Power Elite Set Their Sights on the Vast Wealth of the States' Public School Systems

On February 14, 2011, Obama sent to Congress his budget for 2012. In it he asks for a 38.5 percent increase in funding for education (total discretionary spending of $77.4 billion) even as he calls for a five-year freeze on domestic spending. Obama wants $900 million for a new round of funds for the Race to the Top initiative that the administration says has spurred critical school reforms. The competitive education grant program will be geared toward school districts, as opposed to awarding money to states as was done last year. - The Associated Press, Highlights of Obama's $3.73 Trillion Budget for 2012, February 14, 2011

Race to the Top of Education a Loss for All

Obama's administration has created a new game for states to play

March 4, 2010

Nolan Chart - One of the saddest things I have seen in recent memory was an announcement of the 16 'finalists' in the Obama Administration's 'Race to the Top' competition for federal education dollars. Our country has sunk to a new low in many ways the proponents of this scheme are not revealing.

This competition for your tax dollars is yet another way sovereignty is lost, the Constitution is usurped, and states fall in line while people cheer. Making it a 'competition' stirs our human tendency toward cheering for winners and lambasting losers while onlookers do not question why states are participating, how your tax dollars can be used to fund a game of chance, and why a scoring system based on a single administration's agenda decides who gets the money earmarked for the education of America's children.

How much money has each state invested in the game of chance? Who is profiting from the application process? Why are your kids’ educations being put at risk for the amusement of politicians finding new ways to pull state strings? When will constitutional sanity come back to the United States? Will you cheer if your state 'wins' the money?

Today my hopes for constitutional restoration are a little lower then they were yesterday. Tears literally fill my eyes as I read the news reports that proclaim this event as some wonderful innovation. The Washington Post reported the following quote;

"These states are an example for the country of what is possible when adults come together to do the right thing for children," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a statement. "Everyone that applied for Race to the Top is charting a path for education reform in America."

Reform? Example?

When we are made to believe it is the federal government who sets the rules and states pay to play their game the reform created is tyranny. It is an example of how far citizens have fallen in our personal responsibility over the education of our children. This is like some carnival rolling into town with amusement rides to distract those attending from the theft built into their carnies’ games. Education Sector is a think tank that advised many states on their application, was that advice free?

There are states that are critically short of resources for education yet teaching associations and states spend money, time and effort on this chance to 'win' some federal spoils. A better use of dollars and time would besetting about the foundation for returning schools to local and state control, ending federal waste and mismanagement.

This game is a scam; a scheme, a farce, and a fraud that will do nothing but further end freedom for our posterity. No states won today, all states lost as they will all lose again in April and June and as long as this carnival game is allowed to operate.

Race to the Top: Obama Follows in Pinochet’s Footsteps

September 7, 2010

Scott Creighton - Obama’s neoliberal “Race To The Top” program was nothing more than the federal government’s attempt to blackmail states into undermining their public education system for the benefit of the privitization of schools. Essentially it was the next step in the Bush administration’s “No Child Left Behind” program which set up the standardized tests that they used to claim the education system was failing. The “public” education system that is.

Proof of this overall neoliberal agenda hit close to home today as I read an article about my local county and their massive increase in new charter school applications.

You see, last week it was announced by dear old Gov. Charlie Crist that Florida had been selected as one of the “winners” in the second round of the “Race to the Top” program. The way they “won” was to “turn around failing schools”, and by that I mean they closed schools down (mostly in poor neighborhoods) and spent the money setting up for-profit “charter” schools. They also attacked the teacher’s union, which Crist himself mentioned in his celebration speech, but he said ultimately that was “ok’ because he got the head of the teacher’s union to agree to it. Charlie was just beaming with pride when he made the announcement.

So in the race to privatize everything in the new world order of the great Neoliberal Party, my state, Florida, is well out in front. And to “reward” us the federal government, who has been deliberately underfunding public education for decades so that this day would surely come, will send us a check for around 700 million bucks.

Now, you think that money will be spent on the financially challenged public schools? Think again.

Twenty-five charter school applications — a record number — have been submitted for consideration to the Hillsborough County school district.

The applications include elementary, middle and high schools as well as combinations of grades for the publicly funded but independently operated educational facilities.

Jenna Hodgens, the district’s charter school supervisor, said the Hillsborough County School Board will vote on which to approve at its Dec. 7 meeting.

“Charter schools are a growing thing,” Hodgens said. “More and more management companies are getting involved, too.” Tampa Bay Online

Hillsborough County had 30 charter schools up until “Race to the Top” and now it looks like a business boom in the “public funded privately operated” land of milk and honey.

Let me give you a little example with pictures if I may.

I went to high school in Virginia. I went to this high school;

It’s a massive school, a public school, one of the best in the state. Theatre, music, art, athletics, plus a high standard of academic achievement. Current enrollment is about 1,600. Glass served the inner city as well as the wealthy families out on Rivermont Rd. and so forth. In one class room, an AP class or a remedial class, you would have a mixture of wealthy kids and poor kids, side by side. All depended on the kid… not their parent’s bank account. That’s what good public school systems did… they gave everyone a shot, no matter where they came from. They existed on the principle that each and every one of us had the right to the same opportunities, the same education. And that is why the neoliberals of America decided that public education had to be destroyed.

Ironically, E.C. Glass is named for Sen. Carter Glass of the Glass-Steagall Act or the Banking Act of 1933 which, among other things, prevented bank holding companies from owning other financial institutions and thus curbed the speculation of Wall Street which created the Great Depression.

It was the 1999 repeal of Glass-Steagall, orchestrated by Bill Clinton’s economic advisors (now running the Obama White House), which allowed for the sub-prime mortgage bubble and the speculation and the derivatives and the 2nd Great Depression we are now living in… which eventually provided the “economic disaster” that made all this neoliberal privitization possible. Small world, huh?

Now that was my high school, a public school… green lawns, good education, gave a poor kid like me the education to get into a pretty good college… then I blew it.

Let’s take a look at some of the “charter” schools” here in Hillsborough Co. Florida that Charlie Crist is so excited about setting up. This is the end result of Barack Obama’s ”Race to the Top”. Enjoy “progressives”

That’s Brooks-Debartolo, set up in 2007 as a “not-for-profit” 501 (3) (c) by a football player and the daughter of a famous football team owning family.

This is LLT Middle School. They tried to create a high school last year, but the “business” end of education just didn’t work out (not enough trailers?), so they told the students to hit the bricks.

This is Seminole Heights Charter High School, established in 2009. It shares its building with OP Ventures and some sleazy law firm. There is a bus stop nearby and a stop light so let’s HOPE the kids will get across the street safely.

While doing this research I have found that a vast majority of the charter schools down here in Hillsborough Co. don’t seem to like to post photos of their campuses online. Wonder why that is, huh?

A couple local charter schools here are run by the Leona Group, L.L.C. (it’s so comforting to know that your kids are being “educated” by a Limited Liability Corporation, isn’t it?). They currently have for-profit schools set up in 5 states but only 2 in the state of Florida at this time. However, in and around Detroit, they have 13 charter schools and 20 in the state of Michigan. They have 22 in Arizona. Apparently the Leona Group, LLC is quickly becoming the Wal-Mart of education in America.

Just for the record, let’s be clear about where the idea for charter schools came from…

“In the 1980s, the dictatorial government of Augusto Pinochet promoted neoliberal reforms in the country, and adopted a competitive voucher system in education. These vouchers could be used in public schools or private subsidized schools (which can be run for profit). After this reform, the number of private subsidized schools, many of them secular, grew from 18.5% of schools in 1980 to 32.7% of schools in 2001.” Wiki

That’s right. After the CIA/Kissinger backed coup that took the elected president out of power on Sept. 11, 1973, the dictator and neoliberal international criminal, Augusto Pinochet created one of the first if not the first “charter” school systems under the direction of the Milton Friedman disciples, the Chicago Boys, as part of their neoliberal “Brick” they dropped on the people of Chile. This is the heritage that Barack “CHANGE” Obama is following with his Race to the Top program.

Just thought you would like to know.

Federal 'Race to the Top' Fraud (Race to the Trough - One Giant Scam Top to Bottom)

April 21, 2010

The Cucking Stool - While Arne Duncan, Al Sharpton and Newt Gingrich tour the talk shows and the country pushing president Obama's education initiative Race To The Top — which focuses on creating more failed charter schools and inferior teacher training - the liberal Economic Policy Institute did an in-depth analysis of the applications to the US Department of Education and the awarding of $600 million in the first round of funding (which went to Delaware and Tennessee).

Some states are so traumatized by their non-selection that they are desperately trying to find out what went wrong — and going so far — as Tim Pawlenty is doing in Minnesota — of seeking to change state law to have a better chance of winning funding in the second round of grants, due in June. But what would that change look like?

According to EPI the change that would be needed is unknown, because the US Department of Education didn't really follow ANY criteria in the awarding of the first round grants — and that, in effect, the winning states were chosen arbitrarily:

The 500-point system has six major categories, seven general categories, and various subcategories. By assigning numbers to each one, “the Department implies it has a testable theory or empirical data to back up its quantitative method.”

But it doesn’t have either, and, therefore, assigned the numbers subjectively.

“Further examination suggests that the selection of Delaware and Tennessee was subjective and arbitrary, more a matter of bias or chance than a result of these states’ superior compliance with reform policies,” it said.

And, it said: “The necessary subjective judgments required both for category selection and weight assignment makes a fair competition practically impossible, even if the competition is undertaken with great care.”

We might have guessed that, given the people pushing the policy — but now we know for sure. How many ways does Barack Obama have to prove that he wants to destroy the movement he rode in on?

UPDATE: I should have mentioned that, according to MPR, Minnesota's application for Race funds was outsourced to McKinsey and Company, and that the state only paid $100,000 of the $500,000 fee, the rest coming from the Gates, Bush and Minneapolis Foundations. Ironically the state's portion was paid out of federal stimulus funds.

'Race to the Top's' Blackmail While California Schools Suffer

March 30, 2010

Calitics - Calitics alum David Dayen takes a look at the recent announcement that Delaware and Tennessee have won a chunk of the "Race To The Top" funds awarded by Education Secretary Arne Duncan, and reaches a conclusion I wholly endorse:

I hope we can be honest about what this actually represents: blackmail. It forces states to change their education laws to fit particular notions about how to manage public education in America. And it does so at a time of crippling state budgets, when the Race to the Top funds mean the difference between thousands of teachers laid off or kept on the job, between class sizes expanding or shrinking. Basically, Arne Duncan and the White House are leveraging crisis to make preferred changes in education policy....

But the metrics for winning these stimulus funds comes down to "what Arne Duncan likes about education policy."...What we do know is that only one side of this debate is withholding funding until their preferred policy prescriptions are enacted. And they're doing it at a time when the biggest obstacle to education in America in the near-term can be measured in dollars and cents. Giant budget shortfalls in the states mean layoffs for teachers and worse opportunities for students, whether your state has a cap on charter schools or not.

I've been slamming Arne Duncan's shock doctrine attack on public education for some time now, calling on Sacramento to repeal policy changes recently enacted to pursue the Race To The Top funds, only for Secretary Duncan to deny California's grant application. I also similarly called on the Washington State legislature to reject proposals that would make that state eligible for RTTT funds.

It makes no sense for states to adopt unproven educational reforms merely because the Secretary of Education pulls a dollar on a string in front of legislators. So it's good to see that this message is getting wider attention.

Although DC policy wonks like Ezra Klein embrace Duncan's attack on schools, those who study state budgets are sounding the alarm about the disastrous cuts looming at California schools. The California Budget Project today released a study of the local impact of state education cuts. The cuts are devastating to the ability of our children to learn, and the ability of our schools to provide the mandated improvements under current state and federal law.

Let me offer an example. Here in Monterey County, the Alisal school district in Salinas, which has been in program improvement under No Child Left Behind and is now being overseen by a state trustee. Alisal is in line for a $2 million reduction in funding, which translates into $287 fewer dollars per child -- in a state that is already one of the lowest in per-pupil spending in the country.

The fact that Arne Duncan is as silent as the night on those cuts, but aggressively pushing his shock doctrine "Race To The Top" scam, is a disturbing sign of a lack of commitment to K-12 education on the part of the federal government. President Obama pushed through stimulus funds that helped lessen the blow of state cuts in many districts last year, but is so far not making any moves to renew that funding this year.

On a day when the White House is touting its commitment to higher education, it is sad that they are not working to ensure that students in K-12 classrooms today will be able to make use of the student loan reforms when it comes time for them to apply to college. Unless the federal government reverses its policies and starts addressing the immediate crisis in the classroom, a whole generation will lose out on their education.

Did 'Race to the Top' Drive Education Commissioner’s Call that FCAT Scores are Fine?

August, 9 2010

Orlando Sentinel - Did FCAT bow to Race To The Top?

School district officials across Florida remain dissatisfied with state Education Commissioner’ Eric Smith’s decision last week to release annual school grades based on FCAT scores.

Officials still suspect scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test were faulty and therefore brought faulty — and often lower — grades for schools.

Today several members of the Central Florida Public School Boards Coalition said they suspect that Commissioner Smith rushed to say FCAT scores were accurate because he’s headed to Washington later this week to present the state’s case for receiving a big chunk of the $3.4 billion remaining in competitive Race To The Top grants for school improvement. Florida is one of 18 states in the running for the money, which the Obama adminstration is handing out in what some describe as Some-States-Left-Behind fashion.

The reasoning is simple, said Gail McKinzie, superintendent of Polk County schools. The feds want to give the money to districts that have sound accountability systems that can measure student and teacher performance. So the Florida delegation to D.C. would say, “uh, sorry, but our accountability system is currently in disarray, suspected of being inaccurate?”

“I think this is where Race To The Top took over,” said McKinzie, who is going to retire in a couple of months and apparently has taken off the kid gloves. “I don’t think it would have been politically correct if they didn’t reach the conclusion that the data were correct.”

I called the Department of Education asking for reaction by Commisioner Smith to the accusations that he rushed the audit of test results, as many school district officials charge. I didn’t expect him to say ’shoot, Dave, you got me dead to rights. ” And he didn’t.

“As Florida’s Commissioner of Education I have a responsibility and a legal obligation to release School Grades to the public as soon as possible following the confirmation of their accuracy. With three separate independent audits completed by some of the most reputable testing experts in the nation all confirming their accuracy I saw no reason to delay their release any further.”

His comment, passed on by one of his PR people, didn’t speak to whether Race To The Top was a consideration is saying FCAT was OK. But some local school district officials, including Volusia School Board member Candy Lankford, who also heads the Florida School Boards Association, suspects it did.

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