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May 21, 2008

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Particularly good analysis today. Yes, the "movement" is a failure. The facilities are horrendous and require a relatively new form of commuting - even for Phx - the commute to K-8.

While not very specific (which I don't want nor expect in a stump speech) Michelle Obama seems to get it when it comes to education. Her impressively intellectual, yet plain spoken speeches on this issue are pretty amazing too.

As you've pointed out, education cannot be solved in a vacuum. The short term improvement is to fully staff high quality teachers in struggling schools and reduce class sizes. These things simply cannot be done without more funding than Arizona currently allocates. Longer-term is where I think Mrs. Obama's mind is. To really fix schools you must fix entire neighborhoods. She used to be on the Chicago planning commission, so unlike some others, she actually has implementation knowledge in this area, not wild-eyed idealism.

Land-use policies need to be re-tooled to require more diversified housing. Actually outlaw income segregated communities. Then, a host of redevelopment mechanisms need to be in place to restore our crumbling inter-city neighborhoods. And yes, this needs national leadership. Such reforms need to be tethered to federal education funding. School quality, after all, is probably the biggest driver of the non-subsidized demand for sprawl, so smart growth policy then is linked to education policy.

The emergence of charter schools is an incredible irony to me, as I hold the availability of private education (in the traditional, non-subsidized sense) as being largely responsible for erosion in public education. The well-heeled have a disproportionate influence on public policy and spending, and if Bif and Buffy are safely tucked at "the Acadamy", there is little motivation for tending to the well-being of the public facilities. This is an indirect form of public subsidy for private schools.

So the solution? Start directly subsidizing private education with charters, so the "middle class" can get in on the starvation of public education.

It is my sense that whenever we have chosen to create a public service, be it education, health care or garbage collection, it is corrosive to offer privatized alternatives. As a society, honestly assess that which is to be public and private and make the choice. Mixing the two is simply a subversive way towards manufacturing "gated community" services.

Good one, Jon. Her attitudes toward education mirror the "rugged individualism" that's to blame for more than a few Arizona problems.

The sociologist Ben Barber once asked, "If we can't do education as a public, then what can we do as a public?"

Jon Talton is an extremely talented writer, in my view, so it was particularly un-fun to read his snarkiness directed at me. But my husband and I are fans in spite of ourselves and him, so I wrote Jon and he suggested I post something.

While I doubt it will happen, I hope folks will check the facts on public charter schools. The people who start them and run them are largely teachers, often formerly part of the union leadeship, who simply wanted to control the environment they teach in and be more effective for their students. 6 of the 10 highest performing high schools in AZ are chrters, and when you look at math it is 14 of 15.

To say this is a failed experiment is a head-in-the sand ridiculous statement. There are well over a million students in public charter schools in America. They usually serve a higher percentage of minority students,with many of the models such as KIPP, Uncommon Schools, Aspire Schools, Green Dot Schools, built around a mission to serve in low wealth urban settings where kids are horribly undeserved right now.

I find it amazingly ironic that people who claim to embrace innovation would believe we should not seek ways to re-invent our public education system to accomodate the initiative of those who know our kids best. There are some mind-blowing models out there, brought to us by teachers, who had to fight tooth and nail agianst their own colleagues just for the right to exist.

I agree it is correct to seek to raise the hopes of an entire neighborhood. But why not believe that you can do that in part by creating community in the school that exists there? Teacher owned schools, community run schools are all part of this movement. And it is growing steadily, but not fast enough to serve its waiting lists. How is that not "the public"?

Have you all spent much time talking to parents in low income neighborhoods? Their schools often don't provide much hope.

Corey Booker, Mayor of Newark who chose to live in one of the poorest neighborhoods in town long before he ran for Mayor, is a strong avdocate for school choice and charters. And he is a Barrack Obama supporter. This movement has crossed party lines while you were busy opposing it.

One of the things that frustrates me most about education is that affiliations seem to matter more than ideas. Let me make the world safe for you...there are A LOT of public charter school supporters on Barrack Obama's team. Lots of them own these schools and are seeking to proliferate them.

The world will be a lot better for a whole bunch of kids if you will offer them your support. Or at least check your facts.

Charter schools have become a target for those who sit at their computer and make judgments of the world outside.
I am very familar with about a dozen Arizona charter schools their staff, ciriculm and most important, the quality of education the children receive.
You may make judgements after taking tours of the public and the charter schools.
The charter schools in Arizona are given less per student than the public schools yet they take on a great number of special needs children whose parents are desperate to find a place of hope for their child.
Let us not forget the child in this war of words!

I stopped reading when I got to this straight-out-of-the-NEA's-talking-points hooey:

"Arizona has remained near or at the bottom nationally in school funding, class size, teacher pay -- the real metrics necessary for success. Indeed, they are prerequisites for any further reform."

Compare those numbers for Washington D.C. and boring old "right-wing" Utah's public systems. Then compare the educational results of those systems. Then try and explain why anybody should take you seriously ever again...

Unfortunately, Will, that old right-wing talking point won't hunt. Utah is much more white middle-class than Arizona, and has the family cohesion enforced by the Mormon Church.

Arizona has lots of poor, working class folks, a huge cohort of first-generation immigrants, people working two or three jobs to get by, etc. The family chaos caused by poverty, lack of economic opportunity and lack of ladders up in the new economy for immigrants are a huge impediment to public education, especially when it has been starved of resources for decades.

The charter "schools" in Arizona are largely a scam, profitable for the politically connected but hardly providing a better education, much less a valuable "choice." Much less connection to community or civic life.

The result is a tragic, criminal waste of human capital. Somebody will attend your worst performing public schools -- so they'd better be damned good.

Money isn't the only answer -- but in Arizona it's a start. Why not aim to be 40th or 35th, instead of 49th or 50th. Of course many of the elites want a docile, ignorant workforce for the framing crews, cash registers at Wal-Mart and the call centers. They either won't vote at all, or they will fall for the fake grievances and distractions of right-wing radio and corporate media.

I am personally fond of Lisa, and the larger blame for Arizona education problems goes to successive Legislatures. But the charter/choice scam has been tried already. Want America to be like Arizona in a competitive global economy? Vote for President-elect McCain.

Lisa Graham Keenan's post would have been so much stronger had she:

a. realized "un-fun" is not a word. Educator?
b. Barack has one "r" in the spelling.
c. "mind-blowing" is not what a school model should be, unless it's an LSD school.
d. Used Cory Booker as the token black employed to legitimize her position. Disgusting.


I actually agree with school vouchers. But this article, and especially LGK's response, make me think that she might benefit from additional schooling herself. Very disappointing. Deeply disappointing.

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