In Case You Missed It – November 18, 2024

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.

IMPORTANT CALENDAR NOTE: NEIFPE's In Case You Missed It is taking a vacation. We will return on December 9, 2024. In the meantime, follow us on Facebook, Threads (@NEIFPE), and Bluesky (@neifpe.bsky.social).

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.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Most Americans want better public schools not a scattered approach of schools for the wealthy and schools for the poor, or to have their children facing computers all day. Let’s honor our students by providing them free quality democratic public schools that reject no one.

This needs to be a promise to our youngest children, that public schools will continue to be supported by Americans to work collectively with everyone." -- Nancy Bailey in Will the Future Include Free Democratic Public Schools and Teachers?

PRESERVE PUBLIC EDUCATION

Will the Future Include Free Democratic Public Schools and Teachers?

At the end of this post there's a link to a page on the Network for Public Education's website. What can you do to help preserve public education?

From Nancy Bailey's Education Website

...according to the 2022 Kappan Gallup Poll, despite all the supposed anger surrounding COVID-19 and school closings, controversial books, CRT, gender identities, etc., Americans like their local public schools!

According to the results:

Americans’ ratings of their community’s public schools reached a new high dating back 48 years in this year’s PDK Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools,

Polls have shown this for years. Parents might believe other public schools aren’t good, due to what they hear, but they’re satisfied with their child’s local public school!

This is good news; it hardly seems like the end of public education or that Americans want school choice! Many Republican and Democratic parents share the hope of creating quality public schools for America!

But all is not well. The Poll also indicates that the public recognizes difficulties facing teachers.

. . .fewer than ever expressed interest in having their child work as a public school teacher.

This is serious since teachers are the backbone of a school...

WHAT DO WE DO IN AMERICA?

How Do German Schools Teach Their Political History?

The German's learned that history is important. They aren't restricting what their schools teach about their role in World War II, in fact, they require that student learn and understand what happened.

From Nancy Flanagan in Teacher in a Strange Land blog

I asked, as a teacher, what German schoolchildren were taught about Germany’s role in World War II. It was part of their national curriculum, he told us. They began with equity and community in early childhood, accepting differences and playing together. When students were 12, they read Anne Frank. Media literacy and logic and an intense focus on preparation for good, attainable, satisfying jobs were part of the program, in addition to history, economics and the predictable disciplines. We do not avoid our history, he said.

So what do you do in America, he asked?

Here's what some states are doing in America...

Department of Education reports near double increase in library book removals

From Florida Phoenix

During the 2023-2024 school year, Florida schools removed nearly twice as many books than the year before following challenges from parents and community members.

Schools removed 732 titles during the 2023-2024 school year, on top of 386 removed the year before.

Twenty-three districts contributed to the list, with Clay, Indian River, and Volusia counties making up significant portions.

The removals stem from state laws requiring school boards to adopt protocols for screening books deemed to be pornographic or contain sexual content.

Florida book removals have been the subject of lawsuits claiming censorship and limiting freedom of expression.

NEW RESEARCH, SAME AS THE OLD RESEARCH

Socioeconomic status explains most of the racial and ethnic achievement gaps in elementary school

We've known for years that poverty is the largest factor that explains America's achievement gaps. This report on recent research comes to the same conclusion and adds some important factors.

From Eric Hengyu Hu and Paul L. Morgan in The Conversation

For decades, white students have performed significantly better than Black and Hispanic students on tests of academic achievement. Explanations for these achievement gaps include poverty and systems that result in discrimination. Others cite struggles to learn English. And some folks believe that some groups simply don’t value education.

Our new report shows that gaps in achievement between white, Black and Hispanic students in elementary school are primarily explained by differences in family socioeconomic status. That is, kindergartners from families with similar economic resources and educational backgrounds – among other factors – later displayed similar levels of achievement. This was true regardless of their race or ethnicity.

POST-ELECTION COMMENTARY

The new Trump administration has some plans for public education in the United States.

Despite Positive Election Results for Public Education in Some States, Trump’s Federal Education Agenda Remains Scary

From Jan Resseger

At the federal level, however, based on President-Elect Donald Trump’s comments during the recent campaign, the planks in this year’s Republican Platform, and the educational goals outlined in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, which has been presented as a blueprint for the incoming president’s reform of federal education policy, many seasoned education reporters are worried not only about a possible drop in the federal investment in U.S. public schools, but also about reduced protection of students’ civil rights, and about the disruption in schools and communities if Trump pursues his promised massive deportation of immigrants.

Project 2025 proposes block granting Title I dollars to states (without targeting the funds to schools serving impoverished students) and eventually phasing out the program, block granting IDEA dollars to states without required protection of services for disabled students, and eliminating Head Start for impoverished preschoolers. Just before the election, Education Week‘s Alyson Klein reviewed these proposals in the context of the record of the first Trump administration’s diminished support for public schooling: “Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos, consolidated offices within the Education Department. And under Trump, staffing levels shrank significantly in the office of elementary and secondary education…. The office lost nearly 14 percent of its staff between the end of the Obama administration and the midpoint of the Trump administration at the start of 2019… In every budget request, Trump proposed deep cuts to the U.S. Department of Education’s bottom line, only to see them rejected by Congress.”

Closing the U.S. Department of Education: A LOSS for Children with Disabilities

From Nancy Bailey's Education Website

Donald Trump just proclaimed the Project 2025 agenda in 10 points about education. As expected, this includes dismantling the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), responsible for many federal laws protecting students.

This post will focus on the loss of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA.

Many believe that states and local school districts can assimilate the laws or another department can take them over after a DOE closure, but this is a gamble. Transferring this legal responsibility to states or a department concentrating on other issues could mean the end of hard-fought, long-time laws that have benefited students.

To tamper with IDEA, a law that involved so much positive and critical change in the lives of students with disabilities, although imperfect, but a law just the same, would be terrible for the lives of these children and their families.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Protect Public Education: Here is What You Can Do

Click the link to see what you can do. What will you do?

From the Network for Public Education Action

NPE Needs Volunteers to Join the Fight for Public Schools and America’s Children.

From a mandate for prayer in public schools, threats to fire teachers and principals, and an embrace of vouchers, Donald Trump has revealed his 10-point plan of hostility toward public schools on X.

Our tiny staff and Board cannot wage this fight alone. We need your help. Since the election, friends of public schools have emailed the Network for Public Education asking what they can do.

If you would like to volunteer to help stop the destruction of public schools and protect America’s children and teachers, please go here and let us know. You will find a menu of ways to help. Present and future generations of children depend on us. This is our moment to stand up and fight for democratically governed schools that welcome ALL children.

^†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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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #377 – January 15, 2024

 Vic's Statehouse Notes is a publication of the Indiana Coalition for Public Education.

Number 377 - January 15, 2024 Vic's Statehouse Notes By Dr. Vic Smith It's Not a Good Start for the Short Session Two Senate bills, SB 255 and SB 143, directly implement Milton Friedman’s plan to give school funding to parents and not to schools, abruptly ending the way public education in Indiana has been funded for over a century.   Both bills must be strongly opposed, and promptly. Senate Bill 255 has been scheduled for a hearing on Thursday, January 18 at 9 a.m. in bill author Senator Mishler’s committee, the Senate Appropriations Committee, which meets in Room 431.   One immediate effect of both bills would have taxpayers for the first time pay $7,000 for ANY student in an unaccredited home school. Wow!   This blockbuster attack on public schools comes in a session when Republican leaders have been saying that controversial bills would not go forward in this short session.   This is an existential threat to public education right out of Milton Friedman’s playbook. Education accounts would be available to all parents through an on-line form operated by the Indiana Treasurer to provide $7,000 in services, the approximate amount provided to each student in the local public school.   This is a blockbuster that would unravel public education just as Milton Friedman’s followers have pushed for. Context for Senate Bill 255   SB 255 expires the Choice Scholarship (Voucher) Program and the Education Scholarship Account (ESA) Program on June 30, 2025, replacing them with the newly named Funding Students First (FSF) Grant Program as a two-year pilot program through June 30, 2027. It allows parents of students who are homeschooled or who attend public or non-public schools to apply to the Treasurer for a grant.   It is unknown what would happen at the end of the two-year pilot program.   This is the first time unaccredited home school students would get the same funding now given to private school voucher students. The non-partisan Legislative Services Agency estimates state expenditures would go up by S46.5 million. Context for Senate Bill 143   SB 143 would extend the ill-advised law passed in the 2021 budget using state money to fund unaccredited home schools for special education students. Parents of a few special education students argued that they needed complete control of their special education student’s schooling. The General Assembly passed this limited program and budgeted $10 million for the Indiana Treasurer to run the on line program. Then only 137 students signed up the first year and 431 in the second year, costing about $5.5 million according to the Legislative Services Agency.   Instead of trimming back the budget which was not being used, SB 143 proposes to spend the rest of the $10 million by opening up the home school funding to ALL home school students, not just special education students, on a first-come, first-served basis.   This is obviously a “foot in the door” bill to do what Milton Friedman’s followers are trying to do right away in the sweeping Senate Bill 255: give money to parents to choose among private school and home school options. Friedman wanted to end all state involvement in schools and treat education as a private good rather than the public good it currently is, providing the backbone of our communities and our democracy.    SB 143’s ESA expansion would give public school opponents a toehold to expand the program each year with a bigger budget until eventually every student could have a home school ESA, while public schools shrink and lose their roles as centers of the community and conduits of democracy to the next generation.    SB 255’s expansion is not incremental but makes all unaccredited home school students eligible for state funding right away. All voucher restrictions based on family income are gone. This goal has been the Holy Grail for Milton Friedman followers, and SB 255 makes it all come true.   What are some of the problems here? 1) Tutors and providers on the list approved by the Indiana Treasurer do not have to have criminal background checks, unlike all teachers and even volunteers in public schools.   2) Extremist home schooling parents could teach hate, discrimination and autocracy on the taxpayer’s dime. No one would know.   3) This would be the end of high standards for education in Indiana. Taking the ILEARN test is the only requirement, but there are no consequences to the home school or to the student for a low score. The two-decade push for higher standards in Indiana schools would be over.    4) There is no supervision and no accountability for the parents running the home school using your tax dollars. They have to select providers from a list approved by the Indiana Treasurer, but the rest of the unaccredited home school has no oversight by anyone.    5) This radical change will jolt the Indiana education system so much that highly sought young teachers will choose to go to other states, adding to our teacher shortage. 6) The non-partisan Legislative Services Agency estimates state expenditures would go up by S46.5 million.   Can We Risk Our Democracy?   State laws ban racial discrimination in our public schools. Private schools offering vouchers must sign a pledge on penalty of perjury to uphold the same laws against discrimination. There are no such laws, however, restricting home schools from teaching discrimination or supporting autocracy.    These bills put our democracy at risk!    How many radically educated students would it take to topple the broad consensus in support of our Constitution?   No one will ever know what kind of home schools these parents are operating. They do not have to file reports or host any visitations. The tax payers are shut out of any influence over curriculum. Tax payers pay the bill and then lose all say in the direction of the ESA schools.   The followers of Milton Friedman are actively supporting the bill because they want no government role in schools except to fund private schools. Let your senator and the following Education Committee members know how strongly you oppose these bills and the funding of unaccredited home schools.   You can copy these e-mail addresses and paste them into the "TO" field of your email:   Senate Education Committee: Senate Bill 143   Senator.Hunley@iga.in.gov;  Senator.Buchanan@iga.in.gov; Senator.Crane@iga.in.gov; Senator.Dernulc@iga.in.gov; Senator.Donato@iga.in.gov; Senator.jdford@iga.in.gov; Senator.Leising@iga.in.gov; Senator.Qaddoura@iga.in.gov; Senator.Raatz@iga.in.gov; Senator.Rogers@iga.in.gov; Senator.Deery@iga.in.gov; Senator.Johnson@iga.in.gov; Senator.Yoder@iga.in.gov Senate Appropriations Committee: Senate Bill 255   Senator.Mishler@iga.in.gov; Senator.Bassler@iga.in.gov; Senator.Brown@iga.in.gov; Senator.Busch@iga.in.gov; Senator.Charbonneau@iga.in.gov; Senator.Crider@iga.in.gov; Senator.Qaddoura@iga.in.gov; Senator.Raatz@iga.in.gov; Senator.Freeman@iga.in.gov; Senator.Garten@iga.in.gov; Senator.Holdman@iga.in.gov; Senator.Yoder@iga.in.gov;  Senator.Niezgodski@iga.in.gov;Senator.Randolph@iga.in.gov;   Our public schools that have served as the backbone of our democracy for 170 years deserve our support.   Thank you for your active support of public education in Indiana!   Best wishes,   Vic Smith     vic790@aol.com  Visit our Website

In Case You Missed It – Mar 30, 2020

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.

NEWS FROM FWCS

FWCS shifting to new measure of achievement

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

Fort Wayne Community Schools is investing in a new way to measure student progress.

Replacing two existing internal assessments with the Northwest Evaluation Association's MAP/Skills assessments will benefit teachers and parents, Superintendent Wendy Robinson told the school board this month.

“We can't rely on the state accountability, and we have to stop adding things that aren't aligned to our curriculum that won't help teachers with instruction,” Robinson said...

The school board March 9 approved the testing purchase at a cost of $235,986, which will be paid from the 2019-20 formative assessment grant awarded by the Indiana Department of Education. The licenses are for reading/language arts and math, according to documents provided to the board.

FWCS teachers will continue to receive paychecks

A free article from the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

Members unanimously endorsed a resolution authorizing Superintendent Wendy Robinson to carry out actions necessary for the safety and well-being of the FWCS community during the unprecedented school closure. This includes – but isn't limited to – authorizing continued paychecks.

Robinson commended the board for its support. Some FWCS employees work multiple jobs and have lost their other sources of income, she said.

“It was the right thing to do,” Robinson said.

Anne Duff, board secretary, called it an “easy decision.” Board President Julie Hollingsworth agreed, describing it as “very easy.”

FWCS approves pandemic preparedness measures

From WANE.com

The Fort Wayne Community Schools Board of School Trustees approved a resolution granting the Superintendent and/or her designee to carry out any action deemed necessary for the safety and well-being of the school community during the closure of schools because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes, but is not limited to, authorizing the continued payment of employees.

SCHOOL CLOSURES DISRUPT SPECIAL NEEDS SERVICES

‘I don’t have a clue what to do’: What Indiana’s coronavirus school closures mean for special education

From Chalkbeat*

Katie Vescelus has resigned herself to the idea that, with schools closed statewide in response to the coronavirus outbreak, her son, Matthias, will likely fall behind his fifth-grade peers. For Matthias, who is blind, working remotely means relying on technology his parents aren’t very familiar with and losing some critical real-time help from his teacher.

Schools in Indiana are closed until at least May 1, and campuses may shut down through the end of the school year amid the global pandemic. While some schools could cancel classes altogether, the push toward teaching students remotely leaves educators trying to figure out how to best serve students from afar.

School closures place a burden on families and raise concerns for all students’ academic progress. But the closure creates a particularly difficult challenge for the more than 173,000 students in Indiana who receive special education services, ranging from extra time on exams to one-on-one classroom aides.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE VITAL

Stephen Sawchuk: This Was the Week We Learned How Vital Our Public Schools Are

From Diane Ravitch

This is one of the best articles I have ever read in Education Week. It is not an opinion piece. It is a news article by veteran journalist Stephen Sawchuk.

He begins:

This was the week that American schools across the country closed their doors.

It was the week that our public schools—often dismissed as mediocre, inequitable, or bureaucratic—showed just how much they mean to American society by their very absence.

*Note: Financial sponsors of Chalkbeat include pro-privatization foundations and individuals such as EdChoice, Gates Family Foundation, The Walton Family Foundation, and others.

**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/

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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.

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.

"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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