Thread by @APDillon_

Last panel of the PS1NC forum .
First speaker is Richard Kahlenberg of the "Century Foundation."
He starts out by mocking the 'days of the racist tea party'.

The Century Foundation is a "progressive nonpartisan" think tank.

The board includes former Obama adviser Mark Zuckerman & Ed Sec John King.

Kahlenberg says "diversity makes us smarter."

Kahlenberg is referring to the 1966 Coleman report that said Socioeconomic status is the biggest predictor of Ed success.
Also a 2019 report that reasserts that.
Doesn't address that despite integration, achievement has stalled.

Kahlenberg refers to Fred and reduced lunch percentages as an indicator of academic achievement.

Problem with using that alone is that FRL percentages have increased as threshold of eligibility has increased to cover more and more kids.

“nonpartisan” Century Foundation.

Kahlenberg talks about how integration costs money, Agnes schools cost 10% more than a regular school.

The WCPSS board has created many magnets to draw kids in, essentially segregating them.

Kahlenberg now cites a chart about how there is a “declining support for democratic values.”

One panel member has fallen asleep...

Kahlenberg taking pot shots at President Trump. Claims integrated schools would block the kind of person who “attacks immigrants”

Says vouchers “undermine democratic values” and then attacks Fayetteville Christian school for the values the hold for student admissions.

Kahlenberg says the public school takes all comers, and implies that therefore it’s more virtuously ‘democratic’ than #schoolchoice.

Erika Wilson now speaking. She’s a UNC Chapel Hill law professor.

Her talk is on how privatization and the impact on race.

She asserts that public education has “never been divorced” from “white supremacy.”

Wilson immediately turns to Brown v Board of Education,
#schoolChoice was a racist reaction to Brown.

Gist is the government should be responsible for providing education options because it’s more reliable than parents choosing.

Wilson says that the idea public schools are failing is just a “narrative” and is false marketing by #schoolchoice operatives.

This ignores that academic achievement in this country has stagnated and declined for decades.

Wilson says minority students see charters as a way out and that “unsavory” marketing targeting those families is why they leave public schools. She uses several urban examples of gift cards.

That’s a stretch; Violence in schools is a primary driver of why families leave.

Wilson now says white families choose whit schools regardless of quality or safety.

She calls NC charters “white flight vehicles.”

Wilson calls CMS sea charters a “ white enclave.”
She says the same thing exists in Durham.

Wilson closes by citing lawsuits, as the “legal consequences of choice.”

She blames charters who are innovative for drawing affluent parents and black parents don’t want to send their kids to “hyper white schools”.”

Wow.

Wilson’s parting shot implies groups should question the Constitutionality of school choice.

The tone suggests lawsuits??

Up now is Kris Nordstrom of the Left leaning Policy Watch.
He’s touting his own report called “Stymied by Segregation.”

His take is “racially and economically isolated schools.”
He does not explain what he means by ‘isolated’.

Nordstrom also says income levels of schools is becoming “dissimilar.”

It is unclear if he took into account local economy, unemployment or any other metric. In fact, he does not explain how he compiled income level info.

Nordstrom says charters are resegregating public schools.
Says new charters skew whiter than their districts and
Charters harm students of color.

Nordstrom says charters exacerbates existing racial segregation. Says the largest districts are the worst segregated.

Nordstrom: charter schools are serving as vehicles of white flight.

This line has been repeated by almost every speaker today.

No one...NO ONE... has addressed the real and myriad reasons why parents want choice and are leaving. They just keep repeating “white flight.”

Nordstrom says ESA accounts disproportionately favor rich white families.

@NCCivitas might have something to say about it.

Interestingly, the focus on opportunity scholarships has been minimal today. Why? That funding is for low income and minority families.

Nordstrom asserts charters should have to provide transportation.
He’s also complained charters get public funding and has ignored charters don’t get the capital outlay and bus funds district schools get.

Nordstrom says kids of parents who work for corporations who donate to charter schools get preferential admission treatment.

In NC that’s untrue and would violate state statutes.

Nordstrom tells the audience to “organize against segregation plans” and then says they should start pushing back on the #ncga’s school choice plans.

Here’s that slide

Nordstrom says NC ranks 48th for “average” school funding without citing a source.

Fact: education gets the lion’s share of the NC’s state budget and that spending has increased annual for the last five years.

Last speaker is Irving Joiner, an NCCU law school Professor.

He talks about experiencing segregation In Schools first hand.
In his day, 95% graduated on time. Says they had little money but outcomes were good.

This begs the question, what the heck happened?

Joiner says they didn’t have this ‘school to prison pipeline’ thing going on in his time. He speaks about integration being an upheaval; terror they faced in school.

He says white People control the schools but black people control the spirit.

I’m heading out.

This forum was a scary echo chamber.

It has been an eye opening experience as to how deeply those who spoke want to eradicate #SchoolChoice.