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

The very real threat of privatization to our public schools, at the state and national levels

Gov. Cuomo   photo: AP

Several people have asked for a copy of the privatization presentation I gave at the meeting of the Westchester- East Putnam PTA meeting on Saturday.   It is below.

While Trump and DeVos represent a huge threat to our public schools, so do Gov. Cuomo and the NY State Senate.  Cuomo has proposed expanding funding to charter schools this year, eliminating the charter cap in NYC,  and entirely erasing the foundation formula in future years -- a formula developed to send more state aid to high needs districts after the state's highest court concluded that our school funding system was unconstitutional.

Betsy Devos  photo:Jim Watson / AFP - Getty

Meanwhile, the NY State Senate is likely to support all of these proposals and also to approve a voucher-like bill called the Education Tuition Tax Credit bill, which would siphon off millions of dollars of state funds to private and parochial schools and give huge tax breaks to billionaires at the same time.  More on this below.

The hedge fund community and other members of the pro-privatization and charter school lobby made up the largest donors to the GOP members of the NY State Senate in the November 2016 elections -- and have also been some of the largest contributors to Cuomo's campaigns in past years.  As he gears up to run for President, he may be counting on their support once again.

Privatization Westchester Pta 3.4.17 by Leonie Haimson on Scribd

Resist privatization! presentation tomorrow in Westchester, Education Justice marches and great debate on charters

1.     Leonie Haimson will be speaking on the national and state push to privatize public education tomorrow Saturday, March 4, 2017 at the Westchester-East Putnam PTA Advocacy Breakfast. The event is free; just RSVP to magerbxv@gmail.com

What: Westchester-East Putnam PTA Advocacy Breakfast
Where: The Education House, 5 Homeside Lane, White Plains, NY
When: Saturday, March 4, 2017, begins at 8:30 AM; I will be speaking at about 10 AM.

2.       There is also a People March for Educational Justice happening tomorrow Saturday in NYC and throughout the state.   Governor Cuomo has proposed a terrible budget that essentially eliminates foundation aid after this year – which was created after the CFE lawsuit to make education funding more equitable and send more resources to high-needs districts. His budget would also significantly increase funding to charter schools and raise the charter cap in NYC, as well as make NYC pay more for charter school rent or force us to squeeze even more charter school students into our already overcrowded school buildings.

NYC already pays over $1.7 BILLION annually to charter schools, and over $40 million a year for their rent. To spend any more would be a supreme hardship and would drain even more funds from our public schools. Meanwhile, it was announced today that Success Academy charters is renting Radio City Music Hall for their annual test prep rally, and last year spent over $68 million for their new headquarters in Manhattan.

For more information on when and where to meet across the state to March for Educational Justice and against privatization, please check out http://www.aqeny.org/march/ In NYC, the march starts in front of Trump Hotel at Columbus Circle at 9:30 AM.

3. On Wednesday Leonie had the pleasure of attending an IQ2 debate on charter schools. Please check out the video here and below.  The debaters included Gary Miron, Professor in Evaluation, Measurement, and Research at Western Michigan University and Julian Vasquez Heilig, Sacramento State Professor and a founding Board Member, Network for Public Education vs. Jeanne Allen, CEO of The Center for Education Reform and Gerard Robinson, Resident Fellow, AEI & former Florida Commissioner of Education.

The proposition under debate was whether charter schools are overrated.  The audience members voted at the beginning and the end.  After the debate was over, 21% changed their mind to agree with the proposition compared to 9% changed their mind in the other direction, for a total of 54% to 40% who now believed charters were overrated. More on the debate here and here.  Please watch if you have the time to see if you will change your mind!

Diane on the debate

Diane Ravitch on last night's Presidential debate – from Politico.com.:

On the issue with which I am best informed--education--I thought that Senator McCain was pathetic. He claimed that vouchers were the answer to our nation's school problems, but the evidence does not support him, nor do practical politics. There are only three cities in the United States with public voucher programs--D.C., Cleveland, and Milwaukee. The results to date do not bear out Senator McCain's optimistic appraisal. Since vouchers are in fact not only unavailable but unconstitutional in most of the country, this is a false promise on the part of the candidate.

Senator Obama was right, in my estimation, in supporting a strengthening of early childhood education, but I was surprised to see his enthusiastic endorsement of charter schools and pay-for-performance. The evidence on both these initiatives is just as weak as for vouchers.

Neither candidate showed a deep understanding of the needs of our public schools.

Earlier, Diane had been asked by the NY Times what question she would ask of them – unfortunately, Bob Schaeffer did not take her advice.