Teaching Trump's "Informed Patriotism," curriculum that bypasses school boards, and Billionaire Privateers pursue Profits through taxpayer funding! What could go wrong...?

Tennessee public schools, like Wisconsin and every other state, are seeing big money donors finally getting privatization passed thanks to the midterm elections donations. 

Seeing an opening created by parent frustration over pandemic school closings and the totally fabricated critical race theory controversy, privatization lobbyists are going to succeed in removing local control and school board control to teach whatever they want. 

It's called "school choice," a choice decided by billionaire donors trying to profit from the massive amount of taxpayer money sent to schools.  

#1 Story: Informed Patriotism-Trump Style: Newschannel5 has done an amazing job exposing what busy parents haven't had time to investigate for themselves. Is this really what they want?

WTVF: If Gov. Bill Lee gets his way, Tennessee will become a major player in a network of taxpayer-funded charter schools set up by a Michigan college with close ties to former President Donald Trump. Hillsdale's "1776 Curriculum" shows how it wants schools to teach civics. It relies on the 1776 Commission appointed by Trump to develop a "patriotic education" for the nation's schools. Lee calls Hillsdale College's approach to teaching civics "informed patriotism."

#2 Story: Big Money buying Elections and Privatization of Education: Newschannel5 has done an amazing job. Could it be as easy as choice advocates sincerely being oblivious to what they're really doing, you know, lobbying? That's troubling as hell:

The students are the ambassadors, some as young as seven. "This is an opportunity to put those kids on display and allow us to see all the great things that are happening in the schools," said Maya Bugg with the Tennessee Charter School Center. The children's faces serve as faces for a multimillion-dollar lobbying effort, although the people leading those campaigns don't always like to call it that.

NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked Maya Bugg, Tennessee School Charter Center, "Who is funding this lobbying effort?"

Bugg: "Which lobbying effort?"

NewsChannel 5: "For charter schools."

Bugg replied, "So we are a non-profit -- so minimal effort is put into lobbying. We do a lot of education. We educate legislators about the issues."

The truth is the Tennessee School Charter Center employs a big firm that calls itself "Tennessee's Lobbying Powerhouse." They received funding from billionaire Bill Gates and the Walton family of Walmart fame. So far, NewsChannel 5 has counted at least 61 registered lobbyists on the school privatization side, compared to just 17 lobbying for traditional public schools.

The Plan? A Low-wage Life thanks to Corporate backed Private Schools!!!

Public education continues to take a beating from Republicans, hell-bent on privatizing everything.

What I can't figure out is why the public is allowing all this to happen despite their own overwhelming support for teacher and school funding. Go figure.

So, where are Republican privatization efforts taking us? Let's start with this Midland, Texas horror story rolling out nationwide:

Kristen Covington went to public schools in the Midland Independent School District. She and her husband have kids age 2 and 5, and education weighs on her mind a lot. “Private school is not something that I can afford," she said. "My son’s going to be starting kindergarten ... We’re sending him to a charter school ... a lot of good MISD teachers have moved to that school.” The MISD teachers who have stuck around, that is. “The teachers are moving away because the cost of living is going up, but their pay’s not going up.” She explained that good teachers get poached by private schools or other higher-paying school districts. MISD schools, she said, have lots of permanent substitute teachers.

"Permanent substitute teachers," and "private school is not something I can afford." The GOP said the Dems were just being partisan, but as it turns out, their warnings were on point. Do we need to make getting an education more difficult and uncertain for every American family's?

The following is a nightmare scenario that's real. It's part of the "force people to work for anything" agenda we're seeing now with mandatory work requirements for food stamps, unemployment, and healthcare. Don't say we weren't warned: 

The Corporate Plan to Groom U.S. Kids for Servitude by Wiping Out Public Schools:They began to study the tsunami of corporate-backed legislation that swept the country in early 2011 in the wake of Citizens United—the 2010 Supreme Court decision that gave corporations the green light to spend unlimited sums to influence the political system … Headlines blamed globalization and technology for the squeeze ... the activities of business lobbying groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) ... promote privatization ... the Koch network. Again and again, corporate-backed lobbyists were able to subvert the clear preferences of the public ... the most effective organizations were public education. 

For these U.S. corporations, undermining the public school system was the Holy Grail ... by lobbying to make changes like increasing class sizes, pushing for online instruction, lowering accreditation requirements for teachers, replacing public schools with privately-run charters, getting rid of publicly elected school boards and a host of other tactics, Big Business was aiming to dismantle public education. 

Step one:These titans of business wished to completely change the way Americans and their children viewed their life potential. Transforming education was the key. Raise fears about an American educational crisis that did not, in fact, exist … the reading and math scores of American students have remained largely unchanged for forty years. Nonetheless, the corporate-backed alarmists worked to convince the public that the school system was in dire condition.

Step two: was to claim that unproven reforms to fix the fictional crisis, like online learning, were sure to improve outcomes, despite the fact that such schemes go directly against hard evidence and deny students the socialization that is crucial to a child’s progress. Sometimes the reformers said the changes were needed because of budget deficits; other times, they claimed altruistic aims to improve the quality schools.

Why would business lobbies deliberately strive to create what amounts to widespread education failure ... (why would) Corporate leaders ... devote so much time and attention to making sure, for example, that no public high school student in the state of Florida could take home a diploma without taking an online course. (Yes, that’s now law in the Sunshine State) … big corporations are actually more worried about something far more pragmatic: how to protect themselves from the masses as they engineer rising economic inequality.

“One of the ways I think that they try to avoid a populist backlash is by lowering everybody’s expectations of what we have a right to demand as citizens. When you think about what Americans think we have a right to, just by living here, it’s really pretty little. Most people don’t think you have a right to healthcare or a house. You don’t necessarily have a right to food and water. But people think you have a right to have your kids get a decent education.” Not for long, if Big Business has its way. 

Large corporations are scoring huge successes in replacing this system with a two-tiered model and a whole new notion of identity.

The new system, the children of the wealthy will be taught a broad, rich curriculum in small classes led by experienced teachers. The kind of thing everybody wants for kids. But the majority of America’s children will be consigned to a narrow curriculum delivered in large classes by inexperienced staff —or through digital platforms with no teachers at all.

Most kids will be trained for a life that is more circumscribed, less vibrant, and, quite literally, shorter, than what past generations have known. They will be groomed for insecure service jobs that dull their minds and depress their spirits.

Economist Peter Temin, former head of MIT’s economics department and INET grantee, has written a book, The Vanishing Middle Class. According to Temin, America is clearly breaking down into two sectors: Roughly 20% of the population are members of what he calls the “FTE sector” (i.e., the finance, technology, and electronics sectors). These lucky people get college educations, land good jobs, enjoy social networks that enhance their success, and generally have access to enough money to meet most of life’s challenges. The remaining 80% live in a world nothing like this; they live in different geographies and have different legal statuses, healthcare systems, and schools. This is the low-wage sector, where life is getting harder.

People in the low-wage sector carry debt. They worry about insecure jobs and unemployment. They get sick more often and die younger than previous generations had. If they are able go to college, they end up in debt. “While members of the first sector act,” Temin has said, “these people are acted upon.”

The dismantling of public education, as Temin sees it, will shut off that route for vastly more people. Like the privatization of prisons, which has increased incarceration rates and cut the mobility path off for more Americans, putting schools into private hands will land even more on the road to nowhere. Even those who were born into the middle class will increasingly get pushed back.

Money controls Republican Candidate for State Superintendent in what was supposed to be a nonpartisan race.

Big business wants to turn our children's education into a money making business for charters, private/religious schools, and virtual/online schools, and from what I've seen so far, there money is talking. 

In fact, the right-wing candidates weren’t shy about the influence of big business/big money. It's a stunning admission:

Former candidate John Humphries said the two (Lowell Holtz) met after speaking to "business leaders," who Humphries declined to identify. Holtz said,"It’s true that a number of business people asked us to get together and discuss options for working together" Holtz proposed a guaranteed, three-year, $150,000 job with the Department of Public Instruction should one of them (win).

After a freedom of information request, One Wisconsin Now turned over a few revealing emails from Holtz:

AP: State superintendent candidate Lowell Holtz sent an email detailing his support among Republicans and soliciting campaign advice using his Whitnall Public School account during a school day, an apparent violation of Wisconsin law.

Check out this interesting "big money" business name in one of the illegal emails:

Using the subject line of "What do you think? I have her e-mail address" Holtz sent the draft of a message he addressed to someone named Diane. Holtz does not identify her by last name and he did not respond to an email asking if the person he was referring to was billionaire Republican donor Diane Hendricks, of Beloit. Her spokeswoman also did not respond to an email asking whether she received such a message from Holtz.

Holtz also wrote that former Republican Rep. Don Pridemore put him in touch with Matt Batzel, who trains conservative activists through the national group American Majority ... Holtz wrote that Batzel suggested that he contact Diane to "share some of your expertise and advice with our committee."

What is supposed to be a nonpartisan race, well, forget that:

In the email, Holtz describes being supported conservative Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Republican state Rep. Jim Ott. Holtz's wife wrote back and suggested not mentioning Vos: "Fitzgerald seems to be more well liked in the republican camp," she said.

But Holtz's support from Don Pridemore, a former candidate himself for the state superintendent job, should be a warning to voters everywhere. I wrote this in a previous post... 

...Here, Pridemore rips the new common core standards in our public schools, claiming they're part of a European plot to dumb down America for competitive reasons. Why would they do that? Pridemore says it's all coming from the UN, and guys like Bill Ayers. Would I kid you? You'll laugh, cry, and vote Tony Evers. From WKOW's Capitol City Sunday with Greg Nuemann:

Pridemore: "So if you were any other country in the world, wouldn't you want to maybe knock America down a few pegs or two...to me, that's what's going on here, and we need to be aware of it..."

Neumann: "Where is this coming from though, in terms of you feeling like it is something that, I don't know if you want to call it a plot against America, where do you get that information?"

Pridemore: "Well it's coming from the UN. The UN I would argue has never been really a friend of America...you look at some of the left's ideas, even Bill Ayers has weighed in on education being one of the major factors in changing a country. If we can get the kids early and often with a change of ideas, America was founded on freedom, and all this detracts, ah, from that freedom."

State Superintendent Challengers/Businesses have Plans for Privatizing Public Schools.

The privateers of our public schools just exposed their slimy underbellies. Ends justify the means/or whatever it takes to get the job?

It looks like the candidate challengers to State Superintendent Tony Evers just made it clear what really matters to them, and it ain't education. You can't make dirty politics like this up...:

Candidate John Humphries said in an interview with the Wisconsin State Journal that during discussions between he and opponent Lowell Holtz about the possibility of the two working together instead of running against each other, Holtz proposed in writing that either he or Humphries should drop out in exchange for a guaranteed, three-year, $150,000 job with the Department of Public Instruction should one of them defeat incumbent Tony Evers in the general election.

Once the privateers eliminate the publically controlled schools, business responds something like this:

Humphries said the two met after speaking to "business leaders," who Humphries declined to identify. 

"It’s true that we had breakfast together. It’s true that a number of business people asked us to get together and discuss options for working together because they thought we would have a better chance," said Holtz. "There was no specific proposal. There were ideas that were thrown around. They were ideas."

How real is any of this and how outraged are these two challengers? What a circus. Here's the proposal:

 "suggestions from business people that were put in writing because the business people asked for them to be put in writing." - Holtz

Private College ITT closes 130 campuses, stranding 35,000 students because it mislead students about "quality" programs, and pushing students into risky loans. Damn government regulation.

With the push for educational savings accounts to pay for private K-12 schools, you'd think people would be more wary about this whole scheme after seeing overnight closings and mismanagement every week in the headlines.

Well take a good look at a similar private system in higher education if you want to see how this privatization model will play out. It's an idea owned lock, stock and barrel by the Republican Party (ALEC). The party of "ideas" has a private bridge to sell you...and the taxpayers will be on the hook:

AP: The for-profit college chain ITT Technical Institute is shutting down all 130 of its U.S. campuses, (stranding) 35,000 students, saying Tuesday it can't survive recent sanctions by the U.S. Department of Education.

You'd think they would have been considerate enough not to waited until school started?

ITT Educational Services announced that campuses won't open for the fall term that was scheduled to begin Sept. 12, leaving students scrambling for last-minute options since many U.S. colleges already have started fall classes. ITT also cut more than 8,000 jobs immediately.

Ouch, damn big government bureaucracy's red tape and burdensome regulations...or not:

The chain was banned Aug. 25 from enrolling new students who used federal financial aid, because the company had become a risk to students and taxpayers. The department also ordered ITT to pay $152 million within 30 days to help cover student refunds and other liabilities if the chain closed.

Why not leave these private schools alone for gods sake, you know, the free market?

Days before those sanctions were announced, ITT's accreditor reported the chain had failed to meet several basic standards … It had also been investigated by state and federal authorities who accused ITT of pushing students into risky loans and of misleading students about the quality of programs.

Acting surprised after all the investigations and warnings, the CEO whined of course about the very regulation that caught him:

ITT Educational Services CEO Kevin Modany told reporters ITT was the victim of a "regulatory assault" and never had the chance to defend itself. Modany added ITT had offered to "wind down" its operations gradually … Department Undersecretary Ted Mitchell however said ITT never made a formal proposal.

Republicans love the old saying, buyer beware, because someone makes a lot money, and someone like everyday Americans, will lose a lot of money. Misleading school advertising and no accountability fostered all this. That's capitalism, and that's coming your way with private K-12: 

Under President Barack Obama, the Education Department has led a crackdown on for-profit colleges that have misled students or failed to deliver the results they promise. The now-defunct Corinthian College chain agreed to sell or close more than 90 U.S. colleges in 2014 amid a fraud investigation over advertising practices. The department is also deciding whether to cut ties with the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, the group that accredited ITT and Corinthian.

The private school horror is affecting ITT students and instructors right here in Madison. WISC:

Social Security Expansion exposes Ryan's Cuts as a Costly Delay we can't Afford.

Paul Ryan's repackaged cuts and privatization plans for social security will be getting a lot of attention in the presidential race. Not only will the cuts and delayed benefits not solve the solvency problem, but the time wasted going down that road will only increase the costs for true reform later.

I've put together a couple of Motley Fool opinion pieces that I think most accurately describes the Democratic reform plans to expand Social Security. If you want to debate and crush your conservative friends mindless argument that it won't be there for them when they retire, tell them the following:

Hillary Clinton's Plan: Let's take a closer look at some of the measures Clinton has suggested. It has been projected that fully 77% of the trust funds' shortfall could be eliminated by increasing the Social Security tax rate for employers and employees from its current 6.2% to 7.2% in 2022 and 8.2% in 2052.

It's also been estimated that 71% could be wiped out by eliminating the earnings cap over a 10-year period. If both changes were enacted, then the program's funding shortfalls would, in theory, evaporate.

Clinton also wants to help women who have reduced their lifetime SS benefits when they took time to raise families and provide care for sick family members. It's a unique but important idea:

Clinton has also voiced support for implementing a "caregiver" tax credit of 20% of the costs tied to caregiving -- the credit would max out at $6,000 -- and expanding Social Security benefits for caregivers, too. That's evidence of her support for women, because women collect smaller average benefit checks than men, and it's often because they worked part-time or not at all while they cared for children, elderly parents, or ailing loved ones.

Obama now support SS expansion too: The stats below are rarely explained, but are crucial to understanding the whole point of SS expansion. You'll realize just how bad the cuts would make things:

Obama called for expansion of the Social Security program; "It's time we finally made Social Security more generous and increased its benefits so that today's retirees and future generations get the dignified retirement that they've earned."

According to the latest Gallup survey, 59% of currently retired seniors count on Social Security to generate the majority of their income. Add in the seniors who responded that Social Security is a minor source of monthly income, and 90% of all seniors surveyed by Gallup rely at least somewhat on income from Social Security to make end meets during retirement. That's a high figure.

Boomers are retiring at a rate of around 10,000 per day, and essentially will be doing so through 2030. Social Security's investment holdings simply aren't earning much in the way of interest thanks to accommodative monetary policy from the Federal Reserve, which has kept interest rates low on interest-bearing assets.
 According to the Center for Retirement Research (CRR), many of the most popular solutions to fix Social Security simply don't cover the full breadth of the income shortfall. Raising the payroll tax earnings cap would take care of about 30% of the financial shortfall of the program. 

The above figures take into account simply maintaining the status quo. My best guess is that a solution to fix Social Security is probably going to include a payroll tax hike across the board, regardless of income, as well as potential means-testing that reduces benefits on well-to-do persons.

While Republicans waste valuable time "debating" changes no one in their party seems to agree with, the delay will only cost us more. The bottom line: Cuts and delayed benefits will make things worse:

The 2015 Board of Trustees report estimated that a 2.68% tax increase, or presumably a 1.34% increase for employer and employee, would take care of the upcoming deficit woes. The Trustees suggest that the longer Congress waits to enact these tax increases, the higher the increases would need to be to cover the projected cash shortfall. 

Washington State Supreme Court says Charter Schools unconstitutional, unaccountable; Gov. Kasich's Charter influenced Corruption.

It's a ruling that could slow down the school privatization movement, and give taxpayers second thoughts about the unaccountable ways their money is being spent.

According to the Seattle Times, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled 6-3 charter schools to be unconstitutional.

In the ruling, Chief Justice Barbara Madsen wrote that charter schools aren’t “common schools” because they’re governed by appointed rather than elected boards. Therefore, “money that is dedicated to common schools is unconstitutionally diverted to charter schools.”
The ruling is a victory for a coalition that ask(ed) a judge to declare the law unconstitutional for “improperly diverting public-school funds to private organizations that are not subject to local voter control.”

State's that are now dominated by Republican super majorities plan to change what earlier framers of their state constitutions tried to protect us from:

It seems as though a door may be open for restructuring charters … In 2011, the Georgia Supreme Court struck down a 2008 law that created a state commission which have been legal in the state since 1993. In 2012, voters approved a constitutional amendment that reinstated the state commission.

Republicans Attack the Judicial Branch…Again: It’s time the public take notice of what is now a familiar tactic by Republicans; attack judges and justices that don’t agree with conservative orthodoxy. Take Kansas for instance, where GOP legislators unconstitutionally took away the State Supreme Courts power to select district judges because they didn’t like their rulings on abortion, capital punishment and education funding. That's happening everywhere. Here’s one Washington state Republicans bizarre upside down response that contradicts reality:

Rep. Chad Magendanz, R-Issaquah, and ranking member on the House Education Committee and a charter-school supporter, said he was stunned by the decision. “I’m shocked. I’m worried about the political aspects about this. The court is becoming too much of ‘a political animal.”

That's not all, Charters may sink Gov. Kasich's run for president. Since charter school leaders are some of the biggest donors to the Ohio Republican Party, one Gov. Kasich political appointees and husband of his former chief of staff took it upon himself to make charter school results look really good to the public. Again, if Republicans can't win on the ideas front, cheat:

The Enquirer received records that may clarify who was involved in the charter-school misconduct. What we know now: David Hansen, Ohio's school-choice director, resigned in July, the weekend before Kasich launched his presidential campaign. Hansen admitted he intentionally had scrubbed data when he was completing evaluations of the groups that sponsor charter schools.

Skirting guidelines outlined in state law, he omitted failing grades for online and dropout-recovery schools in an effort to make the charter-school sponsors look better overall. Hansen is the husband of Beth Hansen, who served as Kasich’s chief of staff until he launched his presidential campaign, which she now manages. The charter-school situation takes on additional significance because it involves a high-level conservative priority. Republicans have prioritized sending state money to charter schools, charter school leaders are among the biggest donors to Ohio Republicans, especially in the Legislature.

One final thought: If Republicans blame the increasing availability of federal student loan money for the rising cost of tuition, why are they opening the floodgates for more state taxpayer money for K-12 private tuition?

Of course in reality, college tuition increased due to GOP state funding cuts, but using their BS narrative, I thought it was interesting contradiction.  

Middleton Superintendent's Open Letter to Public exposes real world effect of Walker cuts to Education.

The voices of educators statewide made it clear to touring Republicans legislators they did not like the purely conservative agenda targeting education for cuts and privatization.

Their voice, and the massive turnout of parents who also spoke in opposition to education cuts, are now just a part of the GOP's fading memory. 

That is until this open letter to the Middleton-Cross Plains Area Community hit the media today.

Residents and Parents in the Middleton-Cross Plains Area Should Know…

Ten items in the State Budget that significantly impact our schools:

1. Middleton-Cross Plains Area Schools, and school districts across the state, will have their state aid cut to allow for voucher expansion; these are public tax dollars used to pay for a student’s private education. Voucher expansion will mean less money for public schools, including our school district. Any decision that is made to publicly fund religious and other private schools will diminish the quality of education for our students.

2. This budget drives Wisconsin under the national average in per pupil spending (according to Michael Griffith, a senior policy analyst for the Education Commission of the States). Wisconsin has had a proud tradition of adequately funding our public school system. The legislature is pouring money into private schools at the expense of maintaining a public system that has been a source of pride in our state for more than 100 years.

3. In Year 1 up to 67 students from MCPASD could receive vouchers to attend private religious or secular schools. $7,856 for each high school student from our district would go with each student for a total of $526,560 in the first year. In Year 2 up to 134 students and $1,052,704, in Year 3 up to 201 students and $1,579,680, etc. In Year 10 up to 670 students and $5,265,600 could leave MCPASD to support private and religious school education- these funds are state tax dollars (these figures would be 9% less for K-8 level students). After year 10 there would be no limit on the number of vouchers offered to students in our school district. If private schools are publicly funded as proposed, the MCPASD will struggle to maintain the educational quality that people in this community have worked so hard to build.

4. The legislature plans no future cost-of-living increases for teachers and other staff. This threatens our ability to attract and retain high quality faculty now and in the future. Offering nothing will undermine our ability to maintain, let alone, improve the high quality education our children currently receive.

5. The new law would allow home schooled students and virtual school students to participate in any extra-curricular or athletic team our district offers. Students from area private schools would also be eligible to participate on our school teams in certain sports. This raises a multitude of eligibility questions and different eligibility requirements for members of the same team. The WIAA has come out strongly against this proposal as have many home school advocates.

6. The new law would allow “learning portfolios” to replace up to one-half the credits needed to graduate from high school. The law would require a diploma earned in this manner be the equivalent of a diploma earned through actual course completion. This proposal has the potential to change what high schools look and feel like across the state; including the likelihood that the rigor needed to earn a high school diploma will be significantly reduced, jeopardizing both in and out-of-state college acceptance.

7. The new law eliminates many standards for licensing teachers, with no bachelor’s degree needed to teach our students in multiple subject areas. Educational programs and training have been built and improved over decades with Wisconsin having one of the top performing educational systems in the nation. With this one legislative change, students could have under-trained and ill-prepared educators without the prerequisite knowledge to meet the many needs of our students. MCPASD does NOT intend to hire non-certified teachers or teachers without a college degree, but we are concerned about the deprofessionalization of teaching in Wisconsin.

8. The proposed law allows students in special education to use $12,000 in publicly funded annual vouchers to attend private and parochial schools. In these schools they would not be guaranteed the legal rights and protections afforded to them by federal law. In addition, the dollar amount is completely arbitrary as actual costs vary drastically from student to student. At the same time the legislature is allocating money for special education students in private/parochial schools, it has not increased funding for public school special education students in eight years.

9. There is a new requirement in the law that mandates passing a civics assessment for high school graduation-this would be a 100-question test. This test is in addition to the multitude of other state-mandated tests that students are already required to take. This proposal, set to become law, has had very little discussion and a plan for implementation of this test does not exist.

10. The tests that students are required to take will be different for the third consecutive year. Districts will not be required to take the same test; making district-to-district comparisons very difficult. Our students do extremely well on the standardized test they are given and we welcome the opportunity to compare ourselves to any competing school. Common sense tells us adequate comparison can only be made when students in each district are taking the same standardized tests.

The time is now to voice our opposition to policies and legislation that will undermine our ability to support quality education. Please be active in advocating for our schools with the legislature and Governor Walker. The future of our children depends on your involvement.

Sincerely,Dr. Donald Johnson, Superintendent Middleton-Cross Plains Area School 

I have no doubt "Stand with Walker" conservatives will continue to bring up the one time savings brought about by Act 10, and ignore the long term effect of cuts, tax increases via referendums and the sneaky creation of a second school system.

As that second private school system flounders, taxpayers will eventually start asking questions and demand answers, which ironically will require government control, intervention and oversight all over again. Maybe we'll even bring back "classic" public schools. It worked for Coke.

Republicans to Cleanse U.S.History of all negative references, push their own right wing "more patriotic" national standard in Schools.

The Republican efforts to privatize public education, K-12 and colleges, is moving onto the next stage; their own "national standard," a concept they say they despise and say is at the heart of Common Core (which isn't).

It's happening all over the country in every "red threat" states. 

An Oklahoma legislative committee overwhelmingly voted to ban Advanced Placement U.S. History class, persuaded by the argument that it only teaches students “what is bad about America.” Other lawmakers (want to) prohibit the teaching of all AP courses in public schools. Oklahoma Rep. Dan Fisher (R) said the AP history class fails to teach “American exceptionalism.” Rep. Sally Kern (R) claims that all “AP courses violate the legislation approved last year that repealed Common Core.”

She argues that “AP courses are similar to Common Core ... an attempt to impose a national curriculum on American schools.”

Republican meddling will cost Students lots of Money: By getting rid of Advanced Placement, students won’t get college credits in high school, raising the cost of education immensely:

Advanced Placement … developed by a private group, the College Board, and are not required … They save students money and are generally seen as a prerequisite to admission to elite colleges. But Republicans believe the Advanced Placement U.S. History test “deliberately distorts and/or edits out important historical events.” The RNC said a new framework for the exam “reflects a radically revisionist view of American history that emphasizes negative aspects of our nation’s history while omitting or minimizing positive aspects.”

Republicans hate liberal indoctrination, not right wing indoctrination. Conservative indoctrination is often described as “state specific educational standards.” And since conservative ideology is the same everywhere, it would ironically be…a national standard:  

Efforts by conservative school board members in Colorado to make the Advanced Placement U.S. History course “more patriotic,” prompted a walk-out by students. 

Under the changes proposed in Colorado “students would only be taught lessons depicting American heritage in a positive light, and effectively ban any material that could lead to dissent.” 

Yes, Republicans would love to quash future dissent, like Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has attempted to do at the state Capitol. There's more...

In South Carolina conservatives asked the College Board to exclude any material with an “ideological bias,” including evolution. Similar efforts are underway in Georgia and North Carolina.

GOP Attack on Education everywhere:

North Carolina GOP Looks To Raise Taxes On Students : North Carolina’sconservative majority provision of the bill would end the state income tax deduction for tuition expenses — essentially a tax hike on college students.

Congressman Says We Don’t Need Education Funding Because ‘Socrates Trained Plato On A Rock’: During a House Education and Workforce Committee to reauthorize the nation’s elementary and secondary education law, Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA) said, “Socrates trained Plato in on a rock and then Plato trained in Aristotle roughly speaking on a rock. So, huge funding is not necessary to achieve the greatest minds and the greatest intellects in history.” He later went on to say that he thinks the answer “would be to get private sector folks into every one of our schools, get the CEOs in the schools and move beyond this just narrow policy debate and really have a revolution.”

Congress is getting in on the act:

Current law targets $14 billion to schools and school districts based on the number of students living in these communities. The Republican legislation would give states the option whether they live in a high poverty community or not. For example, Los Angeles Unified School District would lose out on more than $75 million while the Beverly Hills Unified School District would gain $140,000.

Private Schools want to data mine you and your kids personal information

Tea party "stand with Walker" followers of the governor better start paying attention, or they're likely to wake up one day to find their kids have become government controlled commodities with limited rights and freedoms.

We already know Republicans represent the corporate and wealthy, positively packaged as "job creators." Well, the tentacles of private business are now about to burrow deeply into your child's most personal information, creating a private free market national database. What will they do with that information?  Maybe a little economic blackmail?

Remember when the tea party Republicans couldn't stop whining about Common Core's "data mining?"

Dozens of tea party supporters sent lawmakers a letter this week raising concerns about a loss of local control, lowered educational standards and an invasion of student privacy.    

Implementing Common Core will lead to "data mining" — the federal government collecting student and family information and sharing it with employers and others. Duke Pesta, an assistant professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, also a guy who spoke at a “packed into a Republican gathering at an American Legion hall in Cedarburg,” contends that in accepting common assessments aligned to the national standards, states agreed to share data they collect with the federal government.

DPI said no new data collection is required as part of the Common Core State Standards. The data are owned by the districts, and in no case would the data ever be sold to anyone, according to the DPI. 

Private Schools want You and your Kids personal information...NOW! Don't expect any blowback on this latest leap into fascism, since deep down inside this has always been the end game whether they knew it or not:

jsonline: School choice advocates have requested the names, addresses, phone numbers and grade levels of every student enrolled in 30 different public school districts, gearing up for a marketing campaign should lawmakers lift the enrollment cap on Wisconsin's statewide voucher program.

But what School Choice Wisconsin sees as a legal way to augment its mailing list, public school supporters see as a legal affront on personal privacy. The issue is prompting some district leaders to revisit options for limiting the release of student data, including reminding parents of their ability to opt out. "We're trying to augment our mailing list."

Tea Party for Data Mining? 

The organization (School Choice Wis) is particularly keen on connecting with public school parents ... Directory information includes information such as students' names, addresses, telephone numbers, date and place of birth, major field of study, height, weight, athletic team participation, awards achieved, and schools attended.  

Oshkosk School District Superintendent Stan Mack, "That information getting into the wrong hands could create significant danger," he said. "...that information floating about seems to not to be the best idea." Scot Ross, executive director of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now, said there's no way to predict what School Choice Wisconsin will do with the data. "We're not saying what they did was illegal, we're saying it's sleazy, and given the voucher industry's record on accountability, there are legitimate concerns about how this data is used, resold and transmitted," Ross said Friday.

Trust us, misusing the information is not our intention....

Bender countered that they've stated that they don't intend to sell or use the data for commercial purposes.

That's reassuring. 

While our own government stores a lot of our personal information, it also has safeguards against sharing that data, or using it against us. There would be political hell to pay if that trust were ever broken. But the private sector has no limits. Headlines about data breaches in the private sector over charge cards and personal information are so common now, even tea party Republicans don't give a rats ass. They fear their own government more. But what happens when government and business are one and the same?   

Superintendent of Private Instruction Scott Walker seeking "Real Life Experience" Teacher wannabes.

College dropout Scott Walker's knows education. That's why he has created an entirely different parallel private system of schooling that mostly under performs its public counterpart, teaches mostly religion and turns our kids into what profiteers call a "commodity."

Commodity: "A raw material or product that is bought and sold commercially in large quantities." How nice.

That's not all; Walker also wants schools to be accountable, so he's letting the private ones take their own preferred tests, whatever that means. So we really can't compare schools at all, but I'll bet you the private schools improve quickly.

Now Superintendent Walker wants those battered by life's bitter experiences to take that right into the classroom. WISC:  

Walker on Thursday announced that he is proposing that people with work experience be allowed to take a competency test to gain a teacher license. Walker's spokeswoman says the Department of Public Instruction will be charged with creating a competency exam that will allow someone with "real life experience" to gain a teacher license.

For comparisons sake, consider our legislative block of "real life experience" accountants, true believers in supply side, voodoo economics. Can you say Great Recession? Who knows, maybe when they leave office they go into teaching.

Walker will end and privatize public schools, especially those in conservative rural areas.

There's no free lunch. Funny thing, Scott Walker and his followers have thrown that concept out the door now that they're in complete control of the state. 

Public education will only get more expensive as the state shifts the cost of education to local districts, via referendums, instead of spreading the cost to all taxpayers for the greater good.

And after a successful referendum, taxes go, while Walker brags about cutting them. It's the old "career politician" trick. And despite not having an alternative option, Walker will end Common Core.

And it'll be going from bad to worse:

WPR: For many of Wisconsin's rural school districts, the issue of school funding is a pressing one. There are 340 students enrolled in the school district of Potosi. Schools in small, rural towns across Wisconsin are struggling. Enrollment is declining, poverty is rising, and transportation costs are considerable. Jerry Fiene, the executive director of the Wisconsin Rural Schools Alliance, says that limited school funding has exacerbated the situation. “Over the past 10 years, there have been nearly 1,000 referenda to exceed the revenue limit. And of those, 80 percent are rural school districts.”

If Walker gets another 4 years, he's going to push a wasteful internet "distant learning" plan as a way around busing and the dwindling supply of teachers hired away by wealthier districts. Distant learning has been a disaster so far, but still...

Walker said his next budget would include more focused aid for rural schools, “We're going to build off of that and incorporate it in our budget to try to give more attention not only for transportation costs, but for distance learning costs and other things that offset some of the challenges that rural schools have across the state,” Walker said.

That's horrible news. Mary Burke on the other hand passionately cares about schools:

Mary Burke said she wants to remake Wisconsin's school funding formula to help rural schools if the budget allows.

The problem with all schools, especially in the rural areas, is upkeep, fluctuating enrollment and the important and sadly understated roll they play in bring communities together:

Ron Saari, the Postosi School District’s superintendent, said that the community’s 1950s-era school building is aging and needs attention. He said some people are worried. “When a school shuts down in a town like Potosi, they say that the town kind of goes dead,” Saari said. “The school is seen as the heart of the community.”

One teacher Facebook'ed this frustration:

I am a teacher in a public school in Wisconsin. In 2011 our governor enacted the biggest cuts to education in our state's history- $1.2 billion. In the following years, more money was drained from Wisconsin’s public schools into voucher schools and charter schools. Yet, to the casual observer, Wisconsin’s public schools may look largely unchanged. Why is this? One answer is that Wisconsin’s teachers are doing their best to make up the difference.

When schools don’t have enough money for needed supplies, teachers dip into their own pockets … spent $513 in personal funds on materials for the classroom. Our school parking lot is almost never empty; teachers are there early in the morning, long after school lets out, and on the weekends. When teachers do leave school, they carry a bag of work with them. Over the past three years, I have watched talented and devoted teachers leave the profession. I bet you have, too.

In this letter to the editor in the Beaver Damn Daily Citizen:

Tom Schmidt Sr., Juneau: Hustisford's electorate voted by more than 75 percent for the politicians who cut funding to public schools by $800 million, namely Gov. Scott Walker and Sen. Scott Fitzgerald (a Hustisford alumnus). The voters' decision to elect the 'Two Scotts' is going to result in higher property taxes or the likely loss of the high school.

Walker has a plan too, and not so original. Here’s a short look at where privatized public education is headed, and you’ll just love the cast of characters:

Moyers: Douglass Academy founder, a politically active North Carolina businessman named Baker Mitchell, shares the Kochs’ free-market ideals. Every year, millions of public education dollars flow through Mitchell’s chain of four nonprofit charter schools to for-profit companies he controls. The schools buy or lease nearly everything from companies owned by Mitchell. Their desks. Their computers. The training they provide to teachers. Most of the land and buildings. Unlike with traditional school districts, at Mitchell’s charter schools there’s no competitive bidding. No evidence of haggling over rent or contracts. 

The schools have all hired the same for-profit management company to run their day-to-day operations. The company, Roger Bacon Academy, is owned by Mitchell. The treasurer of the nonprofit that controls the four schools is also the chief financial officer of Mitchell’s management company. The two organizations even share a bank account. Mitchell’s management company was chosen by the schools’ nonprofit board, which Mitchell was on at the time — an arrangement that is illegal in many other states. 

Many of these companies are becoming political players … Mitchell’s company, have aligned themselves with influential conservative groups, such as Americans for Prosperity and the Koch-supported American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. This new reality — in which businesses can run chains of public schools — has spurred questions about the role of profit in public education and whether more safeguards are needed to prevent corruption.

Ryan lies to his own mom and aunt in new ad about Social Security and Medicare.

In Paul Ryan's latest ad, he tells his mom and aunt how great Social Security and Medicare is, but skips how he intends to change the programs. Does he tell his mom on camera that he'll privatize the programs for those willing to gamble on the changes? Not directly in the ad. You'll notice the details are only included in a voiced over section edited into the middle.

I really don't think she knows:

Holy cow, Scott Walker wants to help the wealthy get all of us to pay for their kid’s private school.

This ought to go over well with voters in many of Wisconsin's great school districts. It's also an unexpected but welcome gift to Mary Burke from the Walker campaign, especially after recent research and testing have shown how voucher schools came in at or below public schools scores on math and reading.

But why let actual result get in the way of ideology:   

jsonline: Walker said if he's re-elected, he would support a significant or wholesale lifting of the enrollment cap on the 2-year-old statewide private school voucher program, particularly for low-income students but also potentially for students from families with higher incomes.

Suggesting that Act 10 has been an amazing success, instead of  the slow disaster we’re seeing first in rural schools, is insane. The Walker campaign is trying to vilify Mary Burke for her public service on the Madison School Board, while trying to make people forget he cut school funding more than every other state except one:

So what's so hard to understand?

Walker said his opponent in the gubernatorial race, Mary Burke, sits on the school board of the Madison Metropolitan School District that will be the only school district in the state next year not adhering to the Act 10 law next school year.

Ouch, how horrific? Walker loves campaign money from former politicians who've become lobbyists for private schools interests, over Mary Burke’s support from actual teachers and the remaining state unions. Lobbyist cash is a whole lot better than money spent by teachers, right?

Walker has received political and campaign support from backers of school choice. Walker said Burke is getting support from teachers unions in the form of political advertisements.  "That, at least to some, might appear to be why she's been reluctant to take on the teachers unions when it comes to options like (Act 10)," he said.

Walker is desperate of course, actually making it seem like Burke should “take on the teachers unions,” like the very concerned voucher privateers are pushing. Acting like the Democrats are against Act 10 is as surreal as Walker's empty campaign will get. It's clear, Walker never notice the Act 10 protests. So much for being a servant of the people.

Also check out Jake's TA Economic Funhouse for a detailed account of how much money the state would have to come up with to pay for expansion...$710 million? That's how it's shaping up.

With No Warning, Shocked Parents told Private School is Bankrupt in De Pere. $19,000 to $29,000 in prepaid tuition lost.

The Republican attempts to commodify our kids by privatizing our public schools introduces a number of other major downsides to their movement.

Private Schools can do anything they want: I want to highlight the last line in the story below:

"Parents were angered by the closing, saying no one ever warned them the school was struggling financially."

Private schools don't have to tell parents anything. And private school closings don't get nearly enough media coverage as it should. Just consider the devastating effects on students and families left scrambling to find another school-usually a public one. Search my blog with the key words "charter" and "voucher," and you'll see what I mean. It's not a pretty picture. 

Here's another reason why having a reliable, accountable public school system is so important:

AP: A private school in De Pere has closed and filed for bankruptcy, leaving some parents out nearly $30,000 in tuition payments.

A Press-Gazette Media report says the Wisconsin International School filed for bankruptcy this month. The school has estimated assets of $50,000, but liabilities of about $550,000.

Under the terms of the bankruptcy, parents who prepaid their tuition likely won't get it back. The bankruptcy filing says two families each paid more than $29,000, and several others paid about $19,000.

School officials offered little explanation when they shut down the school last month. It sent notices to parents saying it couldn't balance its books due to declining enrollment and fundraising shortfalls.

Parents were angered by the closing, saying no one ever warned them the school was struggling financially.

The dirty little secret Republicans don't want to tell parents about private schools? Important information about declining enrollment for some charter and vouchers schools never needs to be disclosed.

Conservative Solution to K-12 Education-Cut off Funds, and Mandate Colleges adopt State's Moral Values or no Support.

Putting Republicans back in charge again, believe it or not, is still a possibility. I'm not sure what part of their agenda makes that idea so attractive. Take education.

If Republicans had their way, education would be...well, something like the suggestions below. I thought the following tweets by an actual real conservative seemed so wonderfully disconnected:

Gee, adopting state taxpayer morals isn't indoctrination is it? 

Thanks Governor Walker, Statewide Budget Cuts forcing communities to hire Private Police Officers.

Perhaps someday we'll have to pay directly for police services to our homes and neighborhoods, and only if we can afford it. If we can't...well, some fire departments are already insisting on payments upfront to save your house from burning to the ground. Now that's what I call freedom and liberty. No reason to be nervous?

WPR: La Crosse is developing a new community policing program, with one of its officers paid for privately – a funding model that's new to Wisconsin … two new community police officers have an office in a former residential home in central La Crosse. From there, they’ll patrol their beat by foot and bike. The city's tight budget has prevented the switch, until now. 

According to the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, the number of police officers in the state has dropped over the last five years because of funding issues. Executive Director Jim Palmer said privately funding public safety could become a trend. 

Making a Profit off Educating our kids GOP's big campaign promise for 2014!!!

The GOP will be running on the issue of vouchers this upcoming election, but it won't really be about education. It's another marketing ploy to soften their problematic anti-minority image, the one they've so meticulously constructed over the last 50 years.

That's why I found it interesting to see Upfront's Mike Gousha comment on this issue at the same time RNC knucklehead Reince Priebus started tweeting the wonders of "choice" and how profiting off our children's education somehow empowers parents:



The not so subtle Priebus tweet:

Gee, ya think Jeb Bush might be running for president too? 

Just the fact that students are now referred to as commodities should tell you something. 

N.J. Schools Superintendent Suspends 5 Principals for Speaking out against Gov. Chris Christie school Privatization Movement.

Republicans no longer care about local control.

In Wisconsin, Scott Walker is determined to spread private voucher education statewide, killing public education and Common Core at the same time. Plus, in an action that neutralizes the elected office of the state superintendent, the GOP will oversee educational changes and remove local school board involvement altogether.

But the same thing is happening in N.J., where similar attempts to destroy public education are moving quickly forward, even while Chris Christie is getting all that attention.

Check out the following comment by Gov. Chris Christie about his education superintendent’s decision to bully and suspend indefinitely five principals for speaking out against privatization:

Edweek: During a public appearance Wednesday at a school in Beach Haven, Christie was asked whether he and Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf plan to renew (superintendent of schools) Cami Anderson's contract, given the level of criticism from the Newark community, about the job she's doing.

"Yes we do, and we're going to renew it because she's done a great job, and I don't care about the community criticism," Christie said. "We run the school district in Newark, not them."

Welcome to the Republican idea of democracy; an authoritarian, top down style of “representation,” a contradiction if there ever was one.

Is “I don’t care about the community criticism” clear enough?

Journalist Bob Braun today carries a report on the decision by Anderson to "indefinitely suspend" five of Newark's principals. Braun explains:

Four of the principals...tried to answer questions from local residents worried about what would happen to their children as Anderson moves toward a wholesale transfer of public school assets to the KIPP Schools, a charter organization that operates TEAM Academy Charter Schools. Questions Anderson wasn't answering. Ms. Anderson's action in suspending the four principals is the last straw in a chain of inept, and horribly out-of-touch decisions.

The four principals have a constitutional right to speak out. The Newark school district is not a military dictatorship, and Ms. Anderson is neither an army general nor a police chief. 

This little aside should send a chill:

Senator Ron Rice, who represents Newark in the NJ Senate, spoke about another incident in which the Newark Administration locked students in a school library to speak with them about the school closings and reorganization and would not allow parents access.  The parents were at the school for a PTA meeting. 

On a more positive note, new legislation to stop forced public school closings was introduced in both the NJ Senate and Assembly. 

Voucher School Disaster just Tip of the Iceberg, unstoppable with Republicans in control of Government.

It’s always easier to destroy something than to do the hard work of thoughtfully creating something better. Take the myth that public schools are “bad.”

Once that criticism took hold, it was easy to appeal to the insecurities of parents, who were no longer familiar with recent innovations in our classrooms and teaching. Profit driven investors and con artists bestowed “choice” onto parents, who now felt empowered. Parent’s who panicked over intentionally failed schools via No Child Left Behind testing, were sold on the success of highly selective private schools. Forget about improving existing schools, it was much faster going someplace else. 

  

Now we've got every flimflam artist in the country, along with the declining enrollment at religious school, promoting feel good slogans like “empowerment” and “choice” as the easy answer.

Well, how easy is this to understand:

jsonline: A husband and wife running a private Milwaukee voucher school that abruptly closed last month — after accepting a total of more than $2.3 million in taxpayer money — now live in a gated community in Florida by the beach, records show. Records show Taron and Rodney Monroe started a new private Christian school this year in Daytona Beach. While the school in Milwaukee was running on fumes, they were telling Florida friends they had experience getting government grants for religious schools. Now the Monroes, who lost their five-bedroom house in West Bend to foreclosure, have disappeared. For the past year, the Monroes have been living in a house with a private pool in Palm Coast, Fla., that sold in 2009 for $409,000, according to records. "I haven't seen them since before Thanksgiving," said Bill Vigue, a pastor with a Christian radio show who worshipped with the Monroes in Florida.

The $2.3 million is lost forever. Taxpayer money shouldn't just pay for one school year, it should also be an investment in a schools future and development, which private for-profit schools don’t give a rats ass about.

This “choice” BS has even blocked elected officials from overseeing and saving taxpayer money, thanks to our “taxpayer watchdogs” in the Republican Party:

John Johnson, DPI spokesman, said Wednesday that the department's authority over voucher schools, which are all private and predominantly religious, is limited. There's nothing in state law that allows the DPI to take action against a private school because of low academic performance or because of a school leader's personal finances, Johnson said.

Remember how Republicans complained the unions prevented bad teachers from being fired? That apparently was never the issue, since they’re just fine with giving bad schools filled with bad teachers taxpayer cash in the name of “freedom and liberty.” Oh, and short term profit. Just for fun, let's attack Common Core too.