My twitter spat with Core DeAngelis and Talk out of School podcast on the well-funded assault on our public schools

This morning I got into a twitter spat with Corey DeAngelis, the top voucher evangelist who, according to his bios, is currently a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a  senior fellow at the American Federation for Children, executive director at Educational Freedom Institute, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, a senior fellow at Reason Foundation, and a board member at Liberty Justice Center.  Phew!  No wonder his tweets sound like they were written by bots. 

Yet he consistently refused to answer my simple question:

If you'd like to know the real motivations of Charles Koch and the many other billionaires  who want to dismantle public schools and are paying the duplicative salaries of guys like DeAngelis, please listen to the revealing podcast I did with Carol Burris and Charles Siler above. 

Carol is the Executive Director of Network for Public Education and Charles used to work for the privateers at the Goldwater Institute.   Some resources are below.  And please follow Carol at @carolburris & Charles  at @charles_siler 

Episode Notes

Videos of NYC rally on Feb. 3, 2023: elected officials and parent leaders explaining why they oppose raising the cap on charter schools​. https://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2023/02/legislators-and-parents-speak-out.html  

Send a message​ to NY Governor and state legislators urging them not to raise the charter cap but require more accountability and transparency for the charter sector.  https://actionnetwork.org/letters/dont-raise-the-cap-on-charters-instead-dont-make-nyc-pay-their-rent-require-more-accountability?clear_id=true&source=direct_link

Class Size Matters NY state budget testimony, showing how Mayor Adams is planning to cut school budgets again next year despite an increase of $568 million in state Foundation Aid.  https://classsizematters.org/state-budget-testimony-doe-is-planning-on-making-even-more-cuts-to-school-budgets-despite-568-million-more-in-state-foundationaid/

The Federalist, Two States Now Have Universal School Choice and Yours Could be Next https://thefederalist.com/2023/01/27/two-states-now-have-universal-school-choice-and-yours-could-be-next/

The Nation, Robbing From the Poor to Educate the Rich https://www.thenation.com/article/society/vouchers-attack-public-education/ 

Peter Greene, Vouchers Are Not About School Choice. Here's How We Know. https://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2023/01/vouchers-are-not-about-school-choice.html·    

Diane Ravitch, Charles Siler: a Former Privatizer Changes Sides https://dianeravitch.net/2021/05/04/charles-siler-a-former-privatizer-changes-sides/  

Ed Week, Voucher Programs Gains Strength with Help from the Courts https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/voucher-programs-gain-strength-with-help-from-the-courts-an-expert-says/2022/12

 American Prospect, Will the Education Culture War Backfire on Republicans? https://prospect.org/education/2023-02-08-republican-public-school-culture-war/

Subscribe to Network for Public Education newsletter at https://networkforpubliceducation.org/ 

NPE Toolkit: School Privatization Explained https://networkforpubliceducation.org/privatization-toolkit/ 

NPE list of 76 state voucher bills  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Wo04PewW20Y7SlPI3sgYNd7S_nM-OY9srzrEX0N1gqA/edit#gid=0

Success Academy's aggressive expansion efforts despite falling enrollment, their questionable "waiting lists" and over $13 million per year spent on marketing

The Success Academy Creative Agency

One of the political weapons that charter chains & their hypesters in the media like the NY Post repeat like a mantra to support the push to expand their schools and eliminate the NYC cap on charters is their dubious claim that there are thousands of kids on their waiting lists.  (E

For many reasons one should doubt the reality and relevance of these claims. As Chalkbeat points out, 58% of NYC charter schools lost enrollment over the past three years; and 45% lost enrollment in the last year. This includes the most aggressively expansionist charter chain in NYC, Success Academy, whose enrollment has fallen by 7.7% in the last year.

Moreover, as our charter school presentation and draft resolution explain, the claims of high demand and long waiting lists at charter schools are unconfirmed by any independent audits and likely include many duplicates. 

As to Success Academy, a research study revealed that only about 50 percent of the students who win the lottery to attend one of their schools choose to enroll, making the significant of what it means to be on one of their waiting lists even more dubious. 

In addition, the network was still desperately urging more families to apply to their schools through October of the current school year, revealing a shortage of students. They also recruit students outside the city for their charter schools, suggesting a lack of demand in NYC.

Perhaps one of Success' biggest problems in keeping their seats full is their high rates of attrition, with 75%  of students leaving from Kindergarten on; and about 50% of those students who even make it to high school departing before graduation, according to analyses done by Gary Rubinstein.  

In any case, in their determined effort to persuade as many families as possible to apply, whether or not they really intend to enroll, Success Academy has a whole team focused on recruitment. See this job posting for a "Scholar Recruiter" to join the "Scholar Recruitment Team," managed by the "Lead of Scholar Recruitment" and "reporting to a Senior Scholar Recruiter".: 

.... the Scholar Recruiter will execute field outreach programs and promotional activities in individually assigned New York City regional markets. A Scholar Recruiter will often be the first touchpoint to Success Academy for prospective families, making this team a critical contributor toward reaching our enrollment goals.

One of the many responsibilities of this "Scholar Recruiter" is to " Identify, initiate, and maintain relationships with community based organizations (CBO’s) to develop CBO-to-Success Academy pipelines, identify Success Academy as the premier educational choice in the community, and cement Success Academy as a member of the community."

The following metrics will be used to evaluate their performance:

Scholar Recruiters will be measured against individual performance indicators including but not limited to:

• Gross application volume generated among families who reside in their regional markets
• Gross application volume generated to schools in their regional markets.
• Yield of regional applicant pool that is converted to enrolled status.
• Retention of enrolled families through the first 60 days of each academic year.
  
• Volume of applicant leads generated in their market.
• Number of new and continuing community-based contacts established and maintained, segmented by type (e.g. social service, faith-based, childcare, business, etc)
• Conversion rate of event attendees into applicants or long-lead applicants.
• Regular submission of performance and market data reporting. 

Success Academy also spends millions on advertising and marketing efforts to lure more applicants onto their waiting lists, with ads running on TV, bus shelters, YouTube and Facebook concurrently. They send repeated mailings to families, sometimes as many as 10-12 times per year, after being given free access to DOE mailing lists despite vehement parent protests. (DOE is the only district in the nation to share this info voluntarily.) 

As evidence of their huge marketing efforts, they also have an internal marketing firm, called the Success Academy Creative Agency:

The SA Creative Agency is a full service brand strategy, marketing, and creative division within Success Academy Charter Schools (SACS). Aligning business goals and creative and cultural trends, we partner with internal clients to define the value proposition, develop strategic insights and create marketing campaigns and other creative content to help redefine what’s possible in K-12 public education. 

SA Creative Agency itself advertises many openings, including senior copywriter, creative director, and Leader of Growth Marketing, "responsible for the design and execution of integrated demand strategies across our paid and organic channels."  

According to her Linked in profile, the Success marketing office is headed by someone named Amanda Cabreira da Silva, who came from Revlon, and as of Success Academy's 2017 IRS 990 was paid over $200,000 per year. 

As of the Success Charter Management Company's 2019 990, they also paying a separate marketing company called Madwell LLC $4 million per year, though they inaccurately claim the services were for "renovation."  (Do they mean reputational renovation?)  

Here is one of the Madwell ads for Success, from 2020.  That year, they also paid the marketing company Canal Partners Media $618,285, which describes itself as the "Lead Buying Agency for President Biden in 2020. Involved in every presidential race since '88."   

The  audit for the Success Academy  Schools Charter Management organization [EIN: 20-5298861)  says they spent $5,406,883 for "marketing/recruitment" and another $2,600,995 for "parent/community outreach." during the year ending in June 2022. The audit for the separate organization which makes up their schools, [EIN 36-4629540] reveals additional marketing expenses over this period of  $5,705,582.  So one  can assume that between the two organizations, Success spends over $13 million annually for marketing and recruitment.  That's about $650 per student!

Their internal and external marketing teams are both apparently kept busy. On Facebook, there are at least 23 Success Academy ads being run currently,  at least seven of them videos. Why at least? According to Facebook, several of these ads are algorithmically dynamic, changing according to the characteristics of the viewer. 

 One of those ads seems to unwittingly reveal the underlying nature of Success Academy and its marketing efforts; see the screenshots below.

 

PS 145 begs for more space, with overcrowding worsened by co-location and now influx of refugee students

See email and petition below sent to the District 3 Superintendent about the extreme overcrowding at PS 145 on the Upper West Side that opened its doors this fall to 85+ additional students, both refugees and asylum seekers.  Even earlier, the school had lost their library and dedicated rooms for special education service providers to a co-located school.  

For more on how welcoming the school has been to their new refugee students, see this 60 Minutes segment from November, and  60 Minutes overtime.

From: PTA President <pta.president@ps145m.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2023 11:33 AM
To: KSamuels@schools.nyc.gov
Cc: CEC3@schools.nyc.gov; Lucas Liu <lliu@cec3.org>; soumounthakeophilavong@gmail.com; ursila@cec3.org; kent@cec3.org; jeanie@cec3.org; scollins@cec3.org; mark@cec3.org; victor@cec3.org; helen@cec3.org; ramatasacko@yahoo.com; davidbanks@schools.nyc.gov; nycchancellor@schools.nyc.go; dweisberg@schools.nyc.gov; ykalban@schools.nyc.gov; cwhitemore@schools.nyc.gov; jmeller2@schools.nyc.gov; mn07@cb.nyc.gov; gbrewer@council.nyc.gov; sabreu@council.nyc.gov; MarkLevinenyc@gmail.com; Leonie Haimson <leonie@classsizematters.org>; Naveed Hasan <naveed@cs.columbia.edu>
Subject: Petition from the PTA of PS 145 to evaluate building space sharing  

Dear Superintendent Samuels,

As parents and guardians of students attending P.S. 145, we are formally requesting a firm commitment to re-evaluate the distribution of space in the P.S. 145 building that you provided during the January 18 CEC 3 meeting. We request a space evaluation in early March as promised, and as a result, more space allocation to PS 145 according to the growing needs of our student population. Our students are increasingly crowded into too little space: current enrollment at the school is 515, and our designated space is for 438 students. Our principal and teachers have displayed admirable flexibility and ingenuity in their use of the space we have, but our building administration requires your partnership in their commitment to our students. 

Please find the petition outlining our parents' and children's concerns and requests. We sincerely appreciate your urgent attention to this matter.

Thank you,  P.S. 145 PTA Co-Presidents and parents

What the Chancellor said on class size and raising the charter cap; & Mayor proposes to cut school budgets next year once again

 1. Last week, state education budget hearings were held, where many groups, advocates and organizations inveighed against the Governor's proposal to expand the cap on charter schools. Chancellor Banks also testified and was non-committal, saying it was up to the Mayor weigh in, But under questioning from Sen. Liz Krueger, he admitted that the city’s Office of Management budget had estimated the cost to the DOE of raising the cap was $1.3 billion - though he didn't mention how it could also deprive our public schools of the space needed to lower class size.

When questioned by Sen. John Liu, however, about the new class size reduction law, Banks complained that this would cost the DOE about a billion dollars. Liu pointed out that the DOE was receiving more than this amount from the state a result of the settlement of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case, so that it was hardly an unfunded mandate.

The Chancellor admitted that it would be difficult to meet the class size goals starting year three of the five-year phase in. He said that he would form a working group to help develop a class size reduction plan, something we’ve long proposed. Hopefully this group will include some of the many advocates, parents, and elected officials who have pushed for smaller classes, rather than the handful who opposed it.

2. I also submitted testimony, pointing out the many ways in which the DOE has undercut its ability to meet the benchmarks in the law, by cutting school funding, slashing the capital plan, and refusing to lessen enrollment in our most overcrowded schools. Contrary to the claims of the DOE, the Mayor's preliminary budget for next year would reduce school budgets once again – if not as radically as this year. Yet NYC schools should be receiving more funds, not less, to help them lower class size and restore services, especially as DOE is due to receive $568 million in additional CFE funds, and the IBO projects NYC will end fiscal year 2023 with an $4.9B surplus.

As for increasing the number of charter schools, you can join our email campaign urging your legislators to reject the proposal, or pass a resolution here.   I’ll be presenting the charter issue to CEC 15 tomorrow Thursday at 6:30 PM, and you can watch by logging into Zoom here.   If you’d like a similar presentation for your organization, please let me know.

thanks, Leonie

Send a message to Governor & state legislators: don't raise the cap on charter schools & repeal DOE's obligation to provide them with space!

Gov. Hochul has proposed raising the cap on charter schools and eliminating the regional caps, so that 100-300 more could be authorized in NYC.  Charters are already costing the city about $3 billion per year, and this could double the cost, as well as take away precious space needed to lower class size to the levels in the new state law. A press conference with State senators and parent leaders denouncing this proposal was held last week; see the videos here​.

So please send a message​ to the Governor and your state legislators today, urging them to drop this proposal and instead repeal the provision requiring DOE to provide space for charter schools in public schools or pay for their rent — the only school district in the state and the nation with this onerous obligation.  They should also eliminate the loophole allowing charter schools to expand to all grade levels, otherwise this will continue to cost DOE more money and space every year; and instead, should require more accountability and transparency for the charter sector.

We also have drafted a resolution for CECs​  and other organizations to consider, in opposition to raising the charter cap, and urging the Legislature to adopt the measures above and more.  The resolution is full of facts and figures. We also have a resolution​, urging the Legislature and the NYC Council to hold hearings on DOE’s class size reduction plan — or as the evidence suggests, their lack of any real plan.

Please take a look and if you agree with one or both resolutions, send them to your district CEC or Citywide Council to consider.

Scurrilous fact-free NY Post article about briefings on upcoming CEC elections; please apply to be a CEC candidate yourself!

Yesterday, the NY Post ran a sleazy and fact-free article attacking Shino Tanikawa for a workshop she gave a month ago to inform parents about the upcoming CEC and Citywide Council elections.  Shino is a friend, a long-time parent leader, and currently the well-respected Manhattan representative on the NY State Board of Regents. I refuse to provide a link to the article but it attacked Shino for giving this briefing, because it was co-sponsored by the UFT.

The reporter, Mia Walsh, claimed that the workshop was somehow unfairly biased in favor of pro-UFT positions, even though the two parents quoted in the article who attended the briefing were unable to provide any evidence that would back up this claim:

Two attendees included Deborah Kross, a representative for the Bronx on the Citywide Council on High Schools, and Steve Stowe, president of CEC 20 in Brooklyn....Kross and Stowe found the boot camp to be informative, covering the application process and education law that governs them, but questioned the UFT involvement.

But somehow, they and the NY Post reporter remained suspicious, though they were unable to cite any example of bias: 

"I  think it’s naive to say that the UFT doesn’t have their own interest in all of this,” said Stowe. “That’s something that’s hard to communicate sometimes because the message is that parents have to always support teachers,” he said. 

Parents supporting teachers?  What a radical idea.  

The article also featured a scurrilous personal attack on Shino by Deborah Kross, without bothering to quote any of the hundreds of parents and advocates who admire Shino's principled positions and hard work to improve our schools over many years,  as the former President of CEC2 and as an appointee to many NYC task forces and DOE working groups.

For those who may still harbor suspicions of this briefing, I asked Shino for a copy.  It is posted below.  Please comment if you see any sign of political bias or favoritism to the UFT.  

Parents, please consider running for a position on the Citywide and/or Community Education Councils.  In recent years, a few CECs have been taken over by right-wing zealots, including one CEC which passed a resolution urging the Gov. Hochul to veto the class size bill -- a resolution that was full of factual errors and did not represent the wishes of their constituents, as class size reduction has been the top priority of K12 parents in that same district nearly every year that DOE parent surveys have been given. 

The deadline to nominate yourself to be a candidate is Feb. 15, only ten days away, and the process is simple.  For more information, check out the DOE website here. 

Legislators and parents speak out against the Governor's proposal to allow up to 300 more charter schools in NYC

Today there was a press conference on the steps of City Hall, to oppose Gov. Hochul's proposal to raise the cap on charter schools, that could add as many as 300 more charters to NYC, as every charter that is approved can multiply into three schools, elementary, middle and high school.  

Stories about this very reckless and damaging proposal by the Governor, which seems to have gone over with the Legislature like a lead balloon,  were published in the NY Times, Chalkbeat, and NY Post, among others.  In Gothamist, I was quoted saying if the cap was raised, it could prevent any  chance that will be enough space in many schools to reduce class size. 

It was very reassuring that so many Legislators have pushed back quickly against this proposal, including the very powerful chairs of the Senate NYC Education Committee John Liu and the Senate Education Committee Shelley B. Mayer, both of whom spoke out forcefully at the press conference, along with Senators Robert Jackson, Jabari Brisport, Cordell Cleare and Jessica Ramos.  Other speakers included NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, UFT President Michael Mulgrew, and many parent leaders.  Many of them also thanked the Governor for fully funding Foundation Aid, but said raising the cap could undermine the good that these additional resources might provide. Check out the videos below.