Poll: President Trump Voters Oppose His Education Agenda | Education News | US News

Poll: President Trump Voters Oppose His Education Agenda | Education News | US News:

Poll: President Trump Voters Oppose His Education Agenda 

Nearly half of those who voted for President Donald Trump oppose his education agenda, according to a new poll, and many said they would likely not vote to reelect their congressional representatives should they support it.

Nearly three-quarters, or 74 percent, of all respondents interviewed for the poll oppose the education cuts included in the president's budget request, which proposed slashing funding by more than $9 billion, or by 13.4 percent, and 54 percent of respondents "strongly" oppose it.

In addition, nearly half, or 48 percent, of people who self-identified as having voted for the president oppose his education agenda.

The Hart Research Associates, a public opinion research firm, conducted the poll for the American Federation of Teachers, the 1.5-million member teachers union.

The results are based on interviews with a nationally representative sample of voters conducted online from June 3 to June 5. Among those interviewed, 45 percent voted for President Donald Trump in the presidential election and 40 percent identified as a Republican, and 48 percent voted for Hillary Clinton and 41 percent identified as a Democrat.

Notably, 71 percent found the elimination of $2.4 billion for teacher preparation unacceptable, 73 percent found the elimination of $1.2 billion for after-school programs unacceptable and 76 percent found the elimination of $168 million for career and technical education unacceptable.

That Republican respondents, in particular, polled so negatively on the specifics of the budget and the administration's education policy agenda on the whole is not overly surprising.

GOP leaders in Congress called the president's budget "dead on arrival," and during aPoll: President Trump Voters Oppose His Education Agenda | Education News | US News: 

Supreme Court: Religious School In Missouri Can Use Taxpayer Funds For Playground : NPR

Supreme Court: Religious School In Missouri Can Use Taxpayer Funds For Playground : NPR:

Supreme Court Rules Religious School Can Use Taxpayer Funds For Playground

Read the Opinion: Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that taxpayer-funded grants for playgrounds available to nonprofits under a state program could not be denied to a school run by a church.

"The consequence is, in all likelihood, a few extra scraped knees. But the exclusion of Trinity Lutheran from a public benefit for which it is otherwise qualified, solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution all the same, and cannot stand," Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority.

In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, "If this separation means anything, it means that the government cannot, or at the very least need not, tax its citizens and turn that money over to houses of worship. The Court today blinds itself to the outcome this history requires and leads us instead to a place where separation of church and state is a constitutional slogan, not a constitutional commitment."

Two justices, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas, refused to sign on to a footnote explicitly stating that the court's approval applied only to playground funding and should not be read as applying to parochial schools in general.

The court's ruling came in the case of the Trinity Lutheran Church in Columbia, Mo., which operates a preschool and day care learning center as part of its church ministry.Supreme Court: Religious School In Missouri Can Use Taxpayer Funds For Playground : NPR:

More than 7,500 Educators to Gather, Vote at NEA Annual Meeting - NEA Today

More than 7,500 Educators to Gather, Vote at NEA Annual Meeting - NEA Today:

More than 7,500 Educators to Gather, Vote at NEA Annual Meeting

At this year’s Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly, NEA delegates will gather in Boston, Mass., to vote on issues facing public education and to set the organization’s policies and priorities for the upcoming year.

The theme for this year’s meeting is “Uniting Our Members and the Nation for Strong Communities.” More than 7,500 educators are expected to participate in NEA’s 154th Annual Meeting and 95th  Representative Assembly (RA) June 25–July 5 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

Among the many business items to be voted on, the RA will consider a revised NEA policy statement on charter schools. Developed by a task force of nearly two dozen educators over the past year, the statement makes clear NEA’s support for public charter schools that are held accountable for their students’ success while decrying their privately managed, unaccountable counterparts. Delegates can learn more about the proposed statement during an open hearing on Saturday, July 1.

The Representative Assembly (RA) is the top decision-making body for the nearly 3 million-member National Education Association, where delegates adopt the strategic plan and budget, resolutions, the legislative program and other policies of the organization.

Following are more highlights from this year’s meeting.

Wednesday, June 28 and Thursday, June 29

The NEA Human and Civil Rights Department will host the 2017 Conference on Racial and Social Justice (formerly, the Joint Conference on the Concerns of Minorities and Women).

The annual conference brings together educators, students, parents and families, organizers, community members and leaders to talk about how to advance racial and social justice in public education. Through interactive workshops, sessions, panels and plenaries, participants will debate the issues that limit educational opportunities for communities of color, LGBTQ, and girls and women and create strategies for addressing them.

On Thursday, June 29, NEA will announce the 2017 Social Justice Activist of the Year during the closing luncheon of the Conference on Racial and Social Justice. The award recognizes members who demonstrate the ability to lead, organize, and engage educators, parents, and the community to advocate on social justice issues that affect the lives of students, fellow educators, and their communities. For a list of this year’s finalists, please click here.

NEA-Retired members will also gather for their annual meeting on June 28, when they will voting for NEA-Retired candidates, present the NEA-Retired Distinguished Service Award and the NEA-Retired Jack Kinnaman Scholarship Award. Members will also discuss and vote on new business items pertinent to retired educator members.

Thursday, June 29

The NEA Student Program will present the second annual Leaders Empowering Grassroots Advocacy for Communities and Youth (LEGACY) Project, which brings future educators together to volunteer in a school community. Hundreds of these future educators will arrive in Boston days before the Annual Meeting and RA for these volunteer efforts

Along with NEA-Retired members, community members and visitors, the educators will participate in several activities intended to uplift students and families in the Everett Public School District, a community north of Boston. Activities include a “Ninja Warrior” style obstacle course, signing up students for library cards, and interacting with animals from Stone Zoo. NEA and Everett Public Schools leaders, as well as elected officials, will participate and answer questions about the LEGACY Project throughout the day.

Saturday, July 1

NEA will host the 50th Human and Civil Rights Awards Dinner in the Grand Ballroom of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. This year, the theme is “Living the Legacy: After 50 Years, Still We Rise.” Twelve human and civil rights heroes will be recognized for their inspiring contributions to build a more just society.

Sunday, July 2

NEA President Lily Eskelsen García will open the National Education Association’s four-day Representative Assembly with her keynote address at approximately 10:30a.m. on July 2. Eskelsen García, who started her education career as a cafeteria worker before becoming the 1989 Utah Teacher of the Year, is serving her third year as president of the nation’s largest labor union. She is the first-ever Latina elected to head the organization, which represents 3 million educators.

Monday, July 3

The 2017 Education Support Professional Saul Ramos, who lives in the Boston area, will address the NEA Representative Assembly. The self-taught braillist and advocate for the visually impaired has a special education career spanning nearly two decades. Ramos works as a paraeducator at Burncoat High Schoolin the Worcester Public School system in Massachusetts. He was honored for his dedication this past year with the Red Sox Most Valuable Educator Award and he also has been inducted into the Educator Hall of Fame.

The 2017 National Teacher of the Year Sydney Chaffee, another Boston local, will also address the RA on July 3. As a humanities teacher at Codman Academy public charter school in Boston, Sydney strives every day to improve learning for all of her students. In the classroom, she creates lessons that demonstrate how education can be a transformative tool for social justice, and she encourages her students to see themselves as having the power to make change in the world based on lessons from the past.

Also on July 3 the NEA will present the 2017 Friend of Education Award — the organization’s highest honor — to actor LeVar Burton for his leadership and decades of work to build a generation of readers. Burton hosts the long-running PBS children’s series “Reading Rainbow” and portrayed Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and the young Kunta Kinte in the 1977 award-winning, trailblazing miniseries “Roots.” Through the relaunch of Reading Rainbow in an online format, Burton is continuing to have a positive impact on children’s literacy.

Tuesday, July 4

The 2017 Social Justice Activist of the Year, announced on June 29, will be honored on the 4th of July. NEA has a long and proud history of social justice activism, and members in every state advocate for the opportunity all students, regardless of where they live or who they are, deserve to be inspired and challenged in public schools. Education advocacy and social justice advocacy go hand in hand in our increasingly diverse communities, and all students and school professionals must feel welcome in schools across the nation.

A complete agenda for this year’s Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly can be found at: nea.org/ra

 More than 7,500 Educators to Gather, Vote at NEA Annual Meeting - NEA Today:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Gov. Rauner brimming with success while IL burns

"“Well, I take long walks with our dog and ride my motorcycle. I head out alone and explore roads or find a little park to sit and think. Or a brew pub to strike up conversations. It’s really wonderful when people describing themselves as Democrats tell me to stay the course. That I’m doing the right thing. That energizes me and I know it sounds strange, but my wife tells me she hasn’t seen me this happy in 20 years. I feel totally honored and humbled to get the opportunity to improve the future of 13 million people.” -- Sneed

Trump on Obama

“He actually used my term: ‘mean’. That was my term,” Trump said. “Because I want to see – and I speak from the heart – that’s what I want to see, I want to see a bill with heart.” -- Guardian 

Suburban Supt. Raymond Lechner on NCLB redux

"That's what I'm afraid of — that it's going to be the same approach as NCLB, though NCLB said 100 percent," saidMike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:

School Vouchers Get 2 New Report Cards : NPR Ed : NPR

School Vouchers Get 2 New Report Cards : NPR Ed : NPR:

School Vouchers Get 2 New Report Cards

It is the education debate of the Trump era. With the president and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos using policy and the bully pulpit to champion private school vouchers, supporters and critics have tangled over the question:

Do low-income, public school students perform better when they're given a voucher to attend a private school?

For years, the answer from researchers has been a muddle, while a handful of recent studies have clearly shown voucher students backsliding academically. Today, much-anticipated reviews of not one but two of the nation's largest voucher programs add some depth and a few twists to the voucher narrative.

First, Indiana. No one has studied the largest, single statewide program in the nation ... until now. More than 34,000 students are enrolled in Indiana's Choice Scholarship Program. That's 3 percent of students statewide.

In a recent investigation of the program, NPR found some private schools turning away children with disabilities and LGBTQ students, but it was impossible to say, at the time, whether those students who are using vouchers are any better off academically.

Researchers Mark Berends of the University of Notre Dame and R. Joseph Waddington of the University of Kentucky have spent years studying this question, and they've given NPR an early look at their findings.

The backslide

In their unpublished research, which is now being peer-reviewed, Waddington and Berends studied the standardized test scores of low-income, public school students (grades 3-8) who qualified for free or reduced-price lunch and who used a voucher to switch to a private school.

When comparing these students' achievement after the switch to their test scores the previous year, the researchers found:

• Voucher students experienced "modest annual achievement losses" in math, especially in the first two years after leaving public school.
• In English/language arts (ELA), voucher students showed no benefits.
• These results echo what other researchers have found: that voucher students often backslide academically after switching to private school.

When students stick around, they improve

The researchers studied student data for the program's first four years and noticed an interesting pattern. If students stayed in their voucher schools long enough, the backslide stopped and their performance began to improve.

"The longer that a student is enrolled in a private school receiving a voucher, their achievement begins to turn positive in magnitude — to the degree that they're making up ground that they initially lost in their first couple of years in private school," Waddington tells NPR. "It's like they're getting back to where they started" before they enrolled in a private school.

New voucher students fell statistically significantly behind their public school peers in math after switching. On average, those losses continued for two years in private school before students began making up ground. In the fourth year, those who were still enrolled in a voucher school appeared to catch up.

In ELA, voucher students also lost ground but, ultimately, surpassed their public School Vouchers Get 2 New Report Cards : NPR Ed : NPR:

Supreme Court backs Trinity Lutheran Church in key religious rights case

Supreme Court backs Trinity Lutheran Church in key religious rights case:

Supreme Court backs Trinity Lutheran Church in key religious rights case

Read the Opinion: Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday sided with a church that objected to being denied public money in Missouri, potentially lessening America’s separation of church and state by allowing governments more leeway to fund religious entities directly.

The justices, in a 7-2 ruling, found that Missouri unlawfully prevented Trinity Lutheran Church access to a state grant program that helps nonprofit groups buy rubber playground surfaces made from recycled tires.

Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, said that the exclusion of the church “solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution.”

In denying the church’s bid for public funding, Missouri cited its constitution that bars “any church, sect or denomination of religion” or clergy member from receiving state money, language that goes further than the U.S. Constitution’s separation of church and state.

Trinity Lutheran, which runs a preschool and daycare center, wanted a safer surface for its playground. Its legal fight was led by the Alliance Defending Freedom conservative Christian legal advocacy group.

The dispute pitted two provisions of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment against each other: the guarantee of the free exercise of religion and the Establishment Clause, which requires the separation of church and state.Supreme Court backs Trinity Lutheran Church in key religious rights case:

First time delegate: Excited and ready to go!

First time delegate: Excited and ready to go!:

New educators ready to step up!

The countdown to the 2017 NEA Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly (RA) has begun, and I’m fired up and ready to go! Some 7,500 delegates, hailing from all corners and every state, are looking forward to debating important issues and setting our priorities and agenda. And first-time delegates who are also new to our profession are so pumped up that they just might be doing the Carlton dance by the time we convene in Boston.

One of them is Josh Halpren, an 8th-grade history teacher at Eastern Middle School in Silver Spring, Md.

Josh graduated in 2014 with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies: Communications, Legal Institutions, Economics and Government, as well as Secondary Education, from American University. He recently completed a post-baccalaureate certificate program in Equity and Excellence Education through a partnership between his local, Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA), and McDaniel College.

 A year ago, Josh was elected as a Middle School Representative on MCEA’s Board of Directors, and he also serves as chair of his local’s New Educator Action Team, which engages new educators through social events, advocacy, and leadership development. (By the way: If you’re new to the profession, take a look at the resources and information NEA provides for you at SupportEd.)

So Josh, how excited are you about attending the RA?

“I am very excited about the RA! I’ve attended the Maryland State Education Association RA for the past two years and have really enjoyed the opportunity to set the agenda for our organization and to learn about the challenges facing educators in schools across the country. I think it is going to be a great experience and I can’t wait to be a part of it!” 

Tell us about your path to becoming a delegate.

“Prior to becoming a teacher, I interned in the Educational Issues department at the American Federation of Teachers. I worked on all kinds of issues, from teacher evaluation to community schools. I met teacher-leaders from all over the country working on these issues. I also got to work on some of the logistics for AFT’s Convention and TEACH Conference and really loved the environment in these settings: teachers learning from each other and working to strengthen their profession and schools.

When I started teaching and joined MCEA, MSEA, and NEA, I knew I wanted to be involved in my union and to attend these events as a member and delegate. Through my work on the board of MCEA, I’ve gotten to know educators in many of our over 200 schools across diverse communities with a variety of needs. I hope that this experience will allow me to most accurately represent the viewpoints of these members.”

As a new educator, is there a particular perspective you’re hoping to bring in your role as delegate?

“As I’ve gotten more involved with my local, I believe it is more important than ever that new educators in particular step up to serve in these roles. We have unique interests that need to be heard now. Sometimes new educators can be so swamped with the sheer volume of the day-to-day work of being a teacher that we don’t seek out these roles, or others tell us that we need to wait our turn. But we have challenges, ideas, and innovations that need to be shared now—not in spite of how new we are to the profession, but because of it.

I also believe that new educators are particularly tuned in to the pressing concerns of equity in our schools. We have a keen sense of social justice, and new teachers in particular seem ready to break down the institutions that reinforce inequity among teachers and students in our schools.” 

What are you hoping to gain from being a delegate at the RA?First time delegate: Excited and ready to go!:

Healthcare? We Do Not Care: Blood from a Turnip | radical eyes for equity

Healthcare? We Do Not Care: Blood from a Turnip | radical eyes for equity:

Healthcare? We Do Not Care: Blood from a Turnip

Over the past two weeks, my mother had a stroke and resides now in a rehabilitation facility, and my father died sitting beside her over this weekend, after deteriorating for months because of a failing heart.

My family has been experiencing the nightmare that is the consequence of living in a nation that worships money above all else: being sick and dying in the U.S. remains a financial disaster.

We in the U.S. have purposefully and willfully monetized illness and death.

While my mother was in the hospital, she needed her IV changed, but the floor nurse on duty was having trouble with the new placement. She called in the head nurse, who asked me about the care my mother was receiving at the hospital.

I eagerly praised the nurses, doctors, and staff—all of whom had been wonderful, and it is no hyperbole, they literally saved my mother’s life.

I explained, however, that this recent experience combined with my own accident on Christmas eve had reinforced how senseless the healthcare and insurance systems in the U.S. are.

She was quick to concur, noting how often the insurance representatives dictated what doctors have traditionally decided was best for patients.

My mother’s insurance was not a provider for the hospital where they Healthcare? We Do Not Care: Blood from a Turnip | radical eyes for equity:

NYC Educator: Charter Logic

NYC Educator: Charter Logic:

Charter Logic

It's old news that NY State tends to give Eva Moskowitz a blank check for whatever. First of all, she doesn't need to follow no stinking rules for pre-K. Reformies make a big thing out of talking about "public charter schools," but the only time they're really public is when they've got their hands in your pockets. Once they have your money, they don't need no stinking rules.

There's a whole lot of talk about mayoral control, and why or why not Bill de Blasio deserves it. I don't support mayoral control, as it's been an unmitigated disaster for city students and teachers. For years I attended PEP meetings where entire communities spoke in defense of their schools. Bloomberg's stooges sat there and played with their Blackberries as we wasted our breath. Meanwhile, the shell game of shuffling kids from one building to another and closing the schools they entered continued unabated.

When de Blasio was elected, I thought maybe mayoral control wouldn't be so bad. After all, he ran opposing charter schools. But when he denied the Moskowitz Monster increased space, the reformies brought suitcases of cash to Albany and bought themselves a law that NYC would have to pay rent for charters if it denied them space. So basically, mayoral control was absolute with a reformy mayor but modified when anyone not frothing at the mouth took the office.

In short, who needs it? Why does de Blasio even want it? He and Cuomo can complain about how irresponsible it is to have more democracy in school boards, and UFT leadership can join them in that chorus. But teachers and students are certainly not better off with mayoral control. Without it we may not have seen so many comprehensive high schools dismantled rather than improved. In fact, we wouldn't have seen such a weakening in union as schools were staffed with newbies justifiably afraid to stand up.

Meanwhile, the charters needed to get something. So what does Eva need? Evidently, the way to put children first is to get rid of all those NYC Educator: Charter Logic:

NYC Public School Parents: Our 2017 Skinny Award dinner; a wonderfully joyful and inspiring evening!

NYC Public School Parents: Our 2017 Skinny Award dinner; a wonderfully joyful and inspiring evening!:

Our 2017 Skinny Award dinner; a wonderfully joyful and inspiring evening!

Our Class Size Matters Skinny award dinner was held last Tuesday, June 20, and it was terrific, despite a last minute change of venue because the restaurant where it was supposed to be held unexpectedly closed. Many people told me it was the best Skinny award dinner ever. Amir of Casa La Femme welcomed us with open arms; the restaurant is luxurious and spacious, with good food, and a belly dancer even turned up at the end of the evening. Sorry if you didn't make it, but there's always next year. Below is the speech I gave and some photos; there are many more on the Class Size Matters Facebook page here. See also the video of the CPE1 parents singing below.  The evening was also covered by bloggers Arthur Goldstein and Norm Scott. 

Welcome to our 9^th annual Skinny award dinner. This is always one of the most joyous and inspiring evenings of the year for me and I hope for all of you as well.

Carol Burris, Diane Ravitch  and John Allgood.

Before getting started Some special people I want to thank – first of all, the Class Size Matters board – Diane Ravitch, Patrick Sullivan, Monica Major, Emily Horowitz and Cynthia Wachtell.

I want to thank Diane, Cynthia and Susan Ochshorn of Early Childhood Education Policy Works for their generosity and helping to underwrite the dinner tonight.

My fellow NYC Kids PAC members who are here tonight – many of whom also volunteered to help set up and check you in -- Shino Tanikawa, Karen Sprowal, Fatima Geidi, Gloria Corsino – all great parent leaders. Also Benita Lovett-Rivera, our brilliant graphic designer, who helped with the turnout and success of tonight’s event.

I want to thank Dr. Audrey Baker and Dr. Gerry Baker, for coming and to congratulate Audrey for receiving her Doctorate of Educational Leadership just a few weeks ago.

Karen Sprowal and Jan Atwell

I want to thank Jan Atwell with teaching me everything I know about education policy and politics and has been my mentor in this area for many years Whenever I don’t know the answer to a question I just ask Jan.And most of all, I want to thank my husband Michael Oppenheimer for supporting me every NYC Public School Parents: Our 2017 Skinny Award dinner; a wonderfully joyful and inspiring evening!:

With A Brooklyn Accent: How The Democratic Party Fatally Damaged Itself By Attacking Public Education

With A Brooklyn Accent: How The Democratic Party Fatally Damaged Itself By Attacking Public Education:

How The Democratic Party Fatally Damaged Itself By Attacking Public Education

Ever since the Clinton Presidency, the Democratic Party has been an advocate of top-down school reforms whose goal has been to make the nation more economically competitive and reduce inequality.

 Not only have these policies failed to achieve their stated objectives, they have destabilized communities where Democrats have traditionally found support, created widespread distress among teachers and parents, and given credence to the conservative critique of the DP as the province of technocratic elites who impose policies on people without really listening to them


Every Democratic politician who has promoted the following education policies, I would argue, has been complicit in the Party's decline


1. Promotion of national testing and test based accountability standards for public schools.
2. Closing of schools which are deemed "failing" and removal of their teachers and administrators.
3. Preference for charter schools over public schools, especially in high poverty areas.
4. Support for programs like Teach for America which de-professionalize the teaching profession.


These four principles have been pillars of the Democratic Party's With A Brooklyn Accent: How The Democratic Party Fatally Damaged Itself By Attacking Public Education: