Larger Forces -- Not Parents, Students or 'Choice' -- Push Agenda that Uses Charter Schools
New Jersey is no different than Tennessee or any other state that is breaking up free public education in America. Except, the Department of Justice has not begun investigating Tennessee -- yet -- for civil rights violations as is laid out in this story by Owen Davis in Truthout.
(Click highlighted text, OR first read my 4-graph rant if you need to get your mad on!):
Watch the money, watch who is setting up new non-profits and LLCs for private gain. Unfortunately, the rhetoric of reform and "choice" and "failing schools" and free markets has swayed desperate parents in the short run, while regressing to separate-and-unequal and choking public schools, which are held to standards that do not apply to free-wheeling charters. (Across the board, the only correlating determinant of "student success" or test scores is the parents' income.)
Many of our legislators want to argue that charters are public schools. They rip taxpayer money from the public treasury, true, but until they play on the same field, they are in no way public schools.
How incredible and frustrating it is to see this bald mugging of taxpayers and education while so many people do not recognize the larger picture. By crushing education, the most cynical among the most wealthy worshippers of capitalism expand a permanent under-class, which suppresses wages as too many of our people must compete for too few opportunities.
Still not convinced this is a high-stakes game? Look up all the money that out-of-state special interests for privatization such as Stand for Children and StudentsFirst poured into school board races, which we formerly believed were a bastion of non-partisanship.
Click to read this unmasking of Gov. Christie and other special interests in New Jersey: "Flipping Schools: The Hidden Forces behind New Jersey Education Reform"
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