With Democratic Wins, Charter Schools Face a Backlash in N.Y. and Other States - The New York Times

With Democratic Wins, Charter Schools Face a Backlash in N.Y. and Other States - The New York Times

With Democratic Wins, Charter Schools Face a Backlash in N.Y. and Other States

Over the last decade, the charter school movement gained a significant foothold in New York, demonstrating along the way that it could build fruitful alliances with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and other prominent Democrats. The movement hoped to set a national example — if charter schools could make it in a deep blue state like New York, they could make it anywhere.

But the election on Tuesday strongly suggested that the golden era of charter schools is over in New York. The insurgent Democrats who were at the forefront of the party’s successful effort to take over the State Senate have repeatedly expressed hostility to the movement.

John Liu, a newly elected Democratic state senator from Queens, has said New York City should “get rid of” large charter school networks. Robert Jackson, a Democrat who will represent a Manhattan district in the State Senate, promised during his campaign to support charter schools only if they have unionized teachers.

And another incoming Democratic state senator, Julia Salazar of Brooklyn, recently broadcast a simple message about charter schools: “I’m not interested in privatizing our public schools.”

No one is saying that existing charter schools will have to close. And in fact, New York City, which is the nation’s largest school system and home to the vast majority of the state’s charter schools, has many that are excelling.

Over 100,000 students in hundreds of the city’s charter schools are doing well on state tests, and tens of thousands of children are on waiting lists for spots. New York State has been mostly spared the scandals that have plagued states with weaker regulations.

But it seems highly likely that a New York Legislature entirely under Democratic control will restrict the number of new charter schools that can open, and tighten regulations on existing ones.

The defeat is magnified because Mr. Cuomo, a shrewd observer of national political trends with an eye toward a potential White House bid, recently softened his support for charter schools. Mayor Bill de Blasio is a longtime charter opponent with his own national aspirations.

And New York is not the only state where the charter school movement is facing fierce headwinds because of the election.

Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, an enemy of public sector unions, was unseated by a Democrat, Tony Evers, a former teacher who ran on a promise to boost funding to traditional public schools.

In neighboring Illinois, J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat who promised to curb charter school growth, beat the incumbent Republican, Gov. Bruce Rauner, a supporter of charter schools. And in Michigan, a Democrat, Gretchen Whitmer, promised to “put an end to the DeVos agenda.”

Ms. Whitmer won her race for governor decisively against the state’s Republican attorney general, Bill Schuette, who is an ally of Betsy DeVos, Continue reading: With Democratic Wins, Charter Schools Face a Backlash in N.Y. and Other States - The New York Times

Is Screen Time at School Bad for Kids? - The Atlantic

Is Screen Time at School Bad for Kids? - The Atlantic
The Backlash Against Screen Time at School
Combining education and technology is great—until it's not.

Four years ago, Paul France left a teaching job in the Chicago suburbs to move to San Francisco and be part of the so-called personalized-learning revolution in education. He joined a high-profile start-up called AltSchool whose investors include Mark Zuckerberg and the venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. France was passionate about both education and technology and welcomed the opportunity to combine the two. But they would not prove to be as complementary as he thought.

AltSchool’s founder, a former Google executive named Max Ventilla, envisioned it as a place where students, aided by technology and tech-savvy teachers, would learn at their own pace, based on their interests and aptitudes. Teachers, using proprietary software to track student performance and help guide their learning, would be freed from time-consuming tasks like scoring exams and could devote more attention to students. The company’s mission was to help move the American education system from an industrial age model “where schools were set up to resemble factories and students had a conveyor belt-like experience” to a more “learner-centric” approach that gives students a sense of agency and 21st-century problem-solving skills, Devin Vodicka, who is responsible for guiding the company’s personalized learning platform as it expands to more schools, told me.

The company opened small lab schools in San Francisco, Palo Alto, and New York. Students were provided with their own iPads or Chromebooks along with individualized “playlists” of learning activities to choose from. Cameras in classrooms videotaped students’ and teachers’ interactions, enabling teachers and engineers to analyze the footage and review what worked, a process AltSchool technologists hoped would eventually be aided by computers using machine-learning algorithms.

AltSchool was flooded with applicants willing and able to pay tuition of $30,000 or more for their children to attend, and became one of the hottest start-ups in educational technology; to date, it has raised more than $170 million in investment. It was part of a broad investor rush to ed tech. Last year, Continue reading: Is Screen Time at School Bad for Kids? - The Atlantic

School Choice Fails to Create Equity and Justice for Our Society’s Poorest Children | janresseger

School Choice Fails to Create Equity and Justice for Our Society’s Poorest Children | janresseger

School Choice Fails to Create Equity and Justice for Our Society’s Poorest Children

Early this week, in her Washington Post column, Valerie Strauss published an important reflection on Why It Matters Who Governs America’s Public Schools by Diane Ravitch and Carol Burris of the Network for Public Education. Burris and Ravitch are responding to a major report from the Learning Policy Institute’s Peter Cookson, Linda Darling-Hammond, Robert Rothman, and Patrick Shields, a report which endorses the idea of “portfolio school reform.”

The Learning Policy Institute’s report, The Tapestry of American Public Education, promotes a lovely metaphor, a tapestry of school options woven together—open enrollment, magnet schools, charter schools, and specialty schools based on distinct educational models. The Learning Policy Institute declares: “The goal and challenge of school choice is to create a system in which all children choose and are chosen by a good school that serves them well and is easily accessible. The central lesson from decades of experience and research is that choice alone does not accomplish this goal.  Simply creating new options does not lead automatically to greater access, quality or equity.”  Here is how the Learning Policy Institute proposes that such fair and equal choice might be accomplished: “Focus on educational opportunities for children, not governance structures. Too often, questions related to the number of charters a district should have address school governance preferences, rather than the needs of children… Work to ensure equity and access for all. Expanding choice can increase opportunities, or it can complicate or restrict access to convenient and appropriate opportunities, most often for the neediest students… Create transparency at every stage about outcomes, opportunities, and resources to inform decision making for families, communities, and policymakers… Build a system of schools that meets all students’ needs.”

The Learning Policy Institute’s recommendations sound familiar. They are the same arguments made by the Center on Reinventing Public Education as it describes its theory of “portfolio school reform.” Portfolio school reform imagines an amicable, collaborative mix of many different schools: “A great school for every child in every neighborhood. The portfolio Continue reading:School Choice Fails to Create Equity and Justice for Our Society’s Poorest Children | janresseger

Linda Darling-Hammond vs. Diane Ravitch and Carol Burris - The Washington Post

Linda Darling-Hammond vs. Diane Ravitch and Carol Burris - The Washington Post
Linda Darling-Hammond vs. Diane Ravitch and Carol Burris

I recently published a post by Diane Ravitch and Carol Burris titled “Why It Matters Who Governs America’s Public Schools,” which took issue with some parts of a new report — “The Tapestry of American Public Education: How Can We Create a System of Schools Worth Choosing for All?” — released by a California think tank founded by education expert Linda Darling-Hammond. This post is a response from Darling-Hammond and colleagues to that piece.

[Why it matters who governs America’s public schools]

Ravitch, Darling-Hammond and Burris are three of the most prominent voices in the national education debate about how to create equitable schools in this country and more often than not agree with one another. This piece and the earlier one reveal a split in the way they view school choice.

Ravitch, a former U.S. assistant secretary of education, is an education historian and advocate who for years was seen as the titular leader of the grass-roots movement against corporate school reform. Burris is a former award-winning high school principal in New York. Both women are leaders of the nonprofit advocacy group the Network for Public Education.

Ravitch and Burris oppose the expansion of alternatives to publicly funded and publicly operated schools and districts, including charter schools, which are privately operated but funded with taxpayer dollars. Their piece criticized the new report for, among other things, failing to take a strong stand on the expansion of charter schools.

Darling-Hammond, an expert on teacher preparation and equity, founded the Center for Opportunity Policy in Education at Stanford University, where she is professor emeritus, and is founder and president of the California-based Learning Policy Institute. The nonprofit think tank was created to conduct independent, high-quality research to improve education policy and practice, and it was the institute that released the report.

As the post below explains, the report looks at the issue of school choice in a different way than many of the debates on the subject, and in contrast to Ravitch and Burris. You can read their piece here.

School choice is a means, not an end — and a useful one only if it results in greater quality and access for all students

By Linda Darling-Hammond, Peter Cookson, Bob Rothman and Patrick Shields

Last week, the Learning Policy Institute (LPI) released a report, “The Tapestry of American Public Education: How Can We Create a System of Schools Worth Choosing for All?” that takes up the issues of choice in public education from a different perspective from the one that has been driving debates since the election of President Trump.

Trump and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos have made “choice” their central education policy — defining it primarily as vouchers and tax credits for private schools and funding for charter schools, which include for-profit as well as nonprofit entities. DeVos has actually been a shareholder in K12 Inc., one of the largest for- Continue reading: Linda Darling-Hammond vs. Diane Ravitch and Carol Burris - The Washington Post

Voters deliver major wins for students, public education in 2018 midterm elections - Education Votes

Voters deliver major wins for students, public education in 2018 midterm elections - Education Votes

Voters deliver major wins for students, public education in 2018 midterm elections

Nicknamed by observers and political pundits as the “Year of the Educator,” the 2018 midterm election results mark a major victory for students and serve as a mandate for real change in our public education system. Harnessing the momentum of the historic #RedForEd movement, with a surge of educators on the ballot and historic educator activism, the National Education Association and its affiliates helped to elect leaders that are positioned to shift the balance of power in state capitals and the U.S. Congress, where victories will add a critical check on policies that have hurt students, their families and communities.

Kitchen table issues typically dominate the discussion during midterm elections, and education was a top issue in races this year. MarketWatch reported that education was the second most mentioned topic in advertisements for gubernatorial candidates of both parties. But education wasn’t just a topic on the campaign trail. The midterm elections saw a spike in educators on the ballot.

“Lawmakers learned an important lesson tonight: You can either work with educators to address the needs of students and public education, or they will work to elect someone who will,” said NEA President Lily Eskelsen García. “Candidates across the country witnessed unprecedented activism by educators in their races. Standing up for students and supporting public education were deciding factors for voters, and educators will hold lawmakers to their promises.”

Nearly 220,000 NEA members and education families were involved in getting out the vote up and down the ballot in the 2018 election. That figure represents a 165 percent increase in activism engagement this election cycle compared with 2016, a presidential year where activism is historically higher than midterms, as measured through time put in phone-banking and canvassing. Local and state races were the biggest beneficiaries of NEA member activism.

See Educators Run

An analysis by NEA revealed nearly 1,800 current or former teachers and other education professionals ran for state legislative seats, and an additional 100 educators ran for top state or federal seats in Election 2018. A bulk of educators come from states that experienced historic #RedForEd walkouts this spring: West Virginia, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arizona, Colorado and North Carolina. In fact, Oklahoma led the charge with more than 62 educators who were on the general election ballot.

“After decades of starving education funding, educators stepped up and said, ‘I can do better.’ They found themselves asking, ‘Why not have an educator in that lawmaking decision seat?’ And that’s exactly why they ran for office and voters elected them to serve,” added Eskelsen García, a sixth-grade teacher who now heads the nation’s largest union.

See Education Win

The primary focus of NEA’s electoral efforts this election cycle was on state races because education policy is decided by state legislatures and public education funding is a primary responsibility of the state. NEA investments were aimed at elevating our issues and promoting pro-public education candidates through candidate and independent expenditure communications and extensive grassroots field efforts. Significant resources also were devoted to federal races where priority U.S. Senate targets like Arizona, Nevada, Minnesota, Montana, Ohio and Wisconsin were elected and the U.S. House of Representatives flipped to Democratic control, providing a significant check on the power of Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos.

Top targeted statewide races in which NEA and its state-level affiliates conducted aggressive member-to-member field and communications program include:

• Wisconsin governor-elect Tony Evers, an educator at the top of a state ticket and defeated Gov. Scott Walker
• Republican Brad Little, who has been elected the next Idaho governor
• Governor-elect J.B. Pritzker, who defeated incumbent Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner
• Kansas governor-elect Laura Kelly
• Michigan governor-elect Gretchen Whitmer
• Minnesota governor-elect Tim Walz, a career-teacher and a member of Education Minnesota, NEA’s state-level affiliate
• Minnesota auditor-elect Julie Blaha, an educator and member of Education Minnesota, NEA’s state-level affiliate
• New Mexico governor-elect Michelle Lujan Grisham
• New Mexico land commissioner-elect Stephanie Garcia Richard, a member of NEA-New Mexico
• Tom Wolf (D-Penn.) was re-elected to a second term

NEA and its affiliates worked to flip the state legislative chambers into pro-public education majorities like:

• Colorado state senate
• Connecticut state senate
• Maine state senate
• Minnesota state house
• New Hampshire house and senate
• New York state senate

The following ballot initiatives were top priorities for NEA and its affiliates:

• Maryland Question 1, which creates a “lockbox” for gaming revenue dedicated solely for K-12 education funding and has the potential to generate approximately $500 million annually in new funding for Maryland’s public schools. NEA’s affiliate, the Maryland State Education Association, worked with a broad-based coalition to get lawmakers to refer the amendment to the ballot. The Republican governor, Larry Hogan, and all but two Republican legislators supported referring this amendment to the ballot.
• Missouri Amendment 1, which is positioned to clean up Missouri’s political system, long-plagued by ethics corruption, and create a fair representation system. The passed ballot measure imposes contribution limit, bans revolving-door lobbying and lobbyist gifts and imposes redistricting reform. The Missouri-NEA was an early leader and driving force of the state-level coalition that worked to get the initiative on the ballot.
• Montana LR-128, which is an education funding levy for Montana’s universities that is up for statewide renewal every 10 years. NEA’s affiliate, the Montana Public Employees Association, was a major driver of the $6 million-levy reaching the ballot.

“Educators have had enough of empty promises from politicians. We told them we’d remember in November, and educators keep their promises,” added Eskelsen García. “As a result of the historic #RedForEd movement and the 2018 midterm election, educators have found their voice, and they are going to continue to hold lawmakers accountable after this election.”

Voters deliver major wins for students, public education in 2018 midterm elections - Education Votes

The midterm elections show America’s major shift in attitude to charter school privatization | Salon.com

The midterm elections show America’s major shift in attitude to charter school privatization | Salon.com

The midterm elections show America’s major shift in attitude to charter school privatization
It’s not hard to find news stories about waste, fraud, abuse and downright theft in the school privatization sector

For years, the policy window for privatizing public schools has been wide open, and what was once considered an extreme or at least rare idea — such as outsourcing public schools to private contractors with few strings attached, or giving parents public tax money to subsidize their children’s private school tuitions — has become widespread as charter schools are now legal in all but a handful of states, and voucher programs have proliferated in many forms across the country.

Politicians of all stripes have been extremely reluctant, especially at the national level, to lean into a real discussion of the negative consequences of redirecting public education funds to private operators, with little to no regulation for how the money is being spent. Candidates have instead stuck to a “safe boilerplate” of education being “good” and essential to “the workforce” without much regard to who provides it.

But policy windows can be fleeting (remember “the deficit crisis”?), and multiple factors can rejigger the public’s views. Indeed, in campaigns that candidates are waging in the upcoming midterm elections, one can see the policy window on school privatization gradually shifting back to support for public schools and increasing skepticism about doling out cash to private education entrepreneurs.

"Vulture schools"

It is the wave of new progressive candidates who appear to be the ones who are shifting the policy window on school privatization.

Take the campaign of progressive superstar Randy Bryce, running for the congressional seat Paul Ryan held in Wisconsin. The Badger State recently expanded statewide a voucher program that was confined to Milwaukee and Racine, and charter schools have expanded significantly under the leadership of Republican Governor Scott Walker.

On his website, Bryce provides the usual bromides about “every child deserves a quality education” and “charter, private and traditional public schools can all thrive,” but he then adds the curious statement that “no student should see money taken from their classroom in order to serve another.” What does that mean? Continue reading: The midterm elections show America’s major shift in attitude to charter school privatization | Salon.com

Vouchers Defeated in Arizona Overwhelmingly, Democrats Take Control of the House | Diane Ravitch's blog

Vouchers Defeated in Arizona Overwhelmingly, Democrats Take Control of the House | Diane Ravitch's blog

Vouchers Defeated in Arizona Overwhelmingly, Democrats Take Control of the House

There were wins and losses yesterday, and they are not all decided at 2 am, when I wrote this post. Some states have not yet declared a winner (thinking of Wisconsin, where I hope that Scott Walker was beaten).

Some losses that I mourn: Beto O’Rourke; Stacey Abrams; Andrew Gillum. All defeated by reactionaries of the worst sort.

Some significant victories:

Democrats gained control of the House of Representatives, which means they have the power of the purse, the power to hold hearings, and the power to block some of Trump’s worst plans. That is huge. Hurrah for checks and balances!

Vouchers were overwhelmingly beaten in Arizona by the teachers and moms of SOS Arizona, who scored a knock-out punch against the Koch brothers, giving vouchers their 21st consecutive loss at the ballot box. The margin was 2-1 against vouchers. Congratulations, SOS Arizona!

Real Democrats gained control of the New York State Senate, ousting the fake Independent Democratic Caucus, who voted with Republicans.

In a very close race, it appears that Democrat Tony Evers beat the vile Scott Walker for Governor of Wisconsin.

Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, was elected Governor of Michigan.

Janet Mills, a Democrat, was elected Governor of Maine, and the outgoing Continue reading: Vouchers Defeated in Arizona Overwhelmingly, Democrats Take Control of the House | Diane Ravitch's blog

My Message to the Teachers of Los Angeles | Diane Ravitch's blog

My Message to the Teachers of Los Angeles | Diane Ravitch's blog
My Message to the Teachers of Los Angeles

The United Teachers of Los Angeles have voted to authorize a strike. The union has been negotiating with Superintendent Austin Beutner, a former investment banker who has no experience in education.

I sent the following message to the teachers of Los Angeles.

I am writing to my friends who teach in the Los Angeles Unified School District to encourage you to stay strong in your demands for smaller classes and the resources your students need.

Your working conditions are your students’ learning conditions.

You should not be expected to pay out $1,000 or more from your salary for school supplies.

I am astonished that one of the cities with the greatest concentration of wealth in the world is unwilling to pay what it costs to educate its children.

John Dewey wrote more than a century ago: “What the best and wisest parent wants for his children, that must we want for all the children of the community. Anything less is unlovely, and left unchecked, destroys our democracy.”

The billionaires who have declared war on public education and who are funding the California Charter School Association would not tolerate overcrowded classrooms, obsolete textbooks, and crumbling buildings in the schools their children attend. They should not tolerate such conditions in the public schools of Los Angeles that other people’s children attend, people without their wealth.

They want the best for their children, and they should demand the best for all children, and pay for it.

Please fight against “school choice,” an idea that was first launched by segregationists in the South to block the Brown decision in the late 1950s. It is now the favorite cause of U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who wants to replace our nation’s democratically-controlled public schools with a menu of “choices,” none of which are as good as public schools.

In California, as elsewhere, charter advocates oppose accountability and Continue reading: My Message to the Teachers of Los Angeles | Diane Ravitch's blog

GET OUT THE VOTE: It’s More than Seats at Stake | Schott Foundation for Public Education

GET OUT THE VOTE: It’s More than Seats at Stake | Schott Foundation for Public Education

GET OUT THE VOTE: It’s More than Seats at Stake

There is so much at stake this mid-term election. Organizers, activists and candidates alike have been focused more than ever on Get Out the Vote efforts, knowing that turnout will be the deciding factor in many tight races. There are signs it’s working – more than 30 million Americans have cast early ballots so far, which has already surpassed 2014 early voting, and more are still coming in. Still, on average only about 40% of eligible voters participate in mid-term elections, and even the best case scenarios do not assume turnout this time around will exceed 50%.

Most of the attention this election is on swing seats in House and Senate, which will determine which party will hold the majority of seats going into the next session. Additionally, all eyes are on historical gubernatorial races in Florida and Georgia, where Andrew Gillum and Stacey Abrams are running on campaigns for fully funding supports-based education, expanding access to health care, protecting voting rights, reforming criminal justice and addressing climate change. The potential for replacing the historic policies rooted in racism and hate with policies that provide love and support to all is what is at stake in these elections, but the candidates aren’t the only reason to get out the vote this election cycle.

Garnering much less attention, but still of critical importance, are the ballot measures that are up for votes in each state across the country. Civic engagement isn’t just about selecting our representatives for national, state and local seats – voters get to shape the actual policies directly with their votes on important measures that go straight to The People, and this cycle there are key decisions shaping social justice that our elected officials are asking the people to weigh in on. Getting out the vote and ensuring people are aware of the measures on their ballots could mean passing critical measures for funding schools and transportation, reinstating voting rights in places where suppression has been allowed for far too long, and reforming the ways our local and state systems work to provide an opportunity for all. Platforms like Justice on the Ballot highlight some of the most critical measures on state ballots this election, and actionable ways to get involved in last minute calls to mobilize voters around those issues.  

Here are some examples of state measures on education equity and social justice that provide yet another reason to get out the vote:

1. Increasing investments in schools in Colorado (Amendment 73 and local school bond proposals), Georgia, Maine, Montana, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Utah: In Colorado, an unprecedented $3 billion dollars for school funding is on the ballot  to increase the number of classrooms, improve school infrastructure, retain more teachers and counselors, and provide special programs to meet the rapidly growing student population in Colorado. Voters in Georgia, Maine, Montana, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Utah are also being asked to support measures that open the door for more funding for K-12 and higher education, through sales taxes, property taxes, bonds or fuel taxes. And in Arizona, voters will decide whether to repeal the law that allows families to draw public funds to pay for private school tuition and other education-related expenses.
    
2. Increasing the minimum wage in Arkansas (Issue 5): This citizen-initiated proposed statue would raise the state’s hourly minimum wage from $8.50 to $11 by 2021. The Loving Cities Index for Little Rock highlights working poverty as a critical issue (people working full-time with income below 200% of federal poverty level). With over 30% of Latino and 15% of Black full-time workers not earning enough to make ends meet in Little Rock (compared to only 5% of White full-time workers), a change to minimum wage could dramatically impact access to resources and supports for children from lower income communities and communities of color.
    
3. Restoring voting rights (Amendment 4) and banning oil and gas drilling in Florida (Amendment 9): Florida is one of only four states with a lifetime ban on voting because of a prior felony conviction, and as a result, 1.4 million Floridians are permanently excluded from voting. Having a vote, especially for those that have paid their debts and want to be civically engaged, is critical to ensuring our systems are set up to support and provide paths to opportunity. Environmental protection in Florida has also become a central issue with green algae and “red tide” infesting shorelines, killing marine life, harming humans and stifling tourism. With pollution, health and education outcomes inextricably linked, measures and elected officials that will reinstate the environmental regulations gutted under Governor Scott’s watch will contribute to better systems for healthy living and learning environments.
    
4. Requiring unanimous juries to convict someone of a felony in Louisiana (Amendment 2): Louisiana is one of only two states that allows a jury to convict someone even if two people on the jury don’t think that person is guilty. As a result, Louisiana has the second highest incarceration rate in the world. Reforming our criminal justice systems to restore justice in ways that rehabilitate and keep families together ensures that children have love, support and stability, and can come to school ready to learn.
    
5. Defeating a voter suppression initiative in North Carolina (Voter ID Amendment): This initiative would add a photo ID requirement for voting to the state constitution, affecting 281,000 residents who do not currently have photo ID by effectively disqualifying them from voting in 2020 if passed.
    
6. Changing drug possession to a misdemeanor in Ohio (Issue 1): This would cause approximately 10,000 people to be released early from prison in Ohio next year, and contribute to less spending on our prison industrial complex. In addition to keeping people out of jail for drug possession, it would prevent people from being imprisoned for non-criminal probation violations.
    
7. Creating an independent redistricting commission in Colorado (Amendments Y and Z), Michigan (proposal 2), Missouri (Amendment 1) and Utah (Proposition 4). Several states are taking on partisanship in drawing district lines in favor of independent commissions that would aim to increase transparency and fairness. These ballot initiatives in addition to related measures in these states and others that increase ease of voting and limit campaign spending all aim to make the processes for electing representatives more fair and accessible.
    
8. Protecting transgender rights in Massachusets (question 3): The law passed in 2016 protecting transgender people from discrimination in public places, including restaurants, stores, hospitals, libraries and gyms, will face potential repeal, which would roll back the hard fought anti-discrimination laws that protect the human rights of transgender people. With the White House considering harmful, hate-inspired changes to the definition of gender under federal civil rights laws, it's more important than ever that we reaffirm our commitment to gender equity and fair treatment of all people at the local and state levels this election.

With one day left to go, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE! And call on your friends and community members to vote as well. There is too much at stake to sit this election out – the future of our children and their access to healthy living and learning environments where they can succeed depends on us. Let’s make sure we are not only electing individuals that will fight for the rights and opportunities for ALL, but that we are taking the time to support the ballot measures that open up resources and supports for children and families.

GET OUT THE VOTE: It’s More than Seats at Stake | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Endorsements - NPE Action

From South Carolina to California, charter school-loving billionaires are plowing money into midterm local and education races - The Washington Post

From South Carolina to California, charter school-loving billionaires are plowing money into midterm local and education races - The Washington Post

From South Carolina to California, charter school-loving billionaires are plowing money into midterm local and education races

In Charleston, S.C., advocates for the public school district are worried. They have watched some of the state’s wealthiest people — including billionaire financier Ben Navarro — form a coalition this year to back school board candidates who support a broad expansion of charter schools.

The Charleston Coalition for Kids has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising as 11 candidates vie for four seats on the Charleston County School District Board of Trustees. The coalition, which is run by a former Teach For America executive in charge of recruiting educators in the state, has won big endorsements in town, including from former mayors and school board members.

And it has links to Michelle Rhee, the controversial former D.C. schools chancellor and pioneer in the school “reform” movement that sought to use standardized test scores to evaluate teachers, principals and students and pushed for alternatives to publicly governed school districts.

Coalition leaders say they simply want to improve education in the city. But some residents — including pastors, former and current school board members and parents — say the group’s real aim it to expand charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately operated. Those residents say that will harm the 50,000-student school system.

“Though Charleston Coalition for Kids claims to seek to disrupt the status quo, its record suggests it aims to continue experiments in privatization that continue to fail those who need quality public education the most,” said Allison Mackey of the nonprofit Quality Education Project.

What’s happening in Charleston is mirrored in cities, counties and states across the country: The super- Continue reading: From South Carolina to California, charter school-loving billionaires are plowing money into midterm local and education races - The Washington Post