In today’s post, EduShyster travels to Minneapolis to explain how one very young man, after a brief stint in Teach for America, managed to buy a school board seat.
Teach for America, as explained in earlier posts, managed to collect nearly $1 billion in contributions, gifts, and grants in a five year period. It is a good gig.
EduShyster says that it is very effective to buy school board seats.
She contrasts this strategy to the failed attempt to buy the entire Bridgeport, Ct., school board.
The victory in Minneapolis cost only $37,000.
The loss in Bridgeport cost the corporate reformers over half a million.
You can see where this is leading.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I think the “board buying” strategy will fade away… It will only yield a “return on investment” in urban districts where voters are indifferent to their public schools or not paying attention to the election…. Bridgeport demonstrates that once parents and voters who value a voice in their schools wake up they will support candidates who do not support privatization… unfortunately too many urban districts have fallen prey to the idea of handing the reins of the school district over to the mayor… and many states have done the same with the governor… and other states have a direct election of the commissioner or superintendent… if I’m an investor, I’m putting my money into those elections where one individual can give speeches about “turning around failing schools” that are “controlled by unions by “turning them over to the private sector who know how to realize efficiencies”… find a Mike Bloomberg (who isn’t a gazillionaire), a Scott Walker or a Tony Bennett and sink $$$ into their campaigns… THAT’s how you get a return on your investment…
I think the board buying strategy will continue to ramp up as more and more parents join with their kids teachers in opposing false reforms that harm their kids. The attempt to deceive the public is in the process of imploding, so deformers are left with top down options and disenfranchisement as their fall back options. They just can’t accept that parents and teachers really do know better.
Regarding TFA, please rememeber that they also “need” $50 million from the Federal government.
That is $37,457/teacher. Lots of profit there I see. Do the math. Follow the money as they say. TFA used to be good then the big money and power got involved and considering how easy it is to use the siren song of a few dollars more they morphed into the predator it is now. No one gives almost a billion just for fun. They want something for it and it is not your welfare.
I live in an urban district, and I care about my public schools! Go away TFA, please. I see this candidate has promised to carry out the superintendent’s reforms: charterize, charterize, charterize. And foment, foment, foment in the community about bad teachers and the “crises” in our schools. If he harps on the crises by distorting grad rates, which he will, he can help be a savior by instituting top-down reforms that don’t help teachers do their job.
Time to start listening to teachers and asking how to help.