House Education and Labor Committee: US schools are in shambles
On Tuesday, February 12, the House Education and Labor Committee held its first hearing of the new Congress, an event which highlighted the desperate conditions in schools across the US.
As Democrat Bobby Scott of Virginia gaveled the session into order, teachers were escalating their demands by other means—on the picket lines. Three thousand striking educators in Denver struck and were enthusiastically joined by thousands of high school students. Charter school teachers from Civitas schools in Chicago had just entered the second week of their strike for higher pay. And three days prior, educators in all 55 of West Virginia’s school districts had authorized a walkout against legislation designed to open the state to charter schools, vouchers and other privatization measures.
The hearing was called to generate discussion on recently-introduced legislation, the “Rebuild America’s Schools Act,” which, Scott said, would generate $100 billion for “physical and digital infrastructure at high-poverty schools.” As he spoke, slides of roach-infested shelves, leaking roofs, broken windows, peeling doors and black mold-covered walls flashed on the screen behind him.
Ignoring the obvious, Scott studiously avoided the word “strike,” rather saying that in Oklahoma, West Virginia, Arizona, Los Angeles “and many cities and states in between, voters are demanding greater support for public education.” Both Democrats and Republicans—determined to squash any movement of educators toward a national strike over wages, working conditions and deteriorating infrastructure—are scrambling to present some kind of minimal legislation to address the all-too-obvious disastrous state of American education.
The hearing titled, “Underpaid teachers and crumbling schools: How underfunding public education shortchanges America’s students,” lasted over three and a half hours and took testimony from four witnesses. President of the American Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten declared that “our members are very, very grateful for the focus of this hearing and for legislation that will invest in school resources and infrastructure.” Also invited was Ben Scafidi, an economist and fellow with EdChoice—a national school choice advocacy group founded by right-wing economist Milton Friedman—who promoted the “free market” model to determine teacher salaries during the hearing, as well as Sharon Contreras, superintendent of Guilford County schools in Greensboro, North Carolina, and Anna King, membership vice president of the National Parent Teacher Association.
In his opening remarks, Rep. Scott referred to the latest “State of Our Schools” report, which, he said, demonstrates that school facilities are “underfunded by $46 billion every year,” but what he omitted was that the same report indicates that $145 billion is needed every year to modernize and maintain the US’s public school facilities. These extraordinary sums expose the staggering inadequacy of his Rebuild America’s Schools Act, which would barely cover one year’s maintenance and construction.
He called for a “bipartisan effort” to press for resources dedicated to school infrastructure as part of President Trump’s promise of a “massive infrastructure package to rebuild America.” He noted in passing that America’s teachers earn on average 30 percent less than other college graduates with equivalent degrees and experience.
Weingarten outlined a few of the indices of systemic underfunding of education including the closure of two elementary schools in Philadelphia due to major mold growth; one-third of Detroit school buildings found to be in “unsatisfactory” or “poor” condition; school closings in Baltimore last winter as indoor temperatures plunged to the 30s and 40s; and textbooks so outdated they showed George W. Bush as the president—widely shared on social media during the strike last spring in Oklahoma. She also mentioned the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2017 report card giving school facilities across the country a D+.
She did not include in her testimony the fact that, as president of the AFT for decades, she has consistently sabotaged any independent or coordinated strike action by teachers to oppose these abysmal conditions, playing an outright strikebreaking role in each and every part of the country. This included her heavy-handed shut-down of the “sickouts” among Detroit teachers in 2016 which demanded action precisely on the above issues. Of course, Weingarten would not need to reiterate to the assembled politicians such facts, because she was called to testify precisely because the AFT, together with the National Education Association, have openly colluded with Democratic and Republican administrations alike in privatizing education and imposing growing austerity on schools.
In the wake of this long record of starving public education, the burden of most school infrastructure maintenance and capital construction now falls on the local communities, primarily through property tax assessments. The federal government covers less than 10 percent of infrastructure maintenance and operation costs, zero dollars for improvements, and totally inadequate resources for instruction.
In fact, the combined federal contribution to education is only 8 percent, leaving the lion’s share of costs coming from state and local revenues—sales, income and property taxes—all of which have declined precipitously since the 2008 recession. To date, 29 states still have not restored education spending to pre-recession levels. Teacher salaries nationwide are still below those of 2007. As many teachers have pointed out, even with an 11 percent pay increase, that would put them just 1 percent above where they were before the 2008 crash.
The Democrats and Weingarten several times referred to Title I legislation that originated in 1965 as a response to the civil rights movement, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) which began in 1975. Appallingly, these federal programs have never been fully funded; in the US spending authorization and actual appropriation of dollars are two distinct congressional functions. In fact, the federal government has never contributed more than 16 percent of authorized funds to the nation’s schools. Federal aid for disabled students was cut by 12 percent under the Obama administration, while Trump’s 2018 budget called for even greater cuts. The program is essentially on rations, with special education in crisis throughout the country.
The Republicans used the testimony of Ben Scafidi to aggressively push the administration’s agenda for school privatization. Scafidi claimed that teacher pay could increase if money spent on “non-teaching” personnel was reduced. He was called on numerous times, primarily by Republican committee members, to reinforce their demand for increased charter schools, vouchers and “less government regulation.”
Scafidi claimed that test scores in Florida and Arizona showed “tremendous gains” because they are the two states “that permit the most choice to charter and private schools. … their eras of enhanced school choice.” He never mentioned, nor did any witness or politician of either party, that the increase in non-teaching personnel might in some way relate to the layoff of over 350,000 educators in 2008. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities noted in 2017 that there remains a shortfall of 135,000 teaching staff since that time.
The most recent strike in West Virginia explicitly opposed the introduction of charter schools, while the defense of public education and the demands to fund public education have been at the center of every walkout by educators over the past year. At this congressional hearing none of the congressmen and women, nor Randi Weingarten, challenged the growth of charter schools or the draining of resources from the public coffers to pay for charter schools or the expansion of vouchers in many states. The mantra of Weingarten has long been “school reform with us, not without us,” while the union is increasingly vying for the dues money of charter school teachers.
Newly-elected Democratic representative from Connecticut, Jahana Hayes, 2016 National Teacher of the Year (and the only teacher on the congressional committee), in her testy response to Scafidi, invoked the government response to the 2008 crash, “… We’re talking about this from an economic standpoint, in dollars and cents. That’s not what education looks like. This is not an economist problem. … If we are treating education and schools like corporations, then I would also say we need a two trillion dollar bailout. This is a profession. This is not mission work.”
However, none of the politicians at this hearing would countenance such a proposal, just as none would consider challenging the blank check given to the military or Homeland Security year after year. Teachers will continue to fight for the necessary funding of public education and the wages they deserve, but it will not come from the Democrats, Republicans or through the efforts of the unions. The resources necessary to expand and upgrade free, public and high-quality education must come through the expropriation of the wealth of the billionaires and corporations, whose wealth was created by the working class.
#RedforEd: Oakland Teachers Begin Strike for 12% Raise over 3 Years
3:31
Oakland public school teachers refused to show up for work on Thursday, launching a strike that is the latest in a nationwide series of teachers’ protests in the “#RedforEd” movement.
The Oakland Education Association (OEA) is demanding a 12% raise over three years from the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD). Teachers also want smaller class sizes, more support staff, and restrictions on charter schools supported by “billionaires” like Bill and Melinda Gates.
The strike is affecting 37,000 students in the district. The OUSD prepared in advance, Bay Area public radio station KQED reported last week, by arranging for “emergency temporary teachers and district staff” to supervise students whose parents could not keep them home.
The non-profit Teach for America organization is being criticized for allegedly encouraging its teachers to cross the picket line as “scabs” to continue serving students.
As Breitbart News reported Monday, citing news reports in California media, a neutral state-appointed fact-finder recommended an agreement that would include a raise of 3% each year for two years, followed by a negotiation for another increase in the third year. The fact-finder also recommended reducing average class size by one.
But teachers rejected those terms. The OUSD is running short of money and says it cannot meet teachers’ demands.
SFGate.com notes that the Oakland strike is part of the nationwide “Red for Ed” movement, which started by organizing teachers in conservative “red states.” In 2019, SFGate.com reports, the movement is focusing on fighting charter schools in “blue states,” where — ironically — liberal mega-donors are involved in school reform.
CNN has predicted that the Oakland strike “will be different from all the others,” because of the vast wealth gap emerging between the tech elite of the San Francisco Bay Area and the rest of the population, which is struggling to keep up with the rising cost of living.
Oakland teachers complain that conditions are forcing many of their colleagues to quit their jobs. But Oakland is not alone in that regard: the Wall Street Journal noted recently that many teachers are finding more lucrative opportunities elsewhere in a rapidly-growing economy where there are more open jobs than unemployed people.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
Immigration Is the Elephant in the Room in L.A. School Strike
https://www.cis.org/Camarota/Immigration-Elephant-Room-LA-School-Strike?utm_source=E-mail+Updates&utm_campaign=7503f20bde-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_08_27_04_17_COPY_01&utm_m
By Steven A.
Camarota on January 25, 2019
The recently
settled teachers' strike in the Los Angeles Unified School district was a
bitter dispute about resources, with class size and lack of staff support
taking center stage. The tables below show that immigration's impact on the
school system is enormous. Immigration has added large numbers of students to
the county, but at the same time a very large share of both legal and illegal
immigrants have modest levels of education and almost certainly pay less in
taxes than natives who have higher levels of education and incomes. Immigration
has also added significantly to the number of public-school students in the
county who live in poverty and speak a language other than English at home.
Overall enrollment has not increased in the district in recent years, but
immigration has reduced the proportion of students whose families pay
sufficient taxes to cover education costs, creating the ongoing strains on the
district budget.
Although it
is not possible to use Census Bureau data to look at only residents of L.A.
Unified, it is possible to examine Los Angeles County to gain insight into
what's happening. We identify legal and illegal immigrants based on the
methodology used in this report.
The data comes from the public-use files of the Census Bureau's 2012 to 2016
American Community Survey.
Among the
findings for L.A. County:
·
Public-school
students from immigrant-headed households comprise 58 percent of public-school
students in Los Angeles County (Table 2).
·
Of
all students in the county, 22 percent are from illegal-headed households and
36 percent are from legal immigrant households (Table 2).
·
The
poverty rate for students from both legal and illegal immigrant households is
more than 50 percent higher than that of those from native-headed households
(Table 1).
·
Of
students in poverty, 70 percent are from immigrant households — 28 percent from
illegal households and 42 percent from legal households (Table 2).
·
Of
students who speak a language other than English at home, 82 percent are from immigrant
households — 35 percent from illegal households and 47 percent from legal
households (Table 2).
·
47
percent of illegal-immigrant-headed households are headed by a person who did
not graduate high school; the figure is 30 percent for legal-immigrant-headed
households. This compares to 7 percent of native-headed households (Table 3).
·
The
average income of illegal-immigrant-headed households is only 58 percent that
of native-headed households; for legal-immigrant-headed households it is 79
percent of native-headed households (Table 4).
·
Illegal-immigrant-headed
households have three times as many students in public school on average as
native-headed households; for legal-immigrant-headed households it is 50
percent higher. (Table 4).
·
Illegal
immigrants (ages 25-64) are more likely to hold a job (76 percent) than natives
(74 percent). The rate for legal immigrants is somewhat lower at 70 percent
(Table 5).
Pollak: Educating Illegal Aliens and Their Children Costs L.A.
Schools Hundreds of Millions Per Year
18 Jan 2019164
3:03
The ongoing strike by the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) union
against the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is about teacher pay,
classroom size, support staff, and especially charter schools, which the union
says take money away from the district.
Left
unspoken, however, is the cost of educating illegal aliens, and their children
— which could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars per year, if not
billions, experts say.
Steven
A. Camarota, director of research, at the Center for Immigration Studies, told
Breitbart News on Friday that “between one-fifth and one-fourth of the students
in LAUSD are the children of illegal immigrants — though most of those were
born in the U.S.” He said that a smaller percentage of the students (“in the
single digits”) are illegal immigrants themselves.
With
roughly 700,000 students in the
district, at a cost of over $13,000 per student, that means
the district could be spending about $1.8 billion annually on educating the
children of illegal immigrants. The total annual expenses for the LAUSD in
2017-2018 amounted to $7.52 billion.
The
Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) put the cost of educating the
children of illegal aliens statewide at over $12 billion in a 2014 study. A significant proportion of
those students are served by the LAUSD.
Twenty
years before, with a much lower population of illegal aliens, the U.S. General
Accounting Office — in a study prepared for then-Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
estimated that California spent $1.6 billion on educating the children of
illegal aliens. The cost has increased almost tenfold as the “undocumented”
population has grown.
The
exact numbers are elusive, but even a conservative estimate would put the costs
of educating the children of illegal aliens in the LAUSD in the same ballpark
as the costs of charter schools, which unions complain cost the district some
$600 million per year in lost funding.
The
U.S. Supreme Court held in Plyler v. Doe (1982)
that students could not be denied a free public education on the basis of their
immigration status.
However,
the continued arrival of illegal aliens has arguably strained the public
education system — and will continue to do so unless the country’s borders are
secured.
Yet
no one in L.A. seems to be discussing the problem.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He is
a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the
co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from
Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
CALIFORNIA and
the RISE OF THE LA RAZA MEXICAN FASCIST WELFARE STATE
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2018/08/they-invading-horde-waving-their.html
Accounting for these differences reveals that California's
real poverty rate is 20.6 percent – the highest in
America, and nearly twice the national average of 12.7 percent.
"The public schools indoctrinate their young
charges to hate this country and the rule of law. Illegal aliens
continue overwhelming the state, draining California’s already depleted
public services while endangering our lives, the rule of law, and public safety
for all citizens."
Least-Educated
State: California No. 1 in Percentage of Residents 25 and Older Who Never
Finished 9th Grade; No. 50 in High School Graduates
California Gov. Jerry Brown and
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) outside the U.S. Capitol, March
22, 2017. (Getty Images/Alex Wong)
(CNSNews.com) - California ranks
No. 1 among the 50 states for the percentage of its residents 25 and older who
have never completed ninth grade and 50th for the percentage who have graduated
from high school, according to new data from the Census Bureau.
Texas ranks No. 2 for the
percentage of its residents 25 and older who have never completed ninth grade
and 49th for the percentage who have graduated from high school.
9.7 percent of California
residents 25 and older, the Census Bureau says, never completed ninth grade. Only 82.5 percent graduated from
high school.
8.7 percent of Texas residents 25 and older never completed ninth grade, and only 82.8 percent
graduated from high school.
California and Texas—while having
the highest percentages of residents 25 and older who never finished ninth
grade and the lowest percentages who graduated from high school—are the
nation’s two most populous states.
In fact, the 2,510,370 California
residents 25 and older who, according to the Census Bureau, never finished
ninth grade outnumber the entire populations of 15 other states.
In California, children are
required to attend school from six years of age until they are 18. “California’s
compulsory education laws require children between six and eighteen years of
age to attend school, with a limited number of exceptions,” says the California Legislative Analyst’s Office, an agency of the California state government. (The National Center for Education Statistics also indicates that children in California are compelled by law to attend
school from 6 to 18 years of age.)
Massachusetts ranks No. 1 for the
percentage of its residents 25 and older—42.1 percent--who have earned at least
a bachelor’s degree.
These rankings are based on data
from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey 5-year estimates, which were
released this month.
In the survey, the Census Bureau asks respondents to specify the level of educational attainment for each individual
in their household. The question is: “What is the highest degree or level of
school this person has COMPLETED. Mark (X) ONE box. If currently enrolled, mark
the previous grade or highest degree received.”
The survey form then offers the
respondent multiple options ranging from “no schooling completed” to
“professional degree” or “doctorate degree.” If an individual has not earned a
high school degree, the respondent is asked to specify the highest grade the
individual actually completed—ranging from “nursery school” through “12th
grade—NO DIPLOMA.”
The Census Bureau’s American
Community Survey queries a random sample of more than 3.5 million U.S.
households each year and publishes a one-year estimate for each year. The
five-year estimate, the bureau says, “is a weighted average of the five
one-year estimates.” The newly released five-year estimates are for the period
from 2013 through 2017.
Nationwide, 5.4 percent of
residents 25 and older have never finished ninth grade, according to the latest
five-year estimates.
Ten states exceeded the
nationwide level of residents 25 and older who have never finished ninth grade.
These include: California (9.7 percent), Texas (8.7 percent), New York (6.5
percent), New Mexico (6.5 percent), Kentucky (6.1 percent), Nevada (5.9
percent), Arizona (5.9 percent), Mississippi (5.6 percent), Rhode Island (5.5
percent), and Louisiana (5.4 percent).
Wyoming—with 1.8 percent—had
nation’s smallest percentage of residents 25 and older who never finished ninth
grade.
In seventeen states, the
percentage of residents 25 and older who at least graduated from high school
was less than the nationwide percentage of 87.3 percent.
These seventeen states included:
California (82.5 percent), Texas (82.8 percent), Mississippi (83.4 percent),
Louisiana (84.3 percent), New Mexico (85 percent), Kentucky (85.2 percent),
Alabama (85.3 percent), Arkansas (85.6 percent), Nevada (85.8 percent), West
Virginia (85.9 percent), New York (86.1 percent), Georgia (86.3 percent),
Tennessee (86.5 percent), South Carolina (86.5 percent), Arizona (86.5
percent), North Carolina (86.9 percent), and Rhode Island (87.3 percent).
Nationwide, 30.9 percent of
residents 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or higher.
In nineteen states, the
percentage with a bachelor’s degree or higher exceeds the national percentage.
These nineteen states include both No. 14 California (32.6) and No. 9 New York
(35.3), which respectively ranked No.1 and No. 3 for the percentage of
residents 25 and older who never finished ninth grade.
The ten states with the highest
percentage of residents 25 and older who earned a bachelor’s degree or higher
are: Massachusetts (42.1 percent), Colorado (39.4 percent), Maryland (39
percent), Connecticut (38.4 percent), New Jersey (38.1 percent), Virginia (37.6
percent), Vermont (36.8 percent), New Hampshire (36 percent), New York (35.3
percent), and Minnesota (34.8 percent).
West Virginia—at 19.9 percent—has
the lowest percentage of residents with a bachelor’s degree or higher.
In another seven states, the
percentage of residents who have a bachelor’s degree or higher is less than 25
percent. They are: Mississippi (21.3 percent), Arkansas (22 percent), Kentucky
(23.2 percent), Louisiana (23.4 percent), Nevada (23.7 percent), Alabama (24.5
percent) and Oklahoma (24.8 percent).
In California, according to the Census Bureau’s five-year estimates, the resident population 25 and older was 25,950,818. Of those
individuals, 2,510,370—or 9.7 percent--never completed ninth grade.
Another 2,033,160 California
residents 25 and older completed the ninth, tenth, eleventh or twelfth
grade—but did not earn a high school diploma. Thus, a total of 4,543,530
California residents 25 and older—or a nation-leading 17.5 percent--have never
graduated from high school.
Those 2,510,370 individuals 25
and older in California who never finished 9th grade outnumber the entire
populations of 15 other states, according to the Census Bureau’s latest population
estimates. These include:
Alaska (737,438), Delaware (967,171), Hawaii (1,420,491), Idaho (1,754,208),
Maine (1,338,404), Montana (1,062,305), Nebraska (1,929,268), New Hampshire
(1,356,458), New Mexico (2,095,428), North Dakota (760,077), Rhode Island
(1,057,315), South Dakota (882,235), Vermont (626,299), West Virginia
(1,805,832), and Wyoming (577,737).
In Texas, the resident population 25 and older was 17,454,431. Of those individuals, 1,513,995—or 8.7 percent—never completed
ninth grade. That outnumbers the populations of 11 states.
Is California the next Detroit?
Most Californians live
within about 50 miles of its majestic coastline — for good reason. The California
coastline is blessed with arguably the most desirable climate on Earth,
magnificent beaches, a backdrop of snow-capped mountains and natural harbors in
San Diego, Long Beach and San Francisco. There is no mystery why California’s
population and economy boomed after the Second World War.
The Golden State was aptly
named. Its Gold Rush of 1849 was followed a century later by massive growth in
the 1950s and 60s. Education in California became the envy of the world.
Stanford became the Harvard of the West. A college education at the University
of California and California State University systems was inexpensive. The
Community College system that fed its universities was ostensibly free.
California’s public school
system led the nation in innovation and almost all of its classrooms were new.
The highway system that moved California’s automobile-driven commerce
eliminated the need for public transportation systems like New York and
Chicago. The fertile soil of the Central Valley became the breadbasket of the
world.
The next golden wave in
the 1980s grew from former orchards south of San Francisco known as Silicon
Valley. Intel and other companies led the world’s computer and software
revolution. In the 1990s, the dot-com revolution brought immense wealth to more
Californians. Its innovators, Google, Apple and others, ushered in the Internet
Era. The 2000s brought the greatest housing and mortgage boom in the nation’s
history, with innovation centered in Orange County. California was truly the
Golden State.
Why then would the author
have the temerity to ask, “When did Californians become Stupid?” And: Is
California the next Detroit?
Unique
oblivion
Californians, due to their
golden history, live in unique oblivion. When the Tea Party movement caused a
political tsunami that swept more than 60 incumbents from political office in
2010, the wave petered out at California’s state line. There was no effect on
the 2010 election that saw Democrats take every elected office in the state.
California voters rejected
Meg Whitman, the billionaire founder of Ebay, in favor of Jerry Brown. Gov.
Brown signed into law a “high-speed rail” bill that will spend $6 billion (the
state does not have) to build a train between Fresno and Bakersfield — not Los
Angeles and San Francisco, as promised. There was little outcry.
California has a $16
billion deficit that no one seems to notice. Brown’s budget “assumes” that
California voters will pass massive tax increases on themselves. If they do
not, the 2013 deficit becomes a mind-numbing $20 billion. The budget, mandated
to balance by the Calfornia Constitution, has been billions in the red for 10
straight years. How could Californians re-elect the same politicians year after
year that produce budgets with multi-billion dollar deficits?
To protect the endangered
Delta Smelt, a fish known better as bait, water has been diverted from the
Central Valley to the Pacific Ocean. Orchards in the Central Valley have been
allowed to wither and die, resulting in unemployment in the Central Valley as
high as 40 percent. Imagine Californians living in what was the breadbasket of
American now living on food stamps. California voters rejected Republican Carly
Fiorina for U.S. Senator in 2010. She ran Hewlett Packard. Instead, they
re-elected Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer ,who vowed to protect the Delta Smelt
at the expense of the Central Valley.
California has 519 state
agencies, like the state Blueberry Commission, that pay each of their
commissioners more than $100,000 per year. State politicians, when asked to
make cuts, fire teachers and fire fighters to inflict maximum pain on its
citizens, while leaving these patronage commissions intact. State politicians
have elevator operators in the state capital to push the buttons for them.
Their solution for the overcrowding of the state’s prisons is to release
inmates or transfer them to local facilities in already bankrupt cities. Yet,
they are re-elected by California voters in numbers consistently higher than
the old Soviet Politburo.
California’s public
education system, once the envy of the world, now ranks 49th in the
nation. Its business climate, according to 650 CEOs measured by Chief Executive
Magazine, ranked dead last. Apple will take 3,600 new jobs to Austin, Tex. at
its $280,000,000 new facility. Texas ranked first in the same survey.
California unemployment is
consistently higher than 10 percent of its workforce, but it’s under-employed,
according to a Gallup poll, is 20 percent. There are few jobs for college
students who graduate with as much as $100,000 in student loans. Despite the
overwhelming evidence that bad public policy is chasing away jobs, the same
state politicians are sent back to Sacramento every two years.
In the last two months,
three California cities have declared bankruptcy. Compton is next. More will
follow. Some cities will simply cease to exist due to $500 million in unfunded
pension obligations they simply cannot meet.
The unfunded pension
obligations, now swamping California cities, were approved by these same
politicians whose re-elections are financed by the unions they serve. Nine
years ago, outraged Californians recalled Gov. Gray Davis from office for
excessive spending and crony capitalism. Nothing has changed a decade later.
Its residents believe the golden state will be golden forever. It may not be
the case.
Detroit
History has an unpleasant
precedent known as Detroit. In the 1950s, Detroit was a major American city
with a dynamic labor force built on the manufacturing miracle that won World
War II. Its factories quickly converted tanks, planes and artillery shells into
trucks, automobiles and refrigerators that baby boom families demanded.
Everyone had a good paying job. Detroit Iron had no competition. Its burgeoning
middle class was the model of the world with excellent public schools and
universities. It was the 4th largest city in America with 2 million inhabitants,
with the world’s most dominant industry — the automobile.
Detroit in 2012 is a
shadow of that once great metropolis. Its population has shrunk to 714,000.
There are 200,000 abandoned buildings in the derelict city. The average price
of a home has fallen to $5,700, unthinkable in California terms. Unemployment
stands at 28.9 percent. It has a $300 million deficit. Its public education
system, in receivership, is a disgrace, producing more inmates than graduates.
The jobs have long ago abandoned Detroit for places like South Carolina and
Alabama, far hungrier than Detroit’s leaders who believed the gravy train would
never end.
In 2006, the teacher’s
union forced the politicians to reject a $200 million offer from a Detroit
philanthropist to build 15 new charter schools. The mayor has proposed razing
40 square miles of the 138 square miles of this once great American city,
returning it to farmland. Even such a draconian plan may not be enough to save
the city from itself.
If a hurricane hit
Detroit, more of us would know of this tragedy in our midst, but this fate was
man-made and not wrought by nature. Detroit has had one party rule for more
than 50 years. Louis C. Miriani served from September 12, 1957 to January 2,
1962 as Detroit’s last Republican mayor. Since that time, the Democrats have
ruled the Motor City.
John Dingell, Democrat congressman for
the 15th District outside Detroit, has served since 1956. His father was
the congressman there from 1930 to 1956. Despite the disastrous decline of
their city, Detroit voters send him back to Congress every two years.
One-party rule
Similarly, California now
has one-party rule. The Democrats of California did not need a single
Republican vote to pass their budget. They now own the Golden State’s fate. The
politicians’ plan to address the nation’s largest deficit is to raise taxes
instead of cutting spending. If the Proposition 30 tax increase passes, the
deficit would drop from $20 billion to a mere $12 billion.
Democrats have done
nothing to cure the systemic problems of a bloated bureaucracy. Brown,
referring to the state’s highway system, once said, “If we do not build it,
they will not come.” Caltrans stopped building highways under Brown, but the
people kept coming. Now 37 million Californians are locked in traffic jams each
day.
Brown was rewarded for
such prescience with re-election as Governor. California’s egotistical
politicians passed AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act in 2006. Dan
Sperling, an appointee to the California Air Resources Board, and a professor
of engineering and environmental science at UC Davis, is the lead advocate on
the board for a “low carbon fuel standard.” The powerful state agency charged
with implementing AB 32 and other climate control measures claims the low
carbon fuel standard will “only” raise gasoline prices $.30 gallon in 2013. But
The California Political Review reported implementation of these the policies
will raise prices by $1.00 per gallon.
Detroit was once the most
prosperous manufacturing city in the world. Will California follow
Detroit down a tragic path to ruin? In 1950, no one fathomed the Detroit of
2010. In 1970, when foreign imports started to make a foothold, the unions and
their bought and paid for politicians resisted any change.
In the 1990’s, as
manufacturers fled to Alabama and South Carolina, the unions and their
political lackeys held firm even as good jobs slipped away. No one in Detroit
envisioned their future, even as schools declined, the jobs withered and the
once proud city deteriorated in front of their own eyes.
No longer
golden
California was once the
Golden State. Today, it is no longer so golden. Its schools are in decline. Its
business climate is equally dismal. Its cities are facing economic ruin, with
exploding pension obligations and a declining tax base. Housing prices have
fallen 30 to 60 percent across the state, evaporating trillions of dollars of
equity. Unemployment remains stubbornly high and under-employment is rife. The
Central Valley is in a depression, with 40 percent unemployment. Do our
politicians need any more signs?
Brown’s budget will first
slash money to schools and raise tuition on its students, while leaving all 519
state agencies intact. He apparently will protect political patronage at all
costs. Jobs, and job creators, are fleeing the state. Intel, Apple, Google and
others are expanding out of the state. The best and brightest minds are leaving
for Texas and North Carolina. The signs are everywhere. State revenues are
declining during many years. Meanwhile, the voters sleep and blindly send the
same cast of misfits back to Sacramento each year — just as Detroit did before
them.
The beaches are still beautiful.
The mountains are still snow capped and the climate is still the envy of the
world. Detroit never had that. But will California’s physical attributes be
enough? If the people of California want to glimpse their future, they need
look no farther than once proud City of Detroit. It can happen here.
Robert J Cristiano, Ph.D., is
the Real Estate Professional in Residence at Chapman University in Orange,
Calif. and a Senior Fellow at the Pacific Research Institute in San Francisco.
Pollak: Educating Illegal Aliens and Their Children Costs L.A.
Schools Hundreds of Millions Per Year
18 Jan 2019164
3:03
The ongoing strike by the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) union
against the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is about teacher pay,
classroom size, support staff, and especially charter schools, which the union
says take money away from the district.
Left unspoken, however, is the cost of educating illegal aliens,
and their children — which could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars per
year, if not billions, experts say.
Steven A. Camarota, director of research, at the Center for
Immigration Studies, told Breitbart News on Friday that “between one-fifth and
one-fourth of the students in LAUSD are the children of illegal immigrants —
though most of those were born in the U.S.” He said that a smaller percentage
of the students (“in the single digits”) are illegal immigrants themselves.
With
roughly 700,000 students in the district, at a
cost of over $13,000 per student, that means the district
could be spending about $1.8 billion annually on educating the children of
illegal immigrants. The total annual expenses for the LAUSD in 2017-2018
amounted to $7.52 billion.
The
Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) put the cost of educating the
children of illegal aliens statewide at over $12 billion in a 2014 study. A significant proportion of
those students are served by the LAUSD.
Twenty years before, with a much lower population of illegal
aliens, the U.S. General Accounting Office — in a study prepared for then-Sen.
Barbara Boxer (D-CA) estimated that California spent $1.6 billion on educating
the children of illegal aliens. The cost has increased almost tenfold as the
“undocumented” population has grown.
The exact
numbers are elusive, but even a conservative estimate would put the costs of
educating the children of illegal aliens in the LAUSD in the same ballpark as
the costs of charter schools, which unions complain cost the district some $600 million per
year in lost funding.
The U.S.
Supreme Court held in Plyler v. Doe (1982) that students
could not be denied a free public education on the basis of their immigration
status.
However, the continued arrival of illegal aliens has arguably
strained the public education system — and will continue to do so unless the
country’s borders are secured.
Yet no one in L.A. seems to be discussing the problem.
Joel
B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He is a winner of the
2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author
of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of
a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
THE REAL
LATINO IN OUR SCHOOLS
Here’s one
teacher’s report on the illegals in our schools.
Subject: Cheap Labor?
This should make everyone think, be you Democrat, Republican or
Independent From a California school teacher.
"As you listen to the news about the student protests over
illegal immigration, there are some things that you should be aware
of: I am in charge of the English-as-a-second-language department at
a large southern California high school which is designated a Title 1 school,
meaning that its students average lower socioeconomic and income
levels. Most of the schools you are hearing about, South Gate High,
Bell Gardens, Huntington Park, etc., where these students are protesting, are
also Title 1 schools. Title 1 schools are on the free breakfast and
free lunch program. When I say free breakfast, I'm not talking a glass of milk
and roll -- but a full breakfast and cereal bar with fruits and juices that
would make a Marriott proud. The waste of this food is monumental, with trays
and trays of it being dumped in the trash uneaten. (OUR TAX DOLLARS AT
WORK) I estimate that well over 50% of these students are obese or
at least moderately overweight. About 75% or more DO have cell phones. The
school also provides day care centers for the unwed teenage pregnant girls
(some as young as 13) so they can attend class without the inconvenience of
having to arrange for babysitters or having family watch their kids. (OUR TAX
DOLLARS AT WORK) I was ordered to spend $700,000 on my department or
risk losing funding for the upcoming year even though there was little need for
anything; my budget was already substantial. I ended up buying new computers
for the computer learning center, half of which, one month later, have been
carved with graffiti by the appreciative students who obviously feel humbled
and grateful to have a free education in America. (OUR TAX DOLLARS A T
WORK) I have had to intervene several times for young and substitute
teachers whose classes consist of many illegal immigrant students here in the
country less then 3 months who raised so much hell with the female teachers,
calling them "Putas" whores and throwing things that the teachers
were in tears. Free medical, free education, free food, day care
etc., etc., etc. Is it any wonder they feel entitled to not only be in this
country but to demand rights, privileges and entitlements? To those who want to
point out how much these illegal immigrants contribute to our society because
they LIKE their gardener and housekeeper and they like to pay less for
tomatoes: spend some time in the real world of illegal immigration and see the
TRUE costs.
*
October 12, 2018
Why the Hispanic Education Gap?
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/10/why_the_hispanic_education_gap.html
An
article published by the Pew Research Center authored by Jens Manuel Krogstad,
titled "5
Facts about Latinos and Education," states, "Hispanic dropout rate
remains higher than that of Blacks, Whites, and Asians." This
hit home for me, because virtually no one else in my family has a degree –
college or otherwise.
Being
Hispanic, I find it nearly impossible to avoid hearing my own culture being
talked about in the media – especially now that DACA, the border wall, and
Trump are all being discussed, often in one sentence. The one thing
that is rarely talked about is our education system and how Hispanics keep
falling behind. The relationship between our culture and the
educational system needs restructuring.
Hispanic-Americans
are growing in numbers and in cultures. I use the term
"cultures" because Hispanics come in all races and backgrounds, and
because of this, they also have their own varying sets of traditions and
values. Latinos desire an education, but their actions do not
correlate with their aspirations. They want an education but do not
do what is necessary to obtain it. Hispanics are the
majority-minority group in America, yet they have the lowest level of
educational attainment of any major demographic slice of the
U.S. Latinos who do not come from an independent educational
tradition are the ones who get hurt.
There
is a disconnect between our society and our cultural beliefs. Most
Hispanics of my acquaintance understand the importance of getting an education,
but only in so far as it leads to immediate earnings to help take care of the
family. Often these two goals are in conflict, and families will
choose jobs over education. For many Hispanics, including me, a
drive for educational achievement was never something our families cared to
instill. My mother expressed the importance of learning another
language and going to school but always enforced getting a job and helping
support the family as the first priority.
As
the Pew article touched on, Latinos dream of going to college and often do, but
their culture does not push them toward it. Hispanics are told
things like: "That's not for you" or "You have to find a spouse
and have kids and raise them." Rarely are we told things like "Go
after your education." The few that do break from the cycle and
go to college run into a plethora of problems, ranging from the micro-fiduciary
issues to the macro-family issues.
Growing
up, I was always in competition with my cousin Joe, from elementary to high
school. We lived in the same household, and would compare
grades. I always felt inferior. Joe was always making the
grades I could not and reading books beyond his grade level. He
would often go above and beyond with his assignments to ensure an A in every
class. Joe had a thirst for knowledge, and anyone who spoke to him
instantly knew he was going to make something of himself. While he
was a shoe-in for a prestigious college, I would be lucky to get accepted
anywhere.
It
came as a big shock to my family and me when Joe dropped out of high
school. He dropped out because he was bored with the education he
was receiving and it felt like a waste of his time, getting something that
would not mean anything. He later decided to obtain his GED so he
could gain entry into a college for a real education.
Our
high school education system is not challenging our bright minds, but is
instead leading them into a vicious cycle of mediocrity. Over the
years, I found college banal and easy, not because I studied and changed my
ways, but because I took easy courses and easy professors who would help me
obtain that "piece of paper." As I moved up from freshman
to junior year, I noticed a steady decline in grades once I found myself in
more rigorous courses. I fell more and more behind when compared to
my peers. Subsequently, at the community college, my cousin was
bored with the same mediocre teaching methods that caused him to drop out of
high school. Therefore, it came as no surprise when he again dropped
out of school.
Our
paths at one point seemed so intertwined that it is hard to understand what
went wrong. I ultimately graduated, went on to graduate school, and
am now a university professor. Joe, on the other hand, continues to
progress through life without nurturing his natural intellectual
affinity. How did a smart kid, who was bound for success, fail at
something that was second nature to him? Experts keep claiming that
it is a money issue, but in fact, that is the smallest issue. The
big problem had to do with his education and culture.
Growing
up Hispanic, we are told things as children that stay with us through
adulthood. We are told family is everything. You
never turn your back on them and stay nearby because they will always be there
for you. Our parents tell us to want more but do not offer support
when we go after our educational dreams. Frequently, discouraging
remarks are made: "Why are you wasting your time with that, get a
job" or "You could be making money and starting a family." We
do not get a support network. I was able to see this subtle
influence only once I moved away to start grad school in Indiana, at Purdue
University.
I
was not a talented student, or even very smart. My family never
supported my choices or my dream of getting a degree. Sure, they
would say things like "go after it," but the moment it became an
inconvenience, they told me to stop. If it were not for a professor
who saw potential and took an interest in me, I might have been in Joe's shoes
now. My mentor pushed me and challenged me to be
better. Once I left my family, I began to see what was keeping me
down: it was my own beliefs and family. These traits are passed down
from one generation to another in a never-ending cycle. In order to
break that cycle and succeed, I turned my back on my culture and my family.
Joe
stayed close to the family around the same location where he grew
up. He got married, bought a house with his wife, and found jobs
that paid. Those jobs are not writing jobs, but they pay frequently
and often. He became a waiter and later a bartender. He
is able to pay his bills and go on trips. He did everything our
culture wanted him to do. All he had to do was give up on
his dreams of becoming a sports journalist. I, on the other hand,
was not ready to let mine go.
It
was years later that Joe told me he dropped out of college. He got
tired of students leaving after four years of college and knowing as much as
they did when they entered the classroom in year one. He got tired
of professors demanding the very minimum on assignments and giving him a B,
which for many colleges has become the new average. He continued,
"Why would I waste my time working hard to get the same grades as someone
who spends most of his time smoking, getting drunk, and not
studying? I thought college would be harder, but instead it is
exactly like high school." He wanted to be proud of himself and
to be around people who valued an education.
Joe
would not settle for anything less than a real education. It is
because of this that I get so upset that in a diverse class of 22 students,
with eight Hispanics on average, I will have five failing my
class. Too many Hispanics are failing college, and it is not because
they are stupid; it is cultural. My Latino students often give me
legitimate explanations as to why they cannot complete the course, but the
constant excuse is for family reasons. Joe would have been one of
the few Hispanics who would be passing a rigorous college-level course. Joe
was so skilled in a system that shortchanged him in high school and again in
college that he was not able to achieve more. He might have been a
great journalist, but who knows now?
Hispanic-Americans
need to start claiming our educational voices and talking about our educational
system. The problem is not money; it is our attitude toward our
education. Our system needs to know that we are not doing well, but
are indeed languishing behind. Our friends, family, and culture
should adapt, and parents need to be involved in their children's educational
outcomes. If Hispanics are in trouble, so are we all.
TEACHER’S POSTING ON
CRAIGSLIST:
Subject: Cheap Labor
This should make everyone think, be you Democrat, Republican or Independent from
a California school teacher.
"As you listen to the news about the student protests
over illegal immigration, there are some things that you should be aware of: I
am in charge of the English-as-a-second-language department at a large southern
California high school which is designated a Title 1 school, meaning that its
students average lower socioeconomic and income levels. Most of the schools you
are hearing about, South Gate High, Bell Gardens, Huntington Park, etc., where
these students are protesting, are also Title 1 schools. Title 1 schools are on the free breakfast and free lunch program. When
I say free breakfast, I'm not talking a glass of milk and roll -- but a full
breakfast and cereal bar with fruits and juices that would make a Marriott
proud. The waste of this food is monumental, with trays and trays of it
being dumped in the trash uneaten. (OUR
TAX DOLLARS AT WORK) I estimate that well over 50% of these students are
obese or at least moderately overweight. About 75% or more DO have cell phones.
The school also provides day care centers for the unwed teenage pregnant girls
(some as young as 13) so they can attend class without the inconvenience of
having to arrange for babysitters or having family watch their kids. (OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK) I was ordered
to spend $700,000 on my department or risk losing funding for the upcoming year
even though there was little need for anything; my budget was already
substantial. I ended up buying new computers for the computer learning center,
half of which, one month later, have been carved with graffiti by the
appreciative students who obviously feel humbled and grateful to have a free
education in America. (OUR TAX DOLLARS A
T WORK) I have had to intervene several times for young and substitute
teachers whose classes consist of many illegal immigrant students here in the
country less then 3 months who raised so much hell with the female teachers,
calling them "Putas" whores and throwing things that the teachers
were in tears. Free medical, free education, free food, day care etc., etc.,
etc. Is it any wonder they feel entitled to not only be in this country but to
demand rights, privileges and entitlements? To those who want to point out how
much these illegal immigrants contribute to our society because they LIKE their
gardener and housekeeper and they like to pay less for tomatoes: spend some
time in the real world of illegal immigration and see the TRUE costs.
College-Grad Salaries Eroded
by Hidden Army of 1.5 Million Visa-Workers
Every
CEO in every company sees the business opportunity: Will I earn higher profits
by replacing my American staff with cheaper H-1B workers? The answer is an
obvious yes.
The
Washington-imposed economic policy of economic growth via mass-immigration
shifts wealth from young people towards older people by flooding the market with foreign labor. That process spikes profits and Wall Street values by cutting salaries for manual and skilled labor offered by
blue-collar and white-collar employees. The policy also drives up real estate prices, widens wealth-gaps, reduces high-tech investment, increases state and local tax burdens, hurts kids’ schools and college education, pushes Americans away from high-tech careers, and sidelines at least 5 million
marginalized Americans and their families, including many who are now struggling
with opioid addictions.
Adios, Sanctuary La Raza
Welfare State of California
A fifth-generation Californian laments his
state’s ongoing economic collapse.
By Steve Baldwin
American Spectator, October 19, 2017
What’s clear is that the producers are leaving the state and the takers are
coming in. Many of the takers are illegal aliens, now estimated to number over
2.6 million. The Federation for American
Immigration Reform estimates that California spends $22 billion on government
services for illegal aliens, including welfare, education, Medicaid, and
criminal justice system costs.
AMERICA:
MEXICO’S WELFARE STATE
… and in
exchange we get 40 million Mexican flag wavers, homelessness, a housing crisis,
heroin & opioid crisis and jobs for legals crisis…. ALL THANKS TO THE
DEMOCRAT PARTY
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2013/08/how-cheap-is-staggering-cost-of-mexicos.html
“Thirteen years after welfare
reform, the share of immigrant-headed households (legal and illegal) with a
child (under age 18) using at least one welfare program continues to be very
high. This is partly due to the large share of immigrants with low levels of
education and their resulting low incomes — not their legal status or an
unwillingness to work. The major welfare programs examined in this report
include cash assistance, food assistance, Medicaid, and public and subsidized
housing.” Steven A. Camarota
“Thirteen
years after welfare reform, the share of immigrant-headed households (legal and
illegal) with a child (under age 18) using at least one welfare program
continues to be very high. This is partly due to the large share of immigrants
with low levels of education and their resulting low incomes — not their legal
status or an unwillingness to work. The major welfare programs examined in this
report include cash assistance, food assistance, Medicaid, and public and
subsidized housing.” Steven A. Camarota
*
ILLEGALS CLIMBING CALIFORNIA’S BORDERS FOR JOBS AND WELFARE:
SAN DIEGO … Mexicans (unregistered democrat anchor baby
breeders (1,877).
In just the month of October 2017 CBP Border Patrol San Diego
border sector reported apprehension of
individuals from Bangladesh (12), Brazil (1), Camaroon (3), Chad (1), China
(16), El Salvador (76), Eritrea (7), Gambia (4), Guatemala (178), Honduras
(54), India (101), Iran (1), Mexico (1,877), Nepal (31), Nicaragua (1), Pakistan (13), Peru (1), Somalia
(1), and “Unknown” (1) — a total of 2,379 individuals. These numbers
are similar to volumes seen in this sector for October since 2012. MICHELLE
MOONS
THE ONCE GOLDEN STATE of
CALIFORNA, NOW A LA RAZA MEX
WELFARE STATE, IS No. 48 OF 50
STATES IN LOWER EDUCATION!
MEXICANS LOATHE LITERACY AND
ENGLISH… SUCH APES THE
GRINGO WHOM THEY HATE!
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2017/08/heres-reason-why-ca-schools-are-no.html
“Mexicans abhor
education. In their country, illiteracy dominates. As they arrive in our
country, only 9.6 percent of fourth generation Mexicans earn a high school
diploma. Mexico does not promote
educational values. This makes them the least educated of any Americans or
immigrants. The rate of illiteracy in Mexico stands at 63 percent." FROSTY
WOOLRIDGE
“Third-generation Latinos are more often
disconnected — that is, they neither attend school nor find employment.” Kay S. Hymowitz
IMPORTING ILLITERACY
TO KEEP WAGES DEPRESSED WE NEED
ENDLESS HORDES OF ILLITERATES JUMPING OUR BORDERS AND JOBS!
That really build a nation? Or
just generate “cheap” labor for fast food operators?
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2017/11/daca-fails-loathing-of-literacy-and.html
REALITY CHECK: MEXICANS WHO JUMP OUR BORDERS AND THEIR ANCHOR BABIES LOATHE ENGLISH AND LITERACY AND HAVE TURNED CA'S LOWER EDUCATION INTO THE WORST IN THE NATION!
"FOR ITS PART, Just Communities claims its trainings are aimed at closing what it characterizes as an achievement gap between Latino and white students."
Here’s one teacher’s report on the illegals in our schools.
TEACHER’S POSTING:
Subject: Cheap Labor This should make everyone think, be you Democrat, Republican or Independent from a California school teacher.
"As you listen to the news about the student protests over illegal immigration, there are some things that you should be aware of: I am in charge of the English-as-a-second-language department at a large southern California high school which is designated a Title 1 school, meaning that its students average lower socioeconomic and income levels. Most of the schools you are hearing about, South Gate High, Bell Gardens, Huntington Park, etc., where these students are protesting, are also Title 1 schools. Title 1 schools are on the free breakfast and free lunch program. When I say free breakfast, I'm not talking a glass of milk and roll -- but a full breakfast and cereal bar with fruits and juices that would make a Marriott proud. The waste of this food is monumental, with trays and trays of it being dumped in the trash uneaten. (OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK) I estimate that well over 50% of these students are obese or at least moderately overweight. About 75% or more DO have cell phones. The school also provides day care centers for the unwed teenage pregnant girls (some as young as 13) so they can attend class without the inconvenience of having to arrange for babysitters or having family watch their kids. (OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK) I was ordered to spend $700,000 on my department or risk losing funding for the upcoming year even though there was little need for anything; my budget was already substantial. I ended up buying new computers for the computer learning center, half of which, one month later, have been carved with graffiti by the appreciative students who obviously feel humbled and grateful to have a free education in America. (OUR TAX DOLLARS A T WORK) I have had to intervene several times for young and substitute teachers whose classes consist of many illegal immigrant students here in the country less then 3 months who raised so much hell with the female teachers, calling them "Putas" whores and throwing things that the teachers were in tears. Free medical, free education, free food, day care etc., etc., etc. Is it any wonder they feel entitled to not only be in this country but to demand rights, privileges and entitlements? To those who want to point out how much these illegal immigrants contribute to our society because they LIKE their gardener and housekeeper and they like to pay less for tomatoes: spend some time in the real world of illegal immigration and see the TRUE costs.
PARENTS SUE TO FIGHT ANTI-WHITE, ANTI-MALE, ANTI-CHRISTIAN, COMMUNIST INDOCTRINATION IN CALIFORNIA
Leftist group “Just Communities” is in the legal crosshairs.
February 22, 2019
Parents in Santa Barbara, California, are suing a leftist hate group called Just Communities and the local school board there to end the group’s taxpayer-funded so-called implicit bias training that has a powerful anti-white, anti-male, and anti-Christian slant.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, was brought by Fair Education Santa Barbara, a nonprofit formed by parents of children enrolled in the Santa Barbara Unified School District (SBUSD).
The group’s lawyer, Eric Early, calls the curriculum used in the district “radical, discriminatory, and illegal.” In a letter to the district’s counsel last September he wrote that “[t]eachers, parents and students have confidentially expressed their concerns that … [the] discriminatory curriculum has led to increased racial animosity toward Caucasian teachers and students.”
Just Communities (its full name is Just Communities Central Coast) has a contract with the Santa Barbara Unified School District to indoctrinate young people into believing that America today is a manifestly immoral, cruel country in which white people routinely oppress non-whites, men oppress women, Christians oppress non-Christians, heterosexuals oppress gays, and the wealthy oppress the poor.
In Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Marxist theorist Paulo Freire urged that schools be used to inculcate radical values in students to transform them into agents of social change. Freire argued that the so-called dominant pedagogy “silences” poor and minority children and that there is no such thing as a neutral educational system. Teachers today are also smitten with the ahistorical, anti-American screeds of Howard Zinn, a Communist Party USA member whose writings they treat as gospel.
Early said the lawsuit aims to halt what he calls a “creeping, social justice warrior, alt-left takeover of the Santa Barbara Unified School District.”
The lawsuit “is doing its best to stop this outfit, Just Communities Central Coast, from continuing to indoctrinate the teachers and young, vulnerable minds of the district with Alinskyist training and beliefs,” Early said.
“The bottom line is it’s time to stop the far-left indoctrination of the district’s teachers and students and it’s time to bring to light what’s really going on in these classrooms to parents who had no idea before this came to light.”
The legal complaint states the SBUSD has “wholeheartedly supported and promoted JCCC’s discriminatory program” and has paid the group more than $1 million since 2013. On Sept. 11, 2018, the school board “considered contracting with JCCC for [an] additional 4 years at a cost to the taxpayers of more than $1.7 million.” On Oct. 8, 2018, the board “renewed its contract with JCCC for another year at a cost to the taxpayers of nearly $300,000.”
SBUSD, according to the complaint, is violating the U.S. Constitution and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 “as they discriminate on the basis of … race” by “intentionally supporting, promoting and implementing JCCC’s programming in SBUSD’s schools with knowledge of its racially discriminatory content and application, which has created a racially hostile educational environment for many teachers and students.”
Fair Education Santa Barbara wants the court to terminate Just Communities’ contract with the school district and filed for a preliminary injunction to freeze the contract while the lawsuit proceeds. The motion for an injunction and other pending motions are expected to be heard by the court in Los Angeles this Monday, Feb. 25.
Fair Education says the injunction is justified because a California statute provides that when a public actor like a school district wants to hire people to do certain work for the district, with very limited exceptions the contracts have to be submitted for public bidding, which was not done in this case.
For its part, Just Communities claims its trainings are aimed at closing what it characterizes as an achievement gap between Latino and white students. Critics counter that the group is trying to turn students into left-wing revolutionaries by encouraging them to become political activists who view the world through the Marxist lens of race, sex, and class.
The complaint states that “[u]nder the guise of promoting so-called ‘unconscious bias’ and ‘inclusivity’ instruction, JCCC’s actual curriculum and practices are overtly and intentionally anti-Caucasian, anti-male, and anti-Christian.”
The training materials used by Just Communities are similar to those used by the extreme-left Southern Poverty Law Center. The SPLC had to pay almost $3.4 million in 2018 to settle a lawsuit with former Islamic radical Maajid Nawaz whom it falsely labeled an anti-Muslim extremist.
America is a deeply racist country, according to the Marxist-influenced, politically correct training materials. White people enjoy special “privilege” because they are white and gain “[u]nearned access to resources that enhance one’s chances of getting what one needs or influencing others in order to lead a safe, productive, fulfilling life.”
“Oppression based on notions of race is pervasive in U.S. society and many other societies and hurts us all, although in different and distinct ways,” the material also states.
It continues, describing “classism” as “[a] system of oppression based on socio-economic class that privilege (white) people who are wealthy and target people (of color) who are poor or working class. Classism also refers to the economic system that creates excessive inequality and causes basic human needs to go unmet.”
“The work of dismantling racism is an ongoing process, not a one-time event, seminar, or course from which one graduates,” the material states. “The process calls for a lifelong commitment to eliminating all injustice."
“Just Communities’ bigoted indoctrination is the very antithesis of our aspirational goals for all students,” James Fenkner of Fair Education Santa Barbara told FrontPage via email.
Fenkner has four daughters, three of whom attend school in the school district.
“I fully support the suit because I fundamentally believe that everyone should be judged upon the quality of their character, not the color of their skin,” he said. “Just Communities’ divisive curriculum, as evidence by their grotesque ‘Forms of Oppression,’ poisons the well of goodwill between all children and perpetuates the dead-end notions of group victimhood, guilt, and retribution.”
The “Forms of Oppression” grid to which Fenkner refers is part of a bundle of teaching materials used by Just Communities. The horizontal table states, for example, that “racism” is a “form of oppression” that the “privilege group” of “white people” use to take aim at the “target group” of “people of color.” The grid uses the same format to describe “sexism,” “heterosexism,” “classism,” and so on.
Jarrod Schwartz, executive director of Just Communities, denied the substance of the allegations against his group, according to the Santa Barbara Independent.
“It’s not who we are, not what we do,” Schwartz said. “The work is not about blame or guilt,” he said. “We’re very intentional about not saying people are oppressors. It’s systems that are unequal.”
Santa Barbara’s education sector has become infected with doctrinaire radicalism.
Santa Barbara City College adjunct professor Celeste Barber appeared on “Fox & Friends” Jan. 30 to tell how she was heckled at a Jan. 24 meeting of the college’s board of trustees. Attendees tried to shout down Barber, who is a member of Fair Education Santa Barbara, when she spoke out against the board’s ban on reciting the Pledge of Allegiance during meetings.
SBCC board president Robert Miller previously told Barber by email that the pledge was banned because it contains the phrase “one nation under God” and because it is “steeped in expressions of nativism and white nationalism.”
“There is nothing white nationalist about the Pledge of Allegiance,” Barber told Fox.
“There’s no reference to race, to gender to ethnicity. It’s all inclusive. That’s why school children around the country, thousands of them recite it every day because it includes everybody who lives in this country.”
Bad publicity forced the SBCC to drop the ban. The college announced on Facebook the day before Barber’s television appearance that the Pledge “will be recited” at board meetings “until some future date when the matter may be reconsidered by the Board.”
And Santa Barbara is just one of many communities across America that has come under the control of radical education theorists and practitioners.
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