63 Shares 0



63

0







An important question is on the 2016 election state-wide ballot in Massachusetts. Question 2 deals with the state’s charter school cap. Without the cap, upwards of 12 charter schools could be approved by the state district in the next fiscal year. The charter school scam has spread its tentacles into the state ofMassachusetts in large part due to the Obama Administration. A vote "no" is thus critical toward halting the march of privatization in the education system occurring nation-wide. As Massachusetts residents gear up to vote for the next President of the United States, it is important to remember that the transformation of public education into a private good will not cease as long as popular opposition fails to confront its roots in Washington.

The Obama Administration immediately created the Race to the Top program after the 2008 election. This program paved a direct path toward the elimination of public education as we know it. The Department of Education funneled billions of US dollars into incentive schemes to privatize public schools district by district. Federal funds were dangled in front of mostly poor, mostly Black cities as long as these districts met the "mandates" of the program. These mandates included the closure of "failing schools," mergers with for-profit charter schools, and the complete transformation of public schools into charter laboratories. Race to the Top created favorable conditions for private capitalists to engulf the entire US public education system.

The results have been disastrous. Hundreds of public schools have closed around the country. Tens of thousands of public school teachers have been fired. In New Orleans, nearly every school operating in the district is a privately owned by "publicly funded" charter schools.The Chicago teachers union recently averted a strike but has been dealing with the consequences of the closure of fifty schools in the city in 2013.

The impact of charter schools has extended beyond teacher layoffs and school closures. Charter schools have also promoted segregation based on race and class. The Civil Rights Project of UCLA has found that seventy percent of black charter school students attend intensely segregated charter schools. Furthermore, charter schools also demand an even more intense policy of standardized testing withcurriculums that are often guided by the test corporations themselves. All the while, these institutions have found ample time to discriminate against ELS and disabled students.

In addition, charter schools have been found to cheat students from a quality education. Charter schools are even more militarized than traditional public schools and sport higher rates of suspension and expulsion rates. Corporate charter operators also "cream" students from the top and toss the rest. Even so, charters have not proven to do any better than public schools in terms of test scores. What the charter school movement does possess is the backing of the elite, which has masterfully used media and non-profit manipulation to demonize public education.

The usual capitalist players have been the primary leaders in the drive to rid of the charter school cap in Massachusetts. The New York Lobbying group "Families for Excellent Schools" is controlled by Hedge Fund managers whose funds stem from donations from the Walton Family (i.e. Wal-Mart). Another organization, "Education Reform Now Advocacy," has received upwards of 11 million dollars from the same source. Charter schools are often labeled "public" because they receive tax payer dollars. However, the schools are accountable to no one except the corporate interests that back them.

A "Yes" vote on Question two would place the education of students in Massachusetts firmly in the hands of the kingpins of privatization. Not only would twelve charter schools per year be subject to approval, but forty-five public schools would be in danger of closure. Over 100 million more dollars per year would be siphoned from public schools across the state. At the moment, the charter school cap allows the state to operate no more than 72 charter schools. If the cap islifted, however, this restriction would no longer apply and leave the students, families, and educatorsvictimto the "shock and awe" privatization which has characterized national policy for over two decades.

Opposition to privatization is being led by the organization Save Our Schools. Save Our Schools consists of families, teachers, students, and unions that are looking to prevent an era of unbridled privatization in the Massachusetts public education system. Charter schools already drain 450 million from public education in the stateeach year as it currently stands. A vote "no" would protect public schools and thus the unions that representtheir educators.

A "no" vote would build upon numerous labor victories in the Massachusetts area over the last few years. The Boston School Bus Drivers union Local 8751 won a historic victory against the Veolia Corporation in 2015. The Harvard Dining Workers of Local 26 UNITE HERE followed by defeating Harvard's bid to raise healthcare costs in October of 2016. Now it is time to stand with teachers across the state in their effort to prevent full-scale privatization.

Doing so will not be easy. The model of union-management cooperationwith theDemocratic Party continues to prevent workers in Massachusetts and across the country from taking offensive action against the privatization assault. A vote "no" on question 2 in Massachusetts would show that community and union members can organize a successful push-back against the forces behind privatization. However, a vision of transformation and radical change must be articulated if defense of public education is to materialize into a people's movement. The fight against privatization must be placed in the contextof the larger struggle to build a world that working and oppressed people would vote "yes" to.