Gates’ money does what? – Missouri Education Watchdog

Gates’ money does what? – Missouri Education Watchdog:

Gates’ money does what?

 Love him or hate him, is there anyone or anything that Gates’ global reach hasn’t touched?  Gates’ money seemingly buys influence andseemingly opens doors everywhere.  In the last year alone Gates has courted both sides of the aisle, speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative in September 2015, (donating 47 different grants to Clinton initiatives in recent years)  and as Washington Post’s Valerie Strauss reports, Gates tried (unsuccessfully?) to persuade the Koch brothers, to side with him on Common Core in December 2015.   Apparently, investing Billions of dollars buys a lot of clout in the policy making world. In fact,  Gates believes that it is the role of the philanthropist foundations to give money togovernment and then direct them how to spend it.  

So Big Money directs government policy, everyone’s got a price?  

Speaking of  money and directing policy…  Gates just recently awarded  $8.9 Million for Personalized Learning tools to one non-profitorganization, but Gates has awarded PAGES of money for personalized instruction over the years.  Remember, this Common Core  “education stuff”  isn’t just about standards.  Online personalized learning  is Key to ed reform and involves lot and lots of #DATA.

****Also remember that Gates’ money helped develop SLDS, Data tags and CEDS data standards to share student data across states via theData Quality Campaign in 2005.     –and–

****Now our Federal Dept of Labor also has a WORKFORCE DATA QUALITY INITIATIVE  that plans to use personal student data from each SLDS, starting in Pre-school.     –and–

****The Federeal Learning Registry  has arranged for Microsoft, Amazon, Edmodo and others help manage and deliver the data from all the *free* online ed resources and online curriculum.

    All roads seem to lead to Gates MONEY and DATA.

To see likely legislation in your state’s future,  look at how Gates is  investing money, via the Gates Foundation Awarded Grants page.  We have Gates’ money does what? – Missouri Education Watchdog:

Why Teachers Are Going Broke Buying School Supplies | MONEY

Why Teachers Are Going Broke Buying School Supplies | MONEY:

Why Teachers Are Going Broke Buying School Supplies

As the beginning of a new school year draws near, it’s not just parents who are scouring the big-box and office-supply store sale fliers for deals on school supplies. Teachers are under more pressure than ever to provide the kinds of items that used to be stocked in supply closets or provided by school districts — and they can get yelled at for an infraction as small as using up too much copier paper.

Even though the economy’s been in recovery for some time now, schools never reversed the cutbacks they implemented during the recession, and many are actually spending less per pupil this back-to-school season, according to CBS News. As a result, most teachers spend more than $500 per year on school supplies out of their own pocket.

Read More: Here’s How Much Your Kid’s Teacher Is Shelling Out for School Supplies

The problem is that state-level school funding has been cut way back, and municipalities are loathe to fill the gap by hiking property taxes. Not having enough money is especially acute in some districts and in lower-income neighborhoods, where parents might not have enough money — or kids might be living with a grandparent on a fixed income — to pay for basic school supplies, let alone the paper towels, hand sanitizer and other items schools now ask them to provide. One teacher interviewed by CBS said she was only allotted $1.60 for school supplies per kid — for the entire year.

In many places, the situation is dire. CBS cited data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities that found more than 30 states actually paid less per student in school funding in 2014 than they did back in 2008. As a result, teachers are digging more deeply into their pockets than ever before, and that’s before the school year has even begun.Why Teachers Are Going Broke Buying School Supplies | MONEY:

 

BACK TO SCHOOL SUPPLIES

1. A piece of chalk -- in case the classroom you're assigned to has none.
2. An eraser or small rag -- in case the classroom you're assigned to has none.
3. A piece of colored chalk -- in case you want to underscoresomething.
4. A few rubber bands -- in case you need to band some things together.
5. A pad of sticky-notes -- in case you want to stick a note onto something.
6. A mechanical lead pencil -- because they're always sharp, don't require a pencil sharpener, and are fine, clear, and erasable.
7. Press-on white labels (either address label size or one-line width labels) -- so you can white out or label anything.
8. A black ink ballpoint pen -- for making carbon copies or for writing that's more reproducible by a copier than that produced by a blue ink pen.
9. A package of 3 x 5 cards -- for class participation exercises, sort-able notes, hall passes
10. A yellow highlighter pen -- to highlight points in your lesson plan that you inadvertently omitted, need to review.
11. A red pen -- to write evaluative notes on students' tests, homework
12. Loose-leaf reinforcements -- to keep pages from falling out of your binder.
13. Wet-wash pad -- for quick cleanups.
14. A single-edged razor blade(instead of bulky scissors) -- for cutting out magazine articles, pictures... They usually come with a protective cardboard over the blade.
15. A small tin of aspirin -- in case of a headache.
16. Some large and small paper clips -- to clip together homework or test papers from particular class periods.
17. A piece of carbon paper -- in case you want to keep a copy of notes you write to parents or students.
18. A see-through plastic pencil case -- to carry all the above items.
19. An appointment book -- to keep track of weekly appointments, things to do
20. A cell phone.
21. A grade book -- for taking attendance, checking homework, giving credit for class participation
22. A pad of newsprint (rolled up?) -- to make notes on; especially useful when you'll teach the same lesson more than once-- in different rooms.
23. A magic marker or two -- to make notes with.
24. A small stapler -- for securely posting items on a bulletin board or attaching papers.
25. Cardboard -- to place over a door or window to cut down on hallway distractions.
26. A small can of machine oil -- in case a squeaky seat or door distracts students.
27. This list -- to check over a couple of days before school starts.
Click here for a printable version of the supply list. 

Donald Trump and School Choice: An Increasing Focus? - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Donald Trump and School Choice: An Increasing Focus? - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

Donald Trump and School Choice: An Increasing Focus?

In a Tuesday speech in West Bend, Wisc. tailored for the African-American community, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump expanded on his brief mention of K-12 at the Republican National Convention by mentioning a few teacher-related policies and his thoughts on charter schools. In fact, since the convention, he seems to be putting a little more emphasis on school choice policy in particular.

Trump first criticized the performance of schools in Milwaukee, which is about 40 miles from West Bend, saying the city has only a 60 percent graduation rate and that 55 city schools are rated as failing. Despite Trump's record of stretching facts, these two particular claims are based on data. Politifact Wisconsin reported in May that 61 percent of Milwaukee students graduated after four years in 2014. And the state did rate 55 Milwaukee schools as "fails to meet expectations"on the state report card, based on data from the 2013-14 school year. 

He then pivoted to K-12 policy questions, which he has largely neglected during the 2016 race. 

"On education, it is time to have school choice, merit pay for teachers, and to end the tenure policies that hurt good teachers and reward bad teachers. We are going to put students and parents first," Trump told the audience.

In the past, Trump has been critical of teachers' unions' impact on school and their fear of competition. He's also argued that Democrats protect the unions in exchange for political backing. 

He also took a shot at his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, saying she "would rather deny opportunities to millions of young African-American children" in order to prop up the "education bureaucracy." And he said that Democrats in charge of cities have "ruined the schools."

That's similar to his RNC speech, in which he backed parental choice of schools and blasted Clinton's support for bureaucrats.

And Trump said he would allow charter schools specifically to "thrive." It's worth noting that since the RNC, he's worked support for school choice into at least three August speeches: in West Bend, during his economic policy speech in Detroit, and during a speech in Wilmington, N.C. He also brought up child care last week. 

Have you made it this far? Then you can keep going by checking out our comparison of Clinton and Trump on key K-12 policy issues, like testing, teaching, and school safety.

---

Don't miss another Politics K-12 post. Sign up here to get news alerts in your email inbox.

Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12.Donald Trump and School Choice: An Increasing Focus? - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

NC school vouchers support discrimination | News & Observer

NC school vouchers support discrimination | News & Observer:

In NC, vouchers support private schools that discriminate

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BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD

The logic behind a state program that gives lower-income parents up to $4,200 a year for private school tuition is that it provides parents “a choice.” But now there is a disturbing other side to that choice. Some private schools that are getting public dollars choose not to accept lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender students.

The Charlotte Observer reported last week that at least four faith-based private schools in Mecklenburg County that get public funds say in their handbooks that they will not accept certain students based on sex or gender issues.

Unfortunately, this discrimination is legal in North Carolina since sexual orientation is not included in the state’s anti-discrimination law. But that lapse does not justify spending taxpayers’ money to sustain schools that practice discrimination.

And the state’s objection should be practical as well as moral. Why should the parents of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender students have to pay taxes to provide “a choice” that includes schools that refuse to accept their children?

State Rep. Paul Stam, a Republican from Apex who sponsored the voucher program legislation, isn’t bothered by the moral or practical issues of underwriting discrimination. With the head-spinning logic he often applies to dismiss objections to Republican policies, Stam says there’s no problem with schools that discriminate because parents can choose from others that don’t. “Parents choose where to send children. And parents are free to choose whatever school they want within the hundreds of possibilities,” he says.

The liberal-leaning advocacy group, N.C. Policy Watch, has long questioned the discriminatory aspects of the voucher program. Chris Fitzsimon, the group’s co-founder, says, “We’re asking taxpayers in North Carolina to support schools that they’re not eligible to attend.”

Stam and other voucher supporters are not eager to examine the issues raised by paying for students from low-income families to attend private schools because they need to declare the program a success in order to expand it. In fact, GOP members have already boosted it to the point where by 2027-28, $145 million in taxpayer dollars will be going to private school tuition. Today, some 400 schools get money through the voucher program, some of them church-based, many of them small. All of them should be open to all students.NC school vouchers support discrimination | News & Observer:

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/editorials/article96295292.html#storylink=cpy

Typical anti-testing activist: Educated, white, married, politically liberal parent | Get Schooled

Typical anti-testing activist: Educated, white, married, politically liberal parent | Get Schooled:

Typical anti-testing activist: Educated, white, married, politically liberal parent

In the last few years, there’s been a rise in parents pulling their children out of high-stakes exams at school.

While opting out occurs across the country, the northeast appears to be ground zero for the movement. For example, the opt out rate last year in California for state language arts and math tests was 3 percent. It was more than 20 percent in New York.

The movement is fledgling in Georgia where nearly 4,300 exams were not taken by Georgia students last year. This year, the AJC found a few instances of students opting out, including 60 kids in Gwinnett, 145 in Fulton and 24 in DeKalb.

Who are the parents making this choice? Researchers from Teachers College of Columbia University sought to find out by recruiting respondents online, through links on the webpages and social media channels of opt out groups. They asked them to take a lengthy survey. The national sample consisted of a 1,641 respondents from 47 states. (If you go here, you can find the actual survey starting on Page 60.)

The research shows former U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan got at least one thing right when he described the anti-testing and Common Core movement as “white suburban moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were, and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought they were.”

According to the Columbia report: “The typical opt out activist is a highly educated, white, married, politically liberal parent whose children attend public school and whose household median income is well above the national average.”

Among the other findings of the survey and analysis:

•The opt out movement includes more than just parents who have opted their children out.  It also includes parents whose children are in public school but did not opt out; parents whose children are homeschooled and/or in private school; and individuals without children who are supporting the movement. About four‐fifths of the respondents (81.5 percent) were parents or guardians of school‐aged children. The vast majority of them (92.9 percent) indicated that their children attended public schools. Approximately three‐quarters of respondents who are parents or guardians of school‐aged children (74.5 percent) have opted their children out of testing. Nine out of ten (92.1 percent) respondents who are parents or guardians of school‐aged children said they are likely to opt out in the future.

•Parents refuse standardized tests even in states where opting out is not permitted or discouraged by policy makers. The share of parents who opted out is lowest in states where opt out is prohibited (73.2 percent) and highest in states where refusal and opt out are permitted with constraints (85.7 percent). We find no significant differences in opting out between respondents residing in states where opt out is permitted and other respondents.

•The movement brings together Democrats (46.1 percent), Republicans (15.1 percent), Independents (33.3 percent), and supporters of other parties (5.5 percent).

•Most participants have come to the opt out movement during the past 3‐4 years, with almost half (48.9 percent) joining during the past two years. Social media – Facebook, Twitter, etc. – play a key role in mobilizing participants, as do social networks. Compared to their peers in other parts of the country, respondents in the South have heard about the movement most recently.

•The opt out movement is about more than just opposition to high‐stakes testing. Respondents gave many reasons as to why they participate. In particular, respondents feel that judging teacher performance by students’ standardized test scores is unfair (36.9 percent). They also are protesting the narrowing of the curriculum, corporatization/privatization of education, and the implementation of the Common Core State Standards.

•Motivations vary, depending on whether the respondent was a teacher or not. Teachers (45.0 percent) say that they are opposed to tying teacher evaluation to student performance on standardized tests while non‐teachers were more likely to mention opposition to ‘teaching to the test’ and to the Common Core.

•Opt out activists are concerned with current educational reforms and efforts to improve public schools. Compared to the general public, they are more critical of the use of different types of testing in education, especially high‐stake tests. Also, opt out activists view increasing school funds as important idea for improving schools. While the general public rank this idea in the 4th place (out of five), opt out activists rank this idea in the 2nd place.Typical anti-testing activist: Educated, white, married, politically liberal parent | Get Schooled:

Teach For America sabotages public schools | www.socialism.com

Teach For America sabotages public schools | www.socialism.com:

Teach For America sabotages public schools

Hundreds of Cleveland teachers protest the district plan to pay $400,000 for TFA replacement teachers at a school board meeting on May 27, 2014. Photo: Lisa DeJong / The Plain Dealer

School closures and teacher strikes are an almost daily occurrence, because public education is under siege. Drastic government underfunding has cut school programs, caused a severe teacher shortage, and jam-packed classrooms.

Central to these developments is a group called Teach for America Corp (TFA), which over the last three decades has become a primary propagandist and practitioner in the campaign to privatize education. It is now coming under well-deserved fire for failing both students and its trainees, and for serving the interests of big business.

Myth vs. reality. Teach for America markets itself as an education reform organization that can close the achievement gap and end social injustices in poor, inner-city and rural schools. How? By getting rid of all those “bad” teachers and replacing them with TFA trainees — until recently, mostly white, well-meaning graduates of Ivy League colleges.

These recruits need no previous experience or education coursework to get into the program. They complete a five-week training session that contains just 18 hours of actual teaching, in classrooms very unlike those they’ll face once on the job. This is all the training they get, before entering the classroom at the start of the school year.

Upon “graduation” recruits work both in charter and traditional schools. The majority stop teaching after completing their two-year contract. And no wonder. They’ve been put in jobs they’re untrained to do. The group’s mission statement doesn’t even use the word “teach” or “teacher.” As former recruit T. Jameson Brewer puts it, TFA focuses “more on influencing policy decisions as it seeks to install alumni of the organization as political puppets who work as principals, school board leaders, and other elected political positions.”

Obscuring racism. The most disturbing aspect of Teach for America is its position on race. Former members criticize the group’s “color blind” philosophy that denies the actual role of racism in this country. Its “no-excuses” behavior codes enforced in charter schools are thoroughly racist. Pupils are told they must defer to and obey adults, walk in the halls, sit still and answer, not ask questions. Minor infractions can result in detention and suspension, the first stop in the school-to-prison pipeline, especially for kids of color.

The much-denounced vogue of standardized testing is another racist cornerstone of Teach for America philosophy. It is part of the corporate vision of education, which emphasizes measurable results. It does not recognize the economic, cultural or social forces that perpetuate poverty. Students are told, “If you fail the test or can’t go to college or find a good job, you have no one to blame but yourself. “

To counter heavy criticism for racist and incompetent teaching policies, TFA has begun to recruit more trainees of color, and tries to cloak its agenda in the robes of the Civil Rights movement. TFA graduate DeRay McKesson, for example, became a self-appointed leader in the Black movement’s militant response to Michael Brown’s murder in Ferguson, Mo. The debate continues within Black Lives Matter on his creds as a true community activist. Meanwhile, the 30-year-old McKesson, defeated in his bid for mayor of Baltimore, is now ensconced in a $165,000 year job as “Chief of Human Capital” in the Baltimore School District.

Corporate sidekick. What began in 1990 as a school project of Princeton undergraduate Wendy Kopp has morphed into a highly influential organization with a corporate philosophy and tentacles that extend far beyond the classroom. As a non-profit, Teach for America receives tens of millions of dollars from the federal government and private benefactors like Bill Gates of Microsoft and the Walton family of Walmart. Some of its money comes from strapped public school districts which, in addition to teacher salaries and benefits, must pay TFA finder’s fees up to $5,000 for each trainee.

Teach for America CEO Wendy Kopp sits on the board of the Broad Superintendent Academy, a Teach For America sabotages public schools | www.socialism.com:

 

When ordinary people demand justice... - Lily's Blackboard

When ordinary people demand justice... - Lily's Blackboard:

When ordinary people demand justice...

I actually thought there was a danger of being crushed. Roberto Baradel, one of the top leaders of SUTEBA, the union of educators in Buenos Aires, was holding my hand in a vise grip and I was holding my husband Alberto’s hand in a vise grip, and we were snaking our way through thousands and thousands of passionate protestors in thePlaza de Mayo where the presidential plaza, Casa Rosada, today maintains barricades against such protests. We knew that if we let go of each other, we’d be lost in the sea of marchers.

I was in Buenos Aires at a regional meeting of Education International. I serve as one of their regional vice presidents and was honored to be a part of several presentations. But this march was not on the official agenda. Roberto asked if I knew about Las Madres de la Plaza – the Mothers of the Plaza. Of course, I had heard of them. In the 1970s and 80s when Argentina was ruled by the military, those who were critical of the government were “disappeared.” They were kidnapped, tortured and killed. Their bodies were disposed of in mass unmarked graves or tossed into the ocean from airplanes in routine death flights. At least 600 educators were among those detained never to be seen again.

On April 30, 1977, a dozen mothers led by Azucena Villaflor came to the Plaza Maya and stood in front of the presidential palace. They wore pictures of their Disappeared adult children around their necks. They marched before the Casa Rosada arm in arm. It was an act of unimaginable courage born of unimaginable pain and outrage.

These ordinary women without fortunes, positions or even rights to speak the truth came every week to walk in protest; to demand justice; and to shame their shameless government. Other ordinary people took heart from Las Madres. Other ordinary people began joining the weekly marches to demand justice. They took up a collection and bought a newspaper ad that named the Disappeared.

The night the ad ran, Azucena Villaflor was taken from her home, tortured and never seen alive again. The government believed that the example of her cruel death would influence the others and end the marches.

It was not the end. Thirty-nine years later, the gentle giant, Roberto, was pulling me by the hand and parting the When ordinary people demand justice... - Lily's Blackboard:

CALPADS Unduplicated Pupil Count (UPC) Source File - Student & School Data Files (Downloadable) (CA Dept of Education)

CALPADS Unduplicated Pupil Count (UPC) Source File - Student & School Data Files (Downloadable) (CA Dept of Education):

CALPADS Unduplicated Pupil Count (UPC) Source File

Downloadable data files pertaining to the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) UPC Source File.

This page contains downloadable files pertaining to the Unduplicated Pupil Count (UPC) of free or reduced price meal (FRPM) eligibility, English learner (EL), and foster youth data from the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS). These counts are the starting point for determining the Unduplicated Pupil Percentage (UPP) used in the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) supplemental and concentration grant calculations.

LEA and School Level Data Files

Year of Data	Data File	Information about the File	File Structure
2015–16	CALPADS UPC Source File 2015–16 (XLS; 4MB; Posted 17-Aug-2016)	CALPADS UPC Source File 2015–16	File Structure: CALPADS UPC Source File 2015–16
2014–15	CALPADS UPC Source File 2014–15 (XLS; 4MB; Posted 12-April-2016)	CALPADS UPC Source File 2014–15	File Structure: CALPADS UPC Source File 2014–15
2013–14	CALPADS UPC Source File 2013–14 (XLS; 4MB; Posted 3-July-2014)	CALPADS UPC Source File 2013–14	File Structure: CALPADS UPC Source File 2013–14

Questions:   Data Reporting Office | dro@cde.ca.gov | 916-327-0219

What Your Back-To-School Shopping List Reveals About Our Underfunded Schools

What Your Back-To-School Shopping List Reveals About Our Underfunded Schools:

What Your Back-To-School Shopping List Reveals About Our Underfunded Schools

“You can exhale now,” the headline in Salon reassures, because “kids have more money than ever to spend on school stuff this year.”

The reason for Salon’s celebratory tone is that a national survey every year by the National Retail Federation finds that preteens preparing for a new school year have a record-breaking average of $80.31 in personal spending money. The author leaps from that nugget of information to conclude this is a sign of a stronger economy ahead. (Disclosure: I’ve written about education for Salon.)

But even if Salon’s analysis makes you breathe easier about the economy, you should understand those school kids aren’t going to keep their cash for very long, because their schools are going to need it.

Indeed, back to school supply lists are likely longer than ever before due to the simple reason that schools increasingly don’t have the funds to pay for items on the list. And because of persistently inadequate budgets that continue to dog our schools, you can be sure the longer your shopping list, the worse the funding situation is throughout your child’s school system.

Not only are school stockrooms increasingly bare of supplies, but teachers aren’t being adequately paid, class sizes are ballooning, programs are being cut, and school buildings increasingly forego required maintenance.

In states like North Carolina – where schools still get less funding than they did in 2008, despite an improving economy – money for necessary school supplies continues to be inadequate.

In the News & Observer, a local paper based in Raleigh, a first-grade teacher explains how the allotment for supplies she and her colleagues receive has gone from $100 per student “over a decade ago” to zero. The shortfall is especially harmful to her school where 70 percent of students are from low-income households that qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. “Some are even homeless,” she says.

Across the state in Asheville, a local reporter explains how in that district’s schools the allocation for classroom supplies dropped from What Your Back-To-School Shopping List Reveals About Our Underfunded Schools:

CURMUDGUCATION: The Ledger: Lab Rat America

CURMUDGUCATION: The Ledger: Lab Rat America:

The Ledger: Lab Rat America

Oh my God. Oh my effing God.

If you want to see where Competency Based Education, data mining, the cradle to career pipeline, the gig economy, and the transformation into a master and servant class society all intersect-- boy, have I got a video for you. Spoiler alert: this is also one way that public education dies.



I'm going to walk you through the video, embed it for your own viewing, and tell you about the people behind this. Hang on. This is stunning. And I'll warn you right up front-- this is not some hack job that looks like amateur hour video production (like, say, an in house USED video). This is slick and well-produced. Which somehow makes it more horrifying.

The Video 

The video is a little SF film taking us ten years into the future. Imagine you are one of the one billion people using a new technology called The Ledger. And our slogan...?

Learning is earning.

Your Ledger account tracks everything you've ever learned in units called edublocks.

An edublock represents, supposedly, one hour of learning in any subject-- which brings us to our first mystery, which is exactly how one breaks down learning into hours.

But you can get edublocks from anyone-- from a formal institution like a school (though as we'll see, there will be precious few schools in the Ledger's world) or from, well, anyone. Literally anyone. But especially also your workplace. That connection matters, because edublocks are tied straight to your employment and your income. But they can also come from informal groups, community CURMUDGUCATION: The Ledger: Lab Rat America:

Jersey Jazzman: Teacher Pay, Student Poverty, and Inequitably Funded Schools: A Data-Driven Story From Chicago

Jersey Jazzman: Teacher Pay, Student Poverty, and Inequitably Funded Schools: A Data-Driven Story From Chicago:
Teacher Pay, Student Poverty, and Inequitably Funded Schools: A Data-Driven Story From Chicago

How much more abuse can Chicago's schools take?

Chicago Public Schools students protested Monday the “racist and discriminatory” firing of district teachers and staff, which they said disproportionately affect low-income schools.

At a rally held outside the Thompson Center, about a dozen young protesters called for quality education and funding to be provided in all schools. The district fired 508 teachers and 521 support staff earlier this month. [emphasis mine]

Before we take a data dive, let's acknowledge something important: every number in a staff cut represents an actual person. As Xian Barrett writes in The Progressive, the students who have developed personal connections to their teachers suffer the most when a teacher is laid off. So while I think there's value in the analysis I present below, let's not forget that we are talking about children and educators -- real people who are going through real hell.

The layoffs took place in an atmosphere of continuing friction between the Chicago Teachers Union and district leadership, who can count on the editorial board of theChicago Tribune, among others, to lay the blame for the district's continuing fiscal problems at the feet of the union:

The district is a candidate for bankruptcy. Chicago taxes already are rising, but CTU wants more. A CPS contract offer on the table since January is a sweet deal for educators; district CEO Forrest Claypool tells us it won't — can't — get sweeter. 

CPS' proposal offers teachers a generous raise and keeps paying them for added seniority and education. It does make a significant ask: Teachers would have to pay a 7 percent pension tab that CPS now pays but no longer can afford. CPS still would pick up the employer's share of pension costs but asks employees to pay their share. Most Chicagoans, most Americans, understand that, since they too have to save for their own retirement.

Note the framing here: the funding of Chicago's schools is an issue of teacher Jersey Jazzman: Teacher Pay, Student Poverty, and Inequitably Funded Schools: A Data-Driven Story From Chicago:

Stolen Language: Charter Schools Are Not “Public” Schools | deutsch29

Stolen Language: Charter Schools Are Not “Public” Schools | deutsch29:
Stolen Language: Charter Schools Are Not “Public” Schools

On August 15, 2016,  the Post News Group published an op-ed entitled, “There’s No Such Thing as a ‘Public Charter School.'”

The piece was written by retired San Francisco State University adjunct professor, education activist, and Oakland, CA. resident, Ann Berlak. In short order, Berlak lays bare the lie behind the popularized message, “charter schools are public schools,” in such a clear, direct manner that I thought it worth sharing with my readers:

This year, more than a quarter of Oakland’s 49,000 students are attending one of its nearly 40 charter schools, far more per capita than anywhere else in the state.

Is this something for Oaklanders to boast about?

Not long ago I visited a school in Oakland to read to third graders on “Literacy Day.” On 
the way to the classroom I asked my guide if this was a charter or a public school. The 
immediate and decisive response: “We’re a public charter school.”

On June 14^th the LA Times informed the public: “Charters are independently operated, free public schools.”

The California Department of Education makes no bones about it: “A charter school is a public school.”

However, the term “public charter school” was developed by a PR firm to reframe the way we understand schooling in relationship to “public” and to democracy.

The campaign has been wildly successful. However, though the term “public charter school” is increasingly ubiquitous, charters are not public schools.

Public institutions—schools, libraries, zoos—are, at least in theory, funded by 
taxes from all the people in its jurisdiction—local, state and national—and are held accountable to and by those people through that fundamental process we in a democracy call voting.

Most public schools are accountable to an elected school board made up of community 
members. Residents of that community have the right to be present at Board meetings, weigh in 
on votes and debates, and access public financial documents.

Charter schools are run by executive boards, committees or corporations 

Stolen Language: Charter Schools Are Not “Public” Schools | deutsch29: