Monday Morning Talking Points

Starting today the Felonious Five and Minority Four will hear three days of oral arguments in the most significant Supreme Court Case in Decades.   The gop infused, media enabled Tea Party, call it Obama Care,  Democrats call it what it is, The Affordable Health Care Act.  I call it the Obama Cares if you live or die act.

In essence the United States Supreme Court, who btw has access to the best government run health care our tax dollars can buy for life,  are going to decided if we the people can have the same access to quality, affordable health care for life.  What's not to like about that?

If the government can require you to purchase liability insurance for your automobile, why can't they require you to purchase health insurance for your body?

The Alabama Senate has approved a new bill that would allow recall of public officials!!!  It's about damn time!  Maybe we'll get some accountability from our elected officials for a change.  You hear that Huntsville City School Board of Education?

Meanwhile Alabama gop legislators scramble to try and un ring the bell cause they are reaping what they've sown.  Good luck with that.

From the They Must Think We Are Stooopid File, or, the They Must be Desperate File, if they are pushing the meme that Charter Schools are being pushed in Alabama by Obama Liberals.   I guess it depends on what the definition of an Obama Liberal IS.  NOT.

Today's Must Read
Why Democrats Oppose Charter Schools

"Slavery by any other name" coming to a State Prison Near Y-O-U

H/T Metor Blade
Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America has a plan to expand its growing empire of private prisons it owns or manages. It wants buy existing prisons. The pitch is that this will help states with their revenue problems by providing a one-time lump-sum payment in exchange for a 20-year management contract and assurance that the prison will stay at 90 percent capacity during that time. A sweetheart deal.
The new approach of this so-called "corrections investment initiative" proposal is outlined in a letter to officials in 48 states from CCA's Executive Vice President General Counsel Harley G. Lappin. The letter was obtained by reporter Chris Kirkham.

And just how are states going to assure a 90% capacity rate for 20 years?  They are going to count on republican governors and republican controlled state legislatures, to privitize, I mean reform, the state educational system. and fuel the school to prison pipeline.

The ACLU's Racial Justice Program is committed to challenging the "school to prison pipeline," a disturbing national trend wherein children are funneled out of public schools and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems. Many of these children have learning disabilities or histories of poverty, abuse or neglect, and would benefit from additional educational and counseling services. Instead, they are isolated, punished and pushed out. "Zero-tolerance" policies criminalize minor infractions of school rules, while high-stakes testing programs encourage educators to push out low-performing students to improve their schools' overall test scores. Students of color are especially vulnerable to push-out trends and the discriminatory application of discipline.

If the past is any guide, we can count on  the red, republican, confederate, slave states to jump at the chance to bring back slavery because we are chained to past.  Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.

Hello this is Hank Sanders, Alabama state Senator, and I’m still mad as hell. I say hell no! I ain’t going back to the cotton fields of Jim Crow days. I’m going forward with Ron Sparks, Jim Folsom and others who would do right by all of us. I hope you are mad as hell and will not go back, and you have the power to choose. I will stand until hell freezes over for Ron Sparks for Governor and Jim Folsom for Lt. Governor on November the 2nd.
Paid for by Alabama New South.

 When asked by CNN's Anderson Cooper what evidence he had that the Republican opponents would take Alabama back to Jim Crow days.  Sanders said, "Well, there's a certain mean spiritness that's out there, not only in Alabama but it's in America.  And that makes this election extremely important."

You think?

Republicans are anti public schools and public school teachers

Again, if Charter Schools were the educational  solution for poor, black/brown students republicans wouldn't be pushing for  them.  Republicans don't believe access to a public education is a right, they believe it is a privilege of the privileged, for the privileged, by the privileged.    Some  high profile republicans honestly believe poor, black/brown children can't learn, or don't want to learn, due to life's unfairness.

If republicans really cared about solutions they would focus on creating jobs for the unemployed and under employed parents of poor black/brown students.  But noooo,  instead of creating jobs for them, they create a $70,000 per year job for one person .  I thought republicans were against out of control government spending?

Former Alabama Governor Bob Riley (R), pictured above,  is a lobbyist for Charter Schools.

Enough said.

Charter Schools are not the solution for poor, black students

According to this story in the Chicago Tribune,  Charter schools aren't performing better than public schools, they are perfoming worse because they don't address the underlying issue of poverty.

Despite the right wing spin that low income schools receive more money, the opposite is true.  A study released by the Department of Education proves high poverty school receive fewer state funds than affluent school districts.  Chapter 1 schools receive additional Federal Dollars to make up for the state and local dollars, but it does not address the inequities.

State Rep. Phil Williams (r.) and his gop cronies are pushing for Charter Schools under the guise poor, black children can escape under performing public schools.  Bull Poo.  If Phil Williams and the gop really cared about the education of poor, black/brown  children they would address the funding inequities instead of whining about  the myth of throwing money at the problem, and trying to destroy the Alabama Education Association.

If Charter Schools were the solution for poor, black/brown, students the gop wouldn't be pushing for them.

Charter Schools are a way around Brown v. Board.

Charter Schools benefit the rich while the rest get the shaft.

It's the Poverty, stupid.

Where are the J-O-B-S?

Update~New Alabama education policy director to push for segregated public schools

Emily Schultz, Alabama education policy director appointed by Gov. Bentley. [Read her resume: Emily Schultz]

Gov. Robert Bentley's new education policy director has worked under some controversial regimes in high-profile efforts to turn around failing schools.
Emily Schultz, 28, began her job as Bentley's education policy adviser in November, with a top priority of getting a law allowing charter schools passed during the next legislative session.
Previously, the Birmingham native worked under Michelle Rhee, who became chancellor of Washington, D.C., public schools after the mayor took control of the district.

Translation with links for clarity;
Gov. Robert Bentley's new segregation policy director has worked under some controversial regimes in high-profile efforts to turn around failing schools.
Emily Schultz, 28, began her job as Bentley's segregation policy adviser in November, with a top priority of getting a law allowing segregated schools passed during the next legislative session.
Previously, the Birmingham native worked under Michelle Rhee, who became chancellor of Washington, D.C., public schools after the mayor took control of the district and cost him his job.

The Alabama Policy Institute definition of Charter Schools emphasis mine

Charter schools are public schools that exist through a contract with either a state agency or a local school board. The charter—or contract—establishes the framework within which the school operates and provides public support for the school for a specified period of time. The length of the contract granted varies by state, from one to 15 years, with the average length being three to five years. The school’s charter gives the school autonomy over its operation and frees the school from regulations other public schools must follow. In exchange for this flexibility, the schools are held accountable for achieving the goals set out in the charter, including improving student performance.

Translation- it frees schools from federally imposed school desegregation plans and allows them to hire non certified teachers, non Alabama Education Association members, fire them at will and to re establish separate and unequal educational opportunities.

This is a brazen lie from the Alabama Policy Institute, emphasis mine;

Charter schools are subject to the same state regulations as traditional public schools, including special education, bilingual education, academic standards and assessments, health, and safety. They may not accept any private tuition payments, nor does money spent on charter schools diminish the resources available for public education.

How can they claim money spent on charter schools doesn't diminish the limited resources available for public education?

Alabama history is headed before a federal judge in Huntsville, as civil rights attorneys argue that the state's method of funding schools purposefully discriminates based on race.
At stake are the state's property tax rates, the lowest in the nation. Attorney James Blacksher of Birmingham contends that tax structure violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, largely by limiting the ability of rural counties to tax wealthy white landowners.
"Because of the anemic property taxes available to most local school systems, low-income students throughout Alabama, who are disproportionately black, suffer from underfunding," contends the suit.
But the state argues that any forced change in tax rates would decrease all property values, injure all property owners who plan to sell, paralyze the commercial real estate market and cause "widespread havoc in Alabama's government and real estate markets."

Again, charter schools benefit the fortunate few but leave the masses behind. I maintain IF Charter schools are the answer, meaning they close the achievement gap and guarantee results, why not do what charter schools are doing in ALL public schools? What if Alabama Cared as Much About Education as We do about Football?

On Saturday, incoming Governor Robert Bentley told an education summit to expect across the board cuts in education funding.

LiA commenter archangelsk says it best;

AEA member and former organizer with the group I believe that I can give you a pretty good idea of why to support the AEA. The Alabama Education Association is the largest teachers "union" in the state. With around 105,000 members (K-12, Post Secondary, Support Staff) it is the largest public employees association in the state. The AEA today has its roots in the AEA and ASTA, in the late 60's the NEA (National Education Association) passed a resolution that required all states with more than one association with membership based on race to merge and in 1969 the two associations here in Alabama merged to one. While the AEA is not an AFL-CIO affiliated organization, the NEA is. There is a competing organization the American Federation of Teachers, that is AFL-CIO, however has been embroiled in some controversy regarding their violation of an agreement with the NEA not to poach members from its affiliates.

The AEA is at the front in defending education at all levels state and local, for teachers and students. It has recently been at the front of efforts to block, School Vouchers, Charter School laws and has had to defend professional rights like Tenure and Fair Dismissal for Teachers and Educational Support Personnel (ESP's) on a yearly basis. In a state where education is not a right, unlike many other states in the union, AEA is a defender. Without the organization you would see the continued segregation of schools, even more of the "segregation academies", the privatization of public schools.

The defacto segregation of public schools in Alabama here we come!

Charter schools are another way of supporting the privatization of schools. Lets use the segregation academy example, parents sick of paying $2500/mo can get together, obtain a charter to open a school from their LEA, create admission/academic/behavior policies that would ensure minority students either could not gain admittance or maintain admittance in said school, resulting once again in de facto segregation. Charter schools are not held to the same standards as traditional public schools are, in other states they are not required to follow stat or district tenure rules, for instance. Charter schools also do not have to necessarily align their curriculum with the state or school district. There is also the issue of running schools for-profit, like businesses. Would you like the quality of your child's education being determined by shareholders or the ability to maintain a bottom line?

As to the issue of education being a right, in order to keep from being required to educate African-Americans, the current Alabama Constitution (written in 1901), unlike other state constitutions, does not have education as a right to its citizens, now, this has been rendered moot by Civil Rights laws, but the fact that the language continues to be present in the constitution implies that Alabama does not value education like other states do.

What is good for teachers, is good for students. Students are unable to vote or participate in the political process and parents are often misguided and un-or under-informed about education of their children. Teachers are at the front line of education, in the trenches experiencing directly the effects of policy handed down by legislatures and school boards. Like any other workforce, happy Teachers are effective Teachers. So maintaining professionalism and having a say in the how education works is important to the AEA and its members.

Before the concern for poor, inner city children crowd cranks up, if Charter Schools helped poor, inner city children the red, republican, Alabama State Legislature damn sure wouldn't be pushing it.

I said it then and I say it again;
Poor inner city parents won't have the option of charter schools either.
That's a real reality. If you think the republicans are clamoring for charter schools to be put in "these neighborhoods" I've got some swamp land in Alaska to sell you. The republicans are clamoring for charter schools as public funding for private schools for them. Sure they'll open 1 or two charter schools in "these neighborhoods" so they can say they are offering some poor parents a choice, but the majority will be in "their" neighborhoods, no poor children allowed in "these neighborhoods".

Mo Brooks, one of two key speakers, said that the Huntsville Housing Authority has in recent years quietly used vouchers to send poor families south and plans now to single out south Huntsville for more.
Going through the numbers at Whitesburg Elementary, Brooks argued that schools in south Huntsville have seen test scores drop in recent years "thanks in large part to what the Huntsville Housing Authority has done to us."

Charter schools are NOT more likely to serve low income, black, brown, gay, special education students than conventional schools, because they don't have to accept low income, black, brown, gay, special education students because they are exempt from the state and federal laws public schools follow. This is a fact not a hypotheses.

I oppose charter schools , and why;

Public money for schooling is best used in the conventional public system. Those who don't want to use that system have the option of private schooling or homeschooling. And we also have magnet schools that work well. Charter schools will simply sap more money from public schools who desperately need it and who will face major cuts during this Depression.

If this doesn't wake up the sleeping Alabama Democratic Party, The Alabama Democratic Conference and the Alabama Education Association I don't know what will. God help the children who are our future if they continue to sleep.