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Protest the NewSchools Venture Fund Summit
May 8, 2019 @ 5:00 pm
PDF flyer ENGLISH, PDF flyer SPANISH
BILLIONAIRES CAN’T TEACH OUR KIDS!
Protest the NewSchools Venture Fund Summit
The NewSchools Venture Fund, a billionaire-funded driver of the privatization of public schools, is hosting a summit in our city. We cannot be silent while corporations take over Oakland’s schools! Come with signs to the Oakland Marriott City Center, 1001 Broadway on May 8, 5pm. The event continues the next day (more details forthcoming).
Why do we want our voices heard at the NewSchools Venture Fund?
The NewSchools Venture Fund was founded by venture capitalists, and is now financed by the Walton Family (Walmart), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), and other billionaires. Their goal is to expand the network of charter schools nationwide, and it’s no coincidence that they’ve decided to host this year’s summit in Oakland.
Our city has been a petri dish for the privatizers in California. Our school board is planning to close 24 of our 86 public schools against the wishes of Oakland educators and families, in order to clear the way for even more expansion of the charter school industry.
Charter schools are privately managed, but publicly funded, and their unregulated expansion is causing traumatic displacement and instability for students and families and depriving our students of the resources they need to learn and grow.
The billionaire-bought school board here in Oakland has already allowed 34% of its schools to be replaced by charter schools, and as a result over $57 million is drained from the school district every year. Students in charter schools and public schools both suffer from this waste. We have large class sizes, not nearly enough support staff (nurses, counselors, and psychologists), and a teacher retention crisis that is disruptive to our children’s education.
Our public schools need improvement, but the way to do that is to ensure that they are properly funded, not sold off to the highest bidder and out of public hands! We cannot stand idly by while our education system is being taken over and destroyed by corporations and billionaires for profit.