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Milwaukee voucher program leading to abandonment of public education and increased segregation

A view from Milwaukee: “In Milwaukee, one of the country’s most segregated metropolitan regions, the May 17 anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education will be particularly bitter. Like other urban areas, this city has long ignored Brown’s proclamation 60 years ago that ‘separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.’ We live comfortably with rampant school segregation. But Milwaukee, where more students receive vouchers than in any U.S. city, has taken the abandonment of Brown to a new level. We are abandoning the very institution of public education.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/05/16/are-we-abandoning-public-education-60-years-after-historic-brown-ruling/...
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News from the ALEC conference in KC

Here’s a report on the ALEC conference held in KC earlier this month. Given the number of ALEC supporters in the KS legislature, this is alarming. “And as ALEC convenes a new working group on public school financing, the model bill that is in the works is a funding formula based on school performance with criteria set by state legislators. One ALEC legislator stated that school boards should be taken out of the equation all together, as they merely use children as ‘human shields.’Finally, there are the economics of the ALEC otherworld. I chuckled at the scorn directed...
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Journey for Justice explains how education “reform” is hurting public education and the communities it serves

This is a long but informative read about what’s wrong with massive expansion of charters while the needs of public schools go unmet. “We, the members of Journey for Justice, are comprised of thousands of youth, parents, and other concerned citizens from com- munities of color across the United States. We write this report because we need the American people to know that the public education systems in our communities are dying. More accurately, they are being killed by an alliance of misguided, paternalistic ‘reformers,’ education profiteers, and those who seek to dismantle the institution of public education....
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