Network for Public Education puts it all together re. privatization and charter schools. Much to nod at.
questadmin
Betsy DeVos: If States Discriminate Against LGBTQ Students, It’s Cool By Me
Katherine Clark (D-Mass) questions DeVos re. federal money going to schools that discriminate based on race, LGBTQ, special needs via vouchers. DeVos asserted that the states get to decide and there wouldn’t be federal interference. Scary.
Thousands rally in Boston Common for Boston’s public schools
“We know from this past fall that when teachers, parents, students, community members and labor come together and fight for public education, we win!”
Parent complaints about the state’s largest charter are nothing new and are usually ignored…
Context to the racist hair policy at MV Charter School include ignoring of open meeting laws, nepotism in hiring and admissions, lack of English Language Learners, denial of Special Ed services. Are we surprised that a privately controlled school can act this way?!?
School choice is a scam in segregated neighborhoods
“What DeVos fails to understand is the intentional structural racism that has been accepted by Democrats and Republicans, where children from black and brown communities are intentionally underserved by the system all citizens pay taxes into.”
http://chicagoreporter.com/school-choice-is-a-scam-in-segregated-neighborhoods/
In Some States, Donating to Private Schools Can Earn You a Profit
In 12 states, donating to private/parochial schools can be done at no cost or at a profit, e.g. in South Carolina, someone making a $20,000 donation gets a $20,000 state tax credit, AND a federal tax deduction up to $7,000. The world according to DeVos.
Trump’s first full education budget: Deep cuts to public school programs
In Trump’s budget, “Funding for college work-study programs would be cut in half, public-service loan forgiveness would end and hundreds of millions of dollars that public schools could use for mental health, advanced coursework and other services would vanish under a Trump administration plan to cut $10.6 billion from federal education initiatives, according to budget documents obtained by The Washington Post.
The administration would channel part of the savings into its top priority: school choice. It seeks to spend about $400 million to expand charter schools and vouchers for private and religious schools, and another $1 billion to push public schools to adopt choice-friendly policies.”
State report highlights inequities in black, Latino ed
Black and Latino students are 50{122811316cfd5b88780f51fede8567be755cf1c68a0121e0e17981680b9735a7} more likely than whites to have inexperienced teachers and 3x more likely to have teachers who aren’t highly qualified. Unacceptable!
The Massachusetts school ballot fight cost $43 million
Little look back at the $ in the Question 2 fight
With no foes, ex-teacher has broad support to be next school union prez
Future BTU President, Jessica Tang: “We want our community of parents and students to know that we are fighting with them on these broader social justice issues. Policy should be made bottom-up, not top-down. It’s parents, students and families who know what the needs are.”