Experts Discuss Failures of School Privatization and Mayoral Control

Mayoral Control of Rochester schools is something we hear a lot about. Mainstream media speak of it as if it were something good, and something that has to happen but is being blocked by a few special interests. There is another whole side to the issue. Fifty people gathered at Rochester's School Without Walls on November 9 to hear five experts discuss the other side.

The panel was moderated by Dr David Hirsch, professor of Education at the University of Rochester. Panelists were John Pavone, Vice President of the Rochester Teacher's Association, Rosemary Rivera, a community organizer, Paul Hetland, a teacher at School Of The Arts and Dr Pauline Lipman of the University of Wisconsin department of Education. Dr Lipman is author of High Stakes Education, a book critical of high-stakes testing intended to serve as a model for scholarship and activism. A second book, The New Economy of Urban Education is due out in March 2011. A representative of the superintendent's office was invited but did not attend.

Pauline Lipman spoke at length about a doctrine known around the world as Neoliberalism that is being applied to our educational system. The term is not well-known to Americans and many progressives believe that because it contains the word “liberal” it's something good. The basic framework of this neoliberalism is something that should sound familiar to all Americans: Reaganomics.

The idea behind this neoliberalism is to deregulate everything and turn it over to the “free market, ” remove trade barriers, allow open flow of capital, dismantle social welfare programs, privatize government services and switch from an economy based on manufacturing to one based on finance (which might otherwise be called “gambling”). Supposedly competition in education was supposed to lower costs and prepare students for the labor market. But the reality is different. Education is not the reason the economy is failing. Productivity is up but wages are down. Wealth is impacted at the top.

Dr Lipman is from Chicago, whose school district is the third largest in the US. “Chicago Reform” or as it was officially called “Renaissance 2010” was begun in 2004 in the Chicago schools. High-stakes testing was introduced to judge performance of schools and determine teacher pay. Neighborhood schools were closed and local boards of education eliminated. Schools were privatized and staffed with non-union teachers. This plan was contrived by a group called the Commercial Club of Chicago. It was a business plan, not an educational plan. The governing board is appointed by the mayor and consists of 7 members. All of its members are either bankers, real estate developers or corporate CEO's. There are no educators, or anyone with a degree in education on the panel. This “grand experiment” has been exploited extensively by right-wing media and think tanks, but it has not improved education or the educational environment in Chicago. Neighborhood schools were replaced with “selective enrollment” schools which required passing high-stakes tests to get into. Charter schools were established by corporations for profit, not by communities. Underachieving kids are pushed out. This is happening almost entirely in schools populated by African-Americans and Latinos. It is not happening in the White schools, leaving many in power oblivious to the seriousness of the problem. It also ignores cultural factors. Chicago youth are territorial and students transported from one neighborhood to another clash with the locals, sometimes violently. Gang activity and turf wars have increased as a result. High-stakes testing has resulted in a “dumbing down” of the student population as teachers teach only what is on the test. No longer does a teacher dedicate her or his life to the profession. Turnover is high as teachers leave due to stress, burnout, low pay or poor test scores. Currently the Chicago school system is in a state of disarray. The third CEO has recently resigned. The mayor appointed yet another business person as a replacement.

Unfortunately this Chicago Reform has become a national model. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is from Chicago and has used it as the basis for the Obama Administration's “Race to the Top” program. It is being spread around the country. States are broke due to unemployment and recession. The Administration is going around with Federal money for struggling urban school districts but only if they “do things differently.” By differently they mean the disbanding of local school boards, mayoral control, union concessions, and privatization of services. Rochester Mayor Duffy was in attendance at Duncan's Conference of Mayors, shortly after Duncan was appointed to his position. Sometimes “reform” goes even further, with charter schools and vouchers for private schools. Author Naomi Klein referred to this as “Disaster Capitalism,” the exploitation of a crisis by business to make a profit. Detroit and New Orleans were two cities who suffered the most under this program. It was one of the factors that kept many New Orleans residents from returning to their homes.

Now that we have identified the problem and it's causes, what do we do to solve it? Organizing, opposing neoliberalism and establishing alliances in areas where none existed in the past are the keys. Dr Lipman points to what she refers to as “The Other Chicago.” There is a strong resistance by parents and teachers, especially in the Black and Latino community. There is also active youth organizing across neighborhood boundaries. There is a new progressive caucus in the teachers union called CORE for Council Of Rank and file Educators. They plan to hold an upcoming conference on “Teaching for Social Justice.” This involves developing an educational agenda based on social justice, not economics and absolutely not corporate profit. All must have an equal opportunity to learn. Transformation must come from the community, not the board room. Positive proposals need to be put forward, and focus shifted from output to input. We need to build on the public's concerns, not dismantle them. We need to have kids who value learning. To do that we need to create schools worthy of our children, inclusive of minorities and non-English speakers. These reforms are backed by some influential national organizations including the NAACP and Urban League. The teachers union in the past was often focused strictly on pay and benefit issues. It needs to become more involved with the community and with helping teachers help students to succeed. John Pavone pointed out that 42 percent of the teachers union members are registered Republicans, but the union only supports Democratic candidates.

We need to re-frame the debate on this issue. As activist Rosemary Rivera put it, We are currently against high-stakes testing and mayoral control, but we have to be FOR something. This is a historic moment. Our system is in great danger but it is also a time of great opportunity. We need to make real changes, not just tinker around the edges. The powers that be have no solutions and the remedies they propose are counter productive. Rochester has a very progressive community when it comes to this issue. An audience member from Buffalo commented that compared to Buffalo's appointed city/county control board, mayoral control “looks progressive.” Teacher Paul Hetland compared opponents of mayoral control to opponents of the Iraq war. Mainstream media treats it as something that has to happen and if you are opposed to it you are sympathizing with the “other side.” Meanwhile just what is the City's agenda? The mayoral control people won't tell us.

There was strong commentary from the audience. This debate goes beyond mayoral control and schools. It is a fight for Democracy. Thanks to the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, the last election was more a sale than an election. How dare these corporate financial raiders who outsourced our jobs and foreclosed on our homes think they should be the ones running our schools? We need to look at what works in the classroom, not the market. We need a proper critique and analysis of neoliberalism. There is no evidence that it is the answer and plenty of evidence that it is not. Much of the influence that financial institutions have over our educational system comes from the fact that governments must borrow money to meet their budgets. But there are other ways to finance education. The nation's wealth has not disappeared, it has become concentrated in the hands of a very wealthy few. By taxing corporations and the rich, we could hire even more teachers. Privatized high-stakes education is not the solution to our problems. The elimination of greed and injustice is.

Pauline Lipman closed by saying that the people who will fight the longest and hardest are those whose children are affected. We need to hear from them, address their concerns, build alliances and earn their respect. The community needs to be able to respond to parents who say “I need something for my child right now.” We need to organize and be sure our voices are heard.