Charter Schools, Vouchers, Who Do They Serve

https://cloakinginequity.com/2017/10/22/betsy-devos-and-trump-are-wrong-what-we-know-about-school-privatization/

 See the Video.  Including Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig.

In Disasters' Wake- Betsy De Vos

By Jeff Bryant

A favorite talking point of U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is to say that conversations about education should not be about “systems and buildings” but about “individual students.” It’s a skillfully crafted soundbite designed to cast schools as oppressive bureaucracies that limit the education opportunities available to children and families. It also differentiates schools from other essential public infrastructure such as fire and police protection, sanitation, and roads.

Few people question the need to have a fire department or an office responsible for transportation, but DeVos’s scripted phrase is an attempt to convince us that education has become a consumer good we can pick up anywhere and that schools are relics of a bygone era when we didn’t have the internet and other means of conveying knowledge.

But before DeVos casually dismisses the need to dispense with public education institutions across the country, she should look at the vital role schools and educators have played in responding to the string of devastating natural disasters that hit America this year.

When Hurricane Irma strafed Florida, over 6.5 million citizens were ordered to evacuate their homes in the flood zones. Thousands found shelter in schools. Broward County, north of Miami, converted 21 schoolsinto shelters to take in those having to flee Fort Lauderdale and other coastal towns. Palm Beach County schools took in 17,000 evacuees. Sarasota schools welcomed over 19,000 refugees. In Tampa-Hillsborough County, 45 of the district’s schools became storm relief centers, sheltering nearly 30,000 evacuees.

De Vos Confirmed

Never has there been such a fight.  This shows how teachers, unions, and parents can work together.
De Vos is a serious problem.  See all the prior posts.

The Senate just voted to confirm billionaire Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary. The vote came down to a 50-50 tie. In order to get DeVos confirmed, Vice President Mike Pence had to cast the deciding vote -- the first time a VP has broken a tie on a Cabinet nominee in our nation’s history. Betsy DeVos now joins a Trump Administration that’s truly ripe for corruption. Sherrod will have to work even harder to stop DeVos from taking funding away from public schools in Ohio and around the country. This confirmation was a blow -- but we can’t waste any time moving forward. Betsy DeVos was confirmed. Let’s remind her, Donald Trump, and the entire administration that they work for the American people. Not corporations. Not private educational institutions.

Elizabeth Warren Destroys Betsy DeVos At Confirmation Hearing

Vote Today. 

Trump's Hollow Rhetoric Collided With Reality At The Inauguration | The Huffington Post

Trump's Hollow Rhetoric Collided With Reality At The Inauguration | The Huffington Post


Bill Moyers and Michael Kinship 

What will Betsy DeVos’ focus on school choice mean for public education?

Both Major Teachers’ Unions Oppose Betsy DeVos.

What will Betsy DeVos’ focus on school choice mean for public education?: Education secretary nominee Betsy DeVos has neither taught nor worked in a school system, but she and her family have used wealth and influence to create more charter schools and champion vouchers. As educators watch her hearing for an understanding of her views, William Brangham talks to Frederick Hess of American Enterprise Institute and Randi Weingarten of American Federation of Teachers.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/will-betsy-devos-focus-school-choice-mean-public-education/

Today was the first day of hearings.  Republicans praised her and Democrats raised several important issues including her role as a leading opponent of public schools.  The vote will be next week, perhaps Tuesday. Please contact your Senator today.

The more we learn, the more we are certain that Betsy DeVos is bad for public schools and for kids.

When De Vos has to choose between quality schools and “the free market,” she chooses “the free market” of privatized choice every time. The best interests of children take a back seat.

And we know the DeVos endgame–shut down our neighborhood public schools, and replace them with a patchwork of charters, private schools and online learning.

We can’t let that happen and we need your help. Present and future generations of children are depending on us to act now.  We now know that some Senators have grave doubts. 

Here are our three toolkits to help you do your part.

Toolkit 1. Call your senators’ offices. The toolkit with numbers and a phone script can be found here. It includes a link to phone numbers.

Toolkit 2. Send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. You can find a model here.

Betsy DeVos Will Be an Opponent of Public Education

Jeff Bryant,
In “an unprecedented break” from tradition, Democrats in the US Senate are expected to challenge as many as eight of Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees, including Betsy DeVos for US Secretary of Education, according to a report by the Washington Post.

The opposition to DeVos, Politico reports, comes from “more than a dozen Democratic senators from all wings of the party” who “will portray DeVos’ views as being outside the education mainstream.”

The non-mainstream “views” Politico cites include her “bankrolling efforts to create state voucher programs” and to expand a “loosely-regulated charter school sector” in Michigan, her home state. The Senators are “also intent on drawing attention to her lack of experience in a traditional public school setting. DeVos has never worked as a public school teacher or superintendent, nor has she sent her own kids to public schools.”

Opposition to DeVos has brought an outcry from conservative and politically centrist fans of “education reform” who claim opposing DeVos is driven “partisanship” and “nasty,” “personalized” rhetoric.

It’s true that the opposition to DeVos is a radical departure from what’s happened in the past.