Do you happen to know a billionaire? Or maybe someone with lots of millions?
Not just any old billionaire, but one who cares about supporting public education. One who thinks it is wrong to hand out children over to entrepreneurs. One who knows the difference between the free market and the commons.
I ask because of this comment that I received from a teacher in a northeastern state. I have edited it to obscure the identities of all involved, which was the condition for using it:
As part of research for my master’s degree, I interviewed [XX], whom I had gotten to “know” over Facebook. XX leads a local branch of StudentsFirst, funded by David Tepper and Allen Fournier, the billionaire hedge fund boys. By his own admission, XX fell into ed reform when he was unemployed.
He’s not in this because of any deep abiding conviction to make schools better (though he may have developed an interest). He’s in this because he needed a job, is a private-school educated African American who speaks well and now controls a SuperPAC. It’s a chess game for him, and is quite addictive. He hangs out with Rhee and has addressed ALEC on several occasions.
He said two interesting things to me in our meeting. “I’m here because you’re not.” Translation – if the education establishment had taken on the issues, or at least been less complacent about messaging (the REAL problem in my opinion) there’d be no market for the “reforms.” The second thing he said was, and I’m paraphrasing here, “Reform 1.0 was school choice. Reform 2.0 was tenure (for NJ). Reform 3.0 is we have a SuperPAC – we can elect candidates.
As I said, he’s developed an interest in education but he’s hanging with the wrong guys, and i told him as much. His real interest is in the chess game of politics, which is fascinating, especially when you have the resources to play for real.
Between the AFT and NEA we have millions of people on street level. Save Our Schools has thousands more folks. Where do we find super rich folks who can help us pay for someone like James Carville to craft our multi-level consistent message and actually get it out there? I’m asking you because I’m hoping you’ve run across them in your travels.
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Diane Ravitch's blog 
Why can’t we ask James Carville to help teachers, especially Louisiana teachers? His family is surrounded by failing charter schools and long under funded public schools. And we haven’t touched higher ed budget slashing for all the years Jindal (ALEC’s best acolyte) has controlled our state legislature. James Carville has the language for telling education horror stories that are focused on economics of the needy. Diane, you have the language to convince James Carville to help us. Can you give it as many tries as necessary?
Tell me how to reach Carville and I’ll give it my best shot.
This website lists his office’s email address, although is intended for consluting. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to get some advice, either…
http://www.carville.info/
I wrote his website. I will let you know if I get a reply
I’ll do my best to find a few of his Louisiana family friends to get an introduction. I promise.
Thanks, I wrote his website, but who knows if he will ever see it?
Getting Carville on board would be wonderful. He does know his home state.
Doesn’t ANYONE have access to Oprah Winfrey? I can’t help but believe that her interest in quality education, and teachers, for that matter, are authentic. She has clearly entrenched loyalty to Obama (and likely to R.E.), but her first and foremost concern has always been children, especially children of poverty.
Just because she doesn’t have a network talk show now doesn’t mean she lacks influence and power, not to mention money. If someone could persuade her to become informed about the misdirection of the current efforts, based on unsupported data, not opinion, I can’t help but believe she’d have the ear of some folks who would listen, some who just might rethink the present course of things.
But then again, I’ve always believed the best of people- I’m a teacher.
Yes, approach all liberal billionaires we can find and ask them to mobilize their money on behalf of public schools and democratic rights in the commons. Money vs. Money is the traditional way politics is fought out in the oligarchy we live in. The democratic answer to the billionaires, though, will have to be masses of ordinary people coming out of doors to stop the war on teachers and kids. The strength and hope of the commons always lies in their numbers. Stay at home, lose the farm; fill the streets, save the home and the schools.
Count on power of numbers to beat power of dollars.
How many votes can Rhee deliver?
Great points all, for all their money, they still only get one vote per person. Here in Las Vegas teachers have moved so as to concentrate their votes. We will be able to remove a majority of the reform bent board. This last week we had to close several schools because the air conditioners failed. Our Superintendent outsourced most maintenance and spent millions on more consultants and tests, but refused to spend allocated money to maintain buildings. The board will be gone soon, we have the votes to remove at least four of them. Next thing you know they will be trying to tell teachers they can’t vote. They like appointed boards for this very reason.
How about George Soros?
http://www.soros.org/contact-us
Don’t count on Oprah. I watched a show she did about four years ago. She was leading the charge for privitazation and teacher bashing. Zuckermann and Melinda were on the show and it was full of teacher bashing. It was right around the time that the movie came out about Zuckermann’s life, because I remember thinking what a carefully planned appearance it was, highlighting his philanthropy at the same moment he was featured in such a negative light by that movie.
I was so offended by the show that I actually wrote the show to tell them that most teachers and schools were not like the ones they portrayed on their program. From what I remember, someone emailed me back saying that they knew that all teachers weren’t bad like the ones on the show, but they were highlighting an issue.
They have all drunk the kool-aide, alas.
James Carville and Stan Greenberg have just written a book, “It’s the Middle Class, Stupid!” that I am reading right now. I would say that Carville is probably a person worth approaching. He’s talking the talk.