Tag Archives: virtual charters

This Monday, Betsy DeVos is likely to be handed the Department of Education by those Republican Senators that she’s admitted to having bought off

By Mark | February 4, 2017

I can’t say for certain whether or not the dollar amounts indicated on this chart, which was floating around the internet today, are absolutely accurate, but, from what I know about DeVos, and what she herself has said about spending money in order to get politicians to do what she wants, I don’t have much […]

Posted in Education, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged Betsy DeVos, buying influence, buying politicians, charter schools, confirmation hearings, Department of Education, Dick DeVos, dismantling of public education, for-profit charter schools, get the money out of Washington, money as free speech, money in politics, schools of choice, threats to Democracy, threats to public education | 24 Comments

The fight over the future of public education in America moves to the full Senate, as Betsy DeVos’s nomination for Secretary of Education passes out of committee

By Mark | February 1, 2017

The above photo was taken by my friend Al Hoff today outside an elementary school in Pittsburg. While I imagine it’s possible that someone could have hung the flag upside down by mistake, I suspect it probably has something to do with what’s happening right now in Washington relative to public education. [The upside down […]

Posted in A2Awesome, Education, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged Al Hoff, Alaska, Anchorage, Betsy DeVos, Cabinet, charter schools, confirmation hearings, Dick DeVos, dismantling of public education, education reform, for-profit charter schools, Lisa Murkowski, Maine, PTA, public education, religious fundamentalism, religious intolerance, Secretary of Education, Senate, Senate Committee on Health Education Labor and Pensions, Susan Collins, threats to public education | 22 Comments

Secretary of Education pick Betsy DeVos caught on tape, talking about defunding public education in order to “advance God’s kingdom”

By Mark | January 16, 2017

With the Senate confirmation hearing for Betsy DeVos, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Education, set to begin tomorrow, the folks at Politico just released a 2001 recording in which the Amway billionaire explains that her work to defund public education has been done in order to “advance God’s kingdom.” Her comments, according to Politico, were […]

Posted in Education, Politics, Religious Extremism, Uncategorized | Also tagged Betsy DeVos, Dick DeVos, dismantling of public education, for-profit charter schools, Gretchen Whitmer, Jim Fouts, Office of Government Ethics, public education, racism, religious extremism, religious sabotage, separation of church and state, The Gathering, threats to public education, Warren | 69 Comments

We should have stopped Betsy DeVos when we had the chance

By Mark | November 27, 2016

On behalf of the people of Michigan, I apologize… Not only were we one of three states credited with making Donald Trump, the least qualified presidential candidate in American history, our President-elect, but, as it turns out, we might also be responsible for ending public education as we know it. You see, we, the people […]

Posted in Church and State, Civil Liberties, Corporate Crime, Detroit, Education, Michigan, Uncategorized | Also tagged Acton Institute, Amway, Betsy DeVos, child labor, dismantling of public education, Donald Trump, education reform, HB 4052, Lily Eskelsen García, literacy, Michelle Rhee, minimum wage, MLM, multi-level marketing, National Education Association, NEA, Newt Gingrich, opportunity gap, privatization, public education, pyramid schemes, Religious Freedom Restoration Act, right-to-work, school vouchers, schools of choice, Secretary of Education, The Act to Enhance Access to the Workplace for Minors, threats to public education | 102 Comments

Mark Schauer tells me over beers, “I’m going to beat Rick Snyder whether or not the minimum wage ballot proposal is before voters or not”

By Mark | May 16, 2014

Yesterday evening, after work, one thing led to another and I found myself locked in the basement of Arbor Brewing along with with Mark Schauer, the Democratic candidate for Governor of Michigan. Fortunately, I had a camera with me, and captured a good deal of our exchange on the subjects of K-12 education and the […]