California Democracy Campaign

The campaign for majority rule has a new web site.

http://www.ca4democracy.com/

In the last two years California’s  k-12 schools have received over a  $16 Billion  cut back.  California presently ranks  45th  of the states in per pupil spending and last among the states in class size.  Now, the Governor proposes to reduce  k-12 spending by another  $2.4 Billion. The U.C’s and the CSU campuses have suffered over a  $2 billion cut while tuition and fees were increased over 30%.  Classes have been cut, graduation delayed, and faculty dismissed.  They must not be cut more.  We must work together to save public education.

For 2010, the Governor proposes  further draconian cuts in Cal Works, IHSS, Medi Cal and Children’s nutrition  among others-  each of which hurts the  poor in our state.   State  budget cuts make the crisis worse. They create more unemployment. The legislature must hear from us.

To respond to these cuts, California needs majority rule.  We must eliminate the 2/3 rule on budgets and revenue.  Sign the California Democracy Act initiative.

Jobs Now Rally

Over 400 workers, many of  them now unemployed,  marched  on the California State Capitol  for a a Jobs Now rally in Sacramento California.  The major chant was Jobs ! Jobs! Jobs!

Darrell Stienberg, Senate Pro temp California State Senate and numerous other speakers  called for the ending of the 2/3 vote rule in the California legislature as a means of building a progressive budget.

Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO was to have been there, but the snow storm in the east kept him from attending.  

Bill  Camp; Executive  Secretary of the Sacramento Central labor Council focused the issue,  “The Banks have received millions /billions in bailouts.  When  in the hell are they going to give a bailout to the working class?”

 U.S. Representative John Garamendi  said,  “Wall street took the entire economy into the tank. And, they got a bail out.  We want the money back. “

 Garamendi said that the House has passed a $120 Billion for Jobs for Main Street bill but it is being held in the U.S. Senate by the consistent use of the filibuster by the Republicans Senators with the support of 4-6 Democratic Senators.  Congressman Garamendi called for pressure on the Senate to pass the bill – with 51 votes. 

For more see the California Labor Federation.  Here; http://www.calaborfed.org/

Congressman Garamendi 

Charters and school segregation

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/research/new-study-looks-at-segregation.html#more

New study looks at segregation in charter schools

My guest is Kevin G. Welner, professor of education policy and program evaluation in the School of Education at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and director of theEducation and the Public Interest Center. He can be reached at welner@colorado.edu.

By Kevin G. Welner
The Washington Post published an article last Wednesday about a study from UCLA’s Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles which analyzed charter schools across the country and found them to be substantially more racially isolated than traditional public schools. The study has received quite a bit of attention, as well as pushback from charter school advocates.

Today, CU-Boulder’s policy center, along with its partner policy center at Arizona State University (collectively, EPIC/EPRU) is releasing a studyhttp://epicpolicy.org/publication/schools-without-diversity that, coincidentally, asks some of the same questions as the UCLA study did.
Our study provides a comprehensive examination of enrollment patterns in schools operated by private corporations and finds these schools to be segregated by race, family income, disabilities and English language learner status. As compared with their local public school districts, these schools operated by Education Management Organizations, or EMOs, are substantially more segregated, and the strong segregative pattern found in 2001 is virtually unchanged through 2007.

Sacramento Black Parallel School Board

Good Morning.  First let me say that I am honored and humbled to have been selected as your guest speaker today.  CONGRATULATIONS are due to the Executive Board of the Black Parallel School Board on this day, the 2^nd Anniversary of your creation.  It is appropriate to celebrate during Black History Month, since much of our past struggle has surrounded the right of blacks to obtain a quality education or to be educated at all.  Even before the cases of Plessy vs. Fergueson and Brown v. Board of Education were decided, Africans were striving to learn a new language and have the right to have a book and read it.  Remember that it was after Africans arrived in America and owned land and property that the first Negro Act was passed making it illegal for us to read, be educated and even assemble for fear that we would rebel against whites.

Kudos to BPSB for taking on the arduous task of representing the community that makes up Sacramento City School Districts.  SCUSD has been difficult.  I say that because although there are similar alternative Board organizations elsewhere around the State, the school system inSacramento is probably one of the most resistant and difficult Districts to deal with.   It has a history of ignoring the needs of our children and it has a structure and administration that does not accept criticism or change, and frankly did not readily embrace this organization as a good thing.

Poll Results: Tea party

A Feb.4, 2010 poll by CNN says,

33% of the U.S. supports the Tea Party.

A Feb. 4, 2010  poll by Gallop say,

36% in the U.S.  have a positive view of socialism.

Now, which one of these- Tea Party or Socialism gets access to mainstream media.?

School budget cuts and the economic crisis

I was watching the Sacramento City School Board discussing their impending budget crisis. 

Like newspaper writers, they discuss the economic crisis as if  the crisis is a neutral act, or as if a natural act.  Like rain or snow.  The school budgets are  a disaster not because of   some natural phenomena.  The crisis was created by people and policies of our government and of the financial system.

"The reality is that we got into this mess because of an overwhelming excess of greed and stupidity on the part of the Wall Street bankers and the people deciding economic policy. We continue to face excessive rates of unemployment because of a continuing reluctance to pursue policies that can restore the economy to health.

Very briefly, one of these policies is more government spending to create jobs. The government can employ people directly; it can give companies incentives to employ people, and it can give tax cuts that give people more money to spend. Mix and match in large enough quantities and we will get the unemployment rate down to more acceptable levels."

Dean Baker

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/02/01/the_second_great_depression_bogeyman/?ref=mp

Director. Center for Economic and Policy Research.

The California budget and the economic crisis

            I attended an excellent presentation on  “Searching for Balance: the Social and Economic Context for the Governor’s proposed 2010-11 Budget.” today offered by the California budget project.   Readers will recognize some key issues for this year’s budget as developed in prior posts on the economic crisis.

            California and the government are facing new challenges some of which imperil the health and well being of families in the state.  The state has budget shortfalls which will continue for years.  The governor’s approach to the budget problems is to pit one group against the other; poor people, the disabled, schools, health care. The weak labor market will take years to improve.

            You can see the entire presentation in pdf here. http://www.cbp.org/pdfs/2010/100202_Searching_for_Balance.pdf

Here is an illustrative graphic of the important information for us all.  (Click on the image to make it larger).  In future posts I will refer to some of the other information.  The governor has proposed draconian cuts to Healthy Families, Medi cal, In home supportive services, and k-12 education among others.

            It is essential that we come to understand the economic crisis and the options available to us.  The government is stalemated by the 2/3 rule. We need to figure out how to respond.

Capitol Alert: California's credit rating? On par with Libya and Estonia

Capitol Alert: California's credit rating? On par with Libya and Estonia

Posted using ShareThis

California majority rule campaign

 Campaigns  are up and running throughout the state  to place an initiative on the  California ballot for majority rule- that is for democracy.  The campaign is particularly strong on U C campuses and is seeking to spread to CSU and Community college campuses as well as to the general public.  Volunteer  field directors and county coordinators are distributing petitions and organizing a structure to gain 1 million signatures by April 3,2010. 

  The California budget  is in deep trouble  for the next several years , and the problem is aggravated the  anti democratic limits on the legislature’s ability to pass a budget.   George Lakoff  sent to the Attorney General a ballot proposition for the 2010 ballot called The California Democracy Act,  which simply says,

All legislative action on revenue and budget must be determined by a majority vote.

It’s just  this one sentence.  It would change two words in the Constitution, turning "two-thirds" to "majority" in two places.

Obam proposals on NCLB emerge

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/01/education/01child.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

February 1, 2010

Obama to Seek Sweeping Change in ‘No Child’ Law

By SAM DILLON

The Obama administration is proposing a sweeping overhaul of President Bush’s signature education law, No Child Left Behind, and will call for broad changes in how schools are judged to be succeeding or failing, as well as for the elimination of the law’s 2014 deadline for bringing every American child to academic proficiency.
Educators who have been briefed by administration officials said the proposals for changes in the main law governing the federal role in public schools would eliminate or rework many of the provisions that teachers’ unions, associations of principals, school boards and other groups have found most objectionable.
Yet the administration is not planning to abandon the law’s commitments to closing the achievement gap between minority and white students and to encouraging teacher quality.
Significantly, said those who have been briefed, the White House wants to change federal financing formulas so that a portion of the money is awarded based on academic progress, rather than by formulas that apportion money to districts according to their numbers of students, especially poor students. The well-worn formulas for distributing tens of billions of dollars in federal aid have, for decades, been a mainstay of the annual budgeting process in the nation’s 14,000 school districts.

Fair Test reaction to Obama's school reform proposals

 REACTION TO PRESIDENT OBAMA'S

STATE OF THE UNION  PROPOSALS ON SCHOOL "REFORM"

President Obama deserves praise for proposing increased funding for the nation's public schools, particularly if the additional money goes to classrooms serving children who have been left behind.

However, the President's plans for a national competition to improve schools embraces the failed high-states testing policies embodied in "No Child Left Behind."  The "Race to the Top" program actually intensifies the damaging consequences of over-reliance on standardized exams: declining graduation rates and increased dropouts; good students and teachers turned off by dumbed-down learning; and too many classrooms becoming little more than test prep centers.  Misusing tests to rank and judge teachers will make these problems worse.

A "world class" education requires major assessment reform. Other nations which produce superior performance test far less and attach far lower stakes to those tests.

deficits and the great recession: Krugman

The nature of America's troubles is easy to state.

We're in the aftermath of a severe financial crisis,

which has led to mass job destruction. The only thing

that's keeping us from sliding into a second Great

Depression is deficit spending. And right now we need

more of that deficit spending because millions of

American lives are being blighted by high unemployment,

and the government should be doing everything it can to

bring unemployment down.

In the long run, however, even the U.S. government has

to pay its way. And the long-run budget outlook was

dire even before the recent surge in the deficit,

mainly because of inexorably rising health care costs.

Looking ahead, we're going to have to find a way to run

smaller, not larger, deficits.

Paul Krugman.

Read the entire essay here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/opinion/29krugman.html?ref=opinion

Lets qualify the majority rule campaign

Initiative campaign for majority rule

The  California Majority Rule campaign is presently circulating petitions to place an initiative on the  California ballot for majority rule- that is for democracy.  And, we invite you to join us.

California is in deep trouble because it has a anti democratic limits on the legislature.  George Lakoff  sent to the Attorney General a ballot proposition for the 2010 ballot called The California Democracy Act,  which simply says,

All legislative action on revenue and budget must be determined by a majority vote.

It’s just  this one sentence.  It would change two words in the Constitution, turning "two-thirds" to "majority" in two places.

Democracy is the main issue in  here.  More democracy  is required for progress on the budget.  The two-thirds rules have an anti-democratic effect. Our legislature is currently under minority rule. One-third plus one -- only 34% -- of either the Assembly or Senate can and do  block the will of the majority.  

Howard Zinn RIP

January 27, 2010
By Mark Feeney and Bryan Marquard
Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/01/howard_zinn_his.html

Howard Zinn, the Boston University historian and
political activist who was an early opponent of US
involvement in Vietnam and whose books, such as "A
People's History of the United States," inspired young
and old to rethink the way textbooks present the
American experience, died today in Santa Monica, Calif,
where he was traveling. He was 87.

His daughter, Myla Kabat-Zinn of Lexington, said he
suffered a heart attack.

"He's made an amazing contribution to American
intellectual and moral culture," Noam Chomsky, the
left-wing activist and MIT professor, said tonight.
"He's changed the conscience of America in a highly
constructive way. I really can't think of anyone I can
compare him to in this respect."

CTA Joins statewide protests on March 4

The California Teachers Association has joined the call for a March  4 Day

of Action...

From: “David A. Sanchez” <CTAPresidentDavidSanchez@cta.org>

Subject: Urgent: CTA Leads Statewide Day of Action on March 4 for

Students and California’s Future

We’re just one month into the New Year and it is already a tough  budget

year for public education with the governor’s recently  proposed budget

shorting public schools and colleges by more than  $2.4 billion — that’s

on top of the $17 billion cut over the last  two years.  CTA is taking a

stand against these cuts by joining in a  statewide day of action for our

students and the future of  California on March 4.

The CTA Board of Directors approved the recommendation from State  Council

to participate in a spring statewide day of action to  support funding for

public education and other social services. We  are asking every member to

participate in demonstrations and  activities at their school on the

morning of March 4 before school  starts. We are asking you to help lead

this effort and “Start the  Day for Students” as part of our ongoing

campaign to make our voices  heard about the painful effects of these cuts

on students and  teaching, and to engage our communities in supporting

public  education and building a better California for all of us.

We must also use this day as part of our first step toward reforming  the

state’s tax structure and providing additional revenues for  schools,

colleges and other critical services. This starts with  closing the

corporate tax breaks that were handed out to the state’s  largest

corporations last year. When class sizes are increasing,  educators are

being laid off and taxpayers are paying more, everyone  must be paying

their fair share.

Take urgent action now to save our students and our future.  Join  “Start

the Day for Students” on March 4! We must stand up for  students, public

education and our future.

State of California Schools: O'Connell

From Secretary O'Connell's State of the Schools address on Tues.

Now, I have just talked about things we have done and are doing. Yet, all of this amazing work has been accomplished under the dark cloud of a state budget disaster that has left our schools reeling. In just the last two budget years, $18 billion was cut from our schools. The Governor's current budget proposal would cut K-12 public education by another $2.4 billion, including cuts to the Class Size Reduction program, which I authored more than a decade ago. We already have seen class sizes increase across the state. School transportation and summer school programs have been canceled, and critical music, art, career technical education opportunities, and sports programs have been either scaled back or eliminated.

Thankfully, the $2.9 billion in federal stimulus funds from the Obama Administration threw a lifeline to our schools last year. The funds helped us avert even deeper cuts in services and personnel, make needed repairs to facilities, and advance high-quality preschool to help students and their families. Of course, this is one-time federal funding and if we do not find a way in California to appropriately invest in public education, we risk having to force our schools to further reduce instructional time, pack more kids into already crowded classrooms, permanently close libraries, lay off school nurses, and eliminate school transportation and sports programs, and make other draconian choices.

Corporate foundations said to be leaving California education

Peter Schrag  reports that some major foundations are reducing their investment in education in California. http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/?q=node/7377

While these groups do fund some progressive organizations, they also fund some others- such as Edsource.

It is an open question whether this foundation support is positive or negative

Students face a class struggle

At 2:29 p.m. on Jan. 12, Juan Macias, 19, a sophomore at San Francisco State University, sat in a cafe near the engineering firm where he works part time as an office assistant, staring at a laptop computer screen.

In one minute he would get a crucial opportunity to register for classes for the spring semester. “This is so nerve-wracking," he said as he waited for the clock to signal that his assigned registration period had begun.

Hours earlier, scrutinizing the class schedule, he considered about 30 courses — then had to rule all of them out. They were full. The last slot on the waiting list for a 146-seat introductory physics class he has been trying to join for a year had disappeared minutes before, taken by another student with an earlier registration period.

“You’re trying to compete with all the other students, when we all want education,” said Mr. Macias, a business major. “It really makes me angry.” His classes — the ones that had an opening — begin on Monday.

Cornel West on Martin Luther King

The Tavis Smiley Show


Click on Tavis Smiley to listen.

Boom ! Is it all over for Obama ?

Here are a quick few conclusions I draw from this spectacle:

-- We knew all along that the Democratic victories in 2006 and 2008 owed in great part to rejection of George W. Bush and a bankrupt Republican Party more than it did to a pro-active love for Democrats.

-- The election of Barack Obama did not heal the racial divide in America. He merely and temporarily bridged it because he was, indeed, an inspiring alternative to the crumb-bum Bushies (and that includes a dottering McCain and a wacky Palin).  But as soon as elected and the shine was off, the racial divide widened up again led by those strange creatures known as "independents" ( i.e. basically conservative white folks who look upon politics the way hotel guests view room service).

Read the entire blog at: Marc Cooper.  His blog is at http://marccooper.com/boom-is-it-all-over/ This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 at 9:27 pm and is filed under Main. 

Teachers' Letters to Obama

The Sleeping Giant Stirs

By Anthony Cody

In November, I accidentally launched a groundswell. I posted an open letter to President Barack Obama online and invited other teachers to join me in speaking out. I was amazed by the response. Other teacher bloggers joined in, and more than 600 signed up for a Facebook group called Teachers' Letters to Obama. Over 100 eloquent letters have been posted thus far, and more come in every day.
The overwhelming message is that, although we supported President Obama as a candidate and continue to have hope today, we do not feel heard by this administration, and have grave concerns about many of the actions of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
These are not the whines of the ineffective. Many contributors hold National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification and are leaders in their schools. If you want an in-depth window on what committed teachers are thinking, here it is.

---

On our test-centered accountability system:

“Our schools are struggling to inculcate in students a joy for learning. The rote-memorization, one-size-fits-all scripted programs, and testing-frenzied atmosphere is producing students who may eventually acquire basic skills but may have no interest in novels, no passion for mathematical thinking, and no curiosity about the past or present.
“Middle class parents (who can’t afford private schools) will continue to supplement their children’s education by paying for music and dance classes, instruction in foreign languages, summer science camps, exposure to art and performances, and so on. While such experiences used to be a part of the school day—and should be a part—now there is no time for anything other than reading and math, particularly in schools with low test scores.
“President Obama, do you recognize that these test-driven policies promoted by Arne Duncan will widen the achievement gap into a chasm? That our society will become even more inequitable?”

California budget and school funding

The Governor’s School Budget: The Race To Mediocrity

Peter Schrag. excerpts.

Those expectations represent far and away the biggest chunk of the governor’s “solution” in closing the state’s $20 billion deficit. The governor vows that if he doesn’t get all the money he wants from Washington, he’ll totally wipe out some of the health, welfare and other social services programs that he’d already cutting to the bone. But those cuts – plus his proposed raid on a major state program for young children – would affect the chances of closing the state’s achievement gaps almost as much, if not more, than cutting school spending.

(That Schwarzenegger accompanied his demand for the federal money with attacks on the federal health care program and, more generally, on the feds for stiffing California -- by inference a slap at California’s congressional representatives -- hardly improved his chances for any sort of federal help). 

In addition, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, the governor seems to be counting on nearly $900 million in estate tax revenue the state probably won’t get and ignores the cost of tax breaks for “green” technology.

But those are only the most obvious parts of the cadaverous budget plan he sent down the other day. Schwarzenegger pretends that it was the recession which put the biggest hole in his budget. But in fact the largest single element was the cost of litigation growing out of the baseless assumptions and illegal cuts in Schwarzenegger’s prior budgets. This year’s budget has a lot more of the same.

And while the governor tells Californians that he’s fully funding education, by almost every definition his budget falls well short of that. He’s whacking $1.2 billion out of administrative school funding even as the state and feds are demanding more from school administrators. And since “administration” includes everything from truant officers to school buses, it’s hard to know from where he expects the local districts to get it. He assumes that districts can save another $300 million by contracting out for services, but since many are already doing that, it’s hard to know where they’ll get it.

From the California Progress Report.

Read the entire piece at; http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/?q=node/7350

Haiti Crisis, please help

Dear Friends,

As you all know, Haiti's capital city of Port au Prince has been devastated by a catastrophic earthquake. Children's Hope, our humanitarian organization, has been serving the poorest of the poor in Port au Prince for several years. As I type this, Leisa and I are making arrangements to travel to Port au Prince to deliver medical supplies to a clinic we support in Cite Soleil, Haiti's largest and poorest slum. We hope to leave this Friday morning and arrive in Port au Prince Saturday.

If you would like to offer your solidarity as we support our Haitian sisters and brothers, please respond to this message with a monetary pledge for CHILDREN'S HOPE -- then drop a check in the mail to us at CHILDREN's HOPE, 3025A Cambridge Rd., Cameron Park, CA 95682. Any amount you can afford to contribute is very much appreciated. If you would prefer to donate online you can support our good friends at The Lamp for Haiti at their website: http://www.lampforhaiti.org/. We have worked closely with them for some time and know that every dollar you donate will go to those most in need.

From the botom of our hearts we thank you for your solidarity and generosity at this difficult time. As they say in Haiti, many hands make the burden lighter.

In Peace & Solidarity,
Paul & Leisa

Educators launch "Fight for California's Future"

Educators respond to Governor and Launch “Fight for California’s Future”

Created 01/14/2010 - 1:00am

By Marty Hittelman
California Federation of Teachers
Governor Schwarzenegger is leaving a clear legacy – a legacy of saying one thing and doing the opposite. On Wednesday, he claims he is not going to cut education; but on Friday he proposes to reduce the Proposition 98 guarantee by $892 million in 2009-10 and $1.5 billion in 2010-11. The governor proposes to eliminate the sales tax on gasoline (which helps fund Proposition 98) and increase the fuel excise tax (which does not help fund Proposition 98). How does that protect education?
The $892 million reduction in 2009-10 is more than the maximum that California could receive over four years in the Race to the Top funding, which the governor claims is so important to California. Of course, the more than $17 billion in cuts to education over the last two years dwarfs both of these amounts.  Schwarzenegger is using the budget crisis to promote some of his favorite issues, none of which would benefit the majority of people in California.
The money is clearly not the issue for the governor in the “Race to the Top” legislation.
First, he cuts $17 billion over the past two years from education, and suggests another $1.5 billion in state reductions in this budget proposal.  Then he turns around and says we need the $700 million in federal money.  Clearly, the money isn’t the priority.  He supports Race to the Top as a way to force his values on California’s educational systems.
•  The “reforms” that the governor wants will do little to improve education and in some cases will do actual harm.

Why Obama must take on Wall Street : R. Reich

A larger explanation, I am afraid, is the grip Wall Street has over the American political process. The Street is where the money is and money buys campaign commercials on television. Wall Street firms and executives have been uniquely generous to both parties, emerging as one of the largest benefactors of the Democrats. Between November 2008 and November 2009, Wall Street doled out $42m to lawmakers, mostly to members of the House and Senate banking committees and House and Senate leaders. In the first three quarters of 2009, the industry spent $344m on lobbying - making the Street one of the major powerhouses in the nation's capital…

Why David Sometimes Wins: Ganz

Posted this review is in part a response to the responses below by Miriam Pawel about her book. After attending her presentation and listening to her, I remain concerned about the narrative she presents.  We need more informed discussion. She notes some Chicano scholars who wrote testimonials for her book jacket.  I hope that they were well informed on the UFW.  Marshall Ganz certainly is.
Particularly disturbing were her selective use of quotes, her claim that the ALRB is a great law, and other out of context statements.

Why David Sometimes Wins; Leadership, Organization, and Strategy in the California Farm Worker Movement.  Marshall Ganz.  2009.  Oxford University Press.

To most people, even to union activists, the struggle to create the United Farm Workers Union (now part of the Change to Win Federation) is a tale from long ago and far away. Even to those of us who participated in these events, the memories of the great battles of the 60’s and 70’s are passing in importance. Now, along comes the just published book, Why David Sometimes Wins, to offer new insights into some of the complex history of building this particular social movement.

      Marshall Ganz retells  the important story of the creation of the first successful farm workers union for important analysis. The author was Director of Organizing for the United Farm Workers and served in a variety of positions including Executive Board Member between 1973 and 1982; his writing is that of a well-informed insider of one of the critical battles in union and Chicano history. The questions considered are important and relevant to union building, movement building and the interaction of the two today.

In the first chapter Ganz develops a sophisticated theses that the early victories of the union that became the UFW was successful primarily due to three major causal factors: the diversity of their leadership (including the diversity of their ties to different networks), the great motivation of the early leaders, and their creative decision making in developing and adapting strategies or what he calls “strategic capacity”.  The chapter is adapted from his Harvard thesis on the same subject.  

Critic of United Farm Workers speaks in Sacramento

Miriam Pawel, who can be described as a critic of the United Farm Workers union and the legacy of Cesar Chavez is speaking at  least two  venues in Sacramento today. Pawel discusses her new book,  The Union of their Dreams- Power, Hope and Struggle in Cesar Chavez’s Farm Worker Movement.

Responses to her charges and her lack of objectivity exist in a number of places.

Here are a few.

Farmworker Movement Documentation Project :: Farmworker Movement ...

Posted by: LeRoy Chatfield (IP Logged). Date: January 10, 2006 09:20PM. Los Angeles Times reporter, Miriam Pawel, has written a breathless, judgmental, ...

www.farmworkermovement.us

UFW.org

Beyond the Fields.  Randy Shaw.  Review. http://talkingunion.wordpress.com/2009/03/10/beyond-the-fields-cesar-chavez/

Marshall Ganz, Why David Sometimes Wins.  Review.

http://talkingunion.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=4561

Race to the Top and the Sacramento Bee

Race to the Top

There was a well-written piece by Laurel Rosenhall of the Sacramento Bee of Jan.11, on the role of the CTA and Ed Voice in passing the current California Race to the Top bill.  Here: http://www.sacbee.com/education/story/2452085.html

                The conflict is far more than CTA vs. EdVoice and their  corporate sponsors.  There are a number of reasons to be opposed to the Race to the Top  proposals including dissent from people who know testing and its limits well. Nichols and Berliner (2007) and Bracey's, Education Hell: Rhetoric vs. Reality, among others deal with these issues. There are significant substantive reasons to oppose RTTT.

Trumka describes issues of working people- and a vision for change

Trumka  Presents  VISION FOR LABOR'S FUTURE

Newly elected AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka discussed the state of the economy and its impact on families, as well as some of the proposed legislation that could impact the labor movement. Speaking at the Nat'l Press Club, the leader of the nation’s largest labor union will join other labor leaders to discuss health reform with Pres. Obama later today.

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/program/291173-1

The other plot to Wreck the U.S.

The Other Plot to Wreck America

By FRANK RICH

Published: January 9, 2010

THERE may not be a person in America without a strong opinion about what coulda, shoulda been done to prevent the underwear bomber from boarding that Christmas flight to Detroit. In the years since 9/11, we’ve all become counterterrorists. But in the 16 months since that other calamity in downtown New York — the crash precipitated by the 9/15 failure of Lehman Brothers — most of us are still ignorant about what Warren Buffett called the “financial weapons of mass destruction” that wrecked our economy. Fluent as we are in Al Qaeda and body scanners, when it comes to synthetic C.D.O.’s and credit-default swaps, not so much.

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Frank Rich

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Barry Blitt

Readers' Comments

What we don’t know will hurt us, and quite possibly on a more devastating scale than any Qaeda attack. Americans must be told the full story of how Wall Street gamed and inflated the housing bubble, made out like bandits, and then left millions of households in ruin. Without that reckoning, there will be no public clamor for serious reform of a financial system that was as cunningly breached as airline security at the Amsterdam airport. And without reform, another massive attack on our economic security is guaranteed. Now that it can count on government bailouts, Wall Street has more incentive than ever to pump up its risks — secure that it can keep the bonanzas while we get stuck with the losses.
The window for change is rapidly closing. Health care, Afghanistan and the terrorism panic may have exhausted Washington’s already limited capacity for heavy lifting, especially in an election year. The White House’s chief economic hand, Lawrence Summers, has repeatedlyannounced that “everybody agrees that the recession is over” — which is technically true from an economist’s perspective and certainly true on Wall Street, where bailed-out banks are reporting record profits and bonuses. The contrary voices of Americans who have lost pay, jobs, homes and savings are either patronized or drowned out entirely by a political system where the banking lobby rules in both parties and the revolving door between finance and government never stops spinning.

The costs of the economic crisis in the states

The current  economic crisis has forced the cutting of higher education, of k-12 education, and of social welfare systems. What caused this crisis ? It was caused by the greed and avarice of the financial class and aided by the politicians of both major political parties.

Major banks and corporations looted the economy creating an international meltdown.  Now, they have been rewarded with bail out money.  The crisis was not caused by students, teachers, public employees  nor recipients of social security.     Now we have cuts in parks,  in universities, in nurses, libraries.  School children did not create this crisis.  Foster care children did not create this crisis.

The major bankers, finance capitalists in the U.S. robbed the bank last year  – and the federal treasury.  They took hundreds of billions of dollars – and you and I will have to pay for it.    Goldman Sachs alone took $10 Billion.  For example,  Ken Lewis of Bank of America received an 81 million dollar pension.  They have not even been punished.  One thing we should do is arrest the top 100 executives and CEO’s of these companies, give them a fair trial, and throw them in jail.  Until we arrest some people – there will be no real changes.”

Our financial system as a whole crashed not because of one bank. Goldman Sachs certainly played a major role as did JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and CitiCorp, along with the many corporate finance institutions  like Bear Sterns, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, WaMu, Depfa, Glitnir .  We had a systemic breakdown because nearly all of our policy makers, academics, politicians, and pundits promoted  a failed, self serving  ideology of self-correcting financial markets.

(Including specifically the econmics profession ) Finance  profiteers walked off with big bucks while contributing to the  crash  of the system. The looting continues to this day.

So, the financiers robbed the banks and created the Great Recession.  – and the government allowed them to do so.  Government policy, including the work of Geithner, Summers, and both the Bush and  the Obama Administration, regularly placed the interests of Wall Street ahead of the interests of working people.  Our economy was looted –we  lost $11 Trillion.   Now, working people are losing their homes.  Over 10,000,000 jobs have been lost.  Over 15 million people are unemployed. .  Nationally, unemployment  for African Americans  is over 15.4%,  for Latinos  it is over 12.7%. For African Americans and Latinos under 25 years of age; it is over 25%.  That is young people in the   African Americans and  Latino communities are in a Depression.

Politicians, pundits, and school reform

Teachers Should Be Seen and Not Heard

by Anthony  Mullen, Teacher of the Year

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teacher_of_the_year/2010/01/teachers_should_be_seen_and_no.html

I am a fly on the wall sitting at a table. Seated at a round table are three state governors, one state senator, a Harvard professor and author, and a strange little man who assumes the role of group moderator. The strange little man asks the group to talk about their experiences at the education conference. The ex governor from the South begins to talk about how the traditional school model is not working and the problem of too many teachers who do not understand what they teach. Teachers, he complains, are not prepared to teach in 21st century classrooms because they possess, in his words, "only 20th century skills." He does not provide specific examples or elaborate upon his theory but the other guests at the table nod their heads in agreement.

A governor from the Midwest first pays homage to the governor from the South. He tells us that his "good friend "is "right on target" about teachers not prepared to teach in 21st century classrooms. The governor from the Midwest thanks the governor from the South for presenting "the best talk at the conference." Not to be undone, the governor from the South responds by telling the governor from the Midwest that he "presented the best talk at the conference." When both men are done patting each other's backs, the Midwest governor complains that teachers, particularly math teachers, don't know their subject materials. Again, the other guests at the table nod their heads in agreement. All is civil.

The third governor hails from a cold northern state but his words have a scorching tone. "The problem with schools, "he says, "is a lack of accountability. Schools need to be guided by specific core curriculum standards and data-driven assessment." The governor continues his diatribe. "I don't understand why schools are not managed more like businesses." This time the guests nod their heads vigorously, not unlike those small bobble head dolls seen on car dashboards.

STEM funding in Race to the Top

Why STEM Fever?
Sent to Education Week, Jan 7, 2009

Why the push for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education) ("Obama Unveils Projects to Bolster STEM Teaching, January 7)?

One rationale is the claim that the US needs to improve STEM education to compete with other countries.  In reality, the US is already very competitive, ranking second in the world (out of 133 countries) in "global competitiveness," outranked only by tiny Switzerland (World Competitiveness Report, World Economic Forum), and we have been number one for many years.  Also the US ranks 5th out of 133 in "availability of scientists & engineers," second in "quality of scientific research institutions" and first in "university-industry research collaboration."

Move Your Money- 2

I am a fan of the Move Your Money campaign. ( if you have any money)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-tv/move-your-money-arianna-a_b_413933.html
In addition to complaining about Geithner, Larry Summers, and the finance capital  domination of of the Obama camp, Do Something.
And, help the campaign go viral.

Why School ?

For some time now, our national discussion of education has been dominated by a language of test scores and economic competitiveness.   To be sure, a major goal of American education is to prepare the young to make a living. But parents send their children to school for many other reasons as well: intellectual, social, civic, ethical and aesthetic.  Historically, these justifications for schooling have held more importance.  Not today.

…

It matters a great deal how we collectively talk about education, for that discussion both reflects and, in turn, affects policy decisions about what gets taught and tested, about funding, about what we expect schooling will contribute to our lives. It matters as well, how we think about intelligence, how narrowly or broadly we define it.  Our beliefs about intelligence affect everything  from the way we organize school and work to how we treat each other .  And,  it surely matters how e think about opportunity. “

Mike Rose.  Why School.  Reclaiming Education for All of Us. (2009)

Why School ?

"For some time now, our national discussion of education has been dominated by a language of test scores and economic competitiveness.   To be sure, a major goal of American education is to prepare the young to make a living. But parents send their children to school for many other reasons as well: intellectual, social, civic, ethical and aesthetic.  Historically, these justifications for schooling have held more importance.  Not today.

…

It matters a great deal how we collectively talk about education, for that discussion both reflects and, in turn, affects policy decisions about what gets taught and tested, about funding, about what we expect schooling will contribute to our lives. It matters as well, how we think about intelligence, how narrowly or broadly we define it.  Our beliefs about intelligence affect everything  from the way we organize school and work to how we treat each other .  And,  it surely matters how e think about opportunity. “

p.5. 

Mike Rose.  Why School.  Reclaiming Education for All of Us. (2009)

Teachers ask for some leadership ; or at least some courage

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE ADMINISTRATION & FACULTY OF THE HARVARD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

- JANUARY 4, 2010 -

THREE CLASSROOM TEACHERS ASK YOU TO SPEAK OUT

The Harvard Graduate School of Education pursues the goal of training
leaders in the field, and will soon offer a new degree in educational leadership. The
school's website mission statement reads as follows:

Mission

To prepare leaders in education and to generate knowledge to improve student
opportunity, achievement, and success.


Overview

Education touches every aspect of human activity. At the Harvard Graduate
School of Education

(HGSE), we believe studying and improving the enterprise of education are
central to the health and future of society.

Since its founding in 1920, the Ed School has been training leaders to
transform education in the United States and around the globe. Today, our faculty, students, and alumni are studying and solving the most critical challenges facing education: student assessment,the achievement gap,
urban education, and teacher shortages, to name just a few. Our work is
shaping how people teach, learn, and lead in schools and colleges as well as in after-school programs, high-tech companies, and international organizations. The HGSE community is pushing the frontiers of education, and the effects of our entrepreneurship are improving the world.


As veteran public school teachers, we are disappointed that the HGSE has not
shown the leadership it professes by speaking out against the unprecedented
attack on public education. To be sure, there have been courageous voices on your
faculty who have defended public schools and the endangered idea of educating the whole
child. We know that a thoughtful faculty does not think with one mind, and that there
will always be differences about what constitutes the most effective pedagogies or
curricula. But we have not heard the HGSE as an institution speak out on issues fundamental to the educational well-being of children and their schools.

On Leadership, democracy, and schooling

Deborah Meier on Leadership, democracy, and schooling

http://deborahmeier.com/index.htm

A Lost decade for U.S. workers

By Neil Irwin

Washington Post Staff Writer

Saturday, January 2, 2010

For most of the past 70 years, the U.S. economy has grown at a steady clip, generating perpetually higher incomes and wealth for American households. But since 2000, the story is starkly different.

The past decade was the worst for the U.S. economy in modern times, a sharp reversal from a long period of prosperity that is leading economists and policymakers to fundamentally rethink the underpinnings of the nation's growth.

Fiscal Crisis of the State

Explains why California school budgets are being cut.  Why university budgets and health care budgets are being cut.
There are several videos here.  Look at the one entitled Fiscal Crisis of the State.
Prepare yourself for the coming conflicts.

http://vimeo.com/channels/71711