When charter schools first appeared in the ’90s, they aimed to experiment with innovative educational strategies to later implement in all public schools. Fast forward to today, when charters have grown into a national industry with 2.5 million students, 6,000 schools and a growing market of management services, vendors, policy shops and advocacy organizations – an industry that has its sights set on the nearly $750 billion spent each year on public education in the U.S.
A new report by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, however, shows that state charter laws, regulations and oversight have not kept up with the rapid growth of charters. The lack of effective oversight has resulted in far too many cases of fraud and abuse, too little attention to equity, wasted taxpayer money and eroded public trust.
Far too many charters have been plagued by scandals, abuses and poor educational standards.
» Read more about: Study Calls for New Charter School Standards »
To the five members of the Long Beach Harbor Commission, the decision to renew an old lease for a coal-export terminal was an easy one. Metropolitan Stevedore has operated a dry-bulk terminal at the Port of Long Beach since 1962, from which it moves everything from soda ash to coal to petroleum coke (“petcoke”), a carbon-intensive refinery byproduct. Oxbow Carbon and Minerals, run by William Koch, brother to Charles and David, has long subleased a coal shed from Metro, where it stores petcoke and coal for export. Under the new contracts, Metro will continue its lease for the next 20 years, and Oxbow will now lease directly from the Port for 15. Beyond that, not much has changed.
“The amount of coal exported is going to be roughly the same,” says Port spokesman Art Wong. “The facility’s going to operate as it always has.” For the Port,
» Read more about: Coal Is Still King at the Port of Long Beach »
Cashing in on Kids, a joint project of In the Public Interest and the American Federation of Teachers, is working to ensure that parents, teachers, students and taxpayers continue to have a strong voice in how we run our schools and educate our nation’s children. Below is an action that needs your attention.
The FBI is currently investigating Concept Schools, Inc., a charter management company, which operates 19 schools in the state of Ohio. The federal investigation is for “white-collar crime,” self-dealing, and misusing federal money meant for the neediest students.
Given the seriousness of the allegations, it is likely that all 19 Concept charter schools will be shut down, but too often this puts taxpayers on the hook for the schools’ liabilities and debts.
Can you sign our petition today and help us protect taxpayers from any more grief and costs created by Concept Schools?
» Read more about: Make Charters — Not Taxpayers — Pay for Closed Schools »
Sunday’s extreme heat didn’t prevent some 200-plus Angelenos from gathering in the Ann and John Nickoll Family Sanctuary at Temple Isaiah for an informal economic summit. The audience for this Westside event, partly sponsored by Bend the Arc, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, included District 5 Councilman Paul Koretz.
The crowd saw a screening of economist Robert Reich’s 2013 film Inequality for All. Narrated by Reich, this documentary provides some of the most incisive analyses of the causes of the income gap yet found in the popular media. The film is recommended viewing for anyone wanting to learn how the American middle class has become an endangered species.
But many in the audience had already seen the film and after the lights came up emcee Serena Zeise brought out the guest speaker and Reich friend, Harold Meyerson.
» Read more about: Harold Meyerson on Economic Inequality’s Tipping Point »
On September 10 Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 1522 into law. The landmark legislation dramatically expands labor benefits for an estimated 6.5 million private-sector workers (including seasonal, part- and full-time employees), mandating they earn at least three paid sick leave days a year from their employers, effective July 1, 2015.
“AB 1522 is transformative,” the bill’s author, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego), told Capital & Main. Gonzalez, who chairs the Assembly’s Select Committee on Women in the Workplace, added: “If you look back in history California has always led the way in furthering workers’ rights, from the minimum wage to an eight-hour workday.”
Before Governor Brown signed AB 1522, about 39 percent of the state’s labor force earned no paid sick leave benefits. As a result many workers faced two undesirable options when ill: Stay home and lose pay, or show up to work and expose others,
Politics is the art of compromise. On this note, Capital & Main asked Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) about the removal of 365,000 In Home Support Service (IHSS) workers from Assembly Bill 1522, the paid sick leave bill she authored. (See “Landmark Sick Leave Law Signed.”) The measure, signed into law September 10, grants this employment benefit to 6.5 million private-sector workers statewide. It takes effect on July 1, 2015. IHSS workers help the disabled and elderly with their daily household and medical needs. According to the Economic Policy Institute, nationally 93 percent of such workers are female, with 27 percent of them Hispanic and 18 percent African American.
“At the end of the day,” Assemblywoman Gonzalez said, “we were forced to take that specific group out. “It was a condition of having the bill signed by Governor Brown. His view is that IHSS workers are in the middle of statewide bargaining,
» Read more about: Paid Sick Leave Law Excludes Homecare Workers »
Over a span of 20 summer days truck driver Daniel Linares had moved some 110 cargo containers at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach for Pacific 9, a drayage company based in Carson.
Linares’ August 15, 2014 check showed his gross earnings to be $3191.87. But another line item on the check stub offered a nasty payday shock: By Pac 9’s calculations Linares owed the company $296.47. In other words, he had received a “negative” paycheck.
Pac 9, a company whose “180-plus independent drivers” annually deliver more than 100,000 containers from Southern California’s ports and whose “customer list includes many of the most recognizable Fortune 100 companies,” according to the company website, had handed Linares the bill for the insurance, registration and other expenses incurred for the truck he leases from the company. He had already paid up-front for its fuel.
» Read more about: Port Truck Drivers Receive “Negative” Paychecks »
There has been increased attention recently paid to America’s vast infrastructure needs. The White House, in conjunction with the Treasury and Transportation Departments, even held a summit this week to bring together key leaders from state and local governments, as well as private sector investors, to discuss best practices for increasing investment in infrastructure projects in our communities.
We know that rebuilding America can be an effective way to rebuild our economy as well, but only if the deals are designed in a way that truly reflects the needs of our neighbors and our neighborhoods. That’s why we at In the Public Interest developed the Infrastructure Justice framework, a useful document for anyone who wants to ensure the investments that fund infrastructure projects meet the true infrastructure needs of our communities and help build the middle class.
By carefully evaluating public-private partnerships (P3s), and negotiating to include best practices for transparency,
In this uncertain post-recession era, economic inequality seems to be the only thing you can count on being in full supply. It’s certainly a subject that’s increasingly on people’s lips – thanks in no small part to Jacob Kornbluth’s 2013 documentary, Inequality for All. The film, wryly narrated by economist Robert Reich, lays out Reich’s astute perspective on how our country has arrived at the point where 400 Americans own more wealth than the entire bottom half of the country combined.
Sunday the Southern California Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union will screen Inequality for All, an event that will serve as a refresher course for some and an eye-opener for others who have not seen the film. Afterwards, Harold Meyerson, American Prospect editor-at-large and Washington Post columnist, will offer his always lively insights into what’s happened since the documentary’s premier, along with a discussion of commercial property tax reform.
» Read more about: Harold Meyerson Speaks on ‘Inequality for All’ »
Among the puffier news stories making the rounds today has been Monday’s unveiling of a portrait of former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger by painter/photographer Gottfried Helnwein. (The artist’s other subjects have included singer Marilyn Manson and Schwarzenegger’s fellow Austrian, Adolf Hitler.) The portrait is a giant, hyper-realistic yearbook image of a smiling Schwarzenegger, backgrounded by a ghostly outline of California’s state seal. It will hang in the Capitol next to a wildflower landscape occupied by a more modestly proportioned Gray Davis, the man Schwarzenegger replaced after the 2003 recall election.
It’s worth remembering that Davis didn’t lose his job because he was some corrupt autocrat along the lines of Louisiana’s Huey Long. Instead, he was the collateral damage from a Texas-sized conspiracy led by energy trader Enron to hike up the cost of electricity for Californians. The resulting budget crisis and public backlash led to a celebrity coup in which frustrated citizens were allowed,