CURMUDGUCATION: Free Charters Are Not Free

CURMUDGUCATION: Free Charters Are Not Free

Free Charters Are Not Free

The Heritage Charter Academy of Cape Coral, Florida plugs itself as a "free public charter school," but that turns out to be not entirely true.

As reported earlier this week, the charter schools of Cape Coral are in deep financial trouble. The charters run by Oasis Charter Schools can't afford their lease. So they are facing some serious deficit spending issues, as described by a city official:

“If everything stays the way it is today right now … their fund balance would actually be depleted by 2024,” Assistant City Manager Connie Barron said.

Cape Coral is a city in southwest Florida of around 200,000 people, which is impressive given it was launched as a real estate development in 1957. The city actual incorporated in 1970. Now it's the eighth largest city in Florida, built not so much on swampland as around a network of canals.

The charters come under the City of Cape Coral Charter School Authority and fall within the Lee County School District, which earned its spot in history back after Brown v. Board of Education ruled that segregation was illegal, Lee County handled that new reality by simply ignoring it. This led to some civic strife and a set of court orders, some of which are still in place. Charter School providers include infamous charter chain Charter Schools USA (which is pretty busy in Lee County). 

Bottom line: Cape Coral can't afford its current charter school set-up, and in fact is already making some iffy choices to  CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Free Charters Are Not Free

Group accuses Times of bias in LAUSD coverage - Los Angeles Times

Group accuses Times of bias in LAUSD coverage - Los Angeles Times

Group affiliated with teachers union accuses Times of bias in L.A. Unified reopening coverage

A coalition of teachers, parents and community activists on Wednesday accused The Times of giving disproportionate coverage to those who want to quickly reopen Los Angeles Unified School District campuses, and short shrift to those in minority communities who urge a more deliberate approach during the coronavirus pandemic.

Reclaim Our Schools L.A., a group aligned with the United Teachers Los Angeles union, released a report analyzing seven months of columns, editorials and news articles, saying the newspaper demonstrated bias in its coverage of school reopening issues.

The group claims that the paper has relied too heavily on voices from wealthier communities where support for reopening quickly is stronger.

Teachers, parents, business people and others have been discussing for months when to bring back 465,000 K-12 students since the district moved to online learning about a year ago.

Alicia Baltazar, a Reclaim Our Schools member and parent of a fifth-grader in Wilmington, said during a news conference that she was disturbed seeing “stories about it’s parents against teachers.”

She added: “That simply is not true. Parents like myself and other members of Reclaim Our Schools Los Angeles have been working hand in hand with our teachers to keep our schools closed and to open only when it’s safe to do so.”

Reclaim Our Schools said that after receiving complaints from parents about The Times’ coverage, it examined 105 articles published between June and January and logged the identities of individuals who provided a total of 304 quotes to the newspaper.

The review concluded that 58% of the voices “elevated” by The Times came from three categories: professional/higher income individuals, small-business owners or millionaires, even though more than 80% of families in the L.A. district have low enough incomes to qualify for free and reduced-price meals.

The report said that fewer than 9% of those quoted were people it identified as working-class or low-income.

The report did not list the specific stories or provide the names of people whose quotes were analyzed. The Times has published more than 300 stories about L.A. schools since the pandemic began, far more than the number of stories the group said it analyzed.

Times spokeswoman Hillary Manning defended the newspaper’s coverage of schools in the pandemic. She said that hundreds of stories had included an array of voices, including students, parents, teachers, administrators, along with union leadership and education organizations.

“We have been guided by a mission of helping parents and students navigate these unprecedented times,” Manning said. “The Times’ education coverage has focused on the wrenching inequities brought on by closures and remote schooling, showing how CONTINUE READING: Group accuses Times of bias in LAUSD coverage - Los Angeles Times

New Hampshire: Bitter Fight Over Voucher Bill: Join the Fight to Save Public Schools! | Diane Ravitch's blog

New Hampshire: Bitter Fight Over Voucher Bill | Diane Ravitch's blog

New Hampshire: Bitter Fight Over Voucher Bill

Parents and educators overwhelmingly oppose the New Hampshire voucher proposal, which would be the most expansive in the country. In terms of turnout, voucher opponents outnumber proponents by 6-1. Proponents claim that it is only educators who oppose vouchers, but many parents turned out to testify against the legislation.

Yet the Republican sponsors of the bill are forging ahead, claiming that so few children want a voucher that it would have no impact on the budget. In fact, the bill would have the state pick up the cost of tuition for children currently attending religious and private schools, and would fund homeschoolers as well. Critics estimate the cost at $100 million per year.

As background to the discussion, take a look at the research on vouchers. This report from the Center for American Progress finds that using a voucher is equivalent to missing about one-third of a year in school. Yet 23 states, including New Hampshire, are going full speed ahead to enact a harmful and demonstrably CONTINUE READING: New Hampshire: Bitter Fight Over Voucher Bill | Diane Ravitch's blog

New Hampshire: Join the Fight to Save Public Schools!

Rightwing Republicans in New Hampshire are determined to give away public school dollars to religious schools, private schools, home schoolers, for-profit schools, and anyone who claims to be operating a “school.”

If you live in New Hampshire, you can join with others to stop this raid on public money.

“Reaching Higher New Hampshire” is forming a state network for those interested in public education, to serve as an information-sharing and networking hub. It’s first meeting is on March 10 at 3 p.m. They be covering vouchers, funding/state budget, the State Board and DOE, and a few other topics. If you’re interested in joining, please fill out this form or send an email to Christina Pretorius at christina@reachinghighernh.org

People united can defeat a raid on the people’s common good.

New Hampshire: Join the Fight to Save Public Schools!

Vouchers Would Ruin Public Education in New Hampshire | Diane Ravitch's blog - https://wp.me/p2odLa-tHX via @dianeravitch

Teacher Tom: Despite My Utter Lack of "Teaching"

Teacher Tom: Despite My Utter Lack of "Teaching"

Despite My Utter Lack of "Teaching"

I never pretend to know what kids will learn on any given day and, honestly, any teacher who does is either deluded or blowing smoke. No one can possibly know what another person is going to learn. You can hope. You can plan. You can lecture yourself blue. You can even, if you're especially clever, trick someone into learning something, but the idea that one person can "teach" something to another, except under narrow circumstances, is one of the great educational myths.

There is a quote that is most often attributed to the Buddha, but is more likely of Theosophical origins, that goes: "When the student is ready the master will appear." I like these kinds of quotes that persist because they are true even when they can't be traced back to the utterances of Buddha, Socrates, or Einstein. This one is even so true that there is a corollary: "When the master is ready the student will appear." CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: Despite My Utter Lack of "Teaching"

CURMUDGUCATION: Breaking: FBI Investigating Chester Upland District Finances

CURMUDGUCATION: Breaking: FBI Investigating Chester Upland District Finances

Breaking: FBI Investigating Chester Upland District Finances

Chester Upland School District has been through the wringer, suffering through just about every problem a school district could face in the last century. Most recently they have been facing a state receivership and an administration that seems anxious to convert them to charter schools, the first district in Pennsylvania to be official dismantled, gutted and sold for parts.

Today, more trouble--at least for some folks:

The FBI and Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer are investigating are investigating millions of dollars worth of missing funds in the Chester Upland School District, sources close to the investigation confirmed late Wednesday.

The DA's office became aware of the situation Monday. 

If this sounds fairly sedate, the rumors circulating are considerably less. Talk of a money-laundering scheme run through the district, with the FBI raiding the administration offices and collecting all computers, servers--the works.

Financial issues have been at the heart of district issues for years, with the state at one point declaring that the record keeping was such a mess that an audit couldn't even be completed. Missing CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Breaking: FBI Investigating Chester Upland District Finances

HOW ABOUT A LITTLE CLARITY? – Dad Gone Wild

HOW ABOUT A LITTLE CLARITY? – Dad Gone Wild

HOW ABOUT A LITTLE CLARITY?

“Hey, if it’s up to you about TNReady, vote “no”, because this year there are no snacks, longer recesses, or parades. Those are the only reasons I was in before. None of those happening, and I’m out” – Peter Weber, 10, student commenting on the debate over TCAP

 

Remember those halcyon days of yore, when we were extending grace to each other, reminding ourselves daily that this was all new, we were in this together, and many of us were learning as we went? It was widely recognized that teachers and schools were doing the best they could so patience was needed. Ah…those were the days. And to think they were only 6 months ago.

Guess what, this is all still unprecedented. No principal has ever attempted to run 2 schools simultaneously. No teacher has ever provided in-person learning to students after nearly a year of being remote. No teacher, nor administrator, has done school with the copious amount of new protocols required to keep everyone safe. Students and teachers may be returning back to school buildings, but they are not going back to the way things were.

It’s like when you go away on vacation, you try to shut your suitcase for the return trip and you can’t because it’s overflowing. You can try sitting on it, jamming things in, or you can recognize that you CONTINUE READING: HOW ABOUT A LITTLE CLARITY? – Dad Gone Wild

A VERY BUSY DAY Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 #REOPENSCHOOLSSAFELY #openonlywhensafe

 Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

A VERY BUSY DAY

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

The latest news and resources in education since 2007

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

The latest news and resources in education since 2007 - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/02/this-week-in-education-larry-ferlazzos_27.html

“‘Give Yourself Grace’ as You Teach Concurrently”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 10h

‘Give Yourself Grace’ as You Teach Concurrently is the headline of my latest Education Week column. Three teachers continue a special series supporting educators moving from full-time distance learning to a hybrid model. Here are some excerpts:

Free Resources From All “My” Books

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

Every two months, I reprint this post so that new subscribers learn about these resources. I have many free resources, including excerpts and student hand-outs, available from all “my” books (“my” is quotation marks because several are ones I have co-authored or edited). Clicking on the covers will lead you to them. Look for a fourth book in my student motivation series (out in 2023) and a second

Thursday’s Must-Read Articles On School Reopenings

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

geralt / Pixabay Here are new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : Why there’s ‘a real feeling of hope’ Sacramento city schools could reopen next month is from The Sacramento Bee. 6 Feet or 3 Feet Apart? Why Reopening Schools Is Not So Easy. is from The NY Times. Biden Administration Steps Up Push for School Reopenings is from The NY Times. In-person le

New Study Suggests “School Belongingness” Is Key To Encouraging High School Student Motivation

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

A new study has come out that I don’t think breaks much new research ground, but could be helpful in making educators and schools more aware of something we could all do more of – taking steps to help students feel more connected to school. Examining high-school students’ motivation change through a person-centered approach. is the title of the paper (which is paywalled, but there are ways to acc

World Poetry Day Is On March 21st – Here Are Teaching & Learning Resources

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

The United Nations has declared March 21st to be World Poetry Day . You might be interested in The Best World Poetry Day Resources – Help Me Find More .

“It’s Like ‘Teaching Two Classes at Once’”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

It’s Like ‘Teaching Two Classes at Once’ is the headline of my latest Education Week column. Four educators provide technical advice & instructional strategies to use when teaching the same class simultaneously online and in person. Here are some excerpts:

Three Accessible Ways To Search For & Find My “Best” Lists

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

(Note: I am going to publish this same post once each month to remind regular readers and inform newer ones about how to access my “Best” lists) As regular readers know, I have about 2,200 categorized and regularly updated “Best” lists. You can find all of them in broad categories here . The link to that page can also be found at the top right of my blog: My Best Of Series I also have them all on

Wednesday’s Must-Read Articles On School Reopenings

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

geralt / Pixabay Here are new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : Biden moves to get all teachers a vaccine shot by the end of March is from The Washington Post. Today, I am directing every state to prioritize educators for vaccination. We want every educator, school staff member, and child-care worker to receive at least one shot by the end of this mo

WOW Statistic Of The Day: 117,000 Unaccompanied Expected This Year

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

I have expected large numbers of unaccompanied minor refugees would be coming to the United States this year (see 13,000 Unaccompanied Minor Refugees Expected In May ). However, even I was surprised to see the Department of Homeland Security’s estimate of 117,000 during 2021. As the Axios article states , that “exceeds the all-time record by 45%.” And any ELL educators knows how challenging that

New TED-Ed Video & Lesson: “Can loud music damage your hearing?”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

Clker-Free-Vector-Images / Pixabay The latest TED-Ed video and lesson is on “Can loud music damage your hearing?” I’m adding it to The Best Resources On Teens & Hearing Loss .

 Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007