Black Students in Milwaukee Are Demanding Change to Racist Discipline In Public Schools
Black Students in Milwaukee Are Demanding Change to Racist Discipline In Public Schools
A report released Tuesday by the Center for Popular Democracy and the Milwaukee youth group Leaders Igniting Transformation paints a much more troubling picture.According to the report, in the...
A report released Tuesday by the Center for Popular Democracy and the Milwaukee youth group Leaders Igniting Transformation paints a much more troubling picture.According to the report, in the 2016-2017 school year, Milwaukee Public Schools suspended 10,267 students, including one of every three ninth-graders. The Milwaukee Police Department has 12 dedicated officers assigned to public schools and another six deployed on the streets to take truant students into custody. That’s in addition to 269 school safety assistants, the city’s version of school resource officers. That deployment costs Milwaukee taxpayers more than $15 million a year, but it comes at an even greater social cost.
Read the full article here.
At Republican Retreat, Protest Power Was On Display As Progressives Eye Midterm Elections
At Republican Retreat, Protest Power Was On Display As Progressives Eye Midterm Elections
The protesters’ action at the Republican retreat was organized by the Center for Popular Democracy Action, in coordination with local affiliates.
...
The protesters’ action at the Republican retreat was organized by the Center for Popular Democracy Action, in coordination with local affiliates.
Read the full article here.
How Bad Are Waste and Fraud at Charter Schools? This Bad.
NEA Today - May 14, 2014, by Tim Walker - Lax oversight and limited accountability has led to a shocking misuse of taxpayer funds by charter schools nationwide, according to...
NEA Today - May 14, 2014, by Tim Walker - Lax oversight and limited accountability has led to a shocking misuse of taxpayer funds by charter schools nationwide, according to a new report from the Center for Popular Democracy and Integrity in Education.
“We expected to find a fair amount of fraud when we began this project, but we did not expect to find over $100 million in taxpayer dollars lost,” said Kyle Serrette, the Director of Education Justice at the Center for Popular Democracy. “That’s just in 15 states. And that figure fails to capture the real harm to children. Clearly, we should hit the pause button on charter expansion until there is a better oversight system in place to protect our children and our communities.”
The report, “Charter School Vulnerabilities to Waste, Fraud, and Abuse,” examined representative charter school data from 15 states and found instances of charter operators using charter funds for personal use; school revenues being used to illegally support charter operator businesses; mismanagement that put children in potential danger; charter executives illegally inflating enrollment to boost revenues; and charter operators mismanaging their schools.
While many of the instances of fraud and abuse noted in the report resulted from charter school administrators pilfering funds and misrepresenting their successes—a comparatively small number when compared to the national total of charter schools—it should be pointed out that limited oversight has helped foster an atmosphere where these kinds of problems are more commonplace. And much of this hands-off practice stems from the way charter schools have evolved over the ensuing years since their initial conception.
“To understand why there are so many problems in the charter industry, one must understand the original purpose of charter schools,” the report says. “Lawmakers created charter schools to allow educators to explore new methods and models of teaching. To allow this to happen, they exempted the schools from the vast majority of regulations governing the traditional public school system.”
So even as the number of charter schools increases, along with the funding that they receive, accountability measures have been slow to keep pace.
“Despite rapid growth in the charter school industry, no agency, federal or state, has been given the resources to properly oversee it,” the report noted in its introduction. “Given this inadequate oversight, we worry that the fraud and mismanagement that has been uncovered thus far might be just the tip of the iceberg.”
So what are some of the common-sense laws and oversight methods that the report suggests? For starters, establishing an office dedicated to managing and overseeing charters on the state level will help maintain performance standards and temper instances of fraud and abuse. Greater transparency on the part of charters, including independent audits available to the public and easy access to the charter agreements and other pertinent documents, will create a sustainably open atmosphere. And expanding many of the requirements for public schools to charter schools, including non-discrimination and transparency requirements, will narrow the divide in terms of oversight.
“Our school system exists to serve students and enrich communities,” says Sabrina Stevens, Executive Director of Integrity in Education. “We need to have rules in place that can systematically weed out incompetent or unscrupulous charter operators before they pose a risk to students and taxpayers.”
If so-called reformers are so determined to tout charter schools as a panacea for traditional public schools, then at the very least they can be held to the same standards of accountability, oversight, and scrutiny that public schools must take for granted.
“School funding is too scarce as it is; we can hardly afford to waste the resources we do have on people who would prioritize exotic vacations over school supplies or food for children,” Stevens adds. “We also can’t continue to rely on the media or isolated whistleblowers to identify these problems.”
Source
Community Organizing Can Deliver Jobs and More Jobs
Huffington Post - December 22, 2014, by Ana Garcia-Ashley - It was heartening to see Missouri's Attorney General finally take action by...
Huffington Post - December 22, 2014, by Ana Garcia-Ashley - It was heartening to see Missouri's Attorney General finally take action by suing at least 13 municipalities due to their excessive court fees last week.
As the ACLU and the NAACP target the Ferguson Florissant school district to get more diverse representation on their school board, which is heavily white, we see progress on that front as well.
Gamaliel affiliate MCU and its allies are working to get County Executive-elect Steve Stenger to hold a county-wide summit of law enforcement officials and local mayors to promote community policing and an end to racial profiling and excessive court fees. So far, Stenger has agreed in principle to the summit, but a date has not been secured.
We believe it is essential to take a long hard look at what works in the long term in communities of color. In our more than 20 years of organizing, we have found that nothing works better than jobs at getting people off the street and putting money into low-income neighborhoods.
We must put in place criminal justice reforms, but we must put equal attention toward creating more and better jobs as a key long term solution. For that, we must continue our advocacy and organizing efforts.
What we found in our new study, "Jobs and More Jobs" was that in 2012 and 2013, among our 43 affiliates and across 16 states, the Gamaliel network won public policy campaign victories worth more than $13 billion, creating more than 450,000 jobs and generating more than a $17 billion increase in the gross domestic product. The victories ranged from transit access to criminal justice and even included food justice wins. The key takeaway of Jobs and More Jobs is this: organizing creates jobs.
Organizing creates the public space in which real people come together around a shared set of values to build powerful coalitions that improve the civil, social and economic conditions of their communities and it develops leaders who effectively wage and sustain long-term campaigns around the issues they face.
All community organizers have a similar impact -- not just Gamaliel. We urge our colleagues to assess their own impact. Center for Popular Democracy, DART, Casa de Maryland and others could post similar results.
In the end, we know what works post-Ferguson - jobs. We also know how to get there -- organizing. As Margaret Mead said; "Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For, indeed, that's all who ever have."
The 25 page study, called "Jobs and More Jobs," is available for download.
Source
Progress made on community schools initiative
Progress made on community schools initiative
LAS CRUCES - Las Cruces could get its first community school as early as this fall, if a New Mexico State University grant is approved and all of the pieces fall into place. Pending the approval...
LAS CRUCES - Las Cruces could get its first community school as early as this fall, if a New Mexico State University grant is approved and all of the pieces fall into place. Pending the approval of a U.S. Department of Education 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant, which organizers say would help fund an on-site coordinator, Lynn Middle School could be transformed into the district’s first community school.
The initiative is being spearheaded by the SUCCESS Partnership, a collective of Las Cruces nonprofits, education advocates, health and service providers and representatives from the business community. The SUCCESS Partnership is organized by Ngage New Mexico, a Las Cruces nonprofit committed to improving educational outcomes in Doña Ana County.
Susan Brown, an associate professor at NMSU's STEM Outreach Center in the College of Education, helped the group apply for the grant.
The vision is to bring improved access to health and social services, youth and community development and educational opportunities into neighborhoods around Las Cruces by converting each of the district’s 41 school sites into community schools, open to everyone — all day, every day, including nights and weekends.
The community schools project is not an LCPS initiative, Chief of Staff Tim Hand told members of the school board during a presentation on the project Tuesday. The project will rely on the support of numerous community stakeholders and a variety of funding sources.
“We want this for every single school in Doña Ana County,” said David Greenberg, an organizer with Ngage New Mexico.
Soon, organizers will begin working on outreach initiatives to determine the needs of staff, students and parents at Lynn Middle School.
The SUCCESS Partnership will be bringing Kyle Serrette to Las Cruces next week. Serrette, the director of education justice campaigns for the Center for Popular Democracy in Washington, D.C., will give a presentation on community schools from 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Hilton Garden Inn, 2550 S. Don Roser Dr. The presentation is free, and open to the community.
By Damien Willis
Source
US jobless claims at 40-year low: Is the labor market getting better?
The number of Americans applying for new unemployment benefits last week dropped to its lowest point in more than 40 years, signaling that the labor market may be stronger than many economists had...
The number of Americans applying for new unemployment benefits last week dropped to its lowest point in more than 40 years, signaling that the labor market may be stronger than many economists had predicted. But the positive labor numbers do not mean that wage stagnation for those workers who do have a job is likely to end anytime soon.
Initial jobless claims fell last week to a seasonally adjusted 255,000, which is the lowest level since November 1973, the Labor Department reported on Thursday.
Summer is a volatile time for reliable unemployment numbers because it is generally the season that some large car assembly plants close for annual retooling. Because such stoppages don't affect all companies, it's more difficult for the Labor Department to accurately adjust its numbers.
Even with that caveat, Thursday's report points to a growing downward trend of unemployment that indicates a strengthening labor market.
The four-week moving average, which is less subject to weekly fluctuations and a better measure of labor market trends, fell 4,000 to 278,500 last week. The average level of claims has been near that mark since early April.
The numbers are being released as the movement for raising the minimum wage gains ground nationally. With the federal minimum wage at $7.25 an hour, American cities including Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles in the past year have moved to raise their minimum wages to $15 an hour.
On Wednesday, the District of Columbia authorized a petition drive that could put the $15-an-hour minimum wage on the ballot in November 2016 elections. At the same time, a New York panel recommended that fast-food workers at chain restaurants statewide have their wages raised to $15, a move widely expected to be approved by the state's acting labor commissioner.
But that doesn't mean you should immediately march into your bosses' office and demand a raise.
While job growth has picked up and unemployment is continuing its seven-year downward trend, it has not been matched by corresponding wage increases, indicating that the labor market is still predominantly skewed to employers and not workers. Wages have only risen about 2 percent during the past 12 months.
"As an economist watching the economy, we're somewhat surprised that wages pressures have been so muted to this point," IHS Economics senior director Jim Diffley told Reuters. "We do expect an acceleration and in fact think it necessary to continue the recovery."
According to the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, the majority of Americans have faced wage stagnation for the past 35 years, and it is a major factor the rise of family income stagnation and income inequality. Furthermore, the failure of wages to grow highlights gender and racial wage gaps.
United States Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez said that shifting wages out of its stagnation is still a major part of the “unfinished business” of the nation’s economic recovery from the Great Recession.
“The rising tide of this economic wind at our back has to lift more boats,” he told The New York Times.
Optimistic signs of labor market growth have been tempered with a note of caution from the Federal Reserve, which is monitoring labor market conditions, including wage stagnation, to determine whether to raise short-term interest rates.
”While labor market conditions have improved substantially, they are ... not yet consistent with maximum employment,” Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen told members of Congress last week.
Labor groups are calling on the Fed to hold off on rate hikes and focus on pursuing full employment in order to boost both job and wage growth.
“Raising interest rates too soon will slow an already sluggish economy, stall progress on unemployment, and perpetuate wage stagnation for the vast majority of American workers. This harm will be disproportionately felt by women and people of color, who are concentrated in the most vulnerable strata of the workforce,” said a report released by the Center for Popular Democracy and a coalition of labor groups.
Source: Christian Science Monitor
Reclaim School Reform
The Nation - December 4, 2013 - One of the greatest challenges facing American education today is a fantasy, spun by billionaire-funded “think tanks” and often repeated uncritically by politicians...
The Nation - December 4, 2013 - One of the greatest challenges facing American education today is a fantasy, spun by billionaire-funded “think tanks” and often repeated uncritically by politicians and pundits, that our schools are failing, that teachers are shirking their responsibilities and that unions are the root of the problem. Unfortunately, the peddlers of these distortions have held the microphone for so long that the word “reform” is now associated with the crudest assaults on the very infrastructure of public education.
It’s not that reform isn’t called for. Schools are beset with difficulties, mostly born of the inequalities rampant in the larger society. But, as ought to be obvious, education reform must be in the public interest—on behalf of public schools and the children who attend them—rather than private interests, furthering “the corporate agenda for public schools, which disregards our voices and attempts to impose a system of winners and losers,” to quote the mission statement of a new coalition of teachers and their unions, along with parent, student, religious and community groups. This coalition has set itself the task of nothing less than reclaiming “the promise of public education as our nation’s gateway to democracy and racial and economic justice.”
Backed by the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association, as well as national groups like the League of United Latin American Citizens and local organizations like the Philadelphia Student Union and the Boston Youth Organizing Project, this coalition effort—beginning with a national day of action on December 9—picks up the themes of the Chicago Teachers Union strike of 2012, which saw educators and parents unite against school closings. It highlights concerns about resources and classroom energy being diverted to standardized testing instead of kids, concerns that have become a focus of the New York State United Teachers. And it embraces the message of Diane Ravitch, former assistant secretary of education, who argues that the right response to much of what ails public education is a comprehensive anti-poverty agenda that addresses racial and economic inequality by providing healthcare, food and nutrition, and preschool programs that enable teachers to teach and students to learn.
By focusing on a set of “Principles That Unite Us,” organizers are attempting to bridge divisions that too often have been exploited by the privatizers and unionbusters. As Jeff Bryant, an associate fellow at the Campaign for America’s Future who has been active with the Education Opportunity Network, explains it: “Behind nearly every complaint to the education status quo are common grievances about resource deprivation, inequity, public disempowerment, and the widespread perception that governing policies are driven by corruption.”
Of course, shared grievances do not always put those who hold them on precisely the same page. But it is crucial to foster a shared understanding that these very problems are intimately linked to the assault on public education, which is being conducted in the guise of “reform”—and, moreover, that this assault has too frequently placed educators and their allies on the defensive.
The teach-ins, demonstrations and rallies, and ongoing initiatives that will extend from the day of action, will not only challenge cutbacks and closings; they will seek to shift the debate toward broad new commitments to invest in students, teachers and the infrastructure that facilitates learning. The organizers are right to recognize that real reform must proceed from the essential premise that, in their words, “access to good public schools is a critical civil and human right.”
Source
How Can We Combat Wage Theft And Protect Immigrant Workers?
How Can We Combat Wage Theft And Protect Immigrant Workers?
Every year, millions of workers suffer from wage theft when employers or companies do not pay them what they are owed.
...
Every year, millions of workers suffer from wage theft when employers or companies do not pay them what they are owed.
Read the full article here.
Kashkari says Fed has ‘luxury’ of keeping rates low to spur job growth
Kashkari says Fed has ‘luxury’ of keeping rates low to spur job growth
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari said Wednesday that he doesn’t see much inflationary pressure building, arguing that means the central banks has the “luxury” of keeping...
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari said Wednesday that he doesn’t see much inflationary pressure building, arguing that means the central banks has the “luxury” of keeping rates low to help boost continued job growth.
The comments came at a meeting between Kashkari and black community activists in Minneapolis, Minn. to discuss economic disparities between black and white communities. “When I look at the data, I don’t see much inflationary pressure, so we have the luxury of taking time to let the economy keep creating jobs,” Kashkari said to the group. “Everybody at the Fed wants the job market to keep healing and we would love to see more people getting back to work.”
Kashkari isn’t a member this year of Fed’s interest-rate setting committee, which has kept rates near zero since the financial crisis. Since raising its benchmark federal-funds rate to between 0.5% and 0.25% at the end of 2015, the central banks has held rates steady. Its next meeting is Sept. 20-21.
The event was organized by Minnesota Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, part of the Center for Popular Democracy’s Fed Up coalition, which advocates for keeping interest rates low to help boost employment in low-income communities.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
By SHAYNDI RAICE
Source
Major donors consider funding Black Lives Matter
Some of the biggest donors on the left plan to meet behind closed doors next week in Washington with leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement and their allies to discuss funding the burgeoning...
Some of the biggest donors on the left plan to meet behind closed doors next week in Washington with leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement and their allies to discuss funding the burgeoning protest movement, POLITICO has learned.
The meetings are taking place at the annual winter gathering of the Democracy Alliance major liberal donor club, which runs from Tuesday evening through Saturday morning and is expected to draw Democratic financial heavyweights, including Tom Steyer and Paul Egerman.
The DA, as the club is known in Democratic circles, is recommending its donors step up check writing to a handful of endorsed groups that have supported the Black Lives Matter movement. And the club and some of its members also are considering ways to funnel support directly to scrappier local groups that have utilized confrontational tactics to inject their grievances into the political debate.
It’s a potential partnership that could elevate the Black Lives Matter movement and heighten its impact. But it’s also fraught with tension on both sides, sources tell POLITICO.
The various outfits that comprise the diffuse Black Lives Matter movement prize their independence. Some make a point of not asking for donations. They bristle at any suggestion that they’re susceptible to being co-opted by a deep-pocketed national group ― let alone one with such close ties to the Democratic Party establishment like the Democracy Alliance.
And some major liberal donors are leery about funding a movement known for aggressive tactics ― particularly one that has shown a willingness to train its fire on Democrats, including presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
“Major donors are usually not as radical or confrontational as activists most in touch with the pain of oppression,” said Steve Phillips, a Democracy Alliance member and significant contributor to Democratic candidates and causes. He donated to a St. Louis nonprofit group called the Organization for Black Struggle that helped organize 2014 Black Lives Matter-related protests in Ferguson, Missouri, over the police killing of a black teenager named Michael Brown. And Phillips and his wife, Democracy Alliance board member Susan Sandler, are in discussions about funding other groups involved in the movement.
The movement needs cash to build a self-sustaining infrastructure, Phillips said, arguing “the progressive donor world should be adding zeroes to their contributions that support this transformative movement.” But he also acknowledged there’s a risk for recipient groups. “Tactics such as shutting down freeways and disrupting rallies can alienate major donors, and if that's your primary source of support, then you're at risk of being blocked from doing what you need to do.”
The Democracy Alliance was created in 2005 by a handful of major donors, including billionaire financier George Soros and Taco Bell heir Rob McKay to build a permanent infrastructure to advance liberal ideas and causes. Donors are required to donate at least $200,000 a year to recommended groups, and their combined donations to those groups now total more than $500 million. Endorsed beneficiaries include the Center for American Progress think tank, the liberal attack dog Media Matters and the Democratic data firm Catalist, though members also give heavily to Democratic politicians and super PACs that are not part of the DA’s core portfolio. While the Democracy Alliance last year voted to endorse a handful of groups focused on engaging African-Americans in politics ― some of which have helped facilitate the Black Lives movement ― the invitation to movement leaders is a first for the DA, and seems likely to test some members’ comfort zones.
“Movements that are challenging the status quo and that do so to some extent by using direct action or disruptive tactics are meant to make people uncomfortable, so I’m sure we have partners who would be made uncomfortable by it or think that that’s not a good tactic,” said DA President Gara LaMarche. “But we have a wide range of human beings and different temperaments and approaches in the DA, so it’s quite possible that there are people who are a little concerned, as well as people who are curious or are supportive. This is a chance for them to meet some of the leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement, and understand the movement better, and then we’ll take stock of that and see where it might lead.”
According to a Democracy Alliance draft agenda obtained by POLITICO, movement leaders will be featured guests at a Tuesday dinner with major donors. The dinner, which technically precedes the official conference kickoff, will focus on “what kind of support and resources are needed from the allied funders during this critical moment of immediate struggle and long-term movement building.”
The groups that will be represented include the Black Youth Project 100, The Center for Popular Democracy and the Black Civic Engagement Fund, according to the organizer, a DA member named Leah Hunt-Hendrix. An heir to a Texas oil fortune, Hunt-Hendrix helps lead a coalition of mostly young donors called Solidaire that focuses on movement building. It’s donated more than $200,000 to the Black Lives Matter movement since Brown’s killing. According to its entry on a philanthropy website, more than $61,000 went directly to organizers and organizations on the ground in Ferguson and Baltimore, where the death of Freddie Gray in police custody in April sparked a more recent wave of Black Lives-related protests. An additional $115,000 went to groups that have sprung up to support the movement.
She said her goal at the Democracy Alliance is to persuade donors to “use some of the money that’s going into the presidential races for grass-roots organizing and movement building.” And she brushed aside concerns that the movement could hurt Democratic chances in 2016. “Black Lives Matter has been pushing Bernie, and Bernie has been pushing Hillary. Politics is a field where you almost have to push your allies hardest and hold them accountable,” she said. “That’s exactly the point of democracy,” she said.
That view dovetails with the one that LaMarche has tried to instill in the Democracy Alliance, which had faced internal criticism in 2012 for growing too close to the Democratic Party.
In fact, one group set to participate in Hunt-Hendrix’s dinner ― Black Civic Engagement Fund ― is a Democracy Alliance offshoot. And, according to the DA agenda, two other groups recommended for club funding ― ColorOfChange.org and the Advancement Project ― are set to participate in a Friday panel “on how to connect the Movement for Black Lives with current and needed infrastructure for Black organizing and political power.”
ColorOfChange.org has helped Black Lives Matter protesters organize online, said its Executive Director Rashad Robinson. He dismissed concerns that the movement is compromised in any way by accepting support from major institutional funders. “Throughout our history in this country, there have been allies who have been willing to stand up and support uprisings, and lend their resources to ensure that people have a greater voice in their democracy,” Robinson said.
Nick Rathod, the leader of a DA-endorsed group called the State Innovation Exchange that pushes liberal policies in the states, said his group is looking for opportunities to help the movement, as well. “We can play an important role in facilitating dialogue between elected officials and movement leaders in cities and states,” he said. But Rathod cautioned that it would be a mistake for major liberal donors to only give through established national groups to support the movement. “I think for many of the donors, it might feel safer to invest in groups like ours and others to support the work, but frankly, many of those groups are not led by African-Americans and are removed from what’s happening on the ground. The heart and soul of the movement is at the grass roots, it’s where the organizing has occurred, it’s where decisions should be made and it’s where investments should be placed to grow the movement from the bottom up, rather than the top down.”
Source: Politico
5 days ago
5 days ago