In November 2016, the state of Massachusetts held a referendum about whether to expand the number of charters in the state. Millions of dollars were spent on both sides, but the pro-charter groups spent twice as much as the anti-charter groups (mostly funded by teachers’ unions).
Much of the large pro-charter funding was bundled by a group called Families for Excellebt Schools. The names of many individual donors were not released. That’s called “dark money.” It enables the group to pretend to be worried families, eager to enroll their chilren in charter schools, when they are actually billionaires and millionaires who want to promote privatization. One member of the group is billionaire Alice Walton of Arkansas. Another is the chairman of the state board in Massachusetts, who offered nearly $500,000 to undermine public education in a state where he is in control.
FES pulled the same shenanigans in New York, pumping millions into a campaign to persuade the legislature to shower charters with perks and public space and money. But it didn’t work in the Bay State.
“An advocacy organization that gave more than $15 million to a Massachusetts ballot campaign to lift the cap on charter schools has agreed to pay $426,500 to settle allegations of campaign finance violations.
“The Office of Campaign and Political Finance alleged that Families for Excellent Schools contributed money to the ballot campaign in a way that was designed to hide the identity of its donors. The organization denies any wrongdoing.
“This is the largest settlement ever collected by Massachusetts’ Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
“Massachusetts voters deserve to know the identity of all those who attempt to influence them before Election Day,” said Office of Campaign and Political Finance Director Michael Sullivan in a press release. “Complete and accurate disclosure of campaign activity is the goal of OCPF and the cornerstone of the campaign finance law.”
“Families for Excellent Schools is a New York-based advocacy group, which gave $15.3 million to Great Schools Massachusetts, the ballot committee promoting a question in 2016 that would have lifted the cap on charter schools. The question failed at the polls.”
Indeed, the question failed overwhelmingly at the polls.
Families for Excellent Schools agreed not to engage in any election-related activities in the state for four years.
The fine is Penny ante for a group like FES, but it is satisfying to see them get caught hiding the names of donors.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
DFER groups played a strong role; also the DFER supporter Stephen F. Lynch who said “parents in my district cannot find a decent school anywhere ” and that is why he supported charters. We need to vote him out . This is the statement from the MA Democratic Party. (Gus Bickford et al) calling for Sagan to resign… ”
MASSACHUSETTS DEMOCRATIC PARTY DEMANDS ANSWERS FROM BAKER ON ILLEGAL CONTRIBUTIONS
BOSTON – Massachusetts Democratic Party Chair Gus Bickford released the following statement in response to Families for Excellent Schools, the outside dark money group with connections to the Baker Administration, receiving the largest fine ever imposed by the Office of Campaign and Political Finance:
“One year ago, Governor Baker called Board of Elementary and Secondary Education Chair Paul Sagan’s contribution to the charter school campaign a “nothingburger.”1 Today we learned that the most expensive ballot campaign in state history was financed by illegal contributions from Sagan and another high-ranking member of the Baker administration.
“We are calling on Paul Sagan and recently appointed Secretary of Technology Services and Security Mark Nunnelly to resign their posts immediately in light of their $771,000 in illegal contributions.
“Governor Baker must come clean about his role in coordinating with this shadowy, out-of-state group. Massachusetts voters now know that the Baker administration had a hand in this fundraising scheme. They demand to know how deep the Governor’s involvement went.”
Baker also has Peyser in there; and he appointed a woman out of Lawrence MA because of her support for charter schools.
Baker made a commercial tv/cable appearance for the “charter” lobby and he said , in essence, “We wanted excellent schools for our children in MA but we do not have them… so you need to support the charter school movement.”
Well, Mr. Governor, if you really want some excellent schools and more excellent schools than the FOUNDATION BUDGET needs to be supported.
Stephen there are a ton of good references in that Northeastern U study on charter schools “At What Cost”… but one that you seem to be blocking out in your ideology is this kind of information. Derek W. Black, Civil Rights, Charter Schools, and Lessons to Be Learned, 64 Fla. L. Rev. 1723 (2012). The abstract:
“One member of the group is billionaire Alice Walton of Arkansas. Another is the chairman of the state board in Massachusetts, who offered nearly $500,000 to undermine public education in a state where he is in control.”
How does the chairman of the state board have half a million dollars to donate? Wow. That must be some fancy state board.
I’m just pleased that someone somewhere actually enforced a campaign finance law. I thought they gave up on that.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/09/11/pro-charter-school-group-pays-state-largest-campaign-finance-penalty/uQlWnaSnOC6CeHma74cPqN/story.html
(sorry if there is a pay wall; I am a subscriber)
You really get a sense of how hostile to public schools the Obama Administration was when you read them in their new jobs in ed reform:
“Despite formidable opponents like the current President of the American Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten, and the current Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, not to mention legions of anti-reformers who prowl the fact-free corners of the internet, Moskowitz has succeeded through her shrewd use of the media, her high-powered network, and unrelenting drive inherited from her Holocaust-surviving ancestors.”
Any criticism of charter schools is attributed to people “prowling the fact-free corners of the internet”
No criticism is acceptable. It’s either 100% cheerleading or you’re off Team Reform.
Wow, that’s some over-the-top rhetoric:
Eva has “the unrelenting drive inherited from her Holocaust-surviving ancestors.”
Supporting school privatization = celebrating Holocaust survivors.
Huh?!
Chiara,
Who wrote that? It is anti-Semitic trash.
National Review just published an excerpt from Moskowitz’s self-celebrating new memoir; the quote is from the magazine’s brief intro to it.
Cute, huh? Criticize Moskowitz and, by some perverse non-sequitur, you’re disrespecting Holocaust survivors.
What?
My European family was wiped out in the Holocaust.
Am I allowed to criticize her?
Hmmm. Perhaps it was written with you in mind, Diane?
from MASSter List : “So now we know. A New York pro-charter group that funneled $15 million into last year’s Question 2 charter-school expansion initiative – money that was hard to trace during the ongoing battle over the referendum – has been hit with a record fine of $426,466 by the state’s Office of Campaign and Political Finance for illegally hiding the identities of its donors, reports the Globe’s Michael Levenson, the Herald’s Matt Stout and SHNS’s Matt Murphy at CommonWealth magazine.
So who were some of the mystery donors? Two Baker administration officials — Paul Sagan, the chair of the state’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, who gave $500,000, and Mark Nunnelly, Gov. Baker’s newly appointed technology secretary, who gave $275,000 – and a whole slew of millionaires and billionaires.
Did they really think they would keep these donations secret? Apparently so — or at least until after the referendum.”
_______________________________________________________________________ will have to go back to the full list of DFER — one identified by Jennifer Berkshire was the Purdue (spelling) who is of opioid infamy (profits from Big Pharma)….
Because of a paywall, here’s the whole thing:
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Pro-charter school group pays state’s largest campaign finance penalty
(PHOTO)
Charter school backers rallied on Boston Common by the State House last fall.
By Michael Levenson
Globe Staff September 11, 2017
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A wealthy New York organization that poured $15 million into last year’s unsuccessful ballot question to expand charter schools in Massachusetts was hit Monday with the largest fine in state campaign history after officials found the group was illegally hiding the identities of its donors.
Families for Excellent Schools-Advocacy, a nonprofit that was the single largest funder behind Question 2 in Massachusetts, was slapped with a $426,466 fine, the largest in the 44-year history of the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
The group was also forced to reveal its donors — showing it was anonymously receiving major checks from two Baker administration officials and numerous wealthy contributors from the world of high finance in Massachusetts, New York, and other states.
The newly revealed donor list showed the group received checks from Amos B. Hostetter Jr., the former cable television magnate from Boston, who gave $2 million; Seth Klarman, the billionaire chief executive of Baupost Group, a Boston hedge fund, who donated $3.3 million; and Alice Walton, an heiress to the Walmart fortune, who gave $750,000.
Paul Sagan, a technology executive who was appointed by Governor Charlie Baker as chairman of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, which oversees charter schools, donated $496,000. Mark Nunnelly, a former Bain Capital executive who was recently promoted from his position as Baker’s chief information officer to a Cabinet post overseeing cybersecurity, gave $275,000. Nunnelly’s wife, Denise Dupre, contributed $275,000.
As a general rule, nonprofits such as Families for Excellent Schools-Advocacy, or FESA, are not required to disclose their donors if they are not engaged directly in political activity. However, state campaign finance officials said an investigation revealed that FESA was soliciting checks specifically to support Question 2, which would have allowed for the creation or expansion of up to 12 charter schools per year in low-performing school districts.
Therefore, officials said, the group had violated the law. In addition to paying the fine and revealing its donors, the group agreed with the IRS to dissolve itself, and Families for Excellent Schools, its umbrella group, agreed not to fund-raise or engage in any election-related activity in Massachusetts for four years.
“Massachusetts voters deserve to know the identity of those who attempt to influence them before Election Day,” said Michael J. Sullivan, director of the Office of Campaign and Political Finance. “Complete and accurate disclosure of campaign activity is the goal of OCPF and the cornerstone of the campaign finance law.”
Jeremiah Kittredge, chief executive of Families for Excellent Schools, said: “Though we believe we complied with all laws and regulations during the campaign, we worked closely with OCPF to resolve this matter so we could move forward with our mission of working alongside families desperate for better schools.”
Baker, who strongly supported Question 2 and appeared in one of the ballot question’s closing campaign ads, said Families for Excellent Schools was responsible for violating the law — not the members of his administration who donated to the organization.
“OCPF did an investigation, concluded that they violated the law, and fined them appropriately for that. But that’s on the group,” Baker said. He added, “Paul Sagan and Mark Nunnelly both complied with all state laws with respect to this.”
Families for Excellent Schools has promoted charter schools across the country. In New York, it spent $9.4 million on lobbying in 2014 and ran ads blasting Mayor Bill de Blasio for his opposition to charters, while praising Governor Andrew Cuomo for supporting them.
The group was chaired last year by Paul Appelbaum, principal of Rock Ventures LLC, a New York investment firm. Its vice chairman was Bryan Lawrence of Yorktown Partners, another New York investment firm.
In Massachusetts, the $15 million that FESA spent on Question 2 represented 70 percent of the $21.7 million in donations collected by the main pro-charter ballot committee, Great Schools Massachusetts. Some of the money was used to run ads that featured images of a racially diverse group of children in a classroom.
Teachers unions poured more than $15 million into the campaign to oppose Question 2. Voters roundly rejected the question, with 62 percent opposed in November.
After the election, state campaign finance officials subpoenaed bank records from FESA that showed it was raising money from donors and then giving it directly to Great Schools Massachusetts. Great Schools Massachusetts, unlike FESA, was required to disclose its donors. So those who donated to FESA avoided having their names revealed during the campaign.
“I am shocked but not surprised,” said Barbara Madeloni, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, which helped fund the opposition to Question 2. “We always knew that they didn’t want the public to know it was being funded by millionaires and billionaires.”
Maurice Cunningham, a political scientist at the University of Massachusetts Boston, said the cloak of secrecy helped Families For Excellent Schools-Advocacy project an image as a grass-roots organization focused on helping urban youth.
“You can’t say, ‘We’re Billionaires for Excellent Schools,’ ” said Cunningham.
Sagan had previously been disclosed as a donor on Question 2. In August 2016, he gave $100,000 to the Campaign for Fair Access to Quality Public Schools, a pro-charter ballot committee that was required to reveal its donors. A month later, he filed an ethics disclosure form in which he acknowledged that, “As a private citizen, I have contributed personal funds to educational and political organizations, including organizations that are advocating a position on Question 2 on the November 8, 2016 state ballot.”
On Monday, Sagan released a statement acknowledging he had also donated to FESA.
Nunnelly defended the donations he and his wife made to FESA: “For 25 years, my wife and I have been dedicated supporters of Massachusetts public schools and all they do to maintain our position as the national leader in public education.”
Cunningham said he hoped the fine would curb the role of so-called dark money in state elections. “Citizens have a right to know who is trying to influence their votes,” he said.
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Frank Phillips and Joshua Miller of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @mlevenson.
It’s funny to read some of this:
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
“Jeremiah Kittredge, chief executive of Families for Excellent Schools, said:
“ ‘Though we believe we complied with all laws and regulations during the campaign, we worked closely with OCPF to resolve this matter so we could move forward with our mission of working alongside families desperate for better schools.’ ”
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Jeremiah, you can “believe” that all you want. The fact is that you were all found to be crooks. In fact, you were found to be so crooked that as part of the settlement, you had to dissolve the Massachusetts branch of your organization, and your original New York branch has been banned from the State of Massachusetts.
It’s like O.J. saying that he “believes” that he didn’t kill his ex-wife and that other person.
http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2017/09/ma-charteristas-behind-curtain-get.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FORjvzd+%28CURMUDGUCATION%29
Some usefully informative material in Peter’s posting, but in parts of his posting he drove rather far off the rails, as I’ve detailed in the comments section.
Stephen,
Only a troll would devote himself as you do to defending everything that charters do. Cut it out. It is boring. Repetitive. Predictable. Boring.
But you leave out that the CREDO study has been discredited:
“Sorry, but that’s, at best, an incomplete description of the serious limitations of these studies, which include:
The matching variables that create the counterfactuals are far too crude to do the job properly.
The definition of the treatment — enrolling in a charter school — does not account for factors such as increased spending, peer effects, and other advantages which have nothing to do with “charteriness.”
The consistently small effect sizes have been pumped up by an unvalidated conversion into ‘days of learning’ which has never been properly justified by the authors.”
http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2017/08/credo-charter-school-studies-x-days-of.html
Christine: “But you leave out that the CREDO study has been discredited”
Is that a little like saying that Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy for president was “discredited” because the campaign could have fully explained her fainting quicker?
We need to distinguish between what discredits, and quibbles that nibble ineffectually around the edges.
I often finish reading an NEPC report analyzing research related to charter schools with the sense… well, if that’s the best they can throw at it, must be pretty solid.
In respect to criticism of CREDO work, I realize that Caroline Hoxby asserted that the their methodology was systematically biased against demonstrating charter success.
Click to access memo_on_the_credo_study%20II.pdf
But, to the extent I understood it, I thought that CREDO’s response was quite effective at dispelling such concerns.
By contrast I don’t think their rebuttals were fully adequate to dismiss issues Maul et al. raised, and JJ alluded to, in respect to instances where the CREDO data showed results that were small and of debatable statistical significance.
However, in the case of Brooke’s results reflected in CREDO’s CMO report, or CREDO’s analysis re: Boston charter schools more generally, the impacts measured were vast. No criticism I’ve seen anywhere in the academic research literature has ever purported to dismiss impacts CREDO found of anywhere near that magnitude.
Stephen,
I know both Hoxby and Raymond.
I’d call it a personal spat.
Remember Hoxby claimed that charters closed the “Scarsdale-Harlem” except they didn’t
you are going way out off base here, Stephen… not necessary
Is that a little like saying that Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy for president was “discredited” because the campaign could have fully explained her fainting quicker?
jeanhaverhill@aol.com
Hmmm, the billionaires will have to get control of the Office of Cammpaign and Political Finance
I suppose this is good, but honestly $400,000 for these guys is like me getting a speeding ticket for 25 cents. I’d hand the cop a quarter and take off at 100 miles per hour again. That fine is not going to hamper these folks one bit.
Yes, indeed.
Cost of doing business.
Like the fine levied on Jp Morgan Chase after they had defrauded investors and been involved in a massive rate fixing scheme.
As William Black has indicated time and again, until people start going to jail, nothing will change.
But no leader in either major party listens to Bill because he tells them what they don’t want to hear — and they have been complicit by taking billions in campaign contributions.
The station where I get off the El in the mornings has an exit into the basement of the Chase building right by their cafeteria. They have a TV screen right there to broadcast propaganda to their captive employees and others who pass through. This morning’s offering was all about why Chase is such a great place to work. One person’s answer was because there is such a “high concentration of devoted and ethical people working here.”
I suppose it depends on what your definition of “high concentration”
(and “is”) is.
If you consider one person out of thousands (now slated for firing) a high concentration, then QED.
As Black has also pointed out, the heads of criminogenic organizations create an environment through “control fraud” that makes it impossible for anyone who disagrees with what is going on to continue working there. They are either fired or their life is made miserable so that they quit.
Pretty soon, all you are left with are yes men and women whose only “ethic” is pursuit of the almighty dollar.
Agreed. Folks who come up with $19 million in a nano second won’t be deterred by a fine of $426,000
True, the money means nothing to them but, like roaches, the exposure to light sends them into a panic…
I agree with you Michael — the exposure and getting the information out into the public… Curmudgucation yesterday and Jennifer Berkshire write about the issues when we show in the daylight where the roaches have been exposed…. http://www.alternet.org/dark-money-charter-group-democracy
I agree, Dienne, but the fine was actually all the funds that FES had on hand. I thought it was kind of nice that it was essentially an “empty your pockets now” moment for these smug folks who believe thay answer to no one.
thanks, this is good to read the whole article… also one in Commonwealth magazine. Barbara Madeloni is on the NEPC list of speakers…. she took a lot of “flack” from the Commissioner of ED (now deceased) and he insulted her in the Boston Globe. I am glad that Barbara stood firm through all of this. She is also telling us that teachers need to be strong and not be intimidated (as they are locally in their cities and towns) and she has stated that the flawed tests (that are not reliable and are not valid) are pushing the white supremacist ideology… so I am trying to get that message out to all of the voters in our cities/towns as we have school committee elections coming up Nov. 7th
“….she took a lot of “flack” from the Commissioner of ED (now deceased) and he insulted her in the Boston Globe.”
Whatever he said, she should print it on a t-shirt and wear it proudly. I love that woman. An insult from some Commissioner of ED is high praise for her.
Barbara should replace Randi Wein(and_dine)garten.
thanks to Jennifer Berkshire for getting this information out; her husband also comes to speak with us on important issues like $15 minimum wage and he talks to our teachers locally. http://haveyouheardblog.com/tag/jonathan-sackler/
Nice to see our state’s office of campaign and political finance cracking down on that sort of stuff… they’ve had practice, e.g. on this occasion:
“The American Federation of Teachers confirmed Friday that it was the donor behind One Boston, a mysterious political action committee that paid for a $480,000 television commercial supporting Mayor-elect Martin J. Walsh during the final days of the [2013] Boston mayoral race.
“The national teachers’ union exploited discrepancies in state-by-state campaign spending disclosure laws to anonymously fund nearly a half million dollars worth of advertising on behalf of Walsh.
[…]
“The Massachusetts database of campaign donations shows the AFT never gave money directly to Walsh’s campaign, which would have been subject to state-imposed contribution limits, or to One Boston, which would have been subject to disclosure requirements.
“Instead, the national teacher’s union gave $480,000 to One New Jersey, a political action committee that has vocally opposed candidates who clash with teachers unions, most notably Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey.
“In a complicated series of transactions, the AFT first gave the money to One New Jersey, which is not required under New Jersey campaign finance laws to disclose its donors. Then, One New Jersey gave the money to One Boston, a Massachusetts political action committee it set up for the purpose of funding an advertisement on behalf of Walsh. One Boston used the money for the pro-Walsh television commercial.”
[…]
“The sudden appearance of One Boston-funded ads during the race’s final week without disclosure of the money’s origins outraged government watchdog groups and prompted calls from both candidates for the group to identity its donors.”
[…]
“The only name listed in documents associated with the group is Jocelyn Hutt, 55, a woman from Roslindale who, city records show, had not voted in three of Boston’s past four municipal elections. It remains unclear what role Hutt played in setting up One Boston or if she is linked formally to One New Jersey.”
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/12/28/american-federation-teachers-revealed-funder-behind-mysterious-pro-walsh-pac-during-mayoral-campaign/g58NRCxjp3OMZLtoBQE0yN/story.html
Stephen,
Admit that union money consists of dues collected from teachers who work in classrooms.
Where does the hedge fund money come from?
I hope we can agree in preferring that neither teachers unions, nor supermarket tycoons, nor hedge fund operators deceptively obscure their political influence in respect to campaign donations.
Stephen,
All contributions should be transparent.
Can we agree that teachers have a bigger stake in the future of public schools than tycoons, billionaires, and hedge fund managers?
Diane: “Can we agree that teachers have a bigger stake in the future of public schools than tycoons, billionaires, and hedge fund managers?”
Teachers unions more susceptible to being driven by self-interest, while the others by more purely charitable, philanthropic motives? Well, I don’t know… even if that’s true we can try to carefully differentiate between the many occasions when the teachers union interest are in harmony with the interests of the students, and on the other hand the times that they are not… I’ve pointed to teacher union opposition to cost-effective intensive tutoring by non-union members as an example of the latter.
Stephen,
I trust the teachers unions (i.e., teachers, teachers!!!) to know more about schools and students than the oligarchs of Wall Street and Big Pharma, which makes billions from opioids.
Stephen — I don’t know if you ever read Schattschneider’s book on how interest groups function in a democracy and how they are essential ; a semi-sovereign arrangement of our nation. It is a good book to re-visit. It was introduced to me by Professor Iannocone … I dearly miss people like him and the thinking on those issues of governance. You might want to meet Roger Desrosiers, President of the MA Center for Civic Education — he could explain the issues far better than I can– but I have known of his work for 30 or more years; the concepts have gotten lost along the way or distorted. The high school programs are “We the People”. , “The Citizen and the Constitution”. and Roger offers a Citizen Lyceum for adult/voters/citizens who probably had weak course preparation in high school noting that civic education has been marginalized for two decades with the constant focus on testing in reading and math. There is a Lyceum being offered in Millbury at the Asa Waters Mansion on Sept 17th. We (all volunteers) are planning one for Malden before Thanksgiving to be held at the Malden Public Library ; cooperative sponsorship by the Unity/Community focus in Malden (our. most diverse city) and the Malden READS program and then late winter in my own City. (you can google Massachusetts Center for Civic Education. Roger is a past president of MA Council for the Social Studies (their work had been shelved by the former Commissioner of Ed in order to have funds to buy more Pearson tests).
jeanhaverhill: “You might want to meet Roger Desrosiers, President of the MA Center for Civic Education — he could explain the issues far better than I can”
Thanks. I might indeed! I know one of the students who went with schoolmates to DC this year to participate in the national civics education program that Desrosier’s group is involved in:
“Facilitated by the Center for Civic Education, the competition challenges students with questions ranging from the 14th Amendment to Indian Tribal Law to British Constitutionalism.”
http://www.bulletinnewspapers.com/23469/270622/a/apr-gets-wild-card-invite-for-national-civics-competition
I was awestruck when I attended their school’s graduation ceremony this year. Inspiring (and amusing) set of speakers and performers – students and faculty. And much joy. Shame there’s such an unnecessarily restrictive cap in Massachusetts on schools like theirs. We could use at least a few more in some cities here.
back about 30 years ago when Roger was still a history teacher in Milbury, his class won top place on “topic #2” from the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in the Washington hearings. There was also a program for elementary students and it was cut — there was also a program on “justice” teaching concepts as early as 2nd grade…. Federal funding ended and some threads have been kept through non profit efforts . Maybe you would like to be on his Board?
It is an excellent program… The problem is that it is mostly taught only in AP classes… and it is voluntary whether or not the teacher wants to take on that amount of work.
The concepts of the program are in a huge text called CIVITAS and we should have that in our curriculum for all schools (or something similar if not that program/curricuum).
Would you like to know more about the LYCEUM being offered by Roger in. Millbury? We are going to try and offer it again in Malden… The concepts in the curriculum K-16 (or for adults in a lyceum arrangement) should not just be for the elitist AP students but for all of our students. How we deliver it makes a big difference. By working with MALDEN the most diverse city in the state there should be some new learning — then we have the agenda planned to offer the same initiative in Haverhill. This should not jus be restricted to Roger Desrosiers — it is one exemplary fine curricuum– how it is delivered and implemented in a district has great divergency– and it will be implemented well in some places and in other places will work out differently (everything gets mediated through the in-place structures)
The program was federally funded when Kennedy was still alive… then when he died, about that time, it was decided it was an “earmark’ but Roger and his board have kept things going with non-profit 501 (3) c status. Sept 17th is the LYCEUM for Millbury. jean e. sanders (jeanhaverhill@aol.com)
Thanks. I might indeed! I know one of the students who went with schoolmates to DC this year to participate in the national civics education program that Desrosier’s group is involved in:
jeanhaverhill@aol.com
from the article you sent me: ““ we got to meet Senator Elizabeth Warren who absolutely charmed the students by asking them each individually about their hopes and aspirations,” said Honeywood. Having taught in the more affluent towns and also in the Lawrence/Haverhill area, I want this for ALL our kids — 350 districts.
The families in Haverhill and Lawrence and Malden have aspirations for their kids also; it is up to us as citizens/voting adults to have the political will and the determination to get the work done so that this can happen. We need the wherewithal, the resources, the ACTION plans and the next steps. I think if you met Roger he could convince you to join us.
I asked Roger about the school in the article that you had observed and here is his response… “Yes, I expected it might be the Academy of the Pacific Rim. They have an outstanding teacher, Laura Honeywood. They placed second this year and two years ago. Their students are very polished, they have great confidence, and the diversity level is incredible. ”
Stephen, one concern that I have is we have lost many fine exceptional teachers from our schools because of the extreme policies and a profession is being destroyed. I have seen those fine exceptional teachers in many cities /towns across the state… and I fear we are losing them and we are destroying the teacher education programs — just as the hospitals in Boston are world renowned, we have some of the very best teacher education programs — all of which have been under attack for ideological reasons from one particular party (with some DFERs thrown in the mix).
Stephen Ronan has this odd mental quirk of thinking that charter schools are the be-all and end-all. He doesn’t care about the vast majority of kids in public schools or kids with disabilities or ELLS. He doesn’t like unions. He doesn’t care about the future of the teaching profession.
Diane: “Stephen Ronan has this odd mental quirk of thinking that charter schools are the be-all and end-all. He doesn’t care about the vast majority of kids in public schools or kids with disabilities.ities or ELLS. He doesn’t like unions. He doesn’t care about the future of the teaching profession.”
Awww, Diane, getting grumpy? Having hung out with ELLs on Sunday, providing tutoring assistance to multiple generations (while being fed marvelous, ultra-spicy, Liberian vegetarian fare), and having rousted a charming, intelligent, very tough district school teenager out of bed early on Monday to get her to juvenile court on time, and having spent Tuesday evening with a bunch of other district school youngsters combining homework and games, I would be curious to know what the evidence is for your assertions, if I believed your assertions were reliably based on evidence.
In respect to unions, I recall my previously responding to you as follows:
Diane, your tendency to bifurcate the array of perspectives into “our side” and “your side” seems unwarranted.
Diane: “Educators typically are okay with unions, whereas your side thinks that unions are passe, dysfunctional, self-seeking, greedy, and resistant to change.”
I think Tilson, in his conversation with you, had a rather more nuanced view:
Tilson: “This dilemma isn’t new – in fact, it’s one of the reasons I helped start Democrats for Education Reform: because I wasn’t comfortable joining forces with other reform-oriented organizations that existed at the time (roughly a decade ago), which were mostly funded, supported and run by Republicans with whom I shared almost no views in common other than in the area of ed reform (and even in that area, I disagreed with their union busting and overemphasis on vouchers).”
Tilson: “As such, I’m going to be extra careful in my writings, when I’m critical of the unions, to make clear that these are policy differences and that I don’t support attempts to demolish unions altogether, whether in the education sector or elsewhere.”
Tilson: “I’ll admit that this creates quite a dilemma for me: I want the teachers unions, which remain the single most powerful interest group supporting the Democratic party, to be strong to help as many Democratic candidates as possible win. But when it comes to my desire to implement the reforms I think our educational system needs, I usually want them to be weak.”
Tilson: “The decline of unionization (which has occurred mostly in the private sector), has been a calamity for this country and is a major contributor to soaring income inequality, which is also a grave concern.”
Tilson: “What Gov. Scott Walker did in Wisconsin as well as the Friedrichs case were wrong-headed attempts to gut union power, and it was wonderful that the Supreme Court left existing laws in place via its 4-4 tie in the Friedrichs case last week.”
And, more recently, Diane, I stated this:
Perhaps you need a ripe mango to get your spirits up? A fresh, ripe Georgia peach?
Stephen,
DFER and the Waltons and DeVos and ALEC are on the same page, with just a few tweaks. And you are with them. You want privately managed schools without unions. It is no accident that 93% of charters are non-union.
You protest too much.
yes, he is stuck in that ideology. This is how Jan Resseger describes it today. “”[The] tale of St. Louis is also the story of Cleveland and Milwaukee and Philadelphia. While today we have been indoctrinated by proponents of a test-driven, high stakes testing regime to regard education in our poorest, most segregated big cities as “failing,” these school districts historically modeled society’s commitment to provide children with the best kind of education. Then racism and white flight intensified racial and economic segregation. Ideologues prescribed experimentation with privatization as the cure, but it hasn’t worked.” That ideology is as old as the hills and the ancient domination systems. It hasn’t worked. And, are doing it in Boston and our “gateway” cities like Brockton; Brockton was forced to take in the charter school against all logic and rationale and even when the residents/citizens didn’t want it. Because I live in a “gateway city” it is an every day fight. And, I keep telling folks in my city the ideology is white supremacist. You may disagree as to how it happened historically but I know we are re-segregating the schools.
yes, Stephen is like the School Committee member in my city — I spent 45 minutes with him… and he said “in that charter school we saved 800 kids” but he neglects the fact that selection bias to get in and factors forcing students out of the charters are working all the time and the students in the traditional public school are denied resources that were drained from the public treasury to support the charter. This school committee member is up for election on November 7th… The ideology of Mr. Ronan and our school committee person — they neglect what Jan Resseger can see and describe so poignantly. They neglect what is in this particular study from Northeastern University “At What Cost”…. This article also describes how the funding mechanisms work (or don’t work appropriately) and we are reverting back to segregated schools that the courts had rule against. https://www.northeastern.edu/law/pdfs/academics/phrge/charter-paper-2014.pdf
to go back to my original question, have you seen or read this? “The Semisovereign People: A Realist’s View of Democracy in America” Revised Edition
by E. Schattschneider —– I can’t really force you to read it and you would need Professor Larry Iannacone to interpret it anyway and he is deceased. That is why we need our exceptional. teachers and professors to help us interpret and explain what is going on around us — I am concerned that the whole profession is being destroyed…. flawed policies and formulaic algorithms …..
one joke has always been to ask the professor. “how long did it take you to write that lecture on Shakespeare?” And, his response. “only 1/2 my life”… no one seems to understand what it takes to produce a professor like Larry Iannacone (and others I have known ).. and we are killing off a profession where we were formerly able to develop more of these unique individuals with depth of understanding. PHENOM has bills in the legislature that would help to get more of the high qualified time from professors who have unique contributions… the university system has vastly under-invested in the full professors relying totally on adjunct who have to work at 2 or more colleges to earn one professional salary
Thanks, Jean.
I have located a used copy of the Iannocone book and have ordered it.
I’ll keep my eye out for details re: the Malden Lyceum and aim to pass info on to a family there that I think may be interested.
Perhaps Madison Park/RoxVote Coalition/Hibernian Hall around the corner from the Bolling building in Dudley Sq. would be a good location for a future event or series. I’d be able to help with some local outreach if that were the case. Will be at Hibernian tonight for the NAACP/Urban League/MassVote forum.
Re: Roger’s board, I am sure there are many better prospects than myself, and am rather maxed out in that regard.
Re: Senator S. C-D and the Foundation Budget, I am a constituent who has volunteered on her campaigns, am particularly impressed with her criminal justice reform work. But my impression is that it makes more sense for folks like us to principally focus on the millionaire’s tax first with the major expansion in Ed funds coming alongside passage of that..
I have heard that from other people; but the basic formula for allocation of state funds — that has to be re-examined and the Foundation Budget Review Committee explains that…. that old formula is not working…. gateway cities are being penalized because of the diversity of our population… “millionaire’s tax” doesn’t correct that (imho) but we do need to look at the revenues ….. as you say and people in my city are trying to work on the “school to prison pipeline” …. I was impressed with District Attorney Marian Ryan in her discussions.of work in those areas and her compassion for families and our kids when it comes to courts under her jurisdiction — I’m not that familiar with the other counties.
“Shame there’s such an unnecessarily restrictive cap in Massachusetts on schools like theirs. We could use at least a few more in some cities here.” If you sit and have lunch with Roger he will assure you that it is not just for the “elitist” schools…. Would you like me to arrange the luncheon? (that was my neck of the woods — Grafton, Worcester County ). I literally know nothing about you other than your posts but we might have more in common than one would think. Your frame of reference about the “cap” is not the same view that I hold…. I am concerned about ALL the students in all 350 school districts (and the great inequities; the test scores may be the highest but we are also high on inequities — we are not #1 , we are more like #28 when you consider the inequities). I taught in Sudbury for 10 years and I have worked in the Lawrence 495 highway and I can assure you of the inequities in our state’s funding formula. Can you support the Sonia Chang Diaz bill for FOUNDATION BUDGET? Would you also read what Bill Philis at Ohio E&A says abut funding formulas? Maybe we could find some agreement ?
Ah, here we go: teachers unions are “self-interested,” while billionaires (who never taught a day in their lives, didn’t go to public schools or send their own children to them) secretly contributing money to advocates masquerading as a non-profit are “charitable.”
Ignoring whether that assumption is true or not (and it clearly isn’t), “charity” is fundamentally anti-democratic, since it is privately offered or withheld according to the wishes of the donor, and makes its recipients into subjects.
Public schools, on the other hand, are predicated on the inalienable rights of all human beings to an education.
That really drives you so-called reformers crazy, doesn’t it, Stephen? So much so that you’re all willing to lie, cheat, and smash and grab a priceless public good in order to satisfy your patrons rapacious greed, will to power and egomania…
Stephen,
I agree we should have union donations identified as long as you agree that there is no longer any anonymity for any donor over $500 to any group that in any way promotes education. Period.
Every donor to DFER. Every donor to Families for Excellent Schools. Every donor to Great Schools.
You really think anyone would believe that the same people donating many millions to “reform” education and who are fighting hard to enacty the entire Doan ld Trump agenda really car about kids.
If you really claim it is possible to fight very hard for Donald Trump and donate millions to his agenda and still care about the most vulnerable children in public schools, then try to sell that HONESTLY to the public. Don’t try to hide it. These right wing billionaires trying to cut funding from every program that helps poor families really are about their schools. And let’s see if the public believes you.
And I will be happy to say that the typical union teacher working in a public school is fighting for good public schools. You can argue that they just want to keep their $50,000/year salary and try to convince the public they are only in the teaching profession to get rich.
Let’s see who they believe when you try to convince them to trust Betsy DeVos and Donald Trump and get them to vote for the ballot initiatives that Betsy DeVos, Trump, and the right wing billionaires who spent millions getting them elected want.
Steven this might be a better one to start with (rather than the Schattschneider). “Politics, power and policy;: The governing of local school districts (Merrill’s series for educational administration)
by Laurence Iannaccone
but you can’t beat having dinner with the professor at a restaurant in Revere…. I miss you Larry (and the many fine professors that I have been so fortunate to know over the years)
I’ll pass this on to Roger, Stephen :”
“Perhaps Madison Park/RoxVote Coalition/Hibernian Hall around the corner from the Bolling building in Dudley Sq. would be a good location for a future event or series. I’d be able to help with some local outreach if that were the case. ” He has phone numbers on the website for MA Center for Civic Education; they let him use the Kennedy Center once a year for the hearings on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights —
The “take-down” of our precious and valuable national treasure, our public schools, is because Corporations want an endless supply of workers who do not question anything. This way, corporations have an endless supply of NON-THINKING workers who don’t know history or much of anything else except for what they get from their screens. This is a PERFECT STORM for stupidity to the max.
America has gotten dumb and dumber. WHY do I say this? Look around. Even with the devastation because of Harvey, Irma, not to mention forest fires and earthquakes (evidence), there are still Climate Change deniers.
NO Thank you DFERS and the GOP for wrecking our most precious public schools FOR PROFITS.
For REAL:
I keep in touch with a few DUMP voters, because I am curious about what goes through their brains. I asked one DUMP voter (early 70’s), “Why don’t you use RENEWABLE ENERGY?” This person answer is: At my age, why would I want to invest in renewable energy? My response, “1. To be a good citizen, 2. To be a role model for your grandchildren, 3. Climate Change is for REAL, 4. To preserve this Earth, our home, 5. To NOT be a burden society, 6. To do the right by this Earth, we call home.
There’s more, but I will stop here. For the record, this person is NOT poor and can afford renewable energy, like solar panels, and drives a HUGE fancy pick-up truck.
I don’t fit in this society anymore. So much of America is JUST PLAIN INSANE. We are GRATING from big money running politics. Follow the $$$$$.
Hey, Steve is back… ”
“The sudden appearance of One Boston-funded ads during the race’s final week without disclosure of the money’s origins outraged government watchdog groups and prompted calls from both candidates for the group to identity its donors.”
[…]. No one funded me, Steve…. I am a retired teacher and have not been a union member since the 1960s. (one or two years)…
There is a difference between donating to a cause that you feel passionate about and the fact that people who feel passionate about charters have inserted themselves and been appointed to all of these governmental positions. We had a charter study report in my city (15 pages); none of us were paid by anyone. No one funded us — and most of the people were retired (with a few still working — but mostly we volunteer, at the library, for Girl Scouts, at the homeless shelter)…… The parents that participated with us on the “No on #2” were not funded.
I am objecting to Baker’s filling top positions with people who only favor one side; or people who get in control of the influential leadership positions and then are donating to charter schools while trying to appear to be non partisan.
Have you ever heard of packing the courts? well, this is similar — and it happens to be the people with the most money who are doing it (the 1% and their friends)…. you cannot compare that to the people like me who live on a pension , own modest homes , and are not among the influential wealthy (the people with the hedge funds, the names on the powerful law firms in Boston)…
Grass roots is still grass roots and those groups tried to appear to be grass roots and that was the phony baloney. I remember arguing some of these same points with you during the No on #2 campaign.
How does this issue relate to the recent Equifax debacle? It is striking that almost all the adults in the US who have a credit rating are now at risk from the recent hack. Meanwhile, we cannot even find out where money comes from to finance political speech. Do we have to resort to techno terrorism to find out information necessary to make informed political decisions?
I have stated this before.. Under Commissioner Greg Anrig he stated to us : “There will not be even the appearance on conflict.” Things went down hill from there. I am speaking still about the Celluci term and the people he was related to and did business deals with. Only DiMasi went to jail. This is probably where trump and some of his ilk learned their governing positions with their conflicts and it can extend into fraud. Greg Anrig would literally call professional bureaucrats or administrators in school districts if they stepped over the line and the line was “even the appearance of conflict.” I have also pointed out that DFERs do similar things — that is why we need Suzanne Bump to do an audit of the entire DESE operations (including the inter-state accounts that funneled monies into the state department from interstate agreements under Arne Duncan.).
Roy: “. Meanwhile, we cannot even find out where money comes from to finance political speech.” we have a book group that meets as part of our City Democratic Committee — we read through the Reich book, 3 of E. Warren’s books and this month we are tackling Dark Money book. I will let you know how that continues for us…. We also have a topic of “gerrymandering” that is presented with League of Women Voters and then we have Constitution at 230 years to be on our agenda early winter. Lots of work to do in the local Municipal elections — City Council and School Committee …. November 7th in MA.
Thanks
Dark purposes, dark money…
Hmmm, I may need to move you further back, Diane, in the queue of authors vying to compose my autobiography. A little modest self-deprecation would be fine, but looks like you might want to lay it on a little thick.
Stephen,
Don’t bother. Your bio is not that interesting to me.
Stephen: your ideology blocks out the policy and financial implications that have to be considered in a city. The current development of charters and excess in Boston and the failure for the state budget to approve the full appropriation in two or more years recently noted — the school districts/municipalities simply operate without those funds when the legislature doesn’t appropriate. Such shortfalls increase pressure on local budgets such as in my city. Because of the charters expanding, Boston is gradually returning to the property tax-based system of funding schools that was struck down by McDuffy decision and this trend is so clear that a former school superintendent was quoted as saying that he could “envision a day when all Chapter 70 funding will end up in charter schools”. When you isolate a population in a charter school (a self-selecting population, a carefully selected population chosen for particular qualities; a purposeful exclusion of other students and a “counseling out ” of students that don’t “Cut the mustard”… — then you are violating the rights of the students in your city overall and our Mayor understands this and the City Council understands this. You cannot make claims about the charter schools being superior as some are trying to do and this is what I talked with our school committee person about… because he naively said the charter school was getting better results from curriculum (meanwhile the charter school gets an excellent library while the former traditional public school has no library, no librarian, no school nurse, no guidance counselor etc. etc. I am glad that our mayor gets this; we have to work on changing the person in the governor’s seat).
Stephen does not care about the vast majority of children who do not attend charter schools. He has yet to tell us of any innovation that has been created by a charter and transferred to public school. He doesn’t like public schools.
Can’t say that biographical fiction is your greatest talent, Diane, but perhaps with 10,000 hours of practice…
Diane: “He has yet to tell us of any innovation that has been created by a charter and transferred to public school.”
There’s nothing, for example, intrinsically innovative about intensive tutoring programs, but it does apparently require some innovative political maneuvering to circumvent the teachers unions (private corporations) that try to obstruct, in traditional district schools, replication of the most successful charter school programs.
Stephen,
Unions are the enemy. Public schools are the enemy. Oligarchs are our friends. Got it.
It will surprise no one on the blog that Alice Walton donated $750,000 to raise the charter cap, but that Paul Sagan, Chairman of Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, is the second runner-up in the category is appalling. His previous donation of $100,000 was dismissed by Gov. Baker as a “nothing burger” when it first became public, and combined with the dark money just uncovered, amounts to nearly $600,000.
In the time since the charter question was rejected (leaving Stephen B. Ronan so dejected) the same movers and shakers have been trying to do an end-run around the voters clearly defined opposition. The latest? Hearings on the so-called “innovation partnership zones” began last week at the State House. This legislation would allow for takeover of any school district with one (1!!!) or more “failing” school. Even the anti-public school Boston Herald had to call this out for the transparent ploy it is for destroying Massachusetts teachers’ unions.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_politics/2017/09/charlie_bakers_plan_allows_for_long_school_days_firing
When corporate reformers say “innovation,” what they really mean is non-union, lower standards for teachers, and private management.
It worked so well (not) in Tennessee.
No state takeover has ever succeeded. No one working in the State Department of Education has ever turned around a school.
Diane: “No state takeover has ever succeeded. ”
I would add this:
http://www.wbur.org/edify/2016/12/02/commentary-burke-school-turnaround
to the various instances I cited here:
None of that stops them from trying, Diane. This fall, DESE has returned two of its turnaround failures back to Boston, having cleansed them of the veteran staff working there.
MA DESE continues to insist, too on assigning “failing” status to schools based on a revolving constellation of tests, and trying to compare the results of “New Generation” vs legacy MCAS versus “PARCC” (none of the above valid, of course) via Student Growth Percentiles. (Looking for the link.) So comparing three invalid tests with a fourth invalid factor to determine which schools will allow DESE to engineer take overs of nearly any city district, end teachers’ protections, and make our schools more like the charters that Massachusetts residents vetoed.
We’ve long known that DESE is run by a cabal of pro-charter appointees, but the latest confirmation of dark money – by its Chairman – to steal our schools is over the top.
Christine,
Only one way to end this charade: elect a new governor.
Yes. There’s also a Millionaires’ Tax proposal coming up as a ballot question in 2018. It would fund our public schools and public transportation. The coalition formed to defeat Question 2 was not a one-off and is being activated in this campaign.
“The amendment specifically states that the 4% income tax will only apply to individual annual income starting at $1 million. Any income less that $1 million would be taxed at the current state income tax rate of 5.1%. According to the Department of Revenue, the proposed amendment would affect approximately 14,000 Massachusetts residents and will raise between $1.4 and $2.2 billion annually, earmarked specifically for education and transportation.”
http://www.stanrosenberg.com/article/massachusetts-legislature-advances-fair-share-amendment
this is in reply to Stephen Ronan.
“Charters add no value to public education-no innovations, no creative strategies, no efficiency, no new pedagogical discoveries, nothing new or different
The $9 billion spent on the 17 year-old Ohio charter experiment should have created something to inform the public common school system; but there is not one thing.
The charter industry merely duplicates school administrations, operations and facilities at the expense of Ohio school districts.
Nationwide, the feds have spent $3 billion to expand this industry that adds no value. Nonetheless, the charter industry has been ineffectual in demonstrating the compelling necessity of regulations. Deregulation of the industry has contributed to:
Fraud and corruption
Low student performance
Nepotism in personnel practices
Student enrollment data rigging
Deceitful marketing and recruitment practices
Pay-to-play politics
An industry is known by its fruits. In this case, the fruit is mostly of no value in terms of the original promises of charter advocates.” from Bill Phillis at Ohio E&A…. and the MA State Auditor concluded the same thing when she described that there are no INNOVATIONS — there is not even a definition of the innovations or a measure that can substantiate innovations … the only thing they have so far is ‘time on task” and that is Grandma’s rule and we have known that for centuries.
Jean,
What is the source of this statement by Bill Phillis about Ohio charters?
October 6, 2016 it was in Bill Phillis’ newsletter; he also has a website so I believe it would be stored there. I get an email from his office every day and I often write and thank him….. This one came through when the League of Women Voters was doing a charter study in MA and I could see it was exactly what our State Auditor Suzanne Bump was saying about their being no proven “innovations” in charter schools in MA. I just re-posted it on my FB page because it is current with the current fines for the groups that gave “Dark Money.”
Thank you.
a young teacher in Lawrence posted her support for her charter school…… I tried to be gentle in my criticism. If you have any rays of hope I could offer her that would be useful.. Comment: I don’t mean to treat your idealized view as something to be dismissed; just want to add a dose of reality . What you describe takes investment in an R&D process. The precious R&D funds we have (limited as they are) have been poured into Pearson Corporation to develop a reliable and valid test (which they have yet to do). .. In the meantime, the best plans from the MA Social Studies Council were cast aside and shelved because the money had to go for tests and computers to give the Pearson tests. With anything that is tried, there is an R&D phase (what you describe as having built in your program — I assume you work there ) and the longtime nature of scaling up educational programs — a long time to reach scale such as 5 to 7 years that is after the full development of the research base (in your description of your charter school program) …. Sometimes you get through the cycle and find “there was nothing to bring to scale.” That is unfortunately what has been uncovered not just in the Suzanne Bump audit but also in OH etc. Jeb Bush has tried to bring his “Florida model” to all of the states but that is a political ideology and of course Pearson has “implementation protocols” that have received vast amounts of the R&D money and that leaves very little in terms of funding for the kind of work you describe.