Hey, there! Log in / Register

Fall River is Ground Zero in Charter School Debate today

By Anonymous on Sat, 09/10/2016 - 2:26pm

Herald News city/digital editor Will Richmond called attention to publicity events and canvassing efforts in Fall River today by the charter school industry that wants voters to vote Yes on Question 2, and public school supporters who want folks to vote No on 2.

Question 2 raises the cap on charters from 9% of district spending or 18% of district spending to 100%, at a maximum rate of 12 charter schools per year. The bill does not add funding (or students) so programs are cut in public schools when new charters open and inevitably public school are closed.

Capitalists view the opening and closing of schools a good thing because they believe that markets have magic hands and that markets are good for education. What researchers know from studying education markets in Chile, Sweden and Finland is that markets create segmentation, winners and losers, and so increase inequity rather than reduce it. This is why NAACP has come out against charter growth at this time and school closings.

In the photo below, Keri Lonezo is at the podium. She is state director of Families for Excellent Schools, an advocacy group founded and funded by wealthy Wall Street financiers in New York City to organize charter school parents. In 2014, this group spent more money lobbying in Albany than any other group in New York State. On her right is state Senator Michael Rodrigues who supports expansion of charter schools, and thus closing public schools. There were four other people at the Fall River kickoff event.

Stephen Crawford says the four people are paid campaign staff. That would mean five of the six are paid and one is getting campaign donations from DFER, which is also funded by NYC hedge fund managers.

Save Our Public Schools is canvassing in Fall River today, too. Cheeky canvassers took a photo at the same location Keri Lorenzi and Senator Michael Rodrigues held their presser.

In an August 2 blog post, "The Hidden Money Behind Great Schools: Strategic Grant Partners" UMass Boston Prof. of Political Science Mo Cunningham writes: "the privatization effort in Massachusetts is a construct of several wealthy families"

On August 9, Jennifer Berkshire published her interview of Prof. Mo in a post called "Family Affair," in which Prof Mo Cunningham says of the Question 2 public outreach effort, "They know how to make something look like a grassroots campaign that really isn’t."

Maurice Cunningham: I think we can expect some rough stuff. This is a Republican effort, it’s a big money effort, and it’s a conservative effort. That’s where they tend to go.

EduShyster: There’s a well-funded effort underway to paint the campaign to lift the charter cap in Massachusetts as a progressive cause. But what you’ve found in your research is that this is basically a Republican production from top to bottom.

Cunningham: That’s right. There are a handful of wealthy families that are funding this. They largely give to Republicans and they represent the financial industry, basically. They’re out of Bain, they’re out of Baupost, they’re out of High Fields Capital Management. Billionaire Seth Klarman, for example, has been described as the largest GOP donor in New England, and he gives a lot of money to free market, anti-government groups. Then on the campaign level, you have Republican strategist Will Keyser who certainly knows his stuff, and Jim Conroy who certainly knows his stuff. They know how to make something look like a grassroots campaign that really isn’t.

It's true, they do know how to make something look like a grassroots campaign that really isn’t, but not today, not in Fall River.

Neighborhoods: 
Boston
Topics: 
Politics


Ad:


Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

By Chris Lynch on Sat, 09/10/2016 - 3:01pm.

I saw an ad last week for charter school canvassers for $15 an hour. That also says there is little or no grassroots. They seem to spending lots of TV ads and they are slick ads, and faking populist support. If this passes, folks on Beacon Hill decide where to open charter schools whether you like it on not. And there's no limit on charter growth either. Nor is the expansion funded by the bill. There's something wrong with the state deciding how cities and towns spend their education budgets.

up
Voting closed 0

By Anonymous on Mon, 09/12/2016 - 7:50pm.

It isn't just Boston and Mass, it's in 18 cities and all across the country.

New Orleans is 100% charter. Chicago closed 50 public schools to open charters only Rahm told everyone he was closing public schools so other public schools would have enough funding. (Sound familiar Marty Walsh?) It was a lie and the public schools still don't have money. They laid-off 500 teachers this August.

A supermajority of voters polled nationwide-- 70%-- prefer government improve schools rather than close them.

dissent.com:

Hired Guns on Astroturf: How to Buy and Sell School Reform

If you want to change government policy, change the politicians who make it. The implications of this truism have now taken hold in the market-modeled “education reform movement.” As a result, the private funders and nonprofit groups that run the movement have overhauled their strategy. They’ve gone political as never before—like the National Rifle Assoc. or Big Pharma or (ed reformers emphasize) the teachers’ unions.

up
Voting closed 0

By cybah on Sun, 09/11/2016 - 4:40pm.

A friend who works in education posted this today

https://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2016/09/10/arkansas-residents-jim-and-al...

"Arkansas Residents Jim and Alice Walton Pony Up $1,835,000 to Raise Charter Cap in Massachusetts"

And Yes that's the same Walton's who own Wal*Mart. Now you may ask.. "why would WalMart want to give to a political campaign in MA"?

Good question!

My friend replied with..

http://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-is-helping-hedge-funds-make-money...

"The Walmart family is teaching hedge funds how to profit from publicly funded schools"

"Hedge funds and other private businesses are particularly interested in the growth and success of charter schools. The growth of charter networks around the US offer new revenue streams for investing, and the sector is quickly growing. Funding for charter schools is further incentivized by generous tax credits for investments to charter schools in underserved areas."

of course.. to make MORE money and get tax breaks, off your child's education *eye roll*

For further reading about WalMart's interest in charter schools, check out:

http://walmart1percent.org/issues/education/

It's all an interesting read.

Another reason to vote no on question 2 and continue to not shop at Wal*Mart.

up
Voting closed 0

By SwirlyGrrl on Sun, 09/11/2016 - 7:41pm.

Yep.

up
Voting closed 0

By Anonymous on Mon, 09/12/2016 - 8:26pm.

Gov Baker is defending a $100,000 payment the chair of MA Board of Ed paid to Great Schools MA, the group lobbying for charter expansion in Mass.

up
Voting closed 0