Sunday, January 15, 2017

North Carolina’s Exclusionary Voucher Schools + More from Diane Ravitch's blog

North Carolina’s Exclusionary Voucher Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog:

North Carolina’s Exclusionary Voucher Schools


Image result for North Carolina’s Exclusionary Voucher Schools

Kimberly Quick of The Century Foundation describes the many exclusionary policies of North Carolina’s voucher schools.
Here is a sampling:
Conservative education reformers have aggressively marketed the expansion of K–12 private school voucher programs as a method to increase access to educational options. Their arguments begin to break down, however, when asking the questions, Access for whom? And to what?
The types of voucher-centered school choice schemes promoted by both President-elect Trump and Betsy DeVos, his nominee for U.S. Secretary of Education (ED), like most programs in education policy, are administered by states and localities. Trump’s open denigration of the Department of Education’s civil rights and standards oversight functions further indicate that a DeVos ED will place few stipulations on how states receiving federal funds for vouchers must design and implement those programs.
Some of those voucher programs might look something like the highly discriminatory North Carolina Opportunity Scholarship Act. Established by the state legislature in 2013, the program offers low-income and working-class families state-funded tuition scholarships to private schools of up to $4,200. In some ways, the Opportunity Scholarship might seem innocuous. Private schools receiving state funds are required to test scholarship recipients (though notably not with state tests for direct comparison, and there is virtually no obligation for public disclosure), and most students must have spent time in public schools prior to private school enrollment to be eligible—conditions that are missing in other programs in states like Indiana and Wisconsin. But even the quickest examination of the types of schools taking taxpayer money reveals that state dollars are, in actuality, too often funding discrimination.
An overwhelming number of the more than 400 private schools registered in the program are religiously affiliated. Although a divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled that vouchers used for religious school attendance do not violate the establishment clause, the primary issue with North Carolina’s program is not that the schools themselves are religious, but that too many condition admission and retention on dogmatic adherence to specific religious doctrine, usually excluding those who are LGBTQ or come from non-churchgoing families.
Religious and LGBTQ Discrimination
Alamance Christian School (ACS) received $121,132 in public voucher funds during the 2015–2016 academic year, all while maintaining an official, publically available admissions policy that explicitly bars all faiths outside of Christianity, along with children from families that are “Catholic, Mormon, Jehovah’s Witness, Seventh Day Adventist, Christian Science” and more. To confirm that they are from the “right” type of Christian family, children seeking admission must produce a pastoral reference. Then, before enrolling, all middle and high school students are expected to sign a commitment form pledging to refrain from “homosexual/bisexual behaviors, or any other biblical violation of the unique roles of males and females.”
And ACS is not some random oversight, a school hiding out within the list of eligibles despite a uniquely restrictive profile. Instead, it reflects the biases of several other schools that are partially funded by the dollars of taxpayers, some of whom aren’t allowed to send their children to those very institutions. For instance, one of the schools receiving the most public money, Fayetteville Christian School (receiving more than $285,000 in 2015–2016) has near identical restrictions, requiring regular church attendance of applicants and parents, issuing the following statement on their website:
“The student and at least one parent with whom the student resides must be in full agreement with the FCS Statement of Faith and have received Jesus Christ as their Savior. In addition, the parent and student must regularly fellowship in a local faith based, Bible believing church. Accordingly, FCS will not admit families that belong to or express faith in non-Christian religions such as, but not limited to: Mormons (LDS North Carolina’s Exclusionary Voucher Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog:


Trump Won the Presidency, But Jeb Bush Won the U.S. Department of Education
Valerie Strauss writes today that Trump heaped scorn on Jeb Bush during the primaries, but Jeb is the big winner in Trump education policy. Betsy DeVos is a close friend of Jeb and was a member of Jeb’s board. Jeb promotes charters, vouchers, digital learning, and Common Core. The person likely to be appointed as DeVos’ guide to policy issues is Hanna Skandera, who worked closely with and for Jeb
China Runs Camps for Youth Addicted to Internet, Vows to End Electric Shock Therapy
China has vowed to end the use of electroshock therapy at the special camps it runs for those who are addicted to the Internet. “HONG KONG — At the Addiction Treatment Center in eastern China, more than 6,000 internet addicts — most of them teenagers — not only had their web access taken away, they were also treated with electroshock therapy. “The center, in Shandong Province, made headlines in S
DeVos Forgot to Include $125,000 Gift to Anti-Union Campaign
In listing her political contributions on her financial disclosure for, Betsy DeVos forgot to mention a gift of $125,000 to an anti-union campaign. T his is, of course, understandable. When a person is a multi-billionaire and gives millions to right wing causes, you can’t expect to remember every tiny contribution, can you? Besides, what’s with her team of high-priced lawyers and accountants? Whe
Florida: Former Charter School Employee Accused of Stealing $100,000
A former employee of a charter school in Lakeland, Florida, has been accused of stealing more than $100,000 from the schoo l. Don’t expect this to dim the enthusiasm of Jeb Bush or Betsy DeVos for unregulated charters. “45-year-old Ginger Collins was a former Assistant Director of Academics for the school until her resignation on September 16, 2016. She is accused of stealing more than $100,000 f
Gary Rubinstein: 25% of KIPP Schools in Texas Get an F Grade
Gary Rubinstein writes that Texas has started the process of awarding single letter grades to schools, based mainly on standardized test scores. This is an exceptionally asinine way of evaluating schools, invented by Jeb Bush. He reviewed the Texas scores and discovered that 25% of KIPP schools were rated F. Nearly 50% were either D or F. Whenever “reformers” talk about expanding high-quality cha
Salon: Who is the Real Campbell Brown?
Last spring, Salon published an article by Kali Holloway about Campbell Brown and her transition from news anchor to “education reformer” and “charter propagandist.” The article was posted before California’s highest court threw out the Vergara case, whose plaintiffs claimed that teacher tenure was racially discriminatory. It also was posted before a judge in Minnesota tossed out Campbell Brown’s
More than 2,000 Parents and Educators Petition Mark Zuckerberg Not to Hire Campbell Brown, and Lily Eskelsen Garcia Sends Him a Letter
Leonie Haimson reports at the NYC Parents Blog that more than 2,000 parents and educators signed a petition calling on Mark Zuckerberg not to hire Campbell Brown because of her hostility to public schools and their teachers. Zuckerberg’s wife Priscilla Chan has often credited the public schools she attended and her teachers for her success in school and in life. Perhaps Mark Z. could talk to his
Betsy DeVos, Unpaid Lobbyist for School Privatization, Dodges Questions about Conflicts of Interest
Here are Betsy DeVos’s responses to questions from the Office of Government Ethics about potential and real conflicts of interest. http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/01/see_how_betsy_devos_responded.html She is an artful dodger. Instead of admitting that she pours millions of dollars into advancing the cause of school privatization, she simply says that if any questions should come up, she

JAN 13

Common Core Advocate May Be DeVos’ Deputy
According to the Trump group’s favorite news media, businessman Allen B. Hubbard is the likely choice for the #2 job in the U.S. Department of Education. He is a strong advocate for school choice and for the Common Core. He is on the board of the Lumina Foundation, which has made large grants to support implementation of Common Core. Like DeVos, he is very wealthy. So pmuch for Trump’s vow to eli
New York Times: Betsy DeVos Confirmation Hearing May Be Surprisingly Contentious
Kate Zernike of the New York Times writes that the DeVos hearing next week on January 17 may be contentious, because she has been unable to clarify her many conflicts of interest. Some are financial: she has investments in online charter schools and other for-profit education ventures. Others are ideological and political: She has given heavily to entities that want to privatize public education.
Aaron Blake: Why Does the Trump Team Keep Lying?
I won’t summarize this article by Aaron Blake in the Washington Post, except to say that it is about the 2-page summary of Russian hacking, what the CIA said about it, what Kellyanne Conway said about it, what Donald Trump said about it. Interesting point: She wants to see a “house cleaning” at CNN because they reported on the existence of a memo that does in fact exist. It is a case study in def
EduShyster: Betsy DeVos and the Destruction of Public Education in Michigan: A MUST READ
Jennifer Berkshire (aka EduShyster) recently raised money by crowd-sourcing so she could spend a week in Michigan learning about the DeVos family and its crusade to privatize public education. Her article is brilliant. She describes Betsy DeVos as “The Red Queen.” It begins like this: By the measures that are supposed to matter, Betsy DeVos’ experiment in disrupting public education in Michigan h
The White House Press Corps Should Stand Up for the First Amendment
At his first press conference since last July, Trump dealt with a variety of questions about his plans. Many of the questions were about the dossier that was leaked to the media, alleging that the Russian government has compromising information about Trump’s personal and financial affairs. The allegations have not been verified. The document was posted in full by a website called Buzzfeed, and re
Randi Weingarten Speaks Out Against Betsy DeVos
Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT, gave the following speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on January 9: Eight years ago, I spoke at the Press Club as the newly elected AFT President. At that time, President Obama was inheriting the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. America was losing 750,000 jobs a month. Next week, President-elect Trump will inherit a diff
Education Deans Issue a Statement in Support of Public Education and Democracy
Nearly 200 education deans from across the nation released a “Declaration of Principles, “calling on Congress and the Trump Administration to advance democratic values in America’s public schools. Press Release: Contact: Dean Kevin Kumashiro: (415) 422-2108, kkumashiro@usfca.edu Dean Kathy Schultz: (303) 492-6937, katherine.schultz@colorado.edu William J. Mathis: (802) 383-0058, wmathis@sover.net
People for the American Way Opposes Nomination of Betsy DeVos, Calls It Part of “Right-Wing War on Public Education”
People for the American Way has released a well-documented statement about the danger that Betsy DeVos and the Trump agenda poses to American public education. Her nomination, says PFAW, is “a new high-water mark in Right-Wing’s Long War on Public Education.” The one positive consequence of DeVos’s nomination is that it has awakened the nation’s leading civil rights and civil liberties organizati
Over 200 Civil Rights Groups Oppose Betsy DeVos to Lead U.S. Secretary of Education
The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights issued a strong statement in opposition to the nomination of Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education. While the so-called “reformers” like to claim that they are fighting for minority kids and civil rights, the actual civil rights organizations know that DeVos and Trump want to weaken and destroy public schools, which are open to all students. They also ar
Jon Schwartz: How We Can Survive and Beat Trumpism
Jon Schwartz writes for The Intercept. In this post , he gives a list of (mostly) practical ways that we can organize to survive the next four years and beat back the white nationalism that Trump used to get elected.