The poster child for charter school privatization is Louisiana.
It started in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina,
but the man-made education disaster has spread to the whole state.
Mattreichel wrote for FireDogLake 5 April 2012,
Jindal Puts Louisiana’s Schools Up for Sale: ALEC’s Education Reforms Rammed Through
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has wasted no time this legislative
session in pushing wide-reaching education reforms designed to
expand the charter school footprint, while opening the door to
vouchers and tying teacher tenure to student test results. In the
early hours of the morning on March 23rd, after a marathon session,
the Louisiana State House passed two bills that form the core of a
wide-reaching education reform agenda designed to expand the charter
school footprint, while opening the door to vouchers and tying
teacher tenure to student test results. Governor Bobby Jindal wasted
no time in pushing these reforms through in the first weeks of the
legislative session, and the urgency with which he has advanced this
agenda has infuriated teachers and left even some charter-school
advocates alarmed. “The governor’s expression of urgency for
these bills is specious at best. [They] did not have to be passed
under cover of darkness,” says Louisiana Federation of
Teachers (LFT) president Steve Monaghan. Even Senator Mary Landrieu,
a Democrat who has been an avid charter school advocate, criticized
the Governor’s haste: “I am by no means naïve, and know full
well the Administration’s political advantage of pushing legislation
through with as little debate as possible.” With these bills,
Louisiana is set to join Florida, Ohio and Minnesota amongst the
states that have enacted the most far-reaching of these school
reforms. This marks the latest wave in a concerted nation-wide
effort by right-wing advocacy organizations and their corporate
supporters to ravage the public sector.
While “reform” usually has connotations of “making better”,
in this case, “better” means more profit for private school companies,
not better education for students.
Why would Louisiana’s legislators vote for something so counterproductive
for education?
Continue reading →
New Jersey,
plus Georgia.
Why are so many states attempting pro or con charter school referendums
this year?
Because many states have a push for charter schools,
especially
Louisiana.
Where’s that coming from, at the same time in so many states?
ALEC, that’s where.