Vouchers were originally a way for parents to avoid having their students attend desegregated schools. The Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Supreme Court decision made in 1954, which declared that state laws establishing segregated schools were … Continue reading A voucher by any other name…tax credit, scholarship account, tuition grant…is still a voucher
This article was originally posted on The Progressive and titled: Four Things Betsy DeVos Doesn’t Want You to Know about Education Tax Credits Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is a big fan of educational tax credits. In a speech at … Continue reading Betsy DeVos’ Education Tax Credits Will Take Money Away from the States
“It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit … Continue reading The endgame of corporate reform in public school education: Part 1, What do Betsy DeVos and Seattle Public School’s IT Lead John Krull have in common?
Personally, whenever a bill in Washington D.C. is praised for its bipartisan nature – I get worried. The common ground discovered by Democrats and Republicans, usually comes at our expense. The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA) is … Continue reading ALEC is Excited About the New Testing Provisions in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), so is iNACOL
The following is a response to Liv Finne, a Director at the Washington Policy Center which is a member of ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, who published a piece after the Washington State Supreme Court brought down their decision that charter … Continue reading Dear Liv: Yes, A Loss for ALEC and the Privatizers Makes Me Happy
In politics, actions are everything. That’s why it’s especially interesting Attorney General Bob Ferguson has decided to defend charter schools AFTER they were ruled unconstitutional by the Washington State Supreme Court. Here’s the twist: before the Supreme Court made their … Continue reading Why is Washington State Attorney General Robert Ferguson sticking his neck out for charter schools?
The self-designation of “reformer” by people who have never been in the classroom and have no actual training or experience in education is a smokescreen. What they are really after is profitability for their investor-owned charter school corporations that will deliver as little education for … Continue reading We are losing talented, dedicated and experienced teachers and here’s why
Whenever Bill Gates wants to justify the ideas he imposes on public school children around the country, he relies on the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) to appear with a research paper or study, that is not peer reviewed, … Continue reading The Gates owned Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) right here in Seattle
So much news, so little time. From Real News: U.S. Student Homelessness Up 10% Since Last Year Highest increases of homeless children seen in states like North Carolina where austerity policies predominate. All those people we come in contact with daily, the sales clerk, that friendly person at the bank, the barista…they’ll all hurting, quietly, and I never knew they were in such pain, not until the strikes began to happen. Then I realized that these workers get paid so little that we are subsidizing the overhead of the 1% by providing workers with food assistance and healthcare, ensuring that … Continue reading The Weekly Update: The corporate empire of public education and where that leaves the rest of us, ALEC, Gates and charter schools
After a short summer hiatus, I’m back with the weekly news. As my mother used to say, “There’s no rest for the weary” and from what I’ve been observing, there’s no rest for the wicked as well. So let’s get started. ALEC had its 40th anniversary celebration in Chicago last week but not without notice from the populace. Jasal Noor, a great journalist who focuses on public education, interviewed Brendan Fisher, general counsel with the Center for Media and Democracy, publishers of ALECExposed and PRWatch and Julie Mead, a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the … Continue reading The Weekly Update: ALEC push back, Jeb Bush shows us how to cash in, Common Core Standards’ big oop’s, Teach for America alums speak out and more
Unfortunately most of the bills coming from Litzow & Co. are right out of the ALEC playbook. We have watched this happen across the country with tragic effects and now legislators with ties to Stand for Children are taking the lead to continue the efforts of privatizing public schools in our state. There are ways to make our voices heard and it is imperative that we do. A few with money and dollar signs in their eyes are whispering into the ears of some of our legislators. It’s time for the rest of us to be heard loudly and clearly. … Continue reading Legislative Alert: Grading schools (but not charter schools?) (HB 1476), teacher and principal evaluations based on test scores (SB 5246), cashing in on online learning and, of course, ALEC
From the same people who state that any efforts made in our state to address climate change are a waste of time and that our schools don’t need any additional funding, who post reports from ALEC and have ties to the organization, comes another bit of “research” by Liv Finne, self-proclaimed expert on all things education who cranks out policy papers based on her views or others who sponsor this “public charity” organization and self-proclaimed “think tank”, the Washington Policy Center. Ms Finne, who is an attorney with no experience or degrees in education, just produced yet another opinion piece … Continue reading The Washington Policy Center, or should I say ALEC, and the future of our children
