Crazy Normal – the Classroom Exposé

Education Week conducted a survey of graduation rates and discovered that charter high schools have lower graduation rates than public high schools.

Of course, charter apologists had many explanations and excuses but they apparently forgot their original claim that they would be far, far better than public schools.

A story by Arianna Prothero and Alex Hardin begins:

”At nearly 1,000 U.S. high schools, the chance of students graduating on time is no better than the flip of a coin. And charter schools—which were born to create more options for students—make up an outsized share of the number of public schools persistently graduating less than half of their students.

“An analysis of federal data by the Education Week Research Center identified 935 public high schools with four-year graduation rates of less than 50 percent in 2016-17, the most recent year available. Of those, 54 percent are charter schools. That’s one-quarter…

What a Business!

The stateof Indiana shells out millions of dollars to virtual charter schools that educate no one.

Even Republican legislators thank this this could be a waste of taxpayers’ dollars.

“Top state education leaders called it a “scandal” and “serious” that two Indiana virtual charter schools are accused of counting toward their enrollment thousands of students who either never signed up for or completed classes.

“This should be a massive alarm bell that outright fraud has been committed against Hoosier taxpayers to the tune of millions of dollars,” said Gordon Hendry, a state board of education member who led a committee last year to review virtual schools. “If this isn’t a scandal, I don’t know what is.”

“The harsh words came a day after Indiana Virtual School and its sister school, Indiana Virtual Pathways Academy, were put on notice that their charter agreements could be revoked by their…

Tomorrow is the day when voters in Los Angeles will pick the swing vote on the school board.

Mid you live in District 5, please vote for Jackie Goldberg.

She is the most experienced and most knowledgeable candidate in the race. She will speak out against the billionaires who hope to control the board. She will speak up for students, teachers, parents, and public schools.

To learn where the money is coming from and who is getting it, read the latest from Sara Roos, the Red Queen in LA.

The Money In LAUSD5’s Mouth

During Governor Jerry Brown’s tenure in office, he vetoed all efforts to hold charter schools accountable, to consider their fiscal impact, or to limit their numbers. Those days are over under Governor Gavin Newsom. 

Edsource reports:

“The chairman of the Assembly Education Committee and several Democratic colleagues introduced a package of bills Monday that would impose severe restrictions on the growth of charter schools.

“Three of the bills would eliminate the ability of charter schools to appeal rejected applications to the county and state, place an unspecified cap on charter school growth and enable school districts to consider the financial impact of charter schools when deciding whether to approve them. A fourth bill would abolish the right of a charter school that can’t find a facility in its authorizing district to locate a school in an adjoining district.

“Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell, D-Long Beach, who chairs the Education Committee, said the…

The National Education Policy Center asks whether the tide has turned against vouchers.

i would argue in response to their question that there was never a tide favoring vouchers except among politicians who took campaign contributions from voucher supporters or who ideologically hate everything public.

No public referendum on vouchers has ever endorsed them. The latest was in Arizona in 2018, where two-thirds of voters opposed vouchers while re-electing a rightwing governor funded by the Koch machine.

Vouchers lost in Florida in 2012, despite the support of Jeb Bush, and despite the fact that the referendum was deceptively called a vote on “religious liberty.”

Vouchers lost in deep red Utah in 2007, overwhelmingly.

Indiana has the nation’s most expansive voucher program, but only 3.5% of kidsebrolled and most had never attended public schools. They were religious families looking for public. Only for their religious education.

NEPC sees other reasons toquestion…

Oakland teachers are striking for higher wages and against school privatization by rapacious charters. A study by Professor Gordon Lafer of the University of Oregon showed that the Oakland district lost $57.4 million last year to charters.

MEDIA ADVISORY
Contact: Kim Turner, 213-305-9316, UTLA communications

LA teachers, supporters show solidarity with Oakland Strike

LOS ANGELES — Tomorrow morning, teachers and supporters across all schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District will show massive solidarity with the brave educators on strike in Oakland.

Like United Teachers Los Angeles members, Oakland educators are fighting to reinvest in public education and reject a privatization agenda. The Oakland Unified School District is claiming a fiscal crisis to justify closing schools and denying educators a decent pay raise, lower class sizes, and more support in the classroom. A key driver of Oakland’s budget crisis is the unregulated expansion of the charter industry…

Would you believe me if I told you the Oath of Office came first and is more important than the Pledge of Allegiance?

No one should be forced to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in school, before a football game, or anywhere else. Instead, we should be reciting the Oath instead of the Pledge that says we must be loyal to a piece of rectangular cloth colored red, white, and blue that hangs from a pole.

The Oath of Office is the same oath every incoming president of the United States recites as they rest a hand on a Bible and are sworn in.

In fact, all officers of the seven uniformed services of the United States swear or affirm an oath of office upon commissioning. It differs slightly from that of the oath of enlistment that enlisted members recite when they enter the service. It is required by statute…

John Stoffel, a teacher in Indiana, is disgusted with the politicians who are intent on undermining public schools in his state. He wanted you to know how bad things are.

BREAKING BAY AREA NEWS: In a news conference this afternoon, the 3,000-member Oakland Education Association union set a strike date of Thursday, Feb. 21. Please see OEA news release below…..

Mike Myslinski

Headquarters Communications

California Teachers Association

1705 Murchison Drive

Burlingame, CA 94010

650-552-5324

408-921-5769 (cell)

www.cta.org

NEWS RELEASE 

February 16, 2019

Oakland Education Association

272 East 12^th Street

Oakland, CA 94606

510-763-4020

www.oaklandea.org

Contacts:

–OEA President Keith Brown on cell at 510-866-8280.

–Mike Myslinski with CTA Communications on cell at 408-921-5769.

On Twitter: @oaklandea, #Unite4OaklandKids, #WeAreOEA, #RedForEd, #WeAreCTA

OEA on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OaklandEA/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oakland Education Association Sets Strike Date

of Thursday, Feb. 21, to Fight for Oakland Schools 

Priorities Remain – Smaller Class Sizes, More Support for Students,

Living Wages and a Halt to Destructive School Closures

OAKLAND – To stand and fight for the quality schools that all Oakland students deserve…

Ohio has one of the worst charter sectors in the country.

In 2015, The Cleveland Plain Dealer and Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post agreed that Ohio’s Charters had become a national joke.  Margaret Raymond, leader of CREDO, which conducts studies of state charter sectors, said to Ohioans, “Be glad that you have Nevada, so you are not the worst,” referring to Ohio’s charters.

Two-thirds of Ohio’s charters are rated failing by the state. Enrollment in charters is falling. The number of charters is declining. Ohio’s failing  charter schools drain $1 billion a year from Ohio’s public schools.

Why is Ohio taking $1 Billion a year from public schools to sustain failing charter schools?

In short, Ohio’s charter sector is a disaster.

So now is exactly the time when Aaron Churchill of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute attacks Bill Phillis, the retired assistant superintendent of education, a courtly gentleman who…