Pushing kids and teachers to the bottom

[Hannah Bell]

TEACHERS ACROSS the country returned from a much-needed winter break to find their school districts lining up to apply for the Obama administration's competitive education grant, Race to the Top (RTTT). First round applications for the $4.3 billion pot of money were due January 19.

Many state legislatures rushed to pass laws that would help make states more competitive for RTTT money....Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat, signed a new law requiring districts to count student test scores as at least 50 percent of a teacher's evaluation. Kentucky also cleared the path to merit pay--states with laws that prevent the linking of teacher information to student test scores are automatically ineligible for RTTT funds...

In fact, Obama announced January 19 that he would request funding for a second Race to the Top competition in next year's federal budget. This time, RTTT would allow school districts to bypass state legislatures that aren't applying for the funds and compete directly with other districts across the U.S.

What's more, RTTT has been designed as a test run for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA--better known in its current form as No Child Left Behind). Congress will begin reauthorization of ESEA this year, and the groundwork has been laid in the states to funnel even more money to charter school operators.

Already, RTTT undermines the due process protections that teachers have achieved under union contracts, which makes it easier for principals to get rid of teachers they don't like for any reason. What's more, RTTT ties teacher pay to student performance on tests. So even if test scores in a given school are under par because of overcrowded classrooms, poverty and a large number of English language learners, it's the teachers who'll have to pay...

The central "reforms" of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan certainly aren't geared toward giving teachers and school communities the tools and funding needed to create relevant, engaging curriculum and equitable schools. On the contrary, the aim is to reduce the number of veteran teachers in the ranks while increasing the number of nonunion educators.

In May, Duncan made this clear when he said this was a "moment of opportunity and a moment of crisis...Despite how tough things are financially, it's often at times of crisis we get the reforms we need."

But for Obama and Duncan, "we" is not the students and teachers of U.S. schools, but charter school operators. Tellingly, Los Angeles Superintendent Ramon Cortines wants to both force furloughs and a 12 percent pay cuts on the teachers, even as he works with the school board to hand over scores of schools to charters and other outside operators.

http://socialistworker.org/2010/02/02/pushing-schools-to-the-bottom

[glowing]

1. I think his educational proposals are disgusting.. My sister who is a normal Dem

refused to vote for him because she is a teacher and is disgusted with his views. AND she lives in VT.. so she figured her vote wouldn't be the vote that needed to be clenched.

[IndyJones]

2. I think that this is designed to break the strangle hold the teachers' unions have in certain states

like California, where way too many of the schools are under performing.

I am going to support any initiatives that prove to make the schools better in California and take away the power of the teachers' union here. They've had their go at it and they are failing our children. So something needs to change, starting with the teachers' union and the administration.

It seems to be perfectly acceptable to some that our kids are stuck in poor performing schools, but not acceptable for the Obama administration to push for changes to be made to improve the situation. Sorry, but I am with Obama on this one. If it takes dangling the money to force changes, so be it.

[GiveMeFreedom]

3. Problem is

they do not dangle enough money. Teachers make OK pay, but as far as professionals go, they are paid at the bottom of the professional scales. Now if education was truly a number one priority of all our elected officials, from local, state, and national government, then the education budget should be higher than the national defense budget. Children are the future of any nation and as adults, we are only borrowing the nation till they grow up and take over. Sad really, the best and the brightest from our university systems never become teachers, there is no real money in it, but imagine if a teachers merit pay equaled that of an AIG or Goldman Sachs bonus, oh boy!

[Hannah Bell]

4. "stranglehold"? really? funny how california used to produce the best students in the nation,

at the best schools in the nation --- before the neocons & neolibs & "reformers" got ahold of it.

[MadHound]

9. The problems with California schools doesn't start with the teachers' unions,

Nor does it end there. The biggest problem with California schools is their lack of funding, and for that Californians have only themselves and their idiotic vote for Prop. 13

School districts are funded mainly by property taxes. Put a cap on them so that they can't rise with inflation and home value, well, here you are, trying to run a 21st century school system on a 1970's budget.

Not to mention that California has had a number of governors, Ahhnold being just the latest, who have tried to improve their conservative creds by fucking around with school funding.

People like you go on and on about the teachers' unions, but the fact of the matter is they're fairly powerless in the greater scope of things. Teachers still get fired, wages are still low, and both our teachers and students are getting screwed over by administration and politics. Other factors that effect our students more than unions, well that would be things like a dramatic lack of funding, NCLB, lack of parental involvement, increasing poverty in our communities, a dramatic lack of funding, administrators, and oh, did I mention a dramatic lack of funding?

Blaming the unions is easy, but let me tell you this, you drive the unions into the ground you're going to still wind up with a crappy school system because the underlying reasons for having underperforming schools will still not have been addressed (again, dramatic lack of funding).

What Obama is pushing is a continuation and acceleration of the privatization of all our schools. If that happens, yes, the teachers' unions will be busted, but we'll be stuck with an even worse system of education, in fact a tiered education system where those students whose parents can afford it will get a top flight education, and the rest of us, well, our children will just have to make do with an education that is massively much worse than our children get now.

Is that what you want? Just so you can break the unions? What an idiot you are. The unions do look out for their members, but they also look out for our students. This monolithic power that you ascribe to unions is simply not there. Teachers, even tenured teachers, are still ridiculously easy to fire. Yes, teachers have gotten a sweet benefits package via the unions, but it certainly doesn't make up for crappy pay that teachers get.

You demonization of the unions, and by extension teachers in general, sounds like the ignorant rantings I hear from other RW idiots. So you're willing to accept Obama's rush to privatize education, setting up a tiered system of education all so you can get back at that bogeyman (in your mind only) the unions. Cut off your nose to spite your face much?

Oh, and what is your educational experience? Yeah, that's about what I thought.

[LWolf]

10. Of course it is.

Duncan is a well-known, and well-worn, union-buster.

It doesn't matter that the causes of student under performance have nothing to do with teacher's unions.

Union-busting, especially teachers' union-busting, is a goal of the Reagan administration that Obama/Duncan seem determined to carry out. No surprise, since Obama is impressed by "the trajectory" Reagan put us on, and when asked by a FOX interviewer what republicans "do better," he replied, "education."

[immoderate]

21. So, the problem is that we're paying teachers too much money...

And if you pay less money, cut benefits, and decrease job security, then all the people with the real teaching talent and dedication will come surging forth and solve our educational problems. Is that how it works, Bunky?

Edit to ask: Which of the states that have weak unions have shown this to be a solution? How do you explain the fact that I got a good education from all union teachers?

--imm

[sandnsea]

5. $5 billion out of $100 billion stimulus

And another $1 billion out of the 2011 $67 billion to increase RTTP.

The hysteria is a bit over the top.

[Hannah Bell]

6. "hysteria"? i don't see any hysteria. i do see you've missed the point, however.

perhaps on purpose?

[sandnsea]

7. Do you know what the charter caps are?

Oklahoma allows 6 per year. Rhode Island allows 20 total, serving no more than 4% of the student body. Arkansas allows 24. California 1250, but the state has 9,900 schools. Illinois, a limit of 120. It goes on like that.

If public schools can't thrive maintaining 95% of the student body, then they've got bigger problems than charter schools.

Hysteria. That is exactly what this rant against charter schools is.

http://www.publiccharters.org/node/45

[Hannah Bell]

8. Too disingenuous by half. States without caps on charters:

Arizona
California: Yes, but increase of 100 allowed every year.
Colorado
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Indiana: Only in Indianapolis, not state-wide
Kansas
Maryland
Minnesota
Nevada: No caps on charters serving at risk students
New Jersey
New York: Yes but no limit on conversions
Oregon
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Utah
Virgina
Wisconsin
Wyoming

http://mb2.ecs.org/reports/Report.aspx?id=80.


As is the pretense that the current state of affairs is fixed in stone for all times, or that Race to the Top & Obama's DOEd aren't DELIBERATELY INCENTIVIZING the acceleration of charters:


"States that do not have public charter laws or put artificial caps on the growth of charter schoolswill jeopardize their applications under the Race to the Top Fund," Secretary Duncan said. "To be clear, this administration is not looking to open unregulated and unaccountable schools. We want real autonomy for charters combined with a rigorous authorization process and high performance standards."

President Obama has called upon states to encourage the expansion of charter schools... However, charter schools are facing significant obstacles to expansion in too many states.

•In the 40 states with charters, 26 put artificial caps on the number of public charter schools and President Obama has called on states to lift these caps and other barriers to having a healthy network of charter schools throughout the country...

http://www2.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2009/06/06082009a.html


Last March, the President of the United States outlined, in detail, his vision for states to make education reform changes to "race to the top," as he put it. Included in the just-signed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was a $4-plus billion pot of money to be used as an incentive fund for states to change their laws to reflect the President's agenda for education reform. States, not the federal government, are the places that most affect education policy. Knowing this, the Obama Administration created this competitive Race to the Top fund to spur them to change.

Many states have responded favorably to the President by amending their laws, including raising their caps on the number of charter schools....

http://www.nycsa.org/blog/2009/10/do-nothing-on-charters-big-risk-and.html


Or that this incentivization isn't getting results:

State Looks at Doubling Cap on Charter Schools Sign in to Recommend
Published: January 15, 2010

New York legislators are poised to at least double the number of charter schools allowed in the state in an attempt to win as much as $700 million in federal education grants.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/16/education/16race.html


-- Illinois. On Tuesday, April 14th, Duncan kicked off his nationwide “listening tour” in Chicago, saying “business as usual, to be clear, would basically eliminate Illinois from competition” and citing funding inequity, a limit on the number of charter schools, and marginal efforts to police teacher quality as the biggest areas in need of change. In the wee of hours of June 1st, the Illinois state legislature answered Duncan’s call and ended its session by approving 45 new charter schools for Chicago, 5 of which would reserved for high school dropouts, and an additional 15 charter schools for the rest of the state. As a result, about 13,000 students now on charter school waiting lists or in otherwise low-performing schools will be enrolled in high-quality charters subject to stricter accountability requirements than other Illinois schools.


-- Tennessee. In late May, Duncan said Tennessee would “not be helping its chances” for Race to the Top funds if it continued arbitrary caps limiting the growth of charter schools. This set off a chain of events in which the state legislature held a special session and Democrats were freed to reverse their positions against charter school expansion from their leadership (and given a pass from the Tennessee Education Association), culminating in approval of charter school expansions in six school systems on a lopsided vote of 79-15.

-- Rhode Island. On Monday, June 22 at a conference attended by thousands of charter school parents, teachers, and Administrators, Duncan said, in response to a question from the audience, that Rhode Island risked eligibility for Race to the Top funding if it continued to roadblock efforts to establish and equitably fund charter schools. On Friday June 26, just after 2 a.m. the Rhode Island legislature approved a final budget deal that fully restored funding for a system of “mayoral academies” that will serve students attending some of the lowest-performing schools in Providence. The first school, set to open this Fall, will be run by Democracy Prep, a Harlem charter operator. The lottery for slots will be held the first week of July.

-- Connecticut. Duncan’s comments regarding Rhode Island rippled out to Connecticut, when on June 26, virtually simultaneous with Rhode Island’s action, Connecticut reversed its decision to cut charter school budgets, and moved toward an agreement that would fully restore charter school funding.

-- Massachusetts. On Monday, June 29, Massachusetts Secretary of Education Paul Reville announced that Gov. Deval Patrick will soon introduce legislation to lift the cap on charter schools in school districts in the lowest 10 percent on performance exams. Earlier this year Patrick said he was opposed to lifting the cap on the number of charter schools – proposing instead to increase spending on them in the lowest-performing districts.

-- Louisiana. On Thursday, June 25, on the last day of Louisiana’s legislative session, Rep. Walt Leger III, a New Orleans Democrat, introduced legislation lifting the cap on charter schools. The state Education Department’s press release indicated that states that lift caps on charter schools will be viewed more favorably by the federal government in the Race To The Top.

-- Indiana. The new state budget approved by the Legislature this week lifted the cap on charter schools and allows student performance to be used in teacher evaluations. Duncan had warned Indiana legislators that a failure to remove obstacles to reform, like charter caps, would jeopardize the state’s standing in the contest. These are encouraging developments.

http://www.andrewtobias.com/newcolumns/090715.html.


Or that there isn't big money backing conversion of public ed to charters, following a deliberate strategy which includes propagandizing the public, funding institutions to train & place "moles" in state & local ed depts, to establish a parallel, national-level, & semi-privatized administrative network to make policy, regulations, credentialing, etc. for charters -

which includes the usual cast of players who TRULY CARE ABOUT OUR CHILDREN'S EDUCATION & FUTURES, i.e. the Walmart Waltons, Richard Mellon Scaife, the Koch family, the Broad family, the DeVos family, the Gates family, New York hedge fund honchos, and similar folks selfless folks whose ONLY INTEREST IS THE WELFARE OF THE LOWER ORDERS....

http://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/educationreform/profile_csgf.asp
http://broadeducation.org/
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/press-releases/pages/public-charter-school-growth-in-houston-091111.aspx
http://old.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=18
http://old.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=56
http://old.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=4806
http://old.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=486
http://old.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=2559
http://old.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=67


You can peddle that bullshit, but it doesn't wash.

[sandnsea]

11. And $6 billion out of $167 billion

is going to do what exactly? A state removes a cap of 20 charters, and suddenly they're going to be overrun on less than 5% of the money the regular public schools are getting? Especially when there is no requirement any state use a charter to qualify for RTTT money anyway.

These are the four models that can be used, from the Dept of Ed site:

Turnaround model: Replace the principal and rehire no more than 50 percent of the staff, and grant the principal sufficient operational flexibility (including in staffing, calendars/time, and budgeting) to implement fully a comprehensive approach to substantially improve student outcomes.
Restart model: Convert a school or close and reopen it under a charter school operator, a charter management organization, or an education management organization that has been selected through a rigorous review process.
School closure: Close a school and enroll the students who attended that school in other schools in the LEA that are higher achieving
Transformation model: Implement each of the following strategies: (1) replace the principal and take steps to increase teacher and school leader effectiveness; (2) institute comprehensive instructional reforms; (3) increase learning time and create community-oriented schools; and (4) provide operational flexibility and sustained support.

[Hannah Bell]

12. too disingenuous.

[sandnsea]

13. Facts are disingenous. Jeesh.

How is anything ever supposed to be improved when people won't face reality or have an honest conversation. It's as bad as talking to the voucher everything people.

[Hannah Bell]

14. rttt doesn't "require" charters, but they figure into the scoring, which is why

several states changed their formulas.

honest? as i've demonstrated, you're the discussant omitting & refusing to acknowledge key facts.

[sandnsea]

17. Finally. There's no charter takeover

The only reason some states have to change their scoring is because it's so ridiculously low to begin with. I've presented key facts. You guys have presented hysteria about less than 5% of the total education budget for the last two years. Once again, you could rally around the parts that are good and will be helpful to teachers, like we could have rallied around the HELP bill last year. But nooooo, you're going to misrepresent and denegrate everything that comes out of this Administration until we end up with Republicans again. Ted Kennedy figured it out after he did it to Carter. When will everybody else catch up?

[Hannah Bell]

22. ho-ho. the $ being spent each year promoting & funding charters is in the billions when private $$

from foundations like walmart, scaife, broad & gates is included.

you can keep pretending public schools aren't getting taken over - but they are. not in one day, not all at once, but in the same way one boils a frog.

there is no "good part" about charters for teachers. and no good part for students either unless they happen to be in the lucky 17%.

[4_TN_TITANS]

15. Where the hell is the NEA re: Arne Duncan???

My wife was a delegate to the 2004 convention in D.C. and just the delegates fill an entire convention center. The NEA better wake it's sleeping giant before Duncan causes some real damage.

This is the thanks after all the weight they threw behind Obama???

[sandnsea]

18. Joining in the fearmongering

http://www.nea.org/home/35447.htm

It's peculiar that the NEA's stated solution to education problems are "focusing on these two initiatives—turning around priority schools and addressing inequities" are the exact things that are generated by Obama's larger education budget and race to the top. They flat out lie when they say they have to create charters. They simply don't. In fact, out of the four models in RTTT, only one is a charter.

http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget11/index.html

[tonysam]

19. I think you really need to know what Obama and Duncan are about

They are NOT for public education but for the wholesale destruction of public education and thus democracy.

It is astounding to me the excuses people make for him when the truth is staring at them right in the face.

[sandnsea]

20. Complete BullShit

Unless you can answer how they can accomplish a charter takeover on $6 billion out of $167 billion dollars.

[Hannah Bell]

23. yes, your posts are. $167 B = this initiative only, not the sum total of ALL monies being spent

to privatize the public schools.

Let's add up the government money, the private foundation money, the corporate money & the private donation - shall we?

It runs into *many* billions....walmart, broad, gates, scaife, bradley.....etc. etc. etc.

minnestota was the first state to pass a charter school law = 1991. california = 1995.

less than 20 years later, here we are -- & more coming.

you & several other people here at DU will not even acknowledge the concerted, targeted funding from folks like the waltons. you simply ignore it when it's brought up & pretend everything's about "choice" & "helping kids".

you know it's not.

[blindpig]

16. k&r n/t

[maryf]

24. damn, missed this

in time to rec, at least my local refused to endorse our district's application, against the law in NYS, but they are finding ways...