Progressive Breakfast: Who Gains Most From School Choice? Not Low-Income Students Of Color.

MORNING MESSAGE

Jeff Bryant

Who Gains Most From School Choice? Not Low-Income Students Of Color.

No doubt school choice will benefit some parents – just as any market-based system has some winners and some losers. But who really stands to gain most from choice and why? ... A recent policy brief from the National Education Policy Center examines the research studies of school choice programs and finds, “The overall body of the research literature documents an unsettling degree of segregation – particularly in charter schools – by race and ethnicity, as well as by poverty, special needs, and English-learner status.”

FIGHT TO BLOCK DAKOTA ACCESS PIPELINE INTENSIFIES

Bill McKibben presses Hillary Clinton to speak out against the Dakota Access Pipeline, in LAT oped:“The fight at Standing Rock is a big damned thing. It’s a Flint-in-the-making, and it’s also a chance to for once do right by the continent’s oldest inhabitants. Surely Hillary Clinton can rise to the occasion. Can’t she?”

“The judge is expected to rule Friday on whether to grant the tribe’s request for an injunction”reports NPR.

WARREN TAKES ON APPLE

Sen. Elizabeth Warren rips Apple’s tax avoidance strategy in NYT oped:“…instead of bailing out the tax dodgers under the guise of tax reform, Congress should seize this moment to take three crucial steps to repair our broken corporate tax code … Congress should increase the share of government revenue generated from taxes on big corporations … encourage investment in jobs here in the United States [and] level the playing field for small businesses.”

Ballot initiative in Oregon seeks to raise corporate taxes. NYT:“… Measure 97 would create the biggest tide of new tax revenue in any state in the nation this year as a percentage of the budget … through a 2.5 percent tax on corporate gross receipts … Labor unions, led by teachers, are leading the fight for passage … Opponents have raised about $8 million — four times as much as supporters — through contributions from large companies like Amazon, General Motors and the grocery chain Kroger/Fred Meyer…”

RYAN UNDER FIRE FROM RIGHT

Speaker Ryan struggles to contain conservatives. The Hill:“…some of [the right-wing] Freedom Caucus … who publicly voted for Ryan are now threatening to oppose him in a January floor vote depending on how he navigates this tricky set of issues before the election … said one caucus member who supported Ryan last year and asked to remain anonymous[,] ‘The question many of us have is whether his leadership is any different than Boehner’s.'”

Freedom Caucus seeks key post. Politico:“Members of the group of far-right agitators are considering a plan to run one of their own as a candidate for the Republican Study Committee chairmanship this fall in a bid to push the conservative group further to the right … Freedom Caucus insiders say the group hasn’t committed to backing a specific candidate, and they could still decide to abandon the RSC in a mass exodus.”

Pelosi optimistic about House elections. Politico quotes:“I thought in December I would’ve told you we’d win 20 seats, left to our own devices … Since then, I think anything is possible. I think [control of the House] comes down to probably a single digit, one way or another.”

WH renews push for Merrick Garland. Politico:“…Garland is returning to the Senate on Thursday to meet privately with Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy [and] Vice President Joe Biden will head to the Capitol to hold a press event on the Capitol steps with Democratic lawmakers to pressure Republicans…”

Progressive Breakfast is a daily morning email highlighting news stories of interest to activists. Progressive Breakfast is a project of the Campaign for America's Future.more »