Injustice: The Disparate Impact of EdChoice Vouchers Across Ohio School Districts | janresseger

Injustice: The Disparate Impact of EdChoice Vouchers Across Ohio School Districts | janresseger

Injustice: The Disparate Impact of EdChoice Vouchers Across Ohio School Districts

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine just announced large, recession-driven cuts in statewide funding for public education at the same time more and more students in 140 of Ohio’s 610 school districts will be carrying EdChoice vouchers out of their local school district budgets to pay for private school tuition. Ohio’s EdChoice voucher program is funded through a local school district deduction, which sucks education program dollars out of local school district budgets.  At this time when Ohio faces a sudden and serious revenue shortfall due to Covid-19 job losses and business closures, the Legislature must immediately protect extremely vulnerable local school districts by merging EdChoice and another Ohio voucher program—EdChoice Expansion, which is fully state funded. The EdChoice voucher program was created by the state legislature. The Legislature ought to pay for the vouchers out of the state budget for which the Legislature is responsible.

In February, the Ohio House passed legislation which would begin collapsing the two programs into a fully state funded Buckeye Opportunity Scholarship voucher program. While the Ohio Senate did not concur with the plan, the pandemic-driven fiscal emergency has now radically reshaped Ohio’s school funding calculus. The growth of EdChoice vouchers next year in the school districts shouldering the burden of the EdChoice program will catastrophically reduce local school budgets. The burden falls unevenly, because the state has designated only 140 of the state’s 610 school districts for the punitive EdChoice program, and 40 of those EdChoice districts will suffer the greatest impact.

Last week Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced an immediate state budget reduction before the end of the fiscal year (ending June 30, 2020) of $775 million, with $300 million of the cuts to be absorbed across the state’s K-12 public school districts. The Covd-19 pandemic has led to business shutdowns and job losses, which reduced Ohio’s state tax revenue through April by $776.9 million below fiscal year estimates.

The EdChoice voucher program is particularly burdensome for public school districts because the vouchers are funded by a method called “school district deduction.”  Before the current school year, only 255 individual public schools had been designated for the EdChoice voucher program, but for the 2019-2020 school year, the state doubled the size of the program, for a total of 517 EdChoice Designated Schools. Legislators had been scheduled to designate 700 additional EdChoice school buildings for the program for the 2020-2021 school year. However, at the end of March,—under pressure to shut itself down due to Covid-19—the Legislature CONTINUE READING: Injustice: The Disparate Impact of EdChoice Vouchers Across Ohio School Districts | janresseger

SPI Issues Statement in Response to May Revise - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

SPI Issues Statement in Response to May Revise - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Issues Statement in Response to Governor Newsom's Updated Budget Proposal

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond today issued the following statement in response to Governor Gavin Newsom’s revised budget for the fiscal year 2020–21:

“The COVID-19 crisis has had a disastrous impact on the state’s economy, and the updated projections today offer sobering details of that reality. I want to thank Governor Newsom for working hard to prioritize and preserve public education as one of the vital, core services we must protect as we weather this economic downturn. Today’s updated budget proposal includes a variety of measures designed to avoid permanent cuts to education, which otherwise could have lasting impacts on a generation of students.

“While the measures outlined in today’s proposal are far from what our schools need, we also understand that our state is facing impossible choices under impossible circumstances. I will continue to advocate on behalf of our students and educators through each step of the Legislature’s budget adoption process in the coming weeks.

“We are grateful for the Governor’s proposal to direct $4.4 billion in federal aid to education, a move that recognizes the increased demands on schools and the equity issues and other challenges posed by COVID-19 school closures this spring. Schools are a critical driver of the health and vitality of our communities, and these funds can be used to make necessary modifications so that schools are better prepared to open their doors in the fall.

“We also strongly echo the Governor’s call for Congress to act swiftly and pass the HEROES Act, which will provide immediate financial relief and help us avoid many of the reductions proposed today. Now, more than ever, California needs support from the federal government so that our schools can deal with the unavoidable costs they face as they plan to reopen. 

“I want to thank our educators, students, and families who have worked hard to keep learning going during this pandemic. These are extraordinary times, and we will get through this together. We must rise to this challenge and work together to keep services intact for our students as we navigate this crisis.”

Thursday’s revised budget illustrates just how quickly and dramatically COVID-19 has impacted California’s economy. In January, Governor Newsom proposed increasing K-12 education spending by $3 billion, the largest per-pupil allocation in state history. 

By last week, however, revised revenue forecasts estimated $19 billion less in Proposition 98 funding, the minimum guarantee to public schools under state law.

Governor Newsom’s updated K-12 budget proposal includes:

• A 10 percent reduction to the Local Control Funding Formula for 2020–21, with a trigger for increases pending additional federal funding for education.
• Allocation of $4.4 billion in federal funding to address learning loss and equity issues exacerbated by the COVID-19 school closures this spring. These funds can be used by districts to run summer programs and other programs that address equity gaps that were widened during the school closures. These funds also can be used to make necessary modifications so that schools are prepared to reopen in the fall.
• Reallocation of $2.3 billion in funds previously dedicated to paying down schools’ unfunded liability to CalSTRS and CalPERS to instead pay the school employers' retirement contributions.
• A new obligation of 1.5 percent of state appropriation limit revenues starting in 2020–21 to avoid a permanent decline in school funding that grows to $4.6 billion in additional funding for schools and community colleges by 2023–24.

View the Governor’s May Revise budget summary (PDF) on the Department of Finance budget website.

# # # #

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

SPI Issues Statement in Response to May Revise - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

HOW TO SAFELY REOPEN SCHOOL BUILDINGS - THE MOVIE: Diane Ravitch in Conversation with Randi Weingarten - Network For Public Education

Diane Ravitch in Conversation with Randi Weingarten - Network For Public Education

Diane Ravitch in Conversation with Randi Weingarten

In this video conference NPE President Diane Ravitch’s guest was AFT President Randi Weingarten. Watch and listen to a wide ranging conversation between Diane and Randi, including how to safely reopen school buildings.

Diane Ravitch in Conversation with Randi Weingarten - Network For Public Education

CURMUDGUCATION: Fordham Advises Conservative Board Members In Parallel Universe

CURMUDGUCATION: Fordham Advises Conservative Board Members In Parallel Universe

Fordham Advises Conservative Board Members In Parallel Universe

It's a curious little piece in the Fordham Institute's blog, this "Conservative Agenda for School Board Members." The co-authors are Michael Petrilli and Chester Finn, the current and former head honchos of the right-leaning thinky tank (though I will say-- and I'm just guessing here--the level of pearl-clutching in this piece sounds a lot more like Finn than Petrilli to me).

The stock photo is a couple of cute little white kids holding a flag and walking out into sun-dappled greenery. That.... well, sets a tone.

First, they acknowledge that they have sometimes in the past been "dismissive, even hostile" to school board members, mostly because they "often seemed willing to protect the status quo and resist changes intended to overhaul the jalopy we call American public schooling" (that jalopy line does sound like Petrilli).

But we’re ready to look afresh, mindful that it’s unfair to view anything in the sprawling K–12 sector as a monolith.

Cool. I'll be happy if reformsters decide to stop referring to public education as a monopoly. The writers have decided to think of school boards as one of "society's little platoons" in rebuilding overstressed communities. In fact, the duo sees school board members as "best positioned to push back against so much of the nonsense that courses through our schools and our society." That nonsense list is actually pretty short and not very inclusive-- "history emphasizing the nation’s shortcomings, antipathy toward strict discipline, and on and on..."

They admit that board members can't change everything single-handedly, and that in many places conservatives are outnumbered but they don't want to just "cede public schooling to the CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Fordham Advises Conservative Board Members In Parallel Universe

NEA President: Our Students Must Not Pay The Price For This Crisis

NEA President: Our Students Must Not Pay The Price For This Crisis

NEA President: Our Students Must Not Pay The Price For This Crisis

Two months after the coronavirus pandemic forced schools across the country to close their doors, educators and students remain hunkered down in their homes teaching and learning remotely. Everybody is doing the best they can, but the challenges around distance learning are formidable – and will likely remain so until school re-opens. But what “back-to-school” this year will actually look like to students, educators and parents is shrouded in uncertainty.

What is clear is that the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated the inequities facing our most vulnerable students. According to a just-released National Education Association (NEA) survey, more than 80% of NEA members say that “providing the same level of education to all students” is a serious problem. Educators in high-poverty schools report lower class attendance, feel distance learning will be less effective for their students, and believe that closing the digital divide should be a top priority.

Compounding the current anxieties over distance learning and staying healthy is the widespread apprehension over what comes next. This week, as states begin to relax stay-at-home policies, the question of when and how to re-open schools took center stage. Dr. Anthony Fauci, in testimony to Congress, urged extreme caution in moving too quickly, reminding lawmakers that children are not immune from COVID-19.

The health and safety of students, their parents, and educators has to be main driver of any plan to re-open schools, said NEA President Lily Eskelsen García. “That is the first, second, and third priority.”

“Educators want to go back to school.  They’re desperate to be in the same CONTINUE READING: NEA President: Our Students Must Not Pay The Price For This Crisis

Mike Klonsky's Blog: Reckless reopening and universal guaranteed income

Mike Klonsky's Blog: Reckless reopening and universal guaranteed income

Reckless reopening and universal guaranteed income

UAW President Walter Reuther (shaking hands at right) presided
at the opening of the new Local 879 Union Hall in 1955

Political Economy lesson for these times: The story goes that Henry Ford II once boasted to UAW leader Walter Reuther that he could build cars without workers.

 “Walter, how are you going to get those robots to pay your union dues." Without skipping a beat, Reuther replied, “Henry, how are you going to get them to buy your cars?”

Reuther won that one on points but the robots and offshoring production prevailed in the end. The current pandemic which has put millions out of work and driven many millions more into poverty is driving some deep questioning about the inequities in current society and new thinking about life in a post-pandemic world. Isn't it time to start talking seriously about universal basic income and health insurance?

Ameya Pawar

Brother Fred and I will be doing just that in upcoming editions of Hitting Left with the Klonsky Brothers. On Friday, May 22nd, 11-noon CT, we will be joined by former Chicago Alderman Ameya Pawar. After leaving office, Ameya joined the Economic Security Project as a senior fellow and is working on narrative change efforts around guaranteed income and public options, including public banks. It should be an interesting show. Tune in to lumpenradio.com

Look at these numbers...As Trump and his right-wing band of media whores open fire on Dr. Fauci and the medical and scientific community, we take note of the fact that the overwhelming majority of Americans oppose their reckless "reopening" policies that place profit above human life.

According to this week's Washington Post-University of Maryland poll, a huge majority (78% to 22%) of Americans, believe it is “necessary” for people in their communities to stay at home as much as possible.

The spread is very similar among those of incomes below $50,000 (82-18), those of CONTINUE READING: Mike Klonsky's Blog: Reckless reopening and universal guaranteed income

Nominations Now Open for the 2020 Black Education Matters Student Activist Award! – I AM AN EDUCATOR

Nominations Now Open for the 2020 Black Education Matters Student Activist Award! – I AM AN EDUCATOR

Nominations Now Open for the 2020 Black Education Matters Student Activist Award!

Starting Thursday, May 14th through June 12th, 2020, nominations will be accepted for the Black Education Matters Student Activist award!  I am writing this letter to encourage educators, parents, students, and community organizers to nominate a deserving student for the award today!

Some of the 2018 Black Education Matters Student Activist Award winners being congratulated by Linda Sarsour, Pele Bennett, and Michael Bennett. Apply today for the 2020 award.

The Black Education Matters Student Activist Award (BEMSAA) gives recognition, support, and a $1,000 award to student leaders in the Seattle Public Schools who demonstrate exceptional leadership in struggles against racism—especially with an understanding of the intersections with sexism, homophobia, transphobia, Islamaphobia, class exploitation and other forms of oppression—within their school or community. Over the past several years, thirteen Seattle Public Schools students have been honored with the award.

Seattle Police Officer pepper sprays Jesse Hagopian

I founded the award a little more than a year after I was assaulted by police and won a settlement.  The assault occurred in January of 2015, soon after I gave the final speech at Seattle’s Martin Luther King Day rally.  Not long after, I was pepper-sprayed in the face without provocation by an officer of the Seattle Police Department.  I was on the phone with my mom at time of the assault, coordinating a ride to my then two-year-old son’s birthday party.  The incident was captured on video by an onlooker. I then filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Seattle and the Seattle Police Department and reached a settlement over the incident, using the proceeds to start the “Black Education Matters Student Activist Award.”  While I’m glad the money from the settlement could be used to support youth activism, the settlement does not represent justice given that the officer who pepper-sprayed me did not even receive a one-day suspension for the assault.

Last year’s winners were:

• Rena Mateja Walker Burr, Cleveland High School
• Khabirah Weddington, Garfield High School
• Cece Chan, Nathan Hale High School

For a full list of the previous amazing award winners, please visit the Award Winners page.

Here, then, are the instructions for applying for the award.

Seattle Public School students (or advocates on their behalf) can apply for the Black Education Matters Student Activist Award by filling out this application.

THE OPPORTUNITY: CONTINUE READING: Nominations Now Open for the 2020 Black Education Matters Student Activist Award! – I AM AN EDUCATOR

Why schools should not be reopened next year without reducing class size | Class Size Matters

Why schools should not be reopened next year without reducing class size | Class Size Matters  | A clearinghouse for information on class size & the proven benefits of smaller classes

Why schools should not be reopened next year without reducing class size

The need to reduce class size next fall to improve health and safety and strengthen academic and emotional support and how this could be achieved through budget savings

Download the PDF version here.

Shorter version in the Gotham Gazette, “To Reopen Schools, The Mayor Needs Smaller Classes — Here’s $570 Million in Potential Department of Education Savings to Get Him Started”

May 12, 2020

It was recently reported that 72 NYC Department of Education employees had died from Coronavirus, including 28 paraprofessionals and 28 teachers.[1] Evidence has also emerged that children can develop serious illnesses after being infected with the virus, and even those who are asymptomatic are often effective transmitters.[2]

Now that both the Mayor and the Governor have wisely decided that our public schools will be closed through the end of June, it is time to start thinking about how they will be reopened next fall, to maximize the health and safety of students and staff, and strengthen the academic and emotional support students will need to make up for the myriad losses they have suffered this year.

As Mayor de Blasio has said, “Next school year will have to be the greatest academic school year New York City will ever have because everyone is going to be playing catch up.” [3] And yet he has also proposed over $800 million in reductions to the Department of Education, including staffing freezes and at least $140 million taken directly out of school budgets, which would likely cause class sizes to grow even larger , the loss of  school counselors and more.  How could next year be the best year ever, given such drastic reductions?  In fact, our schools will need increased investments to provide the enhanced feedback and encouragement that students will so desperately need after months of disconnected remote learning

Many countries, including Denmark, Germany and France, are reducing class size, to obtain the recommended social distancing within classrooms to stop the spread of the virus, sometimes by introducing split or staggered schedules.   Some US states are proposing to lower class sizes too, including California. The American Federation of Teachers has recommended this step be taken throughout the nation: :  “one of the most important measures districts can take is to reduce class sizes…Class sizes of 12-15 students will, in most circumstances, make it possible to maintain physical distancing protocols.”[4]

Smaller classes have also been shown through research to boost learning and provide the social and emotional connection that many students will need from their teachers, given the loss in learning and the stress and suffering caused by the pandemic this year.  Shouldn’t class size reduction happen in NYC too, and if so, how?

Clearly, every available space would have to be used in our school buildings to accomplish the social distancing and smaller classes required.  Split sessions would also be needed in many of our overcrowded schools.  More funding for the additional staffing will be required.  Yet considerable savings could be obtained by cutting other areas of the education budget.

As a letter signed by 34 City Council members pointed out, rather than cut school budgets, the city could lower spending on “consultants, administration, cancelled or unnecessary testing, and contract reductions.”[5]

Prominent among these savings this year is the more than $1.1 billion spent annually on school busing. After a campaign led by Class Size Matters, and the NYC Comptroller sent a letter to the Chancellor, pointing out that the city had no legal obligation to renew these expensive busing contracts in the midst of a pandemic when schools were closed, the DOE has postponed the vote to renew them that was originally scheduled for the April 22 meeting of the Panel for Education Policy.

Those contracts would have extended the busing contracts for March and April of this year at a cost of $400 million.  Cancelling them through the end of the year could save as much as $700 million.  The DOE still hasn’t reported on whether they’ve already paid for busing for March and April, despite the fact that this was not yet approved by Panel members, but in any case, savings of $400 million to $700 million could be achieved via this single step.

There are also considerable savings that could be achieved this year in energy, facilities and supplies, given the fact that school buildings will have been closed three and a half months by the end of the year, and will likely be shut over the summer as well.  About $570 million was allocated for energy and leases this year – with more than $175 million for energy and fuel costs alone.  Surely, at least $25 million could be saved in this category.

While DOE has proposed to freeze the hiring of school staffing, including teachers, counselors and CONTINUE READING: Why schools should not be reopened next year without reducing class size | Class Size Matters  | A clearinghouse for information on class size & the proven benefits of smaller classes

JOE MATHEWS: I Deserve an “A” For Flunking My Kids’ COVID-19 Distance Learning

I Deserve an “A” For Flunking My Kids’ COVID-19 Distance Learning

I DESERVE AN ‘A’ FOR FLUNKING MY KIDS’ DISTANCE LEARNING
Yes, I’m Doing a Poor Job—But Parents Have Become the Scapegoats for a Failing System

I’m proudly doing my duty as a California parent. I’m flunking distance learning.

Distance learning is the term for our new COVID 19-era educational regime, which forces teachers and students to conduct classes and handle schoolwork at a distance, using the Internet. Under this system, we California parents must bridge this distance, valiantly instructing our own children at home to make sure that actual learning takes place.

Millions of California parents, including yours truly, have found this a frustrating, even impossible task. But after seven long weeks of distance learning, I’ve made my peace with flunking this particular exam.

Because failure isn’t merely an option when your job is to transform into a teacher in the midst of the worst pandemic in a century. Failure is the point of the exercise.

If parents were to turn into awesome teachers under this hastily organized set-up for internet home schooling, imagine the fallout for our educational system! If parents could surpass some teachers in instruction, how could teachers’ unions still defend their weaker members? If I could administer my home classroom effectively, what justification would California school districts have for employing expensive administrators? And if students performed just as well at my kitchen table as they do in a classroom, why would construction firms ever again make campaign donations to school board members who approve new buildings?

Educational success, in these circumstances, would be nothing less than an attack on public education. So if you’re one of those parents who is still following every instruction on Google Classroom, and trying to give your kid a leg up, I must ask: What the hell is wrong with you?

For the sake of California and social cohesion, those of us with school-age children must accept CONTINUE READING: I Deserve an “A” For Flunking My Kids’ COVID-19 Distance Learning

Trump downplays danger of reopening schools - The Washington Post

Trump downplays danger of reopening schools - The Washington Post

Trump on kids getting covid-19 in school: ‘You can be driving to school and some bad things can happen, too’

President Trump met Wednesday with two governors in the White House to talk about the reopening of the country during the covid-19 pandemic and took the opportunity to contradict the country’s most esteemed public health official, Anthony S. Fauci, who has warned against moving too fast to send kids back into school buildings.

On Tuesday, Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told a Senate committee during a virtual hearing that policymakers should be cautious about opening up schools, which closed across the country this spring to try to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.

During the hearing, Fauci was challenged by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who said it was “ridiculous” for schools not to open because children don’t really get sick from covid-19 — despite rising concerns among health experts about how children are affected and without noting that they can be silent carriers who infect adults also in a school building.

The weird things Sen. Rand Paul said about reopening schools

Fauci responded: “I think we better be careful that we’re not cavalier, in thinking that children are completely immune to the deleterious effects.”

Fauci also said, “We don’t know everything about this virus, and we really better be very careful particularly when it comes to children, because the more and more we learn, we’re seeing things about what this virus can do that we didn’t see from the studies in China or in Europe.”

And he said that it was “a bridge too far” to believe that medicine and a vaccine effective against covid-19 would be available by the time schools usually open for the fall semester.

Sign up for our Coronavirus Updates newsletter to track the outbreak. All stories linked in the newsletter are free to access.

On Wednesday, Trump continued Paul’s attack on Fauci during his meeting with Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R). Trump said that Fauci’s comments were “not acceptable" and that schools should reopen soon. He repeated Paul’s statement that children are CONTINUE READING: Trump downplays danger of reopening schools - The Washington Post

‘Education Reimagined’ not a hit with schools - News - The Evening Tribune - Hornell, NY

‘Education Reimagined’ not a hit with schools - News - The Evening Tribune - Hornell, NY

‘Education Reimagined’ not a hit with schools

Union officials and school district administrators are pushing back against Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s announcement of a partnership between the state and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to restructure New York’s education system in the wake of COVID-19.

NYSUT President Andy Pallotta stated that remote learning “will never replace the important personal connection” built in the classroom between teachers and students. He said federal funding and state revenues from “taxes on the ultrawealthy” could address the needs of the state’s education system, along with adding teachers to the conversation.

“The Governors ‘Education Reimagined’ causes some concern,” says Penn Yan School Superintendent Howard Dennis. “Any time that changes to education are coming from people who do not work in education on a regular basis it is concerning. I hope that there will be plenty of opportunity for input from educators who have been living this experience for the last few weeks. I also hope that it will not be mandated because not all systems are ready or at the same point for change. The districts in this area, including Penn Yan, have been working on the appropriate implementation of technology as a learning resource in a very purposeful way for the last four or five years. Technology is not a substitute for the interaction of the classroom and the guidance of a highly qualified teacher. We have learned many lessons from the last few weeks of at home learning and those prove that this works for some and not for others. You also know the challenges of reliable high speed internet connection in our area. The Governor’s comment that kids just sit in rows and the teacher sits in the front of the room and teaches proves to me that he is not in touch with present day classrooms, at least in Penn Yan and all of Yates County for that matter. I have great concerns and I hope that decisions are made in an appropriate and purposeful way.”

Maura Benincasa Wolverton, Co-President of the Dundee Teacher’s Association replied, “When all of the COVID-19 crisis began, educators were thrust overnight into all or mostly online or remote teaching/learning for their students. They rose to the occasion and jumped in with both feet.

“Technology has become a larger part of education these last years and is a great tool,” she adds. “However, CONTINUE READING: ‘Education Reimagined’ not a hit with schools - News - The Evening Tribune - Hornell, NY

Betsy DeVos' Department of Education Admits 54,000 Student Loan Borrowers Are Still Having Their Wages Garnished

Betsy DeVos' Department of Education Admits 54,000 Student Loan Borrowers Are Still Having Their Wages Garnished

Who Would Allow Wages to Be Garnished During a Pandemic? Certainly Not Betsy DeVos

In case you were wondering what Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is up to these days, let me give you the short of it: she’s still playing with people’s money.

She’s been up to it for years, of course—multiple outlets have reported on her dubious connections with loan servicing giants. In late 2019, the Department of Education admitted it “erroneously” forced nearly 46,000 students scammed by for-profit colleges to repay their loans.

But if you thought a global pandemic would slow the DOE’s roll, I want to personally shake your hand for preserving such innocence and hope (Where did you get it? Is it on sale?). Because, as Forbes reports, the Department of Education admitted that 54,000 student loan borrowers were still having their wages garnished—this despite the fact that the CARES Act, passed in late March, specifically prohibits that practice.

The DOE owned up to the astonishing numbers in a court filing Monday. The filing is in response to a lawsuit filed in April by a home health aide, Elizabeth Barber, against DeVos and the DOE (according to the complaint, Barber, who is on the frontline of the nation’s public health crisis, makes just under $13 an hour). According to Forbes, one out of every eight student loan borrowers who had their wages garnished before the coronavirus pandemic are still having their CONTINUE READING: Betsy DeVos' Department of Education Admits 54,000 Student Loan Borrowers Are Still Having Their Wages Garnished

CREDO’s New Study Biased against Public Schools | tultican

CREDO’s New Study Biased against Public Schools | tultican

CREDO’s New Study Biased against Public Schools

By Thomas Ultican 5/14/2020

The Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) started releasing the results of its new Cities Study Project in mid-2019. It is not a coincidence that the cities chosen for the study have long been targeted for public school privatization. The ten cities selected are: Indianapolis; Baton Rouge; Camden; Kansas City; Memphis; New Orleans; Oakland; St. Louis; San Antonio; and Washington DC. This CREDO study is even more opaque and biased than its previous efforts.

Who is CREDO?

The Husband and Wife Team Who Founded of CREDO

In the early 1980s, Margaret (Macke) Raymond was completing a lengthy graduate school agenda at the University of Rochester, a relatively small private university in Rochester, New York. She garnered an MS of public policy in 1980, a community medicine MS in 1982, an MA of political science in 1983 and finished with a PhD in political science in 1985. From 1985 to 2000 she ran Raymond Consulting and worked a few years in the telecommunications industry.

At that same time, Eric Hanushek was Professor of Economics and Political Science at Rochester University. The former Air Force cadet had earned a CONTINUE READING: CREDO’s New Study Biased against Public Schools | tultican

NYC Public School Parents: Eva Moskowitz and Success Academy found guilty of violating NY State student privacy Law

NYC Public School Parents: Eva Moskowitz and Success Academy found guilty of violating NY State student privacy Law

Eva Moskowitz and Success Academy found guilty of violating NY State student privacy Law

For immediate release: May 14, 2020

More information: Fatima Geidi, fatimageidi@gmail.com; (646) 281-0449

Leonie Haimson, leoniehaimson@gmail.com; 917-435-9329

Eva Moskowitz and Success Academy found guilty of violating

NY State student privacy Law

The Chief Privacy Officer of the NY State Education Department issued a ruling on Tuesday May 12 that Eva Moskowitz and Success Academy had violated Education Law 2d, the state student privacy law, that prohibits the disclosure of personal student information without parental consent except under specific conditions required to provide a student’s education. 

In 2015 and thereafter, Success Academy officials published exaggerated details from the education records of Fatima Geidi’s son when he was attending Upper West Success Academy, and shared them with reporters nationwide.  They did this under Eva Moskowitz’ direction to retaliate against Ms. Geidi and her son, when they were interviewed on the PBS News Hour in 2015, about his repeated suspensions and the abusive treatment he suffered at the hands of school staff from first through third grade.

Ms. Geidi filed a student privacy complaint to the State Education Department in June of last year.  In response to her complaint, Success Academy attorneys made a number of claims, including that the statute of limitations had lapsed, that charter schools were not subject to Education Law 2D,  and that school officials have a First Amendment right to speak out about her child’s behavior.  All those claims were dismissed in the decision released yesterday by the NYSED Chief Privacy Officer, Temitope Akinyemi. 

The State Education Department has now ordered Success Academy to take a number of affirmative steps, including that administrators, staff and teachers must receive annual training in data privacy, security and the federal and state laws on student privacy, that they must develop a data privacy and security policy to be submitted to the State Education Department no later than July 1, 2020, and that after that policy is approved, it must be posted on the charter school’s website and notice be provided to all officers and employees.

As Fatima Geidi said, “ I am happy that my son’s rights to privacy and hopefully all students at Success Academy from now on will be protected, and that Eva Moskowitz will be forced to stop using threats of disclosure as a weapon against any parent who dares speak out about the ways in which their children have been abused by her schools.  However, I am disappointed that the Chief Privacy Officer did not order Ms. Moskowitz to take out the section of her memoirs, The Education of Eva Moskowitz, that allegedly describes the behavior of my son.  I plan to ask my attorney to send a letter to Harper Collins, the book’s publishers, demanding that they delete that section of the book both because it contains lies and has now been found to violate both state and federal privacy law.  If they refuse, we will then go to the Attorney General’s office for relief.”

Last year, the US Department of Education also found Ms. Moskowitz and Success Academy guilty of violating FERPA, the federal student privacy law.  The official FERPA findings letter to Ms. Moskowitz is here.  Yet Ms. Moskowitz launched an appeal of that ruling on similar First Amendment grounds, with the help of Jay Lefkowitz of Kirkland and Ellis to represent her in the appeal.  Lefkowitz is the same attorney who negotiated a reduced sentence for Jeffrey Epstein, the notorious child sex abuser, in a controversial plea deal in Palm Beach County in 2007. Though Ms. Geidi has repeatedly asked the U.S. Department of Education about the outcome of this appeal, she has heard nothing in response.

As Leonie Haimson, co-chair of the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy, pointed out: “Fatima’s son is not the only child whose privacy has been violated by Success Academy.  Last year, Success shared details from the private education files of Lisa Vasquez’ daughter with reporters from  Chalkbeat without her consent, after Ms. Vasquez spoke about how her daughter had been unfairly treated at Success Academy Prospect Heights.  The SUNY Charter Institute also noted unspecified violations of FERPA by SAC Cobble Hill, SAC Crown Heights, SAC Fort Greene, SAC Harlem 2, and SAC Harlem 5 during site visits, noted in their Renewal reports.  The time for Eva Moskowitz to comply with the law and stop violating the privacy of innocent children whose parents dare to reveal her schools’ cruel policies has long passed.”

NYC Public School Parents: Eva Moskowitz and Success Academy found guilty of violating NY State student privacy Law