As readers of this blog know, deregulation of charters leads to fraud, graft, and abuse. On this site, I have documented scores of examples of fraudsters and grifters who take advantage of weak (or no) oversight to enrich themselves and to strand children in bad schools.
A few days ago, John Oliver ran an excellent segment about charter schools and the fraud associated with them. He barely scratched the surface. Charter supporters are furious and are saying that he “hurt” children, he savaged children, etc. (This is a familiar tactic; when I criticized the improbable test scores in New York City almost a decade ago, I was told that I was “hurting children and their teachers” by questioning the validity of the dramatic rise in scores.)
Fraud is a feature of deregulation, not a bug. When no one is looking, some people steal. Not everyone steals, but many do. That is why Ohio, Florida, Michigan, and California are scamming taxpayers. No one is demanding accountability. Politicians get paid off by charter friends, then cripple any effort to oversee them Ohio and Michigan spend $1 billion a year to subsidize charter schools, which are lower-performing than public schools.
The corporate reformers and privatizers are bombarding John Oliver with tweets and messages attacking his show.
Please let him know you support him.
Please take the time to contact John Oliver by writing him at management@avalonuk.com.
And tweet him @iamjohnoliver.
Don’t let the charter industry intimidate him.
I did not realize that Oliver was receiving such blowback, though to be honest I probably should have.
I have already sent my tweet in support of his work and I encourage you to do the same.
John Oliver is doing the work that many journalists are just not doing, so he needs to know that what he does is both necessary and appreciated.
For those who may have somehow missed this segment on charter schools, here you go.
Yeah, I see how that could have panicked the private charter school folks.
And that is a good thing.
Source http://ift.tt/2bGmyU5
