No Snow Monday Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

No Snow Monday Diane Ravitch's blog

A site to discuss better education for all

Koch Brothers Target Colorado for ESA Vouchers

by dianeravitch / 10min

Wherever there is a bipartisan consensus for charter schools, the Koch brothers see the state as ripe for expanding vouchers. Now they are targeting Colorado, where they have developed a strategic plan for the state. Leading Democrats, such as wealthy Congressman Jared Polis and former State Senator Michael Johnston, have led the charge for charters and schiool choice (both have announced they ar

A Republican Staffer Who Blew the Whistle on the Cult Worship of the Rich

by dianeravitch / 10min

As you know, I was for many years involved in the rightwing corporate reform made cement. As I realized that the real end game was not to “reform” public schools but to privatize them, I became a skeptic. Then as I saw that all of their 

Roy Turrentine: What Testing Destroys

by dianeravitch / 2min

Roy Turrentine, a teacher who frequently comments on the blog, wrote this commentary on how testing warps teaching: “When I first started teaching, I would occasionally get off the subject for days. One geometry problem sidelined 

Kentucky: CBS News Reports that the DeVos Agenda Would Destroy Rural Public Schools

5by dianeravitch / 21min

CBS News aired a great segment on the importance of rural public schools. They are the heart of the community. CBS News went to an impoverished community in Appalachia and interviewed students and the principal, who is also the school 

Ed Berger: The Stealth Coup to Destroy the American Dream

1by dianeravitch / 43min

Ed Berger, a retired teacher who lives in Arizona and is active in the struggle to save public schools, has written a powerful post about the billionaire-funded movement to destroy our democracy. It begins like this. I urge you to read it all: “Within the core of our freedoms, lie the avenues powerful individuals use to take away the rights of citizens and the controls of government designed and

Washington State: 13 Lucky Billionaires Pay No Taxes!

3by dianeravitch / 1h

In Washington State, the highest state court ordered the legislature to establish a new and equitable funding program for public schools. The legislature has not acted. The court is fining fining the legislature $1 million a day. The legislature ignores the court. The highest court also ruled that charter schools can’t take money from the public school budget because they are NOT public schools.

YESTERDAY

ALEC and Koch Brothers Launch State-Level Attacks on Solar Energy

29by dianeravitch / 12h

We are familiar with ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) model legislation to promote charter schools and vouchers, as well as to eliminate teachers’ unions. The New York Times reported today that ALEC and the Koch brothers are working on behalf of the electric industry to block and reverse support for the rooftop solar power movement. When the public was concerned about over-reliance on

More on the New Charter Operators Moving from Chicago to Indianapolis

6by dianeravitch / 17h

An earlier post this morning said that two young TFA had run a “successful” charter school in Chicago and were invited to open a charter in Indianapolis. They are both under 30. https://dianeravitch.net/2017/07/09/indianapolis-as-school-board-plans-to-close-public-schools-interlopers-arrive-to-open-new-charters/ A reader who knows the couple in Chicago sent this comment: “They didn’t “stick with

Laura Chapman Exposes the Billionaires Behind GreatSchools, Inc. and Redlining

57by dianeravitch / 21h

Laura Chapman posted this comment, which I hope you will read: Readers should know that GreatSchools.org website supports redlining. This is a non-profit website and organization in name only. Zillow, for example, pays a fee to lease all of the data and the ratings of schools. Specific schools can pay a fee to steer users to their websites. The following supporters of redlining via the great scho

Why Do National Democrats Forget About the Threat to K-12 Schools?

31by dianeravitch / 22h

Every day I get fund-raising appeals from Democratic and progressive national organizations. They usually include a list of critical issues and ask me which one I care most about. They never include K-12 schooling, which is now being battered and assaulted by DeVos and the Red state governors. Here is a list I got today from the DCCC (I think that’s the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee

DeVos: Tough Accountability for Public Schools, Not for Charters or Voucher Schools

300+by dianeravitch / 23h

Erica Green of the New York Times wrote that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has “surprised” everyone by insisting that the state accountability plans must be more demanding, more “ambitious,” stronger in setting goals. Please note that DeVos spent over a million dollars rewarding the Michigan legislature in 2016 for blocking accountability standards for low-performing charter schools in Michi

Florida Charter Scandal: You May Think You Have Heard It All!

85by dianeravitch / 1d

This is unbelievable but true. A convicted felon who had served four years in prison for grand theft and arson was chosen as president of the board of a small Florida charter school, where she was convicted of stealing from the school. She is heading back to prison. You can’t make this stuff up. “Despite spending four years in prison for arson and grand theft, and having multiple arrests for writ

Indianapolis: As School Board Plans to Close Public Schools, Interlopers Arrive to Open New Charters

100+by dianeravitch / 1d

I wrote a few posts last week (see here and here ) about the devastation of public schools in Indianapolis by corporate reformers. Their short term goal is to close public schools and replace them with privately managed charters. In the 

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

Badass Teachers Association: Chronicles of a Special Needs Parent by Melissa Tomlinson

Badass Teachers Association: Chronicles of a Special Needs Parent by Melissa Tomlinson:

Chronicles of a Special Needs Parent 

by Melissa Tomlinson

Special needs parenting is highly emotional and highly complicated. 

We have to develop really thick skin. At home, our kids are normal. In the street, it sometimes surprises us how different our babies are.

Picture this, we roll up, and a group of really cute kids see another kid to play with. There is excitement. But as they get closer they see that something is off. And they begin to ask questions, which is soooo sweet but they are so hard to answer. "WHY IS HIS EYE LIKE THAT?" WHY IS HE SHAKING HIS HEAD LIKE THAT...WHY IS HE IN THAT STROLLER???" Lord ....I just got here lol. I try to answer. "Well, he was born that way." "Born that way, how?"

I know preemie means nothing to a five-year old, and neither does cerebral palsy, so I try this... "WELL he is special needs". "What does that mean?" Lol I know most parents haven't taught inclusion just yet. Then I go to, "He likes sports do you like sports" lol. Their sweetness touches me and I leave wishing he could play with them....so bad. And they leave seeming to wish the same thing. But they get it. He is different. Skin. Thickens.

Life is a mix of accepting the reality, hoping it changes and needing to feel like you belong right where you are. And when you are a writer, writing semi long diary entry Facebook "let's be real for a moment" posts in hopes to make something of it all. Inspire. Share. Let people in. Keep going.

So until I figure out a solution, or a proper answer, or until his peers are a Badass Teachers Association: Chronicles of a Special Needs Parent by Melissa Tomlinson:

Betsy DeVos' Hard Line on Every Student Succeeds Act | Truth in American Education

Betsy DeVos' Hard Line on Every Student Succeeds Act | Truth in American Education:

Betsy DeVos’ Hard Line on Every Student Succeeds Act

We can file this under “we told you so.”

The New York Times notes that states are surprised by the hard line that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and the U.S. Department of Education now has in their enforcement of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who made a career of promoting local control of education, has signaled a surprisingly hard-line approach to carrying out an expansive new federal education law, issuing critical feedback that has rattled state school chiefs and conservative education experts alike.

President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015 as the less intrusive successor to the No Child Left Behind law, which was maligned by many in both political parties as punitive and prescriptive. But in the Education Department’s feedback to states about their plans to put the new law into effect, it applied strict interpretations of statutes, required extensive detail and even deemed some state education goals lackluster.

In one case, the acting assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education, Jason Botel, wrote to the State of Delaware that its long-term goals for student achievement were not “ambitious.”

Apparently only the Federal government is capable of deciding what is ambitious. Is this the local Betsy DeVos' Hard Line on Every Student Succeeds Act | Truth in American Education:

John White Forgot Something on Several Years of Ethics Disclosures: His Wife. | deutsch29

John White Forgot Something on Several Years of Ethics Disclosures: His Wife. | deutsch29:

John White Forgot Something on Several Years of Ethics Disclosures: His Wife.

In October 2015, I wrote a post in which I examined Louisiana state superintendent John White’s ethics filings.

As state superintendent of education, White is required to annually file a Tier 1 personal financial disclosure report. As of this writing, White has annual reports (and, in some cases, amended reports) on file for the calendar years 2012 through 2016.

These annual personal financial disclosure reports include sections one is to complete on one’s spouse.

My October 2015 post included White’s annual disclosure filings for 2012 to 2014.

Here are the two White filed since that time:

EthicsDisclosureJohnWhite2015

EthicsDisclosureJohnWhite2016

As I wrote the October 2015 post on White’s ethics filings, I noticed that by the 2013 annual disclosure, White no longer included information on his wife. (She was accounted for on his 2012 original filing and amended filings. See October 2015 post for links.)

I assumed that he did not list a wife in 2013 because he was no longer married.

Not so. In fact, it seems that White continued to be married until around December 2016.

Right above the signature line, each of White’s ethics filings includes the statement,

Certification of Accuracy

I do hereby certify that the information contained in this personal financial 

John White Forgot Something on Several Years of Ethics Disclosures: His Wife. | deutsch29: