Fresh off a rousing speech against Jeff Sessions’s nomination to become attorney general, Booker voted against an affordable drug proposal from Senators Amy Klobuchar and Bernie Sanders on Wednesday evening. Had it passed, the bill would have created a reserve fund to allow Americans to import inexpensive prescription drugs from Canada. Booker was one of 13 Democrats to reject it, a boon to Big Pharma.
As Newark mayor, he accepted a $100 million donation from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to implement a series of drastic reforms in city schools. According to investigative reporter Dale Russakoff, the people of Newark found out about it from Oprah: Zuckerberg and Booker appeared on the show to announce the grant. Most of the funds later went to charter schools. He’s long been a proponent of school vouchers, despite evidence that voucher programs don’t actually create better educational outcomes for students."
https://newrepublic.com/minutes/139825/cory-booker-not-friend
Cory Booker may be your friend now
Cory Booker may be your friend now
#1Cory Booker may be your friend now
Posted: 1/13/17 at 6:58am
Speeches and tweets are nice, but votes matter.
"Cory Booker is not your friend.
#2Cory Booker is not your friend
Posted: 1/13/17 at 8:50am
Between this and his infatuation with school vouchers (and support of Betsy DeVos), I'm pretty much over him. There's a lot I admire about him, but these things are pretty inexcusable.
yankeefan7
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/14/12
#3Cory Booker is not your friend
Posted: 1/13/17 at 9:19am
"Most of the funds later went to charter schools. He’s long been a proponent of school vouchers, despiteevidence that voucher programs don’t actually create bettereducational outcomes for students."
My daughters went to a magnet school (grades 6-12) and it was fantastic. The school (Northwest School Of The Arts) required an audition in the arts to get accepted in the school. Every student has an arts major (dance, music, theater, visual arts etc) in addition to their other normal classes. The test scores of students were among the best in the city of Charlotte at the time my daughters attended and this included HS students SAT scores. While not all magnet/charter schools are successful, I feel it is still good to have them to allow students an opportunity to go to a school which may be better than their local school. BTW - this school has had students who have performed on Broadway, been in dance companies like Alvin Ailey and professional musicians. The female lead (Eva Noblezada) in the upcoming revival of Miss Saigon on Broadway went to this school.
#4Cory Booker is not your friend
Posted: 1/13/17 at 9:27am
Well if Eva Noblezada went to a charter school they must all be great!
I'm not saying all charter schools are bad. My problem with charter school is they take public funding away from traditional public schools and do not have to follow the same rules. And they often kick kids out, especially students who do not test well or have behavioral problems. Something public schools do not have the luxury of doing. This has contributed to some cities, like New York, having the most segregated schools in the Nation.
Google what is happening in Newark where many low income residents can't even find a school to enroll their child in. That's thanks to Cory Booker. And he made a lot of his contributers wealhy in the process.
And Cory Booker supports Betsy DeVos who is a nightmare. She basically believes charter schools should be able to take public money and have virtually NO oversight. That did not turn out so well in her home State of Michegan.
I'm not saying all charter schools are bad. But if they are taking public money they should be subject to the same oversight at traditional public schools.
Booker Praises Ed Org Chaired By Trump Education Secretary Nominee Betsy DeVos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKSYadpLCk0
#5Cory Booker is not your friend
Posted: 1/13/17 at 9:34am
yankeefan7 said: ""Most of the funds later went to charter schools. He’s long been a proponent of school vouchers, despiteevidence that voucher programs don’t actually create bettereducational outcomes for students."
My daughters went to a magnet school (grades 6-12) and it was fantastic. The school (Northwest School Of The Arts) required an audition in the arts to get accepted in the school. Every student has an arts major (dance, music, theater, visual arts etc) in addition to their other normal classes. The test scores of students were among the best in the city of Charlotte at the time my daughters attended and this included HS students SAT scores. While not all magnet/charter schools are successful, I feel it is still good to have them to allow students an opportunity to go to a school which may be better than their local school. BTW - this school has had students who have performed on Broadway, been in dance companies like Alvin Ailey and professional musicians. The female lead (Eva Noblezada) in the upcoming revival of Miss Saigon on Broadway went to this school.
That's the fundamental problem. These schools often have admissions requirement and are selective in their admission. They don't take low or struggling students. Their tests scores are higher because they only take the better kids. The struggling students are left in the public schools, who now no longer have sufficient funds. These schools also don't follow the same rules, and can easily remove kids from the school if they're a problem. Can't do that in a public school. To compare the two and suggest that charter schools are "better" because of their "results" is a great folly.
#6Cory Booker is not your friend
Posted: 1/13/17 at 9:41am
Yeah...the key there is your daugher had to APPLY to get into that school.
Traditional Public Schools are mandated to serve all, even those with disabilities, and don't have the luxury of picking and choosing their students.
#7Cory Booker is not your friend
Posted: 1/13/17 at 9:44am
Erik,serious question. do you think that anyone should be allowed to go to schools like Stuyvesant, Brooklyn Tech,or any Public School no matter their grades? Isnt that the same as Charter?
When They Go Low, I Go High
#8Cory Booker is not your friend
Posted: 1/13/17 at 9:52am
I don't really understand your question.
What I think is, that if a school receives tax payer money then they should have to follow the same guidelines as public schools.
And there are some great charter schools that do this. There are many that do not.
#9Cory Booker is not your friend
Posted: 1/13/17 at 9:58am
Stuyvesant and Brooklyn Tech are Public Schools that only accept the best graded students. They have difficult science, math and english requirements. that most cannot meet.
So I think your answer is that they should not have any standards. That anyone should be able to go. So someone who is model student with 4.0 is no different than someone with behaviour problems with a 1.9, since they take tax money
When They Go Low, I Go High
Updated On: 1/13/17 at 09:58 AM
#10Cory Booker is not your friend
Posted: 1/13/17 at 10:00am
Magnet programs are not the same as charter schools. Charter schools are independent of the school system but still receive government funding. Magnet programs are specialized programs (whether it be for arts or science or business or whatever) set up within public schools. They do usually require some sort of audition/interview/grade standard for admission, and they often have student bodies that transcend school zoning (hence "magnet"- they draw kids from other parts of the area), but they do not operate independently of the public school they are part of. I went to a magnet program for the arts for high school in Florida; I took theatre classes as part of that program, and regular courses as part of the parent public school. They were created to diversify student bodies in public schools that were still mired in the residual effects of segregation.
They are along the lines of an IB program.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
Updated On: 1/13/17 at 10:00 AM
#11Cory Booker is not your friend
Posted: 1/13/17 at 10:05am
Yes..but Magnet Schools can be part of the problem as well.
I have no problem with magnet programs in theory. But I do have a problem when they take resources away from schools in struggling neighborhoods and draw talented students away from their "home" schools.
This leads many schools to become filled with students who don't test well and have other academic/behavioral issues. And in many States, those schools get labled as "failing" and have funding taken away or other punishments. When they are the schools educating the kids with the most challanges.
But that's really not what this thread is about. And Cory Booker doesn't just support Charter Schools, he supports vouchers which are a disaster.
#12Cory Booker is not your friend
Posted: 1/13/17 at 10:16am
Kad said: "Magnet programs are not the same as charter schools. Charter schools are independent of the school system but still receive government funding. Magnet programs are specialized programs (whether it be for arts or science or business or whatever) set up within public schools. They do usually require some sort of audition/interview/grade standard for admission, and they often have student bodies that transcend school zoning (hence "magnet"- they draw kids from other parts of the area), but they do not operate independently of the public school they are part of. I went to a magnet program for the arts for high school in Florida; I took theatre classes as part of that program, and regular courses as part of the parent public school. They were created to diversify student bodies in public schools that were still mired in the residual effects of segregation.
They are along the lines of an IB program.
" From what I understand, Stuyvesant is over half minority
Thank you guys for the great explanation.
When They Go Low, I Go High
Updated On: 1/13/17 at 10:16 AM
#13Cory Booker is not your friend
Posted: 1/13/17 at 10:50am
I'm not sure I'm HAPPY with Booker's vote, but I'm surprised that most of the articles covering this are leaving out that fellow New Jersey Senator and Democrat Bob Menendez ALSO voted against this measure, likely because pharmaceuticals are a major New Jersey industry.
From a NJ State website handout:
Biopharmaceutical Life Sciences Industry Cluster
•New Jersey’s biopharma life sciences cluster employment totaled over 115,000 in 2013, or 3.6 percent of the state’s private sector workers. Nationally, the proportion was just 1.9 percent.
•New Jersey’s biopharmaceutical and life sciences cluster employment is comprised of three primary components: pharmaceutical sector (43.5%), biotechnology (35.4%) and medical device manufacturing (21.1%). In 2013, the state’s pharmaceuticals employment accounted for 8.8 percent of pharmaceuticals jobholding in the U.S.
•Establishments totaled over 3,000 in 2013. Despite recent reorganizations by pharmaceutical firms, the drug and pharmaceutical component’s establishment count increased between 2008 and 2013 by 9.4 percent, outpacing growth nationally (+7.1%) over the same period.
•New Jersey biopharma life science employers paid over $15 billion in wages during 2013, or 7.9 percent of the state’s total wages.
•The state’s highly educated workforce is seen in this cluster as more than three-fifths (62.2%) of its workers statewide hold a Bachelor’s degree or higher: Bachelor’s (29.2%), Master’s/Professional (24.7%), Doctoral (8.3%) degree.
I'm assuming at least some of Booker and Menendez's reasoning is not wanting to screw over their constituents by bringing in pharmaceuticals from another country.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
yankeefan7
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/14/12
#14Cory Booker is not your friend
Posted: 1/13/17 at 10:50am
Kad - thank you for your excellent explanation.
yankeefan7
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/14/12
#15Cory Booker is not your friend
Posted: 1/13/17 at 10:54am
"Well if Eva Noblezada went to a charter school they must all be great!"
If you read my complete post, I said that not all charter/magnet schools were good. I just noted she went to this school because it was neat for the school and alumni/parents of that school to see somebody become a "star".
#16Cory Booker is not your friend
Posted: 1/13/17 at 10:56am
Magnet School started with good intentions but often the execution is bad.
I run a non profit that deals with public schools. They started a magnet program in one high school in a low income neighborhood here in Jersey City. The magnet took over the basement level of the high school, where the school's library was located.
Now the "traditional" public school kids who live in that neighborhood have lost their library. The new magnet school in the basement has brand new facilities, computers, ipads, etc while half the time the kids upstairs can't even get on the internet. Meanwhile, students from the wealthier downtown area are bussed to the magnet school that many of the kids who LIVE in the neighborhood can't even get into. It's a scam the district uses to inflate test scores while hurting students in the low income neighborhood.
yankeefan7
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/14/12
#17Cory Booker is not your friend
Posted: 1/13/17 at 10:57am
" From what I understand, Stuyvesant is over half minority
Thank you guys for the great explanation."
African-Americans were the majority at Northwest School Of The Arts.
#18Cory Booker is not your friend
Posted: 1/13/17 at 10:58am
How many special educaton studetns attended the Northwest School of the Arts. How does that compare to the local public schools?
yankeefan7
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/14/12
#19Cory Booker is not your friend
Posted: 1/13/17 at 11:01am
"Now the "traditional" public school kids who live in that neighborhood have lost their library. The new magnet school in the basement has brand new facilities, computers, ipads, etc while half the time the kids upstairs can't even get on the internet."
Like you said in your post, it seems the execution is bad in your area. In Charlotte, magnet schools are generally existing schools not brand new ones. I believe the school my daughters went to was built in the 1960's. Only recently, have renovations been done to the school and that was because the building needed it not because it was a magnet school.
#20Cory Booker is not your friend
Posted: 1/13/17 at 11:05am
That may very well be yankeefan. I'm not oppossed to Magnet schools in general. I have just found that the execution, particularly here in the Northeast is very bad.
I'm not oppossed to all charter schools either. Again, it depends on the execution.
I AM oppossed to the Betsy DeVos brand of education reform that Cory Booker supports. She believes Charter and Private/Religious schools she be funded by the public with virtually no oversight.
#21Cory Booker is not your friend
Posted: 1/13/17 at 11:06am
ErikJ972 said: "Magnet School started with good intentions but often the execution is bad.
I run a non profit that deals with public schools. They started a magnet program in one high school in a low income neighborhood here in Jersey City. The magnet took over the basement level of the high school, where the school's library was located.
Now the "traditional" public school kids who live in that neighborhood have lost their library. The new magnet school in the basement has brand new facilities, computers, ipads, etc while half the time the kids upstairs can't even get on the internet. Meanwhile, students from the wealthier downtown area are bussed to the magnet school that many of the kids who LIVE in the neighborhood can't even get into. It's a scam the district uses to inflate test scores while hurting students in the low income neighborhood."
Well Greenville and Bergen-Lafayette have been getting the short end of the stick in Jersey City for quite some time. That's nothing new.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
#22Cory Booker is not your friend
Posted: 1/13/17 at 11:08am
"Well Greenville and Bergen-Lafayette have been getting the short end of the stick in Jersey City for quite some time. That's nothing new."
That doesn't make it Ok. And it's not just Greenville in Jersey City. It's happening all over the Northeast...Newark, New York, etc.
New York State’s Extreme School Segregation
https://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/research/k-12-education/integration-and-diversity/ny-norflet-report-placeholder/Kucsera-New-York-Extreme-Segregation-2014.pdf
brdlwyr
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/14/05
#23Cory Booker is not your friend
Posted: 1/13/17 at 11:09am
Erik - in Chicago the gifted magnet high schools are oasis created in a desert of awful public schools. An admission is better than winning the lottery.
#24Cory Booker is not your friend
Posted: 1/13/17 at 11:15am
Again, I am not oppossed to magnet schools in general.
I am opposed to have they have been executed here in NJ, where Cory Booker is our Senator.
I am opposed to the fact that Cory Booker supports Betsy DeVos who is a nightmare for public education.
I am upset at Cory Booker's vote on prescription drug prices yesterday.
I am oppossed to school vouchers, which Booker supports, to divert money to private schools.
A sobering look at what Betsy DeVos did to education in Michigan — and what she might do as secretary of education
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/12/08/a-sobering-look-at-what-betsy-devos-did-to-education-in-michigan-and-what-she-might-do-as-secretary-of-education/?utm_term=.e89568895c5c
#25Cory Booker is not your friend
Posted: 1/13/17 at 11:18am
ErikJ972, oh, I absolutely don't think it's okay. I think it's a disgrace that the development that's happening in Jersey City, and the rest of the Northeast, is as lopsided as it is. I'm no longer in New Jersey, but I did happily support both Booker and Menendez even though I don't agree with all of their stances. I especially do not agree with Booker's public stand with charter schools, and worry that he would allow DeVos through. (I don't actually think he would, but I know he wouldn't press her very hard.)
My concern with some of the criticism Booker has been getting, other than the reasons I outlined for why he probably stood with Big Pharma, is that we JUST saw what happens when Democrats don't think a politician is "pure" enough. It's not my place to say what weight anyone should put on different policy issues, but I worry that people will let separate policy choices impact their whole view of a candidate for the worse. I'm not ready to kick someone off my team because of differences in beliefs on individual policy issues.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
