Corporate reformers supported by the deep pockets of the wealthy and their foundations (Broad, Gates, Walton etc.) are spending millions on propaganda— research, websites and books extolling the virtues anti-democratic, private control of resources for public schools. Meanwhile, Civil Rights organization such as the Black Lives Matter movement (here) the Journey for Justice Alliance (here) and the NAACP (here and here) have criticized the private control and privatization of our public schools via charters. The ACLU also weighed in here. Mother Jones has covered these recent developments and reported,

A few weeks ago, the Movement for Black Lives, the network that also includes Black Lives Matter organizers, released its first-ever policy agenda. Among the organization’s six demands and dozens of policy recommendations was a bold education-related stance: a moratorium on both charter schools and public school closures. Charters, the agenda argues, represent a shift of public funds and control over to private entities. Along with “an end to the privatization of education,” the Movement for Black Lives organizers are demanding increased investments in traditional community schools and the health and social services they provide.

The statement came several weeks after another civil rights titan, the NAACP, also passed a resolution, calling for a freeze on the growth of charter schools. The NAACP had equated charters with privatization in previous resolutions, but this year’s statement—which will not become policy until the National Board meeting in the fall—represents the strongest anti-charter language to date…

There is much much more in the Mother Jones article… Please check out and share as it’s an excellent read.

This week I also had the opportunity to have a conversation with the The Real News Network about the rapidly changing climate for charters. I have pasted the entire 8-minute RNN segment below which includes their introduction to the developing debate surrounding charter schools. Below the full clip, I have pasted easily shareable abbreviated YouTube clips.

In these clips I discuss:

•  NAACP’s call for a moratorium on charter schools.  Do charters have more freedom and less accountability? (clip 1)
• What’s the role of inequality in fueling the charter movement? What is the alternative to private-control and privatization of resources for public education? (clip 2)
• Do charter students perform better? What are the alternatives to charters that have 400-1000% more impact? (clip 3)

For more on what’s going wrong with charters click here.

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