Seattle Schools Community Forum: Hey, Big Spenders (that would be the Gates Foundation)

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Hey, Big Spenders (that would be the Gates Foundation):

Hey, Big Spenders (that would be the Gates Foundation)

The Gates Foundation has this notice on their grants page:

Seattle Public Schools

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Date: April 2017
Purpose: to ensure the K-12 team’s work in equity is grounded in the real experiences of teachers, we must engage them directly in our learning
Amount: $225
Term: 1
Topic: K-12, K-12 Education
Program: United States
Grantee Location: Seattle, Washington
Grantee Website: http://www.seattleschools.org 

Now, my first thought is, "Is that a typo? Because $225 isn't going far.  But this is the Gates Foundation so how could that be?  

As well, notice of this grant has been on Twitter from national public education activist, Leonie Haimson, with this tweet:

Same time @gatesfoundation gave $2M @schoolzilla gave $225 to Seattle pubschls to "ground work" in teacher expernce  

It's too late in the day for me to ask the district but yes, I did ask the Board about this.

Speaking of the Gates Foundation, KUOW has a series, Local Wonder, that examines issues in Seattle of the "what's up with that?" nature that readers submit as questions.

One Anne Martens wrote in, asking about philanthropy in Seattle. 

Turns out that she's not just a random listener posingSeattle Schools Community Forum: Hey, Big Spenders (that would be the Gates Foundation):

June 2017 ACCS Meeting Agenda - Advisory Commission on Charter Schools (CA Dept of Education)

June 2017 ACCS Meeting Agenda - Advisory Commission on Charter Schools (CA Dept of Education):

June 2017 ACCS Meeting Agenda

Advisory Commission on Charter Schools June 7, 2017 notice of items and attachments.

ACCS Meeting Webcast

MEETING NOTICE

Advisory Commission on Charter Schools
An Advisory Body to the State Board of Education

Wednesday, June 7, 2017
9:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. ±

California Department of Education
1430 N Street, Room 1101
Sacramento, CA 95814-5901
916-322-6029

Commission Members

• Brian Bauer
• Cindy S. Chan*
• Ari Engelberg
• Jon R. Gundry
• Atyani Howard
• Caitlin O’Halloran
• Dr. Mark Ryan
• Dr. Wesley Sever
• Curtis L. Washington

*Represents the State Superintendent of Public Instruction

Liaisons from the State Board of Education

• Bruce Holaday
• Trish B. Williams

AGENDA

• Call to Order
• Salute to the Flag
• Welcome and Introductions
• Review and Adoption of Meeting Notes
• Charter Schools Division Update
• Review/Reordering of the Meeting Agenda
• Public Comment 1

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ITEM 1 (DOC)

Type of Action: Action/Information

Subject: Consideration of Requests for Determination of Funding as Required for Nonclassroom-based Charter Schools Pursuant to California Education Code Sections 47612.5 and 47634.2, and Associated California Code of Regulations, Title 5.

• Item 1 Attachment 2 - None
• Item 1 Attachment 3 - Funding Determination Request for West Park Charter Academy #0044 (PDF)
• Item 1 Attachment 4 - Funding Determination Request for Academies of the Antelope Valley #1415 (PDF)
• Item 1 Attachment 5 - Funding Determination Request for Gorman Learning Center #0285 (PDF)
• Item 1 Attachment 6 - Funding Determination Request for School of Extended Educational Options #0914 (PDF)
• Item 1 Attachment 7 - Funding Determination Request for Options for Youth-San Gabriel, Inc. #0117 (PDF)
• Item 1 Attachment 8 - None
• Item 1 Attachment 9 - Funding Determination Request for College & Career Prep Academy #1761 (PDF)
• Item 1 Attachment 10 - Funding Determination Request for Heritage Peak Charter School #0687 (PDF)
• Item 1 Attachment 11 - Funding Determination Request for Options For Youth-Victor Valley, INC. #0013 (PDF)
• Item 1 Attachment 12 - None
• Item 1 Attachment 13 - Funding Determination Request for California Pacific Charter Schools #1758 (PDF)
• Item 1 Attachment 14 - Funding Determination Request for Pathways Academy #1767 (PDF)
• Item 1 Attachment 15 - Funding Determination Request for Delta Launch #1729 (PDF)
• Item 1 Attachment 16 - Funding Determination Request for California Connections Academy @ Ripon #1398 (PDF)
• Item 1 Attachment 17 - Funding Determination Request for Santa Barbara Charter School #0020 (PDF)
• Item 1 Attachment 18 - None
• Item 1 Attachment 19 - Funding Determination Request for California Prep Sutter K-7 #1755 (PDF)
• Item 1 Attachment 20 - Funding Determination Request for California Prep Sutter 8-12 #1756 (PDF)
• Item 1 Attachment 21 - Funding Determination Request for Sutter Peak Charter Academy #1764 (PDF)
• Item 1 Attachment 22 - None

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ITEM 2 (DOC)

Type of Action: Action/Information

Subject: Consideration of Requests for Determination of Funding with “Reasonable Basis”/Mitigating Circumstances as Required for Nonclassroom-based Charter Schools Pursuant to California Education Code Sections 47612.5 and 47634.2, and Associated California Code of Regulations, Title 5.

• Item 2 Attachment 2 - Funding Determination Request for Circle of Independent Learning #0152 (PDF)
• Item 2 Attachment 3 - Mitigating Circumstances for Circle of Independent Learning #0152 (PDF)
• Item 2 Attachment 4 - Funding Determination Request for Sierra Charter #0898 (PDF)
• Item 2 Attachment 5 - Mitigating Circumstances for Sierra Charter #0898 (PDF)
• Item 2 Attachment 6 - Funding Determination Request for Plumas Charter #0146 (PDF)
• Item 2 Attachment 7 - Mitigating Circumstances for Plumas Charter #0146 (PDF)
• Item 2 Attachment 8 - Funding Determination Request for Community Collaborative Charter #0699 (PDF)
• Item 2 Attachment 9 - Mitigating Circumstances for Community Collaborative Charter #0699 (PDF)
• Item 2 Attachment 10 - Funding Determination Request for Excelsior Charter #0074 (PDF)
• Item 2 Attachment 11 - Mitigating Circumstances for Excelsior Charter #0074 (PDF)
• Item 2 Attachment 12 - Funding Determination Request for Heritage K-8 Charter #0556 (PDF)
• Item 2 Attachment 13 - Mitigating Circumstances for Heritage K-8 Charter #0556 (PDF)
• Item 2 Attachment 14 - Funding Determination Request for Classical Academy High #0759 (PDF)
• Item 2 Attachment 15 - Mitigating Circumstances for Classical Academy High #0759 (PDF)
• Item 2 Attachment 16 - Funding Determination Request for Escondido Charter High #0109 (PDF)
• Item 2 Attachment 17 - Mitigating Circumstances for Escondido Charter High #0109 (PDF)
• Item 2 Attachment 18 - Funding Determination Request for National University Academy #0991 (PDF)
• Item 2 Attachment 19 - Mitigating Circumstances for National University Academy #0991 (PDF)
• Item 2 Attachment 20 - Funding Determination Request for Ingenuity Charter #1719 (PDF)
• Item 2 Attachment 21 - Mitigating Circumstances for Ingenuity Charter #1719 (PDF)
• Item 2 Attachment 22 - Funding Determination Request for Olive Grove Charter #1768 (PDF)
• Item 2 Attachment 23 - Mitigating Circumstances for Olive Grove Charter #1768 (PDF)
• Item 2 Attachment 24 - Funding Determination Request for Tehama eLearning Academy #0430 (PDF)
• Item 2 Attachment 25 - Mitigating Circumstances for Tehama eLearning Academy #0430 (PDF)

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ITEM 3

Type of Action: Action/Information

Subject: Reconsideration of Requests for Determination of Funding as Required for Nonclassroom-based Charter Schools Pursuant to California Education Code Sections 47612.5 and 47634.2, and Associated California Code of Regulations, Title 5.

• Item 3 Attachment 2 - Funding Determination Request for Academy of Arts & Sciences - Fresno #1613
• Item 3 Attachment 3 - Funding Determination Request for Academy of Arts & Sciences - Los Angeles #1615
• Item 3 Attachment 4 - Funding Determination Request for Academy of Arts & Sciences - Del Mar #1454
• Item 3 Attachment 5 - Funding Determination Request for Academy of Arts & Sciences - Sonoma #1457
• Item 3 Attachment 6 - Funding Determination Request for Academy of Arts & Sciences - Thousand Oaks #1455

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ITEM 4 (DOC)

Type of Action: Action/Information

Subject: Petition for the Establishment of a Charter School Under the Oversight of the State Board of Education: Consideration of Sweetwater Secondary School, which was denied by the Sweetwater Union High School District and the San Diego County Board of Education.

• Item 4 Attachment 1 - California Department of Education Charter School Petition Review Form: Sweetwater Secondary School (DOC)
• Item 4 Attachment 2 - Sweetwater Secondary School Data Tables (PDF)
• Item 4 Attachment 3 - Sweetwater Secondary School Appeal Petition (PDF)
• Item 4 Attachment 4 - Sweetwater Secondary School Budget and Financial Projections (PDF)
• Item 4 Attachment 5 - Sweetwater Secondary School Appendices and Attachments (PDF)
• Item 4 Attachment 6 - Letter Describing Changes to Petition Necessary to Reflect the State Board of Education as the Authorizing Entity (PDF)
• Item 4 Attachment 7 - Sweetwater Union High School District and San Diego County Board of Education Findings for Denial and Petitioners Responses (PDF)
• Item 4 Attachment 8 - Bylaws of Audeo Charter School (PDF)
• Item 4 Attachment 9 - Resolution of the Board of Directors of Student Success Programs Regarding the Transfer of Beginning Fund Balance for Sweetwater Secondary School (PDF)
• Item 4 Attachment 10 - May 16, 2017, Letter and Organization Charts from Audeo Charter School II (PDF)
• Item 4 Attachment 11 - May 25, 2017, Letter and Organization Charts from Audeo Charter School ll. (PDF)

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In addition to the above, the Advisory Commission on Charter Schools (ACCS) hereby provides notice that it reserves the right to consider and make recommendations at this meeting concerning other areas of the State Board of Education’s authority with respect to charter schools, which include but are not limited to:

• Taking appropriate action, including, but not limited to, revocation with respect to State Board-granted and locally-granted charters under specific circumstances set forth in statute.
• Jointly with the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, approving district-wide charter petitions when those petitions are determined to be satisfactory.
• Developing and adopting regulations to implement various provisions of the Charter Schools Act of 1992 (Part 26.8 of the California Education Code, commencing with Section 47600). Approving or denying requests to waive otherwise applicable provisions of law based upon requests submitted by charter schools and other local educational agencies.
• Assigning numbers to charter school petitions to ensure that the statutory cap on the number of charter schools is not exceeded.

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THE ORDER OF BUSINESS MAY BE CHANGED WITHOUT NOTICE

Notice is hereby given that the order of consideration of matters on this agenda may be changed without prior notice.

REASONABLE LIMITATIONS MAY BE PLACED ON PUBLIC TESTIMONY

The presiding officer of the Advisory Commission on Charter Schools (ACCS) reserves the right to impose reasonable time limits on public testimony to ensure that the agenda is completed.

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS MAY BE MADE

Consistent with the requirements of the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, notice is hereby given that special presentations not mentioned in the agenda may be made at this meeting. However, any such presentation will be for information only.

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION WILL BE PROVIDED FOR ANY INDIVIDUAL WITH A DISABILITY

Pursuant to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, any individual with a disability who requires reasonable accommodation to attend or participate in this meeting of the ACCS may request assistance by contacting the Charter Schools Division at:

Charter Schools Division
California Department of Education
1430 N Street, Suite 5401
Sacramento, CA 95814-5901
Phone: 916-322-6029
Fax: 916-322-1465

FOR MORE INFORMATION

For more information concerning this agenda or to join the ACCS specialized e-mail distribution list, please contact:

Makenna Huey
Charter Schools Division
California Department of Education
1430 N Street, Suite 5401
Sacramento, CA 95814-5901
Phone: 916-322-6029
Fax: 916-322-1465
charters@cde.ca.gov

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This notice appears on the California Department of Education ACCS Web page.

1 Time(s) will be set aside for public comment at this meeting. Depending on the situation, and at the direction of the presiding officer, public comment may be entertained as appropriate at the beginning of, during, and/or at the end of the meeting. Reasonable limits will be placed on the amount of time allowed for individual comments.

June 2017 ACCS Meeting Agenda - Advisory Commission on Charter Schools (CA Dept of Education):

 

Choosing Democracy: Why Do Billionaires Want Charter Schools ?

Choosing Democracy: Why Do Billionaires Want Charter Schools ?:

Why Do Billionaires Want Charter Schools ?

Harold Meyerson:

The billionaires, apparently, we shall always have with us — even when we decide how to run the state-funded schools where they rarely send their own kids.

In the Los Angeles school board elections earlier this month, a number of billionaires, including Eli Broad, Netflix founder Reed Hastings and two Walton family siblings, poured millions into the campaigns of two charter-school advocates. These billionaire-sponsored candidates defeated two badly outspent opponents who took a more cautionary stance on expanding charters, lest they decimate the school district’s budget. In total, pro-charter groups outspent teacher unions, $9.7 million to $5.2 million. (In the 2016 state legislative campaigns, the charterizers outspent the unions by a far larger margin, $20.5 million to $1.2 million.)
ADVERTISING


Though a number of the billionaires who’ve involved themselves in the charter cause are conservatives and Republicans, the actual election battles they join almost always pit Democrat against Democrat — in part because nearly all big cities are now overwhelmingly Democratic. In California, where Republicans’ numbers have ebbed past the point of power, the lion’s share of billionaires’ legislative campaign contributions have gone to more centrist Democrats, who not only are reliable votes on charter issues but also often oppose environmental and other measures advanced by their more progressive colleagues.
Charter billionaires have settled on a diagnosis, and a cure, that focuses on the deficiencies of the system’s victims, not the system itself.


Of all the issues billionaires could choose, why charters, and why now? One reason commonly adduced is that they’ve noticed something troubling: Public school graduates lack the skills necessary for employment. Many of those needed skills, however, are the kind that students acquire in vocational educational programs, not at charter schools.


That there are huge problems in the education of low-income students is beyond dispute — but this is hardly a recent development. The real recent development is the rising share of such students as the middle class has waned.

If the Waltons, say, decided to redirect more of their fortune to raising Wal-Mart workers’ wages, that in turn might enable hundreds of thousands of families to have Choosing Democracy: Why Do Billionaires Want Charter Schools ?:

Hitting Left with the Klonsky Brothers. #17 | Fred Klonsky

Hitting Left with the Klonsky Brothers. #17 | Fred Klonsky:

Hitting Left with the Klonsky Brothers. #17

This week we had our first real adventure in live radio.

We were so pleased about having our old friend Prexy Nesbitt on our show. Prexy has been to South Africa over 40 times and has much to share.

Hitting Left with the Klonsky Brothers. Jamie Trecker, Mike and me.

Following up on last week’s show with Jerry Harris, head of the Global Studies Association, we wanted to get into what is happening in the third world, particularly Africa in the age of Trump and globalization.

But weather in New York and at La Guardia had a different plan and Prexy couldn’t get a flight out.

Which we found about, through no fault of Prexy’s, a few hours before our live show.

But my bro and I are nothing if not light on our feet, even if a few steps slower these days.

Did I mention Mike had a birthday yesterday.

Alderman John Arena called in to talk about the fight for affordable housing in the 45th ward, where opponents think too much density is an acceptable euphemism for racism and segregation.

It’s not.

And we spent the rest of the hour talking about our favorite topics: Schools, funding, choice, vouchers and Betsy DeVos.

Some live listeners (not all – so that’s weird) reported they couldn’t hear the De Vos sound bite. But it is all here on our podcast.

Best. Show. Ever.Hitting Left with the Klonsky Brothers. #17 | Fred Klonsky:

CURMUDGUCATION: Slate Series Unmasks Cyber School

CURMUDGUCATION: Slate Series Unmasks Cyber School:

Slate Series Unmasks Cyber School

Slate, for whatever reason, teamed up this week with Columbia Journalism School's Teacher Project, to take a look at on line education. Much of their work is focused on on line courses as a means of credit recovery-- the quick-and-easy method of letting students replace credits for courses they failed. But the series tells us a great deal about what on line "education" is really like-- and it is not pretty. This is just how bad cyber schooling is.

As always, I will include the preface that A) cyber school doesn't have to be as awful as it is and B) it is a real boon to certain students.

The series ran through eight articles, and you should not miss any of them, but here are links and blurbs for each article in the series so you can make your choices (and so that they don't disappear entirely once Slate moves on to other things). Read these:

The New Diploma Mills

Zoe Kirsch digs deep for this opening article. While focusing on how Florida has used on line courses to boost graduation rates "many school districts, including several of the nation's largest, have seen graduation rates soar"), Kirsch also looks at the policies boosted cyber-schooling and just how bad it looks on the ground to actual cyber students. This piece gives a good overview-- with well-sourced CURMUDGUCATION: Slate Series Unmasks Cyber School:

Fox: These cuts to education are devastating - Lily's Blackboard

Fox: These cuts to education are devastating - Lily's Blackboard:

Fox: These cuts to education are devastating

Wherever you live in this country you will be impacted by these devastating cuts.These are billions and billions of dollars.




Fox: These cuts to education are devastating - Lily's Blackboard:

Sirius-XM Make It Plain: Taking public school dollars from our neediest students

Sirius-XM Make It Plain: Taking public school dollars from our neediest students

 A lot of these charter schools are business who want public money, and they are taking it right out of the schools that serve the most vulnerable.

 Follow

#MIP #GetWoke 6-9a E @MakeItPlain

.@Lily_NEA: Trump is "going to shift that $ into private schools that are now businesses." #education #budget #DeVos#GetWoke

7:47 AM - 26 May 2017

 
•  55 Retweets
 
•  55 likes

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Schools Matter: The New Gold Rush by TFA in Camden

Schools Matter: The New Gold Rush by TFA in Camden:

The New Gold Rush by TFA in Camden

Most critics of Teach of America focus on the criminally-miseducative practice of using white inexperienced Ivy League missionaries, most of whom remain blind to their own racism, to impose a form of corporate counter-insurgency in the poorest urban areas of America, where children need the most professional and experienced teachers.  

The paternalist mission in these communities is to enforce "broken windows" schooling, which uses psychological manipulations to achieve a kind of brutal corporate culture based on TFA's troops patrolling classrooms during their two year commitments to continuously intervene and assess, assess and intervene.  

Most people don't focus on what happens to TFA corp members after their enlistments are up.  Many of these converts of their own propaganda return to grad school or to careers, with the self-satisfaction that comes to those who believe in the indispensability of their own corrective powers to fix the poor through repeated injections of corporate positive psychology.  

Other TFA veterans, however, move on to fulfill the other big piece of the TFA mission: educational misleadership.  

Camden, NJ represents a case study waiting to be studied, and it could lay bare TFA's lucrative, inhumane, and self-serving business model, now masquerading as education.  

A former TFA Corp member is now superintendent in Camden, and others from the paternal cult of TFA areSchools Matter: The New Gold Rush by TFA in Camden:

 

Torlakson Speaks at High School Where He Graduated - Year 2017 (CA Dept of Education)

Torlakson Speaks at High School Where He Graduated - Year 2017 (CA Dept of Education):

State Schools Chief Torlakson Speaks at Daly City High School That He Graduated From 50 Years Ago

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson on Thursday (May 25, 2017) returned to his roots at Westmoor High School, where he graduated 50 years ago, and addressed the Class of 2017.

“With your creativity and passion and determination, you will have many opportunities to change the world,” he said. “Think about how you can advance yourself successfully and, at the same time, find ways to improve your neighborhood, your community, your state, and the world.”

Torlakson, who leads the nation’s largest kindergarten through grade twelve public education system, told students and their families that they can achieve great things and follow their dreams.

Torlakson said that in the year he graduated—1967—the nation faced uncertain times, unrest, and political division. Today, many students worry about the same things.

“Yet our nation emerged from the 1960s and began an era of unprecedented progress. Together, we created a more diverse society, enacted groundbreaking legislation for civil rights, for women, for minorities,” Torlakson said. “Today, in California, our diversity is our strength.”

Torlakson also encouraged students to become teachers and return to their own communities to inspire students. In summer 2016, when he served briefly as Acting Governor, Torlakson issued a “Change Lives—Be a Teacher” proclamation, and he continues to promote the profession as California faces a looming teacher shortage.

Torlakson graduated from Westmoor in the Jefferson Union High School District and went on to a public service career in California that included serving in the U.S. Merchant Marine; teaching high school science and coaching cross country; and serving on the Antioch City Council, Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors, and as a state legislator from the San Francisco East Bay. He is serving his second term as State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

“My high school teachers and my professors in college opened my eyes and mind to so many wonderful learning opportunities,” Torlakson said. “I was able to become an educator in California—the team of which I am most proud.”

Torlakson also honored Bob Lualhati, a teacher and coach who inspired him and countless others when he was a student. Lualhati, who was elected to the San Mateo County Sports Hall of Fame, won numerous championships at Skyline Community College and trained two athletes who participated in the Olympics.

“He taught me to believe in myself, set high goals, and work hard,” Torlakson said.

# # # #

Tom Torlakson — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5602, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

Torlakson Speaks at High School Where He Graduated - Year 2017 (CA Dept of Education):