[Durham INC] Fwd: More details on charter bill, inc from a charter school teacher

[Melissa's yahoo]

> For anyone still interested in reading info abt the charter bill, see the info from the North Carolina Association of Educators below.
> Cheers, 
> Melissa
> 
> Sent from my iPad
> 
> Begin forwarded message:
> 
>> 
>> Brian Lewis forwards this message to you.
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>> 03-03-2011
>> Dollar Store Magnate Defends His Support for Vouchers
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Art Pope attempted yesterday to dismiss his connections to organizations and politicians advocating for private school/homeschool vouchers. According to Pope, he makes an annual contribution to a local middle school, therefore he supports public schools.
>> One thing is for sure, Art Pope doesn’t like it when he is linked to the nationally embarrassing Wake County School Board or to anti-public education legislation circulating through the General Assembly.  However, connecting Pope to anti-public education forces was no difficult task for NCAE since he is either a donor or board member of multiple pro-voucher advocacy groups.  
>> 
>> NCAE’s popular Money & Privatization: A Love Story video makes that connection and is viral on Facebook, while traffic to view the video at www.ncae.org is steady. 
>>  
>> Pope sat down with ABC-11 reporter Shae Crisson yesterday  to claim his support for vouchers and resegregated schools is balanced by his family foundation’s annual gifts to his middle school alma mater and to Raleigh Charter High School.  As to his political contributions, Pope denied giving to a 2009 school board race.  Instead, he opted to route his money through the Wake County Republican Party.  Pope even asserts on camera that NCAE’s connection of him to the new Wake County School Board majority “is a complete lie.”   
>>  
>> Now for the record, Pope’s hands are not seen on camera, and DPB is assuming his fingers were crossed when he said “lie.”   
>>  
>> That’s because DPB has a copy of an October 7, 2009 email from Wake GOP Finance Chair Marc Scruggs written to Wake County School Board Chair Ron Margiotta.  Scruggs wrote, “I am fairly pleased with the elections yesterday — especially with the school board.  Art Pope’s plan the GOP implemented worked very well — and THANK YOU for your help and service.”   
>> 
>> Scruggs updates Margiotta in the email about the need to raise money for John Tedesco’s run-off race and come up with “a solid game plan.”   “Art will be the architect,” he wrote. 
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>> Ron Margiotta is the current Wake County School Board Chairman, and John Tedesco is the polarizing school board member leading the effort to undo Wake County’s diversity policy on school assignments.   Click here to view the email.
>>  
>> In the ABC-11 interview, Pope failed to address his documented financial support or connections to the Civitas Institute, John Locke Foundation, Americans for Prosperity, and other radical-right organizations in North Carolina that promote privatization of public schools. He also made no mention of the current charter school legislation that funds charters at a higher rate than traditional public schools and seems to be a major part of Majority Leader Stam’s self-described dream “to make all of the traditional public schools charter schools.”
>>  
>> NCAE President Sheri Strickland said that Pope’s financial support for anti-public education policymakers and interest groups is important for the public to understand.   “Educators ask us why this charter school bill takes money from Friday night football programs and transfers it to charter schools that don’t play football,” said Strickland.  “They ask us why charter schools that don’t feed children will now get part of traditional schools’ lunch programs.  It’s about money and politics.  They deserve to know what the motivation is behind these bills.” 
>>  
>> NCAE Vice President Rodney Ellis agreed.  Ellis, a former charter school teacher, said he supports quality charter schools, but that the bill in the General Assembly is not about ensuring quality.  “If it was about expanding the number of good charter schools in North Carolina, then the General Assembly would make quality the standard,” he said.  “This bill is about transferring hundreds of millions of dollars to unaccountable charter schools at the expense of quality charters and our traditional public schools.  NCAE is telling that story.”   
>>  
>> To watch the ABC-11 broadcast of Pope’s claims, along with interviews with Representative Paul Stam and NCAE Government Relations Manager Brian Lewis, click here. 
>> You received this message via your affiliation with NCAE. To remove yourself from future mailings, please use this link.
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>> Use this link to forward to a friend.
>> 
>> North Carolina Association of Educators
>> 700 South Salisbury Street • Raleigh, North Carolina 27601
>> (919) 832-3000 or (800) 662-7924
>> 
>> 
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