Michigan Republicans: Let’s privatize public school teaching

In Michigan, a state perennially crippled by budget deficits, public school districts across the state have already outsourced their bus drivers, cafeteria workers, sports coaches, and janitors to try and save money. Now Republicans in Michigan’s state Legislature want to take the outsourcing frenzy one giant leap forward by privatizing public school teaching, Mother Jones reports. Michigan Republican Sen. Phil Pavlov, who chairs the state Senate’s education committee, is preparing legislation that would allow public school districts to hire teachers through private, for-profit companies…

Click here for the full story

…Read More

9 bills that would put creationism in the classroom

State governments are grappling with massive budget deficits, overburdened social programs, and mountains of deferred spending. But never mind all that. For some conservative lawmakers, it’s the perfect time to legislate the promotion of creationism in the classroom, reports Mother Jones. In the first three months of 2011, nine creationism-related bills have been introduced in seven states—that’s more than in any year in recent memory…

Click here for the full story

…Read More

Tea Party frontrunner: Abolish public schools

It’s fairly common for conservative political candidates to support eliminating the federal Department of Education. But in California, tea party darling and congressional candidate David Harmer has gone further, reports Mother Jones. He’s advocated eliminating public schools entirely and returning education to “the way things worked through the first century of American nationhood,” when educational opportunities for poor people, African-Americans, women, the disabled, and others were, to say the least, extremely limited. Harmer, the son of former California Lt. Gov. John Harmer, could soon be taking his anti-public school views to Washington. Nate Silver, the New York Times’ polling guru, gives Harmer a 54.7 percent chance of ousting two-term Democrat Jerry McNerney in California’s 11th Congressional District. So far, Harmer’s views on education haven’t become a major issue in the race. (Dem attacks have focused on his work for a credit card company accused of predatory lending, as well as his later work for JPMorgan Chase.) But Harmer’s views on education—he’s referred to public schools as “socialism in education”—are far from mainstream. They don’t align with those of his own party’s gubernatorial candidate: In her final debate against former Gov. Jerry Brown, Meg Whitman advocated strengthening California’s public schools…

Click here for the full story

…Read More