The Fight for Prop 15 Isn’t Over. It’s Just Begun. - LA Progressive

The Fight for Prop 15 Isn’t Over. It’s Just Begun. - LA Progressive

The Fight for Prop 15 Isn’t Over. It’s Just Begun.

Many of us worked hard this year trying to pass Proposition 15, which would have taxed commercial properties worth over $300 million and given the proceeds – some $12 billion a year – to local governments and schools. Post-mortems have begun trickling in about why Prop. 15 suffered defeat, some of which lay the groundwork for arguing Prop. 15 should be abandoned in the future, lest proponents alienate potential Democratic voters. This argument should be ignored.

Protection of property tax rates is deeply ingrained into the political DNA of California, and Prop. 15’s opposition milked this fact for all it was worth. Nevertheless, Prop. 15 ended up a couple percentage points away from significantly taxing the rich and permanently returning large amounts of money to the public. That’s a victory to be proud of – one to build on and fight for again.

Protection of property tax rates is deeply ingrained into the political DNA of California, and Prop. 15’s opposition milked this fact for all it was worth.

Prop. 15 proposed to alter laws created by a different ballot measure, Prop. 13, which passed back in 1978. Prop. 13 came at a time when property values, and consequently property taxes, were skyrocketing statewide. The Prop. 13 campaign used stories of elderly people being forced out of their lifelong homes because they could no longer afford to pay their taxes to gin up support for the measure, which locked in property taxes at 1978 levels, with only minor increases allowed each year. In a bold but under-publicized move, commercial properties snuck their way into Prop. 13, and ever since Californians have lost out on a massive source of revenue as many of CONTINUE READING: The Fight for Prop 15 Isn’t Over. It’s Just Begun. - LA Progressive

Shawgi Tell: Obsession With "Academic Performance" is Charter School Disinformation | Dissident Voice

Obsession With "Academic Performance" is Charter School Disinformation | Dissident Voice

Obsession With “Academic Performance” is Charter School Disinformation

Promoters of privately-operated non-profit and for-profit charter schools are obsessed with students’ scores on punitive and curriculum-narrowing high-stakes tests produced by big corporations. They think that test scores on these unsound tests are the end-all and be-all. They have even convinced themselves that the more technical and professional their “academic performance” reports look and feel the more believable and meaningful such test scores are.

Putting aside the 50 problems with these top-down corporate tests, the central issue when it comes to charter schools is not students’ scores on pseudo-scientific tests, but whether education is a public good and social responsibility that must be publicly-controlled and publicly-funded, or if education should be a commodity subject to the chaos, anarchy, and violence of the “free market” and something parents compete for? Is education a social responsibility and basic right that must be provided with a guarantee by government or is it a business run by entrepreneurs who advertise their schools to consumers the same way a retailer advertises goods to consumers? Should education be fully-funded, high-quality, and available for free to everyone in every neighborhood, or should it be based on a hit-or-miss survival of the fittest ethos?

The law of the jungle is not a modern, responsible, and humane way of organizing education in the 21st century. The outmoded “free market” approach to education has led to thousands of charter schools failing and closing over the last 30 years, leaving thousands of black and Hispanic kids and their parents out in the cold. Poor and low-income minority families have CONTINUE READING: Obsession With "Academic Performance" is Charter School Disinformation | Dissident Voice

NANCY BAILEY: Tim Shriver as Education Secretary? Fighting for School Control

Tim Shriver as Education Secretary? Fighting for School Control

Tim Shriver as Education Secretary? Fighting for School Control

Tim Shriver is supposedly being vetted to be education secretary, a surprise for those waiting to hear of a Jahana, a Julian, a Randi, Lily, or another educator with classroom experience getting the post. There seems to be a fight for school control between the teachers and the school reformers.

DFER (Democrats for Education Reform) shared their nominees, and now another group the National Charter Collaborative has made the list longer. Geoffrey Canada, Harlem Children’s Zone; Charter school CEO Margaret Fortune; Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D); Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.); Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.); and Howard Fuller, considered a school reform and school choice activist, were added to the mix. Bennett isn’t interested.

Tim Shriver? The HuffPost describes him as someone above the fray of debates within the education community on issues of school accountability. 

“After decades of reform efforts in schools, most federal and state policy is mired in CONTINUE READING: Tim Shriver as Education Secretary? Fighting for School Control

Derek Black: State Courts Turn Back Voucher Cases | Diane Ravitch's blog

Derek Black: State Courts Turn Back Voucher Cases | Diane Ravitch's blog

Derek Black: State Courts Turn Back Voucher Cases

Derek W. Black is a professor of constitutional law who specializes in civil rights issues at the University of South Carolina. His recent book Schoolhouse Burning: Public Education and the Assault on American Democracy is a must-read.

Black writes here in an essay written for this blog about recent voucher cases in state courts:

This summer in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, the US Supreme Court struck down the provision in the Montana state constitution that prohibited aid to religious schools as a violation of free exercise of religion.  Some public education advocates understandably feared the sky was falling. Voucher advocates hailed Espinoza as a “major win” and began strategizing how they might expand the decision and leverage it in other contexts.  Most notably, the plan they envisioned would use Espinoza to force states to allow religious institutions to operate charter schools.  If they achieved that, public education might not only be privatized, it might become religious.

Far less attention has been paid to the string of state constitutional victories striking down voucher programs and respecting states’ decision to limits on the use of CONTINUE READING: Derek Black: State Courts Turn Back Voucher Cases | Diane Ravitch's blog

Jill Biden to teacher unions: "With AFT and NEA's help, we won this election"

Jill Biden to teacher unions: "With AFT and NEA's help, we won this election"

Jill Biden To Teacher Unions: “With AFT And NEA’s Help, We Won This Election”

The winner of the most-hated member of the Trump administration’s cabinet may be the Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. Her strongly conservative ideas on public and private education have greatly agitated the union-supporting Democrats who are in charge of our country’s schools.

SEE ALSO: “Numbers don’t lie”: GA secretary of state announces certification of election results today

Once Joe Biden’s administration comes into power, you can kiss school choice goodbye. Betsy DeVos made it her mission to increase school choice, especially for underprivileged children trapped in failing schools. This is the last thing teacher unions want. Teacher unions want families under their thumb, left with no options for which might work best for their children and families. The union leaders want power from the top down where one size fits all and the federal government knows what is best for school children across the country, not local parents and teachers in each community. This speaks directly to the differences between conservatives and liberals (or socialists and Marxists).

The teacher unions have become a political fundraising branch of the Democrat Party. Teachers allegedly teach all students without a political agenda on display though we know that is not true. Presidential candidates running on the Democrat ticket know that they must have the support of the union leadership in order to win elections. This year both ATF (American Teacher Foundation) and NEA (National Education Association) take credit for working so diligently for Joe Biden’s election. Jill Biden held a video conference call with all the players to thank them for their hard work and support. A Twitter thread was created about the video call and it is as cringeworthy as any conservative person would expect. CONTINUE READING: Jill Biden to teacher unions: "With AFT and NEA's help, we won this election"

Teacher Tom: Getting Into and Out of Predicaments

Teacher Tom: Getting Into and Out of Predicaments

Getting Into and Out of Predicaments

Yesterday morning, I took a long walk in an unfamiliar place. The advent of global positioning system maps, the kind found on every smartphone, has made this a less adventurous proposition than it was even a decade ago. I used to regularly get myself lost and found, but on this day I checked the map and found a route that avoided major roads. It was a bit of a detour, but I was out, in part, for exercise, so I winded my way through unfamiliar neighborhoods for over half and an hour before discovering that the key connector I'd been shooting for was blocked off by the locked gate of a community of private homes. I briefly considered just climbing the fence, but the camera and signs promising an "armed response" to intruders, made me pause. I finally decided that the solution to this predicament was to backtrack. I cursed the failure of the map in my pocket and the full hour I'd spent getting no where.

Once I was back on a main road, however, I set out once more, confident in my surroundings, my predicament behind me. Not long thereafter, however, a man on a bicycle emerged from a roughly paved path that snaked between houses. The signage indicated it was a bike track. It wasn't indicated on my map application, but I figured, having biked along countless bike tracks that taking it would eventually land me near some landmarks, and from there I could find CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: Getting Into and Out of Predicaments

Johann Neem: Restoring the Promise of Public Education | Diane Ravitch's blog

Johann Neem: Restoring the Promise of Public Education | Diane Ravitch's blog

Johann Neem: Restoring the Promise of Public Education

Johann Neem is a historian of education. He understands the central importance of public education in our democracy.

He wrote this thoughtful, important commentary about the task ahead for the Biden presidency:

Restoring the Democratic Promise of Public Schools: An Integration Agenda for the Biden Administration– Guest Blog Post by Johann N. Neem

The last four years have taught us just how fractured America is. After a decisive but divisive election, President-elect Joseph Biden now begins the most difficult work ever: trying to weave back together a social fabric that has, after years of neglect, come unraveled. Biden has promised “to restore the soul of America.” At the heart of his vision must be a reinvigorated and renewed commitment to the democratic purposes of public education.

 To restore the soul of America, we need to restore the soul of our schools. This means being committed to CONTINUE READING: Johann Neem: Restoring the Promise of Public Education | Diane Ravitch's blog

Opinion | San Francisco’s School Plan Could Offer Other Districts Hope - The New York Times

Opinion | San Francisco’s School Plan Could Offer Other Districts Hope - The New York Times

San Francisco’s School Plan Could Offer Other Districts Hope

With relatively low virus rates, the city faces a dilemma over a return to in-person instruction.

SAN FRANCISCO — When the coronavirus came here in March, local leaders seemed to do things right. They issued the nation’s first shelter in place order, promptly shut down schools and businesses and made masks routine. It worked: The city has experienced some of the lowest test positivity rates in the country.

Now, city officials are forging ahead with a tentative school reopening plan hatched earlier this month, and it couldn’t have come at a worse time. The coronavirus has entered a frightening new stage nationwide — triggering school districts around the country to shutter, including in New York City and the entire state of Kentucky — and putting San Francisco on the horns of a dilemma.

The district’s goal of opening some schools could bring relief to thousands of parents and students, but their plan was written for another reality. Virus rates are suddenly spiking, prompting Gov. Gavin Newsom of California on Thursday to issue a nighttime curfew affecting nearly every county in the state, though San Francisco is below the threshold. As a result, officials here face pushback from some unions, teachers and parents.

Whether San Francisco ultimately proceeds can be a bellwether: If schools cannot reopen here where virus rates remain comparatively low, what hope do other cities have for a return to CONTINUE READING: Opinion | San Francisco’s School Plan Could Offer Other Districts Hope - The New York Times

Ohio Legislative Leader Rams Through Voucher Changes that Hurt Students in Poor, Title I Schools | janresseger

Ohio Legislative Leader Rams Through Voucher Changes that Hurt Students in Poor, Title I Schools | janresseger

Ohio Legislative Leader Rams Through Voucher Changes that Hurt Students in Poor, Title I Schools

This post has been updated. The Ohio House has now passed SB 89.

The Ohio Senate is up to its old tricks.

Five years ago right at the end of a spring session of the Ohio Legislature, a group of state senators added a long amendment to House Bill 70, which was about expanding the number of full service, wraparound community learning centers—schools with medical and social services located right in the school. The amendment had nothing to do with the subject of the original bill. The amendment’s purpose was to establish the state takeover of the school district in Youngstown and set up a procedure for state takeovers of other so-called “failing” school districts. A deal had been cut. No opponent testimony was permitted. The Ohio Senate passed the amended HB 70 and sent it back for quick approval by the Ohio House. Within hours, Governor John Kasich had signed it, and without public input, an appointed Academic Distress Commission supplanted the elected school board in Youngstown.

This time the subject is vouchers.

Last spring, just as everything shut down due to the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, both houses of the Ohio Legislature debated changes in the EdChoice voucher program and came up with two separate bills. EdChoice eligibility is currently described by legislators as “performance-based.” The state designates EdChoice schools by these schools’ low ratings on the state’s school district report card, which everybody agrees is flawed. Last spring the program was expected to double in size. At angry hearings, school districts complained because EdChoice vouchers are funded through something called “the school district deduction.” The House plan would have funded the vouchers out of the state budget; the Senate plan kept the school district deduction.

When COVID-19 shut everything down and House and Senate were unable to agree on a plan, a conference committee began quietly meeting. It’s been a complicated year, so everybody was surprised last week when the Columbus Dispatch‘s Anna Staver reported that Matt Huffman, a powerful legislator already elected to be senate president in the new legislative CONTINUE READING: Ohio Legislative Leader Rams Through Voucher Changes that Hurt Students in Poor, Title I Schools | janresseger

Choosing Democracy: The United States Is Not a Democracy. Stop Telling Students That It Is

Choosing Democracy: The United States Is Not a Democracy. Stop Telling Students That It Is

The United States Is Not a Democracy. Stop Telling Students That It Is

When U.S. voters recently cast their ballots, an unchecked pandemic raged through the nation, uprisings against racism and police violence stretched into their eighth month, and new climate change-intensified storms formed in the Atlantic.

The reactionary and undemocratic system by which we select our president was an insult to the urgency of the moment. Although millions more people voted for Joe Biden than for Donald Trump — the difference is now 5.4 million — it took several days to learn who won, thanks to the Electoral College. To the relief of many, it appears that this time — unlike in 2000 and 2016 — the candidate who got the most votes nationwide also won the presidential election.

If our students only learn about this exceptionally strange system from their corporate-produced history and government textbooks, they will have no clue why this is how we choose our president. More importantly, they will have a stunted sense of their own power — and little reason to believe they might have the potential to create something better.

To review: A voter in Montana gets 31 times the electoral bang for their presidential ballot than a voter in New York. A voter in Wyoming has 70 times the representation in the U.S. Senate as a voter in California, while citizens in Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. have none. The Republican Senate majority that recently confirmed Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court was elected by 14 million fewer votes than the 47 senators who voted against her confirmation.

Yet politicians and pundits regularly pronounce  CONTINUE READING: Choosing Democracy: The United States Is Not a Democracy. Stop Telling Students That It Is

Education Matters: Area veteran teachers brace for pay cuts (draft)

Education Matters: Area veteran teachers brace for pay cuts (draft)

Area veteran teachers brace for pay cuts (draft)

While brand new teachers in St. Johns county get a six thousand dollar raise, veteran teachers, if they got the best and brightest bonus or school recognition money, are about to get a pay cut. Coming soon to Clay and Duval Counties.  

People who have dedicated their lives to the children of the area are about to either lose money or not see any notable pay raise. Welcome to Florida 

From News4Jax,

“It’s an unfair bill for veteran teachers. Although the people at the lower end of the pay salary scale will be moved up, veteran teachers are going to get a much lesser raise,” St. Johns Education Association Chief Negotiator Justin Vogel said.

https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2020/11/18/st-johns-county-school-district-union-agree-to-6500-raise-for-new-teachers/

The article talks about a two percent raise for veteran teachers. For me, that would be about a thousand CONTINUE READING: Education Matters: Area veteran teachers brace for pay cuts (draft)

NPE and Grassroots Groups Weigh in on US Secretary of Education and agenda | Cloaking Inequity

NPE and Grassroots Groups Weigh in on US Secretary of Education and agenda | Cloaking Inequity

NPE AND GRASSROOTS GROUPS WEIGH IN ON US SECRETARY OF EDUCATION AND AGENDA

The @Network4pubEd leads a coalition of more than 50!! grassroots organizations calling for 5 principles that should be acknowledged in the selection of the next US Secretary of Education. I am honored to have served as a founding board member of NPE since 2013.

Read more here.

Please Facebook Like, Tweet, etc below and/or reblog to share this discussion with others.

Check out and follow my YouTube channel here.

Twitter: @ProfessorJVH

Click here for Vitae.

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NPE and Grassroots Groups Weigh in on US Secretary of Education and agenda | Cloaking Inequity

Announcing the new book, “Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice”–co-edited by Denisha Jones and Jesse Hagopian, foreword by Opal Tometi – I AM AN EDUCATOR

Announcing the new book, “Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice”–co-edited by Denisha Jones and Jesse Hagopian, foreword by Opal Tometi – I AM AN EDUCATOR

Announcing the new book, “Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice”–co-edited by Denisha Jones and Jesse Hagopian, foreword by Opal Tometi

ORDER YOUR COPY OF “BLACK LIVES MATTER AT SCHOOL” TODAY

The educators, students, and community activists whose stories are documented here are fighting for a transformative vision of what public schools can be, and the grassroots efforts we will need to get there. “Black Lives Matter at School” is an essential resource for all those seeking to build an antiracist school system.—Ibram X. Kendi, National Book Award-winning and #1 New York Times Bestselling Author 

With a powerful foreword from Opal Tometi (co-founder of Black Lives Matter), Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice succinctly generalizes lessons from successful challenges to institutional racism that have been won through the Black Lives Matter at School movement. 

Join the book editors and Brian Jones on Wednesday, December 2nd at 5:00pm Eastern for a live book release event—Register today!

This book will inspire educators to join the Black Lives Matter at School movement at a moment when antiracist work in education could not be more urgent.

Check out the new video trailer for the book and share it with an educator, parent, student, or community organizer who may be interested in joining the movement:

Pre-orders for the forthcoming, Black Lives Matter at School are available by clicking this link

An amazing group of educators, students, writers, and organizers are contributing authors to Black Lives Matter at School:

Tamara Anderson, Awo Okaikor Aryee-Price, Wayne Au, Takiema Bunche-Smith, Erika Strauss Chavarria, Rosy Clark, Anthony Dandridge, Marshé Doss, Maria C. Fernandez, Brian Ford, Rosie Frascella, Laleña Garcia, Beth Glenn, Nathaniel Genene, Kiersten Greene, Angela Harris, Raquel James-Goodman, Jennifer Johnson, Brian Jones, Erika Jones, B. Kaiser, Makai Kellogg, Bettina L. Love, Dana Morrison, Cecily Myart-Cruz, Dermott Myrie, Israel Presley, Marynoel (Noel) Naa Lamiley Riby-Williams, Christopher Rogers, Kalani Rossman, and Jeff Stone.

Praise for Black Lives Matter at School:

“We need this book right now. The shadow-loving fungus of white supremacy won’t continue to send its spores to infect our children if we act now to bring the curative light of anti-racist knowledge, compassion, and justice into their lives. Built upon the Black Lives Matter at School organization’s Week of Action, this volume provides the adults in our educational institutions with inspiration, organizing principles, strategies, and examples to take ‘bold action against anti-Blackness.’ The authors – visionary educations of what is possible – call on all of us to radically reshape learning environments to make them safe, supportive, and transformative for all students (and teachers). Please read ASAP!” — Lisa Delpit, Executive Director of the Center for Urban Education and Innovation at Florida International University

ORDER YOUR COPY OF “BLACK LIVES MATTER AT SCHOOL” TODAY

“There is no easy way to talk about the complexities of race facing our school system in America—but we have to talk about it if we are ever going to achieve the schools our children deserve. The Black Lives Matter at School movement has been disrupting the complacency of those who, for too long, have been comfortable not having these conversations about the impact of racism in the schools. Black Lives Matter at School is a playbook for undoing institutional racism in the education system. — Michael Bennett, NFL defensive lineman, Superbowl champion, and author, Things That Make White People Uncomfortable

“This book asserts that we are at a critical moment in time, where the racial uprisings underpin the absolute need to transform education and it’s foundational practices. Black Lives Matter is a movement sweeping the globe and affirms that our babies lives matter. It’s time for educators to be bold, standing up for our students and communities. Our students are looking to us to lead the fight against injustice and dismantle systemic racism as we aspire to realize the schools our students deserve.” — Cecily Myart-Cruz, UTLA President, NEA Black Caucus Chair

“This book makes the strong case for why we need to elevate Black lives and people in our curriculum and pedagogy year-round. This book serves as a blueprint to achieve this honorable goal.” — José Luis Vilson, author, This Is Not A Test, A New Narrative on Race, Class, and Education

“Black Lives Matter at School centers the humanity of our children. It is a sharp rebuke of white supremacy—the very thing that interrupts the healthy development of Black youth. School communities must affirm Black lives. Educators have to dismantle systems of oppression—systems that we influence daily. We have to be radically different from the missionary educator depicted in popular culture. BLM at School is essential. Period.”— Stacy Davis Gates, Vice President, Chicago Teachers Union

“Toni Morrison reminds us: ‘If you can’t imagine it, you can’t have it.’ This book helps us to imagine Black Lives Mattering in schools. With accounts from teachers across the country doing the work, along with student interviews, poems, posters, and historical background, this is a primer for anti-racist educators to see the way forward in terms of reshaping school curriculum, diversifying teacher hiring, and transforming school discipline.” — Jeanne Theoharis, author, A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History

Order your copy today!

Announcing the new book, “Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice”–co-edited by Denisha Jones and Jesse Hagopian, foreword by Opal Tometi – I AM AN EDUCATOR

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

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

Big Education Ape: THIS WEEK IN EDUCATION Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2020/11/this-week-in-education-larry-ferlazzos_14.html

“Post-Election Teaching Strategies”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 6h

Post-Election Teaching Strategies is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Four teachers share suggestions for post-election lessons, including focusing on local issues and practicing media literacy. Here are some excerpts:

‘Online Learning as a Student Has Been … Hell on Earth’

by Larry Ferlazzo / 10h

is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher. Four students write about their online learning experiences, and it’s not a pretty picture…. Here are some excerpts:

Friday’s Must-Read Articles & Must-Watch Videos About School Reopenings

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

Megan_Rexazin / Pixabay Here are new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : Many districts, including @officialSCUSD , would be smart to make the same decision and put tons more resources into supporting tchrs dev better remote tching AND more social services to support the students we're losing https://t.co/TklGSL3lhf — Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) No

This New Article Is The Most Interesting Piece On Writing Instruction That I’ve Read In A Long Time

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

Write to Reward Your Reader is by Bill Birchard and was just published at the Harvard Business Review. And, it’s a real interesting one. He basically repackages (with some twists) what a lot of us teach our students about writing in a neuroscience framework that is very concise, emphasizing that good writer should follow these rules: Keep it simple Keep it specific Keep it stirring Keep it social

A Look Back: Results Of Weekly “Self-Assessments” Done By Members Of “Leadership Teams” In Each Of My Classes

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

I thought that new – and veteran – readers might find it interesting if I began sharing my best posts from over the years. You can see the entire collection here . I’m starting with posts from earlier this year. I’ve previously posted 

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