Oakland teachers and other education workers on strike in February 2019 |
By Jack Gerson
Retired Oakland teacher and
former executive board and bargaining team member of the Oakland Education
Association.
Facts For Working People
pointed out in earlier posts the recent formation of a “Task Force” to discuss
issues about Charter Schools, many of which have been raised by California
teachers and their unions. Also, in a previous contribution to Facts For
Working People I tried to give a sober assessment of the Oakland
Teachers strike here.
In another earlier post I
commented on the task force that California governor Gavin Newsome has set up
in the wake of the two teachers/educators strike in Los Angeles and Oakland. I
said that this task force is: “A case study on why not to base one's
strategy on appealing to "Democratic friends" like Thurmond and
Newsom. Here's the problem with Gavin Newsom tying the moratorium on charter
schools with a task force to study the issues raised by charter schools. All
along, the question was whether Newsom would be influenced by the billionaires
who fund the California Democratic Party and also push charter schools. Looks
like the answer to that question is "YES".
After some research, we can
see how Tony Thurmond and Gavin Newsom are linking this so-called moratorium on
charter schools to his task force. The panel includes four top executives from
the charter school industry PLUS three more charter school supporters:
Edgar Zazueta, who is
the senior director of policy and government for Association of California
School Administrators. They endorsed former Green Dot Public Schools head
Marshall Tuck, the billionaires’ candidate, for state Superintendent of Public
Instruction last fall, with Zazueta leading the campaign to endorse Tuck.
Here’s the ACSA’s press release announcing the endorsement:
Lester Garcia, the political
director of SEIU 99, who’s on Newsom’s charter school panel is another
interesting character. Local 99 received $25, 000 from the California
Charter School Association. They earned it: they supported Monica Garcia in her
most recent campaign for the Los Angeles school board. Monica Garcia, president
of that school board, is a very prominent advocate for charter schools. By the
way, the California Charter School Association donated $150,000 to the
California Democratic Party.
And Ed Manansala,
the El Dorado County Superintendent of Schools and is also on the charter
school study panel appointed by Tony Thurmond. The El Dorado County Board
established and runs three charter school programs:
Charter Alternative Programs
Charter Extended Day Program
Rite of Passage Charter High
Schools (Sierra Ridge Academy; Sage Academy; Qualifying House)
According to the el dorado
county office of education website (edcoe.org),
“The El Dorado County Board of Education serves as the Authorizer and Governing
Board for the Rite of Passage Charter High Schools. The Rite of Passage Charter
received charter number 55 from the California State Board of Education in
1994. The El Dorado County Office of Education provides all administrative,
instructional, and financial support for the educational and vocational
training programs. The charter focuses on core academic and career/college
pathways ...”
I think that the fix is in.
Thurmond is promising that there will be charter reform. I expect that there
will be — but it will be very mild. California has arguably the laxest
oversight of charter schools of any state. There’s loads of room to make
cosmetic reforms while causing at most minor difficulties for the charter
school industry. I think that’s what will happen. And I think that we’ll hear
loud proclamations of total and historic victory from the mighty, mighty union
types.
So there’s Zazueta,
Manansala, Garcia, an executive from Aspire Charter Schools, the head of Green
Dot Charter Schools (which Marshall Tuck used to run) and two executives from
the California Charter Schools Association. That’s seven out of eleven. I
haven’t checked into the background of the other four. Wow. Tony Thurmond,
Gavin Newsom and the Democratic Party are truly friends of teachers and public
education!
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