Calling Senator Donnelly: Support our public schools, reject the DeVos/Booker agenda

Senator Donnelly, where do you stand on school privatization? Bringing Cory Booker to Indiana is a slap in the face to your constituents who care about public schools.
 
After the bruising nomination of wealthy school privatization advocate Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education, why feature Cory Booker at a fundraiser in Monroe County, Indiana?
 
Like Betsy DeVos, Cory Booker is a “school choice” proponent.

• As mayor of Newark, Booker used a $100 gift from Mark Zuckerburg to massively expand charters in Newark.[1]
• “[Booker’s] long been a proponent of school vouchers…”[2]
• “…Cory Booker joined Betsy DeVos on the board of Alliance for School Choice, which advocated using taxpayer dollars for charter, private and religious schools.”[3]
• Featured speaker at Betsy DeVos’ American Federation for Children summits in 2012 and 2016
• Served on the advisory board for Democrats for Education Reform (DFER). DFER pumps hedge fund money into campaigns supporting candidates who will back privatization efforts and test-based assessments of schools and teachers.[4]

 
So-called “school choice” policies are hurting Indiana’s public schools.
 
Taxpayer funds for education are being diverted to private, religious schools. Since 2011, $520 million in state funds has funded private education in Indiana through the voucher program.[5] Private schools in Indiana are overwhelmingly religious. Even when they receive public money, private schools

• do not need to hire certified teachers
• do not need to make their budgets public
• do not need to make their curricula public
• may discriminate against LGBTQ students
• may have discipline policies that select for well-behaved students

 
Charters schools have also received large increases in funding. Charters are not accountable to the public through democratically elected school boards. Many charters are run by for-profit entities.
 
Between 2009 and 2015, brick-and-mortar charter funding expanded by $539 million. Virtual (online) charter funding expanded from zero to $248 million. Public school funding fell by over $3 billion and, adjusted for inflation, has not returned to 2009 levels.[6]
 
Senator Donnelly, "school choice" is a clever name for policies that subject what should be a human right--public education--to the private, commercial pressures of a market. We call on you to support our public schools, which have a mission and responsibility to serve all children.


[1] https://danielskatz.net/2016/12/09/cory-booker-whiffs-it/
[2] https://newrepublic.com/minutes/139825/cory-booker-not-friend
[3]http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/02 booker_and_devos_served_together_now_he_voted_agai.html
[4] http://www.badassteacher.org/files/DFER-GRammarlychecked.pdf
[5]http://www.indystar.com/videos/news/2017/03/24/-indiana%27s-school-voucher-program-worth-cost/99274308/
[6]http://indianahousedemocrats.org/education-report-summarizes-damage-caused-by-less-money-more-chaos-for-schools/