The War on Public Schools
Teachers came to Raleigh Wednesday to teach politicians about the public schools. But what did the teachers learn about the politicians?
They need to learn this: A lot of the politicians hate public schools.
They won’t admit it, especially around Election Day. But look at what they do. And who they listen to.
They don’t listen to teachers. They surely don’t listen to the NCAE. They worship business, but they don’t listen to business leaders who believe in strong public schools.
They listen to the anti-public-school chorus at the John Locke Foundation and the Civitas Institute. They listen to zealots who want schools to force their religious beliefs on the rest of us. They listen to private-school owners – and big political donors – who want more and more taxpayer subsidies. They listen to national ideologues, like Betsy DeVos, who are waging all-out war on public schools.
That crowd has been around a long time. They got going strong in North Carolina and across the South in the 1950s and 1960s after the Supreme Court struck down school desegregation. Private, white-only “segregation academies” started springing up.
For almost a decade now, they’ve been calling the shots on education policy in North Carolina. They’ve won their long-time goal of siphoning taxpayers’ money away from public schools and into their private schools. They call it “choice” and “competition,” which sound wonderful. But they’re starving public schools, which – unlike private schools – have no choice about the students they have to teach.
Public schools have to take ALL the kids: the poor kids, the kids from broken families and bad neighborhoods, the kids who don’t get a good meal unless they’re in school, the kids with emotional and social problems, the kids with special needs and special circumstances.
That’s why the teachers who marched in Raleigh weren’t asking for just more money for themselves. They want more help for their students: nurses, counselors, bus drivers and critical support personnel. They want better health care for all children. That’s the NCAE’s agenda.
But the anti-school crowd at Civitas airily dismisses all that: “It’s hard to see how any of these proposals directly benefit school children.”
It wouldn’t be hard to see if you spent time with the teachers in their classrooms. They’ll tell you, “Yes, we’d like to make more money. But if we just wanted to make money, we wouldn’t be teachers. We’re in this to help our students. And they need more help from the legislature.”
It’s not hard to see what’s going on here: Discredit teachers who care enough to take a day off without pay, come to Raleigh and speak up. Demean advocates for teachers and schools. Destroy public confidence in public schools. Dump more tax money into private schools and sketchy charter schools.
It’s telling that key legislators want to prevent teachers from rallying in Raleigh. They don’t like being called out. They’re afraid they’ll be voted out if the facts get out.
They fudge the facts and figures. The debate over school spending becomes a bewildering blizzard of contradictory claims and stupefying statistics. Voters don’t know who or what to believe. Headlines boil it down to “Teachers Demand More Funding.”
This debate is about more than dollars. It’s about the most important thing we do: educate children. It’s fundamentally about what kind of state and nation we’ll be.
Teachers and their supporters must recognize that they’re fighting powerful, well-financed and entrenched political forces that are deeply and fundamentally hostile to public schools.
Winning will take more than one day marching.
The War on Public Schools
Teachers came to Raleigh Wednesday to teach politicians about the public schools. But what did the teachers learn about the politicians?
They need to learn this: A lot of the politicians hate public schools.
They won’t admit it, especially around Election Day. But look at what they do. And who they listen to.
They don’t listen to teachers. They surely don’t listen to the NCAE. They worship business, but they don’t listen to business leaders who believe in strong public schools.
They listen to the anti-public-school chorus at the John Locke Foundation and the Civitas Institute. They listen to zealots who want schools to force their religious beliefs on the rest of us. They listen to private-school owners – and big political donors – who want more and more taxpayer subsidies. They listen to national ideologues, like Betsy DeVos, who are waging all-out war on public schools.
That crowd has been around a long time. They got going strong in North Carolina and across the South in the 1950s and 1960s after the Supreme Court struck down school desegregation. Private, white-only “segregation academies” started springing up.
For almost a decade now, they’ve been calling the shots on education policy in North Carolina. They’ve won their long-time goal of siphoning taxpayers’ money away from public schools and into their private schools. They call it “choice” and “competition,” which sound wonderful. But they’re starving public schools, which – unlike private schools – have no choice about the students they have to teach.
Public schools have to take ALL the kids: the poor kids, the kids from broken families and bad neighborhoods, the kids who don’t get a good meal unless they’re in school, the kids with emotional and social problems, the kids with special needs and special circumstances.
That’s why the teachers who marched in Raleigh weren’t asking for just more money for themselves. They want more help for their students: nurses, counselors, bus drivers and critical support personnel. They want better health care for all children. That’s the NCAE’s agenda.
But the anti-school crowd at Civitas airily dismisses all that: “It’s hard to see how any of these proposals directly benefit school children.”
It wouldn’t be hard to see if you spent time with the teachers in their classrooms. They’ll tell you, “Yes, we’d like to make more money. But if we just wanted to make money, we wouldn’t be teachers. We’re in this to help our students. And they need more help from the legislature.”
It’s not hard to see what’s going on here: Discredit teachers who care enough to take a day off without pay, come to Raleigh and speak up. Demean advocates for teachers and schools. Destroy public confidence in public schools. Dump more tax money into private schools and sketchy charter schools.
It’s telling that key legislators want to prevent teachers from rallying in Raleigh. They don’t like being called out. They’re afraid they’ll be voted out if the facts get out.
They fudge the facts and figures. The debate over school spending becomes a bewildering blizzard of contradictory claims and stupefying statistics. Voters don’t know who or what to believe. Headlines boil it down to “Teachers Demand More Funding.”
This debate is about more than dollars. It’s about the most important thing we do: educate children. It’s fundamentally about what kind of state and nation we’ll be.
Teachers and their supporters must recognize that they’re fighting powerful, well-financed and entrenched political forces that are deeply and fundamentally hostile to public schools.
Winning will take more than one day marching.