Meeting-How To Defend Public Education, Stop Union Busting & Charters

Solidarity Education Meeting For East Bay Teachers

How To Defend Public Education, Stop Union Busting & Charters

Saturday February 6, 2016

3:00 PM

At: Richmond Public Library

Community Room

325 Civic Center Plaza Richmond, CA


The richest billionaires in the world are funding a campaign to privatize the entire education sys- tem in the US. These privatizers are also funding pro-charter advocates in Boards of Education and placing their supporters throughout the education management system in California.

They are targeting public schools in predominantly low-income minority areas close due to false claims of low enrollment or false claims of failure.
They are using “Co-location” and “Common Enroll- ment” as schemes to bust up public schools. The pri- vately run charters have unfair application processes that reject students with special needs, English lan- guage learners, or students with low test scores, and cherry pick the students that will do good on the “common core” testing system, and this is pushed by Pearson, Walton Foundation, Broad and the Gates Foundation.

The Charter School Act was passed in the state of California in 1992 and since its passage, we have seen rampant fraud, embezzlement of public education funds, bribery, enrollment fraud, conflicts of interest between the charter school industry and government officials, re-segregation of student pop- ulations.

The growing disparity of public education funding and resources between those in lower income areas versus more affluent areas is beginning to resemble the era when Jim Crow laws existed and separate but equal was OK. Using the charter school laws, religious cults like the Gulen Magnolia school chain have received hundreds of millions of dollars and imported Turkish teachers to staff their privately run charter schools and allowed systemic corrup- tion and looting of public school funds.

Public school teachers are scapegoated for lack of resources while the rich including owners of testing companies like Pearson and computer tech companies reap billions in sales to school districts and the use of public funds for charter schools while fund- ing for special needs and low income schools are siphoned off.

The California Charter Association funded by the billionaires has spent millions of dollars to oppose unionization of charter schools and have fought to prevent education workers at charter schools from having the protections provided public schools.

We will discuss how to unite all teachers and com- munity in the East Bay and the State and organize to support public education. We will discuss the statewide initiative to repeal California Charter law passed in 1992 and how we can educate the public about the ongoing destruction of public education by those who want to profit from education “re- form”.

Sponsored by Education Workers For Public Education, United Public Workers For Action (UPWA.info)
Voices Against Privatization Of Education

For information (510) 506-4493

https://www.facebook.com/CitizensForEducationRestoration
https://notocharterschools.files.wordpress.com http://
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/repeal-charter-school-act-of-1992-in-ca-ballot
https://www.facebook.com/CitizensForEducationRestoration/

Voices Against Privatizing Public Education, a statewide coalition of labor activists, parents, educators and community activists is working hard to save our public schools from mass privatization, mass segregation and union busting perpetuated by the charter school industry. We believe the most effective way to stop the corporate takeover of our public schools is to place a ballot initiative on the November 2016 ballot to REPEAL the CA Charter School Act of 1992.
Charter schools are resegregating our schools, cherry picking their students, busting up unions and using our schools and our kids for profiteering.
But we can fight back! We can repeal the charter school laws in the state of California that have allowed our tax dollars to generate profits for billionaires and investors while our public school children suffer with fewer resources.
Just a few of the reasons charter schools laws MUST be repealed in California:
Union Busting – the charter school industry as a whole is anti-union. Many of their CEOs have bloated salaries while their teachers are often “at will” employees.
Private School Boards – Charter schools receive public funds but charter schools have private school boards unaccountable to us, the taxpayers. These boards are often those who have business, personal, religious or other ties to the schools’ founders. Real traditional public schools have school boards that are elected by the public.
Cherry Picking, Fraud, Embezzlement – It is well documented that charter schools cherry pick students, reject students with special needs, reject students who are English language learners and reject students with low test scores. The charter school industry also have a horrible lottery system for admission that should never be allowed in any public education system.
Resegregation – There are a number of university studies showing increased segregation based on race and income in the charter school industry. This is illegal, immoral and shameful. This should NEVER be tolerated in any public education system.
Exempt from California’s Education Code – Charter schools are exempt from many laws including sections of the education code. For example school administrators in charter schools do NOT have to be licensed/credentialed, so you can have someone walking the street who has NEVER seen the inside of a teacher preparation program, let alone a school administration program become a CEO or a principal or a vice principal of a charter school. The same goes for school counselors in charter schools- they do NOT have to be licensed. In our REAL traditional public schools ALL school administrators have to be licensed and so do our school counselors.
Safety Concerns – Charter schools are exempt from building safety code requirements such as the Field Act which sets minimum standards for school building construction and even any renovation of any school building and there are rigorous inspection requirements for building and/or renovation. Charter schools ARE exempt from these requirements. Our REAL traditional public schools MUST comply with all building safety requirements of the Field Act. This is of particular concern in California, where we often have earthquakes.
Lower Standards for Teachers – In charter schools all teachers are NOT required to be licensed/credentialed. In fact, in many low income areas you will find charter schools with not only very inexperienced teachers but also teachers who are completely unlicensed. This is reminiscent of the Jim Crow era and pre-Brown v. BD of Education where separate but equal was tolerated. In REAL public schools, all teachers of record whether the subject be art or math, must be licensed/credentialed.
Violations of Separation of Church and State – Another disturbing trend is the fact that charter school operators are using our public funds to inject religious beliefs into the classroom which is a serious violation of the constitutional mandate of separation of church and state. Please see 60 Minutes piece on the Gulen Charter Schools run by Fetullah Gulen as just one example. Our true public schools absolutely cannot teach, promote or inject religious doctrine of any sort in our public education system and to do so would be a violation of both state and federal constitutions.
Problems Run Too Deep for Band-aid Fixes – The charter school corruption-financial scams, conflicts, kickbacks, fraud, cheating scandals, segregation and discriminatory practices simply run too deep and the legal loopholes are just too numerous to attempt any patchwork fixes like trying for more accountability-these are mere band-aid solutions that will not cut out the insidious cancer that the charter school industry has become on our public education system. Charter school laws (California and elsewhere) must be repealed and we must focus strictly on improving our REAL traditional public schools so ALL students, not some have a fair opportunity to learn.
Profiteers Must Be Stopped – The stakes are extremely high here- our REAL public schools are at serious risk of being dismantled by profiteers like Eli Broad, Bill Gates, Michel Milken and the Walton Family- unless we the people who care about our PUBLIC education system come together and stop them by repealing the CA Charter School Act. The billionaires will continue to pull every trick in the book to keep siphoning off public education monies that belong to our REAL public schools.
The public schools are OUR schools, not Eli Broad’s, Bill Gates’ or any other billionaire’s! By placing an initiative on the 2016 ballot we will be able to let the people’s voices be heard above the noise and false claims created by the lobbyists for those who want to make a profit off our kids.