As a historian, I can assure you that the roots of the current “reform” movement are on the far right. Vouchers began with Milton Friedman in 1955; charters began in 1988 with liberal origins, but were quickly adopted by the right as a substitute for vouchers because voters always defeated voucher proposals. The attacks on teachers’ unions are out of the rightwing playbook. The demands for test-based accountability did not originate in the Democratic party. The effort to remove all job protections–seniority, tenure, the right to due process–did not originate with liberal thinkers or policymakers, but can be traced to the Reagan administration and even earlier to rightwing Republicans who never wanted any unions or job protections for workers. The embrace of privatization and for-profit schooling is neither liberal nor Democratic.
How this happened is a long story.
No matter who supports this agenda, it is not bipartisan. It originated in the ideology of the rightwing extreme of the GOP. Its goal is privatization.
This reader notes the long list of Democrats who have adopted the rightwing GOP agenda:
It’s not just right wing states and politicians that want to harass teachers.
Plenty of Dems are in on the fun.
Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado is a nominal Democrat who never saw a teacher he didn’t look upon with suspicion or a test company he didn’t want to give a contract to.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel is leading the charge in teacher demonization efforts in the Midwest, and I would argue that his anti-union, anti-teacher track record is beginning to rival that of his brethren to the north, Scott Walker and Paul Ryan.
Emanuel is a Democrat in name and once led the DCCC when Dems took back the House of Representatives.
Congressman George Miller, who chairs the House Education Committee, is a Democrat but like Bennet in the Senate, he too never met a teacher he felt could be trusted to teach without “high stakes accountability measures” imposed from afar.
Cory Booker is a Democrat who is currently engaged in the wholesale privatization of the Newark school system. He’s got buddies in the hedge funds and Wall Street who bankroll him, he’s great friends with Chris Christie and loves Christie’s privatization efforts at the state level and his demonization of teachers and teachers unions in the media. That won’t stop Booker from running against Christie for governor next year, however, so those of us who live in NJ can expect privatization of the schools no matter who wins – Christie or Booker.
Michelle Rhee, Joel Klein and Michael Bloomberg were all nominal Democrats before they embarked upon their teacher demonization/school privatization agendas as well.
And of course the Democratic politician who has had the most impact in the teacher demonization/school privatization effort is Barack Obama – from Race to the Top to Central Falls, Rhode Island to Race to the Top II: The Municipal Version to Race to the Top III: The District Version, few politicians have been as successful at bringing teacher evaluations tied to test scores and changes to tenure laws or promoting a broad expansion of high stakes testing in every grade in every subject, K-12, as Barack Obama.
I wish it were simply right wingers and Republicans out to harass teachers who were the problem. Unfortunately, because both parties take money from the same corporate masters, politicians in both parties are out to give those masters what they ultimately want when it comes to public education – a privatized system with busted unions, cheap labor costs, and lots and lots of opportunities to cash in on the latest ed buzz craze (these days that being the Common Core Federal Standards, the tests that are going to be aligned to those standards and the test prep materials that are going to be needed to get students prepared for those tests.)
Add Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the self proclaim student lobbyist, to this list.
Great list, but Arne Duncan is noticeably absent!
Add Democratic Mayor Nutter of Philadelphia to the list. He presided over the U.S. Conference of Mayors when they endorsed the Parent Trigger.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/18/us-usa-education-trigger-idUSBRE85H0J620120618
As President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors he is leading the Mayors delegation at the Democratic Convention. Note the Mayors participating in their press conference on Tuesday and correlate them with the Mayors in the preceding link.
Click to access 0830-advisory-dnc.pdf
Also see:
Commentary: Mayor missed the meaning of “public” in public ed
http://thenotebook.org/blog/125093/commentary-mayor-and-meaning-meaningless-public-education
Would you re-post your guide to getting folks involved in action to eliminate privatization?
How can we identify the politicians who support public education? Are there any left? I do not feel like voting for either side. Their labels hide more than they reveal. Where are the politicians that are for the public good? I feel as if those who could make the case that they Americans for the common good, they would do very well and perhaps change the way the current politicians are ignoring or worse exacerbating the problems.
Supporters of public education: Supt Tom Torlakson; Governor Jerry Brown, CA. I salute heroes wherever I find them. Know more?
Congressman Jim McDermott of Washington State for one. There MUST be others, yes?
(As Dwight Eisenhower said to the press in 1960, in regards to his VP’s qualifications for the White House, “Give me a day and I’ll think of one.”)
Progressives need to put more pressure on politicians. Obama can’t win without union support–and neither can Corey Booker.
I would like to see Americans know more about who is representing them and what they are really standing for.
I’m surprised to see Andrew Cuomo left off this list.
Diane, I’m curious to hear your take on Gov. 1 Percent’s education policies.
Cuomo is a close ally of DFER, the Wall St hedge fund managers who give generously to campaigns. To satisfy them , he pledged to support charter schools.
NY won Race to the Top with an agreement that test scores would be only 20% of teacher evaluation, and Cuomo insisted it be increased to 40%.
His 2% tax cap on education spending requires a 60% approval–whatever happened to 50.1%?
He is no friend of public education.
His eye is on 2016.
Gov Cuomo, after bashing and hammering public employees has the ##$#s to send this email today: https://twitter.com/Stoptesting15/status/242702628784599040/photo/1/large
Jay Inslee of WA State is not supporting the billionaires charter legislation that Bill Gates et al are trying to shove through. Patty Murray has been relatively receptive to public educators, though she did sign off on NCLB way back when. Unfortunately many so-called Democratic WA State legislators (Pettigrew, Carlyle, Tomiko-Santos) have their hands firmly in the privatization camps and are great buddies with the TFA infiltrators.
Reuven Carlyle, who literally rolled his eyes at a constituent—a teacher friend of mine who personally lobbied him earlier this year—when she lobbied him against supporting privatization of our schools, has at least started to back off from his public support of vouchers and charters.
He’s received a few public tongue lashings for his stance. He’s learned some badly needed humility since he wants to keep his job representing a very progressive legislative district. But we MUST keep the pressure on him.
Pettigrew is being paid, indirectly, by privatization interests. The money is apparently going to some of his friends and family. And, they’ve promised him a plum “job” when he gets out of office. That’s his motivation.
But, unlike even a few months ago, we’re on to these guys now. And they’ve got another thing coming if they think they can continue to play this deceptive game.
Rueven’s district is VERY pro-ed, and very larded with yuppie sell outs. My bet is that Rueven will tell everyone what they want to hear, he’ll stand on the good side for little things and when it comes to big things, he’ll ‘reluctantly’ bipartisanly side with the 1%. I’ve come to trust him to be a liar, and after 7 POTUS elections & countless Dem votes, I’m done investing HOPE into his social cla$$. .
In a post you asked if Michelle Rhee was a registered Democrat. Well, according to her DC and her voter registration form, yes. Although she wasn’t in a rush. It took about 8 months for her to register after moving into DC in June 2007. (The information below is all a matter of public record and is online)
Registration Status
Registered Voter YES
Voter ID Number 080007394
Date Registered 2/22/2008
Personal Information
Full Name MICHELLE A RHEE
Party Affiliation DEMOCRATIC
Address Information
Street Number, Street Name, Quadrant 1439 MADISON ST, NW
City, State, Zip WASHINGTON, DC 20011
Party registration means nothing.
Who is she working for?
Rick Scott (R-Florida); Chris Christie (R-NJ); Mitch Daniels (R-Indiana); Scott Walker (R-Wisconsin); Jeb Bush (R-Florida).
I may have missed a few.
Bobby Jindal of Louisiana also. They just hired one of her minions to the Jindal controlled BESE Board.
Thank you, Diane, for your balance and fairness to recognize that BOTH parties have their share of education deformers. One could easily argue that the crescendo playing out against teachers, the onslaught against public schools, the demonization and dismantling of time-tested, heartfelt teaching in our system, is LED by this administration – very little distinguishes Obama and Duncan from George W. and his cadre. Very precious little, indeed.
Martin O’Malley, MD.
He required teachers to pay 2% more into their pension plan, then took that money and put it into the state general fund.
Jindal attempted the same switcheroo in Louisiana. Too many state workers saw this as stealing and we’re able to cause an uproar. Jindal paid us back by laying off many public servants. What a nice “governor?”
Another opportunist who bends over backwards for the gaming industry and Pepco. Thinks he’s running in 2016. He needs to be shut down.
And do not forget Connecticut’s “DINO Dan Malloy”. I’ve railed against him before on this blog, so I’ll spare you all my diatribe.
One and done for Dannel…..he will never ever be elected again! I know 50,000 who will not vote for him. He only won by 6,000. Start planning Malloy and Roy O.
Mayor Michael Nutter of Philadelphia has signed on completely to the charterization and privatization of the public schools. He supported Superintendent Arlene Ackerman and her dishonest policies until she dissed him publicly.
I wrote this after hearing Chris Christie’s speech. While I’m voting Republican, I am interested in why, of all the government union workers, the party is going after teachers–and why they are getting so much help from Democrats.
Real simple. Instead of picking a teacher for Education Secretary he picked an activist. Activists do not see the world like teachers do. Nobody really understands education except teachers. That is why administrators who are not teachers usually mess up.
In the area of education, instead of picking the best of the best for advisors like he did, as he promised he would, for the rest of his cabinet. He picked Arne Duncan, an activist and a lawyer, I believe. . I told him not to do this but I don’t think the letter got far enough. We need to work on the president in this area. We need to work very hard.
Sorry you are voting Republican. I am afraid Romney would privatize everything and sell public education to the lowest bidder. Maybe even outsource it to some computer company in China. But it’s your choice. This is America.
Ok but since most people are not somehow protected by a union or tenure, I’m trying to figure out why you think people will somehow fight for this?? It seems to me that the majority who fight for this, are those who benefit.
Welcome to the real world where we can lose our jobs without any protection.
For those of us who’ve found success, it comes by hard work, dedication and a good work ethic.
I don’t believe for a minute that our success/failures in education has been the result of a teacher’s union.
The union has been there to protect and defend teachers.
You are misinformed and not willing to process new information even with a brain. Sad.
MOM, you are once again misinformed. If you went to work tomorrow and were even one time nasty to your boss you would probably be fired regardless of your work ethic and dedication. One bad case of PMS and you are off to the unemployment line! Don’t delude yourself! Protect yourself, your job and your children with your life. Smile. Be obedient and subservient. Even a new supervisor could endanger you. A RIF could get you a pink slip. A man who saved Blue Cross Blue Shield a lot of money was RIFFED because his innovation caused him to no longer be needed. He was past the age where a man can easily get a decent job. He lost everything, became seriously ill, had no health insurance, was not eligible for Medicaid and committed suicide a couple months ago. He was a good friend of my pastor who preached his funeral
Teaching is not a job. It is a calling. There is a huge difference. We don’t work for the paycheck. The paycheck allows us to fulfill our calling. That is why we have to be protected. We suffer in often very bad working conditions for less pay than we would get in any other professional field, for the most part, in order to do what we are supposed to do. It is a lot like being a pastor. Even police officers in major cities start at about the same pay as beginning teachers and their training, uniforms and equipment are paid for. (I once started a ruckus at City Hall in Atlanta because I wrote a letter to the Atlanta Constitution suggesting that new police officers should not be started at higher pay than new teachers. One of the municipal court judges who went to my church said that my letter caused a lot of discussion.)
If a person finds success in any unprotected job he or she has probably had to kiss a whole lot of butts because, unless you own the company that is the only sure way to have security. The ones who are blessed are protected from unfair firing, and that includes tenured teachers, by their unions or the fact that they are government workers with permanent status. But even government workers get laid off nowadays thanks to these satanic Republican governors like Bobby Jindal.
The unions prevent a teacher from being fired because she is the wrong race, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation or weight, because she went to the wrong college, is from another country, was not in a sorority or numerous other things that are not job related, often including really loving her special education students and working hard to ensure they are active participants in the life of the school. They are also protected from being fired for refusing to have sex with the principal, by the way, especially if they can show a connection from the request for sex and the beginning of the harassment.. It is rare that an incompetent teacher is fired because she has CONNECTIONS. The worst ones are very often social butterflies with cousins or husbands in administration or are having sex with the principal. They have these wonderful social skills that make up for their lack of ability. If the administration has to get them out of the classroom, they promote them if they can. There are only a very few teachers who are incompetent but you can tell who they are by being around them for just a few minutes.
And who will fight for the teachers? Tenured teachers, retired teachers, former students, politicians who had teachers who changed their lives, and parents of children the teachers’ taught. Who else will fight? Anyone who believes in public education and who follows the walk of Jesus Christ or for other reasons thinks that all children deserve equal educational opportunity. That’s who! This is why this demonization has got to stop BEFORE the tenured folks retire. We have whole generations of future teachers and children to protect.
Add to the list: Antonio Villaraigosa, mayor of LA and chair of the Democratic National Convention- no friend of public schools or teachers.
And a former teacher and teacher organizer to boot.
Education is the only area in which I fault Obama (that and tearing up the car engines). I don’t think it is hatred but the fact that he is not a teacher and does not understand education. He got some really bad advice and seems to think a much larger percentage of teachers are incompetent than really are. Unlike the rest of his advisors, he did not seek the best of the best for his Education Secretary. If we could even get across to him that teachers do not work for the money and that teaching is not a job but a calling, I think he would rethink his policies just as he did same sex marriage resulting in his non-support of DOMA and recission of DADT. He just needs to get Michele Rhee out of his ear and stop thinking that anybody can teach school.
And what in the world is wrong with Rahm Emanuel? He is acting like a conservative. He should know better.
Common core has just struck our central Ohio district for math. The teachers were visibly defensive when trying to explain the rationale for common core and were quick to reiterate how positive this change would be. Apparently the transition to common core happened so quickly, the teachers advised that they were unable to find a textbook to meet their needs. Should I read into this inability to find a text? It would seem that some publisher (or 10) would have an “appropriate” text. We are suspiscious about the growing rumors that our district will be moving some classes on-line and wonder if the absence of a text and reliance on e-resources won’t be another step towards McTeaching? I appreciate your thoughts and any advice about fighting back againt common core from a parent’s point-of-view.
Common Core does not have to be taught online.
But be aware that the budget cutters want to push online learning as a way to reduce the number of teachers.
Online schools have a horrible record in Ohio and Pennsylvania and elsewhere.
But they cut costs.
Your teachers have not been well prepared but have been told they must support the move (or probably be accused of insubordination). There will be “appropriate” texts. It takes time to mark them up with the standards. I had to put state standards in all of my lesson plans on my own. What a pain! Nobody ever read them; they just wanted to see the codes. Go back through the archives of Diane’s blog. You will also find references to other blogs and websites that will help, like Parents Across America. It won’t take you too long to start to form solid opinions backed up by solid research. I know there are some knowledgeable Ohioans (Buckeyes?) on this blog.
Arne Duncan is not a lawyer. His only degree is a Bachelor of Sociology.
Dr John King ,(Commissioner of Ed. in NY) is a lawyer, and did teach for three years, mostly in the charter school that he started with his friends in Boston.
Most of their “helpers” are equally experienced in education
.
New York lawmakers changed the eligibilty for Administrative jobs in Public Schools in this state. Previously five years of classroom teaching was required. When John King came to Albany, the requirement was changed to three years…conveniently. His doctorate in some kind Ed. Administration may have fooled the Regents ( only two of whom have ever been teachers).
With “leaders ” like these , and politicians supported by Gates and his friends, we really are” David”s with rubberband slingshots and paperclips instead of rocks against the greedy Goliaths.
Thank heaven for Dr. Ravitch and her supporters….
King taught for two years in a religious private school in Puerto Rico. He taught for one year at a charter in Boston. He was then the co-director of a Boston charter for a couple of years. He then zoomed to the top of the charter chain, Uncommon Schools, as a CEO of sorts in NY even as attended law school at Yale in Conn and was writing his dissertation on charter schools at Columbia.
An important point is that there’s a deliberate, concerted effort to portray right-wing-backed privatization schemes as bipartisan or coming from Democrats. That’s why Democrats for Education Reform was given that name. Parent Revolution, the ALEC-linked California organization that’s behind the parent trigger, made a huge, flamboyant show of hiring staff who had worked in the Obama campaign or the Clinton administration or both. And the press obligingly mentions that prominently whenever prompted — even a smart national education reporter said to me earnestly, “You know Ben Austin (ED of Parent Revolution) is a liberal, right?” These are people who are for sale to the highest bidder. Their past Democratic credentials are now their marketable commodity. Why does everyone fall for this obvious play-acting?
Thank you, CarolineSF. You’ve pinpointed what I’ve been saying for a while. It’s a message that we have to get out to people who just REFUSE to get it, or understand it all too well…
Remember “Invasion Of The Body Snatchers”? That’s the way I’ve felt over the past year or so, as I’ve learned about this issue.
We’ll be asking both Senator Maria Cantwell and Senator Patty Murray—directly—whether or not they support the odious, destructive Charter Bill on the Washington ballot this November.
We’re not going to let them slip out of this one.
I sympathize with you, teachers. One bad apple don’t spoil the whole bunch. This issue of poor performance is so much more than bad teachers and yet the politicians are seizing the opportunity to privatize education as the last citadel standing for maximization of profits. By the time a child reaches to school to be educated by a teacher, that child’s cognitive skills have been influenced by the nutrition that the mother had while pregnant with him, the exercises she did while pregnant, the type of clothing she wore while pregnant, her emotional state while pregnant, was the child breastfed, what’s the child’s relationship to the mother, the father and other family members (it takes a village to raise a child), did the child engage in play or sat in front of a television as soon as it could sit up on its own, did the mother/father introduce the child to books and drawings as part of play at a young age., etc.
From my observation of how I see young girls and boys interact with their babies, I know that when that child reaches to a teacher, that teacher is in serious trouble. Times have changed. Children no longer live in houses with a front yard and a back yard. Children now live in cramped apartment buildings and with the economic downturn, you don’t know how many families are living in a two-bedroom apartment.
It is so unfair what the politicians are doing to teachers and parents. It’s only the children who will be the losers in this lack of compassionate care.