Charter Schools Regroup After Big California Election Loss | California News | US News

Charter Schools Regroup After Big California Election Loss | California News | US News

Charter Schools Regroup After Big California Election Loss
Charter school supporters say they're deciding where to direct their considerable resources after spending nearly $23 million in the California governor primary on a candidate who didn't win.

By SALLY HO, The Associated Press

Charter school supporters are deciding where to direct their considerable resources after pouring money into the California governor primary to support a longtime ally who failed to move on to November's election.

The fallout may signal future uncertainty for the school choice movement in a state with some of the most robust charter school laws in the United States.

The front-runner for governor, Democrat Gavin Newsom, could hamper or threaten the progress of charters — privately run schools that use public money and have divided parents and politicians. He has mostly emphasized his support of traditional public schools and called for more charter school accountability.

Newsom's campaign said it would seek to temporarily halt charter school openings to consider transparency issues but that "successful" charters would thrive under his leadership. In the June 5 race, he beat out former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a key ally of the California Charter Schools Association Advocates.

The powerful organization and its big-name donors, including Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Walmart heir Alice Walton, gave nearly $23 million to support Villaraigosa, who finished behind Newsom and Republican businessman John Cox.

Now, the group said it's working on a new strategy that could include supporting Newsom or Cox, despite the Republican's endorsement from President Donald Trump. The heavily Continue reading: Charter Schools Regroup After Big California Election Loss | California News | US News

Why Parents Are Choosing Charter Schools, According to Dick DeVos: VICE ...

Why Parents Are Choosing Charter Schools, According to Dick DeVos

Check out VICE News for more: http://vicenews.com

Charter vs. Public Schools And The Kids In The Middle | VICE on HBO (Bonus)

Charter vs. Public Schools And The Kids In The Middle 

School choice is an education reform movement that promotes alternatives to traditional public schools in the form of charter schools and voucher programs. One of the biggest advocates for "choice" over the past two decades, Betsy DeVos, is now serving as President Trump's secretary of education.
VICE correspondent Gianna Toboni traveled to DeVos' home state of Michigan to see school choice in action and to understand what the future of public education might look like.

We Talked To 18 Teachers In Oklahoma Calling It Quits

Eric Weingartner worked two side jobs in addition to his role as a full-time 4th grade teacher to make ends meet. Chemistry teacher Becky Smith’s monthly paycheck rose just $300 in sixteen years. Aimee Elmquist spent her own money to stock her biology classroom. Mary West was did the same for high school art.

Teachers in Oklahoma have been doing more with less for over a decade now: state funding for schools has decreased over 25 percent in the last 10 years, the state ranks ranks dead last in teacher pay, and almost a quarter of its school districts transitioned to a four-day school week to save money on things like electricity and janitor hours. Earlier this year, 30,000 teachers walked out of their classrooms in an effort to change on that.

“It was this super hopeful environment. We were all down there, we were all together, working for the same thing,” Elmquist says. “The atmosphere was good; we felt like we had a lot of support.”

After nine days, the Oklahoma Education Association, the largest teacher’s organization in the state, called off the walkout and teachers returned to their classrooms without additional funding or raises. And now we’ve learned something else: Maybe it’s time to leave the classroom, for good.

“It wasn't until the day they announced that the walkout ended without teacher input that I knew. We have to leave,” says Sierra Thompson, a 9th grade teacher in Tulsa. “It was actually the next day that I started applying for jobs.”

VICE News spoke to 18 teachers who are closing their classroom doors one last time.
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NO CHOICE BUT TO CHOOSE

School choice is an education reform movement that promotes charter schools and voucher programs as alternatives to traditional public schools. One of the biggest advocates for "choice" over the past two decades, Betsy DeVos, is now serving as President Trump's secretary of education. VICE correspondent Gianna Toboni traveled to DeVos' home state of Michigan to see school choice in action and understand what the future of public education might look like.

Check out VICE News for more: http://vicenews.com

Union: School districts with high opt-out rates face penalty | Newsday

Union: School districts with high opt-out rates face penalty | Newsday:

Union: School districts with high opt-out rates face penalty
New York State United Teachers is targeting proposed new financial penalties and other sanctions for school districts that do not maintain student test participation rates of at least 95 percent.

A statewide debate over how best to deal with schools where large numbers of students boycott state tests took a new turn this past week, as teachers union leaders charged that proposed new regulations represent a “direct frontal assault” on parents’ efforts to pull children out of the annual assessments.

The testing dispute resonates on Long Island, where more than 50 percent of eligible students in grades 3 through 8 opted out of state English Language Arts tests administered in mid-April. The region has emerged as an epicenter of the boycott movement over a six-year stretch.

Last week, the fight intensified, as New York State United Teachers or NYSUT, an Albany-based union umbrella group, issued a letter blasting the new regulations. Specifically, the union targeted proposed new financial penalties and other sanctions for school districts that do not maintain student test participation rates of at least 95 percent.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, makes a speech during a demonstration on Friday in Oyster Bay. Photo Credit: Michael Owens

The great majority of districts in Nassau and Suffolk counties do not meet that standard, set by federal law.

The letter was addressed to state Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia, who later said during a Newsday interview that NYSUT and other educational groups had been consulted before regulations were drafted.

The regulations would restrict the way that penalized districts spend federal Title I dollars, by requiring them to set aside money to be used in encouraging greater student test participation, according to union analysts who have reviewed the 95-page regulatory document.

In addition, analysts said, the proposed rules would change the way test-participation rates are factored into schools’ overall academic ratings, making it more likely that schools would be Continue reading: Union: School districts with high opt-out rates face penalty | Newsday:

How Mexican teachers unions are pushing the presidential frontrunner left | Salon.com

How Mexican teachers unions are pushing the presidential frontrunner left | Salon.com:

How Mexican teachers unions are pushing the presidential frontrunner left

López Obrador is signaling his support for the thousands of communities fighting privatization across Mexico

This article originally appeared in In These Times

As Mexico moves closer to the July 1 Presidential election, candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador (commonly referred to AMLO) is signaling his support for the thousands of communities fighting privatization across Mexico. López Obrador hails from the Juntos Haremos Historia coalition — a center-left coalition of National Regeneration Movement Party, The Labor Party and the Social Encounter Party. He is the former mayor of Mexico City and widely considered to be the frontrunner. López Obrador has found a significant ally in the Oaxacan teachers of Sección XXII, who are pushing the candidate to take a more left-leaning position on privatization and reject controversial education reforms.

On May 12, López Obrador announced in a speech in Puebla that he rejects privatization programs of previous administrations. "Privatization policies are over,” he declared. “Water will not be privatized; health services will not be privatized.”

 Among the privatization efforts he focused on were the education reforms passed by Enrique Pena Nieto, calling the measures “a humiliation of the teachers.” López Obrador announced in mid-May that he would end the education reform.

The announcement represents the culmination of resistance to the controversial reforms, according to the teachers of Oaxaca’s Sección 22 of the National Union of Education Workers (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación, or SNTE) and The National Coordinator of Education Workers (Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación, or CNTE).

The teachers' decision to pursue an agreement with the López Obrador was made in Februaryduring the V Political Congress of Sección XXII. Eloy López Hernández, Sección XXII’s General Secretary, announced the decision “to influence this electoral situation by orienting the conscious and reasoned vote towards the bases, to the parents of family and society in general, to being guarantors of the popular will in favor of the alternative project of nation" that López Obrador's campaign represents. Carlos Barriosa, a member the political section of Sección XXII, is using a Continue reading: How Mexican teachers unions are pushing the presidential frontrunner left | Salon.com:

Gates Foundation launches a new global education strategy | Devex

Gates Foundation launches a new global education strategy | Devex:

Gates Foundation launches a new global education strategy

SAN FRANCISCO — On Friday, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched its global education strategy, to provide education systems in India and sub-Saharan Africa with better resources to improve teaching and learning.

Building on its investments in global health and international development, and expanding its work on education beyond the United States, the new global effort has a $68 million budget for the next four years.

In a blog post announcing the strategy, Girindre Beeharry, director of global education at the Gates Foundation, notes the progress the world has made on education over the past 15 years, but explains that expanded access has not translated to better outcomes.

“What we’re trying to do here is stay with the problem a bit longer, as opposed to going to a solution mode,” he told Devex ahead of the announcement. “Instead of saying, ‘This is the answer,’ we are trying to say: ‘It is likely that every country will need to find its own path in solving the education problem.’”

 The strategy has four pillars: At the classroom level, the foundation will identify cost-effective approaches to supporting teaching and learning; it will work with partners to assess the causes of poor performance and identify solutions best suited to those needs; it will support efforts to make data on learning outcomes comparable across countries so progress can be tracked over time; and it will seek to understand barriers holding girls back.

Millions of children in school are learning very little, which emphasizes the point that attendance and learning are separate challenges, Beeharry wrote in the blog post.

“Leaving these students behind amplifies inequality, as the learning deficiency is largest among the poor,” he continued in the post. “The learning deficit is also at the root of what worries many governments: A poorly skilled youth population.”

Traditionally, the Gates Foundation’s work on education has been limited to the United States, though Bill Gates, billionaire co-chair of the Gates Foundation, has personally supported education beyond U.S. borders through some of his investments.

Gates, who along with his wife and fellow foundation co-chair Melinda Gates, Continue reading: Gates Foundation launches a new global education strategy | Devex:

'Janus' and Its Supreme Court Enablers | Capital & Main

'Janus' and Its Supreme Court Enablers | Capital & Main

‘Janus’ and Its Supreme Court Enablers

The stacking of the U.S. Supreme Court with anti-union justices has allowed the right-to-work movement to circumvent, and undercut, pro-union state policies.

n the fall of 2015, the Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization with a libertarian bent, held its annual lawyers convention at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC. The three-day event included a panel that reviewed the past decade of the John Roberts court, and featured Michael Carvin, a high-powered attorney with Jones Day, who in recent years has taken the fight against labor unions to the Supreme Court.

Carvin began his remarks, curiously, by downplaying the chief justice. “The real consequential thing that happened 10 years ago, frankly, was not John Roberts replacing Chief Justice Rehnquist,” he told the crowd. Instead, he argued, the dramatic shift had been the replacement of Sandra Day O’Connor by Samuel Alito.

There was a lot that Carvin and Alito had in common. Both were members of the Federalist Society—Alito had joined in 1983, a year after it was founded; Carvin has served as the chairman of the Society’s Civil Rights Practice Group. The men also had worked together at the Justice Department during the Reagan administration. In 2006, when George W. Bush nominated Alito to the Supreme Court, it was Carvin who repeatedly stood up for his former colleague’s far-right views. Carvin even went so far as to defend him when the Wall Street Journal revealed that Alito, when applying for the Reagan position, had written that he disagreed with the Supreme Court decision that had established the “one person, one vote” doctrine as the framework for American elections.

At the Mayflower Hotel, Carvin argued that Alito represented “some baby steps toward the return of law.” Just two months later, Carvin was in front of Alito and the eight other justices, arguing a case, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, that sought to strip public sector unions from “fair share” fees they collected to represent workers who declined to join the union. (By law, a union must represent all workers in a bargaining unit, whether or not they choose to join. It was a far-reaching case that could cripple the power of unions, and would represent the crowning achievement of a conservative movement that had been decades in the making. Disclosure: The California Teachers Association is a financial supporter of this website.)

In a unanimous 2009 decision, the court reaffirmed a 1977 case, Abood v. the Detroit Board of Education, which had ruled that unions could charge such fees. But the ascent of Alito had helped shift the court in a vehemently anti-union direction, and it was widely expected to rule against the unions in Friedrichs. Then Antonin Scalia suddenly died, and the court deadlocked, four-to-four. The reprieve was only Continue reading: 'Janus' and Its Supreme Court Enablers | Capital & Main

Private schools' curriculum downplays slavery, says humans and dinosaurs lived together - Orlando Sentinel

Private schools' curriculum downplays slavery, says humans and dinosaurs lived together - Orlando Sentinel:

Schools Without Rules: Private schools' curriculum downplays slavery, says humans and dinosaurs lived together

 ome private schools in Florida that rely on public funding teach students that dinosaurs and humans lived together, that God’s intervention prevented Catholics from dominating North America and that slaves who “knew Christ” were better off than free men who did not.

The lessons taught at these schools come from three Christian publishing companies whose textbooks are popular on many of the about 2,000 campuses that accept, and often depend on, nearly $1 billion in state scholarships, or vouchers.

At the Orlando Sentinel’s request, educators from Florida colleges and school districts reviewed textbooks and workbooks from these publishers, looking at elementary reading and math, middle school social studies and high school biology materials.

They found numerous instances of distorted history and science lessons that are outside mainstream academics. The books denounce evolution as untrue, for example, and one shows a cartoon of men and dinosaurs together, telling students the Biblical Noah likely brought baby dinosaurs onto his ark. The science books, they added, seem to discourage students from doing experiments or even asking questions.

“Students who have learned science in this kind of environment are not prepared for college experiences,” said Cynthia Bayer, a biology lecturer at the University of Central Florida who reviewed the science books. “They would be intellectually disadvantaged.”

Schools Without Rules: An Orlando Sentinel Investigation »

The social studies books downplay the horrors of slavery and the mistreatment of Native Americans, they said. One book, in its brief section on the civil rights movement, said that “most black and white southerners had long lived together in harmony” and that “power-hungry individuals stirred up the people.”

The books are rife with religious and political opinions on topics such as abortion, gay  Continue reading: Private schools' curriculum downplays slavery, says humans and dinosaurs lived together - Orlando Sentinel:

Black congresswoman visibly annoyed as Betsy DeVos struggles to answer basic civil rights questions

Black congresswoman visibly annoyed as Betsy DeVos struggles to answer basic civil rights questions:

Black congresswoman visibly annoyed as Betsy DeVos struggles to answer basic civil rights questions

A black congresswoman appeared visibly annoyed as she questioned Education Secretary Betsy DeVos about the DOE’s civil rights policies and was met with responses suggesting the secretary is uninformed on the rights of students.

“I am concerned about the low performance of your civil rights office” Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH) noted during DeVos’ Tuesday hearing. “Could you please just state for me the mission of your civil rights office?”

“The office for civil rights is committed to protecting the civil rights as determined under the law of this land,” the education secretary responded, “and we do so proudly and with great focus each day.”

“That’s not the mission statement,” the Ohio congresswoman said. “Do you know what it is?”

DeVos said she had “not memorized” the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights mission statement, to which Fudge shook her hand and said “that’s ok,” appearing exasperated. She asked the secretary to explain her understanding of “vigorous enforcement” of civil rights in schools.

“It would be following the law and enforcing the law as stated,” DeVos responded, to which Fudge simply sighed and said “OK.”

Fudge asked the education secretary if the OCE was enforcing laws put in place with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. When DeVos responded “yes, indeed,” the congresswoman pressed on — but the education secretary’s only response is that she is “confident” about it.

Watch below:

 Black congresswoman visibly annoyed as Betsy DeVos struggles to answer basic civil rights questions:

School Spending Per Pupil Increased by 3.2 Percent

School Spending Per Pupil Increased by 3.2 Percent:

School Spending Per Pupil Increased by 3.2 Percent, U.S. Census Bureau Reports

[Source: U.S. Census Bureau]

May 21, 2018 — The amount spent per pupil for public elementary-secondary education for all 50 states and the District of Columbia increased by 3.2 percent to $11,762 during the 2016 fiscal year, according to new tables released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The increase in spending in 2016 was due in part to the increase in revenue across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. In 2016, public elementary-secondary education revenue, from all sources, amounted to $670.9 billion, up 4.6 percent from the prior year. This is the largest increase since 2007.

Other highlights include:

• Of the 50 states, New York ($22,366), the District of Columbia ($19,159), Connecticut ($18,958), New Jersey ($18,402) and Vermont ($17,873) spent the most per pupil in 2016. California (9.8 percent), Washington (7.4 percent), Hawaii (7.0 percent), Utah (5.8 percent) and New York (5.5 percent) saw the largest percentage increases in current spending per pupil from 2015 to 2016. To see the top 10 school districts by current spending per pupil, see the graphic Top 10 Largest School Districts by Per Pupil Current Spending.
• Within public school systems, Mississippi (14.6 percent), Arizona (13.8 percent), South Dakota (13.5 percent), New Mexico (13.5 percent) and Montana (12.4 percent) received the highest percentage of their revenues from the federal government, while public school systems in New Jersey (4.1 percent), Connecticut (4.2 percent), Massachusetts (4.4 percent), New York (5.1 percent) and Minnesota (5.3 percent) received the lowest.

These statistics come from the 2016 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Education finance data include revenues, expenditures, debt and assets (cash and security holdings) of elementary-secondary (prekindergarten through 12th grade) public school systems. Statistics cover school systems in all states and include the District of Columbia.

No news release associated with this product. Tip sheet only.

School Spending Per Pupil Increased by 3.2 Percent:

Striking teachers burst neoliberals' fantasy in one amazing moment | Thomas Frank | Opinion | The Guardian

Striking teachers burst neoliberals' fantasy in one amazing moment | Thomas Frank | Opinion | The Guardian:

Striking teachers show that cutting education to fix it is a neoliberal myth
For decades we have been told that the way to fix education is to fire people but red-shirted marchers across the country have shown the power of solidarity

What I like best about the wave of teachers’ strikes that have swept America these last few months is how they punch so brutally and so directly in the face of the number one neoliberal educational fantasy of the last decade: that all we need to do to fix public education is fire people.

Fire teachers, specifically. They need to learn fear and discipline. That’s what education “reformers” have told us for years. If only, the fantasy goes, we could slay the foot-dragging unions and the red-tape rules that keep mediocre teachers in their jobs, then things would be different. If only some nice “tech millionaires” would step in and help us fire people! If only we could get a thousand clones of Michelle Rhee, the former DC schools chancellor who fired so many people she even once fired someone on TV!

Now just look at what’s happened. We’ve seen enormous teacher protests in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky and Arizona, with more on the way. Actions that look very much like strikes by people who, in some of these states, are legally forbidden to strike. It was the perfect opportunity for education “reformers” to fire people, and fire them en masse. It was the politicians’ chance to show us what a tough-minded boss could do.

And in most cases, it was state governments that capitulated. It was hard-hearted believers in tax cuts and austerity and discipline who caved, lest they themselves get fired by voters at the next opportunity.

That, folks, is the power of solidarity, and the wave of teacher walkouts is starting to look like our generation’s chance to learn the lesson our grandparents absorbed during the strike wave of the late 1930s: that given the right conditions and the right amount of organization, working people can rally the public and make social change all by themselves. Irresistibly. Organically. From the bottom up.

There are unique circumstances that have made this amazing moment Continue reading: Striking teachers burst neoliberals' fantasy in one amazing moment | Thomas Frank | Opinion | The Guardian:

97.81% of Charter Schools not “Diverse By Design” | Cloaking Inequity

97.81% of Charter Schools not “Diverse By Design” | Cloaking Inequity:

97.81% OF CHARTER SCHOOLS NOT “DIVERSE BY DESIGN”

Charter schools are diverse by design? Holy sampling on the dependent variable Batman! All Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Football League (NFL) teams are good because look at the top of the standings! All music is great because look at the Top 40 songs! All college professors are great (or could be) because of the top 2.19% on ratemyprofessor.com

The Century Foundation recently release a report about “Diverse-by-Design Charter Schools.” by Halley Potter and Kimberly Quick

I first met Halley Potter (far right) on MSNBC’s MHP Show

They found,

• Intentionally diverse charter schools represent a small slice of the charter sector (about 2 percent of the charter schools examined for this report)
• The inventory identifies broader trends related to diversity in the charter sector. One in five charter schools (1,026 schools) showed any consideration of diversity in their school model.
• School integration has not been a priority for the charter school sector at large. At the same time, the schools highlighted in the report show how the flexibility of the charter school model can be leveraged for diversity if designed to do so.

So, all NFL, NBA and MLB teams can be great, but they are not. All professors could be fantastic, but only 2% are? Despite all this bad news, they still conclude,

The schools highlighted in the report show how the flexibility of the charter school model can be leveraged to Continue reading: 

97.81% of Charter Schools not “Diverse By Design” | Cloaking Inequity:

Charter school backers have outspent teachers in 2 major races | 89.3 KPCC

Charter school backers have outspent teachers in 2 major races | 89.3 KPCC:

Charter school backers have outspent teachers in 2 major races

Charter school advocates are far outpacing teachers unions in spending to support candidates for California governor and state schools chief.

Wealthy donors who support charter schools and education reform have poured more than $22 million into independent committees to support former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for governor and former schools executive Marshall Tuck for state schools chief.

Big Education Ape: Bill Gates gives $44 million to influence state education reform | tbo.com - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2018/05/bill-gates-gives-44-million-to.html

Teachers unions have dropped about $4 million on committees to back Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom for governor and Tony Thurmond for superintendent.

All four men are Democrats who want more money for public schools. But they differ on state officials' role in improving schools and how to handle nonprofit charter schools. Charter schools are publicly funded but typically run independently of the traditional public school system.Charter school backers have outspent teachers in 2 major races | 89.3 KPCC:

Big Education Ape: A few rich charter school supporters are spending millions to elect Antonio Villaraigosa as California governor - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2018/05/a-few-rich-charter-school-supporters.html