I don't know how we stop it. I don't know how we get the proper funding for all of our schools either. We don't just have to stop the bleeding of the money the charters are taking away. Our schools were in trouble long before charters. We have to figure out how to stop the defunding and we have to figure out how to put EVEN MORE funding into our shools than we were before.

I'm at the point now where I read this crap and my first thought is - 'thank God I can retire soon'.

But that's not such a helpful attitude. LOL

No doubt that is on the "reform" list. The wave of destruction moving through the private sector may well not spare the public sector.

After 20 years of teaching my pension may just be a distant memory with a 401 k style plan taking its place. In their words we are a tapeworm on the budget. This while he still won't tax gas appropriately, wants to give shell a 1.6 billion dollar tax cut, and has stripped 1 billion out of public Ed.

Did I mention this was a crisis manufactured by them starting with Tom Ridge? We were 123 percent funded so Ridge decided to give the Pa government and the school district's a tax holiday, knowing full well it was unsustainable. We continued to put in our money, though. How did America become the land of I don't have it so you shouldn't either?

they're burning through it all.

but your point is well taken. The PTB would love to get their hands on that money. Our system is independent of the district and the state. But it's a huge bucket of money and more than once in the time I have been in the system, the school district has tried to get some control of the retirement system.

really happening.

"do you want your local taxes going to a corporation in new york, or even overseas?" is a good one.

draining capital out of localities is a good meme, & its what they're doing.

making people aware of what's happening makes them pay attention, and link the bad effects to the correct cause. "carry it on" is so the next generation will understand what happens.

i don't expect change to come in my lifetime anymore, but i believe it will come, because reality will necessitate that. the masters of the universe are creating a world that no one will be able to, or want to live in, where life is nasty, brutish and short.

democrats on this issue & not get it.

but most of them don't.

First are the DINOs, who I wish would just leave.

Second are the ones who cheer for whatever the president does. They're probably the reason the PTB allow Dems to rule from time to time. They'll cheer when he privatizes education, when he raises the retirement age for SS, when he extends the Bush tax cuts again, when he refuses to pardon Don Siegelmann, and so on. Then they'll blame us when he gets trounced in the mid terms.

What a wise statement.

Makes me ill. But you're dead on right here.

They won't get it until there are no public schools left for charter dismissals to attend.

It seems to me this endless stream of privatization in education and other places would be a perfect place for the Occupy movement to get involved. They seem to have the knack for raising broad awareness to these serious issues that effect the many.

Our children are falling far behind many other first world countries. It's not because our teachers are bad, it's because they have their hands tied with all the red tape (no child left behind.) If they privatize the schools in Florida, teachers should run a viral campaign to take donations to buy their own schools. Who wouldn't donate to that cause, just see how it works out if not anything else. Without their hands tied, they could get back to really teaching children the skills they need to productive adults.

People would be lining up to get their kids in these schools. You could take it one step farther and have schools for the more liberal minded. Teaching environmental and eco friendly young adults, and the conservative schools could pray and read books on fun ways BBQ roadkill.

coverage, pensions, heating/AC, building/grounds maintenance, student transportation, office and classroom supplies, accreditation, etc.

If a private corporation overseas can run an American school on the vouchers it gets from the students, why can't people get together and buy their own schools and do the same thing? If the children are learning and it's a great school you'll have lines of parents happy to give you their vouchers to have their children at your school.

The program allows corporations that make contributions deduct those gifts from their corporate income and insurance premium taxes. Economists expect the expansion would cost the state $31 million in lost taxes next year and as much as $228 million in future years – although those losses would be offset somewhat because taxpayers would pay less for students in the program than if they were attending public schools.

..."Tax-credit vouchers are funded with corporate donations, but it's money that otherwise would have been paid in state taxes. About 100 companies donated last year, including Walgreen Co., Burger King, ABC Liquors and Bankers Insurance Group. The average contribution is $1 million, East said.

Private schools that take vouchers must give students a standardized test — not the FCAT — but schools aren't graded and scores are released only for schools with at least 30 students.

Cause right now there is no real accountability for charter schools. And vouchers to private schools mean they don't have to share much info either....even though it is our tax money they are getting?

No, our schools are not that bad. Those are the talking points of the "reformers". They had to make schools and teachers look bad so they could take over.

I have not yet seen an analysis of the impact of poverty on overall PISA scores (I have sent for the full set of data; they tell me it will come in 10 days or so). But data available now tells us that poverty, as usual, had a huge impact on PISA reading test scores for American students.

American students in schools with less than 10% of students on free and reduced lunch averaged 551, higher than the overall average of any OECD [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development country.

Those in schools with 10% to 25% of students qualifying for free and reduced lunch averaged 527, which was behind only Korea and Finland.

In contrast, American students in schools with 75% or more of children in poverty averaged 446, second to last among the 34 OECD countries.

The PISA data can be found on page 15 (table 6) of Highlights From
PISA 2009, available on the Internet.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/research/how-poverty-affected-us-pisa-s.html

US as a whole scores lower than some developed countries because it has larger percentages of students in poverty than most developed countries, and larger percentages of students at extreme poverty than most developed countries.

and that's not the only reason: there are also differences in the populations taking the tests. for example, china has a lower mandatory/free education age, which means that lots of poor/country kids in china aren't taking those tests.

etc., all the facets of private enterprise.

And solely to siphon more of the public monies.

the future isn't looking too bright- in so many ways.

It makes sense to me that he'd speak at a powerful or moneyed group that professes to be about excellence in education. You don't want to NOT speak at these meetings and not present your point of view.

Now, if he stated or even implied that he thinks privatizing education is a good thing, that's a different matter entirely. Is Arne Duncan in favor of that?

He privatized many schools in Chicago.

of privatization of the public school system. Wow....that is odd. He owed Duncan a favor?

Um. Yes Obama is in favor of privatizing public education. This is one of the main reasons AFT supported Hillary in 2008.

but he has implied it. And, now that the election is over, who knows what they will do?

[div class = "excerpt"]
U.S. education secretary sticks by charter schools, measuring teachers by student results

http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2011/10/us_education_secretary_sticks.html

And he said, "I am the biggest champion for high performing charter schools."



[div class = "excerpt"]

http://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/remarks-secretary-arne-duncan-national-alliance-public-charter-schools

"First of all, it has been a remarkable year for charter schools. We've seen a number of states remove barriers to innovation. I've visited a number of charter schools in a dozen or more states, been to dozens of charter schools around the country, and I've just been amazed by the quality, the commitment, the difference that charter schools are making in students lives. I've been to school after school where achievement gaps have basically been eliminated, where children in inner-city communities are performing as well, if not better, than their counterparts in much wealthier suburbs. And for all the challenges we face in this country educationally, the reason why I'm actually so optimistic is because you guys are helping to demonstrate what's possible, where there are high expectations, where there is an absolute belief that every child can be successful. And I want to thank you for that remarkable commitment...

Having said that, I want to challenge this group. There are a couple of things that I think we have to do much better, frankly, as a movement. We know where the opposition comes from; we know what the challenges are. I think this charter community maybe hasn't been as active at taking out some of those challenges and addressing them. I have a couple thoughts—a four-point plan—just to put on the table for you guys to think about, that I think in the upcoming year will be critical to the long-term health and vitality of the charter movement."


[div class = "excerpt"]
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=7977326&page=1

...They all make up the growing charter school movement that the Obama administration would like to see flourish.

"The charter movement is absolutely one of the most profound changes in American education, bringing new options to underserved communities and introducing competition and innovation into the education system," Education Secretary Arne Duncan told attendees at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools' annual conference last week

With $100 billion in stimulus funding for education, including $4.35 billion in the competitive Race to the Top fund to improve education quality, Duncan has offered a stern warning to states: Embrace charters or risk losing stimulus dollars.
"States that don't have charter laws or put artificial caps on the growth of charter schools will jeopardize their applications under the Race to the Top fund," Duncan told reporters last month. "Simply put, they put themselves at a competitive disadvantage for the largest pool of discretionary dollars states have ever had access to."


There are a lot more links just Google "arne duncan charter schools "

They are public schools, put in certain places according to need, but allowed to operate outside of the local school district? Or something like that?

I'm not clear on who sets those up, since education is up to the states?

Like I say, the term "charter schools" confuses me. But I must say the results as stated in your post seem impressive. Unless, of course, the money is taken from surrounding schools, and thus leaves those other students behind, without the advantages of the charter schools?

47% perform the same, and only 16% perform better.

yeah, how fucking impressive.

the feds set them up, but changing regulations & funding to encourage changes in state laws.

with a little push from the guys in the backroom, of course.

the ruling class are traitors.

but aren't subject to the same rules as public schools (i.e. they don't have to provide special ed classes). Charter schools can also decide what students attend the school (which makes sense if it's somethink likes a math/science or performing arts magnet school - not so much when they're just trying to keep difficult students out).

In some areas private companies are permitted to run charter schools. Technically the schools are non-profit but someone's making money off them & we're all paying for it.

People who aren't educators, aren't married to one, or don't have reason to investigate further are led to believe that school choice, vouchers, charter schools, etc. are great for kids. Kind of like NCLB at the beginning...people thought it was great!

"School choice" is the public code word for the political movement to privatize public education in the U.S., but the movement's real agenda is made clear by its ideological vanguard. The Cato Institute, a Washington-based libertarian think tank, explicitly advocates privatization in its school choice policy statement:

"Classical liberals seek education policies that will empower parents and clear the path for entrepreneurial activity. We envision a day when state-run schools give way to a dynamic independent system of schools competing to meet the needs of every American child. ("Education and Child Policy: School Choice&quot "

The progress of the school choice movement in the U.S. is monitored and reported on annually by The Heritage Foundation, another conservative Washington-based think tank that is at the vanguard of the privatization movement. Its 2005 progress report is celebratory.

.."Left unsaid by both Cato and Heritage is that the money is coming from traditional public school systems...and as the money is shifted away from public schools, more is demanded of them.

and also wants to adopt their education plan as well. How sad

however, what with the schools being decimated, stupidity will indeed rule the next generation.

Probably in the short term too. Greed is driving war, climate change, deforestation, pollution, overfishing and a host of other problems.

The race for the last penny is also the race to the dark ages.