Going back to Education Summit in Selma for the Voting Right 5oth Anniversary in 12 days. I will be joining my sisters Ruth Rodriquez and Ceresta Smith, Alabama BATs, SOSers, BTCs,and UOOs to tell it on every moutaintop that it is immoral for 49 governors to spend more money on their wealthy schools than their poor schools.
Sing that old song:
Ain't noboy gonna turn me around,
Ain't gonna let nobody turn me around
Turn me around, turn me around
Ain't gonna let nobody turn me around
Keep on a walking, keep on a talking
Gonna build a brand new world

Ain't gonna let the Secretary of Education Arne Duncan turn me around
Turn me around, turn me around
Ain't gonna let the administration turn me around
Keep on a walking, keep on a talking
Gonna build a brand new world

Ain't gonna let no education deformer turn me around
Turn me around, turn me around
Ain't gonna let no first strike policy turn me around
Keep on a walking, keep on a talking
Gonna build a brand new world
Ain't gonna let Indira no governors turn me around
Turn me around, turn me around
Ain't gonna let billionaires boys club turn me around
Keep on a walking, keep on a talking
Gonna build a brand new world.

Got my moral walking shoes on people,
And ain't nobody stopping this walking man,
Jesse

Just in case people are wondering what the walking will be listening to walking across the Edmond Pettus Bridge? It ain't nobody gonna turn me around by Sweet honey in the rock

https://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0LEVymeEuZUSigA51Ol87UF;_ylc=X1MDOTU4MTA0NjkEX3IDMgRmcgMEZ3ByaWQDVGphN201REdSeHlrckFlblNKem5TQQRuX3JzbHQDMARuX3N1Z2cDNARvcmlnaW4Dc2VhcmNoLnlhaG9vLmNvbQRwb3MDMQRwcXN0cgNhaW4ndCBub2JvZHkgZ29ubmEgdHVybgRwcXN0cmwDMjMEcXN0cmwDNDAEcXVlcnkDYWluJ3Qgbm9ib2R5IGdvbm5hIHR1cm4gbWUgYXJvdW5kIGx5cmljcwR0X3N0bXADMTQyNDM2NDIxNw--?p=ain%27t+nobody+gonna+turn+me+around+lyrics&fr=sfp&fr2=sa-gp-search&iscqry= 

Walking to DC opposing the immoral ground of school choice policies

My response to Connecticut Governor Malloy budget increases for charter schools would be the same response for any state increasing it's funding for charter schools. Their is no data to support them as education reform successes. 
It is obvious our politicians, policy makers, and their education reformer pals are not reading the research on choice schools and charters. The Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles from UCLA 40 states review of school choice impacts 2010 reported that charter school actually increase racial isolation. See:
Frankenberg, E., Siegel-Hawley, G., Wang, J. (2010). Choice without Equity: Charter School Segregation and the Need for Civil Rights Standards. Los Angeles, CA: The Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA; www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu. 

Perhaps the reading level is too high for these so-called education reformers to understand?
"Executive Summary
Seven years after the Civil Rights Project first documented extensive patterns of charter school segregation, the charter sector continues to stratify students by race, class and possibly language. This study is released at a time of mounting federal pressure to expand charter schools, despite on-going and accumulating evidence of charter school segregation."....
"Their analysis of the 40 states, the District of Columbia, and several dozen metropolitan areas with large enrollments of charter school students reveals that charter schools are more racially isolated than traditional public schools in virtually every state and large metropolitan area in the nation."

As for Connecticut Connecticut Voices For Children issued their 2014 report: 

Choice Watch: Diversity and Access in Connecticut's School Choice Programs Robert Cotto, Jr., Ed.M. & Kenneth Feder

http://www.ctvoices.org/publications/choice-watch-diversity-and-access-connecticuts-school-choice-programs

Let me make this simple, school choice provides cover for Connecticut being one of 49 states who spend more money on their wealthy schools than their poor schools." This is a moral struggle with immoral policy that fails to provide all our children with an equal start and finish in our public schools. Education reform should begin with providing children in all 50 states an equal start and finish not with gimmicks. Study after study reveals one simple finding Choice without equity is a failure, and that our political leaders either can't comprehend data, or they just don't care. If they don't care then everything they are doing is rooted in immorality.
One Man Walking To DC In The Name Of Love,
Jesse

If you you like to know what song inspired my walk today? It's Barry Lane's "More Than A Number" https://search.yahoo.com/search?p=Barry+lane+more+than+a+number+utbue\&ei=UTF-8&fr=moz35

How many miles must we walk until we have equity in our schools?

http://jonathanpelto.com/2015/02/13/connecticut-teacher-union-perfects-concept-sleeping-enemy/

In the above blog Jonathan Pelto is asking how teacher unions could agree to any teacher being evaluated with unvalidated tests that are racially, culturally, and linguistically bias? 

Our children, their teachers, and their local schools are held accountable to testing that does nothing to address inequity. While the state of Connecticut is one of the 49 states who spends more money on their wealthy schools than their poor schools is not held accountable.
Isn't it time we start holding those 49 states accountable?
Our governors and their Commissioners of Education love giving A to F grades to our public schools. They loved holding back children who can't past their mandated test, they love not allowing high school students to graduate if they fail their state mandated test. Secretary Arne Duncan promotes testing as the means to reach equity. That's sort of like telling everyone you can run the race, but some kids have to run with back packs full of bricks.
I have decided to give letter grades to Arne Duncan's United State Department of Education, and those 49 governors.
Their Grade is an F for failure to make a difference to our most needy children.
1.2 trillion dollars was allocated for No Child Left Behind, and 13 year later the only thing we know is that it has succeeded in leaving millions of special needs children and poor children behind. 
One Man Walking To DC In The Name Of Love,
Jesse

 

Got to love these BATs! 

PS the one state that is not spending more money on it's wealthy schools than their poor schools is Alaska.