Cloaking Inequity

At the recent AERA conference in San Francisco, I was having a conversation with a local San Franciscan. He we mentioning that he was disappointed that he had not been able to take financial advantage of the last two “bubbles.” He was asking aloud what other thought was going to be the next “bubble.” I […]

Have you noticed that the same jokers that are telling us our public schools are inadequate are the same jokers that have inadequately funded our schools for decades ($5.4 billion most recently in Texas)? In fact, the cheapistas want to wear the fact that Texas is next to last in school spending as a ribbon […]

I had a coffee conversation with Mike Feinberg yesterday. About two weeks ago Mike Feinberg contacted me via email about one of my posts on Cloaking Inequity. He related that he wanted to clarify the conversation about KIPP’s funding. I agreed to meet with him at the Blanton Museum Café at UT-Austin for a coffee […]

As discussed in an earlier post, I travelled last week to Chicago for a panel discussion on Reframing Reform: Achieving Equity and Excellence in Public Education held by The Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. As you might expect, the Chicago Public School closures was a prominent part of the conversation. Jitu Brown, a parent and community organizer in […]

Apologize for the CI hiatus. I have six PhD students that want to graduate, which translates to about 1,000 pages dissertation reading these past few days. I recently had a conversation with a conservative Harvard-trained attorney last Saturday in Houston. We were discussing Finland (I blogged about Finland a few weeks ago) and her point […]

Diane Ravitch just posted this. A source on one of the House staffs just sent me his assessment anonymously. He also weighs in on the relationship between vouchers and current Texas school finance case: Vouchers just basically died in the House…. The amendment basically prohibits public dollars for public education going to private schools.  So […]

Today The Teat returns to discuss neoliberal education “reformers.” Reformers argue that their approach is about “students first”… parent trigger, online courses, universal charters, Teach For America, vouchers, anti-organizing, school closings etc… if you are to believe the “reformers,” all of these efforts are about the students… not about the adults… Who is paying the bills for […]

Is the new Nation At-Risk report for our decade here? The For Each and Every Child report was released at the end of February by the Equity and Excellence Commission, a congressionally mandated group. The Washington Post reported that there was disagreement amongst the committee members on the framing of the report— pitting making a sales pitch […]

Jeb is in the building. Another Bush (and his junior) is in the capitol today in Austin to discuss the education miracle that Florida purportedly achieved on the cheap. As discussed yesterday, there is a cadre of politicians that believe we can get something for nothing. That we can do education cheaper and cheaper. That […]

We all have that friend that looks around mystified because they have accidently forgotten their wallet— again. I remember one Valentine’s Day in college I was invited by two Puertoriqueñas to dinner. After dinner, I realized my wallet was missing. One of the Puertoriqueñas said, “Typical.” Fortunately, that day my wallet had just fallen out of my […]

When you think of school choice, what comes to mind? Vouchers? Charters? Intra- and Inter- district choice? Magnet schools? Today I received a forwarded email request from a senator that was gathering information in response to pressure for “school choice” bills at the Texas Legislature. I have been pondering “school choice,” and why it is […]

Today was V-Day for the most recent Texas school finance case! More on the win later. In the morning (about 6 a.m.) I will discuss the implications of the case in segment on KXAN NBC’s morning show. I will highlight what the school finance win will mean for students, teachers, and school districts across the state.

As I wrote in the New York Times, Teach for America is a temp agency. There is no way around it— despite inspiring conversations you have with their employees, their glossy brochures, and feel good stories you see in print and on television. It doesnt matter if you look at TFA in California, Texas, etc. […]

Is it possible to compare the AMC show Breaking Bad to the latest goings on with Neovouchers? I started watching Breaking Bad last month, and I am only 3 episodes from catching up to the rest of the world. So let’s give it a try. First. What is a Neovoucher? NEPC: Tax-credit voucher programs–dubbed “neovouchers” in […]

Q: What % of the federal budget is spent on education? A: 2%

Yesterday I made some “no holds barred” statements to the Huffington Post about school finance, politics, and race. First, the background. Brookings said minority children will be the majority in the entire United States by 2019. The growth in the Latina/o community fueled almost all of the population growth in the United States over the last ten […]

Happy New Year 2013! I have often posted on school vouchers over the past few months. Why? There are factions in Texas, Louisiana and elsewhere that still argue they are efficacious educational policy and are pressing them into law. They are not. See CI’s thread on vouchers here. IUPRA will soon release a brief entitled […]