Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, is heavily favored to win the race to replace the late Senator Frank Lautenberg.
Booker doesn’t like public education. He is an avid proponent of charters and vouchers. He is active in Democrats for Education Reform, the Wall Street hedge fund managers’ advocacy group for privatization.
As Jersey Jazzman points out, there is a credible alternative: Rush Holt, a member of Congress.
Holt is a physicist. He would bring deep knowledge of science and education to the Senate.
Booker would bring a determination to privatize public education.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Which only goes to show, politicians will go wherever they can get the money, he probably was schooled by Obama.
Actually, Booker was schooled by the right-wing Bradley Foundation, which has long pushed charters and vouchers in Wisconsin, and they supported Booker’s infiltration in the Democratic party, according to NJ journalist Glen Ford. See: Corporate Assault on Public Education
I apologize to readers for posting the same link downthread. I did not see this post.
Glen Ford’s talk is absolutely brilliant. It should be used in campaigns against Booker.
We really need a brief but accurate term for Public Funding of Private Schools, since that is what the corporateers and privateers are really pushing.
“Theft” comes to mind, but that is probably too general to pinpoint the problem.
I would use “privatize.” I sent an email to the DOE using that word and got a very patronizing response, where they explained that “charter schools ARE public schools!”
I responded to that by telling the DOE employee we’ve had charter schools in Ohio for 15 years, I’m familiar with the structure, and I’m aware that charter advocates call them public schools but they are publicly-funded schools, which is not the same thing.
Haven’t heard back yet.
Use “privatize”. People know what it means in terms of public goods and services and it’s accurate.
If they want to be public schools perhaps they should stop claiming they are private entities when they seek special treatment in labor adjudications. They’re public when it benefits them but private when it doesn’t? “Accountability for actions!” right?
Chiara, yes! Privatization. That is the name of the game, the hoax.
We learned from DFERs who’ve written on this blog that what privatizers hate being called the most is “profiteers,” though it’s certainly an apt description.
It applies to for-profits and non-profits as well. Some charter school organizations are classified as non-profits because there are states and districts which don’t permit charters to be for-profits, but those schools have non-educator executives earning six figure incomes that are larger than the incomes of superintendents who are running hundreds of public schools.
There are other non-profit organizations involved in corporate “reform” that have made whopping profits, too, such as TFA, which has collected over $1B since established and currently has $350M in assets. TFA charges finders’ fees to school districts and it’s the districts that pay TFA “teachers” salaries. If that’s not profiteering, I don’t know what is.
yes, yes! As a black educator and unfortunately a TFA alum who has now been a teacher for 15 years, I don’t understand why Obama and Booker have embraced this corporate style of reform. I worked tirelessly to elect Obama but I continue to find his governance particularly his stance on education and civil rights disappointing. I will not do the same for Booker and I hope that the teacher’s union does not endorse him. Booker does not have grassroots support, many Newark residents see the destruction he has wreaked on their schools and do not support him. He is the darling of the media and white liberal/moderate crowd as well as hedge funds and business community. We all know that TFA and the privatization movement it has spawned is directly responsible for the decline in the black middle class. Black female educators have been disproportionately impacted by layoffs and “evaluations.” Obama as the first black president and Booker as the heir to this legacy and possible contender for higher office should recognize this and change their position on what’s right for schools before it is too late. They should support public schools, community schools and educators. Sometimes it feels like we (anti-reformers) are screaming at people like Obama and Booker through a sound proof glass door. They can see us, we can see them but they can’t hear us and they won’t open the door because they don’t want to hear the truth.
I have consistently voted for Holt over the years and helped to reelect him to the house, especially a few years ago, when he was being challenged by an Ayn Randian/libertarian type of candidate. I will vote for him for the senate because, as was stated, Booker is a total corporate tool and sell out. Holt has not really articulated how he feels about RTTT but he is definitely more pro public education than Booker. Booker even made some remarks defending Mitt Romney’s comments about how wonderful the top 1% corporate guys are.
In May 2012, Booker went on Meet The Press and defended Romney and Bain Capital, you know, the “job creators” and wealth creators (for the top 1%). Booker said: “I’m not about to sit here and indict private equity,” Booker added. “If you look at the totality of Bain Capital’s record, they’ve done a lot to support businesses — to grow businesses.” He said that he was very uncomfortable with the Obama campaign’s criticism of Romney and Bain Capital. In other words, Booker is a blatant corporate tool and lick-spittle. I will vote for Holt, even though it looks like Booker will win.
But watch out for Booker.
He is seriously gifted in oration and speech writing. He is a master orator, just as adept as Hillary Clinton. He knows how to charm and persuade. He is expert at nuance and the control of nuance in rhetoric.
He is an enemy of public education. He is a suck-up to Facebook after getting $100 million dollars from one of our government’s biggest private spy outfits.
Let’s not forget Facebook’s $400 million dollar tax refund and almost zero tax payments to the federal government. Let’s not forget how Facebook denigrates education as a public trust when it throws such money toward Newark Public Schools under the leadership of Corey Booker.
Booker will be the next Obama potentially, and he will preach the neo-liberal gospel all over again, spewing forth progressive agendas while eventually making policy and governing as a plutocrat.
I know this isn’t the right place for this but I don’t know another way to bring things to Diane’s attention:
The Daily News today posted actually some genuinely bad news about Bloomberg in NY and the statistics regarding graduation vs. per pupil spending – http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/school-spending-spree-shows-mixed-results-article-1.1398704
Now, the article doesn’t cover everything – like that Fair Student Funding created the ultimate incentive for Principals to hire newbie teachers because their funding was no longer based on their choosing the best available staff, it meant because staff salaries were divorced from spending that it hurt them to hire senior teachers.
It also doesn’t mention that for all the money they claim to put into schools, that they find ways of taking it back out again – like forcing schools to maintain their wireless network with outside providers instead of in-house staff (I know from personal experience they locked the wi-fi boxes in the building and our main tech guy who IS qualified can’t open it – they have to pay some firm downtown to come and fix a problem – I’ve heard similar things about purchasing lunch room supplies, classroom supplies, etc. – so you can send more money to schools but then take more out by giving them more bills and claim an increase in spending while you effectively cut their budget).
That also doesn’t disaggragate the data for money spent on consultants, or, the new 3x over Network structure designed to “support” schools (and most people are fairly unsure of what it is they do or are responsible or accountable for except that their school “succeed”).
Finally, they also don’t show what proportion of that went to Charters, and, of those charters, how much of that went to per pupil spending vs. administrative costs vs. profit.
Still, it’s better than the teacher bashing tripe they usually throw out there.
Cory Booker is an outright fraud who was bankrolled by the far right Bradley Foundation as a tool to divide the African American community against teachers’ unions through promoting charters and vouchers.
He’s a FAKE, people, even worse than Obama, who is pretty bad himself and tainted by a “reformist” think tank. Obama’s connections:
http://www.mintpressnews.com/a-closer-look-at-the-joyce-foundation-shows-obamas-ties-to-chicago-school-privatizations/164972/
Glen Ford of Black Agenda Report gave a great speech a year or so ago exposing where all of the bodies are buried in the privatizers’ attempt to destroy public education in the United States. It has been shared on this blog before, but it is worth posting the link again. Cory Booker is mentioned at length in this talk:
The Chicago Cabal and the Duncan/Vallas/Obama/ Emanuel playbook:
The nuts and bolts of mayoral takeover, privatization, revolving doors and teacher churn:
http://www.mintpressnews.com/a-closer-look-at-the-joyce-foundation-shows-obamas-ties-to-chicago-school-privatizations/164972/
I know that many charters are terrible, but can someone please explain to me the evil of excellent charters like Tempe Prep, KIPP, and Harlem Village Academies? I sincerely do want to understand why these schools deserve villification.
davestuartjr,
Charter schools, especially chains such as KIPP and Harlem Village Academies are often reviled because they pose as public schools, receive public dollars that divert resources from actual public schools, and function as union busting sweatshops for students and teachers alike.
These schools claim to be public, despite the fact that they are privately managed, with minimal public oversight, and manipulate the composition of their student bodies to justify their outrageous PR claims. In their PR facade, they are always presented as “public charter schools – why the “public” qualifier? Are there any “private” charter schools they need to distinguish themselves from? – yet, question of unionization or state audits arise, their lawyers invariably claim they are private entities.
What are they, public or private entities? Because they can’t be both at once.
These schools rarely reflect the demographics of the communities in which they are placed, with far fewer students receiving free lunch – they play loose with language, referring to the “free and reduced fee student population – a marker for deep poverty.
These schools also enroll far fewer numbers of English Language Learners, special education and homeless students than actual public schools.
Additionally, they have high student attrition rates among those who do finally get in – with students not being replaced, as in the public schools – especially among students who might bring their numbers down. Thus, the bogus “miracle” claims of 100% graduation and college acceptance. Infamously, so-called education reform celebrity Geoffrey Canada expelled an entire class of students from his charter school when it threatened his numbers.
In addition to having high student attrition rates, teacher attrition at charter schools is frequently off the charts, with schools often losing 50% of their teachers per year. The dirty secret, however, is that management is perfectly happy with that,, since the billionaire funders of charter schools want nothing more than to turn teaching into temporary, at- will employment.
There is a huge, Big Lie media apparatus and echo chamber in support of charter schools, but the closer one looks, the more one sees that almost everything they claim is either exaggerated or outright false.
In addition to what Michael noted about how those charter schools game the system, some charters test kids at enrollment and place students in a lower grade and/or retain kids in grade at the end of the year at higher rates than public schools, so their test scores don’t fall. Many council out low performing students just before testing time, so those kids return to public schools –where they are tested instead. And they use a military style approach that I would not wish on my worst enemy let alone a child.
In addition to the differing populations (such as fewer kids with severe special education needs and English Language Learners), comparisons with traditional schools are apples to oranges because they often receive additional funding from foundations and businesses which public schools don’t get, have smaller class sizes and longer school days and weeks.
Every Child Can Learn: http://www.americanprogress.org//wp-content/uploads/cartoons/2011/12/img/120511.jpg
It is sad that when teachers speak out against people like Booker, they will be labeled as trouble makers just looking to keep their jobs and not helping schools to improve. We seem to have a sympathetic ear on line but no real voice in the media. That might seem true because there never seems to be an alternative for failing schools that is in the main stream media. People are looking for changes and charters, vouchers, e-schools, and other options are in the mainstream. I never see any real changes that can be described as changes. This makes teachers and unions look like the bad guys.
I generally don’t care to comment on the personal qualities of elected officials, instead preferring to look at the interests they represent and serve.
However, along with being a privatizer and neoliberal Trojan Horse, Cory Booker has got to be the most insipid politician on the face of the earth. That alone makes him insufferable.
What Democrat would vote for Booker? He is another sell-out like Obama.
They are both cut from the same calico cloth.
Holt seems like a great candidate, but there are some who believe that Frank Pallone has a decent chance at defeating Booker. He appears to have a well run campaign with financing behind it and he has more name recognition that Holt. Anyone in NJ who is following the Governor’s race right now knows that Barbara Buono is suffering from a lack of name recognition and struggling to keep up with Christie on fundraising…apparently many in NJ don’t like Christie but heaven forbid they should part with $20 to put Buono’s commercials on the air.
I don’t want to discount Holt but I personally feel that Booker would be dangerous in the Senate. To the best of my knowledge, Pallone is a friend and supporter of public education and collective bargaining – please correct me if I have that wrong.
I have also been wondering if the NPE plans to endorse Barbara Buono for Governor – are there plans to do this?
Booker is absolutely DISASTROUS news. . . . may he never get any further than where he is now.
Cory Booker has been funded and supported by the hard right( Bradley Foundation and other hedge funds and foundations for over 10 years.
He is not a progressive democrat.
He supports the privatization of urban public schools and the privatization of other
services.
He has name recognition, he is intelligent, but I worry that he is campaigning and presenting himself as a democrat,yet if he is elected he will be supporting republican policies and corporations, the elite, and the privatization of education.
Both Mr Holt and Mr. Pallone are progressive Democrats and either one would make a great NJ senator.
——————
-Here are 2 articles About Cory Booker:
Cory Booker A clear And Present Threat To Public education:
http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/cory-booker-clear-and-present-threat-public-education
Booker Exposed: The Real Cory Booker:
http://my.firedoglake.com/dswright/2012/05/22/booker-exposed-the-real-cory/
—————————–
I support endorsing Barbara Buono for Governor. In NJ
Governor Christie Is A hard right conservative republican who also has name recognition.
He continues to privatize urban public schools in many districts throughout NJ and promotes the use of vouchers.
He has received grant money from Eli Broad and The DOE Chris Cerf , who is a graduate of Broad Superintendent academy, is paid for by Eli Broad.
Gov. Christie’ education bills match ” model” legislation from ALEC.
This is sad news. I remember watching the doc Street Fight on PBS years ago (followed CB in his first (failed) campaign for mayor of Newark. I really thought his was the real deal and he would make a difference on a national scale in the future.
There’s even more troubling news in the Booker story: he’s beholden to a wide range of business interests, whether it’s health care industry (South Jersey political kingmaker George Norcross), financial sector crowd ensconced in charter schools (Whitney Tilson), media (Michael Bloomberg) or real estate (Ivanka Trump/Jared Kushner). Yep, these big donors are all on the Booker bandwagon:
See “Cory Booker –stand-in for Ms. Rhee goes to Washington; his weak record as mayor, & the NY Times is catching wind.” http://nyceye.blogspot.com/2013/07/cory-booker-stand-in-for-ms-rhee-goes.html
Thanks for that link! And I could not agree more.
He is on the advisory board along with jeb Bush at the Education Next group at Harvard that pushes vouchers.
In 2002 PEPG formed the advisory committee, under the chairmanship of Bruce Kovner, founder of Caxton Associates, to counsel the program on potential research topics, ways of communicating to a broader audience, and other ideas for improving the program.
Jeb Bush
Cory Booker
Mayor of Newark, NJ
Cesar Conde
Univision Networks
Bruce Douglas
Harvard Development Company
Timothy Draper
Draper Fisher Jurvetson
C. Boyden Gray
Gray & Schmitz LLP
Phil Handy
Winter Park Capital Company
Roger Hertog
Alliance Capital Management
Al Hubbard
E&A Industries
Gisèle Huff
Jaquelin Hume Foundation
John F. Kirtley
KLH Capital, L.P.
Joel Klein
News Corporation
Steve Klinsky
New Mountain Capital, LLC
Deborah McGriff
NewSchoools
James Piereson
William E. Simon Foundation
Michael Podgursky
University of Missouri
Jerry Rappaport
Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport Foundation
Nina S. Rees
National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
Gerard Robinson
Former Commissioner of Education, Florida
And he won…. 😦
Remember next year that St. Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver might be an alternative to Booker. She has already floated the idea that she’ll run next year for the U.S. Senate seat when Booker will have to run again:
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/08/oliver_waits_at_newark_headquarters_for_us_senate_primary_results.html
Oliver has conceded the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate to Booker, but she hinted she would run again for the seat next year.
“This is part one. This is part one,” she told about two dozen supporters gathered at her campaign headquarters in Newark. “Let us call this, ‘the warm up.’ And we’ll finish out the last, final weeks of the summer, and we’ll all enjoy the Labor Day weekend. And, after that, we’ll be back hitting the ground running, because we’ve got a lot of work to do in 2014.”
Booker will face Republican Steve Lonegan, the former mayor of Bogota, in an Oct. 16 special election to fill the unexpired term of the late Frank Lautenberg. Another election will be held next year for the full, six-year term.
Oliver would not officially declared her candidacy tonight, even as she asked bluntly by a supporter.
“I haven’t determined that,” she said when asked in an interview.
She also would not say whether she would seek another term as speaker, calling it “premature” to make a decision on that.
“Every place I go, everyone asks me that,” she said.