Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw) Weekend Contributor
I have to give Governor Bruce Rauner credit for not taking long to show his hand and publicly attack the Higher Education system in Illinois. It has only been a few weeks since he was inaugurated and he recently unveiled his budget. A budget plan that slashes over $200 million just from the University of Illinois alone.
At the very time Gov. Rauner announced he wants to slash the Higher Education budget for all universities in the State of Illinois by almost a third, he claimed that his budget makes education a priority!
“Higher education is set to take a major hit in Illinois.
Following similar announcements by the Republican governors of Wisconsin and Louisiana, newly-sworn in Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner released what he called a “turnaround” budget, that would slash nearly $209 million from the University of Illinois.” Think Progress
“It’s time to make education our top priority again – and that’s what this budget does,” he told lawmakers Tuesday night, touting his plan to give about $25 million more to early childhood education. “With reform, we will be able to invest more in education and give our kids world class schools.” Think Progress
While the proposed budget increases some funding for K-12 education, the University of Illinois system will lose one-third of its state financing under this budget. This very same proposed budget makes absolutely no mention of any increased revenue sources or plans. What will happen to the University system if these cuts are retained in the final budget?
One can expect the cuts to cause increased fees being charged to students as well as the loss of many educational programs. The result of these massive reductions in state financing will be to transfer the costs to students who are already paying high tuition and fee costs. The loan balances of many students already into the 6 figures and Gov. Rauner’s actions will make sure that student debt will continue to climb in Illinois.
So often the claims that all areas of the State have to share in the burden of digging out of a financial hole ends up with some of the most vulnerable bearing the brunt of that burden. If the Governor is convinced that we all have to sacrifice in this job to balance the budget, why wouldn’t new tax sources be considered along with reasonable cuts?
Will these draconian cuts make it more difficult for students from poor and middle class families to obtain a college education? In this very same budget proposal, Gov. Rauner biggest cuts are aimed directly at those who are least able to afford them.
“Yet the state would spend $400 million less on higher education, $600 million less on local governments, and $1.5 billion less on Medicaid, which handles health care costs for poor residents. University leaders and mayors said they were worried, and advocates for the poor said they feared medical needs would go unmet under deep cuts to Medicaid.” New York Times
When the cities, counties and municipalities raise their taxes to pay for basic services for their residents, who has to pay for those increases? “In many cases, Rauner’s state budget cuts could simply end up shifting costs: local governments could choose to raise property taxes, state universities could raise tuition and the CTA could increase fares.” Chicago Tribune
For a man who spent at least $37 million of his own money to get elected governor, he sure has no problem making the middle class and poor pay more for a college education and for health care and local taxes and transportation costs.
Rauner seems to be following the economic model that worked so “well” for Gov. Brownback in Kansas and Gov. Walker in Wisconsin.
Just how has that austerity approach worked out for Kansas and Wisconsin?
Additional Sources: Examiner.com; Crains Chicago Business
“The views expressed in this posting are the author’s alone and not those of the blog, the host, or other bloggers. As an open forum, weekend bloggers post independently without pre-approval or review. Content and any displays or art are solely their decision and responsibility.”
Mespo:
“I just love the way Karen extrapolates her little corner of the world to the nation as a whole. She did it with healthcare and she’s doing it with education.”
Again, that is patently false. Although I do include my personal experiences, I have also included statistics in numerous threads. The CA Medical Association posted their reasoning for why doctors boycott Obamacare.
If you won’t face actual facts, then that is willful blindness.
My local charter school is a top performer. The local public school rates a 4/10.
The charter school teaches arts, science, and language in elementary school. The public school does not teach art or language.
Boy, this is a tough choice, isn’t it?
People like you would take away that choice, and then sneer at me for daring to want the right to send my child where I want.
Karen,
“Our own local Charter school is top rated.”
Is that a personal anecdote? I thought you didn’t want me to post anecdotes. That’s why I’ve been posting links to all the informational articles.
“A causal perusal of school rankings will show this.”
Have you got some links to provide on school rankings…so I can do a “casual perusal?”
How do charter schools have the same problem with being unable to fire tenured Bad Teachers?
Please explain to me why it is OK that it takes hundreds of thousands of dollars to fire a teacher for cause. Or are you going to continue to ignore this?
We parents do not support tenure. Tenure is also listed as a top problem for school boards in dealing with problem teachers.
If you care about kids’ education, it’s time to face reality.
Here are the school ratings of public schools in CA. Please note all the “red” schools receiving a substandard score:
http://school-ratings.com/svg/index.html
mespo,
Some feel the need to push the party talking points no matter what. They refuse to acknowledge that charter schools have the same problems as traditional public schools. Yet, charter schools don’t have the same kind of local control as the TPS.
Elaine:
“Charters never came close to living up to the hype. After several years of experimentation and the expenditure of billions of dollars, charter schools and their teachers proved, on the whole, to be no more effective than traditional schools.”
This is patently untrue. A causal perusal of school rankings will show this. Our own local Charter school is top rated.
Ex-staff: Ohio charter school’s misconduct rampant
By Julie Carr Smyth
Associated Press Statehouse Correspondent
7/16/14
http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/ex-staff-ohio-charter-school-s-misconduct-rampant-1.504845
Excerpt:
COLUMBUS: The Ohio State Board of Education expressed shock Tuesday at accounts of sex games, test tampering and other potentially criminal misdeeds at a Dayton charter school, and vowed to investigate.
At the state school board’s regular monthly meeting, four former teachers at one of 19 affiliated Concept Schools in the state, Horizon Science Academy in Dayton, testified to witnessing oral sex among sixth- through eighth-graders that went unreported to parents, achievement tests that were suspiciously handled and a teacher who called black students “monkeys” and “dogs.”
“Inside my blood is boiling,” board member Deborah Cain said after hearing the testimony. “It is almost incomprehensible.”
Stephen Rudnicki, who taught at the school from 2007 to 2013, said he was assigned to teach physical education, though the school had no gym, and said the school billed as a science academy had no functional science lab until 2012. Early on, it also went without computers and sometimes without food for student lunches, he said.
Elaine M:
Without doubt the Repubs have put a “For Sale” sign on every governmental function to line the pockets of their well-heeled pals who fleece the public at will. Maybe when the sheep look up we ‘ll see an end to this madness but right now that’s a remote possibility.
FBI Investigating Gülen Charter Schools: Gülen Leaders Lavish Gifts And Dinners on Mitch Daniels and Other Indiana Officials
http://my.firedoglake.com/dougmartin/tag/wikileaks/
Excerpt:
With the FBI and the Departments of Labor and Education investigating them and parents and officials in Ohio, Hawaii, Arizona, Utah, Texas, and elsewhere questioning their financial dealings, it appears that Gülen charter schools—managed by Concept Schools and other companies—have been duping lawmakers, politicians, school boards, and parents for several years now, with accusations flying that the group is using U.S. taxpayer money to help fund the Islamist Hizmet organization in Turkey.
According to Charter School Scandals (one of the top charter school watchdog groups and a close follower of Gülen) there have been 155 Gülen charter schools established or attempted in 28 states in the U.S. and hundreds in other countries.
Gülen charter schools are founded by followers of Fethullah Gülen, a wealthy reformer who lives in exile in Pennsylvania after being kicked out of Turkey for attempting to establish an Islamic state. His group has allegedly infiltrated the Turkish police force, according to cables released by Wikileaks. The goals of the Gülen movement are murky, even to experts and U.S. government officials, who often disagree or change their opinions of the group.
This is like the flick, Groundhog Day.
Michelle Rhee is one of my heroes. So is Arne Duncan.
Charter Schools For Scandals
http://ourfuture.org/20130905/charter-schools-for-scandals
Excerpt:
There are undoubtedly wonderful charter schools in existence, and Americans generally have a favorable opinion of charters, but hardly a week goes by without news of a scandal or a study tarnishing their image.
With schools reopening everywhere across the country, the past week was no exception in exposing new problems with an idea that was once thought of as a collaborative endeavor between teacher unions and school administrators aimed at serving struggling students, but has now become a heavily funded, well-marketed movement designed to siphon money away from traditional public schools.
Leading off the charter scandal parade was Pennsylvania, where an auditor general found that the state’s largest charter school pocketed $1.2 million “in improper lease-reimbursement payments.” The scheme the school was running has become all too familiar to anyone following charter school nefariousness.
Karen, LOL! You unleashed a link tsunami. Go to high ground.
Exposing the charter school lie: Michelle Rhee, Louis C.K. and the year phony education reform revealed its true colors
Charter schools promised new education innovations. Instead, they produced scam after new scam
1/15/15
http://www.salon.com/2015/01/01/exposing_the_charter_school_lie_michelle_rhee_louis_c_k_and_the_year_phony_education_reform_revealed_its_true_colors/
Excerpt:
In 2014, charter schools, which had always been marketed for a legendary ability to deliver promising new innovations for education, became known primarily for their ability to concoct innovative new scams.
From Local Stories to National Scandal
Troubling news stories about the financial workings of charter schools had been leaking slowly into the media stream for some years.
A story that appeared at Forbes in late 2013 foretold a lot of what would emerge in 2014. That post “Charter School Gravy Train Runs Express to Fat City” brought to light for the first time in a mainstream source the financial rewards that were being mined from charter schools. As author Addison Wiggin explained, a mixture of tax incentives, government programs and Wall Street investors eager to make money were coming together to deliver a charter school bonanza – especially if the charter operation could “escape scrutiny” behind the veil of being privately held or if the charter operation could mix its business in “with other ventures that have nothing to do with education.”
As 2014 began, more stories about charter schools scandals continued to drip out from local press outlets – a chain of charter schools teaching creationism, a charter school closing abruptly for mysterious reasons, a charter high school operating as a for-profit “basketball factory,” recruiting players from around the world while delivering a sub-par education.
How will charter schools deal with their corruption scandals?
8/8/14
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/08/08/how-will-charter-schools-deal-with-their-corruption-scandals/
Excerpt:
Charter schools were originally conceived as centers of experimentation and innovation where educators could try new approaches quickly on a small scale with a minimum of paperwork. Many charters have lived up to that promise, but that same openness that allows new ideas to flourish may also have left the sector vulnerable to a dangerous level of corruption.
For decades, Michigan and Florida have been on the cutting edge of shifting public education into the private sector. These policies were based on a deeply held and often explicitly stated belief that choice and market forces could net only solve education’s problems but could also alleviate much of the need for regulation.
Now recent investigations from the Detroit Free Press, South Florida’s Sun-Sentinel, and the Florida League of Women Voters have painted a troubling picture of two out-of-control charter school systems…
In one case, the president of a school’s management company and the husband of its top administrator bought a piece of property for $375,000 and less than a week later sold it to the school for $425,000. This appears to have been completely legal. The two men would also go on to collect millions in contracts from the school. This is not an isolated case.
Cozy relations have also led to exorbitant compensation, including one case where a school with less than 500 students spent more than a half million dollars on its top school administrator’s severance package.
Charter school’s lease deals scrutinized
10/12/14
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/10/12/charters-lease-deals-scrutinized.html
Excerpt:
A North Side charter school expects to spend more of the tax dollars it receives this school year on rent than on teachers and staff.
Imagine Columbus Primary Academy projects building-lease payments of $700,000, making rent the school’s top expense, eating up more than half its annual state revenue, according to a school financial report. The school expects to pay $614,000 on salaries and benefits this year.
Similar arrangements are in place for the other five Imagine Schools in Franklin County.
Who is charging the charter schools such high rent? A company called SchoolHouse Finance — which is a subsidiary of Imagine.
Karen. Everyone understands that pedophiles will go where their victims are plentiful. You tried desperately to make the point that they can’t be fired. Elaine has told you they can be.Your arrogance and condescension and stubborn unwillingness to even consider the points that Elaine has gone to great lengths to make indicate that you have a mind that is closed on the subject of educating our children. I trust Elaine’s judgment and knowlege FAR above and beyond yours when it comes to educating children and the public school system.
Charter School Power Broker Turns Public Education Into Private Profits
Baker Mitchell is a politically connected North Carolina businessman who celebrates the power of the free market. Every year, millions of public education dollars flow through Mitchell’s chain of four nonprofit charter schools to for-profit companies he controls.
by Marian Wang
ProPublica, Oct. 15, 2014
http://www.propublica.org/article/charter-school-power-broker-turns-public-education-into-private-profits
Charter schools making big profits for private companies
http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/investigations/2014/08/21/charter-school-profits-on-real-estate/14420317/
Excerpt:
TAMPA, Florida – As the debate over school choice continues to divide Florida educators, 10 Investigates found new ways charter schools companies are profiting off education.
Charter schools are tuition-free public schools that are authorized by – but not operated by – each school district. For each student who “chooses” a charter, his or her school gets state dollars that would have otherwise gone to the school district.
Charter Schools USA (CUSA) has been operating charter schools in Florida for 20 years, including recently-opened schools in Hillsborough County: Woodmont Charter, Winthrop Charter, and Henderson Hammock Charter. Although charter schools sometimes struggle financially at first, CUSA eventually collects a 5% management fee from each to provide administration and guidance.
But 10 Investigates found a much bigger pot of money CUSA has been able to tap into: rent. When the company helps open a new school, its development arm, Red Apple Development, acquires land and constructs a school. Then, CUSA charges the school high rent.
For example, Winthrop Charter in Riverview may struggle to balance its budget this year thanks to a $2 million rent payment to CUSA/Red Apple Development. The payment will equate to approximately 23% of its budget, even though CUSA CEO Jon Hage has been quoted as saying charter school rent should not exceed 20%.
Elaine – you really should get real-world experience in charter schools before you take the Union Line. Charters in Arizona are not allowed to bond the citizens for money to build buildings or pay rent or increase salaries. They have to live and die on their ADA (Average Daily Attendance). Every day a student is not in school costs them money and all of them have caps on their enrollment (they can only have X students enrolled at any one time).
In Arizona, the state pays for the first 100 days of school. After that you are technically teaching the students for free. The money follows the student so if student X starts school at school A but then moves to school B, the minute X is enrolled in school B they start getting the money and school A stops getting it.
My school was in the inner city and we drew from several inner city public high schools. At the beginning of the school year we would get a lot of their students because they were so big (3000 students) they could afford to lose a few. Then, just before the AIMS test was to be delivered, they would suspend a bunch (low-scoring students who would not help their stats). And then after the 100th day was up, they would expel students without qualm (they already had their money and had no further use for them).
Before I started teaching full time in secondary I spent a year as a substitute teacher in several districts in the Valley. I got so I could walk in the classroom and within 5 minutes I knew how good the teacher was. I did find that even the best school had bad teachers. I actually had students go to the principal to ask if I could replace their teacher. 🙂