In Case You Missed It – April 24, 2023

Here are links to last week's^† articles receiving the most attention on NEIFPE's social media accounts. Keep up with what's going on, what's being discussed, and what's happening with public education.

Be sure to enter your email address in the Follow Us By Email box in the right-hand column of our blog page to be informed when our blog posts are published.

THIS WEEK

Our regular editor is on vacation. Enjoy the links provided below without the usual editorial comments.

INDIANA REPUBLICANS TARGET TEACHERS UNIONS...

‘Deregulation’ bill is about sidelining unions

From School Matters

I have to pull out the Henry Adams quote at least once every session of the Indiana General Assembly: “Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds.”

How else do you explain Senate Bill 486, an “education deregulation” bill that seems to be largely about punishing the Indiana State Teachers Association and the Indiana Federation of Teachers.

The measure does include some deregulation, but a key component would repeal current law that gives teachers, through their unions, a voice in how their schools operate. Blocking it has become the top priority for the ISTA and IFT, which brought hundreds of teachers to the Statehouse last week to protest.

Why would the Republican supermajority want to punish the unions? Well, because they support Democrats...

...AND THEN VOTE TO ARM TEACHERS

Indiana Senate approves handgun training fund for teachers

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

Indiana state senators advanced a bill Tuesday that would make state funding available for teachers seeking firearms training, a move critics have said could increase the number of guns in school to the detriment of students.

The 42-8 vote comes after this past weekend’s three-day National Rifle Association convention in Indianapolis, which fell on the second anniversary of a mass shooting in the city at a FedEx facility that killed nine people.

The House bill first advanced in February, amid teachers’ objections that having additional guns in schools would worsen school safety. On Tuesday, two Democrats joined all Republican state senators in voting for the bill.

PRIVATIZATION

Bill to divert tax revenue to charter schools clears Indiana House

From WISHTV.com 8

Supporters of traditional public schools on Monday said new charter school legislation could jeopardize future school funding ballot questions.

The Indiana House voted along party lines to approve legislation that would require school corporations in Marion, Lake, Vanderburgh, and St. Joseph counties to allocate a portion of the revenue from any tax levy adopted after May 10 to charter schools in those counties. It marks a major departure in charter school funding from current policy, which uses a grant-based model...

The bill already passed the Senate, but has to go back to that chamber due to changes the House made.

School Privatization Flunks Out in Kansas and Texas

From ITPI: In the Public Interest

5) Kansas: A school privatization measure has been soundly beaten back in the state legislature and the privatizers are nursing their political wounds. “Republican lawmakers saw a negotiated school choice proposal fail early Friday morning in the Kansas Senate amid stiff opposition from public education advocates, while the fate of an education budget that districts say will cost them hundreds of millions of dollars remains in question. School districts had excoriated the choice proposal, Senate Bill 83, which also would have included the first year of a plan from Gov. Laura Kelly to increase special education funding, as tantamount to school vouchers...

6) Texas: In yet another defeat for school privatization forces in a Red State, the Texas House of Representatives has voted to prohibit state money from funding private school vouchers or education savings accounts. “The move is a setback to one of Gov. Greg Abbott’s top priorities to provide ‘school choice’ with state-funded private school tuition subsidies. The House approved State Rep. Abel Herrero’s amendment to the state budget on a bipartisan 86-52 vote.

Idaho GOP Rejects School Voucher Bill

From Peter Greene in Forbes

Last year, Idaho’s legislature passed a limited school voucher bill; this year school voucher supporters raised a more expansive proposal that was just defeated by Republicans.

Last year’s Empowering Parents Grant Program used $50 million of American Rescue Plan recovery money to give education vouchers to families. It limited the education savings account (ESA) vouchers to students who were already enrolled in public schools and whose families had an income equal to or less than 250% of the free or reduced lunch cut-off.

That program was established on a modest scale. This year voucher supporters proposed a larger, more universal form.

Senate Bill 1038 included no income limits and no requirements for previously attending public school. In other words, a wealthy family who had always enrolled their children in private school or home school would get $6,000 of taxpayer money, and that money would be pulled from the funding for schools that the students had never attended in the first place; the school’s funding would be reduced, but their operating costs would not.

TESTING

Forgotten Pre-Covid Report Reveals Standardized Testing Weaknesses in PA

From Gadfly on the Wall Blog

The majority of teachers and principals in Pennsylvania hate standardized tests.

An increasing number of parents are refusing to allow their kids to take the tests.

And there may be better alternatives to the state’s Keystone Exams.

These were just some of the key findings of a blockbuster report from June 2019 by the state General Assembly’s Legislative Budget and Finance Committee.

The report, “Standardized Tests in Public Education” was published about 9 months before the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

It effectively got lost in the chaos that followed the global pandemic.

However, now that things are returning to some semblance of normalcy, it seems that bureaucrats from the state Department of Education (PDE) are taking the wrong lessons from the report while the legislature seems to have forgotten it entirely.

The report was conducted because of legislation written by state Sen. Ryan P. Aument (R-Lancaster County). It directed the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to “study the effectiveness of standardized testing, including the Keystone Exams and SATs, and their use as indicators of student academic achievement, school building performance, and educator effectiveness.”

The key findings are as follows...

FLORIDA GOVERNOR CONTINUES CULTURE WARS

Florida Bans Instruction about Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity in All Grades

From Diane Ravitch

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis thinks that if he bans or censors a subject, then the thing he banned will disappear. Obviously, he hates gays. Therefore, his state board of education voted in the last hour or so to ban any mention of sexual orientation or gender identity unless they are part of a reproductive health course. Ironically, Florida has a very large gay population in Miami and Fort Lauderdale and elsewhere. But DeSantis believes he can appeal to the MAGA base by repeatedly showing his hatred for gays. Every fascist must have scapegoats. For DeSantis, it’s gays, trans, and drag queens, but also Blacks and immigrants. And any books about them. Some Republican mega donors have decided to back off and withhold funding him to see how far he goes with his calculated campaign of hatred and divisiveness.

The Orlando Sentinel reported...

**Note: The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette is behind a paywall. Digital access, home delivery, or both are available with a subscription. Staying informed is important, and one way to do that is to support your local newspaper. For subscription information, go to fortwayne.com/subscriptions/ [NOTE: NEIFPE has no financial ties to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette]

^†Note: NEIFPE's In Case You Missed It is posted by the end of the day every Monday except after holiday weekends or as otherwise noted.

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In Case You Missed It – June 6, 2022

Here are links to articles from the last two weeks^† receiving the most attention on NEIFPE's social media accounts. Keep up with what's going on, what's being discussed, and what's happening with public education.

Be sure to enter your email address in the Follow Us By Email box in the right-hand column to be informed when our blog posts are published.

THIS WEEK

The same people who don't trust teachers to choose appropriate books for their students are now calling for teachers to be armed in the classroom. Both issues are reflected in today's selections.

We also include three posts by a favorite blogger of NEIFPE readers, Peter Greene.

MATH TEXT IN NACS

Disputed math text approved

NACS Board approves a controversial math textbook.

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

A high school math textbook that elected officials shelved two weeks ago will indeed be taught in Northwest Allen County Schools classrooms in the fall.

The 4-0 board decision Monday followed more than 30 minutes of public comment from 15 speakers, including several who urged board members to trust the district's education professionals and approve the seventh edition of "Precalculus" by Robert F. Blitzer.

Kent Somers, board vice president, abstained.

CHARTERS - THE DAMAGE DONE

Charter schools and ‘educational blackmail’

There is yet to be a proven benefit to students that justifies opening charter schools that drain public dollars from public education.

From School Matters

The paper identifies three types of harm that can be caused by the growth of charter schools:

• Increased stress on financially troubled school districts.
• Predatory real estate deals that divert resources to for-profit businesses.
• Loss of rights for students who enroll in charter schools.

When students leave district schools for charter schools, state operating funds typically follow, sometimes leaving the districts strapped. Over time, districts can cut costs by reducing staff and closing schools. But Green and Connery say districts often have fixed costs – for example, pensions, retiree health care and debt – that can’t be easily reduced when they lose students.

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD -- STILL RELEVANT?

‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is Still Relevant Because it Forces Us to Confront Ourselves

Steven Singer, a middle school teacher in Pennsylvania, discusses teaching To Kill a Mockingbird in 2022.

From Gadfly on the Wall Blog

Parris is peering into a crumpled paperback with a huge smile on his face.

“Mr. Singer, I love this book…” he says.

He stops, pauses and adds, “I hate what’s happening, but I love the book.”

In my middle school classroom, that’s a pretty routine reaction to Harper Lee’s classic, “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

My 8th grade students approach the climax and resolution with equal parts dread and delight.

But it doesn’t always start that way.

No book I teach has gone through a greater change in cultural opinion than “Mockingbird.”

It used to be considered a bastion of anti-racism. Now some folks actually consider it to be racist.

THE BENEFIT OF SMALL CLASS SIZE IS NO MYSTERY

The (Not A) Mystery Of Class Size

How much more could your child's teacher provide to her class if the number of students was cut by ¹/₃? How would things change if she had 18 first graders in her class instead of nearly 30? or 20 freshman math students instead of 35?

We all know that a smaller class size means, at the very least, more time for teachers to spend with each student, but we don't want to pay for it. We're content to let the super-rich have small class sizes in their exclusive private schools, but for those "other students" in public schools? Forget it.

From Curmudgucation

The most fundamental issue of education in this country, the issue that underlies virtually all other issues, is that we want to have it and we want it to be good, but we do not want to pay for it. We want a Lexus, but we want it at Yugo prices (and we're pretty sure that Those People could just make do with a bicycle).

No issue captures this better than the issue of class size.

There is plenty of research to underscore the benefits of smaller class sizes, but seriously-- who needs it? It's bad form to pretend that anecdotal evidence is not true data, except in this case we're talking about anecdotes from several million teaching professionals, several million children, and several million parents.

THE POWER WORSHIPPERS

The Power Worshippers and Education

The so-called "conservative" attack on public education is more than just politics as usual.

From Curmudgucation

There is much to recognize [in Katherine Stewart's book, The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism, which was published in 2019]. Betsy DeVos. Hillsdale College. The Council for National Policy, the shadowy group with a master plan for education and a truly scary membership list. If you've had the nagging sense that the religious right's attack on public education is part of something bigger, that's here. And if you have the nagging feeling that much of it doesn't make sense, Stewart will show you the angle from which it makes perfect sense.

This book is not going to make you feel better about any of it, which is probably the best reason to read it. Highly recommended.

ARMING TEACHERS BECAUSE MORE GUNS ARE THE GOAL

Three Reasons Arming Teachers Is A Bad Idea

Should teachers be armed?

From Peter Greene in Forbes

Securing the firearm.

Where and how would a teacher keep the gun secured? How do we make sure that the gun can’t possibly fall into younger hands? That includes, especially, the hands of students who are deliberately trying to commandeer the gun. We have had a non-zero number of instances where students have been caught planning a school attack. It’s chilling to consider what could have or would have happened in cases where, in the planning stage, the shooter thought, “I don’t have to figure out how to get a gun into the school—there are plenty already there.”

...The chaos of a classroom.

Like virtually every teacher in the US, I often played a game of hypotheticals. What if a shooter entered my building right now? What if one entered my room? What if I had a gun in my room?

...the chances were poor that I would get a chance to use my gun safely. In most scenarios, I would have to shoot at the gunman with students either between us or behind him. If he’s armed with an AR-15 style weapon and I have a handgun, my chances to reposition myself will be slim.

I would never have been able to live with making one of my own students collateral damage.

**Note: The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette has changed its online access and is now behind a paywall. Digital access, home delivery, or both are available with a subscription. Staying informed is important, and one way to do that is to support your local newspaper. For subscription information, go to fortwayne.com/subscriptions/ [NOTE: NEIFPE has no financial ties to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette]

^†Note: NEIFPE's In Case You Missed It is posted every week except holiday weekends or as otherwise noted.

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In Case You Missed It – Aug 12, 2019

Here are links to last week's articles receiving the most attention in NEIFPE's social media. Keep up with what's going on, what's being discussed, and what's happening with public education.

Be sure to enter your email address in the Follow Us By Email box in the right-hand column to be informed when our blog posts are published.

UNION-BUSTING

Beware of Right-Wing Groups Promoting Union-Busting Shell Called “Free to Teach”

From Diane Ravitch

...These organizations are part of a massive network of right-wing groups called the State Policy Network. These organizations have donated HUNDREDS OF MILLION OF DOLLARS to extreme right causes: many anti-union and pro-educational privatization. These organizations are funded by billionaires including the Koch Brothers and Richard and Helen DeVos—the parents-in-law of Betsy DeVos. They also fund the Mackinac Center in Michigan, a favorite cause of Betsy DeVos, which works to crush unions and workers’ rights...

IPS HOMELESS STUDENTS

Charie Gibson was homeless 17 times. Now she helps more than 1,000 homeless students in Indianapolis.

From Chalkbeat

As the sole administrator responsible for serving the more than 1,000 homeless students in Indianapolis Public Schools, Gibson knows, perhaps better than anyone else in the district, the laws, policies, and resources students need to find stability. She also serves students in foster care.

STUDENTS HAVE "NOTHING TO FEAR"

Trump: Kids scared of going to school because of gun violence ‘have nothing to fear'

From the Answer Sheet

“They have nothing to fear.”

That’s what President Trump said Friday when asked if he had any advice for students who are returning to class for the 2019-2020 school year and are afraid because of recent gun violence.

His response came as he was answering questions from reporters on the White House lawn before departing for the Hamptons in New York, where he was expected to attend a high-priced fundraiser. He answered queries about gun-control legislation — saying he wanted “very meaningful” checks to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people — and other issues, including immigration raids in Mississippi and the trade war with China.

More than halfway through the nearly 35-minute exchange, a reporter asked the president if he had advice for children going to school amid fear of gun violence following recent mass shootings in California, Texas and Ohio. This is what he said...

INDY CHARTER SCHOOL ON ITS OWN

An Indianapolis charter school is going out on its own — and saying goodbye to its longtime network

It would be nice if Chalkbeat would tell us what the success rate for Lighthouse was. Especially since the article indicates that the difference will be mostly just a change in name. And about that $450,000 they’ll be saving? Who was paying for that in the first place? And what are the enrollment figures? Is there really a need for this diversion of resources from the public schools to exist in the first place?

From Chalkbeat

After years of being managed from afar by the charter network that started it, the local board that oversees Victory is betting that it can operate independently — all the while saving roughly $450,000 in administrative costs.

The shift is the latest sign that Indianapolis is increasingly a city where charter schools, which are publicly funded and privately run, are local — rather than part of a large national network. In this changing ecosystem, local charter leaders have increasing support to manage their schools without the expertise of larger networks.

WLCLC OPTING OUT OF TECH

West Lafayette Schools Opt Out of 1:1 Technology

From WLFI.com

Students in the Lafayette School Corporation will head back today with access to 1:1 technology.

The Tippecanoe School Corporation also participates in the program that allows certain grade levels to get their own electronic device to use at school and home.

But the West Lafayette Community School Corporation has opted out of the program.

When it comes to technology in the classroom, the goal is to teach kids to use it constructively.

Superintendent Rocky Killion said teachers focus on instructional research practices. He said the goal is to make kids critical thinkers so they can make more informed decisions when researching.

CORRUPTION OF VIRTUAL CHARTERS

Bill Phillis: Online For-Profit Charters Are Corrupt

From Diane Ravitch

...unregulated, for-profit online charters are prone to corruption. When will public officials acknowledge that online charters are a public policy mistake?

ARMING TEACHERS

Pennsylvania Law Meant to Forbid Arming Teachers May Have Done Just the Opposite

From Gadflyonthewall Blog

Pennsylvania teachers, don’t forget to pack your Glock when returning to school this year.

A new law meant to close the door on arming teachers may have cracked it open.

Despite warnings from gun safety activists, the bill, SB 621, was approved by the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Tom Wolf this summer.

The legislation explicitly allows security guards – independent contractors who are not members of law enforcement – to carry guns in schools if they go through special training.

And that’s bad enough.

Why you’d want glorified rent-a-cops with guns strapped to their hips running around schools full of children is beyond me.

That’s not going to make anyone safer. It’s going to do just the opposite.

But that’s not even the worst of it.

TEACHER MORALE

'Tired Of Being Treated Like Dirt' Teacher Morale In The 2019 PDK Poll

Low pay for a job that is vitally important and that requires both skill and education is a clear sign of disrespect. Gov. Holcomb, his commission, and our Hoosier legislators seem to not understand this point.

From Peter Greene in Forbes

Inadequate pay is the marquee reason, and notably regional. Public school teachers are far less likely to feel fairly paid in the South and Midwest. That reason is followed closely by stress and pressure, which is followed by a lack of respect. Lack of support. Teaching no longer enjoyable. Testing requirements. Workload.

These are tied together with the single thread of distrust and disrespect for teachers. This has been evident on the national stage with issues like installing a Secretary of Education who had previously dismissed public education as a "dead end" or a Secretary of Education who asserts that student failure is because of low teacher expectations. Education has also carried the modern burden of the thesis that poor education is the cause of poverty, or even our "greatest national security threat," and so the entire fate of the nation rests on teachers' backs. And yet, teachers are not trusted to handle any of this; instead, we've had decades of federal and state programs meant to force teachers to do a better job. In the classroom, much of these "reforms" have sounded like "You can't do a good job unless you are threatened, micromanaged, and stripped of your autonomy." There is a special kind of stress that comes from working for someone who says, in effect, "You have a big important job to do, and we do not trust you to do it."

DEMOCRATS 2020

Joe Biden: Where Does He Stand on Race to the Top?

From Diane Ravitch

I am not a one-issue voter but I sincerely hope that Democrats have a candidate who will reverse the ruinous education policies of the past four decades. Our nation has invested in standards, testing, accountability, and choice with nothing to show for it.

Many states today spend less on education than they did eleven years ago, and millions of teachers are not paid or respected as professionals. Many states cut taxes and cut their education budgets yet expanded privatization by charters and vouchers, diverting even more money away from the public schools that most students attend.

WALMART AND GUNS

Harold Meyerson on Walmart and Guns

From Diane Ravitch

The Walton Family, which owns Walmart, is the richest family in the world. Their family foundation is the single biggest supporter of charter schools. They say they funded one of every four charters in the nation.

NAACP AND CHARTERS

Note to the National NAACP: Ignore Michael Bloomberg

From Diane Ravitch

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg spoke to the national convention of the NAACP about why they should believe in the saving power of privately managed charter schools. He tried to persuade them to rescind their brave 2016 resolution calling for a moratorium on new charters.

UTLA TEACHER STRIKE

In the Public Interest: Inside the LA Teachers’ Strike

From Diane Ravitch

The photograph below was taken during the UTLA strike last January. The guy in the center is famous rocker Stevie Van Zandt, who loves teachers and public schools and unions. Stevie is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He played in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band.

THE CHARTER SCHOOL BOTTOM LINE

Florida: Principal Doubles Salary When Public School Turns Charter

From Diane Ravitch

What a payoff!

A principal in Florida doubled his salary when his public schools converted to a charter, which is what the rightwing governor and legislator want to happen.

Meanwhile teachers In the state are raising money to pay for basic school supplies for their students.

TEACHER SHORTAGE

WLCSC Feeling the Impact of Statewide Teacher Problems

From WLFI.com

The West Lafayette Community School Corporation starts classes Thursday, and it's beginning the school year with about 15 new educators. However, it isn't because they're hiring additional teachers.

Superintendent Rocky Killion said most of the positions opened due to teachers retiring, leaving the profession or moving on to states that pay educators more.

Killion said filling the jobs is becoming harder and harder due to a dwindling number of candidates. While positions are hard to fill across the board, he said secondary teachers in specialized topics, like vocational and foreign language, are the most difficult to hire.

He said the state isn't funding education enough to allow school to pay teachers well.

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In Case You Missed It – Apr 22, 2019

Here are links to last week's articles receiving the most attention in NEIFPE's social media. Keep up with what's going on, what's being discussed, and what's happening with public education.

Be sure to enter your email address in the Follow Us By Email box in the right-hand column to be informed when our blog posts are published.

INDIANA'S NEW STANDARDIZED TEST

New ILEARN standardized test set to launch

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

As early as Monday, elementary and middle school students statewide will face Indiana's standardized test – but it won't be ISTEP+.

They will instead demonstrate their smarts through ILEARN, the new online assessment that should, state education officials say, adapt to students' knowledge and produce results quicker.

“It is actually pretty exciting with a lot of new changes to it,” said Adam Baker, Indiana Department of Education spokesman.

ILEARN stands for Indiana's Learning Evaluation Readiness Network.

DOE: New assessment is ‘not ISTEP 2.0’

From School Matters

State officials also tout the fact that ILEARN was developed with help from Indiana educators, including classroom teachers. Committees that included about 500 educators have been involved, Flores said. Another improvement, ILEARN will take less time than ISTEP; up to two hours less at each grade level.

SUPERINTENDENT MCCORMICK VISITS FORT WAYNE

In city stop, schools chief urges public to be a voice

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

McCormick spoke for about an hour, sharing information about student demographics and why 35% of teachers leave the profession within five years.

“They're leaving it because of pay and working conditions,” McCormick said. “For us to act like the pay doesn't matter ... pay has a lot to do with this.”

She wasn't optimistic about the current legislative session.

“I think our vouchers are going to be big winners this session, and I think our charters are going to be decent winners this session,” McCormick said. “Our public schools, I'm still very, very concerned about.”

NEIFPE recording of Superintendent McCormick's presentation.

Indiana State Superintendent talks education legislation at Ivy Tech visit, From WANE. com

[McCormick] said the decisions regarding school safety should be left to the local level, but does not support arming teachers.

"I'm not in favor of the let's arm every teacher and hope for the best. I think that's very irresponsible. That's not the way Indiana should go," said McCormick.

ASKING FOR TROUBLE

Guns Headed For The Classroom

Our Hoosier legislature demonstrated today that they do NOT care about your children. Look up who voted to invite violence into our schools today and remember to vote them out next election.

From Curmudgucation

Of all the bad ideas.

I know there are folks who believe in their heart of hearts that arming teachers will make schools safer, or that putting armed police in the building will be helpful. But there are so many bad signs.

I want to believe that school resource officers can be helpful. Earlier this month, a school shooting was likely averted just up the road because students at the school felt comfortable enough with the SRO to turn in the students who were planning the attack.

But when I see stories like the one of the Chicago cops dragging a sixteen year old student down a flight of stairs, or see the video of a Florida cop body slamming an eleven-year-old, I have to conclude that sooner or later, some child is going to be killed in school.

FUNDING PROBLEMS

Less funds available for budget

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

Lawmakers will have to adjust their budget priorities by about $100 million following an updated revenue forecast Wednesday.

The analysis shows tax collections growing but at slower rates than initially forecast in December – a drop of about $30 million in revenue.

On top of that, an updated Medicaid forecast shows increased net expenses of about $65 million.

That equals about $100 million in changes to a $34.6 billion budget expected to be approved next week.

INDIANA DUMPED FROM PRE-K RANKINGS

National report downgrades Indiana for excluding some families from pre-K vouchers

One more way that our Hoosier legislators have let down the children of this state. When will we stop them?

From Chalkbeat

An annual national report on preschool dumped Indiana from this year’s rankings, excluding the state’s fledging On My Way Pre-K program because of a controversial requirement that bars some families in need from signing up.

In order to qualify for Indiana’s prekindergarten vouchers, income-eligible parents must also be working, attending school, or seeking a job. Local early education advocates often tout the workforce benefits of Indiana’s pre-K program, which they say helps many parents maintain or seek jobs while their children are in school.

But that means “the primary purpose is not education,” said Steve Barnett, senior co-director of the National Institute for Early Education Research. Instead, the organization deems On My Way Pre-K to be a child care program.

WHY TEACHERS QUIT

Why this South Carolina teacher quit mid-year: 'The unrealistic demands and all-consuming nature of the profession are not sustainable’

From the Answer Sheet

“I always joked that teaching was two full-time jobs. One was actually teaching, and the more time-consuming one was all the extra that comes with it.”

DEVOS STILL HATES PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Betsy DeVos and Payday for the Charter Industry!

From Diane Ravitch

Eva got $9.8 million from her friend Betsy.

KIPP will secure a total of $86 million over five years for its San Francisco operations.

IDEA in Texas scores $116 million over five years!

Despite the report from the Network for Public Education showing that 1/3 of the grants by the federal Charter Schools Program are awarded to schools that never open or that close soon after opening, the money keeps flowing.

WHEN WILL CANDIDATES REVEAL PLANS FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION?

Bernie: Still Clueless About Charters

From Diane Ravitch

...this is point one:

We must make sure that charter schools are truly serving the needs of disadvantaged children.

This ignores the fact that charter schools are not public schools. They are privately managed. They are free to choose their students and free to expel those they don’t want.

This ignores the fact that the NAACP called for a charter moratorium. The ACLU of Southern California criticized charters for discriminating against and excluding students with disabilities and ELLS. The Southern Poverty Law Center filed suit against charters in Mississippi for seeking to divert public funds from public schools, contrary to the state constitution.

INDIANA ON THE WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY

Armed teacher bill OK'd

“There should never be a gun in a classroom, never,” said Sen. Greg Taylor, D-Indianapolis. “This is a bad bill. We are going to be on the wrong side of history.”

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

All teachers authorized to carry guns in school would be forced to first undergo a personality screening and take firearms training under a bill that passed the Senate 32-14 on Tuesday.

School districts already can allow teachers to carry under state law. But House Bill 1253 goes another step and requires 38 hours of specialized weapons training to do so, as well as recurring training each year.

The personality inventory is meant to weed out teachers or staffers who might not have the right temperament to carry a firearm in school.

TEACHERS, WE GET WHAT WE VOTE FOR

Indiana education advocates demand boost to school funding, teacher pay at Statehouse rally

“You get what you vote for,” she said. “You need to elect people and hold us accountable.” -- Supt. McCormick

From Chalkbeat

For many teachers, low pay means either working two jobs or leaving the profession altogether, said Teresa Meredith, president of the Indiana State Teachers Association.

Either way, she said lower pay correlates to higher teacher turnover and “at the end of the day, our kids suffer,” she said.

The rally also touched on controversial discussions taking place in the Statehouse that have drawn backlash from many teachers, such as whether projectiles should be allowed during active shooter drills and whether to prevent schools from being “gun-free zones.”

GATES DOESN'T GET IT

Melinda Gates Achieves Peak Epic Cluelessness

This rich lady wants to experiment on your children. Are you ok with that? Do riches automatically instill educational experience and knowledge??

From Curmudgucation

Melinda Gates seems like a nice lady who means well, but her recent interview at the New York Times Magazine is a master class in how living in a very wealthy bubble can leave you out of touch with the rest of the world and an understanding of your place in it.

It starts in the very first paragraph.

“There are absolutely different points of view about philanthropy,” says Melinda Gates, who, along with her husband Bill, heads the charitable foundation that bears their name, aimed at increasing global health and reducing poverty. Its endowment, at $50.7 billion, is the largest in the world. “But we’re lucky to live in a democracy, where we can all envision what we want things to look like.”

Well, we can all envision what we want things to look like, and then become in a political process to support and elect leaders who then work within a democratic-ish government to pursue that vision. Only a few of us can use our vast wealth to completely circumvent the entire democratic process to impose our vision on the rest of the world.

TIME TO DEFUND CHARTERS

Congress Should Defund the Charter Schools Program and Invest the Money in Title I and IDEA

From Jan Resseger

The Network for Public Education published its scathing report on the federal Charter Schools Program three weeks ago, but as time passes, I continue to reflect on its conclusions. The report, Asleep at the Wheel: How the Federal Charter Schools Program Recklessly Takes Taxpayers and Students for a Ride, is packed with details about failed or closed or never-opened charter schools. The Network for Public Education depicts a program driven by neoliberal politicians hoping to spark innovation in a marketplace of unregulated startups underwritten by the federal government. The record of this 25 year federal program is dismal.

DUNCAN STILL CLUELESS

Arne Duncan Makes Me Want To Punch Myself In The Brain

All was not well in the pre-Betsy era, and all is not well in our state legislature either.

From Curmudgucation

For my money, while Betsy DeVos is a truly awful and unqualified Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan inflicted far more actual damage on the US public education system. Duncan owes the students, teachers, and parents of the US a huge apology. But we're never going to get it; he'll just keep saying things that we used to say to him in an attempt to get him to realize the wrongness of his policies, only he's never going to connect the dots. He'll just smile that derpy grin, head off to his next cushy edu-guru gig, cash some more checks, and never actually see all the destruction he caused. All that and periodically raising my blood pressure.

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In Case You Missed It – Feb 18, 2019

Here are links to last week's articles receiving the most attention in NEIFPE's social media. Keep up with what's going on, what's being discussed, and what's happening with public education.

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"LOSER TEACHERS PUSH SOCIALISM" -- JUNIOR

Why Donald Trump Jr.’s ‘loser teachers’ comment was ‘a chilling moment’ for educators around the world

This article is behind a paywall. You can find it reprinted HERE.

From The Answer Sheet

You may recall that President Trump held a border wall rally in El Paso on Monday and that his eldest child, Donald Trump Jr., made a speech that roused the crowd.

The president’s son drew cheers when he urged young conservatives to “bring it to your schools” (though he didn’t say exactly what “it” was) because “you don’t have to be indoctrinated by these loser teachers that are trying to sell you on socialism from birth.”

The comment drew response on social media from teachers and others who don’t see educators in the same way as he does, with the hashtag #loserteachers...

In this post, three teachers explain why Trump Jr.'s comment was more than simply mean.

Jelmer Evers of the Netherlands, Michael Soskil of the United States and Armand Doucet of Canada were featured authors in the 2018 book “Teaching in the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Standing at the Precipice.”

HOOSIER TEACHERS RANK 32 IN SALARY AND BEHIND NEIGHBORS

Are Hoosier teachers underpaid?

From School Matters

A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis suggests they are underpaid. After adjusting for cost of living, Indiana teacher salaries rank 32nd among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, it says.

The average “real” salary for a Hoosier teacher in 2017 was $56,347 after adjusting for the state’s low cost of living. Adjusted average salaries ranged from $75,000 in Alaska to $46,230 in Oklahoma.

Significantly, Indiana’s adjusted average salary was well below that for teachers in surrounding states.

SHOULD INDIANA TEACHERS STAND UP FOR THEMSELVES?

As pay debate plods on, Indiana teachers unions want more. Will they walk out?

Would you support teachers in Indiana standing up for themselves and for their profession?

From Chalkbeat

The idea of setting aside significant sums for teacher pay often gets met with “glazed-over reactions,” Sloan said, “or they smile and nod their heads. But I don’t hear anyone saying we’re going to make this happen.”

Some teachers accuse lawmakers of damaging the teaching profession through past laws that weakened unions’ bargaining powers, handed down testing mandates, and hinged teacher evaluations on student test scores. Lawmakers, they point out, also determine education spending levels, deciding to fund public schools mostly through the state, capping local property taxes, and sending public education dollars to charter schools and private school vouchers.

THE ARTS PROVIDE ACADEMIC BENEFITS

Extra arts education boosts students’ writing scores — and their compassion, big new study finds

What a shame that the legislators we’ve voted for have stolen the funds that would provide more arts in our public schools and given those dollars to private groups instead.

From Chalkbeat

When you’re the big fish, it’s not OK to pick on the little fish just because you can.

That’s an important lesson for everyone. But some Houston first-graders got a particularly vivid demonstration in the form of a musical puppet show, which featured fish puppets and an underlying message about why it’s wrong to bully others.

The show left an impression on the students at Codwell Elementary, according to their teacher Shelea Bennett. “You felt like you were in that story,” she said. “By the end of the story they were able to answer why [bullying] wasn’t good, and why you shouldn’t act this way.”

The puppeteer’s show was part of an effort to expand arts education in Houston elementary and middle schools. Now, a new study shows that the initiative helped students in a few ways: boosting students’ compassion for their classmates, lowering discipline rates, and improving students’ scores on writing tests.

VOUCHER SCHOOLS DON'T HAVE TO FOLLOW PUBLIC SCHOOL RULES

State lawmakers nix proposal for private schools to follow bullying rules

From RTV6-Indianapolis

State lawmakers on Monday nixed a proposal that would have required private schools, or any school that accepts state funding, to have the same types of rules against bullying as public schools.

Rep. Greg Porter, D-Indianapolis, filed an amendment to House Bill 1640 that would require nonpublic schools to prohibit bullying and implement a protocol for investigating bullying including a method for anonymous reporting of bullying incidents, timetables for informing the parents and other parties like law enforcement, and support services for the bully and the victim.

The amendment would have allowed the Indiana Department of Education to review the bullying policies at any school that accepts state funding or financial assistance.

GARY STUDENTS SUFFER FOR LACK OF SCHOOL MAINTENANCE

Gary Roosevelt students have stayed home for weeks due to the school's failing boiler system

Would this ever happen in a wealthy community?

From the Chicago Tribune

A failing boiler system that left the school without heat for more than two weeks will keep the Gary Roosevelt College and Career Academy closed indefinitely while officials scramble to assess the cost of the repairs and who will pay for them. Students haven’t been in school since Jan. 25.

Meanwhile, Roosevelt students in grades 7-12 will begin classes Thursday at the Gary Area Career Center. In September, a school official said Roosevelt’s enrollment was 568.

REP JIM LUCAS WANTS HOOSIER TEACHERS TO LEARN HOW TO SHOOT

Indiana lawmakers want to help teachers learn how to shoot guns

From WANE.com

A state lawmaker has a controversial approach to keeping kids safe at school.

He wants teachers to learn how to use a gun.

The state representative from Seymour said his bill would not require teachers to take handgun training but would allow the school district to tap into state money to pay for that training.

A year ago this week, a gunman killed 17 students and staff members at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

In May, a teenager shot a student and teacher inside Noblesville West Middle School.

"This gives the teachers, the staff, the school employee the ability to protect themselves in the horrible event of a school shooting," said Republican state Rep. Jim Lucas.

Bill to provide firearms training for Indiana teachers passes in committee

From CBS4-Indianapolis

Should Indiana teachers carry guns in the classroom?

It’s a question that comes with strong opinions on both sides. Now Indiana is one step closer to giving teachers that option.

“When evil comes calling at the classroom door it has to be met head on with people who are armed and trained,” said high school teacher Aron Bright.

INCLUSION WORKS

Study: Inclusion benefits special-needs students

From School Matters

A new study from researchers at Indiana University provides strong evidence that students with special needs do better academically when they are placed in general-education classrooms, not separated in self-contained special education classes.

CALIFORNIA'S CHARTERS

What’s wrong with charter schools? The picture in California*

From Teaching Malinche

– Guest post created by a longtime Northern California parent volunteer education advocate

• Charter schools take resources away from the public schools, harming public schools and their students. All charter schools do this – whether they’re opportunistic and for-profit or presenting themselves as public, progressive and enlightened.

• Charter schools are free to pick and choose and exclude or kick out any student they want. They’re not supposed to, but in real life there’s no enforcement. Many impose demanding application processes, or use mandatory “intake counseling,” or require work hours or financial donations from families – so that only the children of motivated, supportive, compliant families get in. Charter schools publicly deny this, but within many charter schools, the selectivity is well known and viewed as a benefit. Admittedly, families in those schools like that feature – with the more challenging students kept out of the charter – but it’s not fair or honest, and it harms public schools and their students.

REFORM: ANOTHER NAME FOR "TEACHER HATRED"

Angie Sullivan: “Reform” in Nevada is Teacher-Hatred

From Diane Ravitch

I think the Nevada State School Board is moving in the wrong direction and causing a lot of issues in CCSD.

https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/state-board-of-education-unveils-search-timeline-for-new-superintendent

My priority would NOT be reform.

Reform is code for: HATE THE TEACHER.

It does not work and it makes us mad.

Reform is “teacher hate” bought by millionaire and billionaire eduphilantrophists. It is also known as union busting. We do not need another well-funded group that hates the people in the classroom. You have abused us for a couple of decades and nearly ruined your school system. Enough.

CORY BOOKER HAS HELPED PRIVATIZE SCHOOLS

Eric Blanc: Cory Booker Hates Public Schools

From Diane Ravitch

For close to two decades, Cory Booker has been at the forefront of a nationwide push to dismantle public education.

According to Booker, the education system is the main cause of our society’s fundamental problems, rather than, say, inequality and unchecked corporate power. As he explained in a 2011 speech, “disparities in income in America are not because of some ‘greedy capitalist’ — no! It’s because of a failing education system.”

Public schools, Booker continued, are also responsible for mass incarceration and racial injustice. To combat such evils, Booker has openly praised Republican leader Betsy DeVos’s organization American Federation for Children for fighting to win the final battle of the civil rights’ movement.

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