Joe Williams' Blog
February 14, 2008
Obama On Vouchers,"Intolerable" Status Quo, Replicating Charter Success
Warning: This post will use the "V-word" so if that is a problem for you, this may be a good time to go get your nails done or get that massage or something.
"You do what's right for the kids." -- Barack Obama. Read on...
So The Obamanator has taken his "Yes We Can" tour to Favreville, or as some maps still insist on calling it, Wisconsin. And he decides to sit down with the editorial board from my old stomping/scribbling ground, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. And the editors, who know how to take a local issue and use it to squeeze some substance out of a guy like The Obamanator, decide to ask him about Milwaukee's groundbreaking private school voucher program. (In framing the question, one editor notes the political contours of the debate, i.e. it is a program that is very popular with low-income parents but, uh, not so much with the teachers union, whose members earn too much to qualify for a voucher. OK, the editor didn't mention that last part but my fingers couldn't help moving around on the keyboard.)
Because I used to be completely immersed in writing about the politics of vouchers in Milwaukee, I have studied pretty closely over the last 18-years as politicians have swung through Brewtown and offered their thoughts on the program. I watched Bill Clinton do the NEA Two-Step Backtrack after sending Democratic Assemblywoman Annette "Polly" Williams a letter congratulating her on her leadership with the original voucher law for Milwaukee in 1990. (He fretted in the letter that the "traditional Democratic party establishment" hadn't given her more encouragement.)
I watched Democratic candidates like Al Gore pander to the NEA by voicing steadfast oppostion to vouchers, only to see him concede later that if he was a parent of a child in the kind of non-functioning public schools we're talking about, then hell, yeah, he'd be a voucher user.
And just as bad, I watched Republican candidates gush with support for vouchers without any sort of nod to the complexities that attach themselves to a program that is obviously loaded with them - i.e. what exactly do we do with the public school system once we let people vote with their feet, especially since history has proven in Milwaukee that a vast number of parents who choose schools for their kids do in fact choose public schools. (Also, I watched them pretend they would fight for poor parents even though, in hindsight, the only fights they were really imagining were overseas.)
So when I watched the 6-minute video of Obama's answer to the question, I was struck by something. In the long history of the "voucher soundbite" from politicians, Obama may have provided one of the most interesting answers I've ever heard.
Continue reading "Obama On Vouchers,"Intolerable" Status Quo, Replicating Charter Success"....
Posted by Joe Williams on February 14, 2008 10:50 AM
February 12, 2008
Using Education To Move To The Center
I ran into some criticism last year when I failed to disclose on a post about the presidential race that while DFER has not backed a specific candidate therein, my wife and I had both been early supporters of The Obamanator (even before The Oprah hit the trail, I swear, though I confess I do everything she instructs me to do) so I again feel a need to disclose that with this post. (The disclosure itself seems to repeatedly annoy one of the Blogging Klonsky brothers, I can't remember which one, but I'm not worried because I am pretty sure I can kick both their asses.)
But anyway, lots of people are noting that The Obamanator is starting to (perhaps prematurely) tack to the political center with an eye toward the general election in November and he's using education to help him do this. I happen to think this is the right way to go, for obvious reasons.
It was interesting to see The Obamanator's comments on NCLB in the Baltimore Sun endorsement over the weekend, which sounded a lot more middle-of-the-road than much of the high-pitched "we're testing kids until they bleed" rhetoric to-date from all of the candidates (including the former Barack Obama) on the campaign trail:
Asked how the troubled No Child Left Behind education program might be salvaged, Mr. Obama said achievement testing should not be abandoned but rather complemented with other measures of progress and more aid for schools.
Now he's telling Politico that charter schools are one of the clear examples of where he has deviated from the box that the Democratic Party (with no shortage of help from the big teachers unions) makes candidates play within:
JH: Senator, we’ve got a question that goes right to that. The likely Republican nominee, Sen. McCain, has regularly stood up against his own party and has some real scars that he’s wearing because of it, when he thought it was in the national interest to do so. Name some issues where you’ve been willing to stand up against your party, and also take those scars?
BO: Well, look, we’ve talked about education. We actually had a roundtable here about what we need to do with the schools. I’ve consistently said, we need to support charter schools. I think it is important to experiment, by looking at how we can reward excellence in the classroom.
JH: Have teacher’s unions been an impediment to that kind of reform?
BO: What I will say is that they haven’t been thrilled with me talking about these kinds of issues. And my sister is a teacher, so I am a strong support of teachers, but I’m not going to be bound by just a certain way of talking about these things, in order for us to move forward on behalf of our kids. And I think a lot of teachers want to talk about how to continually improve performance. The broader point is that we’ve got to get beyond a lot of the traditional categories. In terms of reaching out across the aisles, one of the things you’ve seen, since I’ve been in the Senate, is that my work with people like Tom Coburn on opening up transparency in government, making sure that every dollar the federal government spends that’s out there – that that’s all posted on a searchable database on the Internet. That’s not a conservative issue or liberal issue. If you’re a progressive, you’ve got to be worried about how the federal government is spending its revenue, because we don’t have enough money to spend on things like early childhood education that are so important.
LH: Is there any one issue where the Democratic Party is out of step with the mainstream of America? Is there a position that you want your party to change?
BO: I think that the Democratic Party is a big tent, which means that there are positions I may not agree with. I mentioned one, charter schools, and experimenting with our school system, to make it work. I think that’s something we really have to pay attention to.
Kind of interesting. I think it is worth noting that Hillary Clinton has also been a longtime supporter of charter schools - even doing so in the face of an extremely unenthusiastic NEA Representative Assembly. Also, to be fair, this charter school love hasn't exactly been something that The Obamantor has been hiding.
At a Manhattan fundraiser I attended last April, a local charter school operator asked Obama why it was so hard to be a charter school person in the Democratic Party. His answer was thoughtful and measured, but he - not the person who asked the question - identified the teachers unions as the obstacle on the political side. He noted that the American public was hungry for change and that the unions' leadership was going to have to decide whether they want to be in on it, or be completely left behind.
Posted by Joe Williams on February 12, 2008 1:28 PM
Heading For The Exits
A good chunk of the "old guard" wing of the teachers union in New York State could be hanging it up in the very near future. As Steve Perez notes on EdWize, the NY Assembly just passed a Bye-Bye Baby Boomer Bill for teachers, which would allow certain teachers to retire at age 55 (with full pension) if they have 25 years on the job.
(Previously, a teacher had to have 30 years in or wait until age 62 to not have their pensions reduced.)
This is obviously a huge deal/win for the teachers union, and could have a tremendous impact on school staffing.
Likely to be overheard at all those retirement parties are young, whipper-snapper colleages remarking: You spent 25 years... in the same job? (For better or for worse.)
If it becomes law, teachers would have 180 days to make it happen.
Posted by Joe Williams on February 12, 2008 7:40 AM
February 7, 2008
NEA To Bam and Hil: Let's Canoodle
Via Michele McNeil's EdWeek blog, the NEA is reminding Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama that neither one of them has a prom date quite yet. The teachers union seems to be suggesting that prom night hanky-panky is a sure thing for whomever whispers the right things in Reg Weaver's ear.Posted by Joe Williams on February 7, 2008 10:01 AM
February 5, 2008
Too Young To Vote
Students from Harlem's Democacy Prep Charter School hit the streets yesterday to remind the big people that they should be voting. Viva democracy.
Posted by Joe Williams on February 5, 2008 5:58 PM
February 4, 2008
DFER On Facebook
A week ago I didn't even know what Facebook was, then Brienne set me straight. Now I'm left having to explain to the misses why so many attractive, young co-ed types are flocking to the Democrats for Education Reform group page.
Come join us, but don't forget to sign our online Statement of Principles because we need your help.
UPDATE: I forgot to mention, Brienne hit the big launch party on Friday night for LinkEd. Check it out.
Posted by Joe Williams on February 4, 2008 12:13 PM
January 31, 2008
Someday, TFA Will Rule The Earth...
A pal passed along this link to a PBS special on education from Arizona and urged me to check out what Lisa Graham Keegan had to say at the 24:12 mark.
In case you don't feel like skipping through, she basically says that when history looks back at what is happening in modern day school reform, Teach For America will have emerged as the most important development in terms of saving the public school franchise.
I have written about this before, and I still swear I'm not a TFA water-carrier (they seem to do just fine on their own, thank you) but I think that Keegan is right. That organization is planting some serious seeds and I don't think any of us can fully comprehend just yet what is going to start growing in the next 25 years. But I am quite certain that government, philanthropy, unions, and public education in general will be fundamentally different as a result of TFA as the TFA corps starts to lose its hair and age through society.
And even before I got to Keegan's remarks, as I fast-forwarded my way through the segment, I found it striking enough to stop when they interviewed TFA's Andrea Stouder (at the 3:25 mark.) Did you notice that she was the only one interviewed in the entire show who didn't look completely miserable? She was young, bright, attractive, and effervescent. She made you feel hopeful that public education might be saved just yet. It wasn't even what she was saying as much as how she was saying it.
There is something happening here folks.
Posted by Joe Williams on January 31, 2008 1:35 PM
