Billions in education dollars battling for control of our children's minds and future of the country

"On the left you have the Democrat party, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE), Fordham Institute and teachers unions fighting to eliminate the current state charter school system. They weigh in with over $13 million in political contributions, and a ground team of advocacy support for Democrat legislators. Their efforts, according to a press release from the Ohio House and Senate Democratic Caucus, have resulted in “20 bills and dozens of amendments to bring more accountability to Ohio’s charter schools.”

On the right you have charter schools, Bill Lager founder of the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT) and White Hat Management, the school founded by Akron’s David Brennan. With Lager providing $220,000 in contributions to Republican legislators this year. Their results are HB 2, which created greater oversight of charter schools and charter school sponsors.

In the middle, the real battle is taking place; this is the battle over a billion dollars. These dollars fund, at half the cost of many urban district schools, approximately one third of students whose families have chosen to send their child to a charter school."

 https://3rdrailpolitics.com/article/145
 
Launched in August 2016, 3rd Rail Politics takes you behind the scenes not only in Ohio's capital city but throughout the rest of the Buckeye state.

It’s not true what you’ve heard about Baltimore

These man on the street interviews by the media of people milling around in Baltimore make no sense, nor do the memes floating around the social media about how bad things are. Black mayor, black police, black president, black attorney general, etc., all seem to be afraid of black gangs and thugs. According to the BLS, Baltimore is doing better than the rest of the U.S.A. economically in many areas.  I’ve listen to some people call the talk shows and they sound like they’re reading from a script, but can’t identify a particular crime which affected them.

I also counted the charter schools in Baltimore—32 I think.  I’m guess those kids did not join in the rioting when school let out yesterday.

The White House sending representatives to the funeral but not to the funerals for the blacks killed in Chicago, day after day, mostly killed by other blacks, probably hasn’t helped the image of this presidency which seems to delight in exacerbating race relations beginning with the “Boston police acted stupidly” in 2009.

http://www.bls.gov/regions/mid-atlantic/summary/blssummary_baltimore.pdf

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/04/27/obama-to-send-aide-to-freddie-gray-funeral-in-baltimore/

http://homicides.suntimes.com/victims/

http://www.marylandpublicschools.org/MSDE/programs/charter_schools/docs/BaltCity.htm

DeBlasio and the teachers’ unions

Will Cain has made a film about a charter school, Success Academy, in NYC where his son is enrolled. He's thrilled with the school--Will is from a small town with one school, he had no idea that public schools in NYC could be so bad. This school has the highest test scores in the state--a school of underprivileged, black and brown children (32% Latinos and 38% African-Americans) with single parents, bad living conditions, you name it, and these kids overcame what the research said was impossible given their economic and family status. They are testing higher than the kids of the one percenters! And Mayor de Blasio, a Sandanista supporter who honeymooned in Cuba, has decided the charter school must be closed as, "not in the best interest of the children." Ha! Not in the best interest of the teachers unions. http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/07/opinion/cain-charter-de-blasio/

School choice for the poor; private schools for the rich

The Obamas send their daughters to a toney private school, as do many politicians who come to Washington.  It’s their choice—they love their kids and want the best for them.  However, in 2012 he dropped that same choice (charter schools) for other Washington, DC families, mostly black.  It’s not that he doesn’t care that black children succeed (because they do in those schools), he’s just more afraid of the unions who helped elect him.

The Opportunity Scholarship Program offers vouchers to low-income students to attend private schools. A 2010 study published by Patrick Wolf of the University of Arkansas found that the scholarship recipients had graduation rates of 91%. The graduation rate for D.C. public schools was 56%, and it was 70% for students who entered the lottery for a voucher but didn't win.

Because the president's teachers union allies are opposed to school choice for poor people, Mr. Obama ignores or downplays these findings. He repeatedly has tried to shutter the program, even though it is clearly advancing his stated goal of increasing graduation rates and closing the black-white achievement gap.

http://www.federationforchildren.org/articles/651

http://www.timesdispatch.com/opinion/their-opinion/cantor-let-s-expand-opportunity-for-all-kids/article_c656e8fa-d423-5d56-be66-6d5c0b157d8a.html

Jalen Rose Leadership Academy

This is an inspiring story of a famous athlete returning home to save the children by starting a charter school.

Every weekday, 120 high-school freshmen from these neighborhoods attend Mr. Rose's academy, some arriving after two bus trips and all before 7:30 a.m. Located in a former public school building, the school has spartan facilities—a science lab with almost no equipment, cracked windows—and few modern frills, though every student is given a computer. . .

Mr. Rose plans to start with this freshman class and add a new grade each year until there are some 500 kids in grades 9-12. "This is college prep. We expect 90% to 100% to go on to college"—no mean feat when many students are entering ninth grade with only fourth-grade levels of reading and math proficiency. . . .

At the Leadership Academy, "we have a 20-to-1 student teacher ratio and 10-to-1 in math and English. We want to invest in every young man or woman who comes here." That means tailoring achievement standards for every student. "There may be a kid reading at a fourth-grade level [when he enters ninth grade] who when he graduates is reading at a tenth-grade level. That's a victory."

His school also doesn't have tenure for teachers. "I hate tenure. Tenure allows teachers to put their feet up on the desk and possibly have a job forever. That's why I got turned on to charter schools. It's a business model. Every employee and every teacher will be monitored by performance."

The Weekend Interview with Jalen Rose: From the Fab Five to the Three Rs - WSJ.com

CREDO study on charter schools funded by liberal Joyce Foundation

The Joyce Foundation funded in part the study on the successes and failures of [public?] charter schools, CREDO national charter school study [alert: this is one of the most visually boring websites you'll find on the internet--Stanford needs a new web designer] The Joyce Foundation in its causes and in its directors is left wing, with Barack Obama and Valerie Jarrett members of its board of directors.

The 2009 CREDO report, “Multiple Choice: Charter School Performance in 16 States,” “recognized a robust national demand for more charter schools from parents and local communities, it found that 17 percent of charter schools reported academic gains that were significantly better than traditional public schools, while 37 percent of charter schools showed gains that were worse than their traditional public school counterparts, with 46 percent of charter schools demonstrating no significant difference.”

The full report plus supplements since the 2009 issue, includes those states like Indiana and California where charter school students did better than those in traditional classrooms, but also those in Ohio who did worse. (This could mean that Ohio's public schools were better at the starting gate than Indiana's or California's.) With 46% demonstrating no difference and 17% better, that’s at least 63% positive--at least they didn't loose ground. And then there’s the unmeasurables--parental involvement, safety, bullying, behavior, spiritual and moral guidance, special focus (art, music, math, sports) etc. . . . some things aren't measured in test scores. Also, I don't know of a way to account for the "head start" that traditional public schools have over the charters--public or private--nor how to account for the positive affect of competition on the public schools.

It will be interesting to see how the report is used by the various sides, including the unions, within the school system to woo the parents. Also it looks to me like Ohio charters ought to visit Indiana to see what's happening.

Students benefit from charter schools

"A string of high quality studies is finding that students benefit academically from attending a charter school rather than a traditional public school."

And then he lists the studies. Very impressive. Don’t expect a change, however. It’s really not about the children.

Obama worship

If you thought that video of little kids singing a hymn to Obama was bad, watch this video of young boys in paramilitary garb strutting and shouting Alpha-Omega and reciting different talking points of the Obama campaign, promising him their lives and careers. North Korean brainwashing anyone?

And to think I was bothered by those Obama logos--the red white and blue sun with the road going nowhere--painted on collapsing Ohio barns. Obviously I hadn't looked far enough.