Thursday, January 19, 2017

Re: [blind-democracy] our charter schools are the worst

Betsy DeVos can say what she wants about the value of Charter Schools,
but that does not change the fact that any efforts to underwrite
Charter Schools will begin the dismantling of our Public Schools.
Therefor, All Charter Schools are "bad".
We Americans have allowed our once great educational system to be laid
low through neglect. The rich CEO's tell us that our "whining" for
more money will not solve the crumbling Public Education. But these
same rich CEO's and their Shills, send their young to the finest
schools their ill gotten money will buy. Private tutors, small
classes, facilities that make public schools look like the prisons
they are.
Oh yes, wealth does have its privileges. But we seem to forget that
it was wealth earned by us, the Working Class, and commandeered by the
Ruling Class.
The solution is so simple that it is embarrassing to even mention it
here. Money!
New, state of the art facilities. Small classes with private tutors
at hand. Interactive education.
We do need to teach our children to involve themselves in their
educational process, rather than to be passive receptors.
But above all, Public Education must be preserved if we are to ever
have a chance at that fabled "American Dream".
So say after me...All For Profit Education is Bad...Really Really Bad!!!

Carl Jarvis

On 1/19/17, joe harcz Comcast <joeharcz@comcast.net> wrote:
> Not all charters are bad, but the for profits that Devos promotes here are
> the worst, most unnaccountable, and in many cases corrupt ones in the
> nnation.
>
>
>
> Joe
>
> Betsy DeVos and Detroit charter schools: What you need to know Detroit Free
> Press Betsy DeVos may have been an unexpected nominee for Secretary of
> Education
>
> in the Donald Trump administration, but she's no stranger to the Detroit
> Free Press. For decades, we've covered DeVos, her family and her personal
> role
>
> in the creation of Detroit's charter school program. She is a Holland
> native. Here's a reading list to help you understand'DeVos' track record
> with education
>
> before becoming the nominee. Our latest work: A yearlong investigation
> published by the Detroit Free Press in June 2014 showed Michigan taxpayers
> pour
>
> nearly $1 billion a year into charter schools ' but state laws regulating
> charters are among the nation's weakest, and the state demands little
> accountability
>
> in how taxpayer dollars are spent and how well children are educated. In
> reviewing two decades of charter school records, the Free Press found
> wasteful
>
> spending and double-dipping; board members, school founders and employees
> steering lucrative deals to themselves or insiders; schools allowed to
> operate
>
> for years despite poor academic records; no state standards for who operates
> charter schools or how to oversee them; and a record number of charter
> schools
>
> run by for-profit companies that rake in taxpayer money and refuse to detail
> how they spend it, saying they're private and not subject to disclosure
> laws.
>
> Michigan leads the nation in schools run by for-profits. In a column in
> early December, Free Press Editorial Page Editor Stephen Henderson laid out
> DeVos'
>
> role in creating the state's charter school industry, and her unwavering
> loyalty to choice at all costs. We methodically made the case against DeVos
> as
>
> a national education leader. Henderson writes: 'DeVos is a believer, and a
> powerful influence wielder for the special interest she has championed. But
>
> that doesn't make her the right pick to helm an entire arm of the federal
> government. Wealth should not buy a seat at the head of any policy-making
> table.
>
> In a subsequent column, Henderson highlights a study that the charter lobby
> has referenced repeatedly (which DeVos referenced Tuesday night during
> questioning)
>
> on the performance of charter schools compared with traditional public
> schools. But even the authors of that study at Stanford University say too
> much
>
> can't be read into its results. 'Henderson writes: 'Research is a key
> component of the nation's education infrastructure, and that research has
> been telling
>
> us for years that charter schools in Michigan have not yet delivered on
> their promises. DeVos' record shows she's willing to pick and choose among
> data
>
> to make a point, but not to tell the fuller, more nuanced stories about how
> choice falls short. And earlier in the year, Henderson explains to readers
>
> the breadth of the donations the DeVos family made to legislators who gutted
> legislation that would have placed Detroit's charter schools under the same
>
> authority as traditional public schools to oversee quality control and make
> sure schools are placed where they are needed. It was a plan that won
> bipartisan
>
> approval in the state Senate. And unraveled in the state House. Henderson
> writes: 'The DeVos family, owners of the largest charter lobbying
> organization,
>
> has showered Michigan Republican candidates and organizations with
> impressive and near-unprecedented amounts of money this campaign cycle:
> $1.45 million
>
> in June and July alone ' over a seven-week period, an average of $25,000 a
> day. The giving began in earnest on June 13, just five days after
> Republican
>
> members of the state Senate reversed themselves on the question of whether
> Michigan charter schools need more oversight. Poor-performing charter
> schools
>
> in Michigan continue to get renewed, time after time. According to a Free
> Press review, almost two-thirds of Michigan's oldest charter schools, those
> open
>
> more than a decade, are in the bottom half of state rankings. Many critics
> point a finger at authorizers and the state, which sets no standards for
> when
>
> to close a school. Authorizers defend themselves vigorously, saying that
> they must give schools every chance to succeed. Two decades into Michigan's
> charter
>
> school experience, it's clear that some schools excel academically, others
> don't - and charters have not found the key to educating children in
> poverty.
>
> In other words, their results are similar in many ways to the traditional
> public schools they hoped to outperform. It's the combination of aviation
> with
>
> a more traditional high school curriculum that attracts students to West
> Michigan Aviation, a charter high school in Grand Rapids founded by Dick
> Devos,
>
> husband of education secretary nominee Betsy Devos.
>
>
>
>
> Betsy DeVos and Detroit charter schools: What you need to know Detroit Free
> Press Betsy DeVos may have been an unexpected nominee for Secretary of
> Education
>
> in the Donald Trump administration, but she's no stranger to the Detroit
> Free Press. For decades, we've covered DeVos, her family and her personal
> role
>
> in the creation of Detroit's charter school program. She is a Holland
> native. Here's a reading list to help you understand'DeVos' track record
> with education
>
> before becoming the nominee. Our latest work: A yearlong investigation
> published by the Detroit Free Press in June 2014 showed Michigan taxpayers
> pour
>
> nearly $1 billion a year into charter schools ' but state laws regulating
> charters are among the nation's weakest, and the state demands little
> accountability
>
> in how taxpayer dollars are spent and how well children are educated. In
> reviewing two decades of charter school records, the Free Press found
> wasteful
>
> spending and double-dipping; board members, school founders and employees
> steering lucrative deals to themselves or insiders; schools allowed to
> operate
>
> for years despite poor academic records; no state standards for who operates
> charter schools or how to oversee them; and a record number of charter
> schools
>
> run by for-profit companies that rake in taxpayer money and refuse to detail
> how they spend it, saying they're private and not subject to disclosure
> laws.
>
> Michigan leads the nation in schools run by for-profits. In a column in
> early December, Free Press Editorial Page Editor Stephen Henderson laid out
> DeVos'
>
> role in creating the state's charter school industry, and her unwavering
> loyalty to choice at all costs. We methodically made the case against DeVos
> as
>
> a national education leader. Henderson writes: 'DeVos is a believer, and a
> powerful influence wielder for the special interest she has championed. But
>
> that doesn't make her the right pick to helm an entire arm of the federal
> government. Wealth should not buy a seat at the head of any policy-making
> table.
>
> In a subsequent column, Henderson highlights a study that the charter lobby
> has referenced repeatedly (which DeVos referenced Tuesday night during
> questioning)
>
> on the performance of charter schools compared with traditional public
> schools. But even the authors of that study at Stanford University say too
> much
>
> can't be read into its results. 'Henderson writes: 'Research is a key
> component of the nation's education infrastructure, and that research has
> been telling
>
> us for years that charter schools in Michigan have not yet delivered on
> their promises. DeVos' record shows she's willing to pick and choose among
> data
>
> to make a point, but not to tell the fuller, more nuanced stories about how
> choice falls short. And earlier in the year, Henderson explains to readers
>
> the breadth of the donations the DeVos family made to legislators who gutted
> legislation that would have placed Detroit's charter schools under the same
>
> authority as traditional public schools to oversee quality control and make
> sure schools are placed where they are needed. It was a plan that won
> bipartisan
>
> approval in the state Senate. And unraveled in the state House. Henderson
> writes: 'The DeVos family, owners of the largest charter lobbying
> organization,
>
> has showered Michigan Republican candidates and organizations with
> impressive and near-unprecedented amounts of money this campaign cycle:
> $1.45 million
>
> in June and July alone ' over a seven-week period, an average of $25,000 a
> day. The giving began in earnest on June 13, just five days after
> Republican
>
> members of the state Senate reversed themselves on the question of whether
> Michigan charter schools need more oversight. Poor-performing charter
> schools
>
> in Michigan continue to get renewed, time after time. According to a Free
> Press review, almost two-thirds of Michigan's oldest charter schools, those
> open
>
> more than a decade, are in the bottom half of state rankings. Many critics
> point a finger at authorizers and the state, which sets no standards for
> when
>
> to close a school. Authorizers defend themselves vigorously, saying that
> they must give schools every chance to succeed. Two decades into Michigan's
> charter
>
> school experience, it's clear that some schools excel academically, others
> don't - and charters have not found the key to educating children in
> poverty.
>
> In other words, their results are similar in many ways to the traditional
> public schools they hoped to outperform. It's the combination of aviation
> with
>
> a more traditional high school curriculum that attracts students to West
> Michigan Aviation, a charter high school in Grand Rapids founded by Dick
> Devos,
>
> husband of education secretary nominee Betsy Devos.
>
>
>
>

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