Governor Mark Dayton vetoed an earmark (set-aside) of $1.5 million for Teach for America. The governor quite reasonably noted that TFA is a wealthy organization with $350 million in assets and saw no reason the state should pay to rent more of
them. He suggested a competitive bidding process. Here is his veto message.
For his recognition that Minnesota needs a cadre of highly professional, experienced teachers, for his willingness to stand up to the fawning media hype about TFA, Mark Dayton joins the honor roll as a champion of American education.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
DO NOT GO INTO TEACHING TFA PEOPLE..
I ENCOURAGE YOU ALL TO FIND OTHER CAREERS AS MY NIECE DID..
SHE WAS TFA…ALONG WITH MANY OTHERS..
THEY SAW..THEY EXPERIENCED…THEY SAID NO NO NO NO NO NO
Should be named TESTERS FOR AMERICA!
BULL AND A BUNCH OF IT!
neanderthal100: some wag pulled Teach For Awhiles out of the acronym TFA.
The first time I saw it I thought it was funny. For just a moment. Then it didn’t seem so funny since it was and is such an accurate descriptor. Especially when such a transient workforce is foisted upon the students who need stability the most.
DISCLAIMER: I know there are people who go into TFA for the best of reasons. For more info from an ex-insider who is restrained in his constructive criticisms but not afraid to call out those running TFA, please visit Gary Rubinstein’s blog: http://garyrubinstein.teachforus.org
A less generous wag called the organization Teach for Wendy’s Wallet, a reference to Wendy Kopp, the founder and former CEO of TFA. Sadly, this was not a wildly inaccurate dig…
For those who might be offended by the above, I remind you: laughter is poison to the pompous.
“Tis better to have been loved for the 90th percentile, Than to have never gotten off that 13th.” [A Memorial Day tribute to Michelle Rhee, with profuse apologies to Alfred Lord Tennyson]
🙂
Your last quote…tis better, etc…..even if you lied? The day to memorialize the Rheeject is the day she goes to jail.
Linda: maybe we’ve got it all wrong, maybe she’s just a tortured artistic soul whose genius has been misunderstood by the world.
Lest you forget, the creative process is very complicated for artist and audience alike; fact and fiction are constantly burning and churning away, the one displacing or coloring or pink slipping the other in a lifelong game of mental musical chairs. A little confusion is expected. As the American humorist Josh Billings once said, “There are lots of people who mistake their imagination for their memory.”
So, lies? Hardly. Rather, just snippets from her latest novel. I mean, who could mistake her last foray into children’s fiction, RADICAL, as being anything but the Mad Hatter-esque excretions of a superior intellect at work? And not a bad stab at humor, either. Let’s reserve our judgment until the next installment in the series comes out.
Although you might be onto something…
I understand that titles for Part II are already being bandied about by her publisher. Among them: PERP WALK: My Life as a Model; THE BIG HOUSE: Throwing Stones & Breaking Glass; MY CONVERSATIONS WITH ARNE: Hard Cell, Soft Cellmate; or the current favorite, I CAN”T GET ENOUGH OF ME: The Fairest in the Pen.
The world holds its breath [at least, according to her publicist].
But I can think of better ways to spend my time. How about you join Socrates and me down at the Pink Slip Bar with Ang and we rough up a helot or two before downing a cold one? I hear the latest scuttle butt concerns a whole lotta damn fine charters that are engaged in cagebusting Eduinnovation…
A most enjoyable Memorial Day Weekend to you and all school staff around the country.
🙂
Cool…gotta run to garden, but I do Chardonnay, Ang prefers bourbon and you?
Relax and enjoy your day!
What was the 1.5 million for if you still have to pay the finders fee for each recruit?
I don’t get why they needed the money, but hurray for Minnesota!
Gives me hope to see this letter full of reason and objectivity! Gov Dayton has facts to support his decision. A politician that does (or had staff do) the research and takes the proper action is hard to find. He is a worthy member of the honor roll. Yay for the line item VETO of a propped up but profitable corporation (though they won’t call themselves that) that is an insult to the teaching profession.
Thank you, Governor Dayton, for not drinking the stale Kool Ade.
Great news. Cheers for Governor Dayton!!
Good. No more corporate welfare.
Dayton did everything but call the deal blatant cronyism that was slid in under the door. Everyone understood that part.
@ Linda —- The money was partly to set up programs to provide more professional development and training for TFAers because TFA gest complaints from REAL teachers that TFAers are poorly trained. Go figure…. They know 5 weeks of training is not enough so the think, “Let’s ask the state to pay more to train corps members while we also ask districts to pay us $3000 for each + full salary + benefits and other resources and time REAL teacher have to provide for them and then do it all over again when they leave and anew crop comes in one or two years later.” Thank you Governor Dayton! You are a godsend for our state!