The Journal Sentinels Schneider Problem

By Jeff Simpson


Christian Schneider is a columnist for JSonline. He is also a paid shill of the Bradley Foundation and for some reason the Journal Sentinel has decided to keep giving him column inches to spread his ideas propaganda.

Schneider was a blogger for the JS and broke the Kyle Wood story.  Wood was a troubled kid who said Mark Pocan's husband beat him up because he worked for his opponent. The right wing echo chamber, led by Schneider, could not get that story out fast enough.  The problem though is it was not true.   Schneider then did the responsible thing and recanted his story with an apology deleted the story from the Purple WI website like it never happened.  For reasons unbeknownest to anyone, Schneider was then promoted to columnist.

Recently, Schneider called Senator Feingold worse than a child predator in a column to no repercussions, as David Haynes feels that helps advance the marketplace of ideas(Scott Walker is the only untouchable political figure in WI).

Now Schneider is out with one of his regular, public education sucks and vouchers are the way to go columns.   As is typical Schneider, facts do not matter.

While it is all gobbledy gook, one paragraph was particular telling:

Finally, let's suppose Wisconsin had an educational system rife with racism and bias. Wouldn't the best idea be to get those minority kids out of the existing framework and into schools that can better address their specific needs? In other words, exactly what the private school choice program does for poor children? If one thinks the achievement gap is caused by the status quo, simply pumping more dollars into that educational system would seem to only exacerbate the gap.

Let us break it down.

Finally, let's suppose Wisconsin had an educational system rife with racism and bias.   - Our public education system is absolutely NOT rife with racism and bias and there is not any evidence that Schneider can point to that would say it is.   

Wouldn't the best idea be to get those minority kids out of the existing framework and into schools that can better address their specific needs? 

The best idea would be to address the fact that under Scott Walker and Republican gerrymandered rule, Wisconsin is the worst state in the country to be African American in and poverty is increasing all over the state.    The best way to address minority kids specific needs is to bring jobs back to WI and address the poverty problem. 

In other words, exactly what the private school choice program does for poor children? 

The private choice program is not whatsoever, nor has it ever, been designed to address the specific needs of minority children.  Ever.   It is designed simply to be able to allow some people to cash in on the public education money that previously went to the kids.   The Education Reformers are just mining to fill their panning equipement with public education dollars.   

It is no small irony that Schneider wrote his column on the same day that a Federal Report was issued about the million dollars of fraud and waste in charter schools.  

The report, titled “The Tip of the Iceberg: Charter School Vulnerabilities To Waste, Fraud, And Abuse,” was released jointly by the nonprofit organizations  Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools and the Center for Popular Democracy. It follows a similar report released a year ago by the same groups that detailed $136 million in fraud and waste and mismanagement in 15 of the 42 states that operate charter schools. The 2015 report cites $203 million, including the 2014 total plus $23 million in new cases, and $44 million in earlier cases not included in last year’s report.
It notes that these figures only represent fraud and waste in the charter sector uncovered so far, and that the total that federal, state and local governments “stand to lose” in 2015 is probably more than $1.4 billion. It says, “The vast majority of the fraud perpetrated by charter officials will go undetected because the federal government, the states, and local charter authorizers lack the oversight necessary to detect the fraud.”

 If one thinks the achievement gap is caused by the status quo, simply pumping more dollars into that educational system would seem to only exacerbate the gap.

How would we know?  Scott Walker and the Republican legislature, have cut funding to schools more than any other state in the country.   Maybe "pumping more dollars in the educational system" might now work, but it is something that has never been tried so how would we know?

It is unfortunate that someone with such blatant disregard to the facts and who is pushing a blatant agenda is given such prominent column space.   It is also not surprising that when they highlight shills like Schneider that it would lead to a not very good business climate.   

Luckily it is a new era and while mainstream media lets you down, the real information is readily available.  

Remember in the future Christian Schneider is not your friend, and he has a very hard time with the truth.  Instead of reading through his column, maybe take the time to thank a teacher!