NAACP Sends a BIG FU to Charter Lobby

The charter lobby has been going wild, spending lavishly and running PR campaigns to try to stop the NAACP Exec Board from opposing charter expansion. They failed. After lobbying the

NAACP unsuccessfully, they will now turn to attacking the NAACP as being irrelevant.

Black Lives Matter has also called for a moratorium on charters.

The woim is toining. More signs tomorrow.

From Ravitch:

The national board of the NAACP endorsed the resolution passed by its 2016 annual convention calling for a moratorium on charter school expansion!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 15, 2016
CINCINNATI – Members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Board of Directors ratified a resolution Saturday adopted by delegates at its 2016 107th National Convention calling for a moratorium on charter school expansion and for the strengthening of oversight in governance and practice.

“The NAACP has been in the forefront of the struggle for and a staunch advocate of free, high-quality, fully and equitably-funded public education for all children,” said Roslyn M. Brock, Chairman of the National NAACP Board of Directors. “We are dedicated to eliminating the severe racial inequities that continue to plague the education system.”

The National Board’s decision to ratify this resolution reaffirms prior resolutions regarding charter schools and the importance of public education, and is one of 47 resolutions adopted today by the Board of Directors. The National Board’s decision to ratify supports its 2014 Resolution, ‘School Privatization Threat to Public Education’, in which the NAACP opposes privatization of public schools and public subsidizing or funding of for-profit or charter schools. Additionally, in 1998 the Association adopted a resolution which unequivocally opposed the establishment and granting of charter schools which are not subject to the same accountability and standardization of qualifications/certification of teachers as public schools and divert already-limited funds from public schools.
We are calling for a moratorium on the expansion of the charter schools at least until such time as:

(1) Charter schools are subject to the same transparency and accountability standards as public schools
(2) Public funds are not diverted to charter schools at the expense of the public school system
(3) Charter schools cease expelling students that public schools have a duty to educate and
(4) Cease to perpetuate de facto segregation of the highest performing children from those whose aspirations may be high but whose talents are not yet as obvious.

Historically the NAACP has been in strong support of public education and has denounced movements toward privatization that divert public funds to support non-public school choices.

“We are moving forward to require that charter schools receive the same level of oversight, civil rights protections and provide the same level of transparency, and we require the same of traditional public schools,” Chairman Brock said. “Our decision today is driven by a long held principle and policy of the NAACP that high quality, free, public education should be afforded to all children.”
While we have reservations about charter schools, we recognize that many children attend traditional public schools that are inadequately and inequitably equipped to prepare them for the innovative and competitive environment they will face as adults. Underfunded and under-supported, these traditional public schools have much work to do to transform curriculum, prepare teachers, and give students the resources they need to have thriving careers in a technologically advanced society that is changing every year. There is no time to wait. Our children immediately deserve the best education we can provide.

“Our ultimate goal is that all children receive a quality public education that prepares them to be a contributing and productive citizen,” said Adora Obi Nweze, Chair of the National NAACP Education Committee, President of the Florida State Conference of the NAACP and a former educator whose committee guides educational policy for the Association.

“The NAACP’s resolution is not inspired by ideological opposition to charter schools but by our historical support of public schools – as well as today’s data and the present experience of NAACP branches in nearly every school district in the nation,” said Cornell William Brooks, President and CEO of the NAACP. “Our NAACP members, who as citizen advocates, not professional lobbyists, are those who attend school board meetings, engage with state legislatures and support both parents and teachers.”

“The vote taken by the NAACP is a declaratory statement by this Association that the proliferation of charter schools should be halted as we address the concerns raised in our resolution,” said Chairman Brock.
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Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest and largest nonpartisan civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities. You can read more about the NAACP’s work and our six “Game Changer” issue areas here.

Where Are Rhee, Kopp, Klein, Moskowitz, E4E, DFER When it Comes to Defending Food Stamps Program (SNAP)?

.....you might think that ensuring adequate nutrition for children, which is a large part of what SNAP does, actually makes it less, not more likely that those children will be poor and need public assistance when they grow up. ... Paul Krugman, NY Times

You mean SNAP might actually be more effective in fighting poverty than charter schools or TFA teachers? Yes it is.

economists Hilary Hoynes and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach have studied the impact of the food stamp program in the 1960s and 1970s, when it was gradually rolled out across the country. They found that children who received early assistance grew up, on average, to be healthier and more productive adults than those who didn’t — and they were also, it turns out, less likely to turn to the safety net for help.

 So all these people claim to be fighting the civil rights issue of our times by building political machines to fight teacher unions, tenure, urge teachers be evaluated by test scores, pour loads of money into defending the common core.

... almost two-thirds of SNAP beneficiaries are children, the elderly or the disabled, and most of the rest are adults with children.... 

You might think that ensuring adequate nutrition for children, which is a large part of what SNAP does, actually makes it less, not more likely that those children will be poor and need public assistance when they grow up. 

Where is the outrage from those intrepid ed deformers on this issue? Not one dime to fight a real struggle against the Republican assault on hungry children. What better example of their true agenda than to see Eva Moskowitz close schools for half a day to march against De Blasio's plan to make them pay the damn rent? (City charter school advocates plan to reprise a 2012 political rally. GothamSchools, Daily News, Post)

Conservatives seem, in particular, to believe that freedom’s just another word for not enough to eat. Hence the war on food stamps, which House Republicans have just voted to cut sharply even while voting to increase farm subsidies.

Hey Paul. It ain't just conservatives.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/23/opinion/krugman-free-to-be-hungry.html?ref=paulkrugman&_r=0&pagewanted=print

Charter School Leaders Love Quinn for Mayor - So Does the UFT

This article below by Anna Philips has to scare you. The big battle is coming over mayoral control and even though there will be lots of rhetoric from the UFT they will not take a stand against because to them the alternatives (local control) are not acceptable. Interesting in that one of the calls for local control include lots of teacher influence at the school level along with parents. The UFT doesn't trust teachers at the school level - the leadership wants all the power in their hands. I got this right from the horse's mouth when 12 years ago I posed to Randi Weingarten the idea of teachers taking over schools (I am for teachers electing principals - we would get the best principals that way). She began her response with, "How can we trust...." before realizing what she was about to say. Thus I got an early inkling of where she really stood.

Many of the advocates believe the charter school movement cannot survive without Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg‘s policy of having charter schools share space in public school buildings. Without this policy, the schools would have to seek out and pay for private space on their own, leaving some of them with fewer dollars to spend on students than traditional public schools.

Michael T. Duffy, a former city education official and now managing director of Victory Education Partners, figured that at the least, he would begin by putting all of these people in the same room with the candidate he is enthusiastic about, City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn.
On Wednesday night, members of the charter school world, as well as the technology start-up world, gathered in a honey-colored apartment on the Upper East Side to query Ms. Quinn, raising more than $15,000 for the candidate. Ms. Quinn’s remarks, her aides insisted, remain off the record. But the advocates in attendance spoke more openly on Thursday in interviews, expressing what is on their minds as they look ahead to 2014, when they will lose a mayor who has given them space in public school buildings at no cost and hardly questioned their raison d’être.

Charter School Leaders Hunt for Their Mayoral Candidate

http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2011/12/16/charter-school-leaders-hunt-for-their-mayoral-candidate/?partner=rss&emc=rss

And I hope you noticed this on the ed notes side panel:

Regents agree to give NY student and teacher data to limited corporation run by Gates and operated by Murdoch's Wireless Gen
This work will be guided by participating states and informed by input from a panel of expert advisors, including Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers;

Teachers in the UFT have to wake up and take action - I don't mean blogging and leaving comments on blogs - your bodies are needed. If you don't see the connections here you are missing the boat. You should be doing everything you can to wake up the people you work with. The UFT is aiming to support Christine Quinn even though she is anti-LIFO (but I think our leadership is also against LIFO though they try to hide it).

Connect the dots by reading this post on Ed Notes from the other day: AFT/NEA: More Sellouts to Ed Deform. 
Note how slick the UFT, sending Leo out to make it appear they are opposing ed deform. Here is an excerpt from my post:

Leo Casey and Pedro Noguera are both hypocrites; talking out of both sides of their mouths. Supporting charter proliferation, and at the same time spouting progressive BS denouncing privatization etc.-----anon. email comment on below

Netroots conference Dec. 19 at Pace

http://www.netrootsny.org/schedule

Privatize, We’re Watching You: Fighting Privatization UFT VP Leo Casey, Ken Bernstein

  Watching who? The theme should be: We are watching you... And not really doing anything about it.

 Or: We're making it look like we're watching you but really working with you - but don't tell our members.

They (NEA) explicitly embraced the notion that teachers should be responsible for student learning. - Rick Hess

This was posted on the NYCEdNews Listserve:
AFT local to authorize Minn. charters, as supported by AFT innovation fund; NEA supports merit pay and end to seniority protections for teachers. Rick  Hess (and I’m sure Bill Gates etc. approves.) NEA: seniority should only be a factor in teacher retention or assignment when all other factors are equal…   “The need for tenure is replaced by a peer review program that provides opportunities for improvement or, when improvement is lacking, ensures due process throughout dismissal."

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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on the right for important bits.