Because you probably need it, here is an unrelated picture of some kittens.
In Philadelphia, the public school system is collapsing.
That's largely been by design.
[T]hose who have wanted to wage “education reform” against Philly schools have gotten everything they wanted – branding of public schools as “failing” based on the No Child Left Behind laws followed by mass school closures and lots of new charter schools, many funded by wealthy philanthropists and private foundations and run by private management companies.
“The basic structure of school financing in Philadelphia is rigged to benefit these privately managed companies,” Denvir notes. “Public-school money follows students when they move to charter schools, but the public schools’ costs do not fall by the same amount … It has been estimated that partly because of these costs, each student who enrolls in a charter school costs the district as much as $7,000. There are outright subsidies too.” [...]
Another reform star, the Pennsylvania chapter of StudentsFirst, the organization Michelle Rhee created and once led, actually came out in support of the hammering that Philadelphia schoolchildren are taking. In a feat of logical somersaults, the organization stubbornly insisted that funding a full curriculum and smaller classes would be really bad for students. “Continuing to invest in a broken education system only hurts the very people it serves: our kids,” the organization’s statement read. Really? [...]
Regarding the issue of funding Philadelphia schools, there’s no longer a middle ground. All evidence points to a funding plan that basically constitutes a human rights crime.
The Philadelphia results have been zeroed out textbook budgets, closed libraries, classrooms so overcrowded that lessons needed to be held in the school auditorium, and at least two student deaths in schools with no on-duty school nurse.
Atrios:
I do think a lot of eventheliberals who used to be pretty positive about the whole "school reform" thing have just gone chasing other new shiny balls. Philadelphia is a "school reformers" paradise. They got - and keep getting - what they wanted. All of the predictable things have come to pass. Much corruption in the charter schools. Money siphoned off from the actual public schools. Constant turmoil for students as schools (both charter and public) close, either by fiat or because they collapse. No evidence that educational performance has improved (the opposite).
And the solution will be more of the same until the whole thing collapses and what money is left just goes into the hands of the grifters.
The Philadelphia school crisis
has been, and continues to be, a state-managed sabotage of urban (read: minority) public schools intended to divert cash to private "reformers" regardless of damage or results. It's long past time for the Department of Education to stop puttering over the state's intentional bungling of the system—and for the Department of Justice to start taking a closer look.
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2004—Ralph's Gift:
Add mine to the voices calling for the serious, long-term work and investments needed to rebuild the Democratic Party. That will take time. In the interim, I'd like to suggest that we were handed a gift this week by the Republicans, and it came specifically from the Ralph Reed wing of the party.
Reed, you see, wanted to not merely deliver the social conservatives' "values" votes this year, but to ensure that their pivotal role be made noted and respected -- broadcast and trumpeted, loudly and quite publicly. They didn't want to just win; they want credit and plaudits for scoring the decisive touchdown.
Awesome. The fact that this election - the first post-9/11 election, with a war in Iraq abroad and a changing economic situation at home - will be remembered by the we-need-it-simplified media as the "values" election, is Reed's great gift to us.
Why? Because I suspect that right now that the Wall Street wing, and the small business wing, and the defense industry wing, and the tax reform wings of the party are shuddering at the thought that Americans are being told that Bush got to 51 percent based on "values" voting. Would not the better "take-away" storyline from this election be that Bush won because the nation believes in Republicans' fiscal and defense policies, their steadfastness and leadership abilities? I'm meeting a lot Republicans (both conservatives and moderates) who do not want this election to be framed as the Ralph Reed Rout.
Tweet of the Day
But I think
asking young people why they didn't vote is a better idea than calling them lazy
— @allisonkilkenny
On
today's Kagro in the Morning show, the spotty backup mic posed a challenge, but no, the whole show is not as loud as the start!
Greg Dworkin rounded up results & commentary: the age of the electorate, the role of the economy (stupid), the establishment vs. radicals, and the sweeping, big-picture looks at why it all happened the way it did. The big question: Did the Republican establishment keep radicals in line? Or did radicals simply hold their tongues long enough to pass for the establishment? Also: what about the filibuster? And what does the recent trend in conservative libertarianism mean for DC's marijuana laws, and civil liberties in the national security arena?
High Impact Posts. Top Comments