Alexander Russo Tries to Work the Refs Again
By Anthony Cody.
I am not sure who appointed Alexander Russo the chief scold of the education newsbeat, but he has made it his business to criticize reporting in the field from his supposedly objective perch. Somehow, he almost always seems to be playing defense for one reform project or another.
In his latest column, he takes issue with coverage of the Trump administration’s proposed budget, and the kerfuffle that took place on Capitol Hill a couple of weeks ago. He focuses almost exclusively on one aspect of the story – the proposed cuts to Special Olympics. Of the grilling by Democrats of DeVos, he writes:
In and of itself, the back and forth was nothing new. Members of Congress routinely complain about proposed cuts to programs they favor. Everyone familiar with the process knows that it’s mostly theatrics, with lawmakers trying to score points.
Mistake number one. There was indeed something new in the back and forth. Lawmakers were reacting, in part, to a Network for Public Education report, Asleep at the Wheel, which found that as much as a billion dollars of federal funds have been wasted on charter schools that never even opened, or closed within a year or two.
A look at this video featuring Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro shows how seriously members of Congress took this information.
This report was real news, and it was carried as such by the Washington Post, which also made note of the report in its coverage of the hearing.
The money funneled into unaccountable charter schools OUGHT to be a big story, and so should the additional $5 billion DeVos wants to pour into “Freedom Scholarships.”
But Russo’s chief grievance is with the way the Special Olympics cuts turned into a major flashpoint for CONTINUE READING: Alexander Russo Tries to Work the Refs Again - Living in Dialogue
