This comment asks an important question. With billionaire money flooding state and local school board races in California, what will the Democratic candidates for mayor of LA do or say?
Will the Democratic parties in other states have the gumption to renounce those who are destroying public education and attacking teachers?
The comment:
Too bad Antonio Villarigosa is leaving office–I’d like to see his response to this since he is a leading Democratic waterboy for corporate reform in California.
I posted this to the two candidates for Los Angeles mayor’s Facebook pages:
I would like to hear Eric Garcetti’s response to the CA Democratic Party’s condemnation of corporate driven public education reform that put the profits of hedge fund managers ahead of what teachers, researchers, and parents think is best for educating our kids.
Breaking News! California Democratic Party Blasts Corporate Education Reform: UPDATE
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was a big supporter of this profoundly corrupt policy.
Will Eric Garcetti support PUBLIC public schools instead of trying to privatize them?
Eric Garcetti:
https://www.facebook.com/ericgarcetti?fref=ts
Wendy Greuel:
https://www.facebook.com/wendygreuel?fref=ts
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Asking them these questions are good. Also needs to be asked is whether they support Villaraigosa’s failed schools PLAS. PLAS has totally failed at Roosevelt High School and according to their legally mandated MOU and Matrix they have no more legal right to run that school. Then there is AB 375 in which they want to wipe out teachers “Due Process” rights. LAUSD has more charter schools than anyone, about 260, what is going to happen with that situation especially considering the latest DOE OIG report on the total lack of accountability of charter schools in Florida, Arizona and CALIFORNIA. The State Board of Education let their top staffers do a major powerpoint in November stating that charter schools were perfect and totally accountable. Then I got up and presented on the DOE OIG report and the place froze and they admitted that they knew their staff was lying to them and they said nothing. The meeting immediately closed. This is all on video. Never trust politicians unless you have a long history with them and how many have that for real and with more than one? What does it take to learn the lesson? Most talk but have no real experience in debth.
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If one of the complaints about public schools is that there is waste and not enough accountability for public money, why would the solution be to start charter schools with absolutely NO accountability for public funds? If that isn’t the most ignorant idea for a solution, I don’t know what is.
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Because the private sector is ALWAYS cheaper and more effective than the public sector. ALWAYS. And stop asking pesky questions about FedEx and parking meters and the Indiana toll way and…. Didn’t you hear me? The private sector is Always. Cheaper. Always. Better. Always.
Got it?
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As I have mentioned previously, I was in the audience on the UCLA campus when the Chair of Public Policy interviewed both Villaraigosa and Deasy in tandem. The Mayor aggressively said that before his term ended he would “close as many failing schools as possible”….and that he was” proud of the fact that he got Bloomberg to pour so much cash into our California School Board election in favor of the charter school candidate”. Deasy agreed with it all and in private conversation with him afterwards said to me that he was going to do this shutting down of schools and programs “fast.”. The first two rows of audience at this meeting were reserved seats and it appeared to be the claque of the charter push for they applauded fiercely with every word the Mayor and Deasy said. The rest of the audience, seemingly mainly professional educators, sat on their hands as did I.
Also, what George reports above, similarly happened to Verdugo HS, and Hamilton, and Crenshaw. Deasy denied ever observing at Verdugo when I asked him about it, but my colleagues there, all credible lifetime educators, have told me in detail about his visit to their campus. Deasy had NO compunctions about lying.
If California Dem legislators finally see this naked Charter Emperor Without Clothes (as in Eli Broad and Michelle Rhee) is due to so many educators who are also active Dems pummeling them with facts.
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“If California Dem legislators finally see this naked Charter Emperor Without Clothes (as in Eli Broad and Michelle Rhee)”
I just threw up in my mouth a little.
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Addendum…untrue Dienne, to say private is always cheaper. ‘No bid sweetheart contracts’ in the private sector, where info is so hard to ferret out the info unlike public sector, generally cost far more with no oversight for things like text books, supplies, consultants, janitorial service, etc.
Free market is far from being free…and/or efficient.
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Apparently you missed the sarcasm. I thought references to FedEx, parking meters and the tollway would have given it away.
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Ouch…gotcha…it seemed an extreme statement from someone who is always on target. Now forewarned about your SOH.
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Can’t The Network for Public Education find out where these candidates stand on public education, charter schools, school closings, TFA ect. ect. ect.?
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From what I have heard in the past few hours about the Dem statement, it seems various Progressive agenda items were passed and friends on the State Central Committee were elated. Amazing that Rhee and her current husband, Mayor of Sacramento who recently shut down schools and programs in that city in order to implement with their Reform charter plan, got hoisted on their own petard. Hope this is a forerunner of things to come nationwide.
You can’t fool all of the people all of the time, Eli and Michelle.
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LA Times article about Privatization
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-adv-lausd-money-20130415,0,6947986.story
By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times
April 14, 2013, 6:30 p.m.
“They hail from New York, the Silicon Valley, Arkansas, Los Angeles and elsewhere. They are a rich and diverse lot, including Republicans, liberals, Hollywood notables and international corporate executives.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, L.A. philanthropist Eli Broad, Netflix founder Reed Hastings, pomegranate juice titan Lynda Resnick, anti-Obama mega-donor A. Jerrold Perenchio and the widow of Steve Jobs.
Together, they smashed records for spending by outside groups in last month’s L.A. Board of Education elections. These major donors poured about $4 million into the Coalition for School Reform, a political action committee spearheaded by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
On the surface, they have little in common. But this group united in Los Angeles behind education issues that have become national in scope, including the growth of publicly funded charter schools and the use of student test scores in teacher performance evaluations. Most want to reduce job protections for teachers and support the education agenda of the Obama administration. Some even want to limit collective bargaining rights for teachers…”
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