Groups sue to block Michigan funding private schools with public money

Groups sue to block Michigan funding private schools with public money:

Groups sue to block Michigan funding private schools with public money

Public education officials and parents groups in Michigan on Tuesday filed a lawsuit to prevent the governor from funding private schools with public money, arguing a $2.5 million line item in the state budget for school health and safety was a “gateway” to school vouchers.

The Michigan Association of School Administrators (MASA), the Michigan Association of School Boards, ACLU of Michigan, Michigan Parents for Schools and nine other groups filed the lawsuit in the state Court of Claims in Lansing, the state capital, arguing such a move violated state law.

The lawsuit was filed against Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, the Michigan Department of Education and Superintendent Brian Whiston.

The groups asked the court to bar the payments and said they will seek a preliminary injunction later this week to ensure payments are not issued while the matter is pending.

Vouchers are state-funded payments families can use to send their children to private or parochial schools and for expansion of charter schools.

Don Wotruba, executive director of the school boards organization, called the plans “nothing more than a gateway to vouchers.” He added that Michigan voters had already “resoundingly rejected” such a plan, referring to a 2000 ballot proposal that was rejected by 69 percent of voters.

“Our state constitution specifically bans this type of budget action, and we simply cannot allow it,” MASA Executive Director Chris Wigent said in a statement.

Snyder spokesman Ari Adler said in an email the governor’s office does not comment on pending lawsuits.

In July 2016 after the current budget was approved, Snyder asked the state Supreme Court for an opinion on the constitutionality of the spending plan. The court in October declined to give an opinion.

Michigan budgeted $14 billion in the current fiscal year for funding of kindergarten through high school.

Supporters say the budget line item is constitutional as it does not fund educational or curriculum purposes prohibited by the state, but is meant to cover costs associated with state health and safety mandates.

“Health and safety mandates shouldn’t apply to just one segment of the population,” said David Maluchnik, vice president of communications with the Michigan Catholic Conference, the advocacy group for Catholic bishops in the state.

Among the backers of the 2000 Michigan proposal was U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, the former chair of the Michigan Republican Party who was narrowly confirmed last month. As chair of the American Federation for Children, she has pushed at theGroups sue to block Michigan funding private schools with public money: 

Seattle Schools Community Forum: GOP Senators Release Their Budget

Seattle Schools Community Forum: GOP Senators Release Their Budget:

GOP Senators Release Their Budget



In not-good-news, the Senate Republicans in the Legislature released their budget.  From The News Tribune (partial):

Republican legislative leaders released a new two-year budget proposal Tuesday that aims to fix how Washington state pays for schools, but would trim spending elsewhere to make that happen.

The $43-billion spending plan released by Senate GOP leaders would impose a new statewide property tax to pay for education, while eliminating local school district levies to offset the costs to taxpayers.

To help find that money, the GOP plan would reject nearly all of the collective bargaining agreements Gov. Jay Inslee’s office reached with 38 employee unions, and instead award state workers flat raises of $500 per year for the next two years. 

The new statewide property tax GOP lawmakers would impose to pay for schools would raise about $1.5 billion over the next two years. At the same time, the GOP schools plan would lower local school district levies by about $800 million statewide each year, leaders said.

The Senate budget would help pay for some of that with other reductions, including:
▪ $109 million in savings from eliminating state contributions to most police and firefighters’ retirement plans;
▪ $60 million by eliminating the Housing and Essential Needs program;
▪ $44 million by limiting who is eligible for state-funded childcare programs;
▪ $33 million by limiting eligibility for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.

Braun said the cuts affect mainly able-bodied adults who are capable of going back to work. He said the state needs to be smart with taxpayers’ money.

The plan is expected to come up for a vote Thursday on the Senate floor. House Democrats are expected to release a competing budget proposal next week.

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/politics-government/article139851143.html#storylink=cpy

 Well, no.  I don't know of anyone who supports cutting health and human services for public education.  We need NEW revenue.

Also, Seattle getting fewer ed dollars because we are "property-wealthy" ignores Seattle Schools Community Forum: GOP Senators Release Their Budget:

Amazon Sends 50 Musical Instruments to Rainier Beach High

by Melissa Westbrook / 35min

More to come but from SPS: Responding to a student-led campaign to ask the Seattle community for donated instruments to support the Rainier Beach High School (RBHS) Music Program, E-commerce company, Amazon, will deliver more than 50 new instruments to RBHS. Amazon is a proud to support RBHS and this donation will provide young musicians the opportunity to follow their passions. They are also dedi

GOP Senators Release Their Budget

by Melissa Westbrook / 50min

In not-good-news, the Senate Republicans in the Legislature released their budget. From The News Tribune (partial): Republican legislative leaders released a new two-year budget proposal Tuesday that aims to fix how Washington state pays for schools, but would trim spending elsewhere to make that happen. The $43-billion spending plan released by Senate GOP leaders would impose a new statewide prop

Healthy Youth Survey Results

by Melissa Westbrook / 59min

OSPI reports results from Healthy Youth Survey: Results for the 2016 Washington Healthy Youth Survey (HYS) show that teen rates of substance use in our state have remained mostly unchanged since the last survey was taken in 2014 , and that most teens avoid alcohol, marijuana, tobacco and other drugs. “The health, safety and economic impacts of substance use disorders affect many individuals, famil

Paul Allen Family Foundation Shores Up Arts Education in Seattle Schools

4by Melissa Westbrook / 1h

I'll have more news about CTE later on but here's the good news: From SPS Communications: The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation and Seattle Public Schools (SPS), in partnership with the City of Seattle, will open up new career and college pathways for city youth to graduate from high school “Seattle Ready,” by establishing new media arts courses in the Seattle Public Schools Skills Center. Skills Ce

Tuesday Open Thread

by Melissa Westbrook / 1h

Interesting article from Mosaic about what Iceland is doing to curb dangerous teen behaviors - In Iceland, teenage smoking, drinking and drug use have been radically cut in the past 20 years. Today, Iceland tops the European table for the cleanest-living teens. The percentage of 15- and 16-year-olds who had been 

Change a School’s Structure, Change the World: An Exchange – Have You Heard

Change a School’s Structure, Change the World: An Exchange – Have You Heard:

Change a School’s Structure, Change the World: An Exchange

In which Empower School’s Brett Alessi and I go back and forth about whether the Springfield Empowerment Zone is *all that*… 

 Editor’s note: I recently wrote about the much-hyped Springfield Empowerment Zone, arguing that there isn’t enough *there there* to merit its coronation as the next big thing, and that the zone’s eye-popping suspension numbers are a serious red flag. Brett Alessi, head of Empower Schools, the nonprofit that is helping to empower the Empowerment Zone, responded and asked if he might respond to my piece, giving readers a fuller account of what’s happening in Springfield than my *negative Nancy* portrayal. (My description, not his). I eagerly obliged but requested that Alessi focus on the two specific issues I raised: the high student suspension numbers in the Zone’s schools, and whether the push to *scale up* the Zone is warranted given that the Zone has yet to do what its architects claimed that it would do. Alessi’s response is below, and my response to his response is below that…

By Brett Alessi
First, I’d like to start by saying that while we don’t always see eye-to-eye, I have really enjoyed our exchanges and appreciate the opportunity engage in a genuine dialogue.  At the end of the day, I believe that what we both care most about is ensuring that all children have the opportunity to be successful.

In response to your recent post, I’d like to point out that prior to forming the Change a School’s Structure, Change the World: An Exchange – Have You Heard:

With A Brooklyn Accent: Why Children Need After School Programs: A Message To Donald Trump

With A Brooklyn Accent: Why Children Need After School Programs: A Message To Donald Trump:

Why Children Need After School Programs: A Message To Donald Trump

Clearly Donald Trump didn't grow up in a neighborhood where after school programs were a life line for children. I did. Many of us needed a safe space not only to get away from tough kids and bullies, but our own parents. My parents, though they were hardworking people who had troubles of their own, rarely had a kind word to say to me and often hit me when they got frustrated with my rebellious personality. Having a place where I could shoot baskets or play nok-hockey or just know that I wasn't going to be yelled at was a God send. i spent countless hours in the after school program and night center at PS 91 in Crown Heights. And i clearly wasn't the only one because those places were always packed.

It was the same way in the Bronx. If you read the Arthur Crier and Howie Evans narratives in "Before the Fires: An Oral History of African American Life in the Bronx from the 1930's-1960's," you will see how the after school programs and night centers of the Bronx not only saved lives of children who lived in gang ridden neighborhoods, they launched many careers in music and sports.
The mentoring young people received in those programs was as priceless as the safe spaces they provided. You find a successful person who grew up in a poor or working class neighborhood, likely as not you are going to find an after school mentor played an important role in their success.

Taking away after school programs from children is a crime.It was done once in my lifetime during the 1970's fiscal crisis in New York and now Donald Trump wants to do it again. For shame! Our children deserve room to grow, to relax and to feel safe and find adult mentors to protect them, nurture them and inspire them.

With A Brooklyn Accent: Why Children Need After School Programs: A Message To Donald Trump:

Charter and Voucher debate: Julian Vasquez Heilig vs. Chris Stewart – Cloaking Inequity

Charter and Voucher debate: Julian Vasquez Heilig vs. Chris Stewart – Cloaking Inequity:

Charter and Voucher debate: Julian Vasquez Heilig vs. Chris Stewart

Democracy must be built through open societies that share information. When there is information, there is enlightenment. When there is debate, there are solutions. When there is no sharing of power, no rule of law, no accountability, there is abuse, corruption, subjugation and indignation. Atifete Jahjaga

Last evening I debated Chris Stewart from Education Post in a Cambridge-style debate. The quick back story on the debate is that I was poking Shavar Jefferies (National President, Democrats for Education Reform) on Twitter on backing out on a debate about charters. Chris Stewart, Education Post staffer, responded to my tweet and stepped up to debate. So kudos to Chris Stewart for coming to California State and for contributing to our open society and democratic process for enlightenment.

The motion under debate was: “Charters and Vouchers are the Answer”

FOR the motion: Chris Stewart, Director of Outreach and External Affairs, Education Post

AGAINST the motion: Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig, Professor of Education Leadership and Policy Studies, Sacramento State

We were pleased the debate was moderated by Kitty Kelly Epstein, host of the Education Today radio program on KPFA.

I’ll begin with my 6-minute and 2-minute closing statements. Then I will post the entire debate on YouTube.

6-min intro

Student achievement data in the U.S. show long-standing and persistent gaps between White students and students of color. This hasn’t been by mistake. Paolo Friere suggested that the lack of an adequate education in certain schools is clearly purposeful. It truly is the shame of our nation.

Structural racism and unconscious bias has a history of being born out in public policy and the courts, in housing, and even today in school finance.

Concern about pervasive inequalities in traditional public schools, combined with growing political and corporate support, has created the expectation that school choice is the answer for poor and minority youth.

As a result, many reformers have framed school choice as a “civil rights” issue.

In fact, Donald Trump has proposed spending $20 billion on charter schools and vouchers. In his most recent budget he proposed cutting after school programs, college grants, federal work study for college students and other important efforts so that he could spend $1.4 billion right away on charters and vouchers.

Billionaire philanthropists, policy advocates, and leading pundits have supported Secretary Betsy DeVo$ and she has conjured of the broader Civil Rights Movement as synonymous with market-based school choice.

Now, is a watershed moment for school privatization and private control via vouchers and charters.

It is becoming more clear by the day that Donald Trump and Betsy DeVo$ love privately-managed school choice.

This is despite the fact that the data in Michigan shows that the for-profit charter school takeover of Michigan public schools had coincided with a precipitous drop in my birth state’s drop in national standings on the NAEP.

Civil Rights organizations have taken notice of the research, engaged with investigative journalism and listened to communities. As noted recently by civil rights groups such as the NAACP, Journey for Justice and the Movement for Black Lives, charter schools are far from a Charter and Voucher debate: Julian Vasquez Heilig vs. Chris Stewart – Cloaking Inequity:

Rouzer Files Bill to Eliminate the U.S. Department of Education | Truth in American Education

Rouzer Files Bill to Eliminate the U.S. Department of Education | Truth in American Education:

Rouzer Files Bill to Eliminate the U.S. Department of Education

Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) is not the only one in Congress who wants to see the U.S. Department of Education eliminated. I’m sure there are several legislators who would love to see that happen. One of his colleagues joined him in filing a bill to do just that.

Congressman David Rouzer (R-NC) last Friday introduced H.R. 1510, the States’ Education Reclamation Act, to eliminate the Department in order to increase teachers’ pay.

The bill proposes to reallocate the Department’s billions in funding to be proportionally distributed to the respective states to be used for any education purpose as they see fit, such as teacher pay raises, new school construction, investment in technology and more.  Taxpayer dollars provided to the U.S. Department of Education from each state would be returned to the states in the form of grants.

“Given the challenges and special needs that all teachers and school administrators continually face, we can get far more out of the tax dollars currently being spent on education by dismantling Rouzer Files Bill to Eliminate the U.S. Department of Education | Truth in American Education:

Teachers union bigwig to join Boston contract protest tomorrow | Boston Herald

Teachers union bigwig to join Boston contract protest tomorrow | Boston Herald:

Teachers union bigwig to join Boston contract protest tomorrow

A leading national teachers union boss is set to hit the Hub tomorrow to headline a protest over stalled contract talks between the city and the teachers, local union officials confirm.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, is expected to join the rally before the school committee meeting.

“It’s very important to us,” said Boston Teachers Union President Richard Stutman. “We’re nearing the end of our patience on this. We’re hopeful the city and school district will come to the table and begin to take this seriously. She is making a special trip to support us.”

The union and management haven’t met since early February. They have been negotiating for 15 months for the contract that expired last August.

The BTU has called on teachers to protest the talks at the Bruce C. Bolling Building ahead of the evening meeting.

The average salary for a city teacher is $90,467 — among the highest in the country, a school official recently told the Herald.

The two sides are at odds over compensation for teachers at autonomous schools, paid parental leave for teachers who have been on the job for less than three years, and more.Teachers union bigwig to join Boston contract protest tomorrow | Boston Herald:

Out of Our Minds: Putting the Public Back in Public Schooling | National Education Policy Center

Out of Our Minds: Putting the Public Back in Public Schooling | National Education Policy Center:

Out of Our Minds: Putting the Public Back in Public Schooling

Public schoolteachers (and even many administrators) are in defensive mode—now even more than ever. They are under attack.

Arguably, the public itself is what’s under attack. So for those who value the public—democracy as shared work for the common good—there’s an alternative, to be described shortly. But first, let’s say clearly what’s wrong with public education at present (after 30 years of neo-liberal reform). It seems that a narrow anti-intellectualism, fueled by and in service to the wealthy elite, has reinforced the sorting function of schooling while simultaneously converting public funding of schools into a source of corporate profit. As a consequence…
 

• American schooling is inequitable from top to bottom. The most in need get the least and the most privileged get the most. The poor and darker-skinned get the worst buildings, the worst curricula, the worst teachers, the worst pedagogy, and the harshest discipline.  

• American schooling is anti-intellectual for everyone. Getting ahead is what’s most important. But because of stringent inequity in the getting-ahead scheme of things, the devil will take the hindmost—that is, poor and darker-skinned children. 

• Such a system is bad for the public interest and it will eventually victimize everyone. At base, everyone suffers because the current institutional arrangements fail to propagate and sustain the essential tools with which minds function: the capacity to doubt claims, to gather and examine evidence, to sequence thoughts logically, and to act ethically. 

In education (as in healthcare, the military, and the judicial system), the one-percenters are pushing privatization. What rightly belongs to all is being misappropriated. But the rest of us—the 99 percent—can do a lot better. The realm of our interests, after all, is where the common good can and must exist. It’s not private property.

Here’s the idea behind the alternative: Instead of working only to foil the latest predations of schooling enterprisers, progressives should fight to extend the public dominion of education—all of it from preschool through doctoral programs. All of it should be of the public, by the public, and for the public.

Make every school in the US a public school. Nationalize the Ivy League and all the rest.

Provide exactly the same levels of per-pupil support for all elementary schools and all post-elementary enterprises. In other words, disassociate funding level for schooling from the wealth or income of families or the property wealth in communities, and take tuition payments by families out of the equation altogether.

Make all elementary schools (PK-8) small, but staff them well—perhaps with 10 teachers for every 50 students; and create instructional teams by having professionals and community helpers join forces. Test widely to ensure the equity of the K-8 system.

Get rid of all high schools. Even the best are dysfunctional in our experience. After all, there’s a lot of complaint about high school grads not being able to do much. And the same is said more often now of college graduates. We tackle that problem next.

Establish many, many more apprenticeship programs.  They teach things that need doing and provide those who do them a good living.

Force fewer kids to go to college. The current push to require everyone to attend college is misguided. Not all meaningful contributions depend on an academic education that extends beyond early adolescence.

At the same time, however, let everyone go to college! Admit students on the basis of examination. Let Out of Our Minds: Putting the Public Back in Public Schooling | National Education Policy Center:

Tuesday Tutor Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

Tuesday Tutor Diane Ravitch's blog 

 A site to discuss better education for all

FBI Investigating Russian Cyber Attacks Coordinated to Support Trump Campaign

3by dianeravitch / 3h

McClatchy News reports that the FBI is investigating the timing of Russian cyber attacks timed to support Trump campaign when it was on the defensive. “Federal investigators are examining whether far-right news sites played any 

Why Are Public School Parents and Teachers Excluded from Policy Discussions?

3by dianeravitch / 19min

Reader Chiara. Has written innumerable comments pointing out that the parents and teachers of public schools have been shut out of policy circles. Why? Nearly 90% of the children in the United States attend public schools, not 

Mercedes Schneider: Betsy DeVos Cherrypicks One Student Success in a Failing Virtual Charter School

6by dianeravitch / 41min

You will note that all of Betsy DeVos’s stories are about struggling students who were rescued from failing public schools by choosing to go to a charter school, a religious school, a home school, or a virtual charter school. Apparently she has 

Sarah Blaine Calls on New Jersey Legislators to Block Use of PARCC as a Graduation Requirement

by dianeravitch / 35min

Sarah Blaine, a lawyer and parent in New Jersey, calls on the legislature to block the use of PARCC as a graduation requirement for students in the state. As she notes in this article, the New Jersey Assembly voted overwhelmingly to block the State Board of Education from imposing this nutty requirement. The bill now moves to the State Senate, and she urges senators to vote for the bill. She writ

Check Out This Debate About Charters Tonight

2by dianeravitch / 50min

Julian Vasquez Heilig will debate Christopher Stewart tonight. It will be live-streamed. The proposition is: “Charters and Vouchers are the Answer.” I will be rooting for Julian, who knows the research and knows that privatization has never produced better education for the neediest kids. Julian is a member of the board of the Network for Public Education.

Sara Stevenson Tells the Texas Legislature What’s Wrong with Vouchers

5by dianeravitch / 1h

Tuesday, March 21, 2017 Senate Bill 3 Testimony Good afternoon, Senators. My name is Sara Stevenson, and I’ve been a librarian at O. Henry Middle School in Austin for 14 years. Previously, I taught English at St. Michael’s Catholic Academy for ten years, so I have a great respect for Catholic education. I also write opinion pieces for The Austin American-Statesman, The Houston Chronicle, and The

Arkansas: Voucher Bill Fails in Legislature

6by dianeravitch / 2h

Vouchers, also known as education savings accounts and tax credits, failed in the lower house of the state legislature in Arkansas. The legislator who sponsored the bill hails from Bentonville, the home of the Walton Family (Walmart) corporation. Given the accumulation of research showing the failure of vouchers in Milwaukee, Cleveland, D.C., Louisiana, Indiana, and Ohio, you have to wonder why T

Jennifer Rubin, the Conservative Columnist for the Washington Post Says: Comey Humiliated Trump

by dianeravitch / 3h

Jennifer Rubin was hired by the Washington Post to represent a conservative viewpoint in its editorial column. However, she is appalled by Trump’s tweets and lies. She describes here how Comey humiliated Trump at the House hearing yesterday. He can’t lie his way out of the mess he has created, she says, nor create a big enough distraction to change the subject.

YESTERDAY

I Am Speaking in Austin Next Week

11by dianeravitch / 17h

If you are anywhere near Austin, join me for a discussion about schools, school reform, and children on March 29 at 6:30 pm at the Austin Marriott. The event is sponsored by Friends of Texas Public Schools. http://fotps.org/events/dinner-diane-ravitch/

New York Times: Internal Debate About Louise Mensch’s Opinion Article

4by dianeravitch / 20h

Buzzfeed reports that an internal quarrel has broken out between the news room and the opinion pages of the New York Times about an article featured on the editorial opinion page by journalist Louise Mensch. (I posted Mensch’s article). A civil war between news and opinion has broken out at the New York Times. In a Times op-ed posted online Friday, Louise Mensch, a writer and former member of the

A Summary of Today’s Hearings about Russian Role in Our Elections

16by dianeravitch / 20h

This is a useful and informative summary of the highlights of today’s hearings, where intelligence officials confirmed that they are investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. They also said they knew of no evidence that Trump Tower was wiretapped. The most amusing part of the summary is the compilation of tweets by Trump. He thinks the day’s exchanges

Sarah Jaffe: Organizing to Hit Trump’s Corporate Cabinet Where It Hurts

13by dianeravitch / 22h

Sarah Jaffe interviews labor organizers in a group called the HedgeClippers who are mobilizing against the corporations backing the Trump regime. One of their campaigns is to organize bank workers. Bank workers in other countries are unionized. Why not in the U.S. as well? The Hedge Clippers campaign looks at hedge funds and private equity, thus hedge clippers clipping their power. It basically s

Betsy DeVos Loves For-Profit Schools: They Are a Disgrace

23by dianeravitch / 23h

ProPublica writes about the abuses that occur in certain for-profit schools designed especially for difficult children. The very concept of a public school that operates for profit is absurd, because every dollar from taxpayers is meant for the children, the teachers, and the schools, not investors. But this article is specifically about a for-profit chain for difficult students. An alternative s

Mary Gonzalez: Texas Needs to Supports Its Public Schools, Not Charters and Vouchers

25by dianeravitch / 23h

Mary Gonzalez is a member of the Texas House of Representatives. She is now serving her third term in the House, and she is deeply concerned that the state and the federal government want to destroy public education. The goal of school choice, she says, is to create a separate and unequal system of schools for the state’s 6 million students. She writes: In 2011, the Legislature cut $5.4 billion i

New York: Parents and Educators Call for a New Round of Opt Out to Protest Flawed Tests

17by dianeravitch / 1d

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 20, 2017 More information contact: Lisa Rudley (917) 414-9190; nys.allies@gmail.com NYS Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE) http://www.nysape.org Link to Press Release New York’s Largest Grassroots Education Advocacy Organizations Join Forces to Urge Parents to Opt Out of NYS Common Core State Tests Across the state, grassroots education advocacy organizations includ

The Most Important Post You Will Read This Week: The Reclusive Tycoon Who Financed the Alt-Right and Trump

100+by dianeravitch / 1d

I will not post anything again for a while today, unless there is breaking news. You need time to read this article in full. It is a long article by Jane Mayer of the New Yorker , who has written major books about the dark money fueling