Hello? Have you read this one? State of FL (Clark) buys Edison Schools?!!!

[JanMichael]

EDIT: Clark inserted to encourage reponses.

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/09/25/Business/State_fund_buys_schoo.shtml

Oh the irony...A pension fund for the state teacher's union buys a company that privatises schools.

But wait, it gets better. Notice Coleman Stiponovich? He's the brother of "Mac" Stiponovich http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=1019 the guy who ran Jeb's 94' campaign for Governor! Hmm. I wonder when Neil Bush will pop up? Maybe when Edison (Under the control of Bushites now) magically orders $100,000,000 of Neil's "Ignite!" http://www.post-gazette.com/columnists/20020308tony3.asp educational software? Hmm? The Saudi's buy it?

We're being robbed here...

[JanMichael]

1. Kick! I smeared Clark! Wait...Fuck Dean too!

:kick:

[blondeatlast]

6. Here's how you should have written it:

DEAN/CLARK ON "PRIVATE' PUBLIC' SCHOOLS: YES!

[JanMichael]

7. Wow! You're better at this than I am.

Very creative, well done!

[blondeatlast]

2. THUNK. OW!

Excuse me, that was my jaw hitting the keyboard shelf.

Okay, not gonna think too hard about this, head will explode.


They aren't even discrete about their chicanery any more . . .

[JanMichael]

5. I read this on the Guy James Show yesterday and ended up...

...banging my head on the broadcast desk...

I was, still am, apofreakingplectic.

[blondeatlast]

9. The sad thing is, this is a huge issue that will be allowed to die.

FORKING UNBELIEVABLE. If I hadn't read it myself, I would swear the Freeps made it up.

Sheesh.

[BeachBuckeye]

34. I really thought you would end up with a concussion.

Head is too hard I guess. When you threw that story on the desk I could feel my blood-pressure go up immediately. All of the kiddies doing the bashing threads had better get their heads out of their asses and take a good look at what the Bush gang is doing to all of us in broad f_____g daylight. There are stories which are just too over the top to believe and this is one of them but our side is much too preoccupied with fighting each other to be bothered with a story like this.

[JanMichael]

36. Nah, I pulled back, that would've been #4 concussion.

"All of the kiddies doing the bashing threads had better get their heads out of their asses and take a good look at what the Bush gang is doing to all of us in broad f_____g daylight."

The overt nature of these outrages are beginning to scare me, what are they doing that we don't know about?? Chew on that...

"There are stories which are just too over the top to believe and this is one of them but our side is much too preoccupied with fighting each other to be bothered with a story like this."

Ditto.

You know something? Had Jeb walked into the studio while we read the story I'd a probably spend the night in the Collier Co. jail. These things are unforgivable:mad:

[BeachBuckeye]

42. Would have been two of us in the cell!

I'm not so sure I don't despise him more than his older but idiot brother.

[blondeatlast]

3. ROFLMAO! I was responding, JM, I really was!

OHMIFORKINGGOURD! I canNOT stop laughing now . . .

[realFedUp]

4. as if we needed any more responses to Clark threads

Come on, aren't there any football games today?
:-) Go play outside!

[sandnsea]

8. rotflm

Damn you JanMichael, I'm laughing so hard I can't read the article.

[JanMichael]

18. Read it! You'll quit laughing and prolly break something!

It's a definate :argh: story...

[salin]

10. Read this thread from Madfloridian

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=416303

[blondeatlast]

12. Thanks. Gonna kick that one, too.

I'm still shaking my head in disbelief.

[JanMichael]

15. Thanks, I'd missed it.

Dudley D. brought it up yesterday during the show, I still can't believe it.

It deserves two continuously kicked threads!

[Dudley_DUright]

11. Actually JM

I am seriously pissed about this (as you could probably tell yesterday) and so is my wife who is in the FL state teachers pension plan. This is crony capitalism at its worst and is a slap in the face of hardworking public school teachers across the state.

[JanMichael]

13. I understand. Why I joke about it, sort of, its a serious case of Banana..

...Republicanism.

[blondeatlast]

16. Hell, yeah! Will Pitt, you out there?

This is absolutely disgusting. The FLA taxpayers should roll the state house, I swear.

I laugh because I don't know what else to do.

Tell Mrs. Do-Right that we are with her 100%.

[Gin]

21. My daughter is a Guidance Counselor in FL..would she be in the plan?

gin

[JanMichael]

23. For a Public School?

If so then I believe yes. I could be wrong though. You need to ask her.

[Dudley_DUright]

24. I know for a fact that the answer is yes

since my wife is also a guidance counselor and she has the same retirement benefits as the teachers. What a coincidence! You aren't my mother-in-law posting under an assumed name, are you? ;-)

[madfloridian]

14. A bunch of links about Edison Schools.....courtesy of soup.

http://pasaorg.tripod.com/edison/edison.html

I am really mad about this. There was a huge thread yesterday, too.
These links show the failures of this system.

[Armstead]

17. Two ways of looking at it I guess

Eitehr Florida's teachers are typical "blind investors" who don't know their asses from a hole in the ground about what is being done with their money. And are allowing themselves to be led by the nose by Right Wing bastids.

Or this is a "crazy like a fox" move. If you can't beat 'em join 'em, and become your own boss by buying the damn schools yourself.

Probably the former.

[madfloridian]

20. Teachers did NOT do it! Fund MANAGERS did it, and Jeb.

Teachers are smarter than that, and besides....they have no input.

[SharonAnn]

45. I believe there are three on the Investment Board and Jeb is one

of them.

[salin]

47. and it wasn't the 'teachers pension fund' it was the 'public employees

pension fund'. Some big (private) firm gets to manage this HUGE portfolio ... which holds the pensions of the states' public employees. A few years ago those managing the fund's investments.. kept buying up - no GOBBLING up Enron shares - as it slid all the way into bankruptcy. Now - they are buying out (to make private) a private education management company (privatizes schools) - that has only ever turned a profit for a SINGLE quarter in about an 6 or 8 year history. The company RUNS through money. One article suggested that 11 or more other possible investors were approached...the ONLY buyer is the Florida public employee pension fund. There is a three person panel that is supposed to provide oversight over the fundmanagement. One of the three persons is... Jeb! who believes in ever increasingly draconian measures of accountability on public schools - but who says that in this case he believes that not interfering (re: paying any attention) with those doing the investing is in the best interest of the program. Go frickin' figure.

[sandnsea]

19. Private school testing

I understand these private schools don't have to meet ANY state regulations OR participate in the national testing programs. Is federal money going into the States and then being passed along to these schools as some sort of 'trial' programs? Have we got a money trail on the federal funding and whether it is being dumped right into private schools?

And I just don't understand the teacher's union fund buying this company at all. It's just depressing.

[JanMichael]

22. It's the entire pension fund, not just the teachers.

The blame is to go straight to Bush and his cronies (the Stiponovich gang) and I'm sure Neil is involved too.

[madfloridian]

26. NOT the teachers' union......fund managers and Jeb. Not teachers.

We are the victims.

[sandnsea]

48. Oh I understand that

I didn't mean to sound like I was blaming teachers. I just meant that people who run these things are totally oblivious to the idea of ethics or investing in a way that doesn't hurt the people they're investing for. It's crazy.

And I am really interested on whether this Edison company has any testing or standards they have to meet at all. I just think people would be stunned if they knew public schools have 101 standards to meet with vouchers going to private schools who have no standards to meet at all.

I feel for you, I didn't know you were a teacher. No wonder you've been pulling your hair out with the education threads!

[blondeatlast]

25. Why you should care (can't provide link,, it's a subscription)

The Arizona Daily Star
July 13, 1996

Union pension funds filed suit yesterday to prevent Gov. Fife Symington from using his bankruptcy to wipe out $12 million in debt. The unions say the debt shouldn't be forgiven because he intended to defraud them from the start.

The legal papers, filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, say the unions and their fund managers would not have loaned money to a Symington-led partnership had they known his true financial condition. The lawsuit says Symington deliberately overstated his assets and understated his debts and obligations.

(snip)

The governor has admitted he made ``mistakes'' on financial statements. He said, though, that these were not material. (emphasis mine)

To win the lawsuit, pension fund lawyer Mike Manning has to prove not only that the statements were materially misleading but also that his clients reasonably relied on them in making the loan. Symington repeatedly has said there was no such reliance. The lawsuit, however, says his ``touted financial wherewithal, coupled with a $15 million appraisal he acquired for the Mercado and his business/social station, convinced the pension funds to deal with Symington.''
(snip)

Symington was impeached and later resigned.

[babzilla]

27. Outrageous, when are the heads going to roll?

This after the Florida pension fund lost $321 million to Enron investments, most of which as I recall happened while the stock was dropping like a stone.
http://www.geocities.com/davesim72/Pension_020313.htm

not to mention the Tyco and Worldcom investments that occured.

http://www.sptimes.com/2002/03/15/news_pf/Business/Fund_s_losses_not_jus.shtml

Last year the Board of Administration, which runs the pension fund, had conversations with Alliance Capital Management as it bought Enron stock for the state fund. However, the board never told Alliance to sell Enron, and state officials say they remain reluctant to dictate trades.

"We're not stock pickers," said Tom Herndon, the board's executive director. "We're not trained and educated to do that, and we don't have the resources to do that."

Oh the irony, the Board can't be expected to know what to invest in --because they don't have the resources. Things should be looking up real soon I'm sure.

[salin]

28. LOLOL on the edit of the title!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel the same way.

[babzilla]

29. Ignite! Learning kick

Meet Mr. Bighead: the Ignite! Learning mascot.
I'm not kidding his name really is Mr. Bighead.

http://www.ignitelearning.com/vbrochure.shtml

[JanMichael]

31. It's ridiculous. I haven't been able to find their "Manafest Destiny"...

...video for quite some time, it was a classic.

[babzilla]

35. isn't the catchy ditty

still ringing in your head though?

[babzilla]

30. mission kick

to populate GD with threads of substance.

See more Ignite!Learning* multimedia here:

http://www.ignitelearning.com/media.shtml

*Neil Bush's newest racket.

[LittleApple81]

32. kick

[LittleApple81]

33. kick n/t

[JanMichael]

37. kick because it epitomizes what the BFEE is all about.

I want to see them ALL in prison.

[Exultant Democracy]

38. You should have put a warning next to the link

I got half way in and I almost puked.

[JanMichael]

39. It's a sickening display of cronyism. It's what the Bushies are about.

I honestly don't know what we can do to stop their dismantling of the educational system. First state-wide, then nationally, it's their plan.

[punpirate]

41. And this on top of...

... using the pension fund in an attempt to bail out Enron by buying worthless stock....

The funny thing about this is that for many, many months, Edison Schools' stock was in the toilet. At one point, trading in it was halted, I believe. Edison announces its first-ever profitable quarter on the 12th, its stock immediately goes up from under a dollar a share to $1.69, and two weeks later, the pension fund decides to buy the corporation.

And, given the way Edison has operated in the past, next quarter, they'll be in the toilet again.

My guess is that the people running this fund are trying to wreck it.

[JanMichael]

40. yet another kick

:kick:

[juajen]

43. Unfuckingbelievable!!!!

:kick:

[Bozita]

44. It's the Bush family's "Reverse Robin Hood" routine.

Stealing from the poor and giving to the wealthy.

[LWolf]

46. Using our pensions to further the privatization agenda.

Florida teachers, I am so sorry. FIGHT it.

You know, I can't even find a link for Edison Corporation. I'm going to forward Michael's question about possible Edison/Bush links to the ARN (Assessment Reform Network) folks and see what they come up with.

Meanwhile, here are some links re: corporatization of public ed:

http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=889

Often it is poor school districts, where parents and school boards are the most desperate, that turn to private companies. "The Edison project is brilliant at marketing," observes Lindsay Hershenhorn, a first grade teacher at a troubled San Francisco school that recently voted to contract with the Edison Project. "They play on parents' and teachers' frustration with the lack of money for education," adds Hershenhorn who refuses to teach in a school run by the Edison Project.

Some teachers and parents fear that, just as HMOs have made the financial bottom line the standard for health care delivery, EMOs will be more accountable to investors than to students. So far, EMO experiments have survived in less than one hundred schools. In fact, these companies are not interested in running the entire school system. Providing a universal service for all schoolchildren would not be profitable, and many of these young companies have yet to pay dividends to their investors. However, they are bringing profit oriented interests to bear on the educational system.

"The public benefit and the profitability (of EMOs) are two very different things," Alex Molnar, author of Giving Kids the Business, told CorpWatch. "A market by definition can't address issues of equity," adds Molnar, Director of the Center for the Analysis of Commercialism in Education. While the EMOs say they have invested millions in curriculum development, critics charge that they are "cookie cutter schools," whose lesson plans are developed out of a central office. They worry that just as HMOs have depersonalized health care, EMOs will provide one-size-fits-all education. And they say that many of the teaching innovations promoted by the EMOs are already in use in some public schools.

The defunding of public education is also part of a worldwide trend. In many countries it is often a component of neo-liberal economic reform or structural adjustment mandated by the World Bank or IMF. One of the first governments in the world to experiment with school vouchers in the 1980's was Chile's military dictatorship. As Martin Carnoy points out in the Global Perspectives section of this feature, while the Chilean experiment did little for poor schoolchildren, it was part of a broad trend towards privatization that included defunding other parts of the social safety net, including social security. Some of the proposals tested by U.S. policy advisors in Chile are now coming home to roost as legislation being debated in the U.S. Congress and state houses across the country. Some Republicans have even proposed abolishing the Department of Education.

"Privatizing public education is the center piece, the grand prize, of the right wing's overall agenda to dismantle social entitlements and government responsibility for social needs," explains education consultant Ann Bastian, in a piece entitled "Lessons from the Voucher War" which is reproduced in this feature.

and...

http://education.umn.edu/research/testing-editorial.htm

<snip>

Test scores are also being used to promote a the privatization of public schools assumed to be “failing,” despite that fact that in a recent international test of literacy, students from the United States ranked the same or better than 29 of the 32 participating countries (students from Canada, Finland, and New Zealand scored higher). Rather than provide more support for public education—Bush’s 2.7 percent budget increase is the lowest increase in eight years—the dubious notion that schools are “failing” means that districts and states turn to the Edison Corporation, Whittle Corporation, and Sylvan Learning, who take over entire schools, provide scripted curriculums for schools, and charge for tutoring.

What then are the alternatives to turning schools into low-level skill and test-preparation training academies? We believe that valid, thoughtful assessment of students' abilities and progress is essential for effective instruction. The state of Kentucky has demonstrated that portfolios of student classroom work can be used to provide teachers and parents with valid profiles of student progress at a fraction of the cost paid to testing corporations. Parents, students, and educators need to challenge the assumption that more and more testing is serving their best interests, as opposed to political and corporate ones.

[JanMichael]

50. Great info! Now if we can only connect the players...

...in Edison with Sylvan, McGraw Hill and the BFEE, we're set.

[lostnfound]

49. kick n/t

[ElsewheresDaughter]

51. just move along now. ..nothing to see here

janmichael...:thumbsup:

[JanMichael]

52. Heh. I showed the article to a co-worker and he flipped.

He couldn't believe what he was reading...