Journey For Justice Had a Busy Day | Diane Ravitch's blog

Journey For Justice Had a Busy Day | Diane Ravitch's blog

Journey For Justice Had a Busy Day

Don’t believe the right wingers who claim that  charter schools are supported by Black and Brown people.

Not only did the NAACP, the nation’s most venerable civil rights group, call for a moratorium on charter schools but so did Black Lives Matter.

The Journey for Justice Alliance is a true grassroots civil rights organization. It led demonstrations across the nation today. One of its demands: No more public funds for charter schools, which are a tool of gentrification. J4J knows what matters most: full funding of Title 1 and special education, not privatization and charter schools.

May 22 PRESS RELEASE FOR NATIONAL ACTIONS:
We Choose Equity So Fund Our Future! National Day of Action
May 22, 2019

Thousands rally nationwide for education justice on May 22, 2019!

On May 22nd coalitions from 20 cities are uniting forces to hold 11 powerful actions to demand equity and end racial injustice in schools nationwide. As we commemorate the landmark Brown V. Board Decision we will renew our call for an end to the egregious disparities in resources allocated schools serving Black and Brown youth. We will also demand for full funding of Title I and IDEA. The Journey for Justice Alliance will also hold Equity Bus Tours and Forums throughout the country. Many city and statewide coalitions are organizing large rallies with bold actions connected to their local demands for fair funding, sustainable community schools and progressive revenue. Our May 22nd Day of Action will galvanize our communities as we create the momentum to make education a pivotal issue in the 2020 Presidential elections.

May 22nd Calendar

WASHINGTON DC Coalitions: Journey for Justice Alliance (New York, Baltimore, Newark, Camden, Patterson and Pittsburgh), the Alliance for Educational Justice, and the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools

• Actions:

1) Rally at Supreme Court with parents and youth from 6 cities, President Randi Weingarten (AFT) and Sen Chris Van Hollen to commemorate Brown V. Board and a renewed demand for equity
2) Equity Bus Tour in DC’s Wards 7 and 8 to highlight resource disparities in local schools
3) Press Conference at Hart Middle School with US Rep. Susie Lee, Liz Davis and President of the Washington Teachers Union

BIRMINGHAM. Coalition/Organization Name: Citizens for Better Schools and Sustainable Communities
• Action: We Choose Equity Bus Tour
• Demand: Fully Fund, IDEA, Title I and call on federal legislations to implement policies that honor mandate of Brown v. Board

CINCINNATI. Coalition: Cincinnati Educational Justice Coalition
• Action: Protest/Rally in front of campus of new charter school “Regeneration Schools” set to open in August, 2019 in Cincinnati, Ohio.
• Demand: No more public $$ to charter schools. Demand for equity in school funding, including local campaign demands for tax abatement policy changes. ( The proposed charter school is pushed by local deep pockets organized as the Cincinnati Accelerator started as an offshoot of MindTrust in Indianapolis. These people talk about high-quality seats–a dead give away thet the are using test scores and the absurd Ohio report card as a reason to push for a charter. Key players here are a retired banker and the family that owns CINTAS.)

CHICAGO. Coalition: The Grassroots Education Movement and Chicago Teachers Union
• Action: Fair Contract Rally–Keep the Promise: Equity & Funding for our Schools, Students & Community Thompson Center (110 W. Randolph, downtown Chicago)
• Demand: Call for new mayor to agree to a fair contract that improves educator pay & benefits, reduces class sizes and increasing critical staffing needs (ELL and SPED teachers, paraprofessionals, librarians, nurses, counselors, social workers, restorative justice coordinators) Demands include expanding sustainable community schools and increasing affordable housing.

DENVER. Coalition/Organization Name: Breaking Our Chains
• Action: We Choose Equity Bus Tour
• Demand: Fully Fund, IDEA, Title I and call on federal legislations to implement policies that honor mandate of Brown v. Board

DALLAS. Coalition/Organization Name: Texas Organizing Project
• Action: We Choose Equity Bus Tour
• Demand: Fully Fund, IDEA, Title I and call on federal legislations to implement policies that honor mandate of Brown v. Board

BATON ROUGE. Coalition/Organization Name: Step Up Louisiana, LAE
• Action: Rally and Press Conference regarding harm done by charters and their lack of accountability (due to ‘autonomy’ given by state laws)
• Demands: Stop the proliferation of charters and a fair plan to address budget deficit

HOUSTON. Coalition/Organization Name: Save Our School Houston and Texas Organizing Project
• Action: Rally and Protest
• Demand: End Punitive dress code policies that police parents of color and prevent their engagement in school activities

JACKSON. Coalition/Organization Name: IDEA and One Voice
• Action: Forum on School to Prison Pipeline and Education Equity
• Demand: End Punitive tactics to police our children

PEORIA. Coalition: Peoria’s People Project
• Action: Organizing for Racial Equity in Education Training co-sponsored by the NAACP
• Demand: Full funding of Title I and IDEA

SACRAMENTO + (Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco and Sacramento) Coalitions: Oakland Public Education Network, Reclaim Our Schools LA, Close the Gap, Oakland Education Association, UTLA, United Educators of San Francisco, San Francisco Families Union, Coleman Advocates, California Teachers Association and California Federation of Teachers
• Action: We Choose Equity Bus Tour & Coalitions will unite at a rally of 1,000 people in Sacramento (Rotunda of State Capitol)
• Demand: The statewide coalition is calling on legislators to support legislation for fair school funding and bills aimed at ending school privatization. They are also demanding full funding of Title I and IDEA and the fulfillment of the mandate to honor Brown V. Board decision.

Journey For Justice Had a Busy Day | Diane Ravitch's blog

May Ed Town Hall BUS: Against Charters – Education Town Hall Forum

May Ed Town Hall BUS: Against Charters – Education Town Hall Forum

MAY ED TOWN HALL BUS: AGAINST CHARTERS

The next BUS ride covers The Fight Against Charters! First up we have Carol Burris, Executive Director of the Network for Public Education, returning to give an update on how the fight against charters is playing out after the NPE’s release of the report Asleep at the Wheel. For the second half, we have Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig returning to discuss Bernie Sanders education plan and how his own fight against for-profit charters turned into a racist attack. Listen at 11 a.m. EASTERN on Thursday,May 23, via TuneIn or by visiting We Act Radio and clicking on arrow at upper left (NOTE: Not all “listen” buttons are working at present).

The Education Town Hall with Thomas Byrd
broadcasts from Historic Anacostia
in Washington, DC, on We Act Radio,
Thursdays at 11:00 a.m. Eastern
New programming 2nd and 4th Thursdays, alternating with classic shows.
Listen live via TuneIn.
Shows are archived for convenient listening shortly after broadcast.

After years of weekly broadcasts, the program now focuses one show each month on local issues and one on “the BUS,” organized by BadAss Teachers, United Opt Out, and SOS March.

May Ed Town Hall BUS: Against Charters – Education Town Hall Forum

Insolvency Avoided, New Budget Is Fixable - Sacramento City Teachers Association

Insolvency Avoided, New Budget Is Fixable - Sacramento City Teachers Association

INSOLVENCY AVOIDED, NEW BUDGET IS FIXABLE

The latest budget document circulated by the District at community forums contains two huge developments:

1. The District made a $16 million mistake by undercounting at least 700 students, a mistake that SCTA has been pointing out since January.
2. The District has now doubled its projected reserve from the state required 2% (about $11.5 million) to 4% ($23 million).  So when the District says it now projects a $34 million deficit, approximately $23 million (an extra $11.5 million for two years) of the $34 million “deficit” is a result of a higher reserve goal—money that should be spent our students.

Many of have speculated that the budget crisis was manufactured.  We can’t say whether it’s that or human error.  But either way, the District’s budget fiasco, is, at it always has been, easily fixable. 

The new budget fully implements the SCTA salary schedule, and enables health plan savings to be used to lower class sizes and improve services to students (as legally required by the contract).  It does not implement SCTA’s budget solutions that would:  1.  Chop from the Top; 2. Use retiree health insurance overfunding ($8.5 million per year, or $25.5 million over three years) 3. Or reduce contracts to outside consultants and more. 

With SCTA’s reforms, the SCUSD structural problems could also be fixed.  The real question is whether District leaders are prepared to work with educators, parents, students and the broader community to create a district that truly puts students first.

Insolvency Avoided, New Budget Is Fixable - Sacramento City Teachers Association

L.A. Charters Suspend Black and Disabled Students at Higher Rates | Capital & Main

L.A. Charters Suspend Black and Disabled Students at Higher Rates | Capital & Main

GRADING CHARTER SCHOOLS: L.A. Charters Suspend Black and Disabled Students at Higher Rates
Los Angeles charters suspended black students at almost three times the rate of traditional schools; students with disabilities were suspended at nearly four times the non-charter school rate.

School suspensions are out, restorative justice is in. At least that’s the case at the Los Angeles Unified School District and wherever schools are struggling to shift from the harsh, zero-tolerance discipline of the past to a less punitive, problem-solving approach. Restorative justice de-emphasizes punishment and instead aims to repair the damage that is done when, for example, a child disrespects a teacher, or a student starts a fight. The goal is to have misbehaving students think about their negative behavior and hear directly from the person that they hurt—often in what’s known as a harm circle — about how they were affected and what can be done to fix the situation and the relationship.

---

22 L.A. charters — nearly all of them in high- poverty neighborhoods –accounted for 42% of the charter schools’ nearly 32,700 suspensions last year.

---

The shift comes 20 years after the fatal shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado, after which many schools turned to “no excuses” discipline policies to stem violence. While such policies haven’t stopped school shootings, they have been profoundly damaging to some students – particularly African-Americans and those with disabilities. According to researchers at the University of California and elsewhere, students from these two groups have been suspended at far higher rates, with consequences that can last a lifetime – making school discipline a civil rights issue.

A classroom at Green Dot’s Ánimo James B. Taylor Middle School. (Photo: Robin Urevich)

Kids who are suspended are more likely to lag behind in schoolwork and to drop out of school. Even more consequentially, some are swept along the “school to prison pipeline,” whereby kids who are suspended from school are more likely to get in trouble with law enforcement.

Under pressure from education activists and federal civil rights officials, LAUSD, the nation’s second-largest school district, has slashed suspensions in its traditional schools.

---

Crete Academy in South Los Angeles, an elementary school serving homeless students, suspended about one in 10 of its students last year.

---

Most Los Angeles charter schools have also curbed suspensions, but they have been slower to CONTINUE READING: L.A. Charters Suspend Black and Disabled Students at Higher Rates | Capital & Main

CURMUDGUCATION: OH: Do Charters Need The Freedom To Hire Great Teachers?

CURMUDGUCATION: OH: Do Charters Need The Freedom To Hire Great Teachers?

OH: Do Charters Need The Freedom To Hire Great Teachers?

If there's one thing that charter school advocates never run out of, it's arguments about why charter schools should get to ignore some of the rules of education.

Fordham Institute's blog, Ohio Division, recently ran a piece in this genre, written by Jessica Poiner-- "Give charter schools the freedom to hire great teachers."

Poiner graduated from Baldwin-Wallace University with a BA in English (perfectly nice school--my niece graduated from BW) in  2011, then put in her two Teach for America years in Shelby County, including seven months as a teacher leadership coach (we talk a lot about how five weeks of training don't prepare you for the classroom, but we should talk more about TFA's notion that a year or so in a classroom qualifies you as an educational leader). She put a year in Tennessee's ill-fated Achievement School District. That positioned her to join Fordham as an Education Policy Analyst in 2014, where she's been working since.

Poiner has several parts of her plea for relief of the helpless charter industry.

More Warm Bodies, Please

The foundation of this discussion involves some arcane bits of Ohio teacher certification. One of the less-noted features of ESSA (the newest batch of federal education law) was that it scrapped the CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: OH: Do Charters Need The Freedom To Hire Great Teachers?

SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: Red for Ed. Education Rally at State Capitol

SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: Red for Ed. Education Rally at State Capitol

 Red for Ed. Education Rally at State Capitol

Together, we will join educators, parents, students, and community members to demand the full funding of our public schools, common-sense charter school accountability, and social & racial justice.

Shoulder to shoulder with thousands of educators, students, and community members, we'll take over the rotunda of the state capitol. That building belongs to all of us — it's about time that the lawmakers who make decisions that impact our daily lives remembered that.

Sacramento DSA will welcome DSA members from all over California on May 22 for a statewide day of action to demand the public education California students deserve!


We'll meet at 4:30 PM for a group photo with DSA members all over the state!

Date: Wednesday, May 22nd, 9:00am-5:30pm
Location: California State Capitol (Exact meeting location TBA)

SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: Red for Ed. Education Rally at State Capitol

Bernie Sanders’s Education Plan Laments Rise of Charter Schools - The New York Times

Bernie Sanders’s Education Plan Laments Rise of Charter Schools - The New York Times

Bernie Sanders’s Education Plan Laments Rise of Charter Schools

Senator Bernie Sanders took aim at charter schools on Saturday, calling for a moratorium on federal funding for the schools in a declaration of his education policy priorities ahead of the 2020 election.

In a 10-point plan, Mr. Sanders, one of nearly two dozen candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination, said that, if elected, he would “desegregate schools” in part by forbidding federal spending on new charter schools as well as by banning for-profit charter schools — which account for a small proportion of existing charters.

“The proliferation of charter schools has disproportionately affected communities of color,” Mr. Sanders wrote, adding, “We do not need two schools systems; we need to invest in our public schools system.”

Mr. Sanders of Vermont would also require that charter schools be subject to the same oversight as public schools, and that teachers and parents account for at least half the representation on all charter school boards. Additionally, his plan would demand that charter schools disclose student attrition rates, nonpublic sources of funding and financial interests.

Charter schools were supported by the Obama administration and, in general, have had the support of Democrats.

Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, who is also running for president, has been a strong supporter of charter schools. Last year, Mr. Booker said in an interview that “my loyalty is to a free public school, high-quality public school education,” allowing that charter and magnet schools could be part of the mix.

Other Democratic candidates have unveiled education plans in recent weeks. A proposal by Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts focused on higher education, with the goals of canceling most student loan debt and eliminating tuition at public colleges. Julián Castro, the former housing secretary, announced similar goals, as well as proposals to increase teacher pay and create a national, federally funded prekindergarten program.

Mr. Sanders revealed his plan one day after the 65th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court decision that legally desegregated United States public schools. Its name, A Thurgood Marshall Plan for Public Education, invokes the lawyer who argued the case for the N.A.A.C.P. before he became a Supreme Court justice.

“Many U.S. schools remain unacceptably segregated,” Mr. Sanders wrote in the plan.

Mr. Sanders’s plan also explains that black students are nearly four times as likely to be suspended as white students — a disparity he attributes to “implicit racial bias” that also puts black youth at greater risk of becoming entangled in the criminal justice system.

“When a child is pushed out of school they lose instructional time and are more likely to become involved with the juvenile and adult justice systems,” the plan said. “We must end the school-to-prison pipeline.”

Parts of the plan focused on educators, declaring Mr. Sanders’s support for a $60,000 baseline for teachers’ starting salaries as well as unionization efforts by charter schoolteachers.

Bernie Sanders’s Education Plan Laments Rise of Charter Schools - The New York Times

The Condition of Education 2019

The Condition of Education 2019

The Condition of Education 2019

Title:	The Condition of Education 2019
Description:	The Condition of Education is a congressionally mandated annual report summarizing important developments and trends in education using the latest available data. The 2019 Condition of Education report presents 48 indicators on topics ranging from prekindergarten through postsecondary education, as well as labor force outcomes and international comparisons. Also included in the report are 2 Spotlight indicators that provide more in-depth analyses on selected topics.
Online Availability:	Browse this document. Download, view and print the report as a pdf file.  (13.9MB) Need Help Viewing PDF files?
Cover Date:	May 2019
Web Release:	May 22, 2019
Publication #:	NCES 2019144
Center/Program:	NCES
Authors:	McFarland, J., Hussar, B., Zhang, J., Wang, X., Wang, K., Hein, S., Diliberti, M., Forrest Cataldi, E., Bullock Mann, F., and Barmer, A.
Type of Product:	Compendium
Survey/Program Areas:	Annual Reports Program (Annual) Common Core of Data (CCD) Current Population Survey, October (CPS) Crime and Safety Surveys (CSS) High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09) International Activities Program (IAP) Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) National Household Education Survey (NHES) National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS) Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) Private School Survey (PSS) Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)
Questions:	For questions about the content of this Compendium, please contact: Joel McFarland.

The Condition of Education 2019

Goldberg joins L.A. Unified school board, immediately challenges aid to charter schools - Los Angeles Times

Goldberg joins L.A. Unified school board, immediately challenges aid to charter schools - Los Angeles Times

Goldberg joins L.A. Unified school board, immediately challenges aid to charter schools

Jackie Goldberg took a seat on the Los Angeles school board Tuesday and immediately signaled change to come, shifting the discussion to whether charter schools were getting unfair advantages over district-run public schools.

Not long ago, the seven-member Board of Education — with one different member — was easing restrictions on charters.

The 74-year-old political veteran last week won a special election to fill a board seat that has been vacant since last July, when former board President Ref Rodriguez resigned after pleading guilty to violating campaign finance laws.

She rejoined a body that she had served on more than 25 years ago, taking the oath of office twice: once in the morning so she could take part in an early meeting; the second time at midday, to accommodate more than 200 cheering well-wishers.

Rodriguez, the co-founder of a charter school organization, was elected with millions of dollars in support from wealthy backers of charters. Goldberg won with funding and volunteers anchored by the teachers union, which built on momentum from a six-day teachers strike in January.

Union leaders have called for a moratorium and tighter controls on charters, which are privately operated and mostly nonunion.

Charters compete with district-run schools for students, and critics say they undermine traditional schools by pulling away higher performing students and funding. Supporters say that charters offer high-quality options for parents and helpful competition.

Under state law, the district must offer charters available space. A classroom without a regularly assigned teacher, for example, is typically counted as available.

Goldberg’s concerns arose minutes after the board began moving through its agenda. The item was $16 million to prepare space for charters operating on up to 79 district campuses. In all, about 11% of campuses host charters, according to the California Charter Schools Assn. Charters enroll nearly one in five district students.

Goldberg noticed that some of the money would pay for computers and wanted to know if the host school would have comparable technology.

“I have a school that lost its computer lab and the charter school went in there and put in a computer lab,” which it used to recruit students, Goldberg said during the meeting. “That’s CONTINUE READING:  Goldberg joins L.A. Unified school board, immediately challenges aid to charter schools - Los Angeles Times

Watch My Interview with Lauren Steiner, Taped Yesterday | Diane Ravitch's blog

Watch My Interview with Lauren Steiner, Taped Yesterday | Diane Ravitch's blog

Watch My Interview with Lauren Steiner, Taped Yesterday

Lauren Steiner is an activist who is actively engaged in fighting privatization in California. She has a regular program on Facebook, where she interviews people like me.

She interviewed me yesterday about charters, billionaires, neoliberalism, and other issues. The California Legislature is deciding right now about bills to regulate charters and make them accountable.

I reactivated my FB account for this interview. You don’t have to be on FB to watch as it is posted on YouTube and easily available. 

Watch My Interview with Lauren Steiner, Taped Yesterday | Diane Ravitch's blog

“High-Quality” Charter Schools Versus “Low-Quality” Charter Schools | Dissident Voice

“High-Quality” Charter Schools Versus “Low-Quality” Charter Schools | Dissident Voice

“High-Quality” Charter Schools Versus “Low-Quality” Charter Schools
Another False Dichotomy Distorting Consciousness and Undermining the Human Factor

Charter school promoters want the public, especially poor, low-income, and vulnerable minority families who have long been exploited by the rich and their state, to believe that when it comes to nonprofit and for-profit charter schools the issue is really “high-quality” charter schools versus “low-quality” charter schools. We are told that we need more of the former and fewer of the latter.

Charter school advocates do not want anyone to believe that both the concept and the practice of charter schools are flawed and harm education, society, the economy, and the national interest. They do not want anyone asking why we have charter schools in the first place. Nor do they want people defending public schools. That bothers them. Charter schools are simply “here to stay.” Presumably, we are stuck with them and there is little we can do about them. We are to largely remain hapless victims of charter schools that increase each year.

Charter boosters want people to think that even though charter schools are plagued by endless problems and scandals, somehow their existence is legitimate, valid, and positive, and all that we have to do is make sure we are replicating “high-quality” charter schools while letting the so-called “free market” eliminate thousands of “low quality” charter schools. This will supposedly give rise to the “best of all worlds” for everyone. The fact that there are so many “low-quality” charter schools year after year is often casually glossed over or conveniently trivialized.

Both the rate and amount of failure in the charter school sector have been high for decades. There are thousands of low-quality charter schools out there. News reports on a broad range of unscrupulous and shocking activities in the CONTINUE READING: “High-Quality” Charter Schools Versus “Low-Quality” Charter Schools | Dissident Voice

Anand Giridharadas on Kara Swisher podcast Recode Decode - Vox

Anand Giridharadas on Kara Swisher podcast Recode Decode - Vox

Tech billionaires who donate millions are just “bribing society at large,” Anand Giridharadas says
Zuckerberg, Bezos, and Gates shouldn’t have an outsize say in how we run our country, Giridharadas says on the latest episode of Recode Decode.

Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and other billionaires have figured out a pretty sweet deal, Anand Giridharadas says: They make gigantic piles of money, and have tricked politicians and the media into giving them an exceptionally loud voice in policy discussions. What’s their secret? Just give away a little bit of that money through philanthropic organizations that they control.

“This is a refeudalization,” Giridharadas said. “If you watch Downton Abbey, you understand the idea. There’s a guy in a castle, and then no one else owns land in the show.

“[Zuckerberg is] trying to get rid of all the world’s diseases, as if public education wasn’t a hard enough problem,” he added. “We have doctors. We have an entire public health infrastructure. We have the Centers for Disease Control. We have the NIH. But no, Mark is going to get rid of all the diseases, even though his own company is a plague, by any stretch of the imagination.”

On the new podcast, Giridharadas characterized the power of Zuckerberg and his peers in policy discussions as the result of a “40-year war on the idea of government.” It’s fine for billionaires to have opinions on things like medicine and education — but, he asked, why should they be treated as sagacious experts when they come from a completely different arena?

“Why do we actually bother, fuss so much about voting rights?” he asked. “Why is it so important that a relatively small number of people not get turned away at the polls, right? Why was it important to fight for women’s suffrage? If we create this entire system where the choices about our biggest shared problems are made by us, but then we create this other door to the nightclub of democracy where only people with a billion dollars can come in, they can just also sort of overrule us on a bunch of things.”

You can listen to Recode Decode wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, and Overcast.

Below, we’ve shared a lightly edited full transcript of Kara’s conversation with Anand. CONTINUE READING: Anand Giridharadas on Kara Swisher podcast Recode Decode - Vox