Where’s the big money in privatization? Take it from the teachers Plus Leonard Lopate Segment on Charters With Michelle Fine

When people question why so many wealthy people have jumped on the ed deform bandwagon they often ask how can they make money? We have heard about the real estate scams, high salaries for them and their pals, charter scams, etc. But not enough attention has been paid to the fact that teacher salaries make up probably 75% of all spending on education and if that number can be cut down significantly the money could begin flowing into the pockets of the privatizers. Teacher unions with their contracts are the major target as they want to move teachers to individual negotiated contracts like they have in charters. The problems charters have in big cities with union contracts is they have to compete for labor so they have to pay higher salaries than they want - even though they extract a lot more hours of work for what they pay. So if the union teacher competition can be removed they can lower teacher salaries across the board and open up billions of dollars for themselves.

While not addressing the teacher salary issue - but they did address the massive charter teacher turnover - Yesterday on WNYC, Leonard Lopate had a great piece with Michelle Fine and Michael Fabricant, the authors of Charter Schools and the Corporate Makeover of Public Education: What's at Stake?   - probably the most comprehensive critique I've heard on mass media. I bet Leonard comes under intense pressure to have a rebuttal. You know WNYC is funded by some of these slugs.

Listen to this informative segment at:  http://www.wnyc.org/story/charter-schools-education/

The infographic below does delve into where the money comes from to fuel ed deform.
....Norm Scott

Infographic: Why Corporations Want Our Public Schools 

This article is from Education Uprising, the Spring 2014 issue of YES! Magazine.
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