Very strange, the large sums of money suddenly appearing in local school board elections, sometimes from wealthy individuals who have no children in the schools or don’t even live in the district. That happened earlier this year in the Dever school board election and is happening now in A New Orleans school board race.

In Oakland, California, two wealthy men have contributed almost $100,000 to the corporate reform slate.

This description comes from a public school parent in Oakland:

Today I learned about two individuals who are attempting to control Oakland’s upcoming school board election with their extraordinary wealth (h/t Jim M.). Their wealth is being funneled by a Political Action Committee that was formed by an organization called GO (Great Oakland) Public Schools. GO, as it is commonly referred to around here, is our local corporate-style ed reform organization. It was founded by a Broad Resident in 2008 after he completed his assignment as the Special Assistant to our three consecutive Broad Superintendents Academy-trained State Administrators.

The Oakland City Clerk website has posted campaign Fair Political Practices Commission forms online. They show that one multimillionaire from Oakland and one octogenarian billionaire from across the Bay in San Francisco have so far contributed a total of $98,900 to GO-PAC (a.k.a. “Families and Educators for Public Education, sponsored by Great Oakland Public Schools in Support of Rosie Torres, James Harris and Jumoke Hinton-Hodge for School Board 2012”). This amount makes up over 80% of the total contributions given to that PAC ($123,175) during the time period between 1/1/2012 and 9/30/2012.

T. Gary Rogers, the former CEO of Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream and an Oakland resident, made two contributions for a total of $49,900. Arthur Rock (b.1926; investor, venture capitalist from San Francisco; net worth $1B) gave $49,000. Those two people have forked out a total of $98,900 to insure that the three candidates endorsed by GO Public Schools get elected to the OUSD school board.

The candidates also each have their own committees that can accept campaign contributions but those war chests ($11K to $19K) are dwarfed by the funds that the GO Political Action Committee will be spending on their behalf.

I’m still learning about PACs and wonder if GO-PAC would be considered a Super PAC (the type that resulted from the Citizens United ruling). Wikipedia says that Super PACs “may engage in unlimited political spending independently of the campaigns. Also unlike traditional PACs, they can raise funds from corporations, unions and other groups, and from individuals, without legal limits.” It seems like this local PAC might fit the definition.

This shocking attempt by two incredibly wealthy individuals to control the local Oakland school board election is completely unprecedented. Meg Whitman’s investment of millions during her 2010 California gubernatorial race didn’t work out so well, so we’ll see what happens here on November 6th.

Dear President Obama,

I am disheartened by the state of education and the course we are heading as a nation.

Today, I was forced to administer an assessment which will be used to judge me, as a professional educator. I watched eight year olds crumble under the pressure for fear of getting an answer wrong. I held a young girl who burst into tears because she couldn’t decipher a term she will not be exposed to until January. As a compassionate human being, I reassured her, but deep down inside I was sickened, disgusted and angry knowing this is the path that education has taken. This assessment will be used to determine whether I am highly qualified and effective enough to carry out the responsibilities of my job.

This test will be compared with a second assessment given in the spring, created by a testing company led by individuals who consistently demonstrate a true disconnect from the reality of education, as they are more interested in making money than fostering learning centered on the whole child. Gone is the creativity that once ran free in our schools.

Walk our halls and you will discover test-taking taught as a genre. You will find children forced to engage in learning for exorbitant amounts of time even though they are not developmentally ready as this builds stamina and stamina is required for the six, ninety minute assessment sessions my third graders will be required to take this spring.

If you are lucky enough to witness children on a playground, you will quickly observe they struggle to act socially because time for play has been tossed aside making room for more and more curricular demands. As educators, our plates are full. We spend countless hours beyond the school day trying to plan purposeful and meaningful lessons, correcting the numerous assessments we administer while keeping up-to-date on our forever changing professional development. The state of exhaustion runs rampant in this profession.

When I look at my colleagues, I see the flame of hope and empowerment slowly fading away because we are being forced to make miracles from the six hours we work with children full knowing when a child is at home his greatest teacher, the parent(s) is making the most profound effects on his future.

It is time to reconfigure education and make decisions based on sound educational research. A school is not a business; we cannot expect children to perform above and beyond their intellectual abilities. Educational decisions must be made with the voices and knowledge of those on the front lines, in the classrooms, working with the children and communities to whom we serve; the teachers.

Respectfully submitted, Robyn Brydalski Third Grade Teacher Kenmore, New York

In a recent essay for Education Week, Marc Tucker took issue with advocates for choice, charters and competition. He dismantled the libertarian argument for free markets in schooling. That’s not what enables top-performing nations to succeed, he says. Worth reading.

Dear Mr. President,

Throughout our country, the voice of the masses is being squelched. The changes needed in our public systems are in control of the powerful and influential entities, people who do not need these systems. Chicago and other major cities are ground-zero for these injustices. The public systems are breaking down for the disadvantaged, and your opponent is using the troubles of these systems to paint the entire system with a bad light.

It’s bad enough that your opponent and his party are trying to fatally wound the public school system, but there are instances where members of your own party are joining the ranks. Chicago is just one example of this. Do you see the injustice of supporting an appointed, not elected, school board in Chicago and other major cities? Where is the voice of the people?

Do you see the injustice of closing dilapidated and under-funded neighborhood schools and replacing them with “suddenly funded” charters that serve only a “select” portion of the population? What is left for the rest of the population–the under-privileged? How is any of this “reform?”

You can say that your opponent wants to disband the public system completely, yet with your administration’s Race to the Top program, schools in failing communities are set up to fail. The population has strengths and weaknesses—no one student is going to progress at the standard level in every subject. Yet, only STEM and reading subjects are tested and schools held to these scores as “evidence of educational progress.” This is wholly unfair as STEM and reading are not the only subjects that societies value. Civics and the arts were valued in the ancient school systems, yet our current educational climate—one that is dictated by those who write and enforce policy—is devoid of these areas. Where is the voice of the people?

Standardized testing as a measure of success paint an incomplete picture, as well, this type of testing should never be utilized as a reward or punishment measure. Race to the Top fosters invalid measurements to judge success. Where is the voice of the trained and credentialed educator population?

As well, Race to the Top encourages unfair competition. There are far too many variables that influence student learning. Rewarding teachers and schools for having the “fortune” of serving an advantaged constituency is a sure way to lure these schools from teaching disadvantaged students. This type of thinking leads to a segregated population where the privileged communities attract the best teachers, while the under-privileged communities are served by a revolving door of teachers who do not want to make a career out of being vilified by politicians and pundits who are not experts in education.

I urge you to remember the children of your beloved country. If you turn your backs on them, they will have no advocate. Push the super-mayors to disband their appointed school boards. Fix Race to the Top to foster collaboration, not competition. Encourage school districts to hire credentialed and experienced educators as superintendents, not mayors and other politicians. Support public community-liaison programs to help parents provide a better life for their children and thus aid in their learning-readiness. Stop the infiltration of our public schools by private interests. Help the communities, and stop punishing their schools.

If Mitt Romney is elected, there is no hope for public education, but if you stand idly by and allow these injustices to continue under your watch, are you the public’s hope or just another corporate-reform advocate?

Inactions often speak as loudly as actions. Save our country. Support our public schools.

If you truly care about the children of this country, help the situation, Mr. President. Help our kids. I wish you the best in your re-election campaign.

Lisa Gordon

Educator

Freehold, NJ