The ECOT Debacle: When Charter Schools Dodge Accountability

The ECOT Debacle: When Charter Schools Dodge Accountability:

The ECOT Debacle: When Charter Schools Dodge Accountability

Last September, the Ohio department of education audited the attendance records of the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT), the largest online charter school in Ohio. At issue was whether the virtual schools had been inflating their attendance to maximize state funding.

The audit confirmed the suspicions. According to the DOE, only 40 percent of ECOT students met the requirements to be considered full time and therefore eligible for funding. Most students were not participating in the minimum 920 hours of “learning opportunities” required by the state. Suddenly, the school was facing penalties of more than $60 million.

ECOT officials chafed at the investigation, calling it a “charade” and insisted that they were not obligated to demonstrate that students were staying logged on to complete coursework. ECOT’s superintendent Rick Teeters argued that the state had no right to conduct the audit. Funding depended on enrollment, he said, not whether students were actually staying online. And enrollment was high – more than 15,000 students in 2016.

ECOT, along with six other virtual schools, has so far failed to invalidate the state audit in the courts, and lawmakers have been hesitant to come to the rescue.

“ECOT usually gets what ECOT wants,” says Sandy Theis, executive director of ProgressOhio. a leading public interest group based in Columbus. “But it’s become very difficult to ignore its poor performance.”

While ECOT boasts about graduating 2,674 students last spring, you won’t find in any of its slick marketing materials any mention of the 3,252 students who dropped out. In fact, one out of every six dropouts in Ohio are ECOT students. More ECOT students either leave or fail to finish high school within four years more than at any other school in the nation. And ECOT repeatedly scores F’s on state report cards.

Despite all this, ECOT executives want and expect the legislature to continue shelling out more than $100 million in taxpayer money annually.

“ECOT is the poster child for the worst of Ohio’s struggling charter schools’” said Becky Higgins, president of the Ohio Education Association. “From persistently poor performance to a stubborn refusal to be held accountable, ECOT is a disservice to the students it purports to be educating.”

The burden on Ohio taxpayers, adds Higgins, is “untenable.”

ECOT’s failures are so towering that even charter school advocates in Ohio and The ECOT Debacle: When Charter Schools Dodge Accountability:

Senate sets fight over Education Secretary for next week

Senate sets fight over Education Secretary for next week:

Senate sets fight over Education Secretary for next week

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The U.S. Senate could vote as early as Monday on confirming President Donald Trump’s pick for education secretary, Betsy DeVos, with the political parties potentially entering a standoff requiring Vice President Mike Pence to act as tie-breaker.

On Friday morning, the Senate voted 52 to 48 on a procedural measure paving the way to the final confirmation vote, which the education committee chairman, Senator Lamar Alexander, said will happen early in the week.

DeVos, a billionaire philanthropist and charter-schools advocate, has faced unusually fierce opposition for a role that rarely receives congressional debate or public notice.

After her confirmation hearing, where DeVos seemed ill-equipped to discuss public education issues and suggested allowing guns at schools to fend off bear attacks, voters flooded Capitol Hill with calls and emails to block her nomination.

Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski have said they will not vote for her, the first Republicans to break party ranks and vote against one of Trump’s cabinet nominees.

If one more Republican sides with Democrats against her nomination, DeVos will become only the 10th cabinet nominee in U.S. history rejected by Congress.

Voting margins are so thin that Pence, as head of the Senate, may have to cast a tie-breaking vote.

The Senate’s top Democrat, Charles Schumer, pressed Republicans to consider voting against her over the weekend.

“The nominee for the secretary of education is one of the worst nominees that has ever been brought before this body for a cabinet position,” he said on the Senate floor. “Sometimes loyalty to a new president demands a bit too much.”

Alexander, a former education secretary, is confident that DeVos will ultimately be approved. On the Senate floor he said she would be excellent in the role. Republicans see DeVos as a champion of low-income children and local control of education.

“I would argue that she has been among the forefront of the leaders…for the most successful reform of the last 30 years to change and improve public education, and that would be the public charter schools,” he said.

Democrats worry DeVos’ support for charters, which operate independently of school Senate sets fight over Education Secretary for next week:

How Betsy DeVos Became Trump's Least Popular Cabinet Pick : NPR Ed : NPR

How Betsy DeVos Became Trump's Least Popular Cabinet Pick : NPR Ed : NPR:

How Betsy DeVos Became Trump's Least Popular Cabinet Pick

Of all President Donald Trump's Cabinet choices, only one currently seems at serious risk of being denied confirmation by the Senate.

The confirmation of Betsy DeVos as education secretary is a question mark after two Republican senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, announced they plan to vote against her.

The Senate cut off debate today after a procedural vote. Assuming no other GOP defectors, and no Democrats who cross over to support her, this could place Vice President Mike Pence in the unprecedented position of casting a tiebreaker vote early next week to push the president's nominee through. Jeff Sessions' confirmation as attorney general is also being held up so he can vote for DeVos from his current post as a senator from Alabama.

DeVos is one of several billionaires named to Trump's cabinet. She's not the only one seemingly lacking in background knowledge or qualifications to run a major federal bureaucracy: Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon with no prior governmental experience, has been named to lead the housing agency. Nor, with a record that favors vouchers over public schools, is DeVos the only appointee to have seemingly opposed the agency she is now poised to run: Rick Perry famously said he wanted to abolish the Department of Energy, and Scott Pruitt sued the Environmental Protection Agency more than a dozen times.

Yet it is DeVos' nomination that has spawned massive opposition across the Internet, and from both sides of the aisle.

Heidi Hess runs campaigns for CREDO, a mobile phone company with an activist arm that has been backing progressive causes for 30 years. When President Trump's cabinet picks were announced, CREDO held a strategy meeting and chose a "top terrible" list of appointees, dubbed the #SwampySeven in reference to Trump's vows to "drain the swamp."

But, Hess says, nobody has gotten people as enraged as DeVos. Activists made 30,000 phone calls to Senate offices and smashed CREDO's record for petition signatures, she How Betsy DeVos Became Trump's Least Popular Cabinet Pick : NPR Ed : NPR:

High School Students Reading ‘1984’ See A Mirror, Not Science Fiction | The Huffington Post

High School Students Reading ‘1984’ See A Mirror, Not Science Fiction | The Huffington Post:

High School Students Reading ‘1984’ See A Mirror, Not Science Fiction
They’re drawing the line from “doublethink” to “alternative facts.”

A dystopian world in which war is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength doesn’t seem all that far-fetched to some students now studying George Orwell’s 1984.

Teachers who have assigned the classroom staple this year report that teenagers’ reactions to the text are different than in years past. All of sudden, they say, students are recognizing their own country in Orwell’s work of fiction.

“There’s less shock compared to years past,” said Michigan teacher Mike Becker. “A lot of students came up to me in the last few weeks and said stuff along the lines of ‘We’re living in 1984.’”

The novel 1984 ― which was published in 1949 ― describes a society in a state of never-ending war, where a repressive government led by “Big Brother” constantly surveils its citizens. The main character works for the Ministry of Truth, which actually oversees propaganda. 

A lot of students came up to me in the last few weeks and said stuff along the lines of ‘We’re living in 1984.’Mike Becker

Sales of 1984 skyrocketed in recent weeks after presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway described lies from White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer as “alternative facts.” Adult readers may have drawn a connection between Conway’s remarks and Big Brother’s manipulation of facts. Students appear to see that connection as well. 

Becker has been teaching 1984 to his high school students for over six years. While High School Students Reading ‘1984’ See A Mirror, Not Science Fiction | The Huffington Post:

KXNG CROOKED – “Alternative Facts” | 2DOPEBOYZ - https://2dopeboyz.com/?p=398426 on @2DopeBoyz

Schumer: DeVos 'unfit' for Education secretary | TheHill

Schumer: DeVos 'unfit' for Education secretary | TheHill:

Schumer: DeVos 'unfit' for Education secretary

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Thursday blasted Betsy Devos, saying the Education secretary nominee is an example of the issues that Democrats have with most of President Trump's picks.

"Many of the nominees have philosophies that cut against the very nature of the department to which they are nominated," he said. "We're in unchartered waters with this administration." 

The New York Democrat said DeVos noting "didn't know basic facts about Education law" during her confirmation hearing. 

"When you judge her in three areas — conflicts of interest, basic confidence and ideology, views on Education policy, it is clear that Betsy DeVos is unfit for the job of Education secretary," he said. "In all three areas... she ranks among the lowest of any cabinet nominee I have ever seen." 

DeVos, a GOP mega-donor, has been the subject of fierce opposition from teachers unions and other liberal groups opposed to her support for charter schools and tuition vouchers using public funds. 

Democrats also hounded Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, for limiting the amount of time senators had to ask questions of DeVos during her confirmation hearing. 

Schumer said he was making an "educated guess" on Thursday that Alexander "knew how incompetent this nominee was, how poorly she fared under normal questioning, and the idea was to rush her through." 

He blasted the White House for having to rely on Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Trump's nominee for attorney general, and Vice President Pence to get DeVos through the upper chamber.  

"The White House will in effect get two deciding votes in the Senate on a nominee to the president's cabinet," he said, noting the two will be "casting the deciding votes."  

Republicans have a 52-seat majority, and GOP Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) have said they will not support DeVos's nomination during the final vote. No Democrat has publicly backed DeVos.

The final vote on DeVos could end up being the first time a vice president has been the deciding vote on a nomination. The Senate is expected to Schumer: DeVos 'unfit' for Education secretary | TheHill:

GOP pushes back final DeVos vote until next week | TheHill

GOP pushes back final DeVos vote until next week | TheHill:

GOP pushes back final DeVos vote until next week

Senate Republicans are postponing a final vote on controversial Education Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos until Monday or Tuesday.

Senior Republican aides acknowledged there will be an “attendance issue” preventing a vote from happening Saturday, but said it has nothing to do with the GOP fundraising treat a group of senators plan to attend starting Friday in Florida.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee’s (NRSC) fundraising event this weekend is at The Breakers hotel in Palm Beach. 

The Senate is expected to vote at 6:30 a.m. Friday morning to end a Democratic filibuster of DeVos and advance her nomination to final vote. Leadership could bring up a final vote as soon as Saturday if they wanted, as Senate rules usually require 30 hours to elapse after a filibuster-ending cloture vote.

But the final confirmation vote will be pushed into next week, freeing up GOP senators to meet with donors at the luxury hotel, where a guest room with a view of the ocean costs $699 a night.

Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn (Texas) said Thursday afternoon that he expected a vote Monday but later revised his estimate, telling reporters that Tuesday is also a possibility.

Timing on the final vote will depend on whether Republicans will be able to run all the required procedural time off the clock on Friday and Monday. Democrats are vowing to make it as difficult as possible.

Two senior GOP aides said NRSC Chairman Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) was willing to reschedule the retreat, and the attendance problem preventing a Saturday vote is due to a senator who has a “family issue.”

Two centrist GOP senators, Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), on Wednesday announced they will oppose DeVos, putting her nomination on the brink.

If every other Senate Republican backed DeVos, it would create a 50-50 tied vote that would let Vice President Mike Pence cast the tie breaking GOP pushes back final DeVos vote until next week | TheHill:

Trump Says He Heard Frederick Douglass Was Alive from Betsy DeVos - The New Yorker

Trump Says He Heard Frederick Douglass Was Alive from Betsy DeVos - The New Yorker:

TRUMP SAYS HE HEARD FREDERICK DOUGLASS WAS ALIVE FROM BETSY DEVOS

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—After raising eyebrows by suggesting that he believed that Frederick Douglass was still alive, Donald Trump revealed on Wednesday that everything he knew about Douglass had come from his Education Secretary nominee, Betsy DeVos.



“Betsy told me all about Frederick Douglass,” Trump told reporters. “I think she’s going to be a fantastic Education Secretary. She really made Frederick Douglass come alive.”



Before his breakfast meeting to mark Black History Month, Trump told DeVos, “Betsy, write down everything you know about black history so I can read it at the meeting. She took out a pen and did it in, like, three minutes. She’s fantastic.”



Impressed by the one-sentence summary that DeVos wrote about Frederick Douglass, Trump said that he was now considering Douglass for a top White House post.

“Based on what Betsy said about him, we could really use Fred’s energy around here,” Trump said.



He lashed out at the press for reporting that Frederick Douglass was dead, calling those reports “very unfair.”



“That’s a nasty thing to say about someone who is alive and doing a great job,” he said. “This is why the press is failing and it’s failing very, very badly.”



Andy Borowitz is a New York Times best-selling author and a comedian who has written for The New Yorker since 1998. He writes the Borowitz Report for newyorker.com. MoreTrump Says He Heard Frederick Douglass Was Alive from Betsy DeVos - The New Yorker:

Betsy DeVos and Neurocore: Profiting from Quack Medicine? | janresseger

Betsy DeVos and Neurocore: Profiting from Quack Medicine? | janresseger:

Betsy DeVos and Neurocore: Profiting from Quack Medicine?

The NY Times editorialized this morning against the confirmation of Betsy DeVos: Wanted: One Republican with Integrity to Defeat Betsy DeVos. The final confirmation vote by the Senate is currently scheduled for Monday, and unless one more Republican Senator makes a decision of conscience, Vice President Mike Pence will break the tie. All Democrats have pledged to vote “no,” along with Republicans Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski.

But whatever happens on Monday, there is something that bears watching in upcoming months—DeVos’s refusal to divest from Neurocore, a medically questionable brain therapy company in which she and her husband Dick DeVos, the Amway heir, have reported an investment of between $5 and $25 million.  They have invested in Neurocore through their family company, Windquest Group.

This blog commented on DeVos’s huge investment in Neurocore last week, based on blog reports from Mitchell Robinson and Jennifer Berkshire. Then earlier this week—lost in the coverage of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee vote to report the DeVos nomination to the full Senate—reporters for the New York Times explored the problem of Neurocore.

The NY Times reports that while Neurocore’s results are trumpeted by the company as astonishing, this is very likely a story of marketing and quack science: “A group of brain performance centers backed by Betsy DeVos, the nominee for education secretary, promotes results that are nothing short of stunning: improvements reported by 91 percent of patients with depression, 90 percent with attention deficit disorder, 90 percent with anxiety. The treatment offered by Neurocore, a business in which Ms. DeVos and her husband, Dick, are the chief investors, consists of showing movies to patients and interrupting them when the viewers become distracted, in an effort to retrain their brains. With eight centers in Michigan and Florida and plans to expand, Neurocore says it has assessed about 10,000 people for health problems that often require medication… But a review of Neurocore’s claims and Betsy DeVos and Neurocore: Profiting from Quack Medicine? | janresseger:

Bigger than Sputnik: How Betsy Devos’ Nomination for Secretary of Education just Saved Public Education | radical eyes for equity

GUEST POST: Bigger than Sputnik, Christian Z. Goering | radical eyes for equity:

GUEST POST: Bigger than Sputnik, Christian Z. Goering

Bigger than Sputnik: How Betsy Devos’ Nomination for Secretary of Education just Saved Public Education

Christian Z. Goering

Most people are familiar with American educational history to the point that Soviet launch of a satellite into space in 1957 before the launch of a US satellite, struck great fear that our country was falling behind and thus needed to double down on our efforts, especially those in education. This little blinking light meant the Cold War could be lost and the years after Sputnik were marked by the National Defense of Education Act in 1958 and an onslaught of programs designed to improve teaching and learning and strengthen our system of public schools. A friend who began teaching in 1963 often shared with me the different ways in which he benefited from this urgency—paid summer workshops for teachers, support for graduate degrees, and just plain old-fashioned support for education.

I’m going to be bold in predicting that Donald Trump’s nomination of Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education will be remembered as a watershed moment in educational history, the point in time where public education was saved. I believe Betsy is bigger than Sputnik.

Before you rush to think otherwise, I don’t believe Ms. DeVos has any business leading the US Department of Education. Her religious adherence to the school choice movement, one I believe is designed to tear down (not improve) our system of public education, is single-handedly a disqualifier. The comment about bears and the fact that she has zero experience ever working inside a school of any kind seems like enough further evidence that she has no business setting foot in the Department of Education, much less leading it. When then President-Elect Trump passed on Michelle Rhee—the former Chancellor of the Washington D. C. schools and arguably the most hated educator in America—to instead nominate billionaire DeVos, it seemed apparent that only the most non-logical and most offensive choice was the goal. In this case, President Trump went too far.

While I’d love to tell you that Betsy DeVos is the worst nominee for President Trump’s cabinet and to place all of the blame for this nomination squarely on the President’s shoulders, she’s not and that wouldn’t be fair. Rather, a hefty amount of blame must be placed at the feet of the Democratic party, which over the past twenty years has increasingly drifted GUEST POST: Bigger than Sputnik, Christian Z. Goering | radical eyes for equity:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Klonsky Bros. Radio

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Klonsky Bros. Radio:

Klonsky Bros. Radio

This morning at 11, my brother Fred and I kick off our new radio show, Hitting Left on WLPN, 105.5 FM. In Chicago or not, we'll be streaming galaxy-wide at LumpenRadio.Com. Or, you can download the app and hear the show with a click on your phone.

We're not taking phone calls today, but you can Tweet us at #HittingLeft and we'll try to get to your questions and comments.

This morning, Fred and I will be talking Trump, ed/politics and much more, with our in-studio guest, Troy LaRaviere. If you follow this blog, you know Troy well. He's the president Chicago Principals and Administrators Assoc. and was the principal at Blaine Elementary before the mayor took revenge on him and had him fired for "insubordination", meaning, Troy's open criticisms of Rahm's policies were having an impact. His hard-hitting Tribune commentary ("Why does Rahm Emanuel put business ahead of our children?") really pissed off the mayor. Plus, Troy being a Bernie Sanders campaigner may also have had something to do with it, according to the IG. 

But, as they say, the tables are turning. Troy landed on his feet and won the PAAA election. Now there's even talk about him running for mayor. Of course, we're going to ask him about that and a lot more.

Tune in. Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Klonsky Bros. Radio:

Turtle Learning: February 1st is World Hijab Day #IStand4Hijab #IStandWithHijabis

Turtle Learning: #IStand4Hijab #IStandWithHijabis:

#IStand4Hijab #IStandWithHijabis



February 1st is World Hijab Day -- so appropriate for the times in which we are living. I tried to take photo of myself but not good at selfies, nor putting on the Hijab.  I'll get better at it I suspect as the Trump administration continues to harass and detain and demonize Islamic peoples. 

A celebration took place today in Garden Grove where I believe more Islamic people live. I didn't see the same support for this here in Los Angeles, unfortunately.  

   Since February 17th, I have attended three demonstrations and a press conference protesting Trump's inhumane and mostly psychopathic policies.  Even before he was inaugurated there was evidence that he would not only do what he said, but worse. This has come true.

I am making this a very short blog so that I can publish it not too far from #IStandWithHijabis  Day.

Here are some links for more information:

Facebook World Hijab Day -- https://www.facebook.com/WorldHijabDay/  

Website:  http://worldhijabday.com  

As with everything in our world, there were also controversies.  Friends in Garden Grove had a lovely celebration with 500 people.  But in Paris at an elite university, it backfired.

I hope all of us will register a Muslims if Hrumpf starts his registry.

From www.hijabworld.com    

And to end on a particularly lovely image:

Twitter Page Link - https://twitter.com/search?q=%23IStandWithHijabis&src=tyah   

 Turtle Learning: #IStand4Hijab #IStandWithHijabis:

CURMUDGUCATION: Active Shooter

CURMUDGUCATION: Active Shooter:

Active Shooter

So today we had early dismissal so that we could spend the afternoon running active shooter drills.

Loads of local law enforcement and other agencies participated in the drill. We had fifty-ish hand picked students to play the part of student victims. We had several previous PDs to go over how to handle ourselves. And we had two live "bad guys" with blank-firing guns to make it all nice and realistic.

We ran four drills. Because my room is far off in one wing of the building, I missed most of the excitement. I did not even hear the gunfire or the screams, and would not have known what was happening had the office not provided announcements (as part of the drill) like "Shots fired in the science wing." That was for three of the drills.

We were not of course told what simulations would be run. I don't know if it would have helped. Probably not. But Scenario #3 turned out to be a lunch shift. My lunch shift.

The shooters prepped the students and put them at ease. Selected some to stand against the wall and be shot dead, a couple of others to be wounded. Administrators, observers, local press stood along the walls to watch.

My usual post is on the wall with the entrance doors. The shooter fired first outside, in the hall. The shots were loud-- we knew they were coming and the students still shrieked in surprise and alarm. The shooter entered and began. My colleagues at the other end yelled for the students to go toward them, to get out. I had to walk the length of the cafeteria to get to an exit, the shooter to my right, executing the four pre-selected victims. Students dove under tables, huddled against the wall. I waved them up, toward the exit. We go out, went around the building to the safe zone.

I don't know if I saw all the students. I don't know if I got them all out. I'm pretty sure I didn't, and even with preparation and the fact that it wasn't real, the choice between shooing them out and lagging back to make sure they were all up and moving while the gun was still shooting- BAM BAM BAM BAM-- was a little bit beyond my processing powers in that moment.

I won't lie. I was shaken. I'm still shaken. We debriefed at the end of the day and the law CURMUDGUCATION: Active Shooter:

Jersey Jazzman: School Choice Week's Alternative Facts

Jersey Jazzman: School Choice Week's Alternative Facts:

School Choice Week's Alternative Facts

Hey, look who it is: Rebecca Friedrichs, the anti-labor right's favorite teacher! Last time we saw Friedrichs she was merrily leading the fight to destroy teachers unions by overturning almost four decades of judicial precedent and insisting on her right to freeload off of dues-paying teachers union members.

Fredrichs' arguments against agency fees never made any sense, but she never, at least as far as I read, made up statistics to bolster her point of view. Alas, she's now spending her time promoting school vouchers, likely in anticipation of the DeVos privatization parade that's marching into Washington.*

And she's engaging in statistical malpractice of the worst order to sell school voucher schemes.

Here's a slick little video from the folks at PragerU featuring Friedrichs, where she explains that students who use school vouchers -- which allow families to use taxpayer monies to pay private school tuition, including religious schools -- get better academic results than if they attended their local public school.

According to researchers at the University of Arkansas – in the most comprehensive study done to date -- students in school choice programs saw their reading and math scores improve by 27 percent and 15 percent, respectively.

Sounds like something we should get behind, doesn’t it? But for millions of families in my home state of California and in many others, school choice is not a choice. [emphasis mine]

These numbers are alternative facts -- Friedrichs and the people who made Jersey Jazzman: School Choice Week's Alternative Facts:

 

PA Legislature Plans Taking Away Teachers’ Sick Days | gadflyonthewallblog

PA Legislature Plans Taking Away Teachers’ Sick Days | gadflyonthewallblog:

PA Legislature Plans Taking Away Teachers’ Sick Days

Dear Pennsylvania legislators:

So now you want to take away teachers’ sick days.

Sabbatical, sick days, bereavement leaves – the Senate Education Committee voted 7-5 to strip them from the law and make teachers bargain for them with their districts.

So the next time I get sick, you don’t want to guarantee I can take the day off. If my mother dies, you don’t want to protect my right to attend her funeral.

The full legislature still has to vote on it, but that’s pretty cold.

Which brings me to my first question: Why do you hate public school teachers so much?

Seriously. What did teachers ever do to you? Did we give you a bad grade when you were kids? Did we give you detention? What did we ever do to earn such animosity?

You obviously must have something personal against teachers.

It’s understandable. Even though the majority of Pennsylvanians voted for Democrats, most of you are Republicans. You have gerrymandered the state so that you artificially have the majority, and as such you must espouse the most radical positions possible. Otherwise, you’ll be primaried by someone even farther right – a Tea Partier, a plutocrat, an anarcho-capitalist, a fascist.

We see the same thing playing out nationally. Hello, Donald Trump!

So it’s no surprise that after stripping public schools of almost $1 billion every yearfor the past five years, after tens of thousands of teachers have been laid off, after you’ve given away millions of dollars to private corporations to run fly-by-night charter schools or through tax credits to religious schools – well, it’s no surprise that PA Legislature Plans Taking Away Teachers’ Sick Days | gadflyonthewallblog: