Fighting the Right Fights: More on School Choice
Good Saturday morning,
Winter Break is here in the Gulf and adventures await! Hope and I are kicking things off first thing Sunday morning with a flight to Egypt, which explains this Saturday edition of the newsletter. Our itinerary for the break includes visiting Cairo and Luxor before heading back home to spend Christmas with the fam. After that, we’re off to Northern England to ring in the New Year with some football: Sheffield Wednesday vs Derby County at historic Hillsborough Stadium. Wednesday currently sit mid-table in the Championship (9th) after getting promoted last season from League One.
These travels will inevitably shake up the newsletter schedule, so thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.
Last week we concluded a three part post-election series called To the Victors, Go the Spoils, on the policies and executive orders likely to come from the new administration. If you are a new or recent subscriber, I reckon you might find them useful:
Regarding the piece on immigration, as we discussed then, this week the incoming administration leaked its intention to rescind prior guidance that shielded schools and places of worship from immigration enforcement. This opens the door to immigration raids on K-12 schools, events hosted at those schools, and even churches and mosques."
Picking up where we left off last week, according to EdWeek there are currently voucher programs in ten states, plus Washington DC. Massively expanding that number is the top priority for the nominee for Secretary of Education. This will further cripple a struggling US public school system.
The topic of school choice is thorny and for over a decade now I’ve watched it make enemies out of people who should be allies in fighting for students. Even the framing “school choice” is problematic: Do you mean open enrollment within a given district or across district lines? Do you mean non-profit charter schools? Or do you mean chains like EPIC, where the founders were charged with massive fraud and embezzlement (see video below)? Or the fly-by-night corporate stripmall charters that dot Arizona, thanks to their terribly written charter law? Or do you straight up mean vouchers? You get the drift. When different people say “school choice,” they mean different things, often intentionally muddying the waters.
Longtime readers (my pre-newsletter OGs) may recall my online battles with school choice advocates and opponents. For those who luckily missed (or wisely skipped) that drama, here’s a recap of where I stand and why:
I spent 13 years working in a large urban school district, ten of them at a fantastic high school serving families left behind by decades of economic neglect. Together, we (mostly) did right by our kids. Voters in Tacoma have been generous with levy votes over the years, which helped, but I know that not every child has access to a well-funded, high-quality public school.
Millions of families are stuck with underfunded schools that don’t meet their kids’ needs. I get why some parents turn to charter schools—I truly do. I’d never stand in their way. If you’re against charters, I’d urge you to focus on making public schools more effective and welcoming, rather than shaming parents who are simply trying to find better options for their children.
So, while I’m not waving a pom-pom for charters, I’m not a hater either—I’m firmly charter-agnostic. Vouchers, though? Hard no. That’s where I draw a bright red line.
In the past, that policy set got me booed at a union conference and called a “neoliberal shill” but I am, as ever, unbothered. We need to get our heads around what we stand for and what we are fighting against. “School choice” polls well across party lines, while “school vouchers” are far less popular. It’s crucial to clarify where we stand and what we stand for since proponents of vouchers are well aware of the polling and deliberately blur the lines between the two. If we’re not careful, we risk losing the fight over one idea because people are conflating it with the other.
Policy ebbs and flows in cycles and we’re in a period where trust in institutions is low and lots of profiteers have ready-made market-based solutions, that while promising to help poor and working class families, actually exist to siphon funds into their own coffers. We have to be clear eyed and speak plainly about that.
Speaking of Fighting the Right Fights
This week on the pod, we talked to Cyrus Donato about the harsh realities facing hundreds of fishermen laboring on U.S.-flagged ships in American waters. Many endure wage theft, exploitative working conditions, and an almost total lack of recourse.
Cyrus is one of over 140 inspectors for the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), a federation representing nearly 20 million transport workers. Based in the Puget Sound region, he supports foreign seafarers and transport workers, tackling injustices and advocating for their rights. Many of the fisherman lack US visas and are trapped on their ships for months at a time.
Cyrus shared his insights into the plight of fishermen and the broader efforts to combat exploitation in the maritime industry. If you’re interested in labor rights, maritime issues, or just want to hear about the challenges faced by workers often hidden from public view, I think it’s worth your time.
Our next episode is with Jeff Hawn from the London School of Economics. He’s an expert on Russia and we’re going to unpack how US/Russian relations may be reshaped by the incoming administration. You can look forward to that in a fortnight or so.
I’ve got some packing to do for Cairo, so bid you وداع (farewell) for now.
See you next week newsletter!
As always, if you have any thoughts or feedback about the newsletter, I welcome it, and I really appreciate it when folks share the newsletter with their friends.