The end of woke washing, pt. 2: "Kill public education and replace it with nothing" isn't a winner for anyone
The end of woke washing, pt. 2: "Kill public education and replace it with nothing" isn't a winner for anyone
The DoE/Jefferson corruption and cover-up earthquake will keep causing tsunamis. Every single one poses a vulnerability to DeSantis in the '24 primary against Trump, which has already started.
Here’s part 1:
Kill public education and replace it with nothing.
I’ve written that phrase often over the years. The strange alliance of America’s privatizing grifters and fake woke education reformers has behaved for a generation as if killing public education and replacing it with nothing is its goal. It’s the only logic that explains what they do — and the capacity destruction they’ve wrought.
On the other hand, to borrow from Upton Sinclair, it’s hard to get a person to understand his or her own logic when his or her salary — or free fancy conference booze and brie tartlets — depends on not understanding.
Be careful what you wish for
I always thought — and wrote — that if the strange alliance ever got its way; it wouldn’t get its way. If public education ever truly dies, I’ve argued, we’ll have to immediately re-birth and re-build it. Broad American capitalist society — across race and class — not only supports public education for all children, it can’t function without it, as COVID has shown brutally.
Faced with public education’s elimination, I have reckoned that “nothing” would prove an untenable civic replacement and political position.
A Florida choice “experiment” has now proven my hypothesis. Thanks to the cowardice of charter schools and corruption of Florida’s state government, Jefferson County has shown us at small scale what “kill public education and replace with nothing” looks like in real life. And power — including the strange alliance of privatizing grifters and fake woke reformers — cannot run away from it fast enough politically and operationally.
Take a look at the most recent Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald from a couple days ago, which details the state government’s complete capitulation to Jefferson County’s elected officials.
Florida education commissioner Richard Corcoran held a closed-door meeting with representatives of the Jefferson County School District on Thursday as his department came under fire for how it handled a multimillion-dollar contract for the school system.
Department officials spent this week defending themselves to lawmakers and tossing around ideas to exert control over the embattled school district, which in July will be coming off of five years of charter school control. Those ideas, according to lawmakers, included changing the school district’s leadership through legislation or by giving oversight to nearby Florida State University or Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University.
But after Thursday’s meeting, those ideas were apparently dropped. In a Friday letter to Jefferson County Schools superintendent Eydie Tricquet, Corcoran wrote that the district would remain autonomous but must ensure that it improves its district grade to a C within one year. He gave the district a deadline of Jan. 28 to agree to the plan.
The letter did not say whether there would be consequences if it didn’t meet a C grade within a year. The district would have received a D grade in 2021, under charter school control. It’s the only school district in the state under charter school control, which expires June 30.
Why did Corcoran shamelessly back down from fake woke privatization? Because Florida’s strange alliance is desperate to keep its scandal contained locally to Jefferson. The 800 kids of Jefferson were easy for DeSantis/Corcoran and their grifter friends to forsake; and it was easy for wider world to ignore them — until DoE got nailed by the hilarious bumbling corruption of Melissa Ramsey and Andy Tuck.
Now this scandal isn’t so easy to run from — because it does not begin and end in Jefferson County. And what Jefferson emphatically demonstrates about the Florida Model of education will keep swamping communities across the state and shamelessly wasting their local tax dollars and investment in their children, which is substantial.
In no particular order, here are a few crucial lasting dynamics/questions/issues that will keep radiating off the DoE/Jefferson scandal as DeSantis runs for re-election and challenges Trump in ‘24 primary, which has already begun.
Dear FDLE, are you as corrupt as DeSantis thinks you are? Why isn’t Corcoran getting the Rebekah Jones treatment?
The governor’s office, through its snarky spokeswoman, is gleefully, confrontationally covering-up blatant public corruption and bid rigging in the DoE/Jefferson scandal. See part 1 questions that need to asked under oath. Here’s a key excerpt from the most recent Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald story:
DeSantis’ office, however, said Thursday that it considers the matter closed because the Department of Education’s inspector general office investigated and took action against a bid, unrelated to the one exposed by the Times/Herald.
“The investigation has concluded, and the commissioner and DOE have been fully transparent about the investigation, its findings and the actions taken by the agency,” spokesperson Christina Pushaw said in an email. “Rep. Tant’s letter is a few weeks late.”
I still can’t get over the gratuitous official trash talk of “a few weeks late.” Everything is a social media game to these people. Everything. She’s laughing at you, FDLE.
Because this is an official statement, it means the governor himself is doing it. DeSantis is bragging about stonewalling through Christina Pushaw. DeSantis is daring anybody in law enforcement to put Richard Corcoran and Jacob Oliva and Caroline Wood under oath and ask about MGT.
DeSantis and his minions are all betting that Florida’s law enforcement and “independent” government oversight institutions are so corrupt and so politically compromised that DoE and its minions can do all of this in the open and laugh about it. They’re probably right. This is Florida, after all — the “free state” of grift and swamp.
Remember, whatever one thinks of Rebekah Jones, DeSantis’ FDLE sent armed dudes to raid her home because she sent a dramatic text on a government messaging system.
Jones was arrested after the raid and is facing a criminal charge of violating Florida's computer crime laws. The state alleges she used an official emergency messaging system to send a mass text calling on civil servants to speak out against how Florida was managing its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Corcoran’s corrupt, bid-rigging DoE? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
FDLE people, here is the raw DoE/Jefferson corruption part of this story, elegantly summarized concisely by Times/Herald reporters Lawrence Mower and Ana Ceballos.
Records and interviews show that prior to taking bids, the department was meeting with MGT, tailored its request for quotes to fit MGT and told officials in Jefferson County that MGT would do the work.
Then the department held a week-long bidding process for 25 companies that resulted in MGT being the only respondent, with a nearly $2.5 million offer.
State law prohibits awarding contracts when a company has inside information. The deal ultimately fell apart when two of Corcoran’s top deputies and State Board of Education member Andy Tuck filed a competing bid.
The department is now conducting a new round of bids to do the work. Proposals are due Wednesday…
…The House Public Integrity and Elections Committee, which in recent years has launched investigations into public entities, will not be looking into the matter.
Remember, FDLE, the governor and his flacks are laughing at you, knowing you’ll do nothing about this.
The state’s Jefferson extortion: pay the charter and external operator grifters big bucks (for no results) — or we cut your budget in half
Again, see part 1 for full context on the Somerset Charter moral cowardice scandal that made the DoE consultant corruption scandal possible. But this is, again, concise from the Times/Herald:
Jefferson County school officials say they can’t afford to spend millions on consultants. When the School Board takes over in July, it will make do on a roughly $8.5 million budget — about $7 million less than the charter school operator has during its current year.
And why would Jefferson’s district have to pay consultants millions? Because Sen. Manny Diaz’s Somerset Charter could not deliver a “C” on the state’s fraudulent grade scale, even with all that extra money. Note the part in bold:
In a Friday letter to Jefferson County Schools superintendent Eydie Tricquet, Corcoran wrote that the district would remain autonomous but must ensure that it improves its district grade to a C within one year. He gave the district a deadline of Jan. 28 to agree to the plan.
The letter did not say whether there would be consequences if it didn’t meet a C grade within a year. The district would have received a D grade in 2021, under charter school control. It’s the only school district in the state under charter school control, which expires June 30.
Are we ever going to find out what Ralph Arza’s relatives did for Somerset/Jefferson County?
Somerset did successfully deliver for somebody, at least: four relatives of Ralph Arza, the too-racist-for-Ron DeSantis, convicted criminal witness tamperer, Florida Charter School Alliance spokesman, and good friend of Richard Corcoran.
This is, without question, the funniest part of this very unfunny scandal:
On Nov. 1, a week before the state opened the project for bids, the Department of Education hosted a meeting to discuss the transition plan with Jefferson County school superintendent Eydie Tricquet, Jefferson County’s current charter school operator and Traviesa.
Also included was prominent charter school lobbyist Ralph Arza, a longtime close ally of Rubio and Corcoran who resigned from the Legislature in 2006 after using racial slurs during a drunken tirade. Arza has four relatives, including his brother and sister-in-law, working in Jefferson County for the company currently operating the schools.
Arza told the Times/Herald that he was at the meeting on behalf of his job with the Florida Charter School Alliance, which advocates for charter schools, and did not stand to benefit financially if MGT won the award.
I’m starting to develop sources connected to — and/or possibly within (some are anonymous) — DoE; and I can see new subscribers to “Public Enemy Number 1” with regional ties to the Jefferson story. Somebody, please, tell me what Ralph’s relatives did, specifically. I want to know that so badly.
DeSantis picked the wrong DoE and the wrong year to completely overhaul Jeb’s fraudulent testing and school grade system
A few months back, DeSantis got a day of good headlines while putting himself on the hook, politically and publicly, for transforming Florida’s toxic, abusive, useless testing experience.
I wrote about the opportunity and/or trap DeSantis created for himself here. I called it “DeSantis dumps Jeb.” I even made a funny meme:
In a move that will surprise no one, the same people who brought Floridians the full Jefferson County debacle — Corcoran, Sen. Manny Diaz of Academica/Doral/Somerset, and other assorted Jebsters — are already making a blatant public liar of DeSantis on testing.
Here is Ana Ceballos from the Times/Herald on testing reform, killing it again, and noting the obvious about the new testing plan. Note the bold:
It also does not appear to reduce testing for students. When the governor first announced the proposal last year, he said the idea was to reduce testing in schools by 75 percent. As currently written, the legislation would add more testing.
There’s a word for what Ceballos accurately paraphrases here, as it relates to what DeSantis promised: lying.
On top of making a liar of DeSantis with the testing reform plan, Corcoran’s corrupt, dying DoE — which could not handle Jefferson — will absolutely botch the implementation of whatever monstrosity emerges from the Corcoran/Diaz/Arza nexus of brain power.
So pop the popcorn; there will be so much more to come on this. It cannot be escaped. It affects almost everyone in the state — one way or another.
One obscure state representative just altered the balance of power between the state and local districts
When faced with actual political confrontation from ONE obscure Republican legislator, Corcoran punched the ejector seat button rather than fight and dominate.
Rep. Jason Shoaf, R-Port St. Joe, who represents that area, said he told department officials he would refuse to support any effort to take control away from local school officials.
Shoaf, who brokered the Thursday meeting between Corcoran and Tricquet, the superintendent, said such ideas are now off the table.
“We left there in a better place than we were,” Shoaf said.
Let’s be clear: Jason Shoaf’s “refuse to support” statement is completely toothless. Corcoran and DoE, if they wanted to, could steamroll Jefferson again, just like they steamrolled every other local district. They have the legal power, given by the Florida Supreme Court. Jeff Solochek of the Tampa Bay Times recently wrote about the total primacy of state government in education. Indeed, legally and operationally, there is no such thing as a “local district.” They are all legally subject to the dominance of state government — until that dominance comes with real political consequences, as it started to in Jefferson. Then it’s all “local control” again.
It seems entirely likely now that Jefferson will actually get the same money spent on Somerset and the would-be external operator grifters under their own district control. Not providing that money now comes with a big political price from DeSantis/Corcoran’s own party. That’s a massive operational win for Jefferson that emerged from a political confrontation. Take note, school board members everywhere.
Shoaf and the elected officials of Jefferson demonstrated how craven and weak the Tallahassee bullies are. The state cannot stand up to any alliance of Republican legislators and their local board members. So the state must avoid pushing local districts and legislators into a situation that forces that alliance. Hence …
What can Tallahassee credibly threaten districts with now?
We’ll defund your schools! Or we’ll give them to Somersets of the world! Or force you to hire grifting consultants! Or close them! Because we care about the kids — especially those vulnerable kids from low capital communities with acute needs that choice schools won’t serve! Look at how woke we are!
That’s how the strange alliance of privatizers and fake wokesters have threatened and punished local communities over the years to advance their agendas.
Well, Jefferson proves unequivocally that Big Charter cannot effectively run a community-based, zoned school where it has to take and keep all kids. And they don’t want to. Big charter wants nothing to do with the hard parts of education. That’s not their business. It’s why they’re running from Jefferson as fast as they can. The bid-rigging proves that external operator consultants are a grift.
So if you can’t replace zoned public schools with charters or vouchers (which are a million times worse than charters); and external operators come with no manpower and mostly exist to skim and grift tax money …
What’s left to replace the “failing” zoned school legally bound to serve all kids?
Nothing.
“Nothing” is the last option. And “nothing” isn’t tenable. It forces even your anti-woke, CRT-hating right-wing legislator to step up for majority black district and community he represents.
[Shoaf] said he requested the meeting to work things out between officials from the Department of Education and the Jefferson County School District.
“I’m glad all this is now coming out,” he said. “The people in Jefferson County want the best for their kids, and they want county and state leadership to step up and assist them with fixing their school district.”
Shoaf said the department agreed to financially support the district. He said the Times/Herald’s report on the procurement process was “eye-opening.”
See how easy it is when you open your eyes?
Cocky Corcoran is gone
Richard Corcoran used to be so cocky. Remember when he was going to cut Florida’s public school enrollment by two-thirds?
When Richard Corcoran was Speaker of the House, he pushed through an aggressive expansion of charter schools and voucher programs.
When Governor Ron DeSantis named Corcoran to lead the state’s public school system, traditional school advocates worried about what it would mean. Florida had about 2.8 million kids enrolled in public schools last year. Now Leon County School Superintendent Rocky Hanna worries those fears are being validated.
“I met several months ago with the commissioner of education and he made no bones about it. He sees nothing wrong with cutting our traditional public school system by two-thirds.”
COVID couldn’t even come close to doing that.
Anyway, I don’t need to rerun all Corcoran’s trash talk and preening over the years. Just do some Googling.
But today, I hear he mostly spends him time holed up in the 17th floor of the DoE building. Private meetings with Jefferson seem to be his only public appearances these days. LOL.
Perhaps he’s thinking which new university presidency to seek so it can humiliate him in public the way FSU did. I’m sure USF and UF want a president that FSU rejected, who is in the middle of a giant education consultant bid-rigging scandal.
Anyway, consider the tone Corcoran has struck in his very limited public statements around the DoE/Jefferson scandal.
Corcoran said his “first, last and only priority has been to ensure the students of Jefferson County receive the high-quality education they deserve.”
“The Department has followed not only the letter but the spirit of the procurement process,” he said. “Our procurements are designed to attract the widest range of bidders to ensure every needed service is available for every child. Any suggestion to the contrary is uninformed.”
Uninformed. LOL.
And then in the letter to Jefferson, the tiny county Corcoran and Manny Diaz and Ralph Arza made into a plaything for years.
“While we at the Department are more than glad to provide you as much support as necessary, the long-deficient state of (the district) is of great concern for myself, the public and, most importantly, the students,” Corcoran wrote. “To that end, I have faith that you will be able to turn the school district around.”
He couldn’t resist “long-deficient,” but it’s still a pretty subdued “I surrender” letter, I’d say.
Ex-DoE Chancellor Eric Hall and the breaking of the “reform” coalition of privatizing grifters and fake wokesters
Finally, before former DoE Chancellor of Innovation Eric Hall’s Critical Race Theory thesis was a political crisis for Ron DeSantis, it was undoubtedly a selling-point for Richard Corcoran.
[I’m not speaking about the content of CRT here, which I don’t have the expertise to discuss. I’m talking about a sort of credentialing that was valuable for institutional careerists — until it wasn’t]
Hall’s CRT credential, as fake wokeness has often been, was useful for woke washing the appalling racial and class outcomes of Florida’s — and America’s — privatizing “choice” model.
I detailed this at length in part 1.
[The true master of woke-washing is Doug Tuthill of Step Up for Students, who has made a very lucrative career of protecting his breathtakingly segregated, 61-percent 2-year drop out rate network of scam voucher schools by falsely accusing all critics of racism. See my “Jeb Crow” series here.]
Here’s the announcement of Hall’s 2019 hiring, for which Corcoran created a special position.
Florida education commissioner Richard Corcoran has created a new high-level post in the Department of Education to deal with some of the state’s most high profile education initiatives, including the expansion of school choice.
Eric Hall, who grew up in Tampa and holds several University of South Florida degrees, will become the state’s first chancellor for innovation. The news was first announced by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, where Hall had been deputy state superintendent of innovation for just less than a year.
He spent the year before that running the state’s Innovative School District, which oversees one struggling elementary school that has been taken over by an outside operator.
Any of that sound familiar? I’m going take a deeper dive on Hall’s hiring, role, and competence as a DoE leader later.
But do not believe, for a second, Richard Corcoran was somehow blindsided when Hall’s thesis became news because of the stupid CRT hysteria that now defines the Republican party.
Indeed, this Politico story about Hall’s thesis shows how the strange alliance of privatizing grifters and wokesters has worked very effectively for many, many years to undermine — from the left, right, and center simultaneously — the idea of public education as a public good that requires constant development and sustenance of capacity, human and otherwise.
People like Hall and the “Failure Factory” reporters and most members of the truly enormous non-profit education policy industry/machine have been more than happy to twist theories and ideas like CRT to help their well-funded grifter buddies and funders privatize in the name of equity.
Jefferson County is the logical outcome.
I don’t actually see any “innovation” in Florida education that Eric Hall ever oversaw in his less than three years as “innovation” chancellor. And I’m not sure of his qualifications to run the Department of Juvenile Justice.
DeSantis appointed him as DJJ secretary on November 19, the same week that Ramsey and Tuck both resigned over the Jefferson scandal. It remains unclear to me what, if any, supervisory responsibility Hall had over Ramsey or the Jefferson situation. Hall’s move to DJJ came a few months after CRT became a mindless GOP education talking point and just about the time an article broke about Hall’s CRT thesis.
I’m sure that’s all coincidence. I’m sure DeSantis wasn’t at all worried about Trump sliming his CRT-loving chancellor of education innovation in the hideous ‘24 GOP primary that has already started.
Likewise, Hall’s transfer from his supposed area of expertise in education “innovation” to DJJ came with a show-trial renunciation of CRT.
“Even for my own kids, even though my dissertation may have been on CRT, my kids can’t tell you anything about CRT because we don’t talk about that,” said Hall, a Pasco County native and father of two…
“…The more that I’ve learned over this past decade about CRT and the divisive nature that it brings [the] governor’s absolutely correct, it has absolutely no place in our K-12 system,” Hall said.
This shows how truly uncommitted to the moral implications of “wokeness” these educratic woke washers actually are.
If it’s a choice between career and the courage of conviction, you’ll always get some version of that undignified, unprincipled self-debasement from the education wokesters.
Hall’s partial canceling — and the shameless CRT recantation — illustrate brutally who always had the power in the wokester/corrupt privatizer alliance. That alliance is breaking now; and I think it’s going to weaken both.
Wokesters have no money without privatizing grifters; and privatizing grifters have no woke washing without wokester educrats. The grift becomes raw and open and unadorned — just like Jefferson County shows.
Severing the ugly, cynical connections of the reformer coalition — which reached its peak power with the close education collaboration of Barack Obama and Jeb Bush — finishes off “reform” as a “movement” completely. No one will miss it. Here’s a perfect example of why from just this week.
Perhaps now we can start to rebuild “something” rooted in the humanity and personal development of evert individual child, starting in Jefferson County.