PAVE (parent advocacy group) is a false front formed by Walton Foundation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many conservatives believe in charter schools. It doesn't necessarily mean they have "ulterior" motives in funding charter schools. They may fund them because they believe -- and in order to prove -- that they work. I'm not at all conservative, but I don't see a problem with this. A city can separately decide whether to allow charters or not; but, once they do, why shouldn't conservatives pony up? Wouldn't it actually be hypocritical if they didn't given that the success of charters often relies on private fundraising?

. . . or they may support privatizing the public sector and undermining teachers unions. Charters are a near perfect vehicle because there is political cover on both sides of the aisle. Even Barack Obama.

And why is there support on both sides? Because in the end, parents just want a decent education for their kid. In present time, not years down the road.

Charters are the best thing that has happened east of the river in decades

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many conservatives believe in charter schools. It doesn't necessarily mean they have "ulterior" motives in funding charter schools. They may fund them because they believe -- and in order to prove -- that they work. I'm not at all conservative, but I don't see a problem with this. A city can separately decide whether to allow charters or not; but, once they do, why shouldn't conservatives pony up? Wouldn't it actually be hypocritical if they didn't given that the success of charters often relies on private fundraising?

Yes, but the money behind charter schools comes from conservative billionaires like the DeVoses, Bradley foundation, etc.
Those conservative donors’ agenda is to damage public schools to:
- make money from privatization
- reduce number of conserv kids who learn about the world and thus become liberal (same reason the donors created Hillsdale, Liberty U, etc)
- keep people uneducated (no coincidence the biggest predictor of Trump voting was low education level)

Great if many conservatives immersed in a low-information conservative media bubble like charter schools.

But Charter schools are a win-win-win for conservative donors. And outside of a few city schools where they bring up low performance levels, charter schools are a failure for the 99.99% of us that are not billionaires.

[Anonymous]

Check this speech if you want your blood to boil. This is Betsy DeVos’s husband.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many conservatives believe in charter schools. It doesn't necessarily mean they have "ulterior" motives in funding charter schools. They may fund them because they believe -- and in order to prove -- that they work. I'm not at all conservative, but I don't see a problem with this. A city can separately decide whether to allow charters or not; but, once they do, why shouldn't conservatives pony up? Wouldn't it actually be hypocritical if they didn't given that the success of charters often relies on private fundraising?

Yes, but the money behind charter schools comes from conservative billionaires like the DeVoses, Bradley foundation, etc.
Those conservative donors’ agenda is to damage public schools to:
- make money from privatization
- reduce number of conserv kids who learn about the world and thus become liberal (same reason the donors created Hillsdale, Liberty U, etc)
- keep people uneducated (no coincidence the biggest predictor of Trump voting was low education level)

Great if many conservatives immersed in a low-information conservative media bubble like charter schools.

But Charter schools are a win-win-win for conservative donors. And outside of a few city schools where they bring up low performance levels, charter schools are a failure for the 99.99% of us that are not billionaires.

The Texaa Republican party actually opposes teaching critical thinking

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2012/06/29/texas-gop-vs-critical-thinking

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many conservatives believe in charter schools. It doesn't necessarily mean they have "ulterior" motives in funding charter schools. They may fund them because they believe -- and in order to prove -- that they work. I'm not at all conservative, but I don't see a problem with this. A city can separately decide whether to allow charters or not; but, once they do, why shouldn't conservatives pony up? Wouldn't it actually be hypocritical if they didn't given that the success of charters often relies on private fundraising?

. . . or they may support privatizing the public sector and undermining teachers unions. Charters are a near perfect vehicle because there is political cover on both sides of the aisle. Even Barack Obama.

And in the meantime, the kids from European countries, where all of the teachers are in unions, merrily outscore ours on the international tests.

[Anonymous]

This will be a school at Bolling AFB; once Bolling kids are in....extra slots will be open to surrounding community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who didn’t know that PAVE has deep pocket supporters? How else could they have paid for their conferences, staff and swag?

Didn’t Walton Foundation also give start up funding to DCI and other charters? Their money is all over the city. It is what the grantees do with the money, not who gives.

Disagree. There are a lot of conservative billionaires and foundations that tie their donations to their political ends. And their political ends are usually their own, not helping poor kids, despite what they might say (put another way: coincidentally, the causes the Koches claim to care deeply about also happen to help them make more money.)

I assume you are primarily referring to the Kochs' position on immigration and open borders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This will be a school at Bolling AFB; once Bolling kids are in....extra slots will be open to surrounding community.

I’ll believe it when I see it. We were on Bolling for 4 years and people kept talking about the new school. It’s been promised for so long. Although I think it will end up being mostly ward 8 kids because most of the kids on base use the special military placement rule for grades K and above. Most of the kids on base go to Hyde, Brent, Hardy, Wilson, Key etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is up with this, how did this self-appointed group get to "recommend" a charter to compete with Leckie ES?

https://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/stories/k-12-education/amplifying-parent-voice-in-education-and-community

They weren't self-appointed. I applied to be in this group.

Why are you all of a sudden concerned about Leckie? Do you have a child at Leckie? I do and I want another option. And I want that option away from the other charters in ward 8 that experience shootings nearby on the regular.

[Anonymous]

Yup. It is a bogus organization.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is up with this, how did this self-appointed group get to "recommend" a charter to compete with Leckie ES?

https://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/stories/k-12-education/amplifying-parent-voice-in-education-and-community

They weren't self-appointed. I applied to be in this group.

Why are you all of a sudden concerned about Leckie? Do you have a child at Leckie? I do and I want another option. And I want that option away from the other charters in ward 8 that experience shootings nearby on the regular.

Why does PP have to only care about her child? I care about kids from Leckie and other schools. Everyone should.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is up with this, how did this self-appointed group get to "recommend" a charter to compete with Leckie ES?

https://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/stories/k-12-education/amplifying-parent-voice-in-education-and-community

They weren't self-appointed. I applied to be in this group.

Why are you all of a sudden concerned about Leckie? Do you have a child at Leckie? I do and I want another option. And I want that option away from the other charters in ward 8 that experience shootings nearby on the regular.

Excellent. We know that the Koches and the Waltons almost exclusively give money to serve their own agenda, which only very rarely happens to coincide with what average Americans need.
How has the Walton foundation influenced PAVE? Did they have any say at all in who joined? Do they have any day-to-day say? Any say in hiring? Any say in how money is spent, or which voices get amplified in the press?

This is the reason why government grants are better than philanthropy that mostly comes from rich conservatives. Government spending is more evenhanded and serves societal goals, not just billionaires’ goals. Money spent on influencing speech is tearing apart our democracy.

And don’t get me started on rightwing homeschooling. Not all homeschoolers are rightwing, but the homeschooling movement as a whole churns out brainwashed rightwing zombies who have never been exposed to real-world thinking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many conservatives believe in charter schools. It doesn't necessarily mean they have "ulterior" motives in funding charter schools. They may fund them because they believe -- and in order to prove -- that they work. I'm not at all conservative, but I don't see a problem with this. A city can separately decide whether to allow charters or not; but, once they do, why shouldn't conservatives pony up? Wouldn't it actually be hypocritical if they didn't given that the success of charters often relies on private fundraising?

Yes, but the money behind charter schools comes from conservative billionaires like the DeVoses, Bradley foundation, etc.
Those conservative donors’ agenda is to damage public schools to:
- make money from privatization
- reduce number of conserv kids who learn about the world and thus become liberal (same reason the donors created Hillsdale, Liberty U, etc)
- keep people uneducated (no coincidence the biggest predictor of Trump voting was low education level)

Great if many conservatives immersed in a low-information conservative media bubble like charter schools.

But Charter schools are a win-win-win for conservative donors. And outside of a few city schools where they bring up low performance levels, charter schools are a failure for the 99.99% of us that are not billionaires.

Do you mean Katherine Bradley? Not a billionaire or conservative. But does have more influence on DCPS and charter education than elected and appointed officials. Different issue that's specific to DC.

[Anonymous]

Having worked on this, I’m laughing because the Walton’s pretty much fund 80% of DC charters and 50% of DCPS. They own DC, not sure why this is any different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who didn’t know that PAVE has deep pocket supporters? How else could they have paid for their conferences, staff and swag?

Didn’t Walton Foundation also give start up funding to DCI and other charters? Their money is all over the city. It is what the grantees do with the money, not who gives.

Disagree. There are a lot of conservative billionaires and foundations that tie their donations to their political ends. And their political ends are usually their own, not helping poor kids, despite what they might say (put another way: coincidentally, the causes the Koches claim to care deeply about also happen to help them make more money.)

Not all foundations and nonprofits are like this - Gates, Soros, Buffett, Clinton Foundation (don’t @ me, conservatives— they’ve done great public health work to benefit societies) are very visible. But the majority of billionaires spend money on their own conservative interests. That includes the Walton Family Foundations. And yes, charter schools help conservatives achieve their political ends (see eg the speech DeVos’s husband gave at heritage.)

Long story short: the source of the money may well matter, but not always.

That's certainly the reason for the Koch's advocacy for open borders on immigration.

Exactly. The Koch brothers are anti-conservative. They’re Libertarians, not Rebublicans.