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Public Core
Public Core is an organization of West Contra Costa County parents, teachers, community members, and school staff who fight for public control and accountability in our schools. We believe that public schools, open to all, are essential to the health of a democratic society. Our goal is high quality, inclusive public education for all students. We believe that the proliferation of privately-operated schools using public money will increase inequalities in education and in our society. We are dedicated to informing the public about the impact of publicly-funded, privately operated schools on our community.
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Follow the Money / the PlayersArticles about the Big Money behind Charter SchoolsWCCUSD: Hedge Papers 129: Hidden Donations Brought to Light: How the Wealthy Elite Tried to Defeat Proposition 30 http://hedgeclippers.org/hedgepapers-no-29-hidden-donations-brought-to-light/#.V3PpTCKroCQ.twitter
Vidya Rahm and Antia Raghavan: A Power Couple Exits
BAY AREA: Darwin BondGraham: How a Handful of Pro-Charter Billionaires Flooded Oakland's School Board Elections with Cash
East Bay Express, October 25, 2016
"Two independent-expenditure committees with ties to charter-school groups have spent nearly half-a-million dollars on three Oakland school-board candidates: James Harris, Huber Trenado, and Jumoke Hinton Hodge. Article questions the "grassroots support" claims of GO Public Schools, reporting that, instead, "approximately two-thirds of all the money contributed to the Families and Educators for Public Education committee that GO sponsors came from just three [billionaires]." Just ten people have provided 88% of its cash since 2014. Ken Epstein: Large Contributions Flood Oakland School Board Races
The Post News Group, October 7, 2016
Much of the money flowing into the Oakland Board of Education race this year is coming from Great Oakland (GO) public schools, widely viewed as a supporter of new charter schools and pro-charter policies in Oakland. Article details amounts and PACs seeking to influence the race.Joaquin Palomino and Emily Green: Powerful Interest Groups Funding Wiener-Kim State Senate Race San Francisco Chronicle: October 23, 2016
"A flood of money from powerful interest groups is pouring into the tight state Senate race between San Francisco Supervisors Scott Wiener and Jane Kim in what has become this year’s showdown between the city’s moderate and progressive camps." Doris Fisher gave $3.3 million to the California Charter School Association/"Parent Teacher's Alliance" (a pro-charter group fraudulently trading off the PTA name), which then gave $378,000 directly to Scott Wiener, and an additional $421,000 to "Equality California" (a gay rights PAC), which then also passed the money along to Wiener, who is a big charter-school proponent. http://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Powerful-interest-groups-funding-Wiener-Kim-state-10130727.php?t=7bd0bbfd9b&cmpid=email-premium
Ken Epstein: Large Contributions Flood Oakland School Board Races
The Post News Group, October 7, 2016
Much of the money flowing into the Oakland Board of Education race this year is coming from Great Oakland (GO) public schools, widely viewed as a supporter of new charter schools and pro-charter policies in Oakland. Article details amounts and PACs seeking to influence the race.
Jan Malvin and Joel Moskowitz: Op-Ed: 'Oakland Achieves' School Progress Report Misses the Mark
The Post News Group, October 6, 2016
"Confusing the public may well be the major achievement of the fourth annual 'Oakland Achieves' Public Education Progress Report prepared by Urban Strategies Council. This report, deemed 'primarily an update on the academic outcomes for the 2014-15 school year,' offers no trends data for Oakland Unified School District-run schools. Rather, it is the first report in the series to feature student-level data from charter schools. Without explaining the omission of trends data for district-run schools, the report appears crafted to tell a story that compares charter schools with district-run schools." Article details the skewed findings of a report that ignores the "selective enrollment and pushout practices" of local charters and other relevant data. http://postnewsgroup.com/blog/2016/10/06/op-ed-oakland-achieves-school-progress-report-misses-mark/
Diane Ravitch: The Fate of Oakland's Celebrated American Indian Charter School
CALIFORNIA: PTA Clarification: Parent Teacher Alliance is not PTA
Louis Freedberg: Push to Expand California Charter School Enrollments Provokes Backlash
EdSource, October 30, 2016
"After a quarter century of uninterrupted growth, aggressive efforts by charter school advocates to increase enrollments and to elect sympathetic school board members and legislators have triggered a backlash unlike anything that has occurred since the first charter school opened in California."https://edsource.org/2016/push-to-expand-california-charter-school-enrollments-provokes-backlash/571132 Harold Meyerson: How the Charter School Lobby is Changing the Democratic Party Los Angeles Times, August 26, 2016
"At a time when Democrats and their party are, by virtually every index, moving left, a powerful center-right pressure group within the liberal universe has nonetheless sprung up. Funded by billionaires and arrayed against unions, it is increasingly contesting for power in city halls and statehouses where Democrats already govern. That's not how the charter school lobby is customarily described, but it's most certainly what it's become."
Article details how, in California and New York, "political action committees funded by charter school backers have become among the largest donors to centrist Democratic state legislators who not only favor expanding charters at the expense of school districts, but also have blocked some of Gov. Jerry Brown's more liberal initiatives." Carol Burris: How Messed up is California’s Charter School Sector? You won’t believe how much.
Washington Post, September 9, 2016
First of four articles discussing the "never-ending stream of charter scandals coming from California," including the use of school funds to pay a more than half a million-dollar settlement to a teacher who sued for being wrongly terminated after she was ordered by her charter school director to travel to Nigeria and marry the director’s brother-in-law so he could become a U.S. citizen. The California charter landscape and all of its players are surveyed in detail, along with the lack of oversight. Harold Meyerson: How the Charter School Lobby is Changing the Democratic Party
Los Angeles Times, August 26, 2016
"At a time when Democrats and their party are, by virtually every index, moving left, a powerful center-right pressure group within the liberal universe has nonetheless sprung up. Funded by billionaires and arrayed against unions, it is increasingly contesting for power in city halls and statehouses where Democrats already govern. That’s not how the charter school lobby is customarily described, but it’s most certainly what it’s become."Article details how, in California and New York, "political action committees funded by charter school backers have become among the largest donors to centrist Democratic state legislators who not only favor expanding charters at the expense of school districts, but also have blocked some of Gov. Jerry Brown’s more liberal initiatives." Hedge Papers 129: Hidden Donations Brought to Light: How the Wealthy Elite Tried to Defeat Proposition Aaron Mendelson: Charter School Groups Spending Big in California Legislative Races
NATIONAL: Clare Lombardo: White House Proposes Merging Education And Labor Departments Network for Public Education: Hijacked by Billionaires: How the Super Rich Buy Elections to Undermine Public Schools
Network for Public Education, September 8, 2018
This100-page "NPE Action Investigative Report" details how "some of America's wealthiest individuals collaborate to hijack the democratic process by pouring millions of dollars into state and local races, often in places where they do not live," in order to advance the privatization of public schools. Chapters include an "index of billionaires" and detailed accounts of their efforts in specific cities and states, spending lavishly on state referenda and state and local school board elections. The report concludes with a chapter on "How to Follow the Money." Click Here
Valerie Strauss: What and who are fueling the movement to privatize public education — and why you should care LEGAL ISSUES
Roxana Marachi: How Did The State Board of Education Vote on Controversial Charter School Petitions?
EduResearcher: September 7, 2018
Article provides updates on the current situation with respect to charter schools in California, positing that the state Board of Education has mainly served as a rubber stamp for petitions from even highly problematic charter schools, despite "high levels of waste in the charter sector," "harm to public schools that suffer budget declines as a result of the siphoning away of funds from their campuses," and other concerns associated with the "unchecked expansion of charter schools:" resegregation, disproportionate push-out of African American students and students with disabilities, fiscal instability, insufficient staffing, problematic instructional practices, health and safety violations, and lack of transparency in governance. Evidence is cited, graphs presented.
Ckick Here
CHARTER PERFORMANCE NATIONAL Public Advocates: New Report Uncovers Systemic Failure by California Charter Schools to Meet Local Control Obligations
Jeremy Mohler: For black, brown, and low-income students, public education is underfunded on purpose Laurie Roberts: Arizona Rep. Eddie Farnsworth is a charter school millionaire--and you helped pay for it Clare Lombardo: White House Proposes Merging Education And Labor Departments Rebecca Klein: Trump's Signature Education Goal Has a Long History with White Flight
Huffington Post, March 21, 2017
"Debates about the viability of school voucher programs have focused in recent months on programs with lackluster or spotty academic records. But there's another issue raised by the potential expansion of public financing for private schools: an exacerbation of segregation."
Article tracks the history of school voucher programs, which is "tied up with ideas of white supremacy."
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National Education Association: Tell Betsy DeVos: Parents, Students, and Educators Demand Answers February 2017
This page presents a petition asking Betsy DeVos to answer four questions:1. Do you agree that all schools receiving public dollars must be held to the same accountability and transparency standards? 2. Will you agree not to privatize funding for Special Education of Title I? 3. Will you stand with educators and protect our most vulnerable students from discrimination, including LGBT students, immigrant students, students of color, girls and English language learners? 4. Will you focus, as educators are focused, on the civil rights of all children, regardless of their ZIP code, by challenging the inequities so many face in equal access to programs, services and support? Ben Mathis-Lilley: Insane Betsy DeVos Press Release Celebrates Jim Crow Education System as Pioneer of “School Choice”
Slate, February 28, 2017
After a meeting at the White House with the leaders of historically black colleges and universities, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, in an apparent attempt to bring up her pet issue of school choice, praised the segregated higher education system of the Jim Crow South, sparking controversy. Emma Brown: Influential conservative group: Trump, DeVos should dismantle Education Department and bring God into classrooms
Washington Post, February 15, 2017
A "five-page document produced by the Council for National Policy calls for a “restoration of education in America” that would minimize the federal role, promote religious schools and home schooling and enshrine “historic Judeo-Christian principles” as a basis for instruction.Names of the council’s members are closely held. But the Southern Poverty Law Center published a 2014 membership directory showing that Stephen K. Bannon — now chief White House strategist for President Trump — was a member and that Kellyanne Conway — now counselor to the president — served on the council’s executive committee" Ben Miller and Laura Jimenez: Inside the Financial Holdings of Billionaire Betsy DeVos
Center for American Progress, January 27, 2017
The article provides details of an Office of Government Ethics report of DeVos's investments indicating that she "profited from student loan misery;" has connections to a "major for-profit college" and investments in firms that also own for-profit colleges; has "dismissed early childhood education but profits from it;" has a "mysterious" $1 million-plus "education holding;" and more.
Ralph Ellis: Protesters Block Betsy Devos from Entering a Public School in Washington
The Washington Teachers' Union, BlackLivesMatter DC, and the Black Youth Project protested at a middle school that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was scheduled to visit, holding signs and standing in front of her as she tried to enter. She left and returned later.
CNN, February 10, 2017 Michael Stratford: Devos Review Identifies 102 financial interests with potential conflicts
Politico, January 20, 2017
Article provides details of the financial interests of new Education Secretary Betsy Devos (confirmed on February 7), many of which she has agreed to divest from within 90 days of her confirmation. Her holdings in companies that provide services to schools and colleges, a corporate chain daycare company, education software developers, sellers of digital textbooks, and student loan debt collection agencies reveal the ways in which billionaires find education a lucrative investment market.
The American Federation for Children
SourceWatch
This discussion page provides detailed information about the "American Federation for Children," a group organized, funded, and chaired by Betsy DeVos. The page refers to it as "a conservative 501(c)(4) dark money group that promotes the school privatization agenda via the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and other avenues."
Valerie Strauss: Opposition Grows to Senate to Confirmation of Betsy DeVos, Trump's
Washington Post, January 10, 2017
"Her critics say that her long advocacy for vouchers and her push for lax regulation of charter schools reveals an antipathy to public education; they point to an August 2015 speech in which she said that the traditional public education system is a “dead end” and that “government truly sucks. Thousands of people have signed petitions, started Twitter campaigns and called congressional offices urging that DeVos not be confirmed."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/01/10/opposition-grows-to-senate-confirmation-of-betsy-devos-trumps-education-nominee/?utm_term=.4df68ed111f1
James Vaznis: Crushing defeat leaves charter-school movement in limbo
Boston Globe, November 10, 2016
A majority of voters in nearly every Massachusetts community — including all the state’s cities — rejected the ballot question (62% to 32%) to expand charter schools, exceeding the worst-case scenario of supporters who hoped it would at least pass in urban areas. Although proponents were better financed, opponents won the the undecideds by sticking to a simple message: charter schools drain money from traditional schools. They also had a "ready-to-go" ground game led by teacher unions with members in every community.Dylan Peers McCoy: Teach For America's PAC spends big on a local Indiana election, but no one quite knows why
Chalkbeat, November 1, 2016
"In a district where candidates typically spend less than $10,000 on even the most competitive races, Deitric Hall, a local teacher [who works for KIPP charter network], has raised more than $32,000. Nearly all that money is from a single political action committee: Leadership for Educational Equity, a Washington D.C.-based PAC that supports Teach for America alumni running for public office.... Since it became clear how much money Hall raised, other community members, including parents and even high school students, have become active in the race. They say they are motivated by concern over the role out-of-state funding is playing in Hall's campaign."
Daniel Bergerson: Don't Teach for America, Teach for Real Columbia Spectator, October 12, 2016
"I almost fell for Teach For America. Its brochure told me I could “make a difference” after college by postponing my imaginary yet promising career for two short years in order to teach in a low-income area. As a senior in high school, I did not yet know that “making a difference” meant shortchanging students in need of real teachers, deprofessionalizing the teaching profession, and leading the charge to privatize schools." Article asserts that Teach For America "bankrolls the expansion of charter schools," and promotes "epistemological racism," "savior complexes," and "neoliberal ideology," while driving down teacher pay and professionalism.
Joel Warner: The Battle of Hastings: What's Behind the Netflix CEO's Fight to Charterize Public Schools?
Capital and Main, October 12, 2016
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who has stated that public schools are "hobbled" by elected boards, has donated more than $3.7 million to the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA)’s political action committee so far this election season. The article details Hastings' history as an education reformer, his backing of the heavily criticized Rocketship and failed California Charter Academy chains, and his contribution to the "lengthy dismantling" of bilingual education in California. “When tech industry leaders like Reed Hastings call for an elimination of school boards or for more privatization of public schools, they block low-income people from using the one instrument that the powerful can’t ignore – their vote.”
Kristina Rizga: Why Did Black Lives Matter and the NAACP Call for an End to More Charter Schools? Mother Jones, August 15, 2016
The policy agenda of The Movement for Black Lives released in July argues that charters represent a shift of public funds and control to private entities. Along with "an end to the privatization of education," organizers are demanding increased investments in traditional community schools and the health and social services they provide. The statement comes just weeks after the NAACP also called for a freeze on charters. The article lists the most significant concerns charter school critics have cited over the years.
Rachel Slade: The Great Charter School Debate
Boston Magazine, September 2016
Legislation lifting the cap on the number of charter schools the state can have, and how many students they can enroll, is on the November ballot in Massachusetts. This article provides a detailed, even-handed breakdown of the issues and history of the charter school movement in Massachusetts. It concludes: "The charter school debate touches fundamental issues in our society: income disparity, unions, and private philanthropy in the public realm. These are elemental topics that Americans have grappled with for a couple of centuries, and right now in Boston, that drama is playing out in our public school system."
Kate Zernike: Condemnation of Charter Schools Exposes Rift Over Black Students Lauren Camera: A House Divided: Calls to Curb Charter Growth Are Putting Would-be Allies at Odds
Daniel Bergerson: Don't Teach for America, Teach for Real
Columbia Spectator, October 12, 2016
"I almost fell for Teach For America. Its brochure told me I could “make a difference” after college by postponing my imaginary yet promising career for two short years in order to teach in a low-income area. As a senior in high school, I did not yet know that “making a difference” meant shortchanging students in need of real teachers, deprofessionalizing the teaching profession, and leading the charge to privatize schools." Article asserts that Teach For America "bankrolls the expansion of charter schools," and promotes "epistemological racism," "savior complexes," and "neoliberal ideology," while driving down teacher pay and professionalism.
Joel Warner: The Battle of Hastings: What's Behind the Netflix CEO's Fight to Charterize Public Schools?
Capital and Main, October 12, 2016
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who has stated that public schools are "hobbled" by elected boards, has donated more than $3.7 million to the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA)’s political action committee so far this election season. The article details Hastings' history as an education reformer, his backing of the heavily criticized Rocketship and failed California Charter Academy chains, and his contribution to the "lengthy dismantling" of bilingual education in California. “When tech industry leaders like Reed Hastings call for an elimination of school boards or for more privatization of public schools, they block low-income people from using the one instrument that the powerful can’t ignore – their vote.”
Kristina Rizga: Why Did Black Lives Matter and the NAACP Call for an End to More Charter Schools?
Mother Jones, August 15, 2016
The policy agenda of The Movement for Black Lives released in July argues that charters represent a shift of public funds and control to private entities. Along with "an end to the privatization of education," organizers are demanding increased investments in traditional community schools and the health and social services they provide. The statement comes just weeks after the NAACP also called for a freeze on charters. The article lists the most significant concerns charter school critics have cited over the years.
Rachel Slade: The Great Charter School Debate
Boston Magazine, September 2016
Legislation lifting the cap on the number of charter schools the state can have, and how many students they can enroll, is on the November ballot in Massachusetts. This article provides a detailed, even-handed breakdown of the issues and history of the charter school movement in Massachusetts. It concludes: "The charter school debate touches fundamental issues in our society: income disparity, unions, and private philanthropy in the public realm. These are elemental topics that Americans have grappled with for a couple of centuries, and right now in Boston, that drama is playing out in our public school system."
Capital & Main Staff: Failing the Test: Charter School Power Brokers
Capital & Main, June 2, 2016
Article discusses the "radical agenda of the Walton family," to dismantle school districts as a whole and replace them with "a new way of doing public education" that "decreases the publicness of public schools." To this end, "capturing school boards has become a major goal of the charter-school movement," along with funding education coverage in the media. It cites a report issued last year by the American Federation of Teachers and In the Public Interest that states that the charter power brokers have "taken the U.S. charter school movement away from education quality in favor of a strategy focused only on growth. It’s been lucrative for some, but a disaster for many of the nation’s most vulnerable students and school districts.”
No Author: Brought to You by Walmart? How the Walton Family Foundation's Ideological Pursuit is Damaging Charter Schooling Kate Zernike: Condemnation of Charter Schools Exposes Rift Over Black Students Lauren Camera: A House Divided: Calls to Curb Charter Growth Are Putting Would-be Allies at Odds Jeremy Pelzer: Ted Strickland Calls for Nationwide Moratorium on For-Profit Charter Schools Abby Jackson: The Walmart family is teaching hedge funds how to profit from publicly funded schools
Business Insider, March 17, 2015
This article is over a year old, but explains the attraction of the billionaire class to charters. "Hedge funds and other private businesses are particularly interested in the growth and success of charter schools. The growth of charter networks around the US offer new revenue streams for investing, and the sector is quickly growing. Funding for charter schools is further incentivized by generous tax credits for investments to charter schools in underserved areas.... "It's a public payer, the state is the payer on this category," he added in support of the highly safe investing opportunities in charter schools."
http://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-is-helping-hedge-funds-make-money-off-of-charter-schools-2015-3Valerie Strauss: Fethullah Gulen: the Islamic Scholar Turkey Blames for the Failed Coup
Washington Post, July 16, 2016
The man that Turkey’s leaders have blamed for a failed coup attempt by a group of army officers is an Islamic scholar named Fethullah Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania and is behind one of the biggest charter school chains in the U.S., with over 160 schools. The charters have sparked controversy over the years, with accusations that their Turkish leaders favor Turkish-run businesses when awarding contracts; that they hire large numbers of Turkish teachers on H1-B visas; and that some promote Turkish culture through curriculum.
Valerie Strauss: How Charter Schools in Michigan Have Hurt Traditional Public Schools, New Research Finds
Washington Post, July 15, 2016
David Arsen, a professor in the Department of Educational Administration College of Education at Michigan State University, is interviewed about a 20-year study he conducted into "Which [school] Districts Get into Financial Trouble and Why." The study looked at how much of a pattern of increasing financial distress among school districts in Michigan was due to things local districts have control over as opposed to state-level policies they don't have control over (teacher salaries, health benefits, class size, administrative spending). It also looked at an item that the conservative think tanks are big on: contracting out and privatization. We found that, overwhelmingly, the biggest financial impact on school districts was the result of declining enrollment and revenue loss, especially where school choice and charters are most prevalent."
Julie Chang: Dispute over Texas Charter School Network Involves Turkish Government
American Statesman, June 22, 2016
Harmony Public Schools charter chain (46 campuses in Texas) stands accused by the Turkish government of spending $7 million over a 15-year-period to hire foreign teachers, paying those teachers as much as $18,000 per year more than their American peers, awarding multimillion dollar contracts to former employees, and and ties to Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, who is accusedof trying to overthrow the Turkish government. According to the attorney filing the complaint, "There’s every red flag there that there is extensive self-dealing going on.”
Capital&Main Staff: Failing the Test: Charter School Powerbrokers |