I'm betting no one let them know in advance.

But big money talks so loudly it's hard to hear ordinary people.

Pennsylvania’s Department of Education filed a petition in a York County court earlier this month to take away almost all local control from the school board, and put the district in the “receivership” of state-appointed York education official David Meckley.

Meckley, a local businessman who once served on the board of a nearby school district, was appointed in 2012 to oversee York’s financially beleaguered school system under a 2012 law that allowed the state to appoint “recovery officers” for any school districts with significant debt. His plan for York involves a slew of concessions from the district, from teacher layoffs to extracurricular cutbacks. But the most controversial part is the handing over of the entire operation of the district to Charter Schools USA.

While placing struggling school districts in state control is relatively common across the U.S., a state has only converted an entire school district to a charter system once before — in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Corrupt government officials are funneling all the profits they can to these con men.

I can not believe these things are happening in America. All contracts negated, all rules ignored....just one big hostile takeover with help of courts.

Unbelievable.

Made worse by the fact that apparently Ireland has had free water all this time.
Well, the Gov. sold the water system to a private for profit company.
The Irish, never ones to quietly ignore violations, are up in arms, as they should be.

There seems to be a deliberate global intent to sell off as much money making opportunities in various countries as can be done.

Now OUR Gov is selling off the Indian lands, for mineral extraction.

Bad news whoever does it.

i.e., fascism, which the president supports. All of these trade agreements include clauses shifting public assets to private entities and even have provisions making it illegal to transfer these stolen assets back to the public!


An aside: One of the reasons neoliberals are gunning for Putin is because of recovering public assets looted during the collapse of the USSR. That's how the oligarchs were made (in Ukraine, as well).

The public part just goes along for the ride....esp. in the case of education.

between government and the well connected. One scratches the other's back. Actually, the government has a shitload of money - ours - and they transfer it to their private sector buddies. Public risk for private profit.

I ever heard against the Charter School concept came from Hillary about ten years ago.
She better still be against them or she will not get my vote,

If anyone knows of one, let me know.

Here's more about Hillary's stance from The New Republic:

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117989/hillary-clintons-education-policy-other-implications-2016

Where Hillary Clinton Stands

To some degree, Clinton has sought to triangulate between the two education camps in her party. She collected the American Federation of Teachers’ endorsement in 2007, pledging to “protect the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively.” On the campaign trail, she decried standardized tests (which provide much of the data reformers see as critically important), asking, “How much creativity are we losing? How much of our children’s passion is being killed?” However, like her husband, she’s been a steady backer of charter schools. She’s been open to linking teacher pay to student performance, though she prefers that student achievement be measured and bonuses be distributed on a schoolwide basis—not to individually successful teachers.

But Clinton’s future positions on education may have less to do with her past and more to do with the current political environment. For a variety of reasons—scorching conservative opposition, congressional inaction, implementation snafus, etc.—the Obama administration’s reforms have been extremely controversial. While opposition to the Common Core is both more complicated and less widespread than usually reported, it’s emblematic of a weakening American appetite for national education initiatives.

From Wolf spokesman Jeff Sheridan:

"Gov.-elect Wolf knows that schools across Pennsylvania have been starved for resources over the last four years and our children are being put at a disadvantage. As a result, district like York have been forced to the brink of financial collapse. Gov.-elect Wolf will make education his top priority by working to restore funding cuts and providing adequate resources so school districts can deliver on the promise of a high-quality public education for all Pennsylvanians."

From Schreiber:

"Today, the York County Court declared the York City School District in receivership, a move that could lead to the privatization of the entire school district to a for-profit charter school, an action that has never before been done in Pennsylvania.

"The ruling from the judge notes that the court does not have the authority to consider what the receiver will do when appointed. Further, the School Code does not permit the court to inquire whether the recovery plan is good or not or if it is in the best interest of YCSD or the citizens. The Court can ONLY weigh in on the financial stability of the district and whether the petition for receivership filed by PA Department of Education (PDE) was arbitrary or capricious."

"If this is solely about the financial stability of the YCSD, then I would absolutely argue that the district's financial stability was disrupted by Gov. Corbett and PDE. The governor's policies disproportionately and negatively impacted the YCSD, i.e. elimination of the state reimbursement to districts for charters schools, moratorium on the construction reimbursements promised to districts, etc. YCSD was pushed into recovery by PDE and now that has led to receivership."

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/12/gov-elect_tom_wolf_other_leade.html

Outgoing Republican Governor Tom Corbett's policies were disastrous for Pennsylvania schools.

Hope he turns things around.

Overcast and muggy here.

when they state that they went to school in York.

libertarian wet dream of stupidity.

I'm sooooo tired of all these rich crooks.

So, In my opinion we deserve what we get.. If we get a republican nut job as Pres. and the House, Senate and White house is also controlled by Repub. extremists, fuck it, we deserve it..

helped.

to openly starve here then it would be different...maybe.

this is so wrong.

My husband is a recently-retired York City School teacher.
All of our friends are teachers.

If they can get re-employed by the Charter, they will be offered the generous salary, most likely, based on our other charter
schools, of about $35,000 a year. The Charter school York just booted out never kept a teacher more than 3 years and didn't
ever give raises. Booted out for misuse of public funds, failure to follow procedures for special ed children, etc. Nauseating.
Performance on the stupid tests: worse than York City public schools.

Masters degrees in education. 10, 15 20, 25 years of giving their all to the students.

God damn you Corbett damn you to hell. 31 more days and he is out of here; don't know that the new governor can
do anything about this though.

So sorry. I don't understand how these guys ever got the power to just fire all the teachers and make them re-apply. But it's going on all over the country.

Like you this all makes me sick to my stomach.

It's been defended way too long because it's the policy of this administration, and now it may be too late to change things.

Privatization of York Schools represents just another bust-out for the raiders to turn.

Thank you for the heads-up, madfloridian! These are fascist times.

Meckley, a Spring Garden Township businessman who has led the district's financial recovery process for two years now, intends to convert all eight schools to charters operated by a for-profit company, Charter Schools USA.

Such a conversion has never been tried in Pennsylvania, and the company's plan for York City appears half-baked.

For instance, in response to questions submitted by The York Dispatch, a company representative showed limited knowledge of the district's student population and couldn't even describe plans for the 21 percent of students with special needs.

The community clearly opposes the plan. Yet while they have no say in the matter, city property owners' tax dollars now will be used not only for education but to boost the profits of Charter Schools USA.


http://www.yorkdispatch.com/breaking/ci_27222739/editorial-york-city-schools-fight-isnt-over?source=pkg

This paragraph so true.

The community clearly opposes the plan. Yet while they have no say in the matter, city property owners' tax dollars now will be used not only for education but to boost the profits of Charter Schools USA.

now will be used... to boost the profits of Charter Schools USA"


It reminds me of Obamacare's gift to insurance corporations.
York's gift to Charter Schools USA.

Wonder if he has shares in the business

And soon, my husband and I may be stuck here, while all of our friends are forced to move elsewhere.

You just can't afford a mortgage and a family on $35,000 a year and paying over $6000 a year for health insurance.

The truth is that there are problems everywhere - too many elected officials are owned by the greedy

No way to be sure I imagine. So much done in secret.

from the fracking industry + charter schools.

I'm sure Corbett will never want for anything. Bastid.

A judge's ruling last week gave David Meckley nearly all authority over the York City School District.

But the Spring Garden Township man said Monday that he will wait until an appeal of the ruling is settled in Commonwealth Court before taking any decisive actions as the district's receiver.

For example, Meckley said he's not entirely sure what might occur at the next school board meeting on Monday, Jan. 12.

"My understanding, until there's a clear path, we would have business as usual," he said.

and get rich at the same time. what's not to like?

grrr

They are important because it means it is getting read. Got several new followers because of it.