Grand Rapids for Education Justice responds to the Grand Rapids School Board with video
Last week, we reported on the Grand Rapids School Board meeting held on Monday, 
November 4.
The group, Grand Rapids for Education Justice (GREJ) had presented a series of issues back in October and wanted a response from the board within a month, which was last Monday’s school board meeting.
Several members of GREJ presented at last week’s school board meeting and you can read those comments at this link. However, the Grand Rapids School Board did not provide a response to the issues that GREJ had raised in October, neither in the agenda or in their comments at the end of the school board meeting. Several school board members did have something to say to the GREJ, even though those comments did not address the concerns raised, as you can see at the end of the taped school board meeting for November 4.
In a formal response to the Grand Rapids School Board’s failure to address the concerns brought by GREJ in October and in response to the comments from some school board members, GREJ provided this video response.
Betsy DeVos Watch: A Detroit educator responds to the Secretary of Education’s awful comment about Detroit Public Schools
Last week, Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, gave a speech on the 2019 National Assessment of Education results.
In that speech, DeVos referenced several school systems across the US. However, her most damning comments were directed at the public schools in Detroit.
What is worth noting is that Betsy DeVos, along with the rest of the DeVos family has contributed millions of dollars to Republican legislators, many of which have been attacking the Detroit Public Schools for decades and in 2016 were calling for the Detroit Public Schools to dissolve.
This is all well documented in a 2016 Michigan Campaign Finance Network article, Big Donors Have Been Big Players In Fight Over Detroit Public Schools Turnaround.
In fact, the organization that Betsy DeVos created in 2001 to push her privatized education agenda, the Great Lakes Education Project (GLEP), was also calling for the Detroit Public Schools to dissolve. You can see from the graphic below that GLEP has also contributed significantly to (mostly) GOP legislators who are supporting what GLEP is calling for.
DeVos’s rhetoric on this issue is important, so we asked a Detroit educator, Kaitlin Popielarz, to weigh in on this issue. What follows is a clear deconstruction of what Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, had to say about Detroit Public Schools in her speech from October 30th.
Betsy DeVos: And then there’s Detroit.
The city’s academic struggles are infamous. Faced with the Motor City’s bankruptcy and consistently poor student achievement, the state government has been obliged to intervene and take control not once, but twice.
Kaitlin: In Detroit, we know that the state-takeover in 1999 and 2008 was due to austerity policies enacted by Governors Engler, Granholm, and Snyder, and backed by DeVos through venture philanthropy, paid-for legislation, and the corporatization of the public good. Detroit Public Schools were successful for decades before forced state intervention. In Detroit, we know that emergency management of Detroit through forced state takeover has only wreaked havoc on the stability of Detroit public schools and communities. DeVos has worked for decades to dismantle Detroit public schools and Detroit’s teachers unions to no avail. Detroit continues to resist through grassroots community mobilization and organization. Significantly, Detroit students continue to excel and achieve within academics, the arts, STEM, athletics, and service. Many young people in Detroit are also involved in grassroots organizations, such as Detroit Area Youth Uniting Michigan (DAYUM), in order to work toward intersectional social justice within education.
Betsy DeVos: Still today, more than 90 percent of Detroit’s community schools’ eighth graders cannot read at grade level.
Kaitlin: In Detroit, we know that NAEP scores, along with other state and nation-wide high stakes standardized test results, are often conflated and misunderstood. Education “reformers” like DeVos utilize the NAEP scores to advocate for harmful education reform efforts that privatize and charterize public education and the public good. In Detroit and across the country, educators have critiqued the use of NAEP scores, in addition to other state and nation-wide high stakes standardized testing practices, which push harmful policies and reforms upon predominantly low-income Students of Color:
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2016/06/13/the-naep-proficiency-myth/
https://morganpolikoff.com/2015/10/06/friends-dont-let-friends-misuse-naep-data/
Betsy DeVos: Things have gotten so bad there that students and families are suing for a right to read.
American students should not have to sue their way to literacy—to learning.
Kaitlin: The right to literacy lawsuit largely names and challenges many of the education “reforms” that DeVos has implemented for decades in Detroit and in Michigan. The right to literacy lawsuit is a direct critique of the education “reforms” that DeVos advocates and implements, which only further exacerbates systemic racial and socioeconomic segregation within public education. For more information on the literacy lawsuit and what it’s actually fighting for, please see these links:
https://sites.google.com/view/detroitequity/resources/right-to-literacy
https://www.detroit-accesstoliteracy.org
These are the kinds of well thought out, reasoned and well sourced responses we need when responding to the propaganda of the Neo-Liberal Education Model that DeVos and others are using on a daily basis.
Now that the elections over in Grand Rapids, maybe we can focus on trying to make structural changes for collective liberation in this community
It is the day after election results have come in and for Grand Rapids, one could argue that those who voted, voted for progressive candidates. Mayor Bliss was re-elected in a race that included an anti-abortion, christian minister, who practices misogyny and believes that women don’t get to control their own bodies.
In the 2nd ward race, voters chose Milinda Ysasi over Wendy Falb. Ysasi is the first Latina to be elected as a city commissioner in Grand Rapids. Falb had the backing of the GR Police Union to the tune of $10,000.
In the 1st ward race incumbent commissioner Jon O’Connor barely edged Allison Lutz. Lutz ran on a more progressive platform around challenging gentrification, advocating for housing justice and supporting immigrant justice. O’Connor was also backed by the GR Police union ($5,000) and the Realtors PAC MI ($2,000).
Of course, we know that in order to get truly progressive policies, or what I would prefer to call radical policies, there needs to be substantive social movements to push a more radical agenda. It’s great that an anti-abortionist minister didn’t become the mayor of Grand Rapids, but we always run the risk of not pressing those who did win to introduce and push a radical agenda. We cannot be content with just getting progressive candidates, if it doesn’t translate into radical policies, which are really policies that benefit those who outside of the existing power structures in Grand Rapids – communities of color, people who identify as LGBTQ, working class people, immigrants, religious minorities, etc.
You can believe that those who are part of the Grand Rapids Power Structure know the outcome of the recent elections and are poised to push their agenda, which will not benefit the majority of people in this community. For instance, yesterday, the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce posted the following message on Facebook:
Congrats to Mayor Rosalynn Bliss, Commissioners Jon O’Connor and Moody, and Commissioner-elect Ysasi for their victories yesterday! We look forward to working with you to support a thriving and prosperous Grand Rapids for all.
Now this sentiment from the Chamber is just a straight up lie. They don’t want prosperity for all, since they have a long history of opposing an increase in minimum wage policies or a real living wage policy. The Chamber of Commerce also has a history of denying climate change, opposing any regulation of the economy and spending millions on lobbying elected officials and buying candidates at all levels of government.
Those who are part of the Grand Rapids Power Structure are not resting after the outcome of the recent election, rather they are already planning on how to strategically use Grand Rapids politicians to support their agenda. This is why we need robust social movements to push radical policies that promote collective liberation. I have been part of numerous social movements over the past four decades and what follows is a proposed agenda that I have learned from over the years from those involved in community organizing and social movement work.
What Do We Want?
Racial Justice
- A massive investment in black communities, with the investment being determined by the black community and not outside interests.
- An educational system that serves the real needs of black, Latino/a, indigenous and all other communities of color.
- Policies that do not punish the immigrant communities, but make them full members of this community at all levels – politically, economically, socially and culturally.
- Reparations for decades of structural racism against the black community, which has resulted in massive profits for White capitalists.
- End mass incarceration in this community, which has disproportionately impacted black and brown communities.
- A recognition that the land where Grand Rapids sits was indigenous and that Grand Rapids is based upon Settler Colonialism.
Public Safety
- The massive budget for the GRPD needs to be significantly reduced and reallocated to neighborhoods to allow them to determine how they want to practice community/public safety.
- End police targeting of black and brown communities, which includes monitoring, patrolling, arrests and detention.
- End all city collaboration with Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE)
Economic Justice
- The city should practice participatory budgeting, so that all people who live in the city have a real say in how their tax money will be used. Having the city put forth a budget and then allow the public to weigh in during a small window of time is unacceptable.
- End massive subsidies for development corporations and their development proposals and redirect those funds for people to buy homes or to subsidize rent.
- End the gentrification of Grand Rapids. No development if it results in displacement or pricing people out of a neighborhood.
- A massive housing justice campaign, where there is truly affordable housing for families and individuals, plus the creation of a community land trust.
- Limit the amount of properties that landlords and property management companies control.
- Promote worker run cooperatives and housing cooperatives.
- Make it a goal to end poverty and hunger in Grand Rapids, with a radical redistribution of wealth.
If we believe that everyone has a basic right to a place to live, healthy food, education, health care and to earn a livable wage, then we have to stop saying that we just need to create more opportunities for people who are struggling. This strategy has never worked and it will not work now, especially since those with economic and political power do NOT want everyone to have all their basic needs met. We have to fight and struggle and engage in direct action if we want collective liberation.
Senator Stabenow isn’t a climate denier, but she is in denial about her role in perpetuating the Climate Crisis
Last month, US Senator Debbie Stabenow released a report entitled, The Climate Crisis and Michigan.
While Debbie Stabenow is no climate denier, her recent report reflects a sentiment that the Michigan business community is poised to lead the way to sustainability.
In fact, much of the report is dedicated to how Michigan’s economy is impacted by climate change and how the business community can save us. On page 7, Stabenow notes that transportation in the US is responsible for 29% of greenhouse gas emissions. However, the Senator from Michigan goes on to say that the auto capital of the world “is transforming our transportation fleet.” This is a joke, the auto industry is NOT committed to transforming transportation. Transforming transportation would require that Michigan create a highly efficient mass transit system, which the auto companies will never do.
In the area of renewable energy, Stabenow says that the utility companies have ambitious goals for long-term carbon-reduction. This is also not true and what plans they do have are no where near enough to avoid disaster.
More importantly, under the section on energy, there is NOT ONE WORD about the Enbridge Corporation and Line 5. There is no commitment to ending Line 5, despite the fact that large portions of the population in Michigan don’t want it, including the indigenous communities, which have been leading the fight to shut down Line 5. How can you publish a report on climate change in Michigan and not talk about Enbridge or Line 5?
On the matter of agriculture and climate change, again Stabenow recognizes that the way we grow food contributes significantly to climate change. However, her solution is to allow commercial farmers to engage in “voluntary sustainability practices.” There is no mention that Michigan-based agriculture is primarily a mono-crop system of food production, which is not only problematic for climate, but it perpetuates the need for pesticides. Stabenow also doesn’t advocate for eating within our bioregion. A great deal of what is grown in Michigan travels long distances before it is consumed. We know that the average food items travels 1,000 miles before it is purchased, which means that food-based transportation is completely dependent on fossil fuels.
Essentially what the report on the Climate Crisis in Michigan, a report produced by Stabenow’s staff, does is to reassure the business community that their collective voluntary efforts will not be interfered with and that Michigan’s economy is what is important, without actually having to make any serious changes about capitalism. This report is essentially saying that with some mild adjusts, capitalism will be able to save us.
In addition, it should be mentioned that Senator Stabenow will not endorse the Green New Deal. In a recent MLive article it states:
Senator Stabenow stated there are good ideas in “The Green New Deal,” a nonbinding resolution introduced in the U.S. House that commits to climate actions supported by progressive Democrats, but she is more focused on specific policies and legislation.
Lastly, Senator Stabenow has consistently voted to approve the US military budget every year since she has been in the Senate. Supporting a bloated US military budget is incompatible with drastically reducing carbon emission, especially since the US military is one of the largest consumers of fossil fuels.
We should not be fooled by this recent report from Senator Stabenow on the Climate Crisis. While the Michigan Senator doesn’t deny the existence of Climate Change, she is clearly in denial about her role in perpetuating the climate crisis. This is also just one more example of why we shouldn’t rely on politicians, but put our faith in social movements to make substantive and lasting change.
At last night’s Grand Rapids School Board meeting, there were several social movement groups that addressed issues specific to their struggles.
Before there was public comment, members of the Grand Rapids Student Advancement Foundation (GRSAF) spoke briefly, just to provide an update on how much money they have raised for the GRPS in 2019. They stated that over $900,000 was raised this year, but unfortunately there was no clear indication of where that money was coming from, even though we know that in recent years a large chunk of what is raised by the GRSAF has come from members of the DeVos family and other members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure.
Gema Lowe, an organizer with Movimiento Cosecha GR and also a parent of a child in the Grand Rapids Public Schools, addressed the issue of Driver’s Licenses for All. State legislators have recently introduced legislation to allow members of the undocumented community to obtain a driver’s license. Gema spoke to how important it is for the GRPS board to adopt such a resolution and that it would be a big help in encouraging other school boards to adopt similar resolutions across the state.
Some of the GRPS School Board members did respond to the Driver’s License issue, all in support of the campaign that has been led by Movimiento Cosecha. After additional conversation, the board voted unanimously to approve a resolution to support a Driver’s Licenses for All policy in Michigan, as is being proposed by recent state legislation.
The other group that addressed the GRPS boards members were those with the recently formed movement known as Grand Rapids for Education Justice (GREJ). One member of the group made it clear that members of GREJ, who brought their initial concerns before the board on October 7, has not heard back from the GRPS School Board, despite requesting a formal response within 30 days. This did not happen, despite the fact that members of the GREJ believe that their issues are urgent and were presented in a clear and diplomatic fashion.
Another member of GREJ spoke to the fact that despite their non-combative approach, when the news media spoke with GRPS director of communications, John Helmholt, he was dismissive of the group and said that their data was inaccurate and out of context. However, as GREJ pointed out, their data was based on Michigan’s Center for Educational Performance and Information website, as well as data provided from FOIA’d documents directly from the Grand Rapids Public Schools.
Other members of the GREJ highlighted the two-tiered system that the GRPS currently operates under, where students of color and students from low income families were not afforded the same opportunities, resources and commitment that students at City High or a few other theme schools have. One aspect of the two-tiered system, there is an issue of student safety, particularly at schools that are part of the lower tiered schools.
In addition, based on the comments from people who came to a recent GREJ community meeting, there were people from the Latino and Native American communities that raised issues around their efforts to get culturally relevant curriculum implemented in the GRPS, considering there are a substantial amount of Latino students and the fact that Native students have a right to this type of curriculum based on Title VI policies.
Another member of GREJ provided a response to the issue of what plan the group has or what solutions they would offer to deal with the two-tiered system. Some of those solutions were to:
- Develop a committee that would include school staff, board members, teachers, students, parents and community members to look into how the current two-tiered system works and how to address it.
- Make all curriculum and other educational resources currently used available for all to see, preferably online, so that greater transparency could be practiced.
- The district should provide up to date data on incidents of violence and bullying at the schools, so that students, parents and community members have a better understanding on issues of safety at the schools.
- Class size should be reduced and be worked out with teacher input.
One retired teacher with the GRPS and a member of the GREJ addressed the lack of response from the GRPS School Board. He also addressed the way that the school responded in the news media on the issues raised by GREJ on October 7, which was nothing short of combative. Because of the lack of response, the GREJ is going to continue to submit FOIA requests for issues like where the funding from the Students Advancement is coming from, copies of the curriculum being used in the new academies, which businesses/corporations are part of the established advisory council that exists in the GRPS, along with many other requests that will be brought forth in the near future.
Billionaire Dick DeVos complains that more public money isn’t funding his charter school
When you are a billionaire in this society, 99% of the time you get what you want. This has been the case for the DeVos family members, like Dick DeVos.
Last week, MLive provided a platform for Dick DeVos to have a public temper tantrum, since the he finds it unacceptable that more public money isn’t channeled to him and his friends and their precious charter schools.
The headline of the MLive article read, Dick DeVos calls governor’s veto of charter school funding increase ‘unacceptable’.
Dick DeVos, who owns and operates the West Michigan Aviation Academy, crafted a press release calling Governor Whitmer’s decision to not include increased funding for Charter Schools in the education budget. DeVos was quoted in the MLive article are saying, “Our students deserve better and should not be used as political pawns.” Such a statement would have any honest reporter burst out in laughter, considering how Dick & Betsy DeVos have devoted the past three decades in Michigan into making students political pawns for their own gains.
Dick DeVos, Betsy DeVos and the rest of the DeVos family members have been working on changing education policy in the state of Michigan for nearly 30 years. Here are just some of the ways they have been undermining public education in Michigan:
- According to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, the DeVos family has contributed $25 million in the past two election cycles alone, and most of those candidates have supported charter schools and the re-directing of public money to charter schools.
- Dick & Betsy DeVos led a ballot effort that would allow for school vouchers in 2000. That effort lost on a vote of 2,767, 320 (NO) to 1,235,533 (YES), meaning the public voted more than 2 to 1 to reject such a plan.
- Dick & Betsy DeVos created the Great Lakes Education Project (GLEP) shortly after the defeat of the 2000 Pro-School Voucher ballot initiative. GLEP is essentially a pro-charter school front group that lobbies the Michigan legislature on education policy and has been crafting education policy for nearly 2 decades, policy that promotes a Neo-Liberal Education framework.
- Great Lakes Education Project also supported a 2011 law that lifted Michigan’s cap on charter schools. Under the law, the number of authorized charter schools was raised to 300 through 2012 and 500 through 2014, after which the cap was lifted.
- Despite two decades of charter-school growth, the state’s overall academic progress has failed to keep pace with other states: Michigan ranks near the bottom for fourth- and eighth-grade math and fourth-grade reading on a nationally representative test, nicknamed the “Nation’s Report Card.” Notably, the state’s charter schools scored worse on that test than their traditional public-school counterparts, according to an analysis of federal data. (According to an article from Politico, just before Betsy DeVos became the Secretary of education.)
- The DeVos Family, through the Great Lakes Education Project, has been one of the main political contributors in the fight over Detroit Public Schools.
It should be acknowledged that Dick DeVos was not the only voice, opposing Governor Whitmer’s decision on education funding. Other voices that were quoted in the MLive article were Dan Quisenberry – president of the Michigan Association of Public School Academies, Leah Nixon – director of communications for National Heritage Academies, and Rob Kimball – associate vice president for charter schools for Grand Valley State University.
Curiously, there was not one single voice defending the Governor’s decision, no one from the Governor’s office, no one from Michigan Public Schools and no one from the Michigan Education Association.
Immigrant organizers claim victory in their push to get Driver’s Licenses for All, as legislation is introduced in Michigan
Yesterday, Movimiento Cosecha and a coalition known as Drive Forward Michigan, held a press conference to announce that after two years of organizing, Michigan legislators have finally introduced legislation in both the Michigan Senate and the House to allow undocumented immigrants to obtain a Michigan driver’s license.
The Drive Safe bills, introduced today by Senator’s Stephanie Chang and Winnie Brinks in the Senate and Reps. Alex Garza and Rachel Hood in the House, would restore access to driver’s licenses for immigrants in Michigan. The bills are – Senate Bills 631 and 632 and House Bills 5192 and 5193.
Movimiento Cosecha GR organizer Gema Lowe welcomed people (in Spanish & English) to the press conference and introduced Idalia Tinoco, a local restaurant owner and member of Movimiento Cosecha GR to speak first. Idalia spoke about why having a driver’s license is important to immigrants and how this is one step closer in the process of immigrant justice in Michigan.
The second speaker, Ana Isabel, also an organizer with Movimiento Cosecha GR, talked about why it is imperative for undocumented immigrants to obtain a driver’s license and how it is the culmination of two years of struggle to raise awareness and mobilize communities across the state.
There were also speakers from the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center and the ACLU, both of which are part of the coalition known as Drive Forward Michigan.
In the coming weeks and months it will be interesting to see which legislators support these bills and how quickly the state will act on the matter of driver’s licenses for all. If there is one thing that we have learned about Movimiento Cosecha over the past two years is that they will continue to apply pressure to in a variety of ways to make sure this legislation is passed.
The Acton Institute thinks the Chicago Teachers’ Strike is Immoral
For those of you who have followed this blog over the years, you know that we have regularly written about the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty.
In fact, I have been writing about the Acton Institute for longer than GRIID has been around. If you look at the hyperlink above, which takes you to the site SourceWatch, you can see at the bottom of their information about the Acton Institute, there are numerous references to article written by me and by Media Mouse in the 1990s and early 2000s.
The fact that the Acton Institute just posted an article calling the Chicago Teachers’ strike “immoral” is no surprise to this writer, since they have long demonstrated their far-right, anti-worker, anti-union position since their founding. However, it is always worth looking at how entities like the Acton Institute view the efforts of people who come together for organized collective liberation, such as what we are seeing with the Chicago Teachers’ strike.
Before getting into an analysis of the 5 reasons the Chicago teachers’ strike is immoral, it is worth noting that the Acton writer did source the CTU list of demands that are the driving force behind the teachers’ strike. However, right after citing the list of demands, the Acton writer refers to Mayor Lightfoot’s offer as “generous.” If you scroll down the CTU link, you can see a comparison to what the striking teachers are demanding and what the Mayor of Chicago is offering.
Now, we can get to the 5 reasons the Chicago teachers’ strike is immoral, which the writer prefaces by saying, A school strike is not a moral reaction for the following reasons:
Teacher strikes harm children’s education. This argument completely misses the point, since the very reasons the teachers are on strike is so that they can better serve the students. In fact, students have been very vocal in their support of the teachers’ strike. However, this is the same argument made by members of the capitalist class when they say that strikes hurt working class families. Those in position of power and privilege will always use this argument, when the exact opposite is true. It is the system of power and privilege that is and has been doing harm to students in the Chicago Public Schools for a long time, specifically by not providing adequate funding, resources and support to the school district, even though the funding has always been available.
The teachers union would lock poor children out of high-performing charter schools. This is a line right out of the playbook of the Charter School industry and Betsy DeVos. Study after study has demonstrated that Charter Schools do NOT provide better opportunities for children from families living in poverty, such as the two that are linked here. https://chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2019/06/11/charter-schools-costs-districts-research/
Of course, the Acton Institute cites their own study in the article, which happens to be funded by the Walton Family, which has a long history of endorsing Charter Schools.
Chicago Teachers Union’s demands break the budget. Again, this is a fallacy, since the the City of Chicago has plenty of public money to spend on development projects. The issue is always about priorities, not lack of funding. And of course the Acton writer mentions the teachers’ pensions, which are always referred to as “unfunded liabilities.” Public sector pensions were fought for by public sector unions decades ago and it would be a crime to all of a sudden say that the City of Chicago no longer honors those pensions, considering that teachers who are retired or nearing retirement deserve the pensions that the unions fought for.
Smaller class sizes are a panacea, not a solution. This reason is coming from a priest who has never taught in public schools and has no idea how classroom size can make a difference. Of course it is not a solution, because it is connected with the other teacher demands, which means you can not dismiss any one of these demands without comprehending the entirety of the demands.
Public sector strikes shut down vital government functions. No shit. This is the point of strikes. Labor strikes are designed to interrupt, to throw a monkey wrench into business as usual. Of course, the Chicago Teachers’ strike will have an impact on how Chicago’s municipal government functions…….and that is the point. Organized workers use strikes as leverage to fight for just and fair agreements.
So, you can see for yourself that the argues that the Acton writer provides are weak and just part of the standard capitalist class argument. However, the Acton writer, Rev. Ben Johnson, doesn’t end there. He ends his article by writing:
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that a strike “becomes morally unacceptable” when it is “contrary to the common good.” Under that criteria, the latest Chicago teachers’ strike is immoral.
Since when does the Catechism of the Catholic Church govern public affairs? A rather childish ending to another reactionary posting from one of Grand Rapids’ far right organizations.
While commercial media focuses on Betsy DeVos’ contempt of court case, she continues to push her Neo-Liberal Education model virtually unnoticed
There have been dozens of news stories in recent weeks about how a US federal judge is holding Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos in contempt of court. According to one article, she is being held in contempt of court, “for failing to comply with an order to stop collecting loan payments from former students of Corinthian Colleges, a defunct for-profit college company that defrauded tens of thousands of borrowers.”
This is an important matter to report on, especially considering DeVos’ involvement. The judge issued an 8-page ruling, a ruling that is worth reading. The judge also ruled that the Department of Education must pay the $100,000 fine, instead of DeVos directly.
Right after Betsy DeVos was found in contempt for defrauding students, A. Wayne Johnson, who was in charge of the Department of Education’s financial aid and student loan system, resigned and is now running for the Senate in Georgia, with a major platform piece being that he wants to cancel student debt.
Again, this is also newsworthy, especially considering how massive student debt is in the US. However, what all of this news coverage means is that the ongoing efforts on the part of the Department of Education to impose a Neo-Liberal Education model doesn’t garner the kinds of headlines that this court case has.
It was completely appropriate for news agencies to report on the recent federal court ruling that resulted in DeVos being held in contempt, but it is no less important to provide ongoing coverage and analysis of what this Neo-Liberal Education model looks like.
It is worth noting that this Neo-Liberal Education model did not begin with Betsy DeVos, it has only been accelerated under the current Secretary of Education. As Diane Ravitch has stated:
Previous education secretaries, including Arne Duncan under President Obama and Rod Paige under President George W. Bush, have pushed school choice policies based on free-market ideology. But during the Obama years, the Department of Education vocally supported charter schools while pretending it could draw the line at vouchers. DeVos, to the contrary, makes no bones about her goal of clearing the path for vouchers.
Since Betsy DeVos was nominated in early 2017, we have been writing about her policy decision as the Secretary of Education in our section entitled Betsy DeVos Watch. We have reported on the disastrous Titled IX changes her department has made, changes that provide greater protections for perpetrators of sexual assault.
However, what we have noticed over the past two and a half years, is that the Secretary of Education has spent virtually all of her time going to schools, conferences and other events that are being hosted by entities that fully embrace the Neo-Liberal Education model. The Neo-Liberal Education model includes a concerted effort to undermine public teacher unions, push public school into looking more like charter schools, a redirecting of funds towards charter schools, promoting private schools and the promotion of school voucher programs. In these past 30 months DeVos has made it her goal to virtually avoid going to public schools and just attend private or charter schools across the country.
Just as the news about DeVos being found in contempt of court was breaking, the Secretary of Education was once again at an event celebrating the 15th anniversary of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program. You can read her speech from that night on October 23rd, but essentially DeVos doesn’t stray from her ongoing mantras about school choice and how education must serve parents and students. One of the talking points was to push her Freedom Education Scholarships program, which will divert more funding to private and charter schools.
DeVos needs to stick to these kinds of narrow talking points, since when she is asked questions that fall outside of her Neo-Liberal Education model comfort zone, she ends up sounding like she doesn’t know what she is talking about, as was the case with her 60 Minutes interview from March of 2018.
The thing is, Betsy DeVos will continue to follow this playbook of promoting a Neo-Liberal Education model until, 1) there is both of movement in the US to challenge this anti-public education model, and 2) the news media provides ongoing analysis of what how this education model doesn’t work and has actually had devastating effects on communities across the country.
There is a growing movement to challenge the Neo-Liberal model. Just look at the Chicago Teachers strike is doing and what their demands are. This same reactions has been happening in numerous states in the last two years, where teachers have been going on strike with clear demands and winning. In Grand Rapids, there is the newly formed Grand Rapids for Education Justice, which is attempting to inform the community about how the Grand Rapids Public Schools have been embracing a Neo-Liberal Education model for more than a decade, along with wanting to push for policy changes.
Unfortunately, most of the commercial news media is not writing about or providing ongoing analysis of the Neo-Liberal Education model that Betsy DeVos is wanting to impose on the rest of the country. Reporting on the contempt of court case, while important, doesn’t address the larger, more systemic changes of the Neo-Liberal Education model. We need news sources and reporters who are willing to look closely at this model and to provide the public with robust analysis to understand how a Neo-Liberal Education model will impact our communities.
What do campaign finance documents tell us about the November 5th elections in Grand Rapids?
Campaign finances are not the only thing that determine elections, but money does carry a great deal of weight, even in local races.
People, organizations or other entities that contribute significant sums to candidates are buying access, if their candidate is elected or re-elected. In addition, those who finance candidates are almost always guaranteed that the recipients of election contributions will embrace the issue or position of those making the contribution. If it didn’t work that way, then those with money would not be contributing directly to candidates.
During the primary, we posted a piece about the campaign finances for the 2nd Ward Grand Rapids City Commission race, since it was the only one that has more than two candidates running for that position.
For the November 5th election, there are candidates looking to win city commission and mayoral seats. Third Ward Commissioner Moody is running unopposed, so he has filed a waiver for campaign finances, since he didn’t need to raise much.
The Mayoral challenger to Rosalynn Bliss, Daniel Schutte, also submitted a waiver for campaign finances, which means the only candidates to submit campaign finance documents are Rosalynn Bliss, 1st Ward candidates Jon O’Connor and Allison Lutz, plus second ward candidates Wendy Falb and Milinda Ysasi. We are providing links to the complete documents submitted for the deadline of October 25 and will provide a summary of some of the larger contributions or other notable contributors.
Incumbent Mayor Rosalynn Bliss reported raising $39,637 for the current time period. Some of the larger contributions came from members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure and a few PACs:
- Realtors PAC of MI $2,500
- Vince Novak $1,175
- Sam Cummings $675
- Steve Heacock $550
- Charlie Secchia $500
- Mike VanGessel $500
- J.C. Huizenga $500
- Rental Property Owners Association $500
- Friends of West MI Business $500
- ITC Holdings PAC $500
There were at least 25 other $500 contributions and most of those came from the business and professional class. Mayor Bliss also received contributions from numerous current or former elected officials and candidates such as Dave Bulkowski, Wendy Falb, Ruth Kelly, Jon O’Connor, Jim Talen, Mary Alice Williams, Milinda Ysasi, George Heartwell, Joe Jones, Nathaniel Moody and Stephen Wooden.
For Mayor Bliss to receive funding from major power brokers in this community, just like she did in her first bid for Mayor, suggests that they are in no way threatened by the positions and policies she has championed during her tenure as Mayor.
First Ward City Commission
The First Ward race is between incumbent Jon O’Connor and first time candidate Allison Lutz.
During this current filing period, O”Connor had raised $20,025. Notable contributions to Jon O’Connor were from:
- Grand Rapids Police Officers Labor Council $5,000
- Realtors PAC MI $2,000
- Nico Pento Terrapin Care Station (Cannabis) $1,000
- Leah Bailey CEO Fluresh LLC (Cannabis) $1,000
- Scott Bowen Attorney $1,000
- Johnny Brann $650
- Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce $500
- Rental Property Owners Association $500
- Jeff Edwards/Rockford Construction $500
- Paul Flynn Gentex $500
- Steve Pestka Attorney $500
- Dan Hibma $250
- GCSI 21st Century PAC $250
- Marlin Feyen Feyen Zylstra $250
- Mike VanGessel Rockford Construction $100
Current or former elected officials who hae contributed to O’Connor are Brandon Dillon, Carol Hennessy, George Heartwell, Roy Schmidt, Tony Baker, Ruth Kelly, Rosalynn Bliss and Wendy Falb.
O’Connor has been the recipient of funding from the police union in the past, but this time also got money from one of the more vocal supporters of the GRPD, Johnny Brann. This is no surprise, considering that O’Connor has been a defender of the GRPD and supports adding new officers.
One can see that O’Connor has received funds from real estate and rental property owners, which is also consistent with his position on how to deal with issues like lack of affordable housing and gentrification in this city. The first ward incumbent also received significant funds from the cannabis industry, which is something we should pay attention to in the near future.
Allison Lutz only raised $1.952. Most of her contributions came from small donations, with the largest being from herself ($500) and Equity PAC contributing $250. Lutz has certainly taken a more progressive position on numerous key issues in the city, which is in part why Equity PAC decided to endorse her campaign.
There is a clear difference in terms of which segments of the society are backing O’Connor verses Lutz.
Second Ward City Commission
Wendy Falb raised $27,362 during the current filing period. Some of her notable contributors were:
- Wendy Falb $7,600
- Grand Rapids Police Officers Association PAC $5,000
- Grand Rapids Fire Fighters Union $5000
- Johnny Brann $1,000
- Scott Bowen Attorney $500
- John Hunting $500
- Paul Flynn Gentex $500
- West MI Plumbers & Pipe Fitters $500
The current or former elected officials who contributed were Brandon Dillon, George Heartwell and Nathaniel Moody.
Falb also was the beneficiary of $5000 from the police union to support her campaign in the primary election and based on her campaign literature – where she supports hiring more police – the police union again was her number one contributor, with notable funding from Johnny Brann as well.
Milinda Ysasi raised a total of $10,597 during the current filing period. Some of the notable contributors were:
- Progressive Women’s Alliance $2,500
- Lynn Rabaut $1,000
- Darrel Ross Start Garden $500
- David Sawinski Compass GLP $500
- Peter Albertini Peter Albertini Properties $250
- Rosalyn Bliss $250
Milinda Ysasi’s campaign has received funding from the following former or current elected officials: Ruth Kelly, Jane Gietzen, Terri Handlin, Linda Samuelson, Mary Alice Williams, Rosalynn Bliss and Lynn Rabaut.
The campaign finance data for Ysasi shows that she has received more small donations that Falb, including significant contributions from the Latino/Latinx community. Ysasi was also endorsed by Equity PAC and as you can see has won the support of the Progressive Women’s Alliance.
Based on the campaign finance data for the second ward race, there seems to be a clear demarcation between the two candidates in terms of which interests they represent.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 