Welcome to Cashing in on Kids, a newsletter for people fed up with the privatization of America’s public schools—produced by In the Public Interest.
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How billion-dollar book companies are ripping off public schools. “By locking school districts into contracts that turn them into captive consumers, corporate tech providers are draining public education budgets that don’t have a penny to spare.” The New Republic
How to fix the DeVos wreckage. A sweeping editorial from the New York Times offers ideas on how the Biden administration can begin to fix the wreckage Betsy DeVos left behind. The New York Times
Capital and Main’s Larry Buhl also weighs in with “Five Ways Joe Biden Can ‘De-DeVos’ U.S. Education.” Capital & Main
Florida charter school terminated after “systematic dysfunction.” A Florida state appeals court has affirmed a county decision to terminate the charter contract of a Tampa-area charter school. “The school opened in 2018 but was returned to the district after an investigation showed widespread evidence of ‘systematic dysfunction,’ including unpaid bills and teachers not receiving paychecks.” 10 Tampa Bay
“A ‘pause’ is need in charter school expansion.” Rhode Island State Rep. Gregg Amore (D-East Providence) is calling for a pause on more charter schools, after the state’s K-12 Council approved three new schools and permitted the expansion of three more. The Providence Journal
Who is Miguel Cardona? The Network for Public Education has some thoughts on Biden’s selection of Miguel Cardona for Secretary of Education:
“He is neither for nor against charter schools, even though Connecticut experienced some of the worst charter scandals in the nation (think the Jumoke charter chain), is the home base of the Sackler-funded ConnCAN (which morphed into 50CAN, to spread the privatization movement nationally), and is the home base of Achievement First, one of the premier no-excuses charter chain, known in the past for harsh discipline. Network for Public Education
Photo by Paige Bollman.