OMG: NOLA TO DROP BANKRUPT PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOR CHARTERS

[itzamirakul]

Julia Reed of Newsweek just now reports on CNN that Nagin and some others from NOLA are seeking to eliminate the bankrupt public school system and install charter schools.

I bet Neil Bush is tap dancing with joy, since he has a business that deals with homeschooling and "for-profit" school systems.

Reed is ecstatic about Nagin and his plans for the city. She says that Nagin himself suggests that people "google" him and they will find out that he is not a "crook."

As a former public school teacher the idea of dropping the system is aborrhent to me, but perhaps I am too "old school" and need to realize that the 21st century will certainly have some changes that are not in alignment with my comfort level. It's just that I can see down the pike when the government will stop giving any assistance to parents for schooling so that the only children able to get decent educations will be the children of those who can pay for it.

I forget the name of one of Bush's female cronies who said something to the effect that Americans are not "entitled" to a free education.

I always thought that a free education was a part of the establishment of this country or have I lived so long that I have forgotten why we exist in the first place?

[blm]

1. Reed is a longtime Bush family supporter. She has no bizness covering

this story.

I am firmly in the camp that Nagin has been coopted by the BFEE.

Kerry warned us over a month ago that Bush was going to turn New Orleans into a mecca for all their RW ideology. A whole city starting over with a RW building plan.

Where's the media who will discuss this?

[klook]

2. I'm with you

A good, free, public education is one of the cornerstones of the United States. For the "privatize everything (especially if I have a stake in the company that will get the no-bid contract)" minority, this is abhorrent.

The problem with public education in this country is not that it exists, or that it's racially integrated. (But probe the deluded mind of the typical Republican, and you'll find they really believe both of the above.)

The simple and obvious problem is that, in much of the country, the public education system is being denied the resources it needs to educate our kids properly. If the U.S. of A. is to ever become a country that works for all or most of its citizens, the public education system must be restored and made better than it ever was.

[nvliberal]

3. Meanwhile we are all focused on Plamegate, which

doesn't mean squat while the fascists are using the hurricanes to destroy public institutions.

Sorry to go against the tide here at DU, but the Valerie Plame saga registers a 1 out of a possible 10 on the Bush scandal meter.

[itzamirakul]

6. I swear, you gotta wonder...

WHERE THE HECK IS THE OUTRAGE?

I mean, don't we CARE that American youngsters ALL get the best education possible? Isn't this for the good of ALL AMERICANS? A well-educated citizenry, I mean?

I taught school from 1964 until 1992...6th grade, 10th, 11th, and 12th grades.

When I first started teaching, we were allowed to paddle youngsters who misbehaved in some way. I never saw anything wrong with that practice and to my knowledge I never knew any teacher who took advantage of that method of punishment, though I am sure there must have been some. But I can tell you that youngsters were much better behaved. Many students were punished again at home when their moms and dads found out that I had had to punish the kid in school.

After corporal punishment was abolished, I still continued to have well-behaved classes for the most part. Sure there was always that one or two knuckleheads who wanted to challenge the teacher or just be show-offs...but for the most part I found the one secret that no one talks about. I taught kids things that INTERESTED THEM...things that they WANTED to learn and that can be done with ANY SUBJECT MATTER.

By dumbing down America, by making it difficult for kids to get an education, the rw will have won because only the wealthy will be able to think creatively and constructively (for the most part) There are always some who will teach themselves, thank God!

[CornField]

27. You are on the right track

Now, I want you to ask yourself this: Who in our society would be against a well-educated citizenry?

Historically, the more educated the citizenry, the more violence required to subdue that citizenry. (Think about Germany.) There is a reason why the idea of using the military to quarantine during a pandamic was floated about. It wasn't because the powers that be expect the legislation preventing it to be over-turned in short order, but it did provide a good gauge of public opinion (as well as military opinion) on the use of violence.

[notadmblnd]

4. let me guess..

the Heritage Foundation via their funding of state colleges are going to run these charter institutions.

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. Charter schools are free

and are still part of the public school system. This is not the same thing has private schools that get vouchers.

In my area, we have a well run charter school program that has been huge success. On the other hand, when they are done wrong it can be a disaster.

[notadmblnd]

8. oh we do too...

and they're turning out little republicans by the hords... faster than you can blink.

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. Gee, I went to catholic school

for 12 years and I don't know a single person who became a nun or priest. Most of us ended up agnostic by the time they were done with us.

[The Backlash Cometh]

17. I've witnessed an excellent public school charter too.

You could only get in by lottery, and it required heavy parent participation. If you missed three PTA meetings in a year, your child was kicked out. It was tough love, but there were other public school options if you couldn't meet their high requirements.

[CornField]

23. While all of that may be true

Charter schools are not being held to the same reporting standards as public schools under the NCLB Act. When they were, Charter school students ranked below their public school peers. When that news was made public, the White House declared that Charter schools would no longer be fully audited and should be evaluated based on random samples. (Cherry picking)

As a parent and even as a citizen, my goal is for all of our children to have the best possible education. I resent a government that would deny me the needed information to make such a determination and I adamantely question a change to a system which has been shown to be less efficient and results-oriented than the existing one.

[tnlefty]

7. Didn't Bill Abort All the Black Babies Bennett make similar

comments when he was in Reagan's Education Dept.? Something about parents will get a quality education for their children when they decide they want to pay for it, and he didn't mean that we all pay taxes to provide an appropriate education for all citizens, but in the context of sending children to private schools.

The idea of a free, appropriate public education for all Americans has been under attack for years.

[waiting for hope]

9. I lived in the New Orleans area....

and let me tell you, the public school system was an absolute mess. They brought the lottery in 1991 and the big promise was that it would help the public roads (Homestead Exemption) and the public school system....I can't begin to count how many times school teachers protested on the capital steps in Baton Rouge because the school system wasn't being supported and they hadn't had a cost of living raise in eons. We moved three years ago, and my son will attend kindergarten in a public school - I didn't want to have to shell out around $5000.00 a year to send my child to a private catholic school when we were paying state taxes. Believe me, the school system was that bad.... I blame all the corrupt gaming officials for rapaciousness and the LA Board of Education for incompetence.

[tx_dem41]

10. Would you please inform us of your alternative plan? n/t

[itzamirakul]

12. I think that if you read my op carefully you would see that I have no

alternative plan and that I am decrieing the fact that perhaps I have outlived the free school system. If this new way is what the American school system is going to be, I am in no position to make any changes. If it is ok with most Americans then perhaps I should spend my time on other matters.

[tx_dem41]

13. I think you are taking a very unique situation (re: Katrina) and trying..

to generalize it over the entire nation's public school system I just believe that is in error, IMO. That's all.

[itzamirakul]

14. OK...maybe so.....nt

[rman]

16. Simple: Use tax money for the benefit of the taxpayers,

which is how it has been for a long time, and which worked quite well until the RW started their 'privatize everything movement', which has resulted in higher cost and lower quality of products and services while
tax money went to corporations, enabling a 500% increase of income for the super rich, and by now a 50 year low in minimum wage. This in spite of promises of "trickle down" and the wonders of competition. The latter turned out to be more about mergers, monopoly and no-bid contracts then actual competition - which is probably why we don't hear the "free market creates competition argument" very often any more.

So in short, the "alternative plan" would be to leave it as it was, or better still turn back the clock some 30 years, regarding how tax money was spend by the government.

[tx_dem41]

22. The school system was already bankrupt with the support of a full..

city paying taxes. Now you have about a 1/3rd city and a helluva of lot of money needed to just open some of the schools.

[CornField]

24. I guess NOLA couldn't really afford those tax cuts for the rich, eh?

Damn. They sounded like such a good idea at the time.

How about we take the money that is being filtered into the houses of God and give it to our children?

How about we take the money being used to murder Iraqi civilians and give it to our children?

How about we place a tax on corporations who ship American jobs overseas in lieu of providing them loopholes?

How about we place a $1 extra fee on every NFL or other sports ticket sold that would be funneled directly back into K-12 education?

In short, it all comes down to priorities. It is time that we - as a nation - stand up and demand that education once again takes the top slot.

[tx_dem41]

26. The school district in NOLA is locally-funded...

no taxes going to churches. No taxes going to Iraq. Hardly any taxes from corporations going overseas since the NOLA industry is mainly local tourism and the port. So, none of your suggestions really apply.

[CornField]

29. That's not what the Louisiana Dept. of Education says

Per pupil federal funding in the Orleans District was: $1,300
Total federal funding was roughly $91 million.

As for the rest, I'll let you google it yourself if you're so inclined.

[tx_dem41]

30. No need to.

Thanks for calling me on it.

[rman]

31. Look, it's obvious this privatization shit doesn't work.

Doesn't work for the people that is.

What's your alternative?

[rman]

15. That's why the RW loves chaos and disaster;

it's a perfect opportunity for change. War is in part just one means to that end.

[gulfcoastliberal]

18. Nagin is a sack of shit. A republican who swiched to dem to win election.

Now his true colors are showing. What a scumbag shitheel.

[rucky]

19. Katrina Ruins Become Con Testing Ground

victims are guinea pigs to bad policy experiments.

film at 11.

[progressivebydesign]

20. You mean CORPORATE schools. Neil Bush will make a fortune! n/t

[CornField]

21. Since the White House has reduced reporting standards for Charters

It's going to be really easy for the press to beat the change-over drums because they will not be comparing apples to apples.

[pitohui]

25. school board has yanked the charter plan

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1129788039303820.xml

nagin floats a lot of wild ideas,he is more of a businessman & a brainstormer but an outsider as a politician

when you brainstorm, you may throw out dozens of shitty ideas to get to the one or two good ideas, unfortunately nagin is doing his brainstorming in public me thinks instead of in a quiet place where he can properly edit the ideas before putting them before the public

the casino plan has been dropped also

[jmowreader]

28. Fuck it. Let 'em do it.

Look, I am so sick of their "the private sector is the solution to everything" schtick that I say it's time to tell 'em "put up or shut up."

You fuckers think these "free private schools" will work better than the public schools? Fine. Prove it.

But you can't handpick your student body.

You can't kick out a kid because he's dragging the corporate GPA down.

You can't tell someone who moved to New Orleans in November, "sorry, but you have to wait until January to enroll your children in school."

You have to run your operation on the same money a public school would receive.

And if you think a 10:1 student-teacher ratio is the Holy Grail, you hire enough teachers to pull it off--you don't get to limit your building size to 150 students because you're too broke to hire more than fifteen teachers.

Oh yeah: no Jesus-centered charters.

[Zhade]

32. Woah!

Kick

[Cha]

33. I wonder what Jesse Jackson,

Harry Belefonte, and Danny Glover have to say about this?

Harry and Danny have a page out in The Nation magazine about donating to the hurricane relief fund through the Vanguard Public Foundation.

"The Vanguard Public Foundation, which Danny Glover and I serve, has a long history of social justice philanthropy and activism, and has established a People's Hurricane Relief Fund. And tonight, on the occasion of this inspiring benefit convened by Wynton Marsalis, the Vanguard Foundation is making a donation of $200,000 to the Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Fund."


http://www.vanguardsf.org/

On edit~ reading some more I see where there can be some good charter schools..I'm hoping all the people who have what's the best in mind for New Orleans and her citizens will prevail.

[AirAmFan]

34. Main reason middle class moves to the suburbs is to dump education expenses

for children poorer than they, and to try to get their own children into the much more effective public schools dominated by parents wealthier than they.

Along with private schools, charter schools allow the urban gentry to "suburbanize" their children's education without moving, and to dump accountability for educating the poor by making sure very few if any poor or disabled children ever are allowed admission. Whether they call it a "public charter school" or a "private" school, a school controlled by middle-class and wealthy urban parents will have clearly superior resources, whether "donated" or supported by "tuition". Meanwhile, charter parents' financial responsibility for all the extra resources required to educate poor children effectively will have been "capped", and poor and disabled children's educations will suffer just as much as wealthier children's education is improved.

In other words, "Them what has, GITS" under charter schools.

[Wind Dancer]

35. I just got this from AU

PROTECT OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS!
OPPOSE SENATE POST-KATRINA SCHOOL VOUCHERS PLAN

As you know, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Bush administration proposed to spend at least half a billion dollars on school vouchers for displaced schoolchildren. In response to the Administration’s scheme, a draft bill which is in the final stages of negotiation has been circulated by Senators Enzi, Alexander, Dodd and Kennedy that would constitute, if enacted, America’s first national school voucher plan.

The bill would allow up to $6,000 per displaced student (or up to $7,500 per displaced student with a disability) to be sent to any public, private, or religious school nationwide of the displaced family’s choice in order to defray tuition costs. Passage of this Senate proposal would mark a turning point in efforts to defeat voucher legislation. It would mark the first national federally-funded voucher program in everything but name. The long-term impact of this “so-called” compromise is enormous and would set a terrible precedent for Americans United’s ability to fight against future federal voucher schemes. Americans United believes in protecting our cherished civil liberties even in the most difficult of circumstances, including natural disasters.

Americans United strongly believes that it is inappropriate to capitalize on the Katrina disaster by attempting to push through Congress a divisive and unsound vouchers policy favored mostly by extreme conservatives and the Religious Right that would severely undermine public education and would be difficult to explain away in future school voucher fights.

Passing legislation to fund school vouchers will not help to repair or rebuild devastated neighborhood schools. It is the public schools that have long served as the safety net for all displaced school children for decades. Millions of dollars set aside for the voucher program should be invested into our public schools for the benefit of all students.

____________________________

TAKE ACTION

Contact your Senators TODAY

http://www.au.org/