Use of accountability standards and educational vouchers to strengthen private at expense of public schools; levels of public support for schools.
HEADLINES
4/24/10
CHARTER SCHOOLS, IMAGINE THAT! Non-profit groups in 11 states that maintain charter schools have turned the management over to a private management business called Imagine, operated by retired energy executive Dennis Bakke and his wife. These groups are finding that they are themselves "managed" (controlled) by Imagine, and state regulators are beginning to cast a critical eye on the operation of Imagine.
INTERNATIONAL
Websites
Analysis & views:
1/16/08
British Charity Commission is requiring "independent" (private) schools to be more open to admission of children from poor families.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/16/nindie116.xml
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NATIONAL
Websites
NEA site on school voucher programs:
http://www.nea.org/vouchers/
Rethinking Schools: Large database of articles and views on school vouchers:
http://www.rethinkingschools.org/special_reports/voucher_report/index.shtml
Analysis & views:
4/24/10
CHARTER SCHOOLS, IMAGINE THAT! Non-profit groups in 11 states that maintain charter schools have turned the management over to a private management business called Imagine, operated by retired energy executive Dennis Bakke and his wife. These groups are finding that they are themselves "managed" (controlled) by Imagine, and state regulators are beginning to cast a critical eye on the operation of Imagine.
3/29/10
Concern about quality of education in charter schools is causing many Minnesota school districts to move away from their ties to these schools.
3/1/10
THE CHARTER SCHOOL MOVEMENT IN CALIFORNIA: IT'S ALL ABOUT UNION-BUSTING AND DESTRUCTION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM. Where one might expect that charter school developers would emphasize issues of quality in education, they actually focus interest on "market share" of students, realizing that their success depends on their diversion of students from public schools. Accordingly they are quite happy to see the struggles for public school survival that their "market share" tactics create, these struggles being seen as "setting the table" for the vouchers that will, in effect, constitute public support of private schools.
2/7/10
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE FINDS AN "ALIVE AND WELL" SEGREGATED CHARTER SCHOOL IN OAKLAND. Sonja Sharp, in what appears to be an article protesting the scapegoating of charter schools for the ails of American education, cites a Chronicle article which singles out the 90% Latino student body of Achieve Academy in the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland, a predominantly Latino neighborhood, as emblematic of a national trend toward more segregation in charter than in public schools. Examining schools in the Bay Area, Sharp says public schools, as much as charter ones, reflect de facto segregation based on the ethnic composition of their neighborhoods.
12/15/09
HEDGE FUND MANAGERS JUST LOVE "THEIR" CHARTER SCHOOLS. Many well-paid managers from the likes of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are finding a "cause" in charter schools, serving on their boards or even being involved in founding them. Daniel Wolff ponders on the nature of their attraction for them. There seems to be close fit in a school operated on a business model to those corporations they deal with in their work lives: a wonderfully gratifying example at that, as they have revenues guaranteed by public funding, even though these managers don't "get any" of the profits. What do they get? Wolff refers to the sociology of Wall Street, but it may be the sociology more generally of any elite groups of people involved in charitable causes, be they schools or civic operas. What they "get" is an opportunity to establish personal status as well as opportunities for business advancement through "service"-enhanced resumes, as well as the contacts they make with other elites during these activities. Wolff worries that this may be like other charitable activities that follow the law of fashion or style: what is considered "in" among one's peers today may be just so 2009 in the future.
9/26/09
CHARTER SCHOOLS SKIMPING ON TEACHING TO PAY THE RENT. Educator Daniel Wolff describes the growth of charter schools as an "investment" in which the schools, desperate for buildings to house their operations, have their own real estate arms and depend on investments from Entertainment Properties Trust which buys and then rents old buildings, marketing them the way they do movie houses as places that consumers will "choose" to attend. The problem is that parents may no longer choose them for their children when they find that, in their struggle to pay the rent, the charters deliver less in the way of educational benefits.
8/24/09
CHARTER SCHOOLS GET A HUGE BOOST FROM THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION. Fears of public school advocates are coming true as Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is brandishing the power of $5 billion in discretionary educational "stimulus" funding as a club to promote privatized charter schools. Those states which prohibit or put caps on the number of charters are threatened with loss of eligibility for any federal stimulus funding for their schools. It appears that Obama administration is pursuing a kind of "neo-liberal" government intervention in educational practices that is designed to "open markets" for corporate profits. (Wall Street loves the policy.)
1/3/09
IS FURTHER PRIVATIZATION AND MILITARIZATION OF U.S. SCHOOLS, ALONG WITH ACCELERATED EDUCATIONAL APARTHEID, A CHANGE IN EDUCATIONAL POLICY THAT AMERICAN EDUCATORS CAN BELEVE IN? Believe it or not, it may the future of that policy if Obama's selection of Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education is an indication. While No Child Left Behind advocates like Margaret Spellings praise the choice, many Chicago teachers are less sure. This includes an activist in the teachers' union, who campaigned for Obama, who describes for Black Agenda Report a contentious and mostly unreported meeting of teachers with the Chicago Board of Education as the nomination of the city's school chief to the Education post was being considered.
http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=944&Itemid=1
11/25/08
Superintendent of Miami-Dade school system in Florida says nation's public schools need bailing out by federal treasury.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/story/786338.html
8/14/08
Economic slump is producing decline in private school enrollments across the Washington D.C. metropolitan area.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/13/AR2008081303826.html?wpisrc=newsletter
5/4/07
Utah's plan to institute a voucher program in support of private education faces obstacles from a court challenge and popular referendum.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5815558
12/23/06
"If we can't put together a summer school system, then why are we here?" asks a school board member in Missouri as renewal of a contract with a private company providing 70 summer schools in the state is being considered.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/jeffersoncounty/story?OpenDocument
9/22/06
Financial viability of Detroit public schools is threatened by fall-out from a 16-day teachers' strike in which 25,000 students left the system and the schools stand to lose $190 million in public support payments.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060922/SCHOOLS/609220386
4/24/06
Alleged inadequacies of a "voucher school" in Milwaukee highlights doubts about a much-touted privatization plan in Wisconsin:
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=418193
3/31/06
Moves in several states to require 65% of educational funding to be spent "in the classroom" is described as right-wing ploy to encourage vouchers and school privitization: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0330-21.htm
3/1/06
Private online colleges get huge boost from Congress: colleges won't have to require that half their credits for graduation be accomplished on-campus: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/01/national/01educ.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
2/11/06
For profit schools under fire in New York state: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FOR_PROFIT_SCHOOLS?SITE=
FLTAL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
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FLORIDA:
STATEWIDE
Websites:
Analysis & views:
6/16/09
STANFORD UNIVERSITY RESEARCH HAS SOME "SOBERING RESULTS" FOR FLORIDA'S CHARTER SCHOOL. New study shows that, on average, charter school students do "considerably worse" than public school ones on FCAT tests in reading and math. Florida charter school officials are appropriately "sobered," but also they cite factors that might skew the results of these comparisons.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/orl-charter-school-study061509,0,537203.story
9/4/08
In Florida, the most important result of the November election may have occurred before the November election: The state's Supreme Court takes out its little ax and cuts down three contentious constitutional amendments referred to the November election by the state's taxation and budget commission. Amendment 5, the "swap" of lowered property taxes for raised sales ones, was knocked down because the Court felt the wording of the amendment obscured for voters exactly the nature of that for which they would be voting. School-related amendments (7 and 9) mandating increased vouchers for private schooling and a percentage of school funding to be used directly in classrooms were rejected on grounds that the commission was using its "taxation and budget" mandate to legislate what they thought were desirable changes in school policy.
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20080903/NEWS/809040247/1034&title=Fla__high_court
8/29/08
Many parents whose children attend private schools in south Florida are now finding the tuitions of these school unaffordable in the current economic recession and are sending their children to public schools, creating a crash in the school uniforms business. (They may get some "relief" in the form of continuing efforts for the state to provide tuition vouchers for attendance at private schools.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/schools/sfl-flbpricingout0829sbaug29,0,1902012.story
7/13/08
Puzzle for state educators: FCAT science scores improve even in "failing" schools which are sanctioned on the basis of their students' poor performances on math and reading parts of the test.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/state/epaper/2008/07/10/0710scienceed.html
5/28/08
Florida state teacher's union is trying by a lawsuit to stop a November referendum measure to provide voucher funding for private schools.
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/may/28/me-school-voucher-plan-faces-challenge-from-teache/
5/26/07
Private colleges and universities in Florida are heavily subsidized by state funds and were largely spared the vetoes that Crist exercised against public ones.
http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBDIJTJ52F.html
4/14/07
Rallies continue in Tallahassee for public funding of scholarships for students in private schools, a demand now being framed in "civil rights" terms.
http://www.floridacapitalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/CAPITOLNEWS/704130351
4/13/07
Advocates for public support of private schooling are lobbying vigorously in Tallahassee.
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/041307/met_9218118.shtml
4/19/06
If at first you don't succeed: State Senate panel clears plan for a constitutional amendment to void State Supreme Court's ruling against Governor Bush's school voucher program: : http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060419/LOCAL/204190333/1078/news
3/30/06
Senate committee passes Governor Bush's plan to expand greatly the use of vouchers for private schooling:
http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060330/LOCAL/203300358/1078
3/11/06
Legislators looking for ways to circumvent Florida Supreme Court's decision that vouchers for private school students are un-constitutional: http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060311/CAPITOLNEWS/603110320/1011
2/16/06
GOP lawmakers expecting to propose another constitutional amendment for private school vouchers like one declared unconstitutional by Florida Supreme Court: http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060215/APN/602151014&cachetime=5
Other information sources:
FLORIDA LOCALITIES
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Lauderhill:
8/16/06
City of Lauderhill FL shuts down a Christian military academy after one of its students dies on a camping trip and investigation shows the school had been operating without proper licensing with suspicion of having received grants for services to disabled students that were never rendered.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-ccamp16aug16,0,5697285.story?coll=sfla-news-broward
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