“We don’t have textbooks in history class. My students can only receive medical care if they get

[midnight]

injured Tuesday morning between 9 and 12 because we have a part-time nurse.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/north-carolina-teachers-arrested-after-20-mile-march_us_576c2669e4b0685ac3c15d10



"The group, formed by Organize 2020, a NC Public Schools grassroots organization, wanted to address a few points with McCrory. Namely, that he expand Medicaid, spend the budget surplus on students, and repeal HB2.

Although McCrory knew of the requested meeting in advance, the Capitol building was shut down early and he refused to meet with the group citing a “previous engagement.” The group, demanding to be heard, took to the streets. When the police came and threatened arrests, everyone dispersed to the sidewalks except for 14 teachers who linked arms and formed a line across the road.

The 14 were eventually arrested and released. Many of the arrested teachers wrote their own perspectives on why they refused to give up the line, which I encourage you to read. These stories are moving, powerful, and may just be one of the most important things you read all day. This is the state of our public education system from the soldiers on the front lines.

“I used to look at the daily mug shot reports in the online versions of the local paper, but I had to stop because seeing my [students] photos every day became less grounding and sobering and more depressing and angering.”

[Cryptoad]

1. This is happening,,,

in all the States that have GOP control at the State Level. Redder they are, the worst the economic death spiral! Some have fewer jobs now than they had 10 yrs ago.

[Ford_Prefect]

5. What about those states where the push to privatize education has drained public ed funds?

What do we say about those who have foisted the canard of corporate charter schools, who have invested in their rise and selection?

[LWolf]

9. That push has come from both sides of the aisle.

Democrats are equally responsible for what has happened to public education, public schools, teachers, and students.

[Ford_Prefect]

10. Yes it has but look at who is lobbying them for it. IE the corporations and foundations who benefit.

We find ourselves in NC pulled between so called "Christian Academies", and a range of corporate charter schools all designed to vacuum tax dollars into special interests and foundation or corporate bank accounts at ridiculous fees per student.

The discussion over who pays for schools was decided decades ago when Congress and local & state governments gave repeated tax cuts to their favored benefactors, a practice they continue to this very day.

[LWolf]

12. The reform movement

dedicated to privatization has been a neoliberal movement.

I pay a few thousand out of my pocket every year to fund my classroom.

[midnight]

7. Wisconsin Madison University professor exposed the legislative connection between

big money ideas AKA. Alec/Koch bill and the deteriation of our schools, jobs, health care and more when the Wisconsin teacher's unions was being dismantled in 2011. Big money is in controll of both sides of the isle.

ALEC bills itself as bipartisan and has had a couple of conservative Democrats serve as chair in recent years, but its membership is overwhelmingly Republican. Many of ALEC’s setbacks this year have come when GOP-dominated legislatures have passed versions of its model legislation, only to see them vetoed by Democratic governors in states such as New Hampshire, Minnesota and Montana.
http://www.governing.com/topics/politics/ALEC-enjoys-new-wave-influence-criticism.html

"Meanwhile, key UW faculty members have thrown up their hands at Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker—the architect of these university “reforms”—and quit UW altogether. “At my new university in another state, I will have stronger tenure protections than I now have here. I will earn about 50 percent more than my current salary for the same job. And I will be free from the strange crazy-making double-speak that on one hand demands that higher education deliver value like a business, and on the other hand, methodically prevents it from doing so,” wrote Caroline Levine, professor and chair of the English department at UW-Madison, in The Cap Times last month."http://neatoday.org/2016/06/15/university-of-wisconisn-scott-walker/

[Feeling the Bern]

2. More reason I hate police. They probably have children in school and this affects their lives,

But instead of standing with the teachers, they just arrest them. Remove your soul, put it on a hanger, put on your fascist little uniform and be a mindless enforcer for the monied and powered elite.

Screw all cops. Good cops, bad cops. . .all deserve as much scorn and vilification as possible.

[FrodosPet]

3. The cops need to be out arresting violent people

Every minute of every day, a soul cries out in anguish. Beaten and mentally tortured by their spouse or (so called) lover. Raped by a stranger, a family friend, or even their own parent or sibling.

Every minute of every day, a young person, devoid of any skills or opportunities other than to sell poison on the corner, waits for the gunshot that defines the dreaded moment when someone else decides THEY want to sell poison on that corner.

Every minute of every day, someone is acquiring, transporting, or selling firearms which have no use in the world other than delivering death.

Every minute of every day, someone is driving drunk, distracted, or just too fast for public safety.

The police need to be out there dealing with these things, not harassing a few schoolteachers.

[scottie10]

4. Wondering...

Where is all the money from the "NC Education Lottery" going? I understand it brings in billions of dollars to the state. Anybody know?

[Ford_Prefect]

6. You might inquire at the Highway Fund Office too.

[sulphurdunn]

8. If it works like most school lotteries,

a dollar in lottery money is used to replace a dollar in state funding. There is no net gain. Local governments also take money sent by the state for school, include it in their general budgets, and do not spend it all on schools. That way they can claim to have raised spending on education (by using some state school money) and actually reduce the local contribution to it while diverting some of the education money to other purposes. Damn clever really.

[1939]

13. The first priority in federal, state, and local government is always

the salaries of the government bureaucrats that busy themselves sending each other paperwork. Teachers, police, and workers have little priority.

[sulphurdunn]

14. Actually, those bureaucrats

are just civil service employees like the cops and the teachers. They tend to just do what they're told. The real corruption is found in the elected representatives of the people, which doesn't reflect well on the judgement of the people who keep electing them. But, I see your point.

[1939]

18. The elected folks mostly just decide how much money to give.

How it all gets distributed is done with bureaucratic infighting down in the belly of the beast.

Been there and done that.

School bureaucrat: "Hmmm, I have to cut a space to get under budget. Should I cut my Executive Assistant (grossly over-promoted secretary) or one of the teachers?"

Guess what he will decide?

[midnight]

19. Thank you for this explanation.

[mountain grammy]

11. K & R

Bravo for these teachers..

[aikoaiko]

15. This really breaks my heart.

I'm glad these teachers are so brave.

[midnight]

16. Many want to teach, but are not being employed too. Another element of the heartbreak...

I remember the PTA moms from when I was in grade school questioning when the pentagon was going to have to hold a bake sale?

But it is getting more and more brutal to get an education… Our studens, parents, and teachers.. deserve more support...

[midnight]

17. IMF has warned U.S. about it's high poverty and recommends it invest more in education.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36599316

[lpbk2713]

20. Shameful

Shame on those who could possibly change things
for the better but have a warped set of priorities.
Not just NC but all over.

[midnight]

21. Well said….