit religious practice (also known as the Effect Prong)
• The statute must not result in an "excessive government entanglement" with religious affairs. (also known as the Entanglement Prong)

If we take DeVos at her word -- that she supports vouchers because, at least in part, they Jersey Jazzman: More Mapping "Kingdom Gain" Through School Vouchers:

“How can anybody know/How they got to be this way?” | radical eyes for equity

“How can anybody know/How they got to be this way?” | radical eyes for equity:

“How can anybody know/How they got to be this way?”

How can anybody know

How they got to be this way?



“Daughters of the Soho Riots,” The National



It’s 7 January 2017, Zore Neale Hurston‘s birth day; Hurston passed away 28 January 1960, a couple days short of one year before my birth 26 January 1961.



So my 56th birth day looms fewer than 3 weeks away.



Today, the world looks unusual for us in South Carolina:

New years are arbitrary measures of time, and we humans seek any ways possible to understand and control the human condition. The calendar and holidays are some ways we have manufactured to name, organize, and maintain our grip.

As I have detailed lately, today also marks two weeks since I and several other cyclists were struck by a motorist. Writing this now, I notice in just a few minutes, the time will be about exactly when that happened on the morning of Christmas Eve 2016.

I have also confessed that my life has changed. Over the past week, I must admit that it has changed even more than I thought.

Without cycling, I have way too much time, but I also have found it difficult to commit to things the same way I have before. Pain is a problem—distracting and the most potent fertilizer possible for my chronic anxiety and occasional depression.

Yesterday, I finally had a visit with the orthopedist who viewed my x-rays at the emergency room, and almost immediately, I felt better just knowing more from someone with the sort of expertise I do not have.

My medication ran out a few days before this appointment, and along with the increased pain, my fretting was nearly debilitating.

It is embarrassing, but when the anxiety increases, my life is significantly “How can anybody know/How they got to be this way?” | radical eyes for equity:

Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION: How Privatization Works (Part 2,351,142) + The DeVos in the Details

CURMUDGUCATION:

Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION

How Privatization Works (Part 2,351,142)

7by Peter Greene / 50min

Here's a recent story from the DC area Fox affiliate that shows how things play out when you privatize a public service. In this case, the service is roads. And this picture tells you what you need to know. That's right-- $30 to use the express lane. Express lanes are managed by Transurban , an Australian company that manages, develops, and owns urban toll roads . There's a whole website just for

YESTERDAY

The DeVos in the Details

9by Peter Greene / 12h

The United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (yes, HELP has apparently taken a position on the Oxford comma) has a basic form that executive branch nominees have to fill out. The nice folks at Politico are hosting an on-line copy of the 23-page public portion of that paperwork as filled out by USED Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos (thanks, Jennifer Berkshire). So even t

PA: The Property Tax Problem

11by Peter Greene / 22h

AP's Marc Levy reports this week that Pennsylvania's legislature ( one of the largest and most expensive ones in the country ) is expected this year to once again tackle one of the great third rails of Pennsylvania politics-- property taxes. This system is part of the mechanism that gives Pennsylvania one of the country's largest funding gaps between rich and poor districts. The state provides aro

JAN 05

A Lesson from China

9by Peter Greene / 1d

We're witnessing another lesson in how free market forces work, and how business interests often run contrary to the public interest. And the lesson is coming from China, of all places. This is a lesson that started with Google, way back in 2006. That was the year that Google set aside the motto "don't be evil" for the more pragmatic "don't be shut out of the enormous Chinese market," and willingl

JAN 04

Supremes May Decide How Much Education Is Enough

76by Peter Greene / 2d

The case of Endrew F. vs. Douglas County School District has finally wended its way to the Supreme Court, and it could have some serious implications for school districts across the country. Endrew F. is a studentwith autism and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). With the help of an IEP, he attended pre-K through 4th grade in Douglas County Schools out in Colorado (if that sounds fam

Six Reasons To Oppose Betsy DeVos

200+by Peter Greene / 2d

Senate hearings on Herr Trump's cabinet picks are coming up soon, and you should be calling your Senator. There are many good reasons for opposing Betsy DeVos as a Secretary of Education. 1) No experience with public education. This is not like appointing someone to the post of Attorney General who is not a lawyer-- this is like appointing someone Attorney General who has never been to court. DeVo

JAN 02

Test Prep Abroad

20by Peter Greene / 4d

Because I search for a wide assortment of education-related stuff on line, the cookie-bot dance often brings me strange, new advertisements. Like a link to Scoregetter.com, an test prep outfit in Nungambakka, Chennai, which is on the southwest side of India. Just up the street from Pizza Hut. Right there in the world. Just up the street from Pizza Hut I wish I had saved their ad, but some copy fro

The Conservative Argument Against DeVos

100+by Peter Greene / 4d

It's not just progressives who have been up in arms about the nomination of Betsy DeVos to the post of Secretary of Education. The same network of conservative parent activists that raised an effective fuss over Common Core are exceedingly unpleased about the big-money donor and lobbyist being given the reins for education. The pressure to reject DeVos won't be coming just from the left and it won

JAN 01

ICYMI: Kicking Off the Year

9by Peter Greene / 6d

Let's get ready for another round. Remember to share the pieces that speak to you-- amplifying voices is the very least we can do. The Great Unwinding of Public Education One of the better explanations of what has happened in Detroit and how Betsy DeVos shares blame for it. Carolina Coup and the Fight for Public Education Jeff Bryant does a great job of connecting the dots between North Carolina's

DEC 31

2017: 9 Wishes

89by Peter Greene / 6d

It is easy when you're in the pro-public education camp, trying to call out and push back against the many and varied attacks on public education-- it's easy in that place to get wrapped up in No and forget to articulate what you want to see. So as a sort of New Year's palate cleanser, let me lay out what things I do want to see happen in the world of public education in the year ahead. I should n

The 2017 Dozen: What Can I Do?

100+by Peter Greene / 6d

All right. So some folks are pretty upset about 2016. There was certainly lots to not love about the year on many scales. Some of that is real (Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds gone in two days??!!), and some of it is just heightened sensitivity to what is not really news (What?! America still has racism!?). 

CURMUDGUCATION:

Objects in Mirror are Closer Than They Appear | BustED Pencils

Objects in Mirror are Closer Than They Appear | BustED Pencils:

Objects in Mirror are Closer Than They Appear

Objects in Mirror are…

As lightning struck closer and closer, I looked to other parents who chatted casually on the sidelines. I felt almost embarrassed to be the one to raise the alarm as I sheepishly approached by daughter’s soccer coach and exclaimed as calmly as I could, “Coach, I think we need to get the girls off the field.” The coach looked up to the sky as if she hadn’t yet noticed its angry rumblings and blew her whistle.

What is it about our species that we gleefully tend to ignore the obvious warnings until we’re forced to act retroactively rather than proactively? Mark Twain might or might not have said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”

Yes, it does.

Can the good old U.S. of A. last forever? I know, we don’t want to think about it, but if we do think about it, will we notice when storm clouds gather? How will we know when we’re bamboozled, when we’re being led right over the cliff? Empires do not last forever. How will we know when ours is near its end? What does history have to tell us about the ends of Objects in Mirror are Closer Than They Appear | BustED Pencils:

Chris Emdin: Why are There So Few Black Male Teachers? | NewBlackMan (in Exile)

Chris Emdin: Why are There So Few Black Male Teachers? | NewBlackMan (in Exile):

Chris Emdin: Why are There So Few Black Male Teachers?

'Why are there so few black male teachers? Chris Emdin of Columbia University suggests that a cycle of failure haunts students and their teachers. Students act out, so teachers tighten the rules; more restrictions combined with dull and irrelevant curricula cause students to fail, and teachers quit -- thinking it’s their fault. Emdin raps his Humble Opinion on why the system needs to be changed.' -- +PBS NewsHour 

Chris Emdin: Why are There So Few Black Male Teachers? | NewBlackMan (in Exile):

Cutting Our (Financial) Losses in the Public Realm: Running Schools Like a Business | educarenow

Cutting Our (Financial) Losses in the Public Realm: Running Schools Like a Business | educarenow:

Cutting Our (Financial) Losses in the Public Realm: Running Schools Like a Business

Well, it’s beginning.

Well, actually, it had already begun.

So it continues.

And the pace of it just might be picking up.

School closings that is.

Detroit Public Schools Community District has just announced that it will be closing Durfee Middle School.

If you follow Michigan’s education scene, you know that the State School Reform Office (tellingly located under the Michigan Department of Technology/Management and Budget department rather than the Department of Education- it’s complicated) is looking to close schools that perform in the lowest 5% across the state for 3 consecutive years. (You also know that over 100 public schools have closed in Detroit since 2005.) The Detroit Free Press explains,“More than 120 schools were on the state’s 2015 list of Michigan’s bottom 5% of schools, including 47 schools in the Detroit district. Durfee has been on the list since 2014.

The 2016 bottom 5% list — and an announcement about school closures or reforms — is expected to be publicly released within weeks. The Michigan Department of Education compiles the bottom 5% list based on state test data. Officials warned in August that some schools that have been on the list for three consecutive years could be shut down.”

I’ve previously addressed this cruel nonsense of determining the success or Cutting Our (Financial) Losses in the Public Realm: Running Schools Like a Business | educarenow:

The Analog and Digital Lives We Live | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

The Analog and Digital Lives We Live | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

The Analog and Digital Lives We Live

Did you know that new calendars, appointment books, and planners had increased sales of nearly 10 percent over 2014-2015 amounting to nearly a half-billion dollars?

Did you know that over a half-billion print books were sold in 2015, nearly four percent more than the previous year while e-book sales fell?

Did you know that the sale of vinyl records, board games, film photography and paper journals have increased annually over past few years?

The resurgence of analog products in the midst of a digital revolution in how we now live is a marker, an early sign of millions of people (and I include myself) figuring out what’s important in living a life fully in a world that has become increasingly digital.

Feeling the pages of a book, having a watch with numbers and a sweep second hand, playing Monopoly and chess on an actual board with others, taking family photos with an actual camera– while easy to dismiss as whiny nostalgia–are signs of many people figuring out pathways to a life that mixes the analog and digital.

The persistence of the analog also means that interacting with people at work, at Costco, in a hospital and home care, in churches, playgrounds, in bars and at home matters a great deal. Face-to-face relationships are analog. They are the bonds that bind each of us to one another in families, among intimate friends, neighborhoods, and workplaces. They matter far more than Facebook “friends.”

Consider the helping professions (e.g., doctors, therapists, nurses, ministers, social workers, teachers). Doctors and nurses have patients; therapists and social workers have clients; ministers, rabbis and imams have congregants, and teachers have students. Each of these professionals is immensely aided by new technologies they use daily yet their work depends upon human interaction and unfolding relationships. And in these relationship-bound professions is where the analog and digital intertwine. Not either/or, one or the other–analog and digital easily mix in these helping professions. And it is in schools especially The Analog and Digital Lives We Live | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Fordham Institute Is Still Pitching Common Core. Big Surprise. | deutsch29

Fordham Institute Is Still Pitching Common Core. Big Surprise. | deutsch29:

Fordham Institute Is Still Pitching Common Core. Big Surprise.

The Thomas B. Fordham Institute (TBF) has been trying to sell the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for years.

In October 2009, TBF received almost $1 million from the Gates Foundation “to review the common core standards and develop supportive materials.”

It should come as no surprise that in 2010, TBF rated CCSS “clearly superior to standards in most states.”

But not all states. An excerpt:

Based on our observations, the Common Core standards are clearly superior to those currently in use in thirty-nine states in math and thirty-seven states in English. For thirty-three states, the Common Core is superior in both math and reading.

TBF gave CCSS an A-minus in math and a B-plus in English Language Arts (ELA). Some states they rated higher. Still, TBF was paid to sell CCSS. So, TBF promotes CCSS above any existing set of state standards, including standards it rated as better than CCSS.

TBF pitches CCSS. That’s just what it does.

TBF draws notable funding from the Gates Foundation (almost $8 million to date), and as of this writing, the Gates Foundation is still disbursing grants in order to advance CCSS.

TBF is a think tank, which means that it needs to do something in order to justify its existence, so why not peddle the CCSS that Bill Gates still likes?

On January 05, 2016, Robert Pondisco, a TBF “senior fellow,” published a “review” of books criticizing CCSS, including mine.

It’s not really a review. It’s a slanted plea in support of a Common Core that will not achieve what it was supposed to: A standardization of standards across states, and Fordham Institute Is Still Pitching Common Core. Big Surprise. | deutsch29: