Advocating Public Education Roundup 10W07

In LA teachers take on the charters Sarah Knopp and Rebecca Sun, members of United Teachers Los Angeles, report on the fight to stop the privatization of LA's public schools. Andy Libson, a science teacher at Mission High School, and member of United Educators of San Francisco and the Educators for a Democratic Union reform caucus, has some questions for Superintendent Carlos Garcia in Join us in resisting the cuts.

The latest issue of Regeneración features extensive coverage on "The Attacks on Public Education." "Regeneración is a publication of the Association of Raza Educators Press. Its Editorial Board consists of A.R.E. members. The views expressed by the authors do not necessarily represent the views of the Association of Raza Educators. Regeneración is published quarterly, three times per year."

Howard Blume explores the possibility of a parcel tax to help with the budget crunch in L.A. Unified to seek $100 parcel tax hike. In it Wall Street huckster cum public dole recipient CMO CEO Marco Petruzzi has the audacity to discuss "seniority and tenure." It's funny to hear the same people who defend bonuses for Goldman Sachs discuss so called "merit pay" schemes for real working class people like teachers. Given the incredibly low API's of most of his corporate Green Dot schools, and their inability to serve all SWD students, maybe the very wealthy Petruzzi should consider revamping a system rewarding longevity over merit starting with his own massive six digit salary.

Of course, Petruzzi's unqualified comments pale in comparison to everyone's favorite corporate welfare CCSA/CMO leech — Jed Wallace. Here's the comments I typed in response to his extreme right wing nonsense:

Given the astronomical sums of money the CCSA/CMO parasites like Jed Wallace are sucking out of the public trough, it's somewhat surprising that he'd even care to comment on this story. Make not mistake though. When the insatiably greedy Jed Wallace says the CCSA and his band of well heeled Corporate CMO CEOs would "oppose a tax with no benefit for them," he's telling the truth. In the elitist world of Jed Wallace and the charter plutocrats, they believe every tax dollar we pay should go directly into their pockets. Petruzzi, Wallace, Barr, Burton, and all the barons of the lucrative charter charade are laughing at us all the way to the bank!

Are Charter Schools Civil Rights Failures? (Yes! -rds) "A recent study by the Civil Rights Project at the University of California-Los Angeles says that charter schools are a civil rights failure, citing increasingly segregated enrollment as one of many issues. On the other hand, many experts say that charter schools are a success for students and the community at large. The study titled "Choice without Equity: Charter School Segregation and the Need for Civil Rights Standards." Host Michel Martin discusses the study’s findings with Gary Orfield, co-director of the Civil Rights Project who oversaw the research."

More than half of California's school districts have the good sense to avoid caving in to Arne "Katrina Schadenfreude" Ducan's RttT neoliberal privatization RttT blackmail scheme? Bravo I say.

Kenneth Libby points out Imagine Schools completes sale of 7 charters for $61 million: "Just like traditional public schools, right?"

How do you spell conflict of interest? I spell it Scholastic Inc. The suppliers of pre-packaged "banking pedagogy," and favorites of Capitalism lovin' Corporate CMO Charters like Green Dot Public [sic] Schools [1] counts none other than Supt. Cortines on their payroll. Kudos to the Los Angeles Times for actually standing up to this kind of mendacity and malfeasance in Cortines' Scholastic entanglement, it's about time! Now if they would just take on Matt Hill and the other monsters of privatization.

NOTES:
[1] Try reading Scholastic Inc.'s homage to Steve Barr and his corporate empire someday. Be sure to have a receptacle for vomit at the ready.

March 4 National Day of Action to Defend Education