Black Holes

Could someone fetch Rep. Daryl Metcalfe back from outer space? Earlier this week, the Cranberry Republican co-sponsored a bill in the state house to send the proceeds of liquor store privatization to infrastructure improvements, rather than to education, as Gov. Corbett had initially proposed. [See “Kids or Booze”] Pennsylvania certainly needs to support all of its public goods – including infrastructure – but what is appalling about Rep. Metcalfe’s bill is that it rests on a shameful disregard for public education.

At a news conference with several other Republican legislators, Rep. Metcalfe complained, “When you give the money to the education establishment like this, it’s like throwing it into a black hole.” Wow. This man thinks our children’s future is a black hole. He calls our schools “the education establishment” as if our kids are somehow the problem. Of course, what he really means is that our teachers are somehow the problem, as he makes clear in his next sentence: “All it will be used for is to drive those salaries up that are continuing to be one of the main drivers for our pension problem.” [Post-Gazette, 4-16-13]

Actually, we do have a pension problem – but the blame for that lies heavily with Pennsylvania legislators themselves who have kicked the can down the road to this point. [See our “Pension History 101” for an easy to read explanation of this important issue.] Rep. Metcalfe suggests that providing desperately needed funding to our schools will “drive those salaries up” – does he mean that districts will turn around and give raises to teachers? Highly unlikely when most schools are now struggling to even buy textbooks or chalk. Perhaps he is worried that school districts will hire back some of the 20,000 teachers our children have lost these past two years? Heaven forbid our kids get their art and music teachers back in their classrooms. Or that we will ever see full-time librarians again.

Perhaps Rep. Metcalfe needs to actually talk to the families he represents, where kids are now missing over $6 MILLION from their schools. Here’s a breakdown of the cuts since 2010-2011 to the five school districts in his 12^th PA congressional district. [Data from Save Pennsylvania Schools]

Butler Area School District	$2,723,093
Freeport Area School District	$728,596
Mars Area School District	$514,272
Seneca Valley School District	$1,270,871
South Butler County School District	$1,011,179
Total:	$6,248,011

One of those districts, Seneca Valley, was trying to figure out how to keep its Junior ROTC program alive last year with all the budget cuts – a program you might think a former Army man like Daryl Metcalfe would appreciate. At the time, Seneca Valley was also discussing “closing the pool and cutting the swim program, reducing Title I reading programs or further reduction of elementary school staff.” At that point, the superintendent warned that, “elementary class sizes already are larger than best practice recommendations.” [Post-Gazette, 4-12-13] The district wound up being forced to cut 14 positions – 11 of them teachers, including “one art teacher, two math teachers, one social studies teacher, two science teachers, two English teachers, a Spanish teacher and two health/physical education teachers.” [Post-Gazette, 4-17-12] Yes, this is the “education establishment” that Rep. Metcalfe is so worried about. To him, social studies, science, and English teachers are black holes. Or perhaps dark matter.

How does he explain his outer space theory to his representatives in the Mars Area School District, which debated cutting all art, music and physical education in its elementary schools last year? The district wound up having to cut its Kindergarten and first grade art teacher, cut back on art classes at the High School level to four days per week, eliminated two guidance counselors and two technology teachers, and did not replace four retiring teachers, “two in art, one in health and one in foreign languages.” [Post-Gazette, 5-10-12] It looks like art got sucked into a gravitational budget hole in Mars.

Last spring, students in Mars stood on the sidewalk holding signs imploring board members to “Save Our Specials.” Perhaps they could help us tell Rep. Metcalfe that their education is not a black hole but rather a bright shining star. It’s time to go super nova on Rep. Metcalfe and his fellow Pennsylvania legislators and demand real pension reform that protects taxpayers, teachers, and our schools. And we must insist on adequate, equitable, and sustainable public funding for public education – so that we are nurturing the astrophysicists of tomorrow who will study the real black holes.

What about Women?

We just wrapped up women’s history month in March. You might not think there is much connection to public education, but I spent a good portion of the month giving talks on our grassroots movement. I spoke at a women’s history conference at Sarah Lawrence College in New York; gave the keynote for a women’s history month symposium at Bowling Green State University in Ohio; and participated in a panel on our state budget sponsored by the Women and Girls Foundation of Southwest PA. So what was I talking about?

First, we don’t have to look far to see that women really matter in the movement for public education: they make up the solid majority of activists and scholars, both locally and nationally. Second, over three-quarters of all public school teachers are women. [National Center for Education Statistics, 2011] For this reason alone, we might view current attacks on teachers and their unions as particularly anti-women. This is especially a concern given the persistent wage gap in this country, with women still earning only 77 cents on every dollar earned by men. In fact, just this week we “celebrated” Pay Equity Day, the day that represents how far into 2013 women had to work to reach what men earned in 2012.

Third, we have talked a lot about the ways in which race and class impact our public schools and students’ access to education – but gender also matters. (Want a big word to impress your friends? In women’s studies we call this intersectionality.) The crucial issue here is the feminization of poverty – the way that women are disproportionately represented among the poor. This is particularly important when you are talking about school-aged children because of the prevalence of poverty among single mothers.

And here is where gender intersects with race and class: compared to the top 40 largest metropolitan areas in the country, the Pittsburgh region has among the highest poverty rates for working-age African Americans. In 2008 we were actually #1, with over 28% of African Americans aged 18-64 in Southwest PA living in poverty. That same year we also ranked first in the nation for the poverty rate of black children under the age of five. These are horrific statistics and they only get bleaker when you factor in gender. Women comprise almost two-thirds (64%) of poor African Americans in our region. [Post-Gazette, 7-4-10]

So poverty is both feminized and racialized in our area. And we know that poverty has a great deal to do with student performance. What is often called a “racial achievement gap” is really an income gap. Kids who are growing up without enough to eat, without warm clothes to wear, sleeping on the floor, with instability in their lives and violence in their neighborhoods are often the ones having trouble learning in school. Yet corporate-style reforms – privatization, school closure, high-stakes-testing – are having negative impacts on these very kids and their families.

Finally, I’ve been talking about my own disciplinary fields of women’s history and women’s studies, which were founded on the tradition of activism. In fact, I’ve been describing my work lately as “scholactivism,” combining scholarship and activism. And our movement for public education has solid feminist roots. Some of my students think feminism is the “f-word,” but you can see feminist theories and methods at work in the way we strive to be inclusive, in our efforts to educate ourselves and learn from each other, and in our focus on equity (as opposed to equality). Ours is a progressive vision for the future of public education that challenges the status quo, while invoking a very old notion of the common good. And it turns out that women and questions of gender are central to that vision.

Op-ed, Opt Out, Occupy

The O’s had it this past week. First, Kathy Newman’s terrific op-ed piece on why she is not letting her son take the PSSAs went completely viral. Over 41,000 people shared the story on Facebook from the Post-Gazette’s site – and we know it spread much, much farther from there. Even more importantly, it generated a nationwide discussion of the consequences of high-stakes-testing with hundreds of people posting comments (the vast majority of which were extremely supportive).

The public response created its own wave of media attention as the story of our Opt Out action continued to race around the country. We wound up having a public dialogue with Gov. Corbett’s administration in the letters-to-the-editor section of the paper, as well as radio interviews and print articles ranging from the Washington Post to the San Francisco Chronicle. Here’s a run down of the media timeline:

• Dr. Newman’s original op-ed, “Why I Won’t Let My Son Take the PSSA” (Post-Gazette, 3-31-13), which stayed the #1 most emailed story for three days.
• As the piece gathered steam, Gov. Corbett’s office protested that we mentioned state budget cuts and the press secretary for the PA Department of Education wrote a letter to the editor claiming that this administration has actually increased school funding and that high-stakes-tests are good things. Our response piece dismantling these claims, “Opt Out Goes Viral,” was viewed over 3,000 times and shared over 850 times on Facebook.
• Mentions in Early Returns, 4-2-13; Pittsburgh City Paper, 4-3-13; Philly.com, 4-3-13.
• “Opinion Story on Opting out of PSSAs Hits Nerve with Parents,” (Post-Gazette 4-4-13). This follow-up story ran on the front page and itself was shared over 1,000 times.
• Delco Times (4-4-13).
• Tribune Review (4-6-13).
• “Classroom Realities,” Jessie Ramey, letter to the editor challenging the state’s claims about the education budget as well as PSSAs (Post-Gazette, 4-6-13).
• Valerie Strauss’ Answer Sheet in the Washington Post (4-7-13), ran a Q&A with Dr. Newman, and it was the 2^nd most emailed story that day.
• The Associated Press published a story that was syndicated nationally (here it is in the San Francisco Chronicle, 4-7-13).
• The Post-Gazette editorial board chose our Opt Out movement as its “Issue One” to spotlight in the Sunday letters-to-the-editor section: “Tests are Overused” (Pamela Harbin, 4-7-13) and “Better Ways to Test” (Carole Skinger, 4-7-13).
• Radio interviews: Michael Smerconish show; Dom Giordano show, 4-4-13 (CBS/Philadelphia); Rick Smith show, 4-5-13 (Harrisburg); Lynn Cullen show, 4-8-13 (Pittsburgh); Mike Pintek show, 4-8-13 (KDKA/CBS Pittsburgh); NPR/WESA story, 4-8-13 (Pittsburgh); Essential Pittsburgh, 4-12-13 (WESA/NPR); Parenting with Playdate Parent (webtalk radio).
• The Times Herald (Montgomery County, PA), 4-7-13.
• Daily American, 4-8-13: story of the opt out movement in Somerset County where we have connected with parents to support each other.
• “How the Working Class Gets Schooled,” Working-Class Perspectives (Kathy Newman, 4-8-13).
• Philadelphia Daily News, 4-11-13.
• WPXI TV news, 4-11-13.
• Washington Post, 4-14-13 (top of the front page of online edition, 4-15-13), includes interviews with three Pittsburgh area opt out parents.
• RAND research posts an Op-Ed piece on high-stakes-testing, keeping the conversation going for a third week in a row (Post-Gazette, 4-21-13)
• And another round of letters keeps the issue in the Post-Gazette for a 4th straight week, including one from a teacher, “PSSA Pressures” (Joe Tighe, 4-28-13)

In the middle of all this media fun, a number of people from Yinzer Nation travelled to Washington D.C. for the Occupy the D.O.E. event, April 4-7. These included Ann Aldisert Becker and Marjie Crist of Mt. Lebanon, which was just ranked the #2 school district in the entire state, and has a particularly active group of families opting out of high-stakes-testing. [Pittsburgh Business Times, 4-5-13] Parents there are seeing the same effects of these tests as families in urban areas, with the narrowing of the curriculum and the loss of arts programs and even recess.

I spoke on Friday afternoon to an enthusiastic crowd gathered on the sidewalk about Pennsylvania budget cuts and the privatization of our schools – including school closure, vouchers, and tax credit programs – all legitimized by high-stakes-testing. I connected our fight for public education to the fight for our other public goods (such as transportation, infrastructure, and parks) to think about the way in which too many people have lost faith in the very idea of a common good. That loss of faith has allowed the rise of corporate-style reforms, backed by big money, and often the insertion of a far-right political agenda into state policy making.

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Chicago Teachers Union president, Karen Lewis, spoke about the myths used to promote school closure – such as calling schools targeted for elimination “half empty” when they are not. And she insisted we stop calling them “failed schools” but rather “abandoned schools.” Early childhood education researcher Nancy Carlsson-Paige talked about the developmentally inappropriate use of high-stakes-testing on ever-younger kids, including practices that she characterized as child-abuse now being foisted on three and four year olds.

The students who led a walk-out of high-stakes-testing in Denver, Colorado also spoke and then managed to get an audience with a Department of Education youth outreach director. On Saturday, the education occupiers marched all the way to the White House. And this was no rag-tag group: the Occupy program included an astonishing list of education scholars including Diane Ravitch, Mark Naison, Stephen Krashen, Sherrick Hughes, Deborah Meier and many others. There is no doubt that ours is an evidence-based movement.

From one Op-ed that generated a national buzz, to dozens of local parents choosing the civil disobedience of Opting-Out, to Occupying the DOE in D.C. … our grassroots movement is fighting to put the public back in public education. It was a week of O’s, and here’s another: Outstanding work, everyone.

Why I’m Going to D.C.

Two weeks from today I will be standing on a street-corner in our nation’s capitol giving a speech. That’s a strange place for an academic to be giving a talk, but this is no ordinary event. I’ve been asked to go to Washington D.C. to join public education advocates from all over the country for a four-day occupation of the sidewalk outside the U.S. Department of Education.

This “Occupy the D.O.E. 2.0” is essentially a national teach-in, with a different speaker every 20 minutes for four straight days. I’m honored to be sharing the microphone with the likes of education historian Diane Ravitch, Chicago teacher’s union president Karen Lewis, early childhood education expert Nancy Carlsson-Paige, filmmaker Brian Jones, education researcher Deborah Meier and many, many others. Pennsylvania will be in the spotlight the afternoon of Friday, April 5^th, and I hope all of you from the keystone state will consider coming down for part, or all, of this significant event.

The occupation runs from April 4-7, 2013 and on Saturday, April 6, there will be an organized march to the White House. Organized for a second year in a row by the grassroots volunteers of United Opt Out National, the event promises to be a “gathering of progressive education activists endeavoring to resist the destructive influences of corporate and for-profit education reforms, which began in previous administrations and persist with the current one.” The planners explain, “We cannot and will not stand silent as the threats to dismantle our system of public education continue. These threats include the erosion of the teaching profession, excessive use of standardized testing, mandated scripted curriculum, the absolute disregard of child poverty, and reforms which disproportionately impact minority communities.”

Here’s my statement that is on the United Opt Out National homepage. I hope to see you there.

—————-

I am coming to Washington D.C. to Occupy the Department of Education this April because our public schools in Pennsylvania have lost $2 BILLION these past two years. Draconian state budget cuts of this magnitude are only possible when people stop believing in public education as a public good. Too many in this country have been swayed by the national narrative of “failing public schools” and taken in by the false promises of the corporate-reform movement with its seductive rhetoric of competition, choice, and accountability. But the implementation of those ideas has meant widespread privatization and out of control high-stakes-testing, causing real harm to our students, our teachers, and our schools. And poor kids — and students of color, in particular — have been harmed the most.

Here in Pennsylvania, our students have lost nearly 20,000 of their teachers; they’ve lost music, art, library, foreign languages and even tutoring and Kindergarten programs; kids are in classrooms with 39 students; and they are spending more and more of their precious time on testing and test-prep. Meanwhile, some of the deepest pockets on the planet have been dumping millions of dollars into our state through superPACs to get voucher laws and other privatization policies passed; ALEC has been writing our state legislation; four of the state’s top donors to political campaigns this past fall had direct ties to charter schools; and school districts in five Pennsylvania cities are literally circling the drain, on the verge of total collapse.

But there is hope. A grassroots movement of volunteer parents, students, teachers, and community members has been fighting back, educating itself on the issues, reaching out to learn from and work with others, and connecting to groups all over the country. I am coming to Occupy the DOE because in studying the history of social movements I have come to understand that ordinary people, acting together, make real change happen. I am coming to Washington D.C. to stand on a street corner with all of you to shout, “Public education is a public good!”

The State of Public Education

Earlier this week we heard the president’s State of the Union address, but what about the State of Public Education? Fortunately for us, Rev. David Thornton of Grace Memorial Church in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, delivered just that at the Rally for Public Education. His passionate defense of public schools and plea for equity as a social justice issue was one of the highlights of the event and had the crowd on its feet.

For more details on the rally, which drew over 320 people to the Kelly Strayhorn Theater in East Liberty on Sunday, please be sure to read “What a Rally!” With many thanks to Barry Specter, a retired Steel Valley teacher, we continue to add links to that post to video footage as it becomes available, so you catch up with those who were lucky enough to be in the crowd – or relive your favorite moments. After you have heard Rev. Thornton’s eloquent delivery of the State of Public Education (transcript below), you might also want to view Pittsburgh CAPA student Sheryl Sesay’s spoken word and song about the music teacher she lost to budget cuts. With tears streaming down her face, she moved the audience to tears as well. And Vanessa German’s piece about the children in her neighborhood brought the house down. Don’t miss this chance to hear Pittsburgh’s emerging artist of the year make you feel with every fiber of your being just what is at stake in this battle for our schools.

————–

The State of Public Education
(transcript of address delivered by Rev. David Thornton)

Our public schools are staggering under massive state budget cuts. Two years ago, Governor Corbett cut one billion dollars from public education. And then he did it again last year, compounding the damage. Our kids are now missing nearly two billion dollars from their schools. Will we stand for it? (crowd answers, “NO!”)

Because of those cuts, our students here in Pennsylvania have lost almost 20,000 of their teachers. Our kids have lost music, art, library, and foreign languages. Schools have been forced to slash tutoring programs and even Kindergarten – the very things we know work. Here in Southwest PA, our children are sitting in classes with 35 and even 39 students. Will we stand for it? (crowd answers, “NO!”)

And our poorest students have been hit the hardest. For years, our state used an unequal funding formula to distribute the education budget, so that the poorest districts got the least. The legislature fixed this problem in 2008, but Governor Corbett took us back to the old funding formula, locking in disparity. He locked in social and economic inequality. He locked in racial inequality.

This year, the Governor proposes giving our schools a slight increase – 90 million, which returns about five percent of what he has cut. It won’t fill the budget hole he created two years ago. It won’t bring back the teachers we lost, or restore the arts programs we need so badly in our schools. And what’s worse, Governor Corbett will hand out that money using the old formula, so that once again, our poorest students will get the least. And he proposes that we tie education funding to pension reform and the sale of state liquor stores. These are false choices and hold our children hostage to a political agenda. This is not a sustainable plan for funding our schools and does nothing to fix inequality. Will we stand for it? (crowd answers, “NO!”)

But our fight is not just a fight to restore a few programs in each of our schools. Ours is a fight for social justice. We know that kids who attend well-funded schools actually rank at the top of the world on international tests. But the U.S. has the second highest child poverty rate among all industrialized nations: to our great shame, 26 percent of all our children under the age of five are now living in poverty. That’s over a quarter of our kids growing up in poverty. Will we stand for it? (crowd answers, “NO!”)

And poverty has a profound impact on education. Kids who aren’t getting enough to eat, who are sleeping on the floor, who don’t have warm coats to wear, whose lives are full of instability or violence. It is said that poverty is no excuse for low student performance in school. But poverty is real: we need healthcare and community based programs in our schools, nurses, social workers, and parent engagement specialists. The very people we’ve lost to budget cuts.

To be sure, we have serious issues in our schools that need serious attention. The racial achievement gap, the dropout rate, the school to prison pipeline. These are real. Here in the city, only 18 percent of our African American male seniors were academically eligible last year for a Pittsburgh Promise scholarship. Some of our high schools have a 60 percent rate of students chronically missing school. Will we stand for it? (crowd answers, “NO!”)

But the answer to these problems is not defunding public education. It is not closing down public schools, taking away the last pillar of strength in some of our communities. The answer is not blaming our teachers. The answer is not privatization, or choice, or competition, or any of the other corporate-style reforms that take the public good out of public education. These have actually done more damage to our poorest students and students of color. They’ve taken public, taxpayer dollars and sent them into private hands. They’ve reduced our kids to data points and created a culture of high-stakes-testing that has narrowed the curriculum to reading and math; taken away history, science, and the arts; and mandated weeks upon weeks of test prep and test taking. These reformers send their own kids to private schools that don’t look like this.

But 89 percent of all our children in this country are educated in public schools. The fact is, public education has not failed: most of our kids’ schools do a great job of teaching our children. The problem is policy makers have failed public education: they have failed to fund it adequately. They have failed to fund it equitably. They have failed to acknowledge the effects of poverty and to provide wrap-around services in our schools.

So here’s the bottom line. We must have adequate, equitable, and sustainable public funding for public education. Because we believe public education is a public good. It’s an old idea – going all the way back to the first public school established in Boston in 1635. We are embracing the American ideal of the common good. And we insist that our policy makers live up to this ideal, so that every child has a great, public education.

What a Rally!

Over 320 people came out to Rally for Public Education on Sunday. After last year’s rally outside in a snowstorm, this year’s event was warm and dry at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater in East Liberty. With rousing performances and speakers, loud chanting and singing, the crowd sent a strong message to the many legislators in attendance that public education is a public good. The media was also there and we had radio and television coverage, as well as an excellent article above the fold on the front page of the Post-Gazette local section, with two large photos. [Post-Gazette, 2-11-13]

Arriving at the theater, Rally participants were greeted by OnePittsburgh volunteers who organized some street theater and a “state budget limbo,” inviting folks to see how low they could go, dropping the bar based on how much money different school districts are losing to budget cuts. In the lobby, children drew signs and recorded messages about how the cuts are affecting their schools at a booth set up by the Hear Me project from Carnegie Mellon University. And inside the auditorium, the Dilworth Drummers welcomed the audience with fantastic African drumming, sending the energy soaring to start the Rally. Then the music just kept coming, with everything from classic protest songs and civil rights anthems, to gospel, hip hop, rap, spoken word, folk … and a little Twisted Sister 80’s rock, “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” playing the crowd back out of the theater.

In between performances, we heard about the State of Public Education, with a focus on equity and poverty issues. We celebrated the many achievements of this grassroots movement over the past year and enjoyed a slideshow that reminded us of just how much we did and how many folks have been involved. And we issued a Call-to-Action, with audience members whipping out their smart phones to sign an on-line petition, fill in story cards that will be delivered to Governor Corbett, and taking home an Action Menu to keep the movement rolling. [If you missed it, get your own “Call to Action Take Home Menu.”]

We have video footage coming soon for those of you unfortunate enough to miss the event. But here are some terrific photos by Pittsburgh public school parent, Derek Wahila, followed by our list of Rally highlights:

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• Dilworth Drummers raising the roof and getting everyone ready to Rally
• Yinzercation activist and public school parent, Cassi Schaffer, as our M.C. leading the crowd in chanting “Cut Back? Fight Back!”
• Pittsburgh’s own singer-songwriter extraordinaire Anne Feeney opening and closing the Rally with spot-on performances.
• Rev. David Thornton of Grace Memorial Presbyterian Church, reading the “State of Public Education” with such passion the crowd was on its feet.
• Pittsburgh CAPA senior Sheryl Sesay, with tears running down her cheeks, reading and singing about losing her music teacher to the budget cuts. She said, “Knowledge is power, but your power (Gov. Corbett) is taking our knowledge.”
• Aaliyah Chapman, a sophomore at Pittsburgh Perry and student with the Arts Greenhouse hip-hop program, telling it like it is.
• A special guest appearance by the fast-rising rap star Jasiri X, himself a former public school teacher and now public school parent, performing his piece “America’s Most Livable City” with new lyrics about education.
• Jamaka Scott, a Pittsburgh CAPA senior, bringing the audience to its feet to sing along on the black national anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
• With slides rolling showing the many actions we took this past year, Jessie Ramey celebrating Our Grassroots Movement and the wonderful Squirrel Hillbillies leading the crowd in singing “We Shall Not Be Moved.”
• The absolutely show-stopping spoken word performance of Vanessa German, Pittsburgh’s emerging artist of the year, whose Love.Front.Porch project combines kids and art in Homewood.
• Irene Habermann, chair of the PIIN education task force, and the Rev. John Welch, Dean of Students at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, issuing a Call to Action to support our public schools.
• Dr. Tim Slekar, head of the division of education at Penn State Altoona, giving his moving statement about why he opted his child out of high-stakes-testing, and then went on to help found the national Opt Out movement.

Here’s what we heard over and over again from the performers and speakers:

• This fight for public education is about equity.
• It’s the civil rights issue of our time.
• We must include the fight against poverty.
• Every child must have access to a great public education.
• Public education is a public good.
• No more high-stakes-testing.
• Give us back art, music, languages, tutoring, history – and our teachers.
• We demand adequate, equitable, and sustainable public funding for public education.
• Everything we did last year worked, now we have to keep working together.

Reasons to Rally

You are coming to the Rally on Sunday, aren’t you? It’s at 3PM at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater in East Liberty (5941 Penn Avenue / 15206). This Rally for Public Education is going to be fun, energizing – and important to our movement. Here’s why you should be there:

1. You’ll have fun! There will be street theater outside and games and activities for the kids (thanks to our community partners OnePittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon’s “Hear Me” project). We will have fabulous performances, more things to do inside, and a free movie showing.
2. Get energized. Feel the energy of hundreds of other volunteer parents, students, teachers, and community members coming together to fight for our schools. We win when we fight together and you need to see who else is standing with you, fighting by your side.
3. Send a strong message. We already know that many of our legislators will be there, along with the media. This is a prime opportunity to send a loud and clear message: “Put children first in the state budget! We must have adequate, equitable, and sustainable public funding for our public schools.” If you want them to hear us, we need to be there with our bodies and fill that theater.
4. Get motivated. Hear the State of Public Education delivered by Rev. David Thornton, of Grace Memorial Presbyterian in the Hill District. He is a public education hero who allowed himself to be arrested last spring during a sit-down protest for our schools. He will share our response to the Governor’s proposed state budget that continues to shortchange our kids.
5. Get inspired. Everything we did last year worked. We have major achievements to celebrate. We will recap those, and then issue a Call to Action for this year with some help from Rev. John Welch, Dean at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and our friends at PIIN. We’ll even have a call-to-action-from-your-seats, with things we can do right there in the theater together.
6. Hear our students. When students speak and perform, their voices and talent tell us the real story of what’s at stake in public education. And we’re in for a treat with everything from African drumming and a jazz ensemble to hip-hop, vocal, and spoken word performances.
7. See some stars. We are honored to host a number of great performers, including Pittsburgh’s own folk hero, singer songerwriter Anne Feeney; Pittsburgh’s “emerging artist of the year,” Vanessa German; the Squirrel Hillbillies; and a very special surprise guest.
8. Watch a pro-public education movie. Stay after the Rally for a free showing of the amazing new documentary, “Brooklyn Castle.” This terrific film tells the story of a New York City middle school chess team of mostly poor, students of color who have won more national championships than any other school – yet their very existence is threatened by budget cuts. We are able to present this under special arrangement with the producers: you don’t want to miss it.
9. Learn about Opt Out. This is your chance to have a one-on-one community conversation with Dr. Tim Slekar, head of the education department at Penn State Altoona and a national leader in the Opt Out movement. He will explain why parents all over the country are opting their children out of high-stakes-testing.
10. Our kids are counting on us. This is no astroturf group – we are a real grassroots movement of volunteers just like you. None of us is getting paid, and it only works when we commit to working together. If you care about public schools, you need to be at the Rally for Public Education. You’ll know that you stood up for equity, social justice and for the common good. Because public education is a public good.

You can see the sign for the Rally for Public Education outside the Kelly Strayhorn Theater driving down Penn Avenue. Go to our Facebook page to RSVP and we’ll see you on Sunday!

When Foundations Go Bad

Money talks. And sometimes money buys contracts with companies that have an agenda to privatize our public schools. That appears to be the case with Philadelphia’s prominent William Penn Foundation: last week parents in that city accused the venerable foundation of contracting with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to develop a plan to close dozens of public schools while opening many more charter schools. They charge the foundation and consulting company with essentially acting as lobbyists to influence policy decisions in the School District of Philadelphia. Here’s why we should care in the rest of Pennsylvania when good foundations go bad.

Parents United for Public Education – a fantastic group of Philadelphia public education advocates that organized back in 2006 (Yinzercation’s big sister) – filed a complaint with the City Ethics Board requesting a formal investigation of BCG’s behavior. Joining Parents United in the complaint was the Philadelphia Home and School Council and the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP. The groups had requested a legal analysis by the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia before making their decision to file the charges, saying, “Just a week before the District is expected to announce dozens of school closings which will throw our city into turmoil, we believe the public deserves to know the full influence of private money and access on decisions that impact us all.” [Parents United, 12-6-12]

It turns out that the William Penn Foundation signed a contract with BCG explicitly stating that the group would recommend expanding charter schools, target 60 public schools for closure, and influence labor negotiations. [The Notebook, 7-9-12] Philadelphia has a state-imposed “School Reform Commission” (SRC) and could be the poster-child for what a state-privatization plan does to a city. [For details, see “This is What Privatization Looks Like.”] Parents United discovered that the Boston Consulting Group’s contract actually specified that it would influence the SRC before an important vote it made back in May. That’s when the commission decided that, despite the District’s severe financial crisis, it would approve adding 5,416 new seats in charter schools across the city (expanding charters from 25% to 40% of the entire District) at an eye-popping cost of $139 million over the next five years. [The Notebook, 7-19-12]

The William Penn Foundation clearly got what it paid for with the Boston Consulting Group. With unprecedented access to key decision-makers as well as data from the District, the BCG has been acting as a lobbyist on behalf of the privatization agenda, able to push their plans behind closed doors. As Parents United points out, “No such access has ever been afforded to parents and community members who had to settle for limited information and public meetings.” [Parents United, 12-6-12]

And it gets worse. The foundation solicited private donors to help fund the BCG contract and then kept their identities a secret by funneling the dollars through a separate agency. Those donors include individuals and groups affiliated with charter organizations. [The Notebook, 6-6-12] As Parents United explains, this lack of transparency matters, “because under this shrouded arrangement, the public can’t know whether the work BCG did was for the District’s benefit or for the benefit of its donors. From our viewpoint as parents, this is not philanthropy. It’s something dramatically different….” [Parents United, 12-6-12]

What’s more, this kind of thing is going on all over the country, with big-money foundations investing their philanthropic resources in corporate-style education reform. These include the Broad Foundation (which has trained a large number of urban school superintendents, including Pittsburgh’s own current and immediate past leader, in corporate-style management practices) as well as the Gates Foundation (which has given Pittsburgh Public Schools $40 million for teacher evaluation efforts). I agree with Parents United that, “what we’re seeing across the country is an unprecedented level of private money shaping public policy under the guise of philanthropy. Too often that agenda has centered around a radical dismantling of public education, increased privatization, and disruptive reform that has sent many districts spiraling into chaos and sustained turmoil.” [Parents United, 12-6-12]

If there’s any good news here, it’s that the Philadelphia grassroots movement for public education is making a real difference. Just one week after Parents United sent its letter of intent to file an ethics complaint, the William Penn Foundation board met; one week later, the foundation’s president, Jeremy Nowak, publicly announced his resignation. Nowak had been widely regarded as the guiding force behind the foundation’s turn towards school privatization. Parents United co-founder Helen Gym, noted that, “William Penn, under [Nowak's] stewardship, went from being this beloved Philadelphia foundation to being a controversial and very conservative promoter of a very special kind of reform agenda.” [Philadelphia Inquirer, 11-30-12]

The lessons for us here on the other side of the state? We must pay attention to the role of large foundations, which are increasingly entering the “education reform” business with little more than an ill-formed notion that school privatization will cure what ails us. Southwest Pennsylvania is also home to many venerable foundations with a proud history of supporting children, families, and education. It’s time for these foundations to partner with our community – in full transparency and with parent participation – to tackle the serious equity, policy, and resource issues confronting our schools. Foundations can absolutely be a force for public education and for the public good. How about it Pittsburgh Foundation, Heinz Endowments, Grable and others – are you ready to be vocal advocates for our public schools?

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Education Victories

We had several significant election wins for public education in Southwest PA last night. And it’s a good thing, because we just got more dire school budget news, meaning these folks are going to have their work cut out for them. But first the good news.

Congratulations to Erin Molchany, a Democrat in State House District 22, which is largely in Pittsburgh’s South Hills. She said the key issues in her race were “reliable public transit… And of course public education.” Molchany is connected to our Yinzercation networks and I had the pleasure of sitting on a Town Hall panel with her last month at the Pittsburgh Public Theater. Last night she noted, “There’s a very evident commitment to public education in the district and beyond.” [Post-Gazette, 11-7-12] We look forward to working with Rep. Molchany and having another strong voice for public education in the legislature.

Also in the South Hills, Democrat Matt Smith is moving from the House to the District 37 Senate seat. Smith has been very vocal about public education, calling Governor Corbett’s budget cuts “draconian,” and when he was in the House, “he introduced legislation that would increase funding for full-day kindergarten.” [Post-Gazette, 11-7-12] Smith has also met with Yinzercation parents multiple times and issued a detailed public statement last spring about the impact of state budget cuts on our schools. Both Smith and Molchany were endorsed by Education Voters PA. (For details on other EdVoter endorsed candidates across the state, see the rundown put together by the Keystone State Education Coalition.)

Back in the State House, we are glad to see public education stalwart Dan Frankel, who ran unopposed in this election for his District 23 seat. As minority caucus leader, Frankel is a crucial leader in our state, and has met numerous times this past year with our grassroots movement. Frankel also lent a hand to first-time candidate Susan Spicka, a public education grassroots organizer from the middle part of the state, who put up a spectacular fight in the 89^th House District. [The Sentinel, 11-7-12] Spicka had an incredible turn out, and we hope she runs again. She will have lots of support from her public education allies in Southwest PA.

Our schools are going to need all the supporters they can get in Harrisburg this year as the pension crisis looms, threatening district budgets everywhere. For a quick tutorial on this critical topic, please be sure you have read our “Pension History 101.” The Pittsburgh Public School District announced Monday night that it would be broke by 2015. While it has slashed its spending and laid off a historic number of teachers, the district is already in deficit – plunged there in no small part because of state budget cuts – and has been spending down its reserve account. Those reserves will be gone by 2015, at which point the deficit is forecast to grow to $42.78 million. And these projections assume no further budget cuts from the state. [Post-Gazette, 11-6-12]

The pension crisis is a massive threat to public education in our state and will require a serious bi-partisan effort to address. Our job in the grassroots will be to insist that our legislators get started, and that they take every step with the assumption that public schools are a public good worth saving. Dr. Linda Lane, Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent, noted that every district in the state is affected by growing pension contributions, but said, “I don’t see a miracle out there to solve it other than money from school districts.” [Post-Gazette, 11-6-12] If local school districts are forced to substantially increase property taxes to compensate for the pension spike, it will only further solidify inequities in our public schools. This is one issue that we must insist that our state legislators have the courage to address.

The good news is that the overwhelming majority of public school families believe strongly in their schools. In a report released this week, the Pittsburgh Public School District found that two-thirds of parents surveyed would recommend their child’s school to a friend. The most enthusiastic support came from parents with children in early childhood centers, where 85% would recommend the school, and in K-5 schools, where 74% would recommend the school. Sixty-seven percent of respondents felt that teaching quality is improving in the district. [Post-Gazette, 11-6-12] These results reflect national trends, as Americans are giving their local public schools the highest ratings in twenty years. Nationally, when asked about the school their oldest child attends, over three quarters of those polled – 77% – gave their school an A or B (and only 6% gave it a D or F). [Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll, 8-20-12] (For more on this survey and its results, see “What the Polls Say.”)

In other words, Americans may feel there is a general public education crisis, but when you ask them about the actual schools in their own backyards, they are quite positive about them. Our grassroots movement needs to tap into this overwhelming majority that supports their local public schools. This is truly the “silent majority” that we must give voice to – our work is to amplify those voices so that they can be heard all the way in Harrisburg by our newly elected legislators.

You’re Invited to a Private Screening

Are you in an ethical quandary about seeing the new “Won’t Back Down” movie? Perhaps you are angry about the film’s parent-trigger agenda and that it’s set in Pittsburgh claiming to be inspired by true events – that never actually happened here – but you still want to see the movie so you can be fully informed without contributing to these ultra-right filmmakers’ box office receipts? [See “We Won’t Back Down, Either” for the gory details about who made this movie and why.] Here’s the solution to your dilemma:

The Pittsburgh Public School district, the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, and A+ Schools are hosting a private screening of “Won’t Back Down” on Wednesday, October 3, 2012 at 6:00 PM. The viewing will take place at South Side Works Cinema. Seating is limited and will be reserved on a first come basis with parents and teachers given priority. RSVP HERE

There will be a brief panel discussion after the film moderated by the Rev. John Welch from PIIN (PA Interfaith Impact Network SW), who is also Vice President for Student Services and Dean of Students at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Panelists will include:

• Nina Esposito-Visgitis, President, Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers
• Carey Harris, Executive Director, A+ Schools
• Dr. Linda Lane, Superintendent, Pittsburgh Public Schools
• Randy Testa, Vice President of Education and Professional Development, Walden Media

For the life of me, I can’t figure out why we would give anyone from Walden Media 12 seconds of our time, especially since the entire previous two hours of the movie will be “their” message – complete with tear-jerking sound track and a feel-good story. Heck, who doesn’t want to root for the single mom who sticks up for her kid’s educational needs? Who doesn’t love a good story about a white woman and a black woman coming together and beating the big bad system? We all love a good underdog tale.

But Philip Anschutz and his Walden Media are not interested in what real parent engagement looks like in our public schools. They are selling privatization – turning over our public schools to private corporations in the name of corporate-style “reform.” There’s a reason the parent-trigger law is becoming known as the parent-tricker law: in California where it was first introduced, the law fooled many parents into thinking they were taking (more) control of their local schools. But scores of parents there cried foul after realizing the way outside operatives had been sent into their communities and lied to them. Closing down public schools and handing them over to private charter companies destroys a public good, forever (while enriching those corporations at tax-payer expense).

Walden Media’s Randy Testa, who has taught third grade and has an Ed.D. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, has made it clear that these movies are designed as propaganda. In an interview earlier this year, he explained, “We have also recently made Walden’s tacit commitment to education more explicit. We co-produced the recent documentary about education, “Waiting for ‘Superman’” and we have a film coming out this fall, a drama not a documentary, called “Won’t Back Down” about two mothers –one a teacher—who come together to change their local school. … A good story gets people talking –and maybe even doing.” [Ploughshares Literary Magazine, 2-24-12]

Indeed. There’s mighty power in pop-culture, and Walden Media knows it. I hope Linda Lane, Nina Esposito-Visgitis, and Carey Harris come out swinging in defense of public education on October 3^rd. We need to make sure people are “talking and maybe even doing” alright, just as Testa says – talking and doing something about this slick effort to sell school privatization, that tells lies about Pittsburgh, and attempts to introduce parent-tricker laws here in Pennsylvania. Let’s all be there on October 3^rd to demonstrate what meaningful parent engagement in our schools looks like and that we here in the grassroots intend to keep fighting for public education as a public good.