Why do corporations want our public schools?

Latest

Detroit teachers refused to report for work in a sick-out in 2016 over the announcement of insufficient funds to continue paying them what they were owed. “The school system only spends about $7,000 per pupil and half of that goes to debt service so this protest is about the kids,” said a teacher who after six years makes less than when he started.
PHOTO/DAYMONJHARTLEY.COM

 
The destruction of our public school system in favor of privatized corporate run schools began long before Trump, under both Republican and Democratic administrations. Why do corporations want our public schools? Because they want the annual taxpayer funded education budget of $607 Billion!
One of their first steps has been to target the $287 billion in public school teacher pay and benefits. In Ohio, for example, charter schoolteachers make 59% of what public school teachers make. If corporations paid all teachers at the Ohio rate, the potential profit could reach $118 billion. But are kids getting a better education in private schools? Stanford University studied test data from 27 states. In reading, 75% showed no improvement or significantly worse results. In math, 71% showed no improvement or significantly worse results.
Billionaire Betsy Devos, Trump’s Education Secretary, aims to ensure corporate for-profit schools, diverting billions from public education. In her home state of Michigan, Detroit public schools are privatized or left with rats, falling ceilings and broken plumbing. Our only solution is to join the fight for the national public ownership of public education, the only way to guarantee quality education for every child.
(Information from Yes! Magazine infographic)
 
Hungry to learn
Contributed to the People’s Tribune by educators
Homelessness and food insecurity now affects every level of public education, from pre-school to K-12 through higher education.
At the University of Hawaii 21% of students are food insecure. For City University of New York, it’s 39%. More recent reports indicate that over half of the students attending certain colleges in Oregon, Maryland, and Alaska are food insecure. In one of the few studies on the topic, 20% of students reported being hungry and 13% were homeless.
Massachusetts has 29 public college campuses; 25 have food assistance programs. UCLA is opening a food bank. At California’s 23 Cal State level campuses, 20% of students are food insecure. At the state’s community college level, 33% of students go without adequate food during each month. The United Teachers of Los Angeles has made one of their contract demands that all schools become community schools with a 360 wrap-around of necessary services. (Data from Wisconsin Hope Lab, “Hungry to Learn” 2015.)
In the 2012-13 school year, 51% of students from pre-k-12 were eligible for the federal program that provides free and reduced-price lunches. The lunch program is a rough proxy for poverty, but the explosion in the number of needy children in the nation’s public classrooms is a recent phenomenon that has been gaining attention among educators, public officials and researchers.
Hunger is increasing in an era when an abundance of food is being produced. How can students learn if they are hungry? What is wrong with this picture?

+ Articles by this author

Free to republish but please credit the People's Tribune. Visit us at www.peoplestribune.org, email peoplestribune@gmail.com, or call 773-486-3551.

The People’s Tribune brings you articles written by individuals or organizations, along with our own reporting. Bylined articles reflect the views of the authors. Unsigned articles reflect the views of the editorial board. Please credit the source when sharing: ©2024 peoplestribune.org. Please donate to help us keep bringing you voices of the movement. Click here. We’re all volunteer, no paid staff.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Featured

Immigrants Begin 13th Hunger Strike This Year at Tacoma Detention Center

More than 40 migrants held at ICE's infamous Northwest Detention Center in Washington state have begun a hunger strike to protest conditions there.

The Right Wants to Divide Rural People and the Working Class. Here’s How We Unite.

The director of the Appalachia People's Union speaks on why the South is ready to stand up to Trump.

A Third Woman Died Under Texas’ Abortion Ban. Doctors Are Avoiding D&Cs, Reaching for Riskier Miscarriage Treatments

Thirty-five-year-old Porsha Ngumezi’s case raises questions about how abortion bans are pressuring doctors to avoid standard care even in straightforward miscarriages.

‘Who Was Officer?’: Family Still Seeks Answers From Jackson Police a Year After Son’s Burial

Dexter Wade, killed by off-duty officer, was mistakenly buried by Hinds County, Mississippi in a pauper’s field. His mother seeks answers to what happened to her son.

Students Walk Out Across the Country to Protest Trump’s Election

Read the speech delivered by a student at the student walkout at MSU two days after the Presidential election. Thousands of students nationwide walked out to protest Donald Trump's election and his policies on the same day.

More from the People's Tribune