Neoliberalism, Charter Schools and the Chicago Model: Like Bush's, Only Worse

[Hannah Bell]

It should be no surprise that Barrack Obama supports charter schools. As the junior senator from Illinois he doubled the amount of charter schools in his state...

Since his election, Obama has pledged $100 billion dollars of federal money for a stimulus for public schools throughout the nation. But there’s a hitch; in order to qualify for federal monies the states that apply for the stimulus money must remove any caps they have on the amount of charter schools that can be created in their states, and those states that do not have charter school laws, of which there are currently ten, either will have to pass laws allowing the growth of charters or miss out on any stimulus funding...

But the real story and the prospects for the nation’s future educational policy can be best revealed by Duncan’s historical involvement as a technocrat with the neoliberal policies created in Chicago under the Renaissance 2010 project launched by Mayor Daley in 2004; here, Duncan was the darling of business elites and their public policy makers during his seven year tenure as CEO of Chicago Public Schools...

Duncan is also known to not only be a ardent defender of corporate involvement in, and privatization of, public schools, but he personally oversaw the attempted closing of 20 Chicago public schools in low-income neighborhoods of color in 2004...During the first half of 2004 before details of any school reform plan under Renaissance 2010 had been announced by Duncan, Bronzeville community members, part of the Mid-South of Chicago, anxiously awaited the release of the Mid-South plan...Initially the community was told that a decision had been made by the “secret cabinet” to improve 20 schools between 31st and'47th Streets along the Dan Ryan Expressway east to Lake Michigan...The details of the Mid-South plan as it was known among elite policy making circles, was leaked to the press on July 24, 2009. But the plan leaked to the press didn’t call for any improvements of the public schools in the area as citizens had been falsely led to believe; instead it called for the closure of 20 of the 22 public schools in the community...The community members argued that the plan was concocted and put into place by Duncan to rid the community of its residents in order to further gentrification plans for the new urban land reforms...


http://www.counterpunch.org/weil08242009.html

[MichiganVote]

1. People..wake up. Schools ceased being "public" eons ago. Schools today are a business.

Maybe a poor business, but a business all the same. All this stuff about local control and school boards is mere fluff. Schools are nothing but a business these days and the federal and state gov. call the shots.

[blindpig]

2. Hmmm

Guess the teachers unions are going to have to ramp up their campaign donations....

Money talks and bullshit walks, government 101.

[blindpig]

3. kick n/t