The American Way of Poverty

The American Way of Poverty ;

How the Other Half Still Lives

Author.  Sasha Abramsky. Speaking at the 7^thannual  Progressive Forum.

CSU-Sacramento 

March 17, 2016.  3 PM.  Folsom Hall 1050. 

Sasha Abramsky is a widely published journalist, who specializes in social justice and poverty reporting. His work has appeared in the Nation, the American Prospect, Salon, Slate, the New Yorker online, Rolling Stone, Mother Jones, the New York Times, the Village Voice, and many other publications both in the US and the UK.

The Abramsky lecture will be followed by speakers from a number  of local organizations encouraging the student vote in 2016. 

Duane Campbell, (DSA) The Left and the Sanders Campaign.  Student Votes Matter; Presentations by student activists and others.  Free.

Sponsors:  Sacramento Progressive Alliance, Campus Progressive Alliance,  Democratic Socialists of America, California Faculty Association,

Sanders Wins Michigan

SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: Sanders Wins Michigan: The results are in and we were just declared the winner in a very important state for our campaign: Michigan. That’s a maj...

California Educators Appeal Vergara Lawsuit

Civil Rights Icon Dolores Huerta Joins Educators and Community Supporters in Urging Court to Overturn Flawed Decision for the Sake of All Students

LOS ANGELES — Attorneys representing more than 400,000 members of the California Teachers Association and California Federation of Teachers appeared in the California Court of Appeal today in downtown Los Angeles, to ask that the June 2014 ruling in the deceptive and meritless Vergara v. State of California be overturned for the sake of California’s six million students. 

At a press conference before arguments were presented to the Court, Attorney Michael Rubin laid out the case for reversing the faulty opinion of Judge Rolf M. Treu. Appearing with Rubin were longtime union and civil rights leader Dolores Huerta, southern California elementary school teacher Gaby Ibarra, and Martha Sanchez, a concerned parent who believes current laws work best for students.

Stating that Judge Treu’s decision striking down five California Education Code provisions “is without support in law or fact,” the speakers predicted that Treu’s numerous errors will be clearly visible to the appeals court, and the earlier Superior Court judgment will be overturned. Treu’s decision was stayed pending appeal. But if upheld, it would cause great harm to public education.

Dolores Huerta refutes claims by anti teacher union group

Samuel et al,
I am extremely disheartened and disappointed in the way you misrepresented the facts in order to get me to align with your organization and in particular the Vergara v. State of California lawsuit. I am now very much aware of your agenda and it is in direct conflict with my beliefs that every child deserves a quality teacher who understands our students’ issues while maintaining their job protections.
Having carefully reviewed the facts, I do NOT support the Vergara v. State of California lawsuit. That is why, effective immediately, I demand that you cease the use of my name and image on your website, studentsmatter.org, and all collateral digital platforms and materials.
Additionally, I will not sign on to the opinion editorial that you wrote and asked me to sign as author.
All my life I have worked to fight discrimination, uphold the rights of workers and improve social and economic conditions for our students and their families. I am not going to stop now by aligning myself with an organization that blatantly misrepresents the facts and pushes an agenda to strip workers of their rights for the financial gain of its backers.
Respectfully, Dolores Huerta 
See link below. 

Dolores Huerta Forces Anti-Teacher Lawsuit Backers to Remove Her Name From 'Vergara' Website - CAPITAL & MAIN

Dolores Huerta Forces Anti-Teacher Lawsuit Backers to Remove Her Name From 'Vergara' Website - CAPITAL & MAIN

Students of Color Are Much More Likely to Attend High-Poverty Schools - The Atlantic

Students of Color Are Much More Likely to Attend High-Poverty Schools - The Atlantic

Why Are There Now Millions of Socialists in the U.S.?

Harold Meyerson,

In 1906 German sociologist Werner Sombart wrote an essay entitled Why Is There No Socialism in the United States? that sought to explain why the US, alone among industrialized democracies, had not developed a major socialist movement.

Today, however, we need to pose a different question: why are there socialists in the United States? In this nation that has long been resistant to socialism’s call, who are all these people who now suddenly deem themselves socialists? Where did they come from? What do they mean by socialism?

Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign has made clear that many Democrats are inclined to vote for a candidate who proclaims himself a democratic socialist, but even more dramatic and consequential are the many Democrats who say they’re socialists themselves. In a poll on the eve of the Iowa caucuses, more than 40% of likely Democratic caucus attendees said they were socialists. In a Boston Globe poll on the eve of the New Hampshire primary, 31% of New Hampshire Democratic voters called themselves socialists; among voters under 35, just over half did. And in late February, a Bloomberg poll of likely voters in the Democratic primary in South Carolina – South Carolina! – showed that 39% described themselves as socialists.

Hypocrisy of Eli Broad, Billionaire and Education "Reformer"

The Philanthropic Hypocrisy of Eli Broad, Billionaire and Leading Education Reformer

http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/18830/eli-broad-los-angeles-philanthropy

 

February 28, 2016

,  

Ignacio Thomas

 

2

[Reprinted with permission from In These Times [1]. All rights reserved.]

The Broad, an immaculate white postmodern structure, is the latest architectural jewel representing the revival of downtown Los Angeles.
The self-titled museum is a “gift” from Eli Broad, the billionaire Angeleno property developer-turned-philanthropist. Broad is attempting to use his gifts to the arts and a high-profile push to shake up the city’s education system as a way to etch his name deep into the streets of Los Angeles.
But Broad’s philanthropy is two-faced. While publicly making dramatic, self-aggrandizing gestures supporting Los Angeles’ poor children and their schools, Broad’s private business practices and political machinations cripple the very communities he claims to support. The $140 million museum, meant to be a symbol of Eli Broad’s public largesse, is actually a symbol of his philanthropic hypocrisy.

The man who wants to transform public education by bringing market discipline to schools has no problem gorging at the public trough to beef up his namesake museum.
In 2011, Broad syphoned off $52 million [2] of public tax dollars meant for Los Angeles’ poor communities to subsidize his museum’s parking garage—more than all of South LA’s 800,000 mostly low-income residents received from the same public fund that year.
For Broad, it’s all about the gestures. While South LA’s schoolchildren fight for a roof over their head, at least they’ll have a nice place to park when they come to see Broad’s personal art collection.

Eli Broad, who is estimated to be worth $7.4 billion, styles himself an advocate for poor black and brown children. Urban education is his pet project. Decrying the underperformance of poor children of color, Broad points the finger at unionized public school teachers and bureaucracy, claiming educators simply aren’t working hard enough to improve academic outcomes. To save the children, Broad wants to reform education along a corporate model—privatizing schools, busting teachers’ unions and imposing punitive accountability systems. Broad is calling for—and helping fund [3]—a complete transformation of the American education system. And he wants it done in his name.

He trains school leaders to apply business practices to schools through the Broad Residency at the Broad Academy, and rewards compliant school districts with the Broad Prize, of $250,000. Broad’s latest headline-grabbing proposal is to pull 50 percent of Los Angeles’ schoolchildren (what one report refers to as “market share” [4]) into privately managed, non-union charter schools over the next eight years.

CTA and CFT organize against Vergara

California Educators Appeal Decision in Meritless Vergara Lawsuit

Civil Rights Icon Dolores Huerta Joins Educators and Community Supporters in Urging Court to Overturn Flawed Decision for the Sake of All Students

Contacts: For CFT: Fred Glass, 510-579-3343; For CTA: Frank Wells, 562-708-5425

LOS ANGELES — Attorneys representing more than 400,000 members of the California Teachers Association and California Federation of Teachers appeared in the California Court of Appeal today in downtown Los Angeles, to ask that the June 2014 ruling in the deceptive and meritless Vergara v. State of California be overturned for the sake of California’s six million students. 

At a press conference before arguments were presented to the Court, Attorney Michael Rubin laid out the case for reversing the faulty opinion of Judge Rolf M. Treu. Appearing with Rubin were longtime union and civil rights leader Dolores Huerta, southern California elementary school teacher Gaby Ibarra, and Martha Sanchez, a concerned parent who believes current laws work best for students.

Stating that Judge Treu’s decision striking down five California Education Code provisions “is without support in law or fact,” the speakers predicted that Treu’s numerous errors will be clearly visible to the appeals court, and the earlier Superior Court judgment will be overturned. Treu’s decision was stayed pending appeal. But if upheld, it would cause great harm to public education.

Teachers Hold Walk-In Protests in 30 Cities

Samantha Winslow, Labor Notes 

 

After a wave of teacher protests around the country, unions are coordinating nationally.

 

In 900 schools in 30 cities—from Houston to Miami, Patterson to Pittsburgh—teacher unions participated in “walk-ins” yesterday to “reclaim our schools.”

 

The walk-in tactic was inspired by North Carolina teachers, who organized a series of these grassroots protests across the state in 2013 against education cuts. Other teacher unions soon picked up the idea.

 

Teachers gather 30-40 minutes before work, often wearing union T-shirts or colors. They meet with parents, school employees, and education activists; take pictures; talk to media and elected officials; and then all walk into school in unison.

 

In Minnesota, the St. Paul Federation of Teachers held walk-ins at every school during its 2014 contract campaign, helping to test the union’s strength as it prepared for a potential strike over staffing, class sizes, and over-testing.

Who Won the Latino Vote in Nevada ?

antiracismdsa: Who Won the Latino Vote in Nevada ?: Who Won the Nevada Latino Vote? Latinos Reached a Record Share of Nevada Democratic Caucuses   (Los Angeles, Feb 22) After hearin...

Political Revolution 101 Event

SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: Political Revolution 101 Event: Feb. 18, 2016. Zach Newman, Sac for Bernie, at the Feb. 18, meeting.  Duane Campbell, I am the Bernie Liaison for DSA- Democratic...

White workers have nearly five times as much wealth in retirement accounts as black workers

White workers have nearly five times as much wealth in retirement accounts as black workers: The gap in retirement savings is even larger than the gap in retirement plan participation. In 2013, white families between the ages of 32 and 61 had nearly five times as much wealth in retirement accounts as their black counterparts—or nearly $100,000 more in retirement savings.

Teachers Still Not Returned to Work

Teachers still not returned to work

Drilling down, Elise Gould of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute notes: "public education jobs are still 236,000 less than they were seven years ago. The number of teachers rose by 41,700 over the last year. While this is clearly a positive sign, adding in the number of public education jobs that should have been created just to keep up with enrollment, we are currently experiencing a 410,000 job shortfall in public education. Short sighted austerity measures have a measurable impact, hitting children in today's classrooms." http://bit.ly/1L8FV2R

Except perhaps in California where districts are giving jobs to non credentialed teachers.  The following is a repost.

Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil.

by Duane Campbell. Prof. Emeritus.  Bilingual/Multicultural Education. CSU-S. 

In 2015 after the Great Recession  a new state budgets sent large amounts of funds to k-12 schools and the funds of the Local Control and  Accountability Plan  were targeted to low income schools.  This increased funding will lead to a dramatic need for new teachers.  Sacramento City Unified plans to hire 100 new teachers, and many other local urban districts will do the same.  This faculty growth will continue for from 3-5 years.

But credentialed teachers from the Latino community and several Asian communities will not be available to hire because the Sac State pipeline for minority teachers  has been broken.  A new generation of mostly Anglo teachers will be hired which will continue the past failure to integrate the teaching profession in this region. Ending the pipeline will shape the nature of the local teaching profession for decades. Latino students make up 37 % of Sac City Unified students, Asians 17.4 %, African Americans 17.7 %, and White students 18.8 %. Latino families now make up over 37 % of California residents and Latino descent children now make up over 50% of public school students.

   The Bilingual Multicultural Education Department at Sac State was  set up as  a structure so that the university, CSU-Sacramento, could  serve the community by preparing and advancing hundreds of Chicano and Asian teachers each year.  Unfortunately, others shut down this vehicle. Between 1994 -2006, Latino descent students were about 35% of the total teacher preparation students each year ( 60 -90 students per semester).  After the termination of the department in 2010, Latino descent students were less than 10% of the total students in teacher preparation at Sac State (about 7 students).  This decline was a direct consequence of eliminating the department. 

Bernie and the New Left

Bernie and the New Left

Build the Political Movement - Sanders

Join Us.

Democratic Socialism 101

Workshop:  Feb. 18, 2016.   6 PM.

CSU Sacramento. Alpine Hall   204.

Topics:  What is this Political Revolution being discussed  in the campaign and the media ?

Why are most socialists supporting Bernie Sanders?

 What we do about taking our government back from the corporations and  the  political establishment ?

How to work on campus/ community? Organizations.  Introductions of non partisan candidates.  Skills.  Tabling on campus, door to door,

The Latino vote. The Student vote.  Trump and Immigration. Independent candidates.

We will provide trainings in GOTV, basic organizing methods, and communications, this political education training will enable you to better understand, articulate and persuade voters in  campaigns you might select to work with.

Support Sacramento Schools and Teachers

Hillary Clinton and Predator Nation

by Charles H. Ferguson,

Director of film, Inside Job.

The stunning ascent of Bernie Sanders portends far more than a hard-fought Democratic primary. Its greater implication, whether Sanders wins or loses, is that America's crony capitalism will no longer go unchallenged. Thus Hillary Clinton and her husband, along with many others, are increasingly trapped by the wealth, credentials, and insider status they have pursued so fervently - because they derive from a corruption whose nature and consequences can no longer be concealed. America's financial elites are now so corrupt, arrogant, and predatory that political leaders beholden to them can't even pretend to deliver economic or political security, much less fairness or progress.

And now, finally, Americans are running out of patience. In addition to Bernie Sanders, there's Elizabeth Warren, Zephyr Teachout, and even movies - The Big Short has (deservedly) grossed $100 million. Everything suggests that American politics is now truly, fundamentally, up for grabs - a hugely exciting but also terrifying prospect. In America, the Great Depression yielded Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal; but in Europe, it created Hitler and Mussolini. America's reaction against its corruption and decline could show us at our best - or our worst.

A New Narrative for Public Education ?

Jeff Bryant, 

An Old Story 

For decades, politicians have told the easy story that our public schools were “broken,” that they lacked “accountability,” and that the way to “fix” them was to impose mandatory outcomes – higher test scores and graduation rates – that would be evidence of better “results.” Now we know that story was flawed.

Today, we have reams and reams of test data and record-high high school graduation rates, but the rage over education policy burns hotter than it has in over 50 years, and more school districts are on the brink of total calamity every day.

Republicans want to tell a new story about schools as consumer products that will improve when “customers” have more “choice” imposed by the private sector and big business. It’s not a terribly new story. It’s also, frankly, an abdication of leadership, suggesting that these folks really have no idea how to provide for better schools so they’ll make parents fight it out for themselves, despite the obvious dearth of high quality choices already in the system.

Democrats, on the other hand, don’t’ really seem to have a story to tell about public education. But fortunately, a new narrative is emerging from sources outside the usual think tanks and policy shops.

The Emerging New Narrative 

This new narrative is familiar to parents and educators and anyone who can reflect on their own education journey: that every child has the innate ability to learn, that access to education opportunity is an inalienable right, and that it is incumbent on government to provide education opportunities as a common good, free and accessible to all.

Senate Bills Take Aim at California's Growing Teacher Shortage.

But, they do not deal with the problem of a shortage of Latino teachers created by the actions of many CSU- Campuses as described in the prior posts.
excerpt.

"But credentialed teachers from the Latino community and several Asian communities will not be available to hire because the Sac State pipeline for minority teachers  has been broken.  A new generation of mostly Anglo teachers will be hired which will continue the past failure to integrate the teaching profession in this region. Ending the pipeline will shape the nature of the local teaching profession for decades. Latino students make up 37 % of Sac City Unified students, Asians 17.4 %, African Americans 17.7 %, and White students 18.8 %. Latino families now make up over 37 % of California residents and Latino descent children now make up over 50% of public school students.

   The Bilingual Multicultural Education Department at Sac State was  set up as  a structure so that the university, CSU-Sacramento, could  serve the community by preparing and advancing hundreds of Chicano and Asian teachers each year.  Unfortunately, others shut down this vehicle. Between 1994 -2006, Latino descent students were about 35% of the total teacher preparation students each year ( 60 -90 students per semester).  After the termination of the department in 2010, Latino descent students were less than 10% of the total students in teacher preparation at Sac State (about 7 students).  This decline was a direct consequence of eliminating the department. "

See the post below this one.  Area Shortage of Latino Teachers Caused by...

Tuesday's  News Conference 
Each of the local news organizations, the Bee, KCRA, CPR, repeated the comments in the news release (below) as news. They did not consider the context of the "news" which ignores the lack of Latino teachers. Only publishing government sponsors news releases without analysis and context is commonly known as propaganda. 

Helping future teachers with the old programs...

SACRAMENTO -- Following on the heels of a Senate Education Committee hearing that highlighted the severity of a growing shortage of qualified teachers in California, three senators are proposing legislation to address the crisis.

After years of decline during the lean budget years that followed the Great Recession, the demand for teachers is again on the rise, as districts hired an estimated 20,000 new teachers for the current school year. This comes at a time when enrollment in teacher preparation programs at state universities has plunged — falling by 75 percent from 2001 to 2014.

As a result, school districts are increasingly being forced to hire individuals who are not fully prepared. The state Commission on Teacher Credentialing reports that nearly 8,000 teachers with substandard credentials or provisional permits were working in California classrooms in the 2014–15 school year — a 63 percent increase from just two years earlier.

The Latino Teacher Shortage in the Area Was Created by the Sac State College of Education

Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil.

by Duane Campbell. Prof. Emeritus.  Bilingual/Multicultural Education. CSU-S. 

In 2015 after the Great Recession  a new state budgets sent large amounts of funds to k-12 schools and the funds of the Local Control and  Accountability Plan  were targeted to low income schools.  This increased funding will lead to a dramatic need for new teachers.  Sacramento City Unified plans to hire 100 new teachers, and many other local urban districts will do the same.  This faculty growth will continue for from 3-5 years.

But credentialed teachers from the Latino community and several Asian communities will not be available to hire because the Sac State pipeline for minority teachers  has been broken.  A new generation of mostly Anglo teachers will be hired which will continue the past failure to integrate the teaching profession in this region. Ending the pipeline will shape the nature of the local teaching profession for decades. Latino students make up 37 % of Sac City Unified students, Asians 17.4 %, African Americans 17.7 %, and White students 18.8 %. Latino families now make up over 37 % of California residents and Latino descent children now make up over 50% of public school students.

   The Bilingual Multicultural Education Department at Sac State was  set up as  a structure so that the university, CSU-Sacramento, could  serve the community by preparing and advancing hundreds of Chicano and Asian teachers each year.  Unfortunately, others shut down this vehicle. Between 1994 -2006, Latino descent students were about 35% of the total teacher preparation students each year ( 60 -90 students per semester).  After the termination of the department in 2010, Latino descent students were less than 10% of the total students in teacher preparation at Sac State (about 7 students).  This decline was a direct consequence of eliminating the department. 

Manager that Created Flint's Water Crisis Is Now Manager of Detroit Schools.

Flint’s water contamination crisis began in April 2014 after Darnell Earley, an unelected emergency manager appointed by Snyder, switched Flint’s water source to the long-polluted and corrosive Flint River in a bid to save money. Earley is now the emergency manager of Detroit Public Schools. This week, Detroit’s teachers have staged a series of "sickouts" to protest the vast underfunding of the public schools, which have black mold, rat infestations, crumbling buildings and inadequate staffing

Feb.2, 2015.  Darnell Earley has been removed. 
See post below. 

Detroit Teachers Strike Against Appalling, rat infested, Schools

President Obama visited Detroit on January 20th, 2016 to tout the city’s resurgent auto industry, which, after the federal government’s bailout, has seen a spike in job growth.

Detroit’s educators have taken advantage of the President’s visit to bring attention to the city’s “toxic” schools suffering from years of neglect. They are holding “sick outs,” a protest strategy that bypasses Michigan’s anti-strike laws by having  teachers collectively call in sick.

As the New York Times reports, the district recently had to close over 60 schools when teachers didn’t show up for work on a Monday. The teachers demand the district and state alleviate the financial problems of the school system, which appears headed toward bankruptcy. Instead of addressing the teachers’ demands, the district sought a court injunction to prevent further sick-outs. The judge refused to act, and the sick-outs spread, causing nearly every school in the 100-school district to close.

Pictures of the moldy, rat-infested, freezing cold buildings have been shared by teachers on the ground. After a recent visit to one of the schools, American Federation of Teachers’ president Randi Weingarten summarized: “dedicated and caring staff teaching kids in appalling conditions.“

Teachers: We Need Chicano History in the California Textbooks - Act Now.

By Duane Campbell

The Mexican American Digital History Project and a broad group of allies have been working for over a year to add Chicano history to the California History/Social Science Framework, the document that determines what goes into textbooks in California. 

For  example see here. http://choosingdemocracy.blogspot.com/2015/04/teachers-we-need-your-letters-on.html  and numerous posts on this site. 

 The Quality Instructional Materials Commission of the California State Board of Education have posted their proposed revised framework and it includes most of what we proposed.  

Comments from teachers and community members are welcome. 

The IQC approved the draft History–Social Science Framework for California Public Schools for its second review on November 20, 2015. The approved draft is posted on the History–Social Science Curriculum Frameworks Web page at 

http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/hs/cf/hssfw2ndreview.asp.

Going forward, any new public comments will be submitted as part of the second review process. 

Members of the public are invited to submit comments on the draft History–Social Science Framework through February 29, 2016, via e-mail to HSSframework@cde.ca.gov. Comments may be submitted in any format, but if a commenter is seeking revisions to the draft it is recommended that the comment include the chapter, page, and line number(s), the text as it is currently written in the draft, and the exact language of the suggested change.

Ruling in Favor of Friedrichs Will Hurt Children and Education

By Jeff Bryant

Earlier this month, news about a US Supreme Court case Friedrichs v California Teachers Association raised concerns for progressives everywhere – and for good reason. As my colleague Dave Johnson writes, the case is about “making every state a ‘right-to-work’ state, and suppressing unions and wages.” So this case is another example of right wing conservatism siding with concentrated wealth and power to undercut the abilities of working people to organize and demand better wages and work conditions.

 So a month or so from now, if  you hear about the court has decided to uphold the plaintiffs in the Friedrichs case, and not the teachers union, as many expect will happen, please understand the judges’ decision won’t just hurt teachers’ paychecks and their rights to organize and speak out. It will hurt our children’s education.

Friedrichs v CTA- an Assault on All Public Sector Unions

Steven Greenhouse, a former labor and workplace reporter for the New York Times, is a visiting researcher at the Russell Sage Foundation.

On Monday, during oral arguments in the most important labor case to come before the Supreme Court in years, the court’s conservative majority gave every indication that it will rule that government workers cannot be required to pay fees to the unions that represent them. If it does, the high court will deal a punishing blow to U.S. public-sector unions, whose full consequences may become clear only in the next economic downturn.

Such a ruling in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association might well turn out to be good for Americans as taxpayers, but not so good for Americans as workers.

In education, the tradeoffs are particularly thorny. Teachers unions look out for the interests of teachers, and in doing so, their interests often parallel — but also conflict with — the interests of working people who want a good education for their children. Labor’s critics say Friedrichs could improve education by weakening teachers unions that, for instance, vigorously support tenure and oppose charter schools. But undermining teachers unions could also harm public schools, because those unions push to increase education spending and often cooperate with school officials on vital workplace issues, such as school safety. By weakening unions, Friedrichs could ultimately mean lower compensation and larger workloads for teachers. And while that might lower school taxes, it might also mean that fewer talented young people go into teaching, ultimately hurting middle-class and low-income children who need good educations to get ahead.

Martin Luther King Jr. - Economic Justice for Our Times

In 1968, a united black community in Memphis stepped forward to support 1,300 municipal sanitation workers as they demanded higher wages, union recognition, and respect for black personhood embodied in the slogan “I Am a Man!” Memphis’s black women organized tenant and welfare unions, discovering pervasive hunger among the city’s poor and black children. They demanded rights to food and medical care from a city and medical establishment blind to their existence.

That same month, March 1968, 100 grassroots organizations met in Atlanta to support Martin Luther King’s dream of a poor people’s march on Washington. They pressed concrete demands for economic justice under the slogan “Jobs or Income Now!” King celebrated the “determination by poor people of all colors” to win their human rights. “Established powers of rich America have deliberately exploited poor people by isolating them in ethnic, nationality, religious and racial groups,” the delegates declared.

So when King came to Memphis to support the strike, a local labor and community struggle became intertwined with his dream of mobilizing a national coalition strong enough to reorient national priorities from imperial war in  Vietnam to domestic reconstruction, especially in America’s  riot-torn cities. To non-poor Americans, King called for a “revolution of values,” a move from self-seeking to service, from property rights to human rights.

Friedrichs' Promise to the Far Right

by Bill Rraden 

Last July, 2,000 conservatives and Tea Party activists gathered in Las Vegas for the annual FreedomFest, which featured GOP presidential frontrunners Donald Trump and Marco Rubio. But it was a fourth grade public school teacher from Orange  County named Rebecca Friedrichs who promised the far right a prize that neither Trump nor Rubio could offer. Friedrichs and nine other California school teachers are part of a lawsuit now before the U.S. Supreme Court that could deliver a severe blow to the nation’s public-sector unions. It would radically upend the political power of labor — and also, conservatives hope, of the Democratic Party — across the United States.

Friedrichs’ message last summer was the same as she has told audiences elsewhere: “Supposed [union] benefits are not worth the moral costs.”

The “moral dilemma,” she claims, is over such union collective bargaining practices as securing pensions and workplace protections for public school teachers, and taking positions on issues like school vouchers, that run contrary to her Christian beliefs.

Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, which is scheduled for oral arguments before the high court today, seeks to invalidate California’s agency shop law that requires all teachers in a union bargaining unit to pay “fair share” fees for collective bargaining, whether or not they are members of the union and disagree with the union’s policies. It also seeks to outlaw a process that requires teachers who don’t want a portion of their fees to go to union political activities to “opt out” of funding those activities. (At present teachers are automatically enrolled in such funding mechanisms, unless they choose to opt out.)

CTA’s fair-share payers, who include Friedrichs‘ 10 teacher plaintiffs, represent just under 10 percent of the union’s roughly 325,000 members; their fees are translated as payroll deductions of annual fair-share fees amounting to $641, which gets divided among the local union, CTA and its parent organization, the National Education Association. Full union members pay an additional 35 percent that supports the lobbying efforts that give teachers a voice at the education policy table.

Teacher Unions Under Assault

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case that asks whether all workers in public sector unions, be they members or not, have an obligation to contribute to the union’s costs to represent them in grievances and at the bargaining table.

The court has already ruled that unions have an obligation to represent non-members and that is not likely to change. It also ruled that non-members have an obligation to contribute to the costs of representation and bargaining. If the court now rules in favor of the plaintiffs in Friedrichs vs. California Teachers Association, the justices would be overturning a nearly 40-year precedent.

Joshua Pechthalt, president, California Federation of Teachers 

California Federation of Teachers California Federation of Teachers

This may seem like a technical issue with little impact beyond public employee unions. But the implications of this decision could be far-reaching. If the court ends “fair share” union dues, it would hurt our unions’ ability to represent our members and weaken our ability to improve wages, benefits and working conditions.

For those of us in education, it could also undercut our ability to improve learning and teaching conditions by advocating for smaller class sizes, restoring art and music programs and improving teacher training and evaluation. While non-members do not contribute to the political program of their unions, the erosion of union funds will have an impact on our ability to organize in all aspects of union work.

Obama Admin. Appalling Home Raids

antiracismdsa: Obama Admin. Appalling Home Raids: President Obama once said this about his administration’s deportation priorities: “We’ll keep focusing enforcement resources on actual th...

Bernie Sanders and "The Big Short"

SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: Bernie Sanders and "The Big Short": Larry Cohen Campaign for America's Future Hollywood stars play all the major roles in the film, but it is no puff piece for the 1 perce...

Governor Proposes More Money for State Schools

Governor's Budget Proposal

Invests Significantly in K-12 Education
The budget boosts school spending per student to $10,591 in 2016-17 - an increase of nearly $3,600 compared to 2011-12 levels. The budget provides a fourth-year investment of more than $2.8 billion in the Local Control Funding Formula, which focuses on students with the greatest challenges to success, bringing the formula to 95 percent implementation. The budget also proposes a $1.6 billion early education block grant that combines three existing programs to promote local flexibility, focusing on disadvantaged students and improved accountability.  

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson issued the following statement today on Governor Brown's proposed budget for the 2016-17 fiscal year:

"This is a good news budget for our students, teachers, parents, communities and businesses. The Governor is continuing to devote more revenues to high-quality learning that prepares children for 21st century careers and college, including an additional investment of $300 million in career technical education that emphasizes hands on learning.

"The ongoing economic recovery in California will increase the Proposition 98 budget guarantee for schools up to $71.6 billion, a dramatic improvement from the $47.3 billion budget share in the depths of the recession five years ago.

Building Myths on the Border

Building Myths on the Border



Republican racist myths, from Pete Wilson to Donald Trump.

by Harold Meyerson.

Richard Trumka comments on Donald Trump's racist campaign

Business "Leaders" Fail at Public Education

Diane Ravitch. 

Let’s state a simple fact: there is NO EVIDENCE that Common Core will improve education or test scores. It was launched in 2010. It has been tested in many states, and test scores have collapsed. Why the stubborn insistence that it will raise American test scores compared to the rest of the world or prepare all students for college and career? There is no evidence for this stubborn belief. If businessmen acted this way in their own corporations, every one of their products would be untested. Their gasoline would cause engines to explode, their buildings would collapse, their software would be fraught with bugs, and their hardware would melt. And they wouldn’t understand why. They would keep insisting that we have to keep doing the same things over and over. At least their customers would have a choice, unlike American parents and children, who are forced to endure Common Core despite their protests.

First, our schools are NOT failing. Test scores on the NAEP are at their highest point ever, for all groups of students, including whites, blacks, Hispanics, and Asians. Scores on NAEP rose steadily since the 1970s until NCLB went into effect; then the rate of gains slowed. But in 2015, the NAEP scores went flat or declined, when the full force of NCLB , Race to the Top, and Common Core converged. Repeat, our schools are NOT failing, but our policymakers have rained chaos and disruption on them since 2001.

Second, we have heard this claim about “our failing schools” since 1983, when the Reagan-era report “A Nation at Risk” was published to moaning and groaning. We have been warned again and again that the schools were harming our economy. Yet our economy has grown since 1983. The biggest harm to our economy has come not from our schools but from major corporations outsourcing jobs to other countries where labor is cheaper, not better.

This is What Oligarchy Looks Like

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“I like to give on a scale where I can see impact...” - David Koch

Earlier this year, a number of Republicans flew to California to make fundraising pitches to more than four hundred wealthy conservative donors attending a private conference hosted by the Koch brothers.

It’s worth taking a moment to ask the question, who are the Koch brothers, and what do they want?

The Koch brothers are the second-wealthiest family in America worth $82 billion. For the Koch brothers, $82 billion in wealth apparently is not good enough. Owning the second-largest private company in America is apparently not good enough. It doesn’t appear that they will be satisfied until they are able to control the entire political process.

This issue isn't personal for me. I don't know the Koch brothers, but I do know this. They have advocated for destroying the federal programs that are critical to the financial and personal health of middle class Americans.

Now, most Americans know that the Koch brothers are the primary source of funding for the Tea Party, and that’s fine. They know that they favor the outright repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and that’s their opinion. It’s wrong, but that’s fine as well.

But it is not widely known that David Koch once ran for Vice President of the United States of America on the Libertarian Party ticket because he believed Ronald Reagan was much too liberal. And he ran on a platform that included the following:

• “We favor the repeal of the fraudulent, virtually bankrupt and increasingly oppressive Social Security system.”
• “We favor the abolition of Medicare and Medicaid programs.”
• “We support repeal of all laws which impede the ability of any person to find employment, such as minimum wage laws…”
• “We support the eventual repeal of all taxation.”

Rein in Wall Street

Bernie Sanders

WALL STREET is still out of control. Seven years ago, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department bailed out the largest financial institutions in this country because they were considered too big to fail. But almost every one is bigger today than it was before the bailout. If any were to fail again, taxpayers could be on the hook for another bailout, perhaps a larger one this time.

To rein in Wall Street, we should begin by reforming the Federal Reserve, which oversees financial institutions and which uses monetary policy to maintain price stability and full employment. Unfortunately, an institution that was created to serve all Americans has been hijacked by the very bankers it regulates.

Millennials Have Gotten Royally Screwed: That’s Why They’re Voting for Bernie Sanders @alternet

Millennials Have Gotten Royally Screwed: That’s Why They’re Voting for Bernie Sanders @alternet

Power, Privilege, and the Oligarchy in 2016

SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: Power, Privilege, and the Oligarchy in 2016: Paul Krugman.  Jan. 1, 2016. Wealth can be bad for your soul. That’s not just a hoary piece of folk wisdom; it’s a conclusion from serio...