Democrats for Education Reform (Bowser, Goulet etc)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't love the idea of unlimited money in politics, but to call DFER right wing is comical. I don't know that they're anti-union either, although the union definitely seems ferociously anti-DFER.

Yeah I'm also not seeing how "right wing" they are, when they exclusively fund Democrats. Are some of their ideas appealing to some Democrats? Yes. Do some Democrats not like their ideas? Yes.

It's a gaslighting name, sort of like the anti-democracy groups are called "Americans for ____"

They are funded by the likes of the Koch's, Waltons and Prince/DeVos families.

Hence, right wing.

Thank don't make no sense.

Maybe it's possible that certain people across the political spectrum are backing the same ideas. If Soros funded something is it automatically left-wing? Bill Gates?

No, of course not. But in this case, DFER is advocating for the Charter School system nationally as a means by which to suck public money into de factor religious schools.

What is a "de facto religious school"?

Charters operated by churches.

is this what you're referring to?

https://www.npr.org/2008/09/16/94680744/to-remain-open-catholic-schools-become-charters

I just read this, and it says that the Center City Public Charters schools used to be Catholic schools.

Uh, having visited two of them, I can say that neither seemed at all interested in Catholicism.

[Anonymous]

Privatization is a way to push public school dollars to private (including religious) schools.

Are you familiar with the interplay between "school choice" and "school voucher" movements?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Privatization is a way to push public school dollars to private (including religious) schools.

Are you familiar with the interplay between "school choice" and "school voucher" movements?

Not sure if you're referencing me, but yes. There's overlap there but it isn't necessarily true that someone that wants school choice is aiming for school vouchers. Prime case of this is DC, where there's tons of school choice but no vouchers. Hell, I don't even recall any elected official in DC ever calling for vouchers. Like, the Mayor, who's been supported by DFER, has never proposed vouchers.

This is like saying that the "defund the police" people actually want to completely defund the police. They rarely do -- there's a ton of nuance with police reform, but having such a flat, black-and-white understanding of the issues really prevents reform and dialogue.

[Anonymous]

I stand corrected: There was a DC voucher program in 2004 through....2019? (can't find when it ended, or if it did) that allowed low-income kids a voucher to attend private schools.

https://www.chalkbeat.org/2019/5/15/21108158/d-c-voucher-students-don-t-see-test-score-gains-but-are-less-likely-to-be-frequently-absent-latest-r#:~:text=The%20D.C.%20voucher%20program%20began,attend%20a%20private%20high%20school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Privatization is a way to push public school dollars to private (including religious) schools.

Are you familiar with the interplay between "school choice" and "school voucher" movements?

Not sure if you're referencing me, but yes. There's overlap there but it isn't necessarily true that someone that wants school choice is aiming for school vouchers. Prime case of this is DC, where there's tons of school choice but no vouchers. Hell, I don't even recall any elected official in DC ever calling for vouchers. Like, the Mayor, who's been supported by DFER, has never proposed vouchers.

This is like saying that the "defund the police" people actually want to completely defund the police. They rarely do -- there's a ton of nuance with police reform, but having such a flat, black-and-white understanding of the issues really prevents reform and dialogue.

So there's a blurry line in the Education Reform movement. I'm sure some people have great intentions, but DFER is funded and backed by right-wing types who have pushed for as much privatization as they can get away with and as little oversight as possible. I'd be very careful with someone endorsed by them.

[Anonymous]

Ah, it seems to be allocated by Congress. so the funding is federal, versus coming out of DC funds for schools. ("Congress forced the DC voucher program, formally named the Opportunity Scholarship Program, on the people of the District in 2003 as a five-year pilot program." https://www.ncpecoalition.org/dc-voucher)

It applies to about 2,000 low-income DC kids (so 0.2% of DC school kids). https://www.edchoice.org/school-choice/programs/district-of-columbia-opportunity-scholarship-program/

Also, the voucher doesn't seem to be big enough to cover full tuition, but maybe the schools cover the rest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Privatization is a way to push public school dollars to private (including religious) schools.

Are you familiar with the interplay between "school choice" and "school voucher" movements?

Not sure if you're referencing me, but yes. There's overlap there but it isn't necessarily true that someone that wants school choice is aiming for school vouchers. Prime case of this is DC, where there's tons of school choice but no vouchers. Hell, I don't even recall any elected official in DC ever calling for vouchers. Like, the Mayor, who's been supported by DFER, has never proposed vouchers.

This is like saying that the "defund the police" people actually want to completely defund the police. They rarely do -- there's a ton of nuance with police reform, but having such a flat, black-and-white understanding of the issues really prevents reform and dialogue.

So there's a blurry line in the Education Reform movement. I'm sure some people have great intentions, but DFER is funded and backed by right-wing types who have pushed for as much privatization as they can get away with and as little oversight as possible. I'd be very careful with someone endorsed by them.

On the flip side, I've been really, really horrified by the teachers' union in DC last year. So I don't fully support them, either. Those seem to be the only two players, and my choice is to support initiatives versus groups. DC is never going to have any Republican elected officials, anyway, so we just have to go with gradations of Democrat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Privatization is a way to push public school dollars to private (including religious) schools.

Are you familiar with the interplay between "school choice" and "school voucher" movements?

Not sure if you're referencing me, but yes. There's overlap there but it isn't necessarily true that someone that wants school choice is aiming for school vouchers. Prime case of this is DC, where there's tons of school choice but no vouchers. Hell, I don't even recall any elected official in DC ever calling for vouchers. Like, the Mayor, who's been supported by DFER, has never proposed vouchers.

This is like saying that the "defund the police" people actually want to completely defund the police. They rarely do -- there's a ton of nuance with police reform, but having such a flat, black-and-white understanding of the issues really prevents reform and dialogue.

So there's a blurry line in the Education Reform movement. I'm sure some people have great intentions, but DFER is funded and backed by right-wing types who have pushed for as much privatization as they can get away with and as little oversight as possible. I'd be very careful with someone endorsed by them.

On the flip side, I've been really, really horrified by the teachers' union in DC last year. So I don't fully support them, either. Those seem to be the only two players, and my choice is to support initiatives versus groups. DC is never going to have any Republican elected officials, anyway, so we just have to go with gradations of Democrat.

We did have a far right (Trump / Devos supporting) DC state board of education member. Ashley Macleay (Carter).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Privatization is a way to push public school dollars to private (including religious) schools.

Are you familiar with the interplay between "school choice" and "school voucher" movements?

Not sure if you're referencing me, but yes. There's overlap there but it isn't necessarily true that someone that wants school choice is aiming for school vouchers. Prime case of this is DC, where there's tons of school choice but no vouchers. Hell, I don't even recall any elected official in DC ever calling for vouchers. Like, the Mayor, who's been supported by DFER, has never proposed vouchers.

This is like saying that the "defund the police" people actually want to completely defund the police. They rarely do -- there's a ton of nuance with police reform, but having such a flat, black-and-white understanding of the issues really prevents reform and dialogue.

So there's a blurry line in the Education Reform movement. I'm sure some people have great intentions, but DFER is funded and backed by right-wing types who have pushed for as much privatization as they can get away with and as little oversight as possible. I'd be very careful with someone endorsed by them.

On the flip side, I've been really, really horrified by the teachers' union in DC last year. So I don't fully support them, either. Those seem to be the only two players, and my choice is to support initiatives versus groups. DC is never going to have any Republican elected officials, anyway, so we just have to go with gradations of Democrat.

We did have a far right (Trump / Devos supporting) DC state board of education member. Ashley Macleay (Carter).

Amazing. How did that happen. I mean, I guess it's good that we've got mayoral control, amirite, so that she couldn't really impact anything?

[Anonymous]

Look at that! Jeff deleted all the posts that criticized the teachers union! Just like we predicted!

On DCUM, you can lie. You can be racist. You can libel people. But you can never ever criticize the teachers union even if you’re discussing education policy and the primary elections.

So funny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Privatization is a way to push public school dollars to private (including religious) schools.

Are you familiar with the interplay between "school choice" and "school voucher" movements?

Not sure if you're referencing me, but yes. There's overlap there but it isn't necessarily true that someone that wants school choice is aiming for school vouchers. Prime case of this is DC, where there's tons of school choice but no vouchers. Hell, I don't even recall any elected official in DC ever calling for vouchers. Like, the Mayor, who's been supported by DFER, has never proposed vouchers.

This is like saying that the "defund the police" people actually want to completely defund the police. They rarely do -- there's a ton of nuance with police reform, but having such a flat, black-and-white understanding of the issues really prevents reform and dialogue.

So there's a blurry line in the Education Reform movement. I'm sure some people have great intentions, but DFER is funded and backed by right-wing types who have pushed for as much privatization as they can get away with and as little oversight as possible. I'd be very careful with someone endorsed by them.

On the flip side, I've been really, really horrified by the teachers' union in DC last year. So I don't fully support them, either. Those seem to be the only two players, and my choice is to support initiatives versus groups. DC is never going to have any Republican elected officials, anyway, so we just have to go with gradations of Democrat.

We did have a far right (Trump / Devos supporting) DC state board of education member. Ashley Macleay (Carter).

Amazing. How did that happen. I mean, I guess it's good that we've got mayoral control, amirite, so that she couldn't really impact anything?

Party affiliation isn't listed for SBOE, she didn't advertise it, the incumbent was on her butt, and the nutjob put in effort campaigning.

What's with the weird poke about Mayoral control?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Privatization is a way to push public school dollars to private (including religious) schools.

Are you familiar with the interplay between "school choice" and "school voucher" movements?

Not sure if you're referencing me, but yes. There's overlap there but it isn't necessarily true that someone that wants school choice is aiming for school vouchers. Prime case of this is DC, where there's tons of school choice but no vouchers. Hell, I don't even recall any elected official in DC ever calling for vouchers. Like, the Mayor, who's been supported by DFER, has never proposed vouchers.

This is like saying that the "defund the police" people actually want to completely defund the police. They rarely do -- there's a ton of nuance with police reform, but having such a flat, black-and-white understanding of the issues really prevents reform and dialogue.

So there's a blurry line in the Education Reform movement. I'm sure some people have great intentions, but DFER is funded and backed by right-wing types who have pushed for as much privatization as they can get away with and as little oversight as possible. I'd be very careful with someone endorsed by them.

On the flip side, I've been really, really horrified by the teachers' union in DC last year. So I don't fully support them, either. Those seem to be the only two players, and my choice is to support initiatives versus groups. DC is never going to have any Republican elected officials, anyway, so we just have to go with gradations of Democrat.

We did have a far right (Trump / Devos supporting) DC state board of education member. Ashley Macleay (Carter).

Amazing. How did that happen. I mean, I guess it's good that we've got mayoral control, amirite, so that she couldn't really impact anything?

Party affiliation isn't listed for SBOE, she didn't advertise it, the incumbent was on her butt, and the nutjob put in effort campaigning.

What's with the weird poke about Mayoral control?

Matt Iglesias has talked about one reason to keep mayoral control is to keep very far-right or far-left people who have little city-wide support from gaining power. He frames it as not wanting "special interest groups" controlling schools, and is generally referring to the union. But the argument can just as easily be made for your right-wing candidate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Privatization is a way to push public school dollars to private (including religious) schools.

Are you familiar with the interplay between "school choice" and "school voucher" movements?

Not sure if you're referencing me, but yes. There's overlap there but it isn't necessarily true that someone that wants school choice is aiming for school vouchers. Prime case of this is DC, where there's tons of school choice but no vouchers. Hell, I don't even recall any elected official in DC ever calling for vouchers. Like, the Mayor, who's been supported by DFER, has never proposed vouchers.

This is like saying that the "defund the police" people actually want to completely defund the police. They rarely do -- there's a ton of nuance with police reform, but having such a flat, black-and-white understanding of the issues really prevents reform and dialogue.

So there's a blurry line in the Education Reform movement. I'm sure some people have great intentions, but DFER is funded and backed by right-wing types who have pushed for as much privatization as they can get away with and as little oversight as possible. I'd be very careful with someone endorsed by them.

On the flip side, I've been really, really horrified by the teachers' union in DC last year. So I don't fully support them, either. Those seem to be the only two players, and my choice is to support initiatives versus groups. DC is never going to have any Republican elected officials, anyway, so we just have to go with gradations of Democrat.

We did have a far right (Trump / Devos supporting) DC state board of education member. Ashley Macleay (Carter).

Amazing. How did that happen. I mean, I guess it's good that we've got mayoral control, amirite, so that she couldn't really impact anything?

Party affiliation isn't listed for SBOE, she didn't advertise it, the incumbent was on her butt, and the nutjob put in effort campaigning.

What's with the weird poke about Mayoral control?

Matt Iglesias has talked about one reason to keep mayoral control is to keep very far-right or far-left people who have little city-wide support from gaining power. He frames it as not wanting "special interest groups" controlling schools, and is generally referring to the union. But the argument can just as easily be made for your right-wing candidate.

There are enough people that make up the board that it does a better job of balancing extremes than a single mayor. So I think it's the opposite.

Also, Matt Yglesias is not someone I look up to.

[Anonymous]

And the special interest groups gain power because the school board seats are in "off" voting years, and don't have heavy turn-out. So a special interest group could win a seat with just a small number of votes, and those votes wouldn't really be representative of the wider population.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Privatization is a way to push public school dollars to private (including religious) schools.

Are you familiar with the interplay between "school choice" and "school voucher" movements?

Not sure if you're referencing me, but yes. There's overlap there but it isn't necessarily true that someone that wants school choice is aiming for school vouchers. Prime case of this is DC, where there's tons of school choice but no vouchers. Hell, I don't even recall any elected official in DC ever calling for vouchers. Like, the Mayor, who's been supported by DFER, has never proposed vouchers.

This is like saying that the "defund the police" people actually want to completely defund the police. They rarely do -- there's a ton of nuance with police reform, but having such a flat, black-and-white understanding of the issues really prevents reform and dialogue.

So there's a blurry line in the Education Reform movement. I'm sure some people have great intentions, but DFER is funded and backed by right-wing types who have pushed for as much privatization as they can get away with and as little oversight as possible. I'd be very careful with someone endorsed by them.

On the flip side, I've been really, really horrified by the teachers' union in DC last year. So I don't fully support them, either. Those seem to be the only two players, and my choice is to support initiatives versus groups. DC is never going to have any Republican elected officials, anyway, so we just have to go with gradations of Democrat.

We did have a far right (Trump / Devos supporting) DC state board of education member. Ashley Macleay (Carter).

Amazing. How did that happen. I mean, I guess it's good that we've got mayoral control, amirite, so that she couldn't really impact anything?

Party affiliation isn't listed for SBOE, she didn't advertise it, the incumbent was on her butt, and the nutjob put in effort campaigning.

What's with the weird poke about Mayoral control?

Matt Iglesias has talked about one reason to keep mayoral control is to keep very far-right or far-left people who have little city-wide support from gaining power. He frames it as not wanting "special interest groups" controlling schools, and is generally referring to the union. But the argument can just as easily be made for your right-wing candidate.

There are enough people that make up the board that it does a better job of balancing extremes than a single mayor. So I think it's the opposite.

Also, Matt Yglesias is not someone I look up to.

Or, the board is completely ineffectual (see: SF). Anyway, my comment was a throw-away, not trying to start yet another mayoral control debate.

And I'm just repeating the concept, as it was discussed by Yglesias. He was just in the argument the last time the topic came up. I wasn't trying to suggest he's an authority, just trying to recall the dialogue for communication's sake.

It IS possible to look at the idea, versus the person.