News release from Families for Excellent Schools:
Bridgeport public school parents and Families for Excellent Schools called on the Bridgeport Board of Education to abandon a possible legal challenge to two recently approved charter schools, and to release records and documents related to funding of city schools, as required under the state’s right-to-know laws.
“There are thousands of Bridgeport children hoping for a spot in one of the two new public charter schools approved by the state Board of Education this month,” Leon Woods, a life-long Bridgeport resident and parent of 12, said at a press conference before the start of the city’s BOE meeting tonight. “But this Board has passed a moratorium on new charters in Bridgeport, and tonight they consider filing a lawsuit against the state. These actions take us backwards, when forward progress is what we need.”
Woods and other parent leaders have challenged the Board of Education to back up its claim that the city cannot afford new public charters, by providing background documents and analysis used to reach that conclusion. The Board members have not responded to a formal request for the documents made more than two weeks ago under the provisions of the state’s Freedom of Information Act.
“We have a right to see those documents, and a right to know how this publicly elected board has made its decisions,” chapter leader Claudia Phillips said. “We’re calling on the Board of Education to demonstrate real transparency, and share public information.”
The parent group said that the Board of Education has put politics ahead of the needs of students, who are struggling in many of the city’s schools, and they are ignoring widespread support for the new charter schools that was demonstrated at public hearings this spring.
In radio advertising over the past two weeks, Families for Excellent Schools has celebrated the approval of the new charter schools, calling it “a new day for Bridgeport.”
Families for Excellent Schools organizes public school families in support of excellent school options. Established in Connecticut in 2011, there are now more than 3,000 FES members statewide.
One would think after the total chaos and failure of the Finch administration’s efforts to control the BOE and so-called education reform in Bridgeport and the very public and humiliating failure of BPSS, now Excel Bridgeport, these folks would give it up. Instead they’ve put new lipstick on the pig and sent it out to do battle. Shoving change down people’s throats never, ever works. The arrogance that assumes it does is, well, arrogant. Give it up Families for Excellent Schools, the patronizing “we know better than you” doesn’t fly here in Bridgeport.
Mr. Woods, we can’t afford more charter schools. It doesn’t matter whether you are for or against them. We can’t even fund our public schools. Taking on more charter schools and therefore more debt is not an option. The taxes in Bridgeport are crippling and that doesn’t count the mayor’s newest proposed tax hike.
The Finch administration apparently hasn’t learned its lesson yet. Finch has lost his attempt on the state takeover, Charter revision and mayoral control and now the BOE and some seats on the DTC. Tee it up, Mayor. You’ll lose this one, too.
“… the city cannot afford new public charters, by providing background documents and analysis used to reach that conclusion.”
Ask Marlene Siegel, CFO of the BOE, about the numbers she’s come up with. Ms. Siegel’s numbers are the numbers a majority of the BOE is following.
BTW: 3,000 FES members–and who pays for the FES? For one:
www .waltonfamilyfoundation.org/grantees/families-for-excellent-schools
The FES supported the illegal takeover of the school board and the DTC-endorsed BOE candidates (zero for two) …
Meantime, Moales earns money (TBD) to serve on a charter school approved for Bridgeport while serving on the BOE, saying at a recent meeting I attended, “I tell parents to run from the public schools to the charters.”
And where’s the “ethics” mayor on this violation of the city’s code of ethics that he and the City Council approved in 2012 with great pride?
Finch is working overtime to undermine the state-required MBR contribution of the city, a disgraceful illegality the likes of Megan DeSombre characterizes as an ongoing “debate.” Goodness, you poor girl working your first job out of college, you just have no idea. It’s a “debate” about as much as it’s debatable the Earth orbits the sun. A debate? No, it’s the law. Not sure what you studied at Ramapo, but that’s not debatable unless you’re in the state legislature with a majority behind you.
I do not understand why the Walton family foundation (Walmart) is a bad thing, or better than the CEA on the other side. I do understand why it is bad for you but not why one group is worse than the other for education.
Peter,
If you dislike Megan DeSombre’s position, that is one thing, but she is correct about the ongoing “debate.” Think about the wonderful history Maria Pereira has told about the evolution of Minimum Education(?) Revenues (MER) to Minimum Budget Requirement (MBR) that practically eliminates in-kind contribution to a BOE.
Of course, Bridgeport has continued to flout that MBR understanding and has had some success in getting away with not funding this WITH CASH ALONE. Look at last year when a supposed two-year deal was established for both 2014 and 2015 budget years. All the City had to do was fund their $1.2 Million share, and they would get acknowledgement of IN KIND for 2014 and a check from the State for $1.2 Million also. And a deal with IN KIND for 2015 with another State check. So why is the State flouting the LAW as the Pereira Red Shirts were claiming last evening?
We figure Finch is flouting also to drive people crazy, but were the Charter Red Shirts to join with the Pereira Red Shirts on this one issue, and get all their parents to vote with the knowledge of what Finch has been doing in flat-funding education for years (much different from his happy words about the education of his own family), things could be different. After all, was the Mayor there last night to explain his rigorous approach to educational funding? Was he at the Burroughs as scheduled late last week to listen to folks from Black Rock? Had he responded to Chair Baraka or her invite to the BOE meeting? NO. NO. And NO.
Will he show for the next one? Will the City Council ask for a reformatting of the 2015 budget to restore the $8.2 Million of In Kind to the City side? Will he take the $1.6 Million he has committed already under the heading of Supportive Contributions and add $3.6 more to meet the MBR, or will he find a way to otherwise squeak through and preserve the numerous LIES and MISREPRESENTATIONS of the 2015 budget? That is when the debate may be over for this year. Time will tell.
John,
As you once wrote, “The State needs to step in and restore order with real numbers. Marlene Siegel is the person required to establish balance and accuracy, I believe.”
Yes!
The MBR requirements are state law.
Is that what you are saying is a debate?
It seems the common cause here (I believe that’s what you’re addressing) is adequately funding the public schools.
In the most concrete terms, the MBR is the floor to just BEGIN to TRY to do this. If you can’t even fund the MBR, you cannot even begin to address adequate funding.
Yes, it’s pretty clear who benefits from fudging the MBR this and next election season.
But as you are well aware … trying to plan a budget for a public school system serving more than 20,000 children is hard enough … but it becomes almost impossible when the city-state-agreed-to MBR payment for 2014-2015 is off for the 2nd year in a row … and permitted to turn into a compromise that circumvents the law. But, still, not a debate.
Yes, Finch seems to be doing whatever he can to underfund and undercut the new BOE … and simultaneously beg Hartford for mercy and more money … as I was trying to point out when I posted this previously:
“The worst part about my job is putting my kids on a bus every morning to a failing school,” Finch said [to the Appropriations Committee for more state aid].
See www .ctpost.com/local/article/Big-city-mayors-seek-more-state-aid-5333119.php
Take the politics out of it for a second. Take out all of the financial arguments for a second and think about this: There are 1,000 students on the waiting list for Charters. If anything, that shows the desperation in the parents to have something they perceive as better for their children. I bet if those same parents were offered Magnet spots, they would jump at those. And to be honest, if you sit in the meetings, or hear or read about the way the BOE handles its business, do you as a parent have any faith in them to fix the schools even if they were fully funded? All the money in the world will not solve the school’s problem as long as many of this current crop of BOE (and some of their more vocal “supporters”) are involved.
The Myth of Charter Waiting Lists
By dianeravitch
April 6, 2013
Source: dianeravitch.net/2013/04/06/the-myth-of-charter-waiting-lists/
One of the arguments advanced to expand charter schools is that they have long waiting lists.
Or so they say.
But no one knows how many are on those lists.
This reporter in Chicago started digging and discovered that the list is not real. The Chicago charters say there are 19,000 kids waiting. It is a marketing tool to get more charters.
But Becky Vivea discovered that if a student applies to four different schools, her name appears on the waiting list four times.
Since the lists are never audited, no one knows how many are on it.
This is a common thing. If a kid moves during the school year the BOE doesn’t take him off the roles unless the parents come in and dis-enroll him. To make it worse, if the kid moves across town he can be enrolled at two different city schools at the same time. They do this to inflate the student population in order to increase state and federal funding.
BTW, the same argument goes for the magnet schools. But it is irrelevant. Each person on the waiting list would be a separate and individual vote. In the same way someone could have voted for Obama and Malloy he can vote for a magnet school and a charter. It would be interesting to know if accepted to both, which one gets chosen.
My youngest child placed 294 on the waiting list at Discovery Magnet. Clearly, there are thousands on the waiting list for the magnet schools as well. I didn’t even bother to check the waiting list for Six to Six. The vast majority of parents want the best for their children. The privatization of public schools via the charter school push will be to the detriment of America. Please people, wake up and see the charter school movement is the biggest transfer of wealth from the poor to the wealthy. Why would the likes of the Koch brothers, the Walton family and their ilk be such supporters? Because of the potential money involved, that’s why.
But that money is going to be transferred one way or the other. The only difference is who. The transfer of wealth argument is moot and the Charter schools are cheaper. Let’s assume the charters buy the same books and supplies and offer the same services. If anything, the charters will transfer less wealth making them better. If that is your only concern. My only concern is the productivity. If the charters graduate one more kid than the regular schools, that is one kid who will add to the economy rather than take from it. This one kid would mean there is that much more to go around. More money in everyone’s pocket. If that one kid becomes VERY successful instead in going to prison that would mean a LOT more money to go around.
This is our present ADD (Accusations, Distractions and Deception) BOE. First off, this meeting was supposed to be about charter schools and it ended up being about MBR. This is the third or fourth time they have done this. Why have an agenda if you are not going to follow it? This is why. It is bait and switch. The people show up to debate one thing and only your people show up to debate the other. This is a guaranteed victory. After awhile the public will become frustrated and stop showing up. It is a clever way to disenfranchise the parents. ‘Not our fault if you don’t show up.’ We should use the same tactic at the next Olympics. Tell everyone it is speed skating then have bobsled when they show up. The other teams will not be ready. We will win every medal.
They tell us what they can’t do because they got gypped for $1 mil but never tell us what they are going to do with the other $249 mil. They talk a lot about how charters are hurting the district but not what the district plans on doing to compete. They like to point out how Bill Gates and the Walton Family, although they have given a bunch of money, don’t care about the kids but avoid talking about how the CEA have gotten a bunch of money from the kids and have been failing them for years. Granted, the CEA is only responsible to the teachers but they backed the WFP. So by default they have taken responsibility for the kids. Talk about a conflict of interest. They talk about reacting to the desires of the parents. They must mean as long as they do not desire charter schools or as long as the parents desire the same things we do. It is a lot of keeping you busy watching the right hand while the left hand picks your pocket.
Their latest claim is the Walton family and others only want to turn out graduates who know what big business wants them to know. Charter schools are simply a mill to turn out graduates tailored to employers. I don’t understand why that is a bad thing. When I was a kid we would call that a tech school. Our current system is turning out graduates tailored for welfare. Another example of ‘look what they are trying to do and not what we ARE doing.’
BOE SPY,
You seem to think I am an advocate for a union or some other big-money political action group. Nope. I just have an abiding respect for all the good public-school teachers I had in Bethel CT, where I grew up. Yes, that’s not Bridgeport. Nonetheless, what they did for me in my life is something I can only repay by supporting the good teachers today in my community. I live in Bridgeport. I can’t stand when know-nothing politicians disrespect teachers … and feel they can lie and cheat to appeal to big-money donors who want to demolish the public school system for charters. That’s my beef.
Now go read the 2012 policy report from the CT Conference of Municipalities
advocacy.ccm-ct.org/Resources.ashx?id=524d5981-e780-4b8f-bd8d-701de00ca464
You’ll find the funding issues for public schools might having something to do with elected officials and policies in place.
CCM has been a solid source of accurate information on public funding of education in our state, and they have been a leader in pushing for a fair school-funding formula.
That’s what makes it so incongruous the current president of the CCM is none other than Bill Finch … because while he serves as leader of this respected organization … he presides over the only municipality in the state that has blatantly violated the MBR two years running … with apparently no consequences for him.
I am glad you had such a good experience. I had a teacher who was arrested for molesting children, one who was drunk by lunchtime and many who were just institutional bullies who berate children. But that is not important. I am more concerned with the product. The increasing failure of our educational system seeks to upset our system. The separation between rich and poor is growing. Not because the rich are getting richer They are getting poorer. Just not as fast as the poor are getting poorer and dragging down the middle class.
Your spending argument is a popular one. It is not true. No city spends considerably more than any other city. You just have to look at it the right way. Look at what BPT spends and what it offers for the money. Only count those things when you look at what the other city offers. I.e. BPT offers Spanish and Portuguese. Westport offers Spanish, Latin, French, German, Greek and Italian. Now Westport spends 3.1 times as much as BPT on its foreign language program. This would make sense, they offer three times the foreign languages and their teachers get paid a little more than ours. Now, the number of foreign languages offered has no impact on student success. Since most BPT students already speak Spanish and most students take Spanish in any school system it would be a logical choice. The other four languages are just a luxury.
You also have to consider BPT’s schools are old and cost more to maintain and heat. Bpt suffers considerably more vandalism. BPT’s system is top heavy, has less effective leadership and too many of the teachers just don’t care. The students ‘see’ less of what is spent on education. The spending argument is a red herring. No more valid than eating breakfast or wearing a uniform makes you do better in school.
I would venture to say being full would help a child do better in school. Uniforms not so much. Anecdotal evidence would suggest having breakfast helps. Why would so many school districts serve breakfast? Have you ever gone to bed hungry, and then missed breakfast the next day? It happens quite often in our fair city. Food insecurity is a real problem. Being hungry along with lack of healthcare for our children equates to poorer performance in school. Rampant POVERTY is the problem in our schools.
They did not feed us breakfast when I was in school and I do not remember anyone starving to death. They serve breakfast because the feds pay for it. The district makes money on the deal. We have ‘breakfast in the classroom’ so they can bill the feds for every kid in the school instead of only the ones who show up to eat. I am sure there are poor people in BPT. However the biggest problem is distinguishing between what you WANT and what you NEED. Go to a school. Look at how many of the rampantly poor are wearing Abercrombie clothes and have cell phones but no pencil.
And I attended Catholic schools. And several of the priests associated with those same schools at the time I was there were later identified as pedophiles. So what the F is that supposed to mean???
What part don’t you get? I am saying having a child molester working in a school is a bad thing. I am saying if these teachers are state-certified professionals who deserve high salaries, why don’t they ever speak up when they see one among their ranks who does not belong? I am saying if the kids knew the teacher was drunk, how come none of the other teachers knew? I am saying if these mandatory certifications are so all-encompassing, how do these people get by? I am saying would a good public-school teacher I had in Bethel CT have anything to worry about regardless of who runs the school? Is it the GOOD workers who worry when management changes? Does that make it clearer for you?
Peter, as you said he is “president of the CCM” but you are incorrect to equate that with “leadership!” He may be a presider at meetings as he knows how to use a gavel. He may be included in photo opportunities because he is present, but it is the staff of CCM that has provided the organizational respect for the most part.
And during these budget weeks the Mayor is showing what results when he is invited, does not respond, and books elsewhere, and then cancels, and is needed while his staff feels they are being disrespected when the BOE wants the Mayor? He was elected but he continues to give evidence of the reasons for disrespect.
At this moment the Mayor’s budget as presented with $9.8 Million of mostly in-kind contributions is DEAD. What will it look like when the IN KINDS are reversed? And the MBR compromise is indicated?
Do you realize there is $6-7 Million of loose change floating around with attrition? There are grant revenues coming to at least one program worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. There are dollars to come out of fringe benefit funding once the numbers on page 10 of the current budget are reconciled with the same presentation from the 2014 approved budget. (Tom Sherwood has sown confusion, frustration and ultimately distrust. Clean up the act, Tom. You can do better than your current effort!) The potential for school funding for this year and next with no tax increase exists. But the game will change … time will tell.
John,
Thanks, the incongruity of it is not lost on me. We seem to agree on quite a bit, despite your love of argument over non-argued items.