SF Meeting Time to Fight Back Now! Stand Up To Defend Public Education

2/20 SF Meeting TIME TO FIGHT BACK NOW! Stand UP To Defend Public Education

TIME TO FIGHT BACK NOW! Stand UP To Defend Public Education
Statewide Initiative To Repeal California Charter Laws Shutting Down Publicly Funded Privately Run Charters
Saturday February 20, 2016

12:00 Noon

San Francisco City College Ocean Campus
Science Building Room 200 San Francisco, CA

Public education is under attack from City College in San Francico to the CSU and public schools that are battling charter privatization. Billions of dollars have been spent by the super wealthy to attack teachers scapegoating them for the crisis in education, while pushing privatization in every school, college district and public university in the country. Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, the Gates, Broad, KIPP and the Walton Foundation owned by the Walmart family are firmly implanted in California education and throughout the country. Top government officials get funds from them and help implement their political agenda. They are electing privatizers to school boards throughout the state and the politicians are appointing privatizers to the California Board of Education, Community College Board of Trustees and University of California Regents.

This forum will look at how the privatizers are attacking unions and working people, and how workers and our unions can go on the offensive. We will discuss the statewide initiative to repeal California charter laws and how this initiative can be used to challenge the further privatization of public education. The California charter school laws were passed in 1992 and now the supporters of charters are seeking to take over entire school districts. Also religious cults are using the charter laws to set up religious charter schools threatening secular education in California and charters are re-segregating the schools.

SFSU and other CSU CFA faculty may be going on strike for a contract. CCSF AFT2121 also has no contract, and the administration is implementing a 26% cut in classes and staff. It is time to unite all education workers, students and supporters of public education throughout the state, and act collectively including the demand for making the billionaires pay for free public education in California.

Public worker unions have over a million members in California, and we need to look at how we can build a real education political campaign to stop the onslaught of union busting and attacks on public workers.

Speakers:

Kristyn Jones, United Teachers Of Richmond Executive Board Member
Kathy Carroll - Public Education Advocate And Lawyer Whistleblower at the CA CTC
Professor Bob Price - CCSF , AFT 2121 delegate to SF Labor Council
Brian Crowell - Berkeley Federation Of Teachers delegate to CFT Convention
Representative of Puerto Rican Teachers Union FMPR And Lessons On The Fight Against Charters
Dr. George Wright - AFT 1493 Retired Skyline Community College and Chico State College
UPWA Mehmet Bayran, Journalist On Turkey Education Privatization and Repression of Kurdish and Turkey Teachers

Sponsored by: United Public Workers For Action (http://www.upwa) (415) 282-1908, info [at] upwa.info
Voices Against Privatization of Education (http://www.facebook.com/CitizensForEducationRestoration)

http://www.sos.ca.gov/administration/news-releases-and-advisories/2016-news-releases-and-advisories/proposed-initiative-enters-circulation16/
https://notocharterschools.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/defend-public-ed-statement.pdf
https://www.oag.ca.gov/system/files/initiatives/pdfs/15-0114%20%28Repeal%20Charter%20Schools%29.pdf?
https://rally.org/RepealCharterSchoolLaws

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/01/18/public-schools-under-attack-what-would-martin-say
https://gadflyonthewallblog.wordpress.com/2016/01/27/top-10-reasons-school-choice-is-no-choice/
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/jan/31/charter-expansion-raises-questions/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/17/charter-school-co-location_n_3613540.html
http://www.ourmdea.org/index.html
http://www.tribunetalk.com/?p=878

Voices Against Privatizing Public Education Initiated November 2016 ballot to REPEAL the CA Charter School Act of 1992
Voices Against Privatizing Public Education, a statewide coalition of labor activists, parents, educators and community activists is working hard to save our public schools from mass privatization, mass segregation and union busting perpetuated by the charter school industry. We believe the most effective way to stop the corporate takeover of our public schools is to place a ballot initiative on the November 2016 ballot to REPEAL the CA Charter School Act of 1992.
Charter schools are resegregating our schools, cherry picking their students, busting up unions and using our schools and our kids for profiteering.
But we can fight back! We can repeal the charter school laws in the state of California that have allowed our tax dollars to generate profits for billionaires and investors while our public school children suffer with fewer resources.
Just a few of the reasons charter schools laws MUST be repealed in California:
Union Busting – the charter school industry as a whole is anti-union. Many of their CEOs have bloated salaries while their teachers are often “at will” employees.
Private School Boards – Charter schools receive public funds but charter schools have private school boards unaccountable to us, the taxpayers. These boards are often those who have business, personal, religious or other ties to the schools’ founders. Real traditional public schools have school boards that are elected by the public.
Cherry Picking, Fraud, Embezzlement – It is well documented that charter schools cherry pick students, reject students with special needs, reject students who are English language learners and reject students with low test scores. The charter school industry also have a horrible lottery system for admission that should never be allowed in any public education system.
Resegregation – There are a number of university studies showing increased segregation based on race and income in the charter school industry. This is illegal, immoral and shameful. This should NEVER be tolerated in any public education system.
Exempt from California’s Education Code – Charter schools are exempt from many laws including sections of the education code. For example school administrators in charter schools do NOT have to be licensed/credentialed, so you can have someone walking the street who has NEVER seen the inside of a teacher preparation program, let alone a school administration program become a CEO or a principal or a vice principal of a charter school. The same goes for school counselors in charter schools- they do NOT have to be licensed. In our REAL traditional public schools ALL school administrators have to be licensed and so do our school counselors.
Safety Concerns – Charter schools are exempt from building safety code requirements such as the Field Act which sets minimum standards for school building construction and even any renovation of any school building and there are rigorous inspection requirements for building and/or renovation. Charter schools ARE exempt from these requirements. Our REAL traditional public schools MUST comply with all building safety requirements of the Field Act. This is of particular concern in California, where we often have earthquakes.
Lower Standards for Teachers – In charter schools all teachers are NOT required to be licensed/credentialed. In fact, in many low income areas you will find charter schools with not only very inexperienced teachers but also teachers who are completely unlicensed. This is reminiscent of the Jim Crow era and pre-Brown v. BD of Education where separate but equal was tolerated. In REAL public schools, all teachers of record whether the subject be art or math, must be licensed/credentialed.
Violations of Separation of Church and State – Another disturbing trend is the fact that charter school operators are using our public funds to inject religious beliefs into the classroom which is a serious violation of the constitutional mandate of separation of church and state. Please see 60 Minutes piece on the Gulen Charter Schools run by Fetullah Gulen as just one example. Our true public schools absolutely cannot teach, promote or inject religious doctrine of any sort in our public education system and to do so would be a violation of both state and federal constitutions.
Problems Run Too Deep for Band-aid Fixes – The charter school corruption-financial scams, conflicts, kickbacks, fraud, cheating scandals, segregation and discriminatory practices simply run too deep and the legal loopholes are just too numerous to attempt any patchwork fixes like trying for more accountability-these are mere band-aid solutions that will not cut out the insidious cancer that the charter school industry has become on our public education system. Charter school laws (California and elsewhere) must be repealed and we must focus strictly on improving our REAL traditional public schools so ALL students, not some have a fair opportunity to learn.
Profiteers Must Be Stopped – The stakes are extremely high here- our REAL public schools are at serious risk of being dismantled by profiteers like Eli Broad, Bill Gates, Michel Milken and the Walton Family- unless we the people who care about our PUBLIC education system come together and stop them by repealing the CA Charter School Act. The billionaires will continue to pull every trick in the book to keep siphoning off public education monies that belong to our REAL public schools.
The public schools are OUR schools, not Eli Broad’s, Bill Gates’ or any other billionaire’s! By placing an initiative on the 2016 ballot we will be able to let the people’s voices be heard above the noise and false claims created by the lobbyists for those who want to make a profit off our kids.
We will need funds for gathering signatures, printing costs and getting the word out about our initiative. Voices Against Privatizing education is a grassroots organization. We are parents, grandparents, educators, attorneys, filmmakers, publishers, and concerned citizens from all backgrounds. We do not have funds from the wealthy and powerful. We need your help. Please contribute what you can to help save California’s public schools. And please sign our online petition.
Together, we can we can save our public schools.
Donate here at Rally.org or you may send a check to: Any checks should be made out to:
REPEAL Charter School Laws
Checks should be sent to:
Repeal Charter School Laws Attention: Diana Mansker- Treasurer 7753 Laurie Way Sacramento, CA 95832