Jack O'Connell, The Federal Charter School Grant, and The Education-Political-Complex

Jack O'Connell

What has California got to do with New York State? Alot. The earth is a very small planet, and the United States is a smaller part of this small world. With the internet, what happens anywhere can be read/experienced instantaneously by anyone, anywhere there is an internet connection.

We can see below that our federal money will now be given to Charter Schools. I hope everyone recognizes that this is part of the process known as "de-public-ing schools" perpetrated by a select few who work within the education-political-complex ("EPC"). The EPC uses the following tactics in pursuit of their Agenda:

1. removal from public education of Labor Unions by getting rid of teacher tenure and other benefits;

2. destruction of curriculum by hiring non-educators as Chancellors/Administrators, who force unworkable standards and dumbed-down testing on school staff in order to close public schools and replace with schools directly and totally under their control;

3. give immunity to anyone who will lie, cheat or steal public money in support of the non-public goals cited by school leaders; this makes all staff beholden to The System (especially important during times of economic downturn where high levels of fear of unemployment stop people from whistleblowing the actions of anyone) by establishing a dual-level hierarchy for accountability. If the principal commits a crime or acts in a way that is not appropriate, you will be removed from your job if you tell on him/her, and if anyone finds out about the misconduct you will be found guilty of doing it or sustaining the crime (either way, you lose);

4. establish terror in the workplace so that no one speaks to anyone about anything that happens in a school;

5. hire beholden former cops as "investigators" to substantiate false claims against targetted individuals (this is the reason why Mayor Mike Bloomberg changed the Special Commissioner's position - formerly open to only an Attorney - in 2002 from the required Attorney to a non-Attorney, Richard Condon, who is a long-time family friend of Rose Gill Hearn at the Department of Investigation);

6. run out of town anyone who is exposed by the media or super snoops as involved in the EPC, get him/her hired in another state for more money or at least enough money to remain silent about the EPC.

my thoughts for today.

Betsy Combier

PS: Is Jack O' Connell a twin of Arne Duncan, (pictured below) or are my eyes playing tricks?



U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan

REL#10-83
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PHONE: 916-319-0818
CONTACT: Tina Jung

July 26, 2010
E-MAIL: tjung@cde.ca.gov

State Schools Chief Jack O’Connell Announces California
Is Awarded Federal Charter Schools Grant

SACRAMENTO – State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell today announced the California Department of Education (CDE) was awarded a major federal Charter Schools Program grant through the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Innovation and Improvement. California applied for $300 million in federal Charter School start up grant funds. The U.S. Department of Education has not yet announced the amount California will receive from this competitive grant program.

“High quality charter schools can spur innovation and provide communities more flexibility to create the kind of learning environment they want for their children,” said O’Connell. “This infusion of federal funding will give a boost to communities trying to initiate and share information about a charter school, so the organizers can focus their attention on helping students succeed academically.”

California's federal charter grant application specifies that the state will use the federal funds to increase the number of high quality charter schools in the state with stronger fiscal, governance and academic accountability training and reporting requirements. The funds are also intended to sustain charter schools' capacity to improve the academic achievement of students and support the dissemination of effective practices of high quality charter schools. Preference will be given in the distribution of the funds to assist the development of high quality charter schools located in high need communities where students attend schools in Program Improvement.

O’Connell has long been a supporter of high-quality charter schools that can serve as laboratories of education innovation. A charter school is a public school that usually is created or organized by a group of teachers, parents, and community leaders or by community-based organizations. A charter school may be sponsored by an existing local public school district governing board or county board of education.

Charter schools are generally exempt from most laws governing school districts, except where noted by law. In exchange for this increased flexibility, charter schools are held accountable for improving student academic achievement. The objective is to replace rules-based governance with performance-based accountability, thereby stimulating the creativity and commitment of teachers, parents, and citizens.

The federal Charter Schools Program funding is designed to help communities in the planning, program design, initial implementation, and dissemination of information on charter schools. As the grantee, the CDE will make the funding available as subgrants on a competitive basis to developers of charter schools who have applied for a charter. Charter schools will be able to apply for the subgrant funding once federal review of several requested waivers is complete, and the Legislature has approved a budget and the disbursement of the funds.

Once an applicant is awarded a subgrant through the CDE, the funding may be used for the planning and design of the education program for a charter school, refining the desired education results, refining methods for measuring progress toward achieving those results, and the initial implementation of the charter school. Implementation may include informing the community about the charter school and acquiring necessary equipment, materials, and supplies.

The CDE may reserve up to 10 percent of the grant for another subgrant to share lessons learned from high-quality charter schools with a demonstrated history of success. The purpose would be to share information about how to create and sustain high-quality, accountable schools with other public schools and charter schools.

Information on the federal Charter Schools Program may be found on the U.S. Department of Education Web site at http://www2.ed.gov/programs/charter/index.html.

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The California Department of Education (CDE) is a state agency led by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell. The core purpose of CDE is to lead and support the continuous improvement of student achievement, with a specific focus on closing achievement gaps. For more information, please visit http://www.cde.ca.gov or by mobile device at http://m.cde.ca.gov/. You may also follow Superintendent O'Connell (@SSPIJack) on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/sspijack.