What it really means when Trump, DeVos and their allies refer to public schools as ‘government schools’ washingtonpost.com/education/2020… // This is a decent article but it really, really misses the underlying strategy of two groups. Opposition to desegregation was always the number one
2/ point for libertarians in the 1950s & 1960s. "Choice" was the word used to oppose "integration." Vouchers and charters are rooted in white supremacy resistance to integration and civil rights by conservatives and libertarians. That's just historical fact. The second underlying
3/ strategy she misses is that of the Christian Reconstructionists and the larger Christian Right who from the 1960s onwards sought to delegitimize public schools (favored integration, loss of Protestant prayer monopoly) and delegitimize a secular, liberal society in favor of a
4/ mythical "Christian nation." It has always been about destroying public schools, teacher unions, and delegitimizing the curriculum--no sex education, rewrite history and science textbooks. To reframe public schools as "government schools" is to shift the paradigm. Public
5/ schools are locally run and locally funded. There is a locally elected school board with a supervisor who is either hired or elected. Sure, it is a local government body--but it is extremely close to the electorate. Your school board member is your neighbor. DeVos and her crew
6/ are a mix of Christian Right proponents and libertarians, funded by Wall Street hedge fund managers. Ask Corey Booker where he got his early money--DeVos and Wall Street. Arnie Duncan is a big voucher, charter guy. This is not about choice or better education outcomes. The
7/ evidence shows that charter schools are not better than public schools, but it does show it is a parasite taking tax dollars away from public schools and putting profits in the hands of Wall Street. It is not about choice. It is about strategically destroying public schools.
8/ To read some of the evidence go to Talk To Action and read @RTabachnick Rachel Tabachnick. On the libertarian side read John Jackson at AltRightOrigins.com aka Fardels Bear. On destroying public institutions read @julieingersoll and @crfredrickson
