The annual conference of Network for Public Education, on whose board I sit, was held last weekend in Columbus, Ohio. It was terrific as usual, with wonderful speeches and incisive and illuminating workshops and panel discussions on how to strengthen our public schools and protect them from the depredations of budget cuts, privatization, and censorship.
But the highlight for me and many others was Tim Walz' inspiring keynote address on Sunday afternoon, where he spoke about how we have to fight Trump's attempt to dismantle and defund our public schools. An article about his speech is here, though the article underestimates the numbers in the audience and the response: there were actually about 350 people there, including state legislators, Commissioners of Education, educators, parents, and advocates, who were ecstatic to hear him speak.
Walz was introduced by Randi Weingarten, who was introduced by Diane Ravitch. Diane approvingly noted how earlier, Randi had been called "the most dangerous person in the world" by Mike Pompeo.
Randi said that we cannot give into the "autocrats who want to bully people into silence," and asked what does it mean when the President "wants to destroy the only federal agency devoted to education."
She noted it was Tim Walz' birthday, and after he stepped up to the dais, she presented him with a cake and we all sang him Happy Birthday.
Both Tim Walz and Randi hailed the protest rallies and marches the had occurred nationwide the day before, demanding that Trump and Musk take their "Hands Off" our democracy and our schools. Tim Walz assured us that we aren't overreacting, since "The road to authoritarianism is littered to people saying you’re overreacting."
He added: "People say that they’re not into politics but I say that politics are into you. When I’m asked who’s leading the Democratic Party I say they’re in the streets like yesterday."
Walz pointed out that the takeover of our public schools is being engineered by the oligarchs -- though "we shouldn't call them oligarchs but greedy bastards." He also said that the middle class was built in the US by our public education system and the unions.
Of course, I did get a selfie with Walz -- and when I introduced myself, I said I was from Class Size Matters. As a long time teacher, he immediately responded, "yes it does!" I added that he was the best thing to come out of the 2024 election, and he replied, "You're too kind." As opposed to so many politicians, he truly comes off as the warmest, most humble human being -- and funny besides.Earlier that day, I had been a presenter at a workshop on the risks of AI in the classroom, along with Cassie Creswell from Illinois Families for Public Schools, and co-chair along with me of the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy. Concluding the workshop with eclat was the retired teacher, brilliant blogger and education guru Peter Greene. Our presentation is below.
