It's Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... A VERY BUSY DAY | The latest news and resources in education since 2007
Sunday, October 13, 2019
It's Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... A VERY BUSY 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
It's Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... A VERY BUSY DAY | The latest news and resources in education since 2007
It's Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... A VERY BUSY DAY | The latest news and resources in education since 2007
Education Insider October 13, 2019 - Education Votes
Education Insider October 13, 2019 - Education Votes
Education Insider October 13, 2019
Steven Menashi, an architect of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ disastrous policies, could do even more harm if the Senate confirms his nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Menashi failed to protect students from predatory online institutions, failed to ensure student loans are forgiven for public service, weakened protections against sexual assault and harassment, and more. He is openly hostile to education and civil rights—to give just two examples, he lamented that our education system promotes “egalitarianism” and opposed student financial aid because it “punishes” affluent families. Moreover, Menashi worked with presidential adviser Stephen Miller on immigration policies that have terrified and traumatized our students, their families, and entire communities. Tell your senators to VOTE NO on Menashi. TAKE ACTION
Taking action to prevent gun violence remains on the Senate’s long “to do” list. It’s been more than 200 days since the House passed legislation that expands background checks and closes the “Charleston loophole” that allowed a white supremacist to buy a gun and kill nine African Americans in a church. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) refuses to bring it—or any other gun-related bills—to the floor. The latest Monmouth University Poll found that 83 percent of the public supports comprehensive background checks, including 94 percent of Democrats, 72 percent of Republicans, and 65 percent of NRA members. Tell your senators to support the Background Checks Expansion Act (S. 42) and encourage McConnell to bring it to the floor. TAKE ACTION
Education Insider October 13, 2019
DeVos ally would be a disaster as appellate judge
Steven Menashi, an architect of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ disastrous policies, could do even more harm if the Senate confirms his nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Menashi failed to protect students from predatory online institutions, failed to ensure student loans are forgiven for public service, weakened protections against sexual assault and harassment, and more. He is openly hostile to education and civil rights—to give just two examples, he lamented that our education system promotes “egalitarianism” and opposed student financial aid because it “punishes” affluent families. Moreover, Menashi worked with presidential adviser Stephen Miller on immigration policies that have terrified and traumatized our students, their families, and entire communities. Tell your senators to VOTE NO on Menashi. TAKE ACTIONTell senators to push for action to help prevent gun violence
Taking action to prevent gun violence remains on the Senate’s long “to do” list. It’s been more than 200 days since the House passed legislation that expands background checks and closes the “Charleston loophole” that allowed a white supremacist to buy a gun and kill nine African Americans in a church. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) refuses to bring it—or any other gun-related bills—to the floor. The latest Monmouth University Poll found that 83 percent of the public supports comprehensive background checks, including 94 percent of Democrats, 72 percent of Republicans, and 65 percent of NRA members. Tell your senators to support the Background Checks Expansion Act (S. 42) and encourage McConnell to bring it to the floor. TAKE ACTION
Shawgi Tell: DeVos Plan for More Pay-The-Rich Charter Schools | Dissident Voice
DeVos Plan for More Pay-The-Rich Charter Schools | Dissident Voice
DeVos Plan for More Pay-The-Rich Charter Schools
DeVos Plan for More Pay-The-Rich Charter Schools
On October 10, 2019, U.S. Secretary of Education, billionaire Betsy DeVos, unveiled an antisocial plan to further incentivize the rich to establish more charter schools to line their pockets at the expense of young people. DeVos has actively promoted school privatization schemes for decades; she does not support public education.
In addition to many well-established ways that the rich already use charter schools to enrich themselves, millionaires and billionaires will now also be able to use privately-operated charter schools to receive large tax cuts. And over time these tax cuts get bigger.
Under the latest DeVos school privatization scheme, “investors” will be able to maximize their profits by using the “Qualified Opportunity Fund” (part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act) to “invest” in charter schools in “economically distressed areas” known as “opportunity zones.” Specifically, this new “financing opportunity” can be used by the rich to avoid taxes on charter school facilities and real estate acquired through the “opportunity fund” and sold later. The government has already hired a private business, Leed CONTINUE READING: DeVos Plan for More Pay-The-Rich Charter Schools | Dissident Voice
Supreme Court Fight Over Private Schools - The Atlantic
Supreme Court Fight Over Private Schools - The Atlantic
Your Neighbor’s Christian Education, Courtesy of Your Tax Dollars
The Court will hear one of the most notable “Church and state” cases in years.
One of the persistent disappointments of media coverage in the Trump era is how the eye-popping daily headlines about the president obscure slower-moving, equally important developments at all levels of government. This term, the Supreme Court is set to consider cases that could have momentous implications for the future of abortion and LGBTQ rights. It will also hear arguments in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, an important case about state-voucher funding for private religious schools. If the petitioners win, this case could empower activists such as the current secretary of education, Betsy DeVos, who want more government money to flow to private education, and who believe states are in serious need of a course correction on the way they view religious schools. But according to their progressive opponents, Espinoza could blur the separation of Church and state, locking taxpayers into funding religious education even when they don’t want to.
Your Neighbor’s Christian Education, Courtesy of Your Tax Dollars
The Court will hear one of the most notable “Church and state” cases in years.
While it won’t be as flashy as a presidential declaration on religious liberty, this case’s effects on religious schools and families will likely be far more lasting. Espinoza is the inevitable next step in an important string of Supreme Court decisions about religious discrimination and the U.S. Constitution. The case will add intensity to an already fierce fight about the way religion and politics mix in this country, and whether the imperatives of religious freedom outweigh all other concerns.
The case is named for Kendra Espinoza, a single mother who lives near Kalispell, Montana, who took her two daughters out of public school after one struggled academically and the other faced repeated bullying. She enrolled her girls in a private school, Stillwater Christian, but, like the two other mothers named in the case, Espinoza struggled to pay tuition on her income as an office assistant and night janitor. In 2015, the Montana legislature created a scholarship incentive program to help families send their kids to private schools, religious or secular, which Espinoza says she looked forward to using. Before that could happen, however, the state department of revenue put a rule in place banning the program’s funds from being used at religious schools, saying that would violate Montana’s constitution.
The Supreme Court has to decide whether the kind of no-aid provision found in CONTINUE READING: Supreme Court Fight Over Private Schools - The Atlantic
NYC Educator: Two Unions in Puerto Rico, and Only One Side on Jacobin
NYC Educator: Two Unions in Puerto Rico, and Only One Side on Jacobin
Two Unions in Puerto Rico, and Only One Side on Jacobin
I'm not going to link to the Jacobin story trashing AMPR, the Association of Puerto Rican Teachers. This is because they've refused to run responses to it. FMPR, the Federation of Puerto Rican Teachers, does not technically represent working teachers. It was decertified after a strike. I won't pretend to be expert on the strike, what caused it, or whether it was a good idea, but clearly it didn't work out well for FMPR.
I'm wary of a publication that won't allow responses. However, I'm even more wary of what's left of MORE, and the person who wrote the article in question identifies as MORE. When I first met people from FMPR, I took them at face value. I sent them money a few times. I didn't ask whether or not there was another side to the story. That's on me, I guess.
I've been observing union and union leadership pretty closely for a few years now. No one's perfect, and there are flaws in every organization. There are some UFT employees I like more than others. MORE, though, has crossed lines in ways that go far beyond the pale. A group of us worked very hard to have our voices heard within UFT We planned and schemed, and then we put our plans and schemes into action. We won seats. This was remarkable.
However, a group within MORE considered our victory "a disaster." I've seen them refer to us as "right-wingers" in writing. Evidently, that's what you are if you don't subscribe to their particular philosophy, whatever on earth that may be. They were horrified when I brought a resolution supporting smaller class sizes to the UFT Executive Board. Why didn't I run it by the Steering Committee, which they controlled?
When this small, self-important steering committee found themselves term-limited, they took a page from Michael Bloomberg and tried to remove the limits. For whatever reason, they failed in that effort. Once they were replaced, they moved to dump all their replacements. They couldn't be bothered with their own by-laws or anything, did whatever they CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: Two Unions in Puerto Rico, and Only One Side on Jacobin
Two Unions in Puerto Rico, and Only One Side on Jacobin
I'm wary of a publication that won't allow responses. However, I'm even more wary of what's left of MORE, and the person who wrote the article in question identifies as MORE. When I first met people from FMPR, I took them at face value. I sent them money a few times. I didn't ask whether or not there was another side to the story. That's on me, I guess.
I've been observing union and union leadership pretty closely for a few years now. No one's perfect, and there are flaws in every organization. There are some UFT employees I like more than others. MORE, though, has crossed lines in ways that go far beyond the pale. A group of us worked very hard to have our voices heard within UFT We planned and schemed, and then we put our plans and schemes into action. We won seats. This was remarkable.
However, a group within MORE considered our victory "a disaster." I've seen them refer to us as "right-wingers" in writing. Evidently, that's what you are if you don't subscribe to their particular philosophy, whatever on earth that may be. They were horrified when I brought a resolution supporting smaller class sizes to the UFT Executive Board. Why didn't I run it by the Steering Committee, which they controlled?
When this small, self-important steering committee found themselves term-limited, they took a page from Michael Bloomberg and tried to remove the limits. For whatever reason, they failed in that effort. Once they were replaced, they moved to dump all their replacements. They couldn't be bothered with their own by-laws or anything, did whatever they CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: Two Unions in Puerto Rico, and Only One Side on Jacobin
La. BESE Has Been Bought Once Again (Maybe Not Completely) | deutsch29
La. BESE Has Been Bought Once Again (Maybe Not Completely) | deutsch29
La. BESE Has Been Bought Once Again (Maybe Not Completely)
Eight (make that seven) for eight, the BESE candidates that preferred by out-of-state billionaires, like the Waltons, and by out-of-state, ed-reform election-shapers, like Education Reform Now and American Federation for Children, will hold BESE seats and will cast votes that almost certainly bend Louisiana education in favor of testing, school choice– and retaining TFAer John White as state ed superintendent.
La. BESE Has Been Bought Once Again (Maybe Not Completely)
UPDATE 10-13-19: THERE WILL BE A RUNOFF between Ronnie Morris and Gregory Spiers (District 6). Spiers was endorsed by the Louisiana Federation of Teachers (LFT).
_______________________________________________________________________________
Well, Louisiana. The state ed board (BESE) has been (mostly) bought yet again.
The following three ed-reform diehards have been re-elected a third time and, as such, are not eligible to run for a fourth term:
- James Garvey (Dist 1),
- Kira Orange-Jones (Dist 2), and
- Holly Boffy (Dist 7).
Also re-elected, for a second term, are ed-reform supporters
- Sandy Holloway (Dist 3), and
- Tony Davis (Dist 4– unopposed).
And, for their first appearance after being given the corporate-ed-reform, campaign-cash-flush nod, are
- Ashley Ellis (Dist 5), and
- Preston Castille (Dist 8).
As for Louisiana’s gubernatorial race, there will be a runoff between Democrat incumbent, John Bel Edwards, who garnered 47% of the vote, and Republican Eddie Rispone, at 27% (98% reporting)
Louisiana’s BESE board is comprised on 11 members, three of whom are CONTINUE READING: La. BESE Has Been Bought Once Again (Maybe Not Completely) | deutsch29
CURMUDGUCATION: KY: Pushing Old Charter Myths In A New Market
CURMUDGUCATION: KY: Pushing Old Charter Myths In A New Market
KY: Pushing Old Charter Myths In A New Market
Kentucky has spent a bunch of time in charter limbo--there is a charter law on the books, but the legislature wouldn't fund it and local districts are (shocker) unwilling to share their aready-meager funding.
So Kentucky remains a fresh market, and charter advocates are still trying to gin up some public support, which lends itself to a sort of Greatest Hits tour of failed charter school arguments.
Take this op-ed from the Lexington Herald-Leader: "If public schools aren’t performing, why not give charter schools a chance?" It's by Ronald Vissing, a Lexington marketing consultant and political activist (he helped push through bills that allow Kentucky voters to recall property taxes). For folks in Kentucky, these pitches may sound new. They aren't. Vissing has helpfully numbered his alleged myths, so here we go:
First: the myth that charters can be "for profit."
Of course, if the law says the school can't be for profit, that settles... well, nothing actually. Vissing says that since charters can't charge tuition, "it's hard to see how a public [sic] charter school can make a profit." Oh, honey. By cutting costs, of course-- one of the reasons that many people don't love the idea of charter schools. The means of profiting from charters are legion; real estate CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: KY: Pushing Old Charter Myths In A New Market
KY: Pushing Old Charter Myths In A New Market
So Kentucky remains a fresh market, and charter advocates are still trying to gin up some public support, which lends itself to a sort of Greatest Hits tour of failed charter school arguments.
First: the myth that charters can be "for profit."
Of course, if the law says the school can't be for profit, that settles... well, nothing actually. Vissing says that since charters can't charge tuition, "it's hard to see how a public [sic] charter school can make a profit." Oh, honey. By cutting costs, of course-- one of the reasons that many people don't love the idea of charter schools. The means of profiting from charters are legion; real estate CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: KY: Pushing Old Charter Myths In A New Market
New York Times Reveals Bill Gates’ Friendship with Jeffrey Epstein | Diane Ravitch's blog
New York Times Reveals Bill Gates’ Friendship with Jeffrey Epstein | Diane Ravitch's blog
New York Times Reveals Bill Gates’ Friendship with Jeffrey Epstein
New York Times Reveals Bill Gates’ Friendship with Jeffrey Epstein
The New York Times published a lengthy article about Bill Gates’ friendship with convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.
Gates visited Epstein’s lavish townhouse in Manhattan on several occasions. He hitched a ride on Epstein’s private jet. They engaged in lengthy discussions about philanthropy.
All of this hobnobbing happened after Epstein was convicted for soliciting prostitution from a minor and was required to register as a sex offender.
Gates says he now “regrets” the relationship.
Mr. Gates, the Microsoft co-founder, whose $100 billion-plus fortune has endowed the world’s largest charitable organization, has done his best to minimize his connections to Mr. Epstein. “I didn’t have any business relationship or friendship with him,” he told The Wall Street Journal last month.
In fact, beginning in 2011, Mr. Gates met with Mr. Epstein on numerous occasions — including at least three times at Mr. Epstein’s palatial Manhattan townhouse, and at least once staying late into the night, according to interviews with more than a dozen people familiar with the relationship, as well as documents reviewed by The New York Times.
Employees of Mr. Gates’s foundation also paid multiple visits to Mr. Epstein’s mansion. And Mr. Epstein spoke with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and CONTINUE READING: New York Times Reveals Bill Gates’ Friendship with Jeffrey Epstein | Diane Ravitch's blog
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