Zephyr Teachout Teaches A Progressive Lesson

By Jeff Simpson  

One of my favorite candidates, who ran on the national level was Zephyr Teachout, who unfortunately lost her election for Congress.   She was a favorite of the Progressives, and was the first candidate Bernie Sanders endorsed.    She was such a power player, that the Hillary team worked hard to get her/intimidate her, from endorsing Senator Sanders!

Ms. Teachout recently gave a great interview where she discussed her campaign and the recent election.  

What went wrong:

Our district went from Obama winning by six points to Trump winning by over seven points, so it was basically a 13-point swing. We thought it was going to be close. I have reason to believe that my opponent thought it was going to be close. I think the biggest factor was Trump’s win or Clinton’s loss, whichever way you want to put it.

One thing that I hadn’t really thought through was just how unappealing a candidate Mitt Romney was in an area like this. Mitt Romney represents this Brahmin East Coast elite insider, and maybe for some people Romney and Clinton are in the same category—part of an elite political infrastructure that has very little to say to the farmers and small business owners in our district. Swimming against that tide—I met so few people who were not in Democratic committees who had any excitement for Hillary Clinton, and I met a lot of people who despised her.

Who Does She Support for DNC Chair(and a keen observation of the Republican Party(emphasis mine)): 

I am a big supporter of Keith Ellison. He himself has run races and increased turnout every single time, so he knows what it is to run in a serious way, in a way that [former Labor Secretary] Thomas Perez does not. When I was running, when I went to D.C., Keith was one of the few people who just started with questions instead of answers. “What are the dynamics, what are the issues, what do people care about?” The first question from far too many others was, “How much is it going to cost you and what’s the polling?”

One of the things that I found running a rural district is that people didn’t necessarily know what Democrats stood for at all. In a down-ballot race you’re breathing through a straw to communicate with people—you can communicate two or three things at most. But I assume that because of that D next to my name, people know that I also stand for public education, Social Security, investing in infrastructure. What I found was that the D was kind of confused because leaders in our party support privatizing schools, leaders in our party have supported offshoring jobs. I think that people really start with a question mark for the Democratic Party and that really hurts all of our candidates. Nobody has a question about what Keith stands for.

Yes that is a problem everywhere.  

In the Tony Evers race, its very important that we re-elect Superintendent Evers, but he makes it hard on us when he brings pro-voucher people into his campaign.   Just as Ms. Teachout points out, Tony Evers hired Brad Wojciechowski, as his finance director.   Brad's only experience in education, is working for Milwaukee School Board candidate Bruce Thompson, who is described as one of the biggest pro voucher supporters in the city, 

What do we stand for if the best candidate we have to choose from litters his staff with voucher supporters?   Is there no line in the sand for us to draw?  Or are we as progressives supposed to go to the ballot booth every time and say "Thank you sir may i have another" as we continue to be forced to vote for the candidate who keeps reaching out to the right wing extreme to prove bipartisanship?

At some point we need to get back to having someone who stands for the middle class, public education and doing the right thing for all of Wisconsin.  And doing so unapologetically!  Then we can start energizing the people in WI who have been beat down for years now, and are desperate for a Champion and a Leader.     

I was hoping it was Tony, but until he learns the lessons and picks up the signals that are being sent, we are going to have to do this ourselves!  

SO please despite the missteps, and poor hires, please vote for Tony Evers on February 21(the other choices are that bad) and then lets regroup and start turning our state around!   

We need to get to a point where when we leave our families for hours on end fighting for a candidate to get elected, they are fighting for us also!    We need to know that being a progressive/liberal means you have a core set of beliefs that are set in stone and you will fight for them no matter what!     

Private School Subsidy for Special Education Raises Concerns About Quality and Cost

By Kathleen Vinehout 

"When you write about tax money going to private schools, please tell people about special education vouchers,” a rural school board member told me. “Because of a change in state law, our school district is paying for special education students to sit at home in front of a computer.”

October is budget time for school districts. The rural school board member just saw the new budget and learned of the high cost for special needs students who are now attending an online school with $12,000 per student of school funds. The school board member asked that I not mention the district or his name to protect the privacy of local students.

The story of how school districts are paying private or online schools $12,000 per special needs student with little guarantee to parents or taxpayers of the quality of that education reads like a litany of everything wrong with state government.

The plan originated in secret. A budget amendment was made available to the public well after midnight. The vote was speedy and partisan. The document was long and complex. Many other controversial actions were included in the same amendment. The motion passed in the wee hours of the morning. Few paid attention to the details related to special education vouchers and open enrollment.

Now the cost is hitting local school board budgets.

Late last May, GOP leaders introduced a 29-page amendment to the state budget. One of the provisions, scheduled to go into effect this September, allowed special education students to attend private schools with a $12,000 public subsidy. Another provision nearly doubled the cost of open enrollment for a special education student and barred the child’s home school district from stopping the transfer due to financial reasons. 

The latter provision opened the door for local special education students to attend on-line schools like “Wisconsin Virtual Academy.”

However, press attention at the time focused on controversial changes like allowing persons without a college degree to be public school teachers or forcing public schools to accept private school students on their athletic teams. Much attention focused on the plans to take control away from the Milwaukee School Board.

A group called “Stop Special Needs Vouchers” made up of concerned parents worked against the plan. These parents raised critical questions about sending tax money to private schools. They saw risks for students who attended private schools and a drain on sorely needed resources for students who stayed in public schools.

The group warned parents that children in a private school would lose rights and protections under federal law. Special education students are guaranteed needed services. Services might include speech therapy, assistance from a reading specialist, or occupational therapy. Private schools are not required to hire special education teachers or therapists. Nor are they required to follow a student’s Individualized Education Plan. 

The families of “Stop Special Needs Vouchers” warned legislators that taking $12,000 per student away from public schools meant less money would be available for special needs students who remained in the district.

I spoke with one local superintendent whose district loses $12,000 per special education student but only received $2,400 in state aid per student. The district’s money goes to Wisconsin Virtual Academy. WVA is operated by K12, Inc. a publically traded company co-founded by William Bennett former Secretary of Education under President Reagan.

With so much money leaving a district through a variety of private school subsidies, it is hard to balance the budget.

“Why are schools going to referenda? To survive,” the superintendent told me.

Superintendents and school board members are worried the move to isolating special needs children in special schools or virtual schools changes forty years of policy to educate special needs students in the least restrictive environment.

“The biggest problem is that the kids aren’t getting much in terms of education,” said the rural school board member. “The special education student is going to suffer the rest of their lives because of a poor education.”

American Federation For Children Has A History of Lying

In Tennessee, the American Federation for Children, who is represented in Wisconsin by Scott Jensen,  won an award for the best negative direct mail piece.  

 Kiffin direct mail attack ad in TN legislative race wins national award 

				Kiffin direct mail attack ad in TN legislative race wins... NASHVILLE – At this year’s American Association of Political Consultants 2015 Annual Pollie Awards & Conference, Direct Edge Campaigns took home a POLLIE a...
				View on www.knoxnews.com	Preview by Yahoo

Also, in the  Mandy Wright assembly race, American Federation for Children spent much money on an ad against Ms. Wright that was not fact based.   It helped MS. Wright get beat by all of 86 votes.  https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1373125/wright1.pdf

Does American Federation for Children take pride in negativity and misinforming voters?  

Their mission statement being:

The American Federation for Children envisions an education system where parents are empowered to choose the best educational environment for their child, where innovation and entrepreneurism revolutionizes our education system, ensuring all children, especially low-income children, are provided with the opportunity to receive the finest education possible, whether it be in a traditional public school, public charter school, virtual learning, private school, home school or blended learning.

Are parents really empowered to choose the best educational environment when American Federation for Children spends millions of dollars to misled and misinform them?   Is lying, and smear attacks part of the curriculum of the schools they advocate for?    

Lets Begin By Understanding Who They Are

By Jeff Simpson - Cross Posted at Purple Wisconsin

  The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty(WILL), run by fellow Purple WIsconsin blogger Rick Esenberg, recently released a report which unsurprisingly tells us that charter/voucher schools in WI have it rough and are over regulated.  

That the law branch of the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation would come up with such findings surprises no one.  WILL is an extremely well funded "non profit" and they have the Bradly Foundation to thank.  It is always good to keep your donors happy, so advancing the agenda of the public school profiteers, is to be expected.   

Let's take a look at who WILL is.   This "study" was put together by three people, Rick Esenberg, CJ Szafir and Martin Lueken. A quick check of credentials and we see that neither Mr. Esenberg, Mr. Szafir nor Mr. Lueken have spent a day working in a public school, nor are they certified or eligible to teach in a public school.   Martin Lueken was a recent hire to the team, courtesy of the private school pushing Walton family.  

In New Wisconsin, working on a Republican campaign is all of the credentials you need to be an expert on any topic.  Not a single education credential went into this report, and future reports to come from WILL,  on voucher/private schools.  

Now that we see who they are, let's take a look at the four main findings they came up with. 

1.  State accountability laws on the school choice programs are at least as rigorous – and probably enforced more aggressively – than anything imposed on public schools. However, unlike public schools, schools in the choice programs must meet their mark or be immediately dropped from the programs, which will cause many schools to close.

We can look in WILL's backyard, to see this is blatantly not true.  As we pointed out recently:

Witness the example of Milwaukee voucher schools Ceria M. Travis Academy(437 students, K-12) and Travis Technology High School(179 students). These two schools receive over $4.6 Million Wisconsin taxpayer public education dollars and are being told to shape up or get kicked out of the voucher program.

After three years of not serving their kids, are being told to shape up or you might eventually get kicked off the program of taking taxpayer money(currently approx.  $5 million a year!)  So much for "immediately" when this school has received close to $35 million of our public education tax dollars and counting.    

2. The Department of Public Instruction interprets the accountability laws in ways that deviates from the statutory language, making it more demanding than originally intended.

There should be an asterisk here.  The DPI interprets the laws in ways that deviate from statutory language according to WILL.   WILL has a history of filing frivolous lawsuits to serve partisan purposes, so keep that in mind when reading these reports.  

3. Policymakers should consider the current accountability scheme on schools in choice programs before implementing any new regulations.

Here we actually agree, lawmakers should take into account current accountability of voucher schools. As we found out at the Travis Academy and Travis Technology High Schools(emphasis mine): 

But new documents and former employees have raised concerns about the internal workings at Ceria M. Travis Academy, a private school that's received more than $35 million in state voucher payments through the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program since 1996.

Complaints filed with the state in 2014 and obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel through an open records request allege that the school has violated state law by employing people without bachelor's degrees to teach students.

And former and current staff members say the close-knit family business has crossed a number of other lines that, while not illegal under state statutes governing private voucher schools, may be holding children back from getting the kind of education they deserve.

They say Dorothy Travis Moore, the founder and CEO of Ceria M. Travis Academy Inc., employs an unusually high number of family members and that it's hard to tell where the money for education goes, as classrooms lack adequate resources.

School officials counter that a recent review of the schools by an independent accrediting organization found the programs to be operating in accordance with state law.

That review was requested by the Department of Public Instruction as it sought to follow-up on the claims made via email about unqualified teachers at the school.

Double-checking the review's conclusion is difficult.

Travis Moore and Wilnekia Brinson, her daughter and vice president of the organization, declined to provide the Journal Sentinel with staff rosters from 2014-'15 and 2013-'14, as well as a current list of individual staff titles and salaries.

Because voucher schools are private, they do not have to make such information public.

We agree that voucher schools, taking public money should be held to the same standards as public schools.  Want to know how much money your favorite public school teacher makes?  They are all published in this paper.  

4. New accountability measures should be tailored with an appreciation for the value of diverse approaches and parental choice. There are a number of ways to measure school performance, and different families will place different weight on these measures and the outcomes that they reflect.

This is WILL's way of saying do not judge voucher schools based on test scores the same way that you judge public schools.  Which is smart because voucher schools seem to always come up short.   

As we pointed out, with the complete debacle of the Travis voucher schools, in the backyard of WILL and others, there has been complete silence.  

The silence was reinforced yesterday, after putting out their 16 page report, Mr. Esenberg added this disclaimer.   

The recent story regarding the Ceria M. Travis Academy illustrates this. I - and WILL - are not familiar with the school and, for that reason, take no position on its recent difficulties.

They know Nothing, they know nothing! 

Finally, why is this so important to know?  The Republicans who control the gerrymandered State legislature have made expanding vouchers and a school accountability bill top priorities.   During this debate amongst themselves, you will hear them reference this report and subsequent reports that WILL puts out on this issue.   

It is important to know it is not worth the paper it is printed on and if legislation is passed based on this report, we have all been shortchanged!   

George WIll Say Anything

 George Will recently attempted to come to the rescue of W.I.L.L.(Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty)with his syndicated column.

The Justice Department’s perverse but impeccably progressive theory can be called “osmotic transfer.” It is called this by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL), which is defending Wisconsin children against Washington’s aggression. 

  I know most people think that W.I.L.L. is just a tool, used by Michael Grebe, to help advance Scott Walker's career and file frivolous lawsuits.  They also serve another purpose - desperately trying to privatize our public schools.      Which leads us to the question, of who in Wisconsin's, children are they defending exactly?   

Not mine.  My children attend a public school that routinely outperforms private/voucher schools in WI.  

Nor are they defending the casual observer, who is a parent of a special needs child either.  If  they were to rely on the President and General Counsel of W.I.L.L., to help them make an informed decision on what is the best option for their child.   

Fellow Purple WIsconsin blogger Rick Esenberg, wrote a blog recently complaining that the voucher/private school(he mislabled it school choice)for-profit business was being unfairly scrutinized. 

  Mr. Esenberg told us that schools have to, by law, have to "take all comers"(with an exception for space.  While that is true, what Mr. Esenberg left out was that private/vouchers schools are currently being sued for "actively counseling students with disabilities out of their programs".  

For those of you who would ask - Why would they recruit these students and the counsel them out, it is because of something we have in WI called the "third Friday count".  School and district budgets are determined by the number of students in attendance on this date.  If the privat/voucher school can just keep these children enrolled long enough to reach this important date, they can then keep the money the state designates per student.   They can also then send the special needs child back to public school, the money per pupil stays behind but the costs for educating that child does not. 

Despite the hurdles, public schools welcome these children back, with open arms.  Not because of the money, which for a while is nonexistant, but because it is the right thing to do.  

Secondly, Mr. Esenberg misses the story again as he says these students  "may not get the same services or accommodations in a private school that they will get in a public school."   The reality is they will NOT get the same services, because by law the private/voucher schools do not have to provide them.    A voucher school is required to offer only those services to assist students with special needs that it can provide with minor adjustments.    There are not many special needs students that just need "minor adjustments" especially when you are a school not prepared for them run by unlicensed teachers. 

Then the closing argument that Mr, Esenberg makes is so incredibly mindboggling, that it makes me give thanks that it's not my money on retainer:

*  Public schools get funding to provide these services that is largely unavailable to choice schools.

Public schools do get funding(albeit it nowhere near enough for most of these students) hence the "public" in the title,  Private schools, hence the private used as an adjective, are private and do NOT get tax money to provide these services.  

* Just as importantly, federal standards for accommodating students with disabilities do not - and ought not - apply wholesale to private schools. The value of school choice is to encourage a multiplicity of approaches

Democratically elected(well semi-democratically elected anyway) legislatures, who after much study (hopefully), have put together best practice,  for the way to treat special needs children in the schools,  that public schools have to comply 100% with,  are fine but if a school run by a profiteer, wants to send unlicensed teachers into a classroom of special needs children and use proven ineffective ways to teach them.   That is the way the cookie crumbles I guess. 

*  Not all behavioral disabilities should be medicalized in the way typically encouraged by federal standards. Parents ought to be able to choose between alternative approaches for their children.

Seriously?  If Mr. Esenberg does not understand that every special needs child in a public school will have what we call an INDVIDUALIZED education program(IEP).  INDIVIDUALIZED being the key word there.   

For those like the President of WILL who do not know what an IEP is:

Each public school child who receives special education and related services must have anIndividualized Education Program (IEP). Each IEP must be designed for one student and must be a truly individualized document. The IEP creates an opportunity for teachers, parents, school administrators, related services personnel and students (when appropriate) to work together to improve educational results for children with disabilities. The IEP is the cornerstone of a quality education for each child with a disability. 

A team of individuals get together, and decide what is individually best,  for each individual student.   Parents already get to choose what is best for their own children.  

If you are truly defending "Wisconsin's children" shouldn't you know what options are available to them currently?  Trying so hard to divert our desperately needed resources from public to private schools, It seems like you and your organization, are the one they need defending FROM!


cross posted at Purple Wisconsin

The Scott Jensen Legacy

By Jeff Simpson

I finally figured out why new Assembly rep Jessie Rodriguez does whatever formerly convicted felon Scott Jensen tells her to do:

1.  He was a convicted felon before blind to republican crime Brad Schimel, gave him a get out of jail free card.

2. She knows that if she does not do what he says, he will send his goons over to rough her up!

WIsconsin political aide pleads guilty to disorderly conduct chargeA state legislative aide accused of harassing a news cameraman at the capitol building in Madison, Wis., pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct on April 25.Steve Baas, communications director for Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen, was referred to a first offenders program for his actions inside the state Capitol on Jan. 30. Steve Cady, a cameraman for WBAY-TV in Green Bay, claimed Baas collared him by the necktie while he and a reporter attempted to interview another Jensen aide.Cady claimed Baas spun him around by his necktie and let go of him only when Cady shouted that he captured the incident on videotape. Baas said he tried to move Cady from blocking the hallway and claimed Cady tried to hit him during the confrontation. After the incident, Cady said the videotape exonerated him from Baas' claims.In accepting a plea agreement, the misdemeanor charge will be expunged from Baas' record after he completes the first offenders program. Baas will not have to serve jail time or pay a fine.Although she did not file a complaint, reporter Natalie Arnold said in an interview with The Green Bay News-Chronicle that other Jensen staff members "manhandled" her by shoving her against the wall in an attempt to prevent the interview.The scuffle occurred when Cady and Arnold went to the Capitol to question R. J. Pirlot, another aide to Speaker Jensen, about his involvement in a campaign against state Rep. Lee Meyerhofer (D-Kaukauna). WBAY News has been investigating allegations that Pirlot anonymously provided court transcripts to an independent campaign group. The group has been accused of producing a campaign radio spot that portrayed Meyerhofer as a "wife-beater." (City of Madison v. Baas)-

The question I have, is why in the world would anyone hire a thug like Steve Baas to represent them?  Especially the Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce, no wonder unemployment is so high in Milwaukee.

Here is Baas getting the name of the next person who asked the wrong question to rough up:



If you see this person stand clear he is known to be dangerous!  

Edit Note:  Scandal Plagued Scott Jensen is the one person in the state of WI leading the voucher expansion.  Do you really think he has the best interest of your children in mind?  Is he someone you would want your children to look up to or role model?  We all know the answer to that!   

The Misfortune of School Choice

By Jeff Simpson

We recently brought you a quick look inside one of Milwaukee's private voucher schools as seen by the great Rebecca Kemble.  



This is of course on the heels of Robin Vos, telling anyone who will listen:

  More school choice is in Wisconsin's future according to an article by Rep. Robin Vos in the Appleton Post-Crescent.  According to Vos, "every Wisconsin parent should also be given the opportunity to enroll their child in the school of their choice" just like we are free to decide where to live, what to wear, what to say, where to go to college, etc.

            Vos says "we should never have implemented a cap [on the Wisconsin Parental Choice Program] and I will work to get rid of it because schools choice works for Wisconsin." 

 The Progressive's new editor-in-chief, Ruth Coniff,  now gives us her perspective of the trip she took with Ms. Kemble.  

I recently went on a tour of Milwaukee voucher schools for an article in The Progressive magazine that left me in a cold sweat.

I saw kids going to school in a crumbling office building and in a corner store. There's a new voucher school opening in an old car dealership, and there are others in rundown factory buildings that have never been properly cleaned up. Students are being sent to such places at taxpayer expense thanks to Wisconsin's expanding Parental Choice Program. The vast majority of the kids in the Milwaukee voucher program are very poor.

What started as an idea that was supposed to expand opportunity for these kids to attend private and parochial schools has turned into a business opportunity for hucksters who set up fly-by-night schools that profit by taking public funds and running cheap, unregulated schools. You have to see for yourself how bad these places are to believe it.

At Milwaukee's "Academy of Excellence" -- the grungy office-building school -- they are teaching the Bob Jones University curriculum. There are posters in the hall that say "God can see your heart, and he knows that it is wicked." I looked in on a middle-school science class full of eighth-grade boys who were learning Creationism.

This is our vision for public school?

What chance do these kids have of ever climbing out of poverty or of connecting with the middle class? We are leaving them so, so far behind.

 (Edit Note: I hope everyone knows what they teach at Bob Jones University!)







 To be fair, NOT everyone gets left behind by voucher/private schools.  Some are doing incredibly well.

Take Ron Packard, K12's former CEO. In 2012, he earned a base salary of $625,000, a "performance" bonus of $584,375, a stock award worth $1.25 million, and stock options worth $1.5 million. But there's more. The company matched 25 percent of his salary for his retirement fund. Now that's a luxurious pension. And who funds this kind of deal? Taxpayers.

Contrast that with a public-school teacher's average salary of about $50,000 and an annual pension of about $40,000.

Kind of explains why Robin Vos wants to keep sending our tax dollars his way, doesn't it? 

 

Thank God For Mary Burke!

By Jeff Simpson

Uline Inc announced an expansion and future job creation of up to 500 Wisconsinites!  

Thank God that Mary Burke had the foresight as a Commerce Secretary to help bring Uline to Wisconsin!  

In January 2008, a couple of months after Mary Burke exited, Uline officials announced they were moving the corporate headquarters from Waukegan, Ill., to Pleasant Prairie and building a warehouse there. Uline said it would invest $100 million and employ 1,000 people at its 200-acre campus, which opened in mid-2010.
To help pay for the move, the company took state government incentives that were later calculated to be worth up to $18.6 million over nine years.

It was not surprising at all to see Scott Walker at Uline for the announcement, with a tied race and a failed jobs agenda, he needs to grab as much credit as he can, even if it doesn't go to him.

May I suggest a better use of the Governor's time?   I would suggest that instead of chasing Mary Burke's successes around the state, he head up to Superior, WI to collect on the $4,000,000 Wisconsin taxpayer dollars that he handed Kestrel Aircraft Company, that they defaulted on.  



Public education could sure use those $4 million dollars now!  

Here is another suggestion.   Voucher schools do not get a cent from public education budget, instead they can keep all of the money they can collect from the millions of dollars in defaulted loans that the failed WEDC has handed out!