Ranking of public schools

While the majority of American families still support their local public schools, that’s not what sells news. State legislators rely on weak or non-existent research, fear tactics, and ignorant politicians running state legislators to make decisions for public schools. These are the headlines. The results are governors defunding public education, supporting charter schools, vouchers, and throwing money at whatever alternative models of education they can create, without the research to support their efficacy.

The Network for Public Education, recently ranked as #3 on the list of top most influential think tanks by The Center for Evaluation and Education Policy at Indiana University, released a study on the The Best and the Worst Statehouses for Supporting Public Schools and Their Students. The 2024 report, Public Schooling in America: Measuring Each State’s Commitment to
Democratically Governed Schools, examines these trends, reporting on each state’s commitment to supporting its public schools and the children who attend them.

States were rated on:

• Privatization Laws: the guardrails and limits on charter and voucher programs to ensure that taxpayers and students are protected from discrimination, corruption, and fraud.
• Homeschooling Laws: laws to ensure that instruction is provided safely and responsibly.
• Financial Support for Public Schools: sufficient and equitable funding of public schools.
• Freedom to Teach and Learn: whether state laws allow all students to feel safe and thrive at school and receive honest instruction free of political intrusion (NPE.org).

Five states received a grade of “A” for their strong support of public schools and students; thirteen states were awarded a nine a C, seven a D, and seventeen received a grade of F. These seventeen states earned less than half of all possible points, raising serious concerns regarding how they support their public schools and protect children — in educational settings
within and outside their public schools (NPE.org).

Top five states Bottom five states
1. North Dakota 47. Arkansas
2. Connecticut 48. North Carolina
3. Vermont 49. Utah
4. Illinois 50. Arizona
5. Nebraska 51. Florida

PUBLIC SCHOOLING IN AMERICA 2024

Here are the major findings from the study:

• Seventy-one percent of states show a clear association between privatization laws and
  other measures (homeschooling, financing, and freedom to teach and learn). These
  states had either the same letter grade in both groupings or were only one letter
  grade apart (e.g., Connecticut “B” for privatization, “A” for other).
• The alignment between privatization and the three other measures was most apparent
  in states whose overall grade was an “F.” Of the 17 states that received this grade, 16
  had either an “F” in both or a “D” and “F” combination.
• The political makeup of the state government has a profound effect on states that
  earned an “F.” All but two (Arizona and North Carolina) have a Republican trifecta —
  Republican control of the House, Senate, and Governorship. Although Arizona presently
  has a Governor who is a Democrat, it recently emerged from a 14-year Republican trifecta.
• North Carolina, the other “F” state with a divided government, has a Democratic
  governor with a Republican supermajority that has overruled the governor’s
  veto when he has attempted to protect public schools.

I have highlighted the key findings from this study, done by the #3 think tank. This is good research and supported by empirical data. The Network for Public Education is a national advocacy group whose mission is to preserve,
promote, improve, and strengthen public schools for current and future generations of students.

Why isn’t this in the headlines?

These are my reflections for today.

April 26, 2024

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A MUST read

I don’t often write book reviews but I’ve read a book that might be the most important book for so man of us to read. The book is The Anxious Generation; : How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness (Penguin Press, 2024) written by NY Times bestselling author Jonathan Haidt. He is also the coauthor of The Coddling of the American Mind, an essential investigation into the collapse of youth mental health—and a plan for a healthier, freer childhood.

Dr. Haidt is a social psychologist who is currently the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at NYU. He holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from UPENN and a BA in Philosophy from Yale. In this book, Haidt explains why smart phones and social media lead to depression and anxiety among children and teens. He eloquently compares his analysis of social media with the decline of free play for children. He defines free play as a time when children are on their own to play with their peers and without adult supervision. Free play is essential to development as it is a time when children learn how to invent fun, set rules, settle disputes and improve their social skills. In the book, Haidt has data supporting that smartphones are the overwhelming cause of the youth mental health crisis. I see it on a daily basis with the college students I work with who are part of the “COVID generation”. In that regard, this book has been eye-opening for me to better understand my students and how to help them.

This is the book review from amazon:

After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply, more than doubling on most measures. Why?

In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. Haidt shows how the “play-based childhood” began to decline in the 1980s, and how it was finally wiped out by the arrival of the “phone-based childhood” in the early 2010s. He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this “great rewiring of childhood” has interfered with children’s social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families, and their societies.

Most important, Haidt issues a clear call to action. He diagnoses the “collective action problems” that trap us, and then proposes four simple rules that might set us free. He describes steps that parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments can take to end the epidemic of mental illness and restore a more humane childhood.

An equally powerful review from goodreads:

Haidt investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. Haidt shows how the “play-based childhood” began to decline in the 1980s, and how it was finally wiped out by the arrival of the “phone-based childhood” in the early 2010s. He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this “great rewiring of childhood” has interfered with children’s social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families, and their societies.

This book may be the most important read for our generation. Parents, young adults, college students, teachers, counselors, coaches, anyone who works with or has a genuine interest in the healthy development of children – this is a MUST read.

These are my reflections for today.

April 19, 2024

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The true cost of vouchers

I recently read this editorial from a New Hampshire newspaper about the cost of vouchers in Florida and Arizona, as NH considers expanding a voucher bill. The editorial, serves as a warning to NH. The authors have written a similar article published in Nashville, TN.

Opinion: The devastating impact vouchers have had on Arizona, Florida local public schools

Damaris Allen is the executive director of Families for Strong Public Schools, a Florida public school graduate, and a parent of public school children. Beth Lewis is the executive director of Save Our Schools Arizona, an Arizona educator, and a parent of public school children.

Arizona and Florida have the dubious distinction of being considered “#1 in school choice” by the dark money special interests that have spent millions to push vouchers in our states. This means our public schools are underfunded in service of private school vouchers. Rural students and low-income families have fewer quality choices, while richer suburban families use vouchers as a coupon for the private education they were already paying for. This is tens of millions of taxpayer dollars being spent with no accountability, no transparency and no return on investment.

Arizona is now reeling from the impacts of universal vouchers, which are siphoning nearly $1 billion out of our local public schools this year. School districts are forced to make horrific decisions between shutting down schools, laying off hundreds of teachers, slashing bus routes or firing counselors or social workers. Arizona class sizes are growing exponentially, while our buildings and buses fall into disrepair. Just this past month, our attorney general announced major cases of fraud, in which hundreds of thousands of dollars were stolen from the voucher program.

Florida spends over $4 billion of taxpayer money annually on private schools. More than 65 percent are not accredited, requiring parents to check with their students’ prospective colleges to ensure their diplomas will even be accepted. In Florida, homeschool families who receive vouchers are free to purchase large-screen TVs, paddleboards, vacations and other extravagant items, while public schools don’t have basic school supplies, such as paper and pencils. To reduce costs, our traditional public schools have class sizes bursting at the seams, fewer enrichment programs and limited access to accelerated courses.

This is happening in Florida and Arizona, and it’s no different in New Hampshire. Voucher lobbyists are solely interested in forcing through publicly funded vouchers to eventually dismantle the public school system and privatize all schools. They like to start small, with targeted programs for low-income students, but once the voucher door has opened, it’s almost impossible to close, and millions will be spent to inch it ever wider each year. That’s what’s happening in New Hampshire now, with several bills to expand vouchers. The New Hampshire voucher law specifically protects the right of schools to reject students who do not fit their mission but offers no protection to students against discrimination, even though taxpayer money is being used to pay for the vouchers.

New Hampshire does not fully fund, or even adequately fund, its public schools. That has been shown through more than 30 years’ worth of court cases, including the ConVal case that shows the state is shortchanging public school students by more than $500 million every year, and local property taxpayers are saddled with the burden of making up the difference. If New Hampshire focused on fairly funding public schools rather than draining the Education Trust Fund to pay for vouchers, the state could brag about providing a great public education to all students and ease the dependence on local property taxpayers.

Let our states’ unfortunate experience with vouchers be a red flag for the Granite State. Don’t be hoodwinked by slick marketing. Unaccountable voucher schemes are not academically or financially viable. Don’t let lawmakers expand your voucher program. It would be a big mistake for New Hampshire students and their families. Keep the promise of public education; we promise New Hampshire families will be better off.

According to Josh Cowen, Professor of Education Policy – College of Education, Michigan State University, “The last decade of achievement studies have shown negative voucher impacts, with more mix ed or inconclusive results on attainment” (Brookings.edu). Additionally, “data from traditional voucher programs has indicated that the larger the program, the worse the results tend to be” (Brookings.edu).

Imagine someone came to you and said, if you give us a lot of money, we will make education better for poor black and brown kids by stealing from their public school counterparts, hiring non-licensed teachers, and provide an academic program that has no accountability like traditional public schools. Plus there is very limited research on the success of these schools, but we’re stealing from the poor kids and sticking it to the teachers’ unions – Who’s in???

These are my reflections for today.

April 12, 2024

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Paying for test scores

Teachers are leaving the profession at a faster rate than they enter. As many schools look for ways to retain good teachers, signing bonuses have become popular. Some districts in New Jersey are offering $10,000-$15,000 signing bonuses. Another idea that is rearing its ugly head again is merit pay.

Merit pay for teachers, which has its roots in the early 20th century, aims to reward teachers based on factors like student performance, classroom observations, or professional development. Merit pay is based on the belief teachers would work harder to improve student performance if they were paid extra for their efforts. Many early attempts at implementing merit pay faced challenges due to concerns about fairness, subjectivity in evaluation, and lack of consensus on appropriate metrics.

Teachers’ unions resisted merit pay proposals, citing concerns about fairness, potential for favoritism, and emphasis on standardized testing. Union opposition posed a significant barrier to widespread adoption of merit pay systems.

School districts would tie standardized test scores or student achievement measures, however research showed mixed results. While some studies suggested modest improvements in student outcomes or teacher performance, others found little to no impact or unintended consequences, such as narrowing the curriculum or discouraging collaboration among teachers.

One unintended consequence of merit pay systems was cheating. Districts across the country were cited for unusually, and statistically unexplainable gains in test scores, and an inordinate amount of erasures on students score sheets.

In what was perhaps the most egregious violation of cheating on state testing, Beverly Hall, former superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools was among 35 educators who were indicted by a grand jury in a cheating scandal that drew national attention. Hall resigned from her position in 2011 after a state investigation into large, unexplained test score gains in some Atlanta schools. For at least four years, between 2005 and 2009, test answers were altered, fabricated and falsely certified (cnn.com). She denied any role in the cheating scandal.

According to the indictment, Hall placed unreasonable goals on educators and “protected and rewarded those who achieved targets by cheating.” It also alleges she fired principals who failed to achieve goals and “ignored suspicious” test score gains throughout the school system (cnn.com). With her criminal case unresolved, Hall faced up to 45 years in prison, but she died in 2015 of breast cancer.

Most recently, merit pay discussions have continued, as some states and districts are implementing performance-based compensation systems. Advocates argue for greater accountability and incentives for effective teaching, while critics raise concerns about equity, validity of assessment measures, and potential negative consequences.

As John Thompson wrote last week, “…starting with No Child Left Behind and taking off with Race to the Top, test scores were weaponized, and the dangers of performance pay grew dramatically. Output-driven teachers’ salaries, joined at the hip with unreliable and invalid accountability metrics, promoted educational malpractice that undermined meaningful teaching and learning, increasing in-one-ear-out-the-other, worksheet-driven instruction. Teamwork was damaged, trust was compromised, the flight of educators from classroom increased, and the joy of student learning declined significantly” (dianeravitch.net).

Last year, Houston Superintendent Mike Miles said the district would implement performance-based pay for all teachers and an “earned autonomy” model for campuses across the district (houstonpublicmedia.com). The current compensation model for teachers is salaries rise over time as educators gain experience. This will be replaced with a “pay-for-performance” system based largely on standardized test scores (houstonpublicmedia.com).

Oklahoma, after rejecting a proposal to increase teacher salaries, is now proposing a new merit-based teacher stipend plan (tulsaworld.com). According to the plan, “about 100 teachers across the district would be eligible to apply for advanced status under the program, which carries a $6,000 one-time raise, a $3,000 stipend and five extra contract days. Under the terms of the program guidelines, the district has to use student performance, teacher observations and out-of-classroom time as criteria to narrow down which teachers would be eligible” (tulsaworld.com).

While some research supports the effectiveness of merit pay, the success may be linked to teachers teaching only test-taking skills, focusing solely on the incentivized test which results in narrowing of the curriculum, or in the case of Atlanta, cheating. In one study, researchers concluded,  the success “varies by program design and study context, suggesting that teacher merit pay has the potential to improve student test scores in some contexts but researchers and policymakers should pay close attention to program design and implementation Pham, L. D., Nguyen, T. D., & Springer, M. G. (2021)

The biggest problem with public education is not teachers, budgets, school boards, it’s poverty. Does anyone holding public office want to talk about that?

…crickets

These are my reflections for today.

April 5, 2024

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Celebs and their charter hubris

The ________________ (name of charter school) located in ________________(city) is riddled with controversy over _________ (add list of offenses, complaints, broken laws).

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Russell Wilson and his wife. This week there’s another story of the charter school chain dysfunction.

The Capital Prep Charter chain in New York, created by Dr. Steve Perry, an educational reformer who is a proponent of school choice and an opponent of teachers unions. The teachers unions, he says, are extremely powerful and not empowering to the students who most need them (nypost.com). Perry is known by some as “America’s most trusted educator” (theroot.com).

Back in 2016, Perry and Sean “Ditty” Combs launched Capital Prep Charter in East Harlem.Ditty, according to Forbes magazine was the richest man in hip hop In 2018, Ditty promised $1 million to expand Charter Prep into the Bronx. Also in 2018, Combs was recognized at the Apollo Theater for his work in education. The award was to be given by three graduates. Combs didn’t show up, citing “airplane troubles”, though he accepted his award in a video which was taken from inside his private jet (thecut.com). Aside from the occasional photo op and guest appearance, Combs had very little to do with the day-to-day functioning of the school.

In an interview in 2022, Combs said of his involvement in Charter Prep, “It was something that was always a dream for me and a passion, and I’m just blessed that it was able to happen. I think it’s having an impact. I mean, not I think, I know it’s definitely having an impact on the community, so it’s a dream come true” (theroot.com).

Combs has been accused of abuse, rape, and sex trafficking – charges brought against him by a former girlfriend. Though Combs settled with the woman, there are four subsequent allegations of similar claims (thecut.com). This is what led Perry to sever his ties with Combs and Capital Prep last November.

One parent said, “He [Diddy] was supposed to be an inspiration to those children, coming from what you might consider the hood — and he was not” (theroot.com).

So much for that.

Now it seems the issues with Capital Prep go far beyond bad press with their celebrity investor. Parents, students and former employees describe the school as dysfunctional with a high teacher turnover rate, and incidences of violence (thecut.com). The school, like so many other charter schools, has had seven principals or interim principals in seven years. Teachers complained they were short on chairs and desks. The grading system used resulted in inaccurate grades, transcripts, schedules, and testing data (thecut.com).

Some students were enrolled in courses they had passed years before, while teachers saw class sizes double or triple with children who weren’t supposed to be there. People were in the building, says a teacher, but often they weren’t in a classroom learning: “There were kids who were sitting in the cafeteria receiving no instruction for hours.” Trustees would brag about donors in board meetings, but on the ground, teachers say they were strapped for materials — “None of that money ever translated to any more resources; it didn’t translate to more laptops, to more boards, or chart paper,” says one. The dysfunction only compounded the school’s attrition problem. “People were quitting left and right because there was just no point,” one teacher says. Another says she was working up to 16 hours a day; management told her and other faculty to cover subjects they weren’t hired for as well as after-school activities. Students were taught by a revolving door of substitutes; at one point, a principal was covering class, according to a parent (thecut.com).

While the school boasted that 100% of graduates were accepted into college, the graduation rate is only 70%. Parents compalined that students were barely passing and not prepared for college (thecut.com).

Shenique Coston, director of communications and development for the school’s network, denies the claims against Charter Prep. “We accept and are saddened that some scholars and colleagues were not pleased with their experience, however, we affirmatively state that many of the allegations included in your fact-checking list are fabrications”  (thecut.com).

While it seems the outrage should be on Ditty and his celebrity involvement in a charter school in Harlem, like Russell Wilson and others who have pledged millions in support of charter schools, the greater issue is the idea these celebrities have that throwing money at charter schools will fix education for black and brown children. This is a problem, but throwing money at charter schools, getting a few pictures taken for the press, claiming “We’re all in on this” and I’m just blessed that it was able to happen (theroot.com) is nothing more than hubris, and rarely works.

Someone should keep a tally of how much celebrities spend on charter schools, and what that would offer underfunded public schools.

Support public education.

These are my reflections for today.

March 29, 2024

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*Much of the information for this blog came from an outstanding article in The Cut, titled, The Chaos Inside Diddy’s Charter School, by Sangeeta Singh-Kurtz.

Church – and – State

The public schools in Maine must pay for students to attend religious schools, as they do for private schools IF students live in a district that does not have a public high school. This was the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2022. At that time there were 29 private schools that met the criteria for the tuition reimbursement program and were awarded about $12,000 per student in taxpayer funding.

The decision invalidated provisions in 37 state constitutions that ban the direct or indirect use of taxpayer money in religious schools (NPR.org). Many hailed this as a victory for education reformers who support taxpayer money for private and religious education.

The Association of Christian Schools International, a Colorado-based organization that promotes Christian education, said the fact that 32 other states already have a school choice program speaks volumes. “We hope that the 18 states that do not have school choice programs will one day have one” (apnews.com).

At that time, Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey criticized the ruling, saying that all schools that accept public funds must abide by the Main Human Rights Act, which bans discrimination on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or disability (apnews.com).

Crosspoint policy requires staff and students to support a biblical stance on marriage and sexuality, which includes a rejection of homosexuality, same-sex marriages and transgender ideology (Christianpost.com).

U.S. District Judge John Woodcock denied a preliminary injunction this week requested by Bangor Christian Schools, concluding that the church’s lawsuit is not likely to succeed. Woodcock ruled that Bangor Christian Schools must follow all the Maine Human Rights Act provisions (apnews.com).

Lea Patterson, a representative of Crosspoint Church that runs Bangor Christian Schools said they plan to appeal the decision. Patterson said, “Government punishing religious schools for living out their religious beliefs is not only unconstitutional, it is wrong” (Bangor Daily News).

Crosspoint called the restrictions a “poison pill” that keeps the school unable to accept state taxpayer money due to these restrictions on employment discrimination.

Exactly.

Real quick, Crosspoint, in case you were absent the day this was taught in school…

The First Amendment prevents the government from creating or establishing a religion, and thereby prevents the power of the government from expanding beyond civil matters. The First Amendment also protects people’s right to worship however they choose, or to not worship any God at all.

Here endeth the lesson.

These are my reflections for today.

March 22, 2024

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Public (but censored) libraries

Sarah Huckabee Sanders is the governor of Arkansas. This allows her to appoint new members to the State Library Board. Recently Sanders appointed Jason Rapert who immediately proposed to cut off funding to libraries that were suing the state to block a censorship law. Fortunately, Rapert couldn’t get anyone to second his motion and it died. This gave the 18 plaintiffs – including libraries, patron, and booksellers a win (arkansastimes.com).

Rapert is a former Arkansas senator and founder and president of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers that promotes conservative Christian public policies, as well as Holy Ghost Ministries which aims to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ (arkansasadvocate). In 2015, Rapert sponsored an Arkansas law creating a monument to the Ten Commandments that has been on display on Capitol grounds since 2018. Several groups filed federal lawsuits for the removal of the monument, citing the First Amendment clause that prohibits the government from favoring an establishment of religion. These lawsuits have been combined and are moving forward in federal court (arkansasadvocate).

Another Board Member, Pamela Meredith, said defunding would not only hurt the libraries, but also the communities. Such action, Meredith said, “would amount to the board’s taking a stand, a political stand, which is not the panel’s responsibility” (arktimes.com). Rapert replied saying this was not a political statement, but “simply doing good business” (arktimes.com).

Rapert wanted to know if Arkansas libraries contain books that some have found objectionable, such as “Gender Queer.”  Rapert chose to focus on books with LGBQT+  themes and not books with extreme violence or steamy heterosexual sex scenes (arktimes.com).

The law, Act 372 would have restrict what book children can access by imposing a criminal penalty on anyone who makes “harmful” books available to minors, and establishing a uniform procedure for people to challenge materials in a library based on “appropriateness” (arkansastimes.com).

Plaintiffs in the case included the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) and the Fayetteville Public Library, argued the law violates the First and Fourteenth amendments of the U.S. Constitution. In the win, CALS director Nate Coulter said, “The federal court has agreed today with what CALS and our many library friends and supporters have been saying about this law for many months. Act 372 is censorship. Act 372 violates our constitution; Act 372 wrongly maligns innocent librarians” (arkansastimes.com).

Freedom of Speech and of the Press: The First Amendment allows citizens to express and to be exposed to a wide range of opinions and views. It was intended to ensure a free exchange of ideas even if the ideas are unpopular.

annenbergclassroom.org

Very slowly, we are witnessing the erosion of our rights – many given to us by the Constitution. Benjamin Franklin once said, “If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed” (saturdayeveningpost.com).

These are my reflections for today.

March 1, 2024

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@reflectionsined

I’ll be away next week. 😎☀️

“An intellectual reign of terror”

…this is what LeRoy Pernell, a Florida A&M Law professor said about the situation at New College in Sarasota,Florida. Pernell said this has many Florida professors looking to take jobs outside the state (thedailybeast).

Let me back up.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is on a roll to destroy public education. With the ban on books, support of vouchers, “Don’t Say Gay” bill this is seemingly just the start. Last January, DeSantis appointed six new conservative members to the Board of Trustees who, in turn, fired the sitting president and appointed Richard Corcoran, former education commissioner and Florida Speaker of the House and paid him twice what the previous position’s annual salary. The board then eliminated gender studies as a major. This move was praised by DeSantis as necessary to “save the school from ruin” (thedailybeast).

Corcoran established an athletics department, which drove up the enrollment but that came at a cost. Seems that newly enrolled students had lower test scores and GPA’s. According to USA Today, New College dropped 24 spots in the U.S. News and World Report rankings of top liberal arts colleges in the country.

Concerned that their university was being “corrupted by woke nihilism”, Christopher Rufo, one of the six newly-appointed New College trustees said the ‘new’ New College would focus on a “classical liberal arts education,” “colorblindness” and hiring faculty with expertise in topics ranging from “free enterprise” to “family life (wfla.com).

This week the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) slapped the college with a sanction for “egregious and extensive” standards violations during its conservative takeover this year. For a bit of context, AAUP has only done this 12 times in the last 30 years (thedailybeast).

The AAUP formed a special committee to investigate an “apparent pattern of politically, racially, and ideologically motivated attacks on public higher education” . The organization released a report detailing its findings, which were based on interviews with dozens of Florida professors, in December.

In a 32-page December report titled “Political Interference and Academic Freedom in Florida’s Public Higher Education System,” the AAUP accused state leaders of imposing an “aggressively ideological agenda” In the report, AAUP wrote that the decision to sanction came from the college’s “unprecedented politically motivated takeover” that was a “complete departure from shared governance”USA Today

AAUP said these changes were done “without meaningful faculty involvement and denied academic due process to multiple faculty members during their tenure applications and renewals” (thedailybeast). Additionally the report found denials of tenure based on political ideology and reappointments made without due process (wfla.com). The association said it publicly sanctions schools “for the purpose of informing Association members, the profession at large, and the public that unsatisfactory conditions of academic government exist at the institutions in question” (thedailybeast).

“The attack on academic freedom is part of an extensive assault on democracy worldwide,” the AAUP report stated. “Florida and other states following suit are part of a global rise in right-wing, nationalistic political agendas that know well the power of a diminished sense of citizenship, increased surveillance, and increased obedience to the state to control citizens for generations to come.”

(wfla.com).

In response, a New College of Florida spokesperson said the organization “lacks the authority to sanction the college”. “Their persistent targeting of New College for any change they disagree with is clear evidence that New College is at the forefront of reforming higher education,” the statement said (thedailybeast).

The attention the college is receiving is having a direct impact on enrollment. About 27% of New College’s students left by the start of the 2023-24 academic year. That’s about 186 of the 691 students who were there last fall, and double the percentage who left over the previous two years (tampabay.com). The school’s retention rate is 64.9%.

Data on faculty leaving is worse. In Interim Provost Bradley Thiessen’s July remarks to trustees, he said 36 faculty had departed over the last year. The school has fewer than 100 full-time teachers (tampabay.com).

Florida politicians are digging their heels in deeper and deeper to support a religious-based ideology. Will they get what they want? Maybe. Will it come at a cost of an exodus of faculty/students/families leaving the state? Maybe.

Rest assured, their journey of a thousand miles begins with this single step – in this case a single school, then another and another. Other states will soon follow.

These are my reflections for today.

March 1, 2024

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“We’re all in on this.”

In 2020, NFL quarterback Russell Wilson and his wife, Grammy award winner Ciara donated about $1.75 million to rename an existing Seattle area charter school, Cascade Midway Academy, to Why Not You Academy. The name comes from the couples’ nonprofit foundation, also called Why Not You. The foundation was created in 2014 dedicated to, “fighting poverty through education, empowering youth to lead with a why not you attitude” (whynotyoufdn.org). The school opened its doors to underserved Black and brown students in September 2021.

One of the tenets the foundation supports is, “student access to equal education opportunities, children’s health and food security initiatives” (whynotyoufdn.org).

Let’s see how that’s going.

Though they said they would not be involved in the day-to-day operations, Wilson and Ciara welcomed the opportunity to help launch the school. It focuses on academics, personalized student plans and internships and mentorships. The couple said they hope this will be the first of many Why Not You Academy (WNYA) sites across the country. Ciara said, “We’re passionate about everything. We’re all in on this.” (apnews.com). Apparently they only visited the school a few times, likely when the school first opened.

Three years later, the school is showing the same signs of corruption, low-enrollment, and discrimination against students with special needs as a plethora of charter schools across the country. Since fall, the school has lost about a third of their students and staff. More than a dozen former students and staff have reported a “chaotic and toxic culture” and have accused the school’s leadership of “unprofessionalism; driving out educators and ignoring concerns about educational equality” (seattletimes.com). At least 70 students have withdrawn from the school, that had 220 students enrollment in September. During the period of staff turnover, at least 10 students with disabilities did not receive any services. Several former and current staff – with out teaching certifications- were asked to teach a class, and a few times it was noted that classrooms were unstaffed (seattletimes.com).

Sarah Osman, a parent who pulled two of her children from the Academy said, “It was like a daycare…there’s no education in there” (seattletimes.com). One school staff member, who wished to remain anonymous, said of the school, “I would never send my children here” (seattletimes.com).

WNYA CEO Abigail O’Neal acknowledged a lapse in special education services but said the school had never placed unlicensed teachers in classrooms. She also said there was only one occasion where a class was unsupervised. And, in explaining the revolving door of staff resignations, O’Neal said, “Some of the staff that resigned didn’t share the school’s vision” (seattletimes.com). Only one? Isn’t that one too many?

O’Neal said these challenges have been resolved and that the school is now fully staffed. ”We now have a team that is here and ready to just teach our scholars and focus on the priorities that we are setting as a community” (seattletimes.com).

One of the most important contingencies to renew a charter is enrollment -not accountability or academic success. Even if what O’Neal says is true, without students, there is no charter school.

The Wilsons have been silent on this news, but in their defense they said they wouldn’t be involved in the day-to-day operations.

When I did a search for news about Wilson and Ciara opening the school, I found stories in Bleacher Report, Fox Business, Sports Ilustrated, Yahoo News. I wonder how many will cover this follow-up story?

While I admire the Wilsons’ intentions, I take issue with any philanthropy that just throws money at problems, gets a nice photo in the paper, and a few write-ups for doing something to help those children and then walks away. Almost two million dollars is – by public school standards – a shit ton of money that could have gone to shelve new books in a library or technology center (especially if he works with fellow-Seattle philanthropist Bill Gates), or hire a new team of art and music teachers, counselors, or… or… or… Efforts in this vein would benefit hundreds- even thousands of children over the years and not just a dwindling hundred that are attending a charter school fraught with issues.

Ciara said, “We’re all in on this”. What exactly did she mean?

These are my reflections for today.

February 23, 2024

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What’s good for the goose…

Next year, North Carolina’s voucher program will receive upward of $400 million from the state and by 2032, that will increase to over $500 million. This money will funnel millions of dollars away from helping public schools in low-income communities. This money will also help pay the tuition for students to attend private schools who, for the most part, never attended public schools.

Under the guise of an increased demand for school choice, parents fought to use their vouchers as they see fit. Last year, the government eliminated an income cap as an eligibility requirement to receive a private school voucher (ncnewsline.com). Prior to this ruling, families had to demonstrate financial need and have children currently attending pubic schools or etering K, 1st, or 2nd grade (notesfromthechalkboard).

Now wealthy families who were already paying for private schools can funnel that money and have taxpayers footing the bill for their private schools. This from a General Assembly that refused to create more pre-K opportunities for low income families, yet make it easier for wealthy families to get a free/subsidized private school education (ncnewsline.com).

The admissions requirements for Fayetteville Christian School (FCS) are very specific about who can/cannot apply. FCS accepts public funding from vouchers but is very clear about discriminating against families that engage in “illicit drug use, sexual promiscuity, homosexuality (LGBT) or other behaviors that Scripture defines as deviate and perverted” (notesfromthechalkboard).

Families must also be in “full agreement with the FCS Statement of Faith and have received Jesus Christ as their Savior. In addition, the parent and student must regularly fellowship in a local faith based, Bible believing church. Accordingly, FCS will not admit families that belong to or express faith in non-Christian religions such as, but not limited to : Mormons (LDS Church), Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims (Islam), non-Messianic Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. (notesfromthechalkboard).

North Raleigh Christian Academy (NRCA) has a non-discriminatory policy… except that it requires “at least one biological, adoptive, or legal guardian parent has a clear Christian testimony of accepting Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior” NRCA is also very clear about not accepting students with special needs: (notesfromthechalkboard). 

And just when you think it can’t get any more egregiously inequitable or discriminatory, comes the announcement that voucher school students are no longer required to take the NC End-of-Grade (EOG) or End of Course (EOC) exams. (publicschoolsfirstnc.org). These tests are aligned to the curricula taught in NC public schools.

Education reformers have spouted about testing and accountability since No Child Left Behind. But now, in NC, they’re allowing voucher schools to discriminate agains students and families, and not be held accountable for students learning. Rather than requiring voucher students to take the EOG or EOC exams as do all 220,000 children in grades 3 and 8 attending public schools in NC, these schools would be required to take a nationally standardized test – which would not align to NC curriculum standards.

An analysis by the Office of State Budget and Management found the expansion of voucher schools could cause public schools to lose anywhere from $101.9 million to $305.7 million, with particularly big cuts (as big as 8%) for public schools in low-wealth and rural counties (publicschoolsfirstnc.org).

So in North Carolina, voucher schools can discriminate by religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and disability. Voucher schools don’t have to be accredited or state approved, can hire unlicensed teachers, be exempt from a regulated curriculum and state testing, have no required school hours or days, and within the next eight years will spend a half a billion dollars to promote these schools.

Public schools must meet all of these requirements, and then some. I guess what’s good for the goose, isn’t always good for the gander.

These are my reflections for today.

February 16, 2024

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