A Punishing Decade for School Funding | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

A Punishing Decade for School Funding | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Sanders _ The Tax Bill is Immoral

For the past 40 years, the financial and political elite of this country have rigged the tax code to redistribute wealth and income to some of the richest and most powerful people in this country. The result: we are moving rapidly toward an oligarchic form of society in which the top 1 percent is doing phenomenally well, the middle class continues to decline and 40 million Americans are living in poverty.

And it will probably not surprise you to learn that just as our tax code benefits the wealthiest people in this country, it also benefits some of the largest and most profitable corporations in the world with a myriad of tax breaks, deductions, credits and other loopholes. As a result, one out of five large profitable corporations today pays nothing in federal taxes.

The Problem With Fake News Is That 'People Want to Consume Information That Makes Them Feel Good, Because It Reaffirms Their Worldview' @alternet

The Problem With Fake News Is That 'People Want to Consume Information That Makes Them Feel Good, Because It Reaffirms Their Worldview' @alternet: Our relationship to information is entirely emotional. A year out from Donald Trump's astonishing and disturbing presidential win, it's become clear that the absolute sea of disinformation — much of which was Russia-funded and most of which was disseminated through the internet — was critical in helping push a know-nothing reality TV star–turned-wannabe-dictator into power. With the 2018 elections less than a year away, the pressing question now is: How we stop this from happening again?



Including fake news about immigrants and immigration.

The Trump-Russia Story Is Coming Together. Here's How to Make Sense of It – BillMoyers.com

The Trump-Russia Story Is Coming Together. Here's How to Make Sense of It – BillMoyers.com

Trump/GOP Tax Plan is Class War

  Bill Barclay

The Trump/GOP “Unified Framework” tax plan has something for everyone – if by everyone you mean the wealthy, corporate and non-corporate businesses and the alt-right.  The plan embodies both the neoliberal class warfare that believes poor people have too much money and rich people have too little money and connects with the social conservative politics that the Trump and the GOP draws upon to mobilize its supporters. 

Class Warfare: I

Some of the class warfare politics of the Trump/GOP proposals are obvious; others less so.  The proposal provides a small tax cut for households in the bottom three quintiles, ranging from about 0.5 – 1.2% of after tax income in all cases well under the $1,182/family income boost claimed by Rep. Paul Ryan.  At the upper end of the income pyramid, the story is much different.  Over half of the total tax cuts for individuals will accrue to the top 1% of households, boosting their after tax incomes by 8.5%. Of course, life can be even better: the top 0.1% households would grab an average tax cut of almost $750,000, capturing over 30% of the total tax cuts for families and individuals.  

And Trump has not neglected people like himself.  He – and others in his income and wealth sphere – will gain in three ways from the changes in the individual income tax.  First, the elimination of the alternative minimum tax (AMT): in 2005, Trump paid $38.4 million on income over $150 million – but without the AMT he would have paid only $7.1 million. 

The Republican Tax Plan Is A Declaration Of War On Learning

The Republican Tax Plan Is A Declaration Of War On Learning

Schools and Taxes - NEA

Last week, Congressional Republicans unveiled their new tax plan. Students and educators will suffer terribly if the bill becomes law.

This $5 trillion plan is a tax giveaway to the wealthiest and corporations, paid for on the backs of working families and students. It jeopardizes the ability of states and local communities to adequately fund public schools. Nationally, the bill could lead to $250 billion less in public education funding, and nearly 250,000 education jobs put at risk.

We must put a stop to this. Contact your representative right now. Tell them students and educators can't afford to fund the GOP tax plan.

Cutting 250,000 jobs takes teachers, guidance counselors, coaches, and administrators out of our schools-the very people who, every day, inspire students to learn, grow, and dream big.

So here's our choice: Fight for the educators, well-rounded curriculum, and support services our students need and deserve; or do nothing, and watch that money go to millionaires and billionaires instead.

The choice is clear. Tell Congress to stand up for education by opposing the Republican tax plan.

Thank you,

The Education Votes Team

P.S. Betsy DeVos loves the Republican tax plan, because in addition to gutting education funding, it also creates a backdoor voucher program exclusively for the wealthy. Call your representative and tell them to oppose this plan.

Trump's Trojan Horse Tax Plan I Robert Reich

Republican Tax Plan

House Republicans released a tax plan that is a terrible deal for middle-class families and students. They want to rush it through Congress next week, and they want you to pay for it.

The plan is an enormous tax giveaway to corporations and wealthy individuals like Betsy DeVos, and it is funded on the backs of students and  hardworking, middle-class people like you. I'm sure you won't be  surprised to hear that DeVos has publicly praised the plan.

If Betsy DeVos thinks it is a good plan, then you know something is wrong with it.

That's why we need your help to shut it down. Please send an email to your representative right now.

Latino Students in California Schools

“The Majority Report: Supporting the Educational Success of Latino Students in California” provides an extensive look at how the state’s largest ethnic group is faring at every level of California’s education system. The report finds that while the over 3 million Latino students in K-12 schools are the majority of California’s 6.2 million K-12 population, and nearly 1 million Latino students are in California’s public colleges and universities, these students continue to face troubling inequities from early learning through higher education. California’s Latino students:

·       Attend the nation’s most segregated schools;

·       Are often tracked away from college-preparatory coursework;

·       Are sometimes perceived as less academically capable than their White or Asian peers; and

·       Have insufficient access to early childhood education;

·       Are less likely to feel connected to their school environment;

·       Are more likely to be required to take remedial courses at colleges and universities.

The study also highlights bright spots throughout the state where promising practices are helping Latino students advance academically, dispelling the myth that these gaps cannot be closed, and reiterating the need for more action and urgency from state leaders.

The Majority Report includes a policy timeline and infographic and is accompanied by a data tool looking at achievement gaps by county.

Produced by Ed Trust – West.  Nov. 2017.

https://west.edtrust.org/resource/the-majority-report/

Teachers' Strike Averted

The Sacramento City Unified School District and its teachers union have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract that gives teachers up to an 11 percent raise over the three-year deal and averts a strike for the 43,000-student district.

The deal was finalized Monday after being brokered over the weekend by Mayor Darrell Steinberg, schools Superintendent Jorge Aguilar and the Sacramento City Teachers Association.

The agreement, announced Monday afternoon at City Hall, ended more than a year of bitter contract negotiations and rhetoric between the district and the teachers union. The deal came just two days before the union’s 2,800 members planned to strike.

From the Sacramento Bee 

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article183073406.html#storylink=cpy

Do Not Cross Teachers' Picket Lines

Note: It is the policy of the College of Education at
CSU Sacramento that student teachers from Sac State will not cross picket lines to replace striking teachers.  Working inside a school where the professionals are on strike is not considered a safe nor educationally appropriate environment.
This should also apply to other volunteers in the Sacramento system.
University faculty who supervise student teachers are members of CFA ( NEA, SEIU.) There should be no crossing of picket lines.
Duane Campbell.  Professor (emeritus) CSU-Sacramento
See post below on the strike.

To the editor, Sacramento Bee 

In the current conflict in SCUSD, the District’s discussion of the budget and the Bee’s coverage are incomplete and lacking.

Yes, the District has at least $80 million in reserves.  The taxpayers passed Prop. 30 and 55 to adequately fund the schools.  Since 2013 the district has received an increase of revenues of   more than $67 million.

First, the professionals in the district deserve respect and a significant raise in pay. Second, what is missing?  Over $10 million per year of this increase is funded by the state taxpayers under the Local Control Funding Formula. LCFF.

By law, these funds must be spent to improve the education of children by lowering class size, and focusing on low income, English Language Learners, foster children, and Special Education. The district has refused repeated requests to spend the funds as required.

Now, the chickens have come home to roost.

Duane Campbell

Educators Urge Sac City School Board to Invest in Children