Poll: Voters like Charter Schools but Want More Oversight
The Seattle Times - March 12, 2015, by Leah Todd - Voters want greater oversight for charter schools and more assurance that charters — independently run but publicly funded schools — won’t hurt...
The Seattle Times - March 12, 2015, by Leah Todd - Voters want greater oversight for charter schools and more assurance that charters — independently run but publicly funded schools — won’t hurt other public schools by drawing students away, a new national poll suggests.
Two education policy groups that are generally skeptical of charters — In the Public Interest and the Center for Popular Democracy — conducted the poll, which involved interviews with 1,000 randomly selected registered voters from across the country.
They found that while the public is mostly supportive of charter schools, most voters surveyed said they wanted better financial auditing and oversight. Though nearly one in three respondents said they knew nothing about charter schools, 62 percent said they would prefer to decrease or keep the same number of charters in their area.
A lack of choice about where to send children to school wasn’t a major issue among the voters interviewed — only about 10 percent listed that as a top concern.
The top areas of concern for those surveyed were lack of parental involvement, too much focus on standardized tests and large class sizes.
The voters surveyed overwhelmingly supported audits of charter schools’ finances to detect fraud or waste, and said that before a charter school opens, its impact on nearby public schools should be studied.
The former is already happening in Washington state, where the charter school commission has increased its oversight of the state’s lone charter following financial and organizational problems. The commission has added more financial reporting to its charter application process and has ordered a state audit into the school’s finances.
This year, lawmakers in six states considered bills to limit the number of charter schools in their states, and nine states proposed increasing charter-school transparency and adding oversight, according to Kyle Serrette, director of education at the Center for Popular Democracy.
In Washington, Sen. Jeannie Darnielle, D-Tacoma, proposed a bill that would mandate performance audits for charters and allow no more than three charter schools to open simultaneously in any single school district. The bill died in committee.
You can dig into more of the poll’s results here.
Source
LA is Taking On the Fair Workweek Fight - It Could Change Your Life
LA is Taking On the Fair Workweek Fight - It Could Change Your Life
The Center for Popular Democracy did an extensive national study of retail workers in 2017, surveying over 1,000 people working in retail and finding that despite statewide minimum wage gains and...
The Center for Popular Democracy did an extensive national study of retail workers in 2017, surveying over 1,000 people working in retail and finding that despite statewide minimum wage gains and some voluntary reforms by employers, many people struggle to achieve economic stability due to significant income volatility and wage stagnation.
Read the full article here.
La diáspora cambia el enfoque de su apoyo a Puerto Rico
Había un activismo entre la diáspora puertorriqueña en Estados Unidos, pero era más cultural enfocado en las paradas y en realzar los valores puertorriqueños, pero nada fuerte”, dijo Julio López...
Había un activismo entre la diáspora puertorriqueña en Estados Unidos, pero era más cultural enfocado en las paradas y en realzar los valores puertorriqueños, pero nada fuerte”, dijo Julio López Varona, portavoz de varias coaliciones de organizaciones puertorriqueñas en Connecticut, Pensilvania, Nueva York, Nueva Jersey, Nevada y Carolina del Norte, entre otros, y quien es portavoz de la organización Centro para la Democracia Popular.
Lea el artículo completo aquí.
Confronting white supremacy: Radicalized white men are on a reign of terror
Confronting white supremacy: Radicalized white men are on a reign of terror
Radicalized white men are on a reign of terror, and I’m not just talking about the tiki-torch terrorists in Charlottesville. I’m talking about the white men who are threatening our health care,...
Radicalized white men are on a reign of terror, and I’m not just talking about the tiki-torch terrorists in Charlottesville. I’m talking about the white men who are threatening our health care, our schools, our communities, our institutions, and our families through their callous and self-serving policies. Hoods have been replaced by pinstripe suits.
Read the full article here.
Fox Host Falsely Claims New York's Municipal ID Program Will Give Undocumented Immigrants Voting Rights
Fox Host Falsely Claims New York's Municipal ID Program Will Give Undocumented Immigrants Voting Rights
Media Matters - September 19, 2014, by Cal Colgan - Fox News co-host Steve Doocy claimed New York City's new law allowing municipal identifications to all city residents will allow...
Media Matters - September 19, 2014, by Cal Colgan - Fox News co-host Steve Doocy claimed New York City's new law allowing municipal identifications to all city residents will allow undocumented immigrants to vote in state and local elections. But New York City's election law clearly stipulates that only U.S. citizens can vote, and experts explain that the municipal IDs provide much-needed services the city's residents.
New York City Mayor Announces Municipal IDs Will Give Free One-Year Access To New York Cultural InstitutionsNew York City Mayor Bill De Blasio Announces Municipal ID Will Give Free One-Year Access To City's Cultural Institutions. On September 19, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that residents who register for the city's municipal identification cards in January 2015 will receive free admission to the city's top cultural institutions for one year:
"The municipal ID is a powerful tool to bring more New Yorkers out of the shadows and into the mainstream. It is now also a key that opens the door for hundreds of thousands of more New Yorkers to our City's premier assets in culture, science and entertainment," said Mayor Bill de Blasio. "The Municipal ID Card embodies the values we cherish most about inclusivity and equality, and these memberships are another step forward on providing greater access and opportunity for our people." [NYC.gov, 9/18/14]
Fox Host Claims Municipal ID Program Will Give Undocumented Immigrants Voting RightsFox's Steve Doocy: Undocumented Immigrants Could Use ID Cards To Vote In Local And State Elections. In a September 19 segment highlighting de Blasio's municipal ID program, Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy claimed that New York City's new municipal ID program will allow undocumented immigrants to vote in local and state elections:
DOOCY: Mayor de Blasio here in New York City ran on making sure that people in this country illegally who make New York City their home could get an I.D. card that they could use to, among other things, vote in local and state elections. Well, now, to try to get as many people as possible to get these cards, these New York City municipal I.D. cards, what they're doing is they're going to have incentives. Go ahead, get a membership for one year to 33 of the city's signature cultural institutions, like the Bronx Zoo, the Met, Lincoln Center or Carnegie Hall. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 9/19/14]
New York City's Election Laws Prohibit Non-Citizens From VotingNew York City Board Of Elections: Only US Citizens Can Register To Vote. According to New York City's Board of Elections, only U.S. citizens are eligible to register to vote in the city (emphasis added):
To register to vote in the City of New York, you must:
1. Be a citizen of the United States (Includes those persons born in Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands).
2. Be a New York City resident for at least 30 days.
3. Be 18 years of age before the next election.
4. Not be serving a jail sentence or be on parole for a felony conviction.
5. Not be adjudged mentally incompetent by a court.
6. Not claim the right to vote elsewhere (outside the City of New York). [Board of Elections in The City of New York, accessed 9/19/14]
Municipal IDs Provide Much-Needed Services For Undocumented ImmigrantsCenter For Popular Democracy: Municipal IDs Improve Undocumented Immigrants' Access To Community Services And Increase Community Participation. In a 2013 report on municipal ID programs, the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) explained that the "ability to provide proof of identity is a basic necessity" that affects "almost every aspect of daily life." According to CPD, having access to identification cards improves overall community safety by giving undocumented residents better access to local authorities, allows cardholders access to "basic services" like cashing checks and seeing a doctor, and decreases problems of racial profiling. CPD explained the goals of municipal IDs in their report:
Improve community safety by making it easier for those without state-issued ID to interact with local authorities. Improve access to financial services by providing a form of ID that will allow those without other forms of identification to open bank accounts. Mitigate impact of racial profiling. Make symbolic statement of welcome and solidarity to immigrant residents. Promote unity and sense of membership in the local community among all residents. [Center for Popular Democracy, December 2013]Catholic Legal Immigration Network: "Offering Municipal ID Cards To All City Residents Is Fundamentally Fair." In an April 14 memo, the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC) asserted that cities throughout the US should issue municipal ID cards to all residents and that doing so would allow marginalized residents access to basic necessities like community safety, housing, health care at local clinics, and financial services:
All residents deserve the right to be identified. The ability to prove one's identity is a fundamental human right - not a privilege. Municipal ID cards allow all residents the opportunity to participate more fully in the economy and meet their basic needs such as buying groceries. Paying for purchases with a check, credit card, or debit card often requires an ID. Identification will enable card holders to access services essential to their families such as renting apartments, obtaining utilities, accessing health clinics, filling prescriptions, acquiring insurance, and picking up their children at school. Enabling individuals to open bank accounts so that they don't have to carry their savings protects them from theft. Access to banking services allows people to save to support their families and to participate more easily in the economy.[...]
The ability to prove one's identity increases the likelihood that an individual will report a crime and file a police report. In particular, those without immigration status will be less fearful of detention and deportation. Law enforcement will spend less time and fewer resources identifying individuals when all residents are eligible for municipal ID cards. Police will be able to focus on protecting the public. When all city residents can prove their identity, city employees such as firefighters and EMTs can better serve everyone. [Catholic Legal Immigration Network, April 2014]CNN: San Francisco Implemented Municipal ID Program To Address Public Safety Concerns For Immigrants. On February 24, CNN reported that San Francisco city officials implemented a municipal ID program to address the "serious public safety problem" that occurs when immigrant victims are unable to report crime to local police:
"Residents without access to bank accounts often carry large amounts of money on them or store it in their homes, making them targets for crime. And, those who can't produce proof of identity are often reluctant to report crimes to the police," said Megan A. Caygill-Wallach of the San Francisco city administrator's budget and planning office.
Although immigrants are victimized by crime at rates similar to or greater than the general population, they report crime at lower rates, according to studies. The underreporting of crime poses a serious public safety problem and erodes the ability of law enforcement to function effectively in the city. [CNN, 2/24/14]
Other Marginalized Residents Also Benefit From Municipal IDsCatholic Legal Immigration Network: Municipal IDs Help Other "Vulnerable Residents" Like The Elderly. In its 2014 memo, CLINIC argued that municipal IDs also help the elderly, low-income residents, the homeless and the recently incarcerated:
Municipal ID cards will help our most vulnerable residents, including undocumented immigrants, victims of domestic violence or natural disaster, the homeless, low-income senior citizens, and the formerly incarcerated. The ability to prove one's identity fosters a sense of pride, belonging, and shared community and facilitates integration and participation in civic life. When residents can access the services necessary to take care of themselves and their families, communities become socially and economically stronger. [CLINIC, 4/2014]Source
Calls Renewed for Charter School Regulations
The Philadelphia Tribune - December 12, 2014, by Wilford Shamlin -A new report calls for tighter regulations of Philadelphia charter schools, concluding wasteful spending at the privately managed...
The Philadelphia Tribune - December 12, 2014, by Wilford Shamlin -A new report calls for tighter regulations of Philadelphia charter schools, concluding wasteful spending at the privately managed schools costs a yearly average of more than $1.5 million of taxpayers’ money, and more than $30 million since 1997.
“Pennsylvania lawmakers have not given oversight bodies the tools they need to detect that fraud and stop it early,” according to a report prepared by three nonprofit agencies, ACTION United, The Center For Popular Democracy, and Integrity In Education.
The three groups are part of the umbrella group, Philly Coalition Advocating for Public Schools (PCAPS), which continued to seek greater oversight of privately managed charter schools that are publicly funded like their district-run counterparts. The group’s members delivered copies of its findings and recommendations this week to the state Attorney General’s Office and the Philadelphia School Reform Commission (SRC), which oversees the city’s public school system.
ACTION United, which has criticized the school district for policies and practices it deems unfair, reported no significant action on the 20-page report released in September. The renewed push for increased regulations on charter schools comes as the state-controlled commission ended its seven-year ban on considering new charter school applications in an effort to control operating costs.
The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers union wants the moratorium reinstated until measures are taken to increase charter school regulation and improve transparency. The state Legislature required the school district to start considering new charter school applications as a condition to receive a sales tax on cigarette packs sold in Philadelphia.
Local activists and educators called for the state Attorney General’s Office to investigate whether all charter schools have appropriate levels of internal controls and policies to prevent fraud. Oversight agencies have inadequate resources to maintain staff needed to assess fraud and conduct targeted audits.
The nonprofit organization asked 62 charter schools to provide details about fraud prevention practices, but about half of the respondents replied and only four school districts had adequate fraud prevention practices on the books.
Earlier this week, the group called for providing additional funding to the SRC for improving oversight of fraud risk management practices in all publicly funded schools. They made calls for more leadership from the governor’s office, and for granting authority to city or county controllers to assess fraud risk and conduct audits of school district’s finances.
There are only two auditors for the school district, with more than 200 public schools. And implementation of charter school fraud risk management programs has been lacking in publicly funded schools and fraudulent activities aren’t typically exposed by the type of audits that are conducted, according to PCAPS.
“General auditing techniques alone don’t uncover fraud,” according to the report.
Source
Trump and Dimon: Is what's good for JPMorgan good for America?
Trump and Dimon: Is what's good for JPMorgan good for America?
Back in 2002, halfway between his retirement as the globe-trotting boss of Chase Manhattan Bank and his death in March at age 102, David Rockefeller stopped in Philadelphia to hawk his memoirs and...
Back in 2002, halfway between his retirement as the globe-trotting boss of Chase Manhattan Bank and his death in March at age 102, David Rockefeller stopped in Philadelphia to hawk his memoirs and complain about how America’s CEOs were no longer taking stands on public issues.
A grandson of Standard Oil monopolist John D. Rockefeller, David said he wished more corporate bosses – some of the most able and successful Americans -- would speak up publicly on issues of the day, as he, DuPont CEO Irving Shapiro and GE’s Reginald Jones had in their turbulent times.
Read the full article here.
Meet the Two-Story, Top Hat Wearing, Cigar-Chomping Inflatable Pig
WNYC - December 4, 2013, by Stephen Nessen - Across New York City, small groups of pro-union activists, supporting various causes, are holding flash demonstrations. What they have in common is a...
WNYC - December 4, 2013, by Stephen Nessen - Across New York City, small groups of pro-union activists, supporting various causes, are holding flash demonstrations. What they have in common is a belief that the pro-labor momentum that began with Bill de Blasio’s election will lead to higher wages for workers and a union-friendly administration.
Customers sipping coffee and reading the paper at the Grand Café, outside of Grand Central Terminal had their quiet morning smashed by a dozen protesters and the Rude Mechanical Orchestra marching band. They claimed four workers were unfairly fired for organizing.
Over at the High Line, where condos can sell for millions of dollars, another labor group that represents building workers, unfurled a banner that read: "High Line Living, Low Wage Workers," in front of a building they say pays its workers a starting wage of $13.37 an hour.
And on the Upper East side, protesters inflated a nearly 2-story, bloated, top-hat-wearing, cigar chomping pig outside the home of Cablevision director Vincent Tese. They complained about Cablevision's alleged anti-union busting tactics.
Buoyed by Bill de Blasio’s narrative about income inequality in the city , protesters claim on their website that “The sun is setting on a city run by the and for the 1 percent.
While protests are planned for the rest of the week, any changes that might happen will have to wait until after the new mayor takes office in January.
Source
Advocates Demand More Money for Opioid Crisis
Today, advocates for expanded funding to address opioid misuse will take to the Capitol to push Congress for $45 billion for treatment and overdose prevention. While President Donald Trump...
Today, advocates for expanded funding to address opioid misuse will take to the Capitol to push Congress for $45 billion for treatment and overdose prevention. While President Donald Trump declared the opioid epidemic a federal public health emergency last month, his administration hasn’t asked for additional money to help states address the crisis, and Congress hasn’t made any moves or come up with its own emergency authorization, either.
Read the full article here.
Progressive Activists Protest For A Cause You Should Hear More About, But Won't
More than a dozen community activists picketed the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia this week,...
More than a dozen community activists picketed the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia this week, protesting what they say is the bank president’s refusal to meet with them to discuss how Fed monetary policy affects real people.
The roughly 15 activists are members of ACTION United, an organization representing low-income people of color in Philadelphia. ACTION United is affiliated with the national Fed Up campaign, a coalition of progressive groups advocating Fed monetary policies that prioritize full employment and shared economic prosperity.
Fed Up and ACTION United planned Tuesday's protest because they say that Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker reneged on a promise to meet, and allow group members to give him a tour of low-income neighborhoods where they are active. The activists point to a video in which Harker appears to commit to the meeting in a conversation with ACTION United organizer Kendra Brooks at the annual Jackson Hole symposium in August.
When Brooks followed up, Theresa Singleton, the Philadelphia Fed’s vice president and community affairs officer, said in an email obtained by HuffPost that a meeting was not in the cards, because the bank is reluctant to work with “just one organization."
Instead, Singleton invited Brooks to Tuesday’s community development briefing for low- and moderate-income community stakeholders. Singleton also said Fed staff would “design and organize” their own community tour.
That response rankled Fed Up and ACTION United members. The Federal Reserve has a dozen regional banks, and the activists have met or have planned meetings with all of the regional Fed leaders except Philadelphia's since the campaign began in August 2014. They want a meeting -- and they want it to take place in an economically distressed community of color -- not in the Fed’s offices.
So they decided to pressure the Philadelphia Fed with a protest, featuring Fed Up’s trademark “What recovery?” signs and green "Whose Recovery?" T-shirts.
ACTION United also sent Brooks to the community development briefing, where she and several nonprofit executives and bankers who work with low- and moderate-income earners spoke with Harker and Singleton.
Brooks said she was mostly pleased with what she heard from Harker and other Fed officials, who she said sounded genuinely committed to researching the conditions in communities the Fed serves and finding ways to improve “economic autonomy” in the Philadelphia region.
“The outcome of the meeting was much better than we anticipated, but going in, we did not know the information that we knew coming out.” Brooks said. “We hope he will continue to keep the doors open for organizations like ours and our coalition. And that we will continue to be a part of that conversation and not excluded.”
But Brooks noted that the Fed officials did not discuss how monetary policy and the Fed’s adjustment of interest rates disproportionately affects low-income workers and communities of color.
For the Fed Up campaign, the exclusion of monetary policy reaffirms that nothing short of a meeting between Harker and activists will suffice.
“We appreciate and accept the invitation to discuss community development and research, but this is not a substitute for the promise President Harker made to Fed Up,” said Shawn Sebastian, a policy advocate and staff attorney for the Fed Up campaign. “President Harker promised to speak with working families in the black neighborhoods of Philadelphia about their experiences -- where unemployment is double white unemployment. Harker promised to discuss how his monetary policy decisions can build a true full employment economy that works for everyone.”
Philadelphia Fed spokeswoman Marilyn Wimp, in an email to HuffPost, didn't address a question about whether Harker reneged on his promise to meet with protesters. She instead pointed to Tuesday's briefing as evidence of Harker's interest in reaching out to diverse parts of the community.
But the list of the Tuesday briefing’s attendees reveals that Brooks was the only stakeholder from a group with a position on Fed interest rates.
Crafting monetary policy is a main responsibility of the Federal Reserve regional banks. Regional Fed presidents occupy five of the 12 seats on the Federal Open Market Committee, responsible for adjusting the Fed’s benchmark interest rates. Lately, they have accounted for half of the committee’s votes, because the Senate has failed to approve presidential nominees for two of the seven seats reserved for members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington.
The FOMC keeps its benchmark interest rates low when it is more concerned about full employment, and raises them to curb excessive inflation when the economy has grown enough to drive up prices.
Fed Up wants the central bank to maintain current low interest rates for the near term, which will allow economic demand to continue to grow, benefitting workers with more jobs and higher wages. The campaign applauded the Fed’s decision to leave rates unchanged in September.
But Fed Up leaders said they're worried about the Philadelphia Fed and the role its president may play in future monetary policy decisions. The Philadelphia region's previous Fed president, Charles Plosser, who left the post in March, was an outspoken inflation hawk.
Harker, who will serve a one-year term on the FOMC in 2017, was a member of the Philadelphia Fed board’s search committee for a new president, recusing himself once he became a candidate.
Harker’s views on monetary policy are not yet known. He is a former trustee of the Goldman Sachs Trust, which Sebastian and other Fed Up critics said they worry will make him more sympathetic to financial institutions' concerns about inflation.
Source: Huffington Post
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