Let’s take big money out of politics starting with Ruth Kagi. There is a race in the 32nd Legislative District in Seattle where an educator, Wesley Irwin, is running against an establishment Democrat who has been in office for … Continue reading Representative Ruth Kagi is no friend of public education
People around the state are receiving robo-calls from a (Gates backed Teachers United) teacher who was declared “Teacher of the Year” by The Office of the State Superintendent (OSPI) which is headed by the State Superintendent Randy Dorn. Mr. Dorn is also … Continue reading Have you received a robo-call from Ready Washington about the wonders of Common Core Standards and the SBAC? If so, this is why
There was another person who testified at the House hearings this week regarding mayoral control House Bill 1497 but this time in favor of the bill, Lisa Macfarlane. Ms. Macfarlane is so concerned about House Bill 1497 that she took … Continue reading DFER’s Lisa Macfarlane : “Concerned Citizen”
The cities where our foundation has put the most money in is where there’s a single person responsible. In New York, Chicago and Washington, DC, the mayor has responsibility for the school system. So instead of having a committee … Continue reading House Rep. Eric Pettigrew, House Bill 1497, mayoral control and the money
First, a bit of background about my family and why I am concerned about preschool and what “Universal pre-K” really means. As I have mentioned before, my family is African-American. My mother grew up in South Carolina in the early 1900’s with four siblings, a mother who was a music teacher and a father who was a train porter. In my family it was understood that the way to succeed was to have as much education as possible. My mother received her Master’s Degree in Child Psychology and Early Childhood Development from the University of Southern California during the Depression. … Continue reading Race to the Tots: Universal (for profit) Pre-K, DFER, KIPP and the suits
It looks like teachers and the teachers union, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), have FINALLY smelled the coffee and decided to push back. The American Federation of Teachers, New York State United Teachers and the Alliance for Quality Education got together and put up a website titled Democrats, in name only, for Education Reform. They nicely connected some of the dots in an easy to understand graphic that’s visually pleasing. This is the first paragraph: What is Democrats for Education Reform? Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) is an education privatization group started by hedge fund managers who wanted to influence … Continue reading The Opt-Out Update: The AFT finally pushes back, “Rigor” in Portland, WA State, Alabama and New York fight back
If only they had channeled all of the money represented above into our public schools in Seattle rather than into financing the corporate takeover of our educational system, we would have full time librarians, nurses, career counselors, enough teaching assistants … Continue reading The Charter School Bill 1240 and the 1%: An Analysis
Here’s an excerpt. One lesson made abundantly clear by the recent Chicago teachers’ strike was that our nation suffers from a dearth of African-American hedge fund managers and venture capitalists. What can we do about this shameful scourge? I have no idea, but what I do know is that the strike revealed a fascinating split along race and class lines over what white hedge fund managers like to call priming the edu-pump for future profits education reform. The key take away: rich white people who send their kids to private schools were the only group to oppose the teachers’ strike. In … Continue reading EduShyster: Stuff White People Like: Education Reform
So what do all of these folks have in common? Listen up Seattle. The Chicago Teachers Union is currently on the front lines of a fight to defend public education. On one side the 30,000 members of the CTU have called for a contract that includes fair compensation, meaningful job security for qualified teachers, smaller class sizes and a better school day with Art, Music, World Language and appropriate staffing levels to help our neediest students. On the other side, the Chicago Board of Education—which is managed by out of town reformers and Broad Foundation hires with little or no … Continue reading The Chicago teachers strike, Rahm Emmanuel, Stand for Children, the Gates Foundation, DFER, the Tea Party, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan
Members of MecklenburgACTS.org and Parents Across America will be rallying and distributing literature at two events associated with the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. President Obama and other Democrats will be called on to reject the ineffective “reform” measures being pushed by well-heeled organizations such as Students First and Democrats for Education Reform, and instead join parents and education experts in support of a more proven, community-based set of changes. As the Charlotte Observer and the Huffington Post have noted, Democrats differ significantly over ways to improve the nation’s schools. We will be highlighting this debate. On Monday, Sept. 3, members of MecklenburgACTS.org and Parents Across America will be at the … Continue reading MecklenburgACTS and Parents Across America to Present Positive Education Reforms at DNC
The Weekly Update for the news you might have missed Check out their Facebook page. Action Alert: Rally at the DNC! Parents Across America founding member, Pamela Grundy, is one of the organizers of the following events that will occur in Charlotte, NC next week. To follow is the information. Rally for Public Education at the Democratic National Convention MecklenburgACTS.org Our nation’s public schools face tremendous challenges. Parents, educators, communities and elected officials need to work TOGETHER to build the schools that will prepare our children to face a changing world. Unfortunately, too much precious time, energy and money has … Continue reading The Weekly Update: Rallies at the DNC, it’s all about the money for some folks and Michelle Rhee & ALEC – a marriage made in…
Never a dull moment in the world of education. In the state of Washington we had some drama this week with Senator Rodney Tom deciding that he would hold the budget and the state hostage so that he could get his charter school legislation through by attaching a charter school clause to the originally agreed upon budget. Anything for a buck with some of our politicians. His backers are the usual suspects including the League of Education Voters (LEV), Stand for Children (SFC), Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and his wife Nancy Ballmer who sits on the Advisory Board for SFC … Continue reading Weekly Update: 40+ School boards in Texas say enough is enough on testing, Arne Duncan gets an “F” and another one for the “How Low Can You Go?” category
