RheeFirst! » StudentsFirst donated $500,000 to support anti-union measure in Michigan

RheeFirst! » StudentsFirst donated $500,000 to support anti-union measure in Michigan:

StudentsFirst donated $500,000 to support anti-union measure in Michigan

by admin

Written by Dave Murray for MLive.com.  Read the entire article here.
“The $500,000 donation went to Citizens Protecting Michigan’s Constitution, which is supported by business and community organizations, as well as school groups including the Michigan Association of School Boards and the Michigan Association of School Administrators.

Proposal 2 is supported by a coalition of unions and Democrats that collected more than $8 million, according to a July campaign finance report. And updated report is due this week.

Supporters have said the proposal will give teachers more of a say in their working conditions and preserve local control of education.

‘When teachers have a voice on the job, it improves the quality of education,’ said Sara Wallenfang, a spokeswoman for Protect Working Families.

‘But corporate special interests are actively trying to turn our schools into profit centers. StudentsFirst.org is paying several hundred thousand dollars to silence teachers because they expect a return on that investment, which will come at the expense of our kids.’”

Corporate Charter Queen Gloria Romero Stop Pushing the Corporate agenda and Clean up Your Charter Mess

Big Education Ape: Auditors cite lax oversight of charters by CDE, as enrollment grows:

Corporate Charter Queen Gloria Romero

 Star of the 2010 Reform Bowl

Corporate Charter Queen Gloria Romero

Darling of DFER (fake Democrats)

Corporate Charter Queen Gloria Romero

Shills for Munger, Koch Brothers on Prop 32 

Proposition 32 Divides California's Education Reformers

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 5 hours ago

Proposition 32 Divides California's Education Reformers: Proposition 32 Divides California's Education Reformers by Joy Resmovits When Californians enter voting booths this November, they will face a slew of ballot propositions. Among them will be Proposition 32, a "paycheck protection" measure that the state's labor groups liken to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's union-busting bills. Prop 32 would prevent unions from using dues automatically pulled from employees' paychecks to sponsor political activity. The measure is backed by $4 million from the Koch brothers and the contributio... more »

Corporate Charter Queen Gloria Romero Stop Pushing the Corporate agenda and Clean up Your Charter Mess

Auditors cite lax oversight of charters by CDE, as enrollment grows

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 15 hours ago

SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources: *Auditors cite lax oversight of charters by CDE, as enrollment grows * *By Tom Chorneau* Wednesday, October 24, 2012 At the last State Board of Education meeting, Richard Zeiger, the Department of Education’s chief deputy superintendent, announced that tens of millions of dollars in state and federal funds have been lost by start-up charter schools that either never opened or closed within a year or two of opening. At that meeting, Hunkapiller told the board that oversight procedures, especially of federal grants as high as $575,00 to begin... more »

Corporate Charter Queen Gloria Romero

Quit Calling Yourself a Democrat

 
IT IS A RULE: YOU CAN'T BE AGAINST PEOPLE AND FOR CORPORATIONS 
AND CALL YOURSELF A DEMOCRAT...EVER!

Selling Austerity With Chutzpah - Bridging Differences - Education Week

Selling Austerity With Chutzpah - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

Selling Austerity With Chutzpah

by Deborah Meier

Dear Pedro,
Their ability to sell austerity to white males, whose jobs are disappearing and social usefulness is being undermined, is a tribute to the "good" education the 1 percent got from their privileged schools. But it's also a damning statement about what was happening in the schools the rest of us went to, let's say, the bottom 80 percent. Why didn't we learn to defend our self-interests? So when I argue that we all need schools that prepare the ruling class ("the people") to rule, I can't get nostalgic about the "good old days." They weren't good for us. We need what they got.
Alas, the rich learned to be individualistic, to celebrate their own self-interests without any qualms, and—this is where it hurts—to join together, to pool their resources to overwhelm the rest of us when there was an opening for such ruthlessness. They may even have had liberal-minded teachers (I would guess so), but they set their own course differently.
And they even learned the best trick of all, to make the 80 to 99 percent think that they were undeserving, while 

Audit: US oversight of charter school funds lax - CNBC

Audit: US oversight of charter school funds lax - CNBC:

Audit: US oversight of charter school funds lax

Published: Thursday, 25 Oct 2012 | 7:59 AM ET

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LOS ANGELES - An audit of the U.S. Department of Education's division overseeing hundreds of millions of dollars in charter school funding has criticized the office for failing to properly monitor how states spend the money.

The report released in late September by the department's Office of the Inspector General also singled out state education departments in California, Florida and Arizona for lax monitoring of what charter schools do with the funds and whether their expenditures comply with federal regulations.

The education department's Office of Innovation and Improvement spent $940 million from 2008 to 2011 on charter schools, which are autonomously operated public schools. Most of the money is funneled through state education 

Telling Good Science From Bad in Education | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights

Telling Good Science From Bad in Education | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights:

Telling Good Science From Bad in Education

by obriena

Who can you trust about educational technology?
So asked Richard Rose in September’s issue of School Administrator. He argues that research on educational technology should be approached with skepticism for a number of reasons. For example, the role that money plays in this research: Interested parties, including technology providers, nonprofits and even unions, often directly or indirectly benefit from research showing results for a particular product. There is also a lack of consensus within the research – you can find research that supports almost any position. In addition, there is bias introduced by the “publication strainer” (publications prefer research that supports their platform of doctrines) and author timidity and pragmatism (not wanting to waste time on research that isn’t published, busy authors submit what they know publications 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 10-25-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Teachers Running for Office in Ohio

by dianerav

What’s the best way to stop the attack on teachers?
Run for office.
Many teachers in Ohio figured that out, and they are running for legislative seats.
Some are taking on impossible tasks, but, hey, you never know.
When the legislators refuse to listen, then run against them.
Organize parents and others who care about public education.
Run for office.
On the list linked here

A Student Activist and a Hero of Public Education

by dianerav

Zack Koppelin is a hero of public education.
Zack is the first student to join the honor roll.
Zack is 17 years old. He opposes the use of public funds for voucher schools that teach creationism.
He is outspoken. He is fearless. He is smart. He is courageous.
He is a model for the adults who wring their hands

How GERM Spreads

by dianerav

In his excellent book Finnish Lessons, Pasi Sahlberg explains the nature of the Global Education Reform Movement (GERM). GERM adores testing, accountability, competition, and choice. GERM squeezes all joy out of learning. GERM treats educators as interchangeable parts with no wisdom. GERM relies on market mechanisms, which are totally inappropriate in education.
This is an email regularly published in Australia. It succinctly explains how Joel Klein persuaded the Australian minister of education that New York City had experienced a miraculous transformation: test more, hold teachers and principals accountable, close schools, open schools, and scores go through the roof. Australia is now following New York City’s model.
Unfortunately, no one informed the Australian government that the New York City miracle collapsed in the 

Indiana Superintendent Bennett Gets Support of Far Right

by dianerav

Indiana Superintendent Tony Bennett is running for re-election. He has raised more than $1 million from supporters of an anti-public school agenda.
He just received $25,000 from a gubernatorial candidate who wants vouchers for private and religious schools 

TFA Builds a Political Empire

by dianerav

Most people think of Teach for America as an organization that recruits young college graduates to teach in distressed urban and rural schools.
As the organization has matured, however, it is preparing a cadre of leaders to enter political office and take the reins of power. But power for what?
In this article, TFA is shown to be leading the movement

Obama Is Out of Touch on Education

by dianerav

Yesterday I announced my intention to vote for President Obama, and given the choice confronting us, I will vote for President Obama.
I will vote for him despite his terrible education policy known as Race to the Top.
It is a disaster. It has all the faults of No Child Left Behind, and it is worse.
It is incentivizing the creation of more privately managed charter schools, which are more segregated than the 

Vouchers for Tennessee?

by dianerav

An article in a Nashville paper describes the discussions about vouchers in Tennessee and generally quotes voucher supporters.
Given that the Governor is a conservative Republican, given that the Legislature is Republican, given that the Legislature often passes ALEC legislation without changing a word, and given that the state has a TFA 

“Won’t Back Down” Goes Down, Down, Down

by dianerav

It was supposed to be the movie of the year.
Big stars, big budget for promotion.
All of Rupert Murdoch’s publications sang its glories.
CBS held a greatly hyped rock concert to “honor teachers” just as the fi

Texas Democrats See the Pattern on the Rug

by dianerav

These past few years, some of us have been trying to awaken the public to the goals and strategy of the privatization movement.
First, they demand high-stakes testing, and they claim they want to “reduce the achievement gap” or “it’s all for the kids.”
Second, they use the scores to give grades to schools and to declare that those with the lowest scores are 

Do the Wealthy Need Segregated Charters?

by dianerav

I borrowed the provocative title from a post by Julian Vasquez Heilig of the University of Texas.
Heilig wrote a post recently about Great Hearts, the charter chain that has been trying to locate in an affluent neighborhood in Nashville, thus far without success. As readers of this blog may recall, the Metro Nashville school board has turned Great Hearts down four times. For exercising discretion, the district has been punished by TFA Commissioner Kevin Huffman, who has withheld $3.4 million in state aid from the district. Huffman, of 

What Happened When I Spoke in Chicago

by dianerav

An astute observer in Chicago reports on my appearance at the Chicago City Club.
As usual, I did not pull punches.
I don’t have time for that.
The amazing thing is that even though everything I said contradicted the axioms of Chicago-style “reform,” I got a standing ovation from a warm and friendly crowd of civic leaders at the City Club.

Diane in the Afternoon 10-24-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 5 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog: What Happened When I Spoke in Chicago by dianerav An astute observer in Chicago reports on my appearance at the Chicago City Club. As usual, I did not pull punches. I don’t have time for that. The amazing thing is that even though everything I said contradicted the axioms of Chicago-style “reform,” I got a standing ovation from a warm and friendly crowd of civic leaders at the City Club. Yong Zhao to Commissioner King in NY: There Is No Evidence to Support Common Core by dianerav As readers of this blog know, I am agnostic about the Common Core standards... more »

My View: Why I will vote for President Obama – Schools of Thought - CNN.com Blogs

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 10 hours ago

My View: Why I will vote for President Obama – Schools of Thought - CNN.com Blogs: My View: Why I will vote for President Obama [image: Courtesy Jack Miller]By *Diane Ravitch*, Special to CNN *Editor’s note: Diane Ravitch** was Assistant Secretary of Education in the administration of George H.W. Bush. She is a historian of education and is now a Research Professor at New York University. She is the author of several books on education, including her latest “The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education.” She blogs daily... more »

Morning UPDATE: LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 10-24-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 10 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] I Will Vote for Obama by dianerav I have decided to vote to re-elect President Barack Obama. As readers of this blog are well aware, I strongly oppose what he is doing to our nation’s education system. I dislike Race to the Top, which in many respects is far worse than the failed No Child Left Behind. I know how the Obama administration has outsourced its education policies to the Gates Foundation, the Broad Foundation, and the Wall Street hedge fund managers (the alleged Democrats for Education Reform). Bu... more »

Missouri Education Watchdog: Hydra Lernaia AKA Race to the Top: Camdenton MO Superintendent Needs to Study Greek Mythology

Missouri Education Watchdog: Hydra Lernaia AKA Race to the Top: Camdenton MO Superintendent Needs to Study Greek Mythology:

Hydra Lernaia AKA Race to the Top: Camdenton MO Superintendent Needs to Study Greek Mythology

by stlgretchen

...or Race to the Top.  The monster with many heads.

The Camdenton MO School Board met this week to discuss whether to apply for Race to the Top funding.   The funding would be supplied to Camdenton schools directly from the Federal Department of Education.  Since the State of Missouri didn't win its two proposals for Race to the Top funding, the DOEd decided to bypass state agencies directly and award monies to districts and establish yet another version of Race to the Top.

Sit with that thought for a moment.  The Federal Government has bypassed a state agency to give money directly to local districts.  Why do we even need state agencies to be the middle man for federal funding to 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Today's Quotables

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Today's Quotables:

Today's Quotables

by Mike Klonsky

Diane Ravitch

 As usual, I did not pull punches. I don’t have time for that. The amazing thing is that even though everything I said contradicted the axioms of Chicago-style “reform,” I got a standing ovation from a warm and friendly crowd of civic leaders at the City Club. -- What happened when I spoke in Chicago

Letter to parents from Chicago principal asking for air-conditioning money 

“The weather is getting hotter and hotter every year and we need to make sure that our students have a classroom with a suitable temperature to learn,” the letter read in English and Spanish.