Tom Cahill describes the five famous billionaires who are intent on dismantling public education, especially public education for African American children.
He writes that “The charter school movement is particularly insidious, as it’s essentially a form of institutionalized racism veiled in altruism.”
They call themselves “reformers,” but in fact they are destroying a vital democratic institution.
The process, he says, begins with Common Core standards that disregard all individual or local differences. That is followed by high-stakes testing that fails most students.
Finally, schools are labeled as “failing” due to the lopsided evaluation process, and privately-run charters are forced onto inner-city populations, paving the way for the privatization of public education in predominantly black and latino communities. (Actually, the “failing schools” narrative was launched prior to Common Core. Arne Duncan started closing public schools in Chicago when he was Superintendent. NCLB prescribed school-closings as an antidote to low scores. Low test scores, wherever they came from, were used as weapons to replace public schools with charter schools. Common Core just speeded up the demolition strategy.)
The five white billionaires he points to are: Mark Zuckerberg; the Walton family; Carl Icahn; Bill Gates; and Rupert Murdoch.
The list of billionaires who want to privatize the public schools should include Eli Broad, John Arnold, Michael Dell, the Koch brothers, and Michael Bloomberg. I may have missed a few billionaires, but you get the picture. The free market worked for them; why should schools operate in a free market? Why pay attention to the mounds of research showing that charter schools do not get higher test scores when they enroll the same children? Why care that minority children are enrolled in charter schools with harsh and punitive discipline policies that would not be allowed in public schools? Why care if there is no evidence that charter schools and Teach for America do not “close the achievement gap” and have no discernible impact on reducing poverty?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This is what the teacher’s union should be focused on !
Any list of billionaires who seek to deform public education that does not include Eli Broad at the top, is written by someone who is not well informed. Eli formed the Broad Academy for Education in 1999, with his mission to do exactly what he has done. He purports the takeover of all America’s public schools and converting them to free market charter schools…even though his PR flacks call them “public” charters.
These schools are only “public” in that the public pays for them.
Broad has trained over 2500 CEOs who now act as Superintendents of Schools and administrators nationwide. Examples of his graduates are John Deasy, formerly of LAUSD and now being investigated by both the FBI and the SEC, and Byrd-Bennett, formerly of the Chicago Schools who has been indicted on felony charges. Whether these grads are typical or not, its only assessing all his grads on a continuum of varying shades of gray.
This most insidious of the billionaires has been the prime organizer of his cohorts who live in the economic stratosphere, and never have to even drive through lesser neighborhoods inhabited by the poverty stricken masses. Yet they deign to make decisions for the children from these inner cities…and they proceed to divide these children from the rest of society by placing them in charter schools which leave behind a permanent under class of those who are hard to teach, and/or are English learners, or handicapped.
Broad and the Waltons are the team that pushed for parent trigger laws across the country, for they believe that non educated parents, non English speaking parents, and low income parents, are the easiest to manipulate. In LA, Broad’s deep pockets are used to direct the many non profits which his money buys, to this end of manipulation…as with using United Way to do his bidding.
Now he is using a new trick to takeover another 50% on LAUSD schools and charterize them. He is the power behind the new 501c3 Great Public Schools Now, which just hired Ms. Castejon, a non educator and lobbyist for CCSA to lead this group. This woman has already demanded that she be considered on the same level of Michelle King, the newly appointed Supt. of LAUSD, and that they will essentially ‘duke it out’ to establish Broad’s, goal of making LA a total charter school city. She is a political hire who does not hesitate to play hardball.
Beware of more than the 5 listed in the this article. Watch first, Eli Broad and his coterie of free market thugs including his PR and law firms.
Yes; the union is busy trying to elect Hillary, to maintain the status quo.
Katy, a suggested correction: The alleged corrupt and/or out-of-touch leaders of the national teachers’ unions are supporting Hillary often against many teachers that belongs to the union.
Teachers’ unions are much more than just the national unions. The national teachers’ unions also have state chapters that elect their own state level presidents and there are local chapters for each school district that elects their own presidents who are often working classroom teachers. The locals are mostly controlled from the ground up while the nationals and probably the state teachers’ unions are controlled from the top down.
Teachers’ unions are non-profit, democratic institutions and the leaders at the local, state and national level are elected by teachers who vote?
It would be nice to know how many state and local teachers’ unions have not endorsed Hillary? Does anyone know?
How many public positions has someone like Bill Gates been elected to by the people who vote in the United States?
Ms Lubic, Do you know if Broad contributed to Cory Booker’s Senate campaigns? Booker wanted to make Newark, NJ a “charter capital.” When he left his role as Newark mayor for DC, he didn’t have to deal w/ $90 million city deficit.
Book lady…do not know if Broad sent money to Booker, but since he donates to just about every candidate, and did send money to Malloy of Conn., I would guess yes. You probably could do a search and find out.
Zuckerberg was naive and new to deform…hope he learned an expensive lesson re Newark.
The teacher’s unions are in bed with the billionaire-boys-club. Randi Weingarten accepted milliions from Gates and served on committees that included Eli Broad. If the unions lose in the Supreme Court case on agency fees they will have to fight for their members if they expect to survive. Union leaders ignored their members for decades since the dues were guaranteed (Agency Fees). Members will have to be convinced somehow that membership dues are worth paying for. That will only happen with real union action in place of feel-good pandering slogans aimed at the membership.
So true, Michael.
I guess, in America, to some, freedom means “having money” at the expense of whomever must be stepped upon. Money then equals power. Citizens United gives political voice to the wealthy. Power is used to control pokutical decisions. Anyone who disagrees is considered unChristian and, therefore, wrong. They have “respect” because they must be pleasing God in order to have been blessed with so much money. And, we have gun toting “patriots” supporting candidates in the name of God, even putting children dancing to tout the absolute exceptionalism of America and demanding one form of evangelical Christianity not only founded this country but needs to dominate school teachings. It hoes on and on.
These guys with the big bucks will do anything in order to make more. They co-opt the unknowing using fear and God as their tools of manipulation. So they convince people that public schools are “bad” and that God wants them to turn away from the world.
We have political candidates who are using these tactics to get elected. And, the louder they yell, the more vile their rhetoric, as long as the say they are there for America…”Amurika” follows.
Deb – “It hoes on and on.” I know this is a typo on your part, but your subliminal conscience has hit the nail on the head – they are all “hoes”!
Bernie, 2016,or else the 1 % wins.
Diane, while I agree with your statement, quoted in the article, “These heavy-handed tactics require a suspension of democracy that would not be tolerated in a white suburb…” we should also recognize that the privatizers are just using a lighter touch to go after those neighborhoods. The westside of Los Angeles, which is mostly but not all affluent and mostly but not all white has reportedly more charter schools than anywhere else on the planet. Eli Broad, glaringly absent from this list, has supported the effort to do to LAUSD what has already been done to my neighborhood: convert much of it to charter.
The subtle tactics that are used on white, affluent and wanna-be-affluent families are “Come to our school: our class sizes are smaller, you won’t have to deal with those urban kids and all the problems they bring, and we can do whatever we want because we don’t have those pesky unions to deal with.” While these parents might never choose a school based on race, their choice results in segregation.
Diane, Thanks for your continued voice. This is all very disheartening.
The fight for and against charter schools in Washington state is fierce. As you know, the Supreme Court has ruled charter schools unconstitutional. Charter schools are receiving support from the Attorney General and Randy Dorn- the state’s superintendent of education.
Despite the Supreme Court ruling the state’s Superintendent of Education altered rules to allow the flow of public dollars into charter schools. Seattle’s school superintendent would not subvert legal processes to assist Dorn.
There is SO much money from Gates et. al. that the war on privatization is difficult. Gates provided $19M for charter expansion in Washington state, and there is no shortage of dollars for elections as well.
The state’s legislature is failing to fund education- per Supreme Court order. Yet, the focus within the legislature is to save 8 charter schools, while the state’s 1M students await funding. Starve public education and promote charters.
Reblogged this on 21st Century Theater.
And those of us in Michigan would add the Devos family to the list. From their support of for-profit charters to union-busting, they’re Public Education Enemy #1 in the Mitten.
Don’t forget JC Huizenga!
If Charter Schools succeed because they are allowed to operate under a different set of regulations, WHY can’t the public schools be allowed to operate under that same set of regulations so that they too can succeed?
Hell has no fury like a PTA Mom scorned? All the years of sitting on policy committees and seeing how the county policies had to change to comply with this or that new federal or state regulation, and all the while county people were trying to make sure that the new regulations did not diminish or discourage the education of students and/or the success of teachers.
The PTA would always try to compensate for this or that new regulation that wasn’t going to let the school do this or that. After years of that, I could really feel the anger bubbling up in me during the Charter School policy review committee this past fall, Apparently, the State and Federal Departments of Education who have passed down regulation after regulation to the county for all of those years, now want to start charters in our state and give them a process to ask for waivers from all the policies and regulations that our schools have been burdened with for so many years.
I guess the joke was on us, or rather our children whose education was burdened and diminished by too many rigid regulations made too far away from the day to day operations of a local school. Indeed, a lot of parents do a lot of compensating for any problems in the school system, but disadvantaged kids whose parents can not or don’t know to compensate, really have their educational potential diminished by the burdens these rigid and numerous regulations place on the teachers and administrators of the local schools.
I have seen many amazing acts of dedication and sacrifice by teachers, administrators, and parent volunteers in our public schools. People who are working very hard to make the future better for as many children as they can. More flexibility, more creativity, more freedom to adapt the resources to the needs, could really unleash a lot more potential in all of our students, but especially for underperforming children who need good public schools the most.
I love the community public school model. It is an amazing pillar of democracy and safety net.
PTA Mom,
To copy the charter school model would mean excluding the kids with disabilities and kids who can’t speak English. That’s illegal.
When it comes to this gang of five, I have trouble thinking of them as famous.
Instead I think it is highly arguable that Mark Zuckerberg; the Walton family; Carl Icahn; Bill Gates; and Rupert Murdoch are infamous. I also think we could fill out the list and make it the gang of 10 to 25.
Definition for infamous: well known for some bad quality or deed; wicked; abominable.
“Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all.” John Maynard Keynes.
This extraordinary belief only applies to ( _ _ _ _ _ )? Find the one word answer from the following quote from Abraham Lincoln and then fill in the blank.
“You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”
Abraham Lincoln
Reblogged this on stopcommoncorenys.
Add the CEO of Netflix, Eli Broad and Bloomberg and Murdoch to that growing list!!
Murdoch–currently cavorting with gold digger Jerry Hall, formerly Jagger, as in Mick’s ex wife. She is 59 and he is 84. I wonder if he has stock in viagra? I can’t imagine she sees anything worthwhile about him besides his wealth. Reminds me of Anna Nicole Smith and J. Howard Marshall. Ah, young love.
Don’t forget Murdock’s third wife, Wendy Deng. When she married Murdock in 1999, she was 31 and he was 68.
I’m so sick of everyone pointing the finger at billionaires to say that’s what’s wrong with public education. I work at a charter school on the south side of Chicago. Let me be clear, Bill Gates ( or anyone else) has never come to our school to talk about suspensions. Yes some Charters are strict, but so are other public schools. It crazy how we criticize charter discipline, but not the local schools who have constant fighting. I know students who are afraid to go to their local schools because of the negative environment.
Also, the excuse of charters get more money is lame as well. The charter movement is very young, and most public schools in their neighborhoods had several decades to change education. They didn’t.
Kids don’t have time for excuses. If their is a good public option in a neighborhood, then great. If not, it’s time to move to something else
Excellent comment.
I’ll add that Carl Icahn supports a network of K-8 Bronx charter schools led by a superintendent who had 30 years’ worth of experience teaching and leading NYC DOE traditional public schools. The schools employ teachers with a diverse range of backgrounds. Class sizes are capped at 18. Student attrition is low, but any student who leaves is replaced from the long wait lists. The schools use the Core Knowledge curriculum (lots of science, history, art, music), teachers are given a great deal of latitude in how to deliver the lessons, teachers and administrators meet frequently for support and sharing best practices. The schools are incredibly safe, joyous, energetic spaces. The demographics of the schools are similar to the districts in which they are located. Even with philanthropic contributions, this is all done with much less per-student funding than what is received by NYC DOE schools.
It might be interesting to ask this network’s leader and the former DOE teachers and principals who work in its schools whether they believe they are dismantling public education.
Sounds like you have a financial stake in it. How can it be done with much less spending per pupil than the DOE when classes are limited to 18 students? On that alone costs would be double, not less. That is of course unless teachers are paid minimum wage, work a sixth day without pay, work after school without pay, etc. I’m acquainted with a couple of teachers in charter schools. I’ve just described their work environment. One more thing: Teacher turnover is rampant. Finally, Eva Moskowitz makes about $500,000 (form 990) per year for running a school of about 10,000 students. If the chancellor of the NYC schools earned what Eva makes per student she would be paid about $50 million! Do you think the public would stand for that! But I have no doubt Eva, and her ilk, are in it for the children!
One more thing. NYC is required to pay the rent or provide space at its cost to charter schools. Maybe you haven’t noticed but space is a very valuable and expensive matter in NYC.
Still waiting for charter solutions that are legal and scalable and affordable in public schools. Not expecting a response because charters have also had decades to offer such solutions and still have come up empty.
Rage–I am not waiting. I would like to see the Charter laws repealed especially since ALEC wrote the model that most states use. I see CA is working hard on repealing the state charter law.
Michael Broccum,
No, I don’t have any financial stake in Icahn, or in any other school or anything related to education. I guess I should have mentioned that I have made very modest ($50-100) charitable donations to the network in the past. My positive impressions are based on relationships I have with several Icahn parents, as well as a school tour.
Your math is a little off on the class size/staffing issue: NYC DOE K-8 class sizes range from 22-28 and average around 25, so Icahn doesn’t need twice the staff. From what I can tell, starting salaries are in line with what’s offered by the DOE. Teachers do need to work a longer day and year. The fact that the network has so many teachers who have left DOE schools leads me to believe the pay and working conditions are tolerable.
I have no idea what Eva Moskowitz’s salary has to do with Icahn, but if it makes you feel any better, her salary is paid with private philanthropic dollars, and there are too many public school district superintendents to count in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who receive much more in salary/student than she does.
Starting salaries may be in line but teacher turnover is charter schools is rampant from everything I hear. Moskowitz salary comes from public funding as far as I can tell. The charter operators are raking it in. Vice President Biden’s brother (Frank, I think) runs a charter chain in Florida and makes reportedly over one million per year. I’m not opposed to charters per se. I am opposed to the extroadinary salaries charter operators make on the public dime. Also, again NYC is forced to pay the rent for charter school or provide free space which is a very expensive for the DOE and a boon for charter opertors.
So let’s see. Icahn charters offer diverse and interesting curricula and are not constrained by the tests pressures of Common Core math and ELA.
Teachers at Icahn charters have professional autonomy and are not threatened by test scores or micro-managed by administrators.
Icahn charter students reap the benefits of small class sizes and the required support of parents.
And Icahn charters have no expensive sports programs, unfunded mandates, or resource dependent special needs students.
Icahn charters use the IOWA test of basic skills to inform instruction.
Gee sounds like most pre-NAR public schools. No secrets here, just what most of us have been clamoring for.
Icahn schools administer the Iowa tests as a supplemental assessment, not as a substitute for the NYSED tests. Every child takes those as well, and school-wide proficiency and growth goals are written into each individual school’s charter. Core Knowledge is one of the NYC DOE’s recommended ELA curriculum for meeting Common Core standards.
Teachers are given autonomy, but that doesn’t mean that test scores (Iowa or NYSED) aren’t used in evaluating their performance. They are also “at will” employees, so there isn’t an expensive, drawn-out procedure for removing a teacher who is deemed ineffective.
Icahn schools are open to any child living in New York State. Collectively their enrollment is roughly 50% black, 50% Hispanic, 80% economically disadvantaged, and 12% SWDs. It is a network of k-8 schools, so I am confused by the comment about sports: are k-8 schools spending a lot on extracurricular athletics in your district?
I agree that Icahn isn’t blazing any new trails, although they are definitely not old-fashioned when it comes to data and assessments. So what is holding district schools back from doing the same?
Jens Martens and Karolin Seitz have documented the oft negative impacts of the billionaires and urge caution.
Philanthropic Power and Development: Who shapes the agenda?” (by Jens Martens and Karolin Seitz)
“Governments, international organizations and CSOs should take into
account the diversity of the philanthropic sector and assess the growing
influence of major philanthropic foundations, and especially the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation, on political discourse and agenda-setting.
They should analyze the intended and unintended risks and side effects
of their activities, particularly the fragmentation of global governance,
the weakening of representative democracy and their institutions (such as
parliaments), the unpredictable and insufficient financing of public goods,
the lack of monitoring and accountability mechanisms, and the prevailing
practice of applying the business logic to the provision of public goods. In light of these problems, CSOs engaged in joined initiatives with corporate
philanthropy should carefully evaluate the impact and side effects of
these initiatives and potentially reconsider their engagement.
Thanks for this extremely worthwhile link, dear Poet. Much good info for us all.
Did we forget Rex Sinquefeld (sp), the Missouri uber-rich guy who has been trying to crush the MO teachers’ union?
LLoyd Lofthouse.. thanks for describing how incestuous and self serving public schools are by using public funds, without ever really having the blessing of all citizens who pay taxes. Some of us are not invited to the negotiating table. Many parents do not agree with the liberal teaching practices, especially in California. There are some things that should not be taught in schools and they include gender confusion, politics and religion. The NEA needs to be dismantled, as well as the public school system. Corrupt from the inside out.
Steve,
All must pay for public services. You don’t get to decide whether you approve of spending for war or highways. With schools, you must pay for them even if you don’t have children. If you don’t like what they do, you get to vote on school bonds and the local board. With the military, you get no vote
Steve,
Show me in the U.S. Constitution that every citizen has the right to get what they want and if they don’t like what the public sector does with tax payers money, they can stop paying taxes — meaning they can just do whatever they want when the democratic process doesn’t do what they want it to do. They can even subvert the Constitution to get what they want like Bill Gates, Donald Trump, the Walton family and the Koch brothers are doing.
The U.S. is a Constitutional republic and some elements of that republic operate as a participatory democracy where we elect representatives that usually represent the majority of voters that elected them, not the minority of voters that didn’t get what they wanted.
This is the oath I took when I joined the U.S. Marines: “I will support and defend the Constitutions of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” You will not find anything in that oath that says I have to support individuals that don’t agree with the majority that elected our state and national government.
I think you better read the U.S. Constitution carefully and closely, without someone else telling you what it means, to discover what it is that I’m willing to sacrifice my life to defend. Pay close attention to the 5th and 14th Amendments. By the way, the Amendment process was part of the U.S. Constitution the Foundling Fathers wrote because they were smart enough to know that America would change with time. It woudl not always be stuck in the 18th century where African Americans were slaves, there was indentured serviette starting with children as young as seven and women and children were the property of men.