Words from Marcia:  “The privatization of public education has become an issue of high importance to me since the GED test was privatized  and made into a test that very few of my students will be able to pass without extended study and without revamping the program. As would be expected by the for profit corporate take over, the cost for the test nearly doubled. Students will be hard pressed to pay, and there are other particulars to the test that will continue to generate more fees to the student.  As well,  the non-profits who aid students will have their accounts tapped into.”

THAT’S NOT BAD ENOUGH.  HERE ARE SOME WORDS ABOUT CHARTER SCHOOLS. 

IN NYC:  Charter schools are a scam inflicted on black and Latino children and are meant to turn education into just another profit center. These schools take public money without being accountable to the public and they are funded by organizations like the Walton Family Foundation of WalMart fame and hedge fund chieftains. There is no data which proves that they provide superior education. They don’t have to accept children with special needs and often expel children who are struggling academically because they may bring down the all important test scores they use to justify their access to public dollars.

At Public School 149 in East Harlem, special education students will literally not have a place in that school. A Success Academy charter school already in residence is expanding and the disabled children at P.S. 149 will have to be moved elsewhere.

Teachers at charter schools are akin to fast food workers. They are the least experienced and have a high rate of turnover, all of which happens by design. The hedge fund honchos and the Walton Family Foundation want to get rid of the teaching profession and make educators as insecure in their work lives as everyone else in the country.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE

IN CHICAGO:  Corporations primarily build profits in this relationship through tax credits. The New Markets Tax Credit imposed during the Clinton presidency allows private companies to receive up to a 39 percent tax credit if they invest in charters. This loophole would allow a lending company to double its profits in only seven years.

In addition to that tax credit, corporations suck funds from charters with a caveat. Some companies will only donate to charters if those schools purchase the company’s products.

Diann Woodard, the president of the American Federation of School Administrators warned last year that these contracts are easier to negotiate with charter schools, “where they are often uninhibited by public schools’ procurement rules and standards requiring a demonstrable, educational need for technology.”

In other words, these charters may not even need to replace the technologies they already have. Rather, they spend the public funds allocated to them on these unnecessary purchases.

While the mission of charter schools doesn’t inherently advocate this corporate takeover, these loopholes have allowed the private sector to siphon a growing share of public education funding.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE

A RESULT: WE TAXPAYERS WILL PAY AND PAY AND PAY AND PAY – – – – – – – –

THE VIDEO IS ABOUT THE NYC PUBLIC SCHOOLS