Public employees pension fund buys into private for-profit school corporation? ... WTF?

[Bozita]

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2009/07/american_education_group_gets.html#more

American Education Group gets $10M investment
by Shandra Martinez | The Grand Rapids Press
Saturday July 18, 2009, 4:42 AM


GRAND RAPIDS -- In less than three years, American Education Group has taken the lead in the growing business of specialized private education.

The Grand Rapids firm's collection of preschool, primary and secondary schools now number 16 in six states.

While most of AEG's 300 employees work outside Michigan, the company is considered a potential star in the state's changing economy.

A sign of that is Michigan Opportunities Fund's $10 million investment in the company -- the first to come out of the $150 million fund.

Fed by the state's pension workers system, the money pool is part of the Invest Michigan program introduced by Gov. Jennifer Granholm 18 months ago to spur business growth.

more...

[slipslidingaway]

1. knr nt

[Waiting For Everyman]

2. People need to start voting with their pension funds.

This kind of thing is just plain suicidal, and it's been going on this way for far too long. Political action should begin with where we put our money... it should be flowing out of "bad" corporations, and piling up in the few "good" ones (those which don't outsource or do other bad things).

It's "carrots and sticks". Hitting them in the wallet is all they understand. THEN maybe, "the market" might start responding again to what consumers want. It sure doesn't now. We're being suckers... feeding the hand that bites us.

[Omaha Steve]

5. Agreed

K&R!

[madfloridian]

3. That's where the future of schools lies under Arne Duncan....

He calls it charter, I call it private education.

[elehhhhna]

6. charter's an abysmal failure here in TX : no rules/regs = free-for-all of theft and worse.

very bush-y in its blatant free-for-allness

[waiting for hope]

7. Arne Duncan makes my skin crawl ...

I've been keeping my eye on him - I have a son getting ready to go into third grade this year (and I'm dreading every minute) and my daughter will start kindergarten next year. We do not have the means for anything in the private sector, not that I would want that anyway and years of paying for daycare has been a real blast - but I draw the line at having my children attend a school run by a corporation, on my tax dollars. Here are a few articles on Duncan's love for all that is Charter:


A Plan for Parents to Shut Down Schools

Obama Gives Bush a 3rd Term in Education

Charter Schools: Another Failed Bi-Partisan Policy Obama Is In Love With

They are not even listening to everyone that has told them repeatedly that NCLB is designed to fail, which just shows that Charter Schools was the solution to a manufactured problem set up by Bush. This TIME article just makes me ill:

Who Will Obama Pick as Secretary of Education?

~Snip~

ARNE DUNCAN

Current position: CEO of Chicago Public Schools

Why he could be tapped: Like Klein in New York, Duncan has made a name for himself as a reformer in a big city, accomplishments candidate Obama highlighted several times on the campaign trail. He's also a close friend and basketball buddy of the President-elect. And unlike Darling-Hammond, Duncan could represent a more neutral selection.

Why the job will go to someone else: A Duncan nod could risk upsetting Chicago mayor Richard Daley, a vocal advocate of the Chicago schools' chief.

JAMES HUNT, JR.

Current position: Former governor of North Carolina

Why he could be tapped: As governor, Hunt focused attention on one of Obama's key schools proposals: expanding early childhood education, especially to low-income and minority children. He also worked hard to improve teacher quality, testing innovations in this area of perpetual struggle for American schools. On the federal level, he recently served on Spellings' Commission on the Future of Higher Education.

Why the job will go to someone else: Hunt has not been especially outspoken on how to expand charter schools and other alternatives to traditional public schools, which appears to be a priority for the Obama team.

~Snip~

Cronyism and Compliance ... seems like the wrong type of C - I was hoping for Change.

[LWolf]

11. If he makes your skin crawl, your instincts are on target.

It's hard to provide quality in the classroom these days. The best you can do this next year is get to know your kids' teachers, be present when possible, and offer support for everything good that is happening.

My district...

1. RIF'd 42 people.
2. Cut all PE and Music teachers at the elementary level.
3. Cut teacher prep out of the day.
4. Added PE and Music to the elementary teachers' work load.
5. Cut the school year to 147 days
6. Banned all field trips, and cut middle school sports
7. Eliminated classroom supply budgets
8. And cut the school year to 147 days for students. But we still have to make AYP, of course.
9. Oh, I forgot...increased class size

All of this at a time when the pressure is on to produce test scores, and the pressure to leave everything else that is good about school and learning behind in order to produce those scores, is mounting.

I love my students. I'm glad they know that, while I struggle to make their 147 days filled with mandates meaningful for them.

We're just waiting for Arne to decide our "merit" as we struggle with what is already a broken system. :(

[waiting for hope]

13. It's all about the money ....

Charter advocates lobby for more federal support

Paul Stephens | Jun 25, 2009

Hundreds of charter school advocates from across the country descended on Capitol Hill Wednesday to ask their representatives for more funding for charter schools and to build support for pro-charter legislation that has been introduced in Congress.

~Snip~

The federal government’s role in the growth in the number of charter school across the country has grown with the unprecedented levels of federal education spending approved as a part of the stimulus package this year.

Charter laws are state laws, and charter schools are approved by state or local authorizing boards, but federal funding has been critical to charter school growth. The U.S. Department of Education currently gives out $216 million a year in grants for charter school start-up and facilities costs and the Obama administration wants to increase that funding by $52 million in 2010.

The administration is also putting pressure on the states to create pro-charter policies by saying that it will favor those states with laws that encourage more charter schools when distributing the $4.35 billion in education spending in the stimulus bill, known as the Race to the Top Fund. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has said that states with caps on the number of charter school that can be created, and the ten states that don’t have charter school laws may put their funding at risk, if they don’t change their laws.

Secretary Duncan also said on Monday that he would like charter schools to play a large role in improving the lowest-performing five percent of schools, about 5000 schools across the country. That initiative will be funded by a $3.5 billion school improvement fund, which may increase to $5 billion in 2010.

~Snip~

It's sickening... by 2012, the public school system will be dead as we know it.

[Bozita]

4. Michigan public school employees and retirees should take note of this pension fund "investment"

Fucking disgraceful!

Nice cover for the fund managers, eh?

[Wednesdays]

8. K&R

:kick:

[lilytea]

9. Kiss & Remember

[Bozita]

10. kicking for my outrage

[defendandprotect]

12. kick -- we need more than 24 hrs to recommend . . .!!!