Tom Lobianco, the investigative journalist of the Associated Press who uncovered the Tony Bennett grade-fixing scandal, has opened up another treasure trove of emails in Indiana.
What he learned was that the plan to introduce rightwing reforms was hatched in secret by GOP power brokers and did not include legislators or open hearings.
He writes:
“…emails and other documents obtained by The Associated Press show a small group of GOP powerbrokers crafted the details of the education policy that made Indiana a conservative model – over Scotch whisky at an Indianapolis steakhouse and in meetings at a private club.
“In the months before the education package was unveiled to the public, its architects mulled the policy and politics of the rollout without any input from state lawmakers who’d later be tasked to pass the measures. They even debated when to loop in Daniels ahead of an election in which Republicans reclaimed control of the Statehouse.”
We learn in civics textbook how laws are written, legislators debate, hearings are held. But that ‘s not what happened in Indiana.
Does anyone care?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It’s hard not to admire the skill behind Tweed’s system … The Tammany Hall ring at its height was an engineering marvel, strong and solid, strategically deployed to control key power points: the courts, the legislature, the treasury and the ballot box. Its frauds had a grandeur of scale and an elegance of structure: money-laundering, profit sharing and organization.” Boss Tweed biography by Kenneth Ackerman
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From what I have learned, there has been a Republican Governors’ coalition that has been meeting for several years to discuss breaking teachers’ unions and pursuing any connections nationwide, including ALEC and Koch Bros to get their talking points and to deliver their tactics to privatize prisons, toll roads, and education. They have pulled back state money to local governments. They have raised sales taxes to shift the burden from the rich to everyone else. In Ohio the “famous” JobsOhio effort to give the illusion of creative good jobs has managed to exempt its financial dealings from transparency. The newspapers are starting to see the light – a little.
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This is the same thing that has gone on in Michigan. The Republican Party in Michigan does not care about the quality of education in the state. It appears that their main goal is to weaken teachers. You wouldn’t believe the junky charter schools that have opened in this state. The sad thing is, these same tactics have come from Democrats. Look at the garbage policies that have come out of the Obama US DOE.
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In theory, Sunshine and Open Meeting laws are supposed to prevent this kind of thing from happening. I am tempted to use this as an example of how textbook models of how laws are made are not reality – I already do that with federal things, and maybe I need to show my students how it happens it some states.
It is interesting that some people are still so dumb as to do things via emails that can be forced to be disclosed. You’d think they would have learned how to better cover their tracks. Thank heaven they have not, so we have some chance of exposing them.
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That is where the real terror exists, think about what is discussed via “text” or behind closed doors in person. I’d imagine our (public) knowledge barely scratches the surface.
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Their mentality is equal to the workings of a criminal’s mind. When you premeditate a plan, you are bound to leave a trail and eventually hang yourself.
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Here’s a video of Arne Duncan, when he was CEO of the Chicago Public Schools, involved in backroom wheeling and dealing. (Note the deer in the headlights when confronted about it on tape): http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=995
Duncan was meeting off the cuff, literally in the backroom of a Chicago restaurant, with the school board president and aldermen. It’s suspected that the meeting was regarding shutting down a high school serving low income kids, in the wards of the aldermen in attendance, and turning it into a charter school. (That plan was highly contested by parents and the community, but they were ignored, Duncan won and the school became a charter. Also, the Board president, Michael Scott, has since committed suicide, supposedly over personal finances.).
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I watched all three clips over a year ago. Maybe you posted then, too. I got this sick feeling about Arne. He comes off as sleazy and he looks like a cornered rat. How disappointing Obama has turned out to be.
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Sorry, I inaccurately referred to the elected officials at that meeting as “aldermen” when they were a Congressman and a State Senator, both of whom served the area where the school is located. (The School Board President and CEO are positions appointed by the mayor.)
Yep, huge disappointment.
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“He comes off as sleazy and he looks like a cornered rat.”
How fitting! Great characterization!
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Helping my middle son get ready for his Music Man audition and realizing how the reform movement has been the ultimate of Harold Hill scenarios.
“Failing Schools” is the equivalent of “T”rouble right here in River City.
All the more reason for the arts to not be ignored!
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Todd Huston, Tony Bennett’s Chief of Staff, Indiana Department of Education is clearly in collusion with a small circle of deformers to destroy public education in Indiana. Al Hubbard, a classmate and fundraiser for GWB and David Harris of the Mind Trust are involved in the plan of destruction. According to Hutson, “We have to lead the media.” and “If we respond to the educrats, we will always be on the defensive.”
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/local-news/an-email-timeline-of-indianas-education-reforms
Click to access choice.pdf
pg 1 of 3
Al and I have encouraged him to pay attention to ed and he’s having lunch soon w D Harris. He knows the Mind Trust has hired commissioned a study that will support Mayor control.
pg 3 of 3
4) We have to lead the media. If we respond to the educrats, we will always be on the
defensive. Instead, we should begin a strong communications effort focused on the
major media markets. Our experience has been that the Indianapolis, South Bend,
Evansville and Lake County papers really desire educational reform and those are the
markets we have to win in. The rural and small town markets won’t care and could even
be persuaded that it might mean more money for them.
Click to access last_nights_agenda.pdf
Click to access notes_and_agenda.pdf
Click to access agenda_wrap.pdf
Click to access meeting_notes.pdf
Click to access miles.pdf
http://inhrcc.com/candidates/37/todd-huston
http://www.indystar.com/VideoNetwork/1334522956001/Matthew-Tully-with-Mind-Trust-CEO-David-Harris
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Piecing together information I have on Common Core creation, it seems like it happened in similar fashion: A small group figuring out how to sell the larger group on the idea. Coleman himself brags about “convincing governors and others around the country to adopt these standards….”:
http://www.missourieducationwatchdog.com/2013/06/straight-from-david-colemans-mouth.html
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I, as an Indiana taxpayer, feel as though I have been thoroughly duped. This is so sad..no one gives a crap about the kids, it’s all about the almighty dollar. What a shame.
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Every citizen of the country needs to care, because the same type of thing is already happening in other states and even if it hasn’t yet happened in your state, it can.
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I know this isn’t news to anyone here, but “reform” is as much a political campaign as a policy initiative.
Knowing that, the emails are instructive.
They don’t want to use the word “vouchers” because vouchers are unpopular. We’ve seen that in the latest polling, where vouchers are actually less popular now than when they were just a gleam in reformers’ eyes.
They don’t want to appear “anti-teacher” because teachers are popular. The Gallup education poll I read has teachers at a better than 80% trust number with the public. Any one of these political hacks would die for a number a like that. Jeb Bush has numbers like that only in his dreams, and Arne Duncan’s boss isn’t anywhere near as trusted by the public as teachers are.
They don’t mention it in the emails, but the same Gallup poll said the biggest problem people see (as opposed to media and politicians and reform celebrities) in education was a lack of funding. Lack of funding was the number one concern. That is true where I live. Reformers allied with Governor Kasich have cut 1.6 million a year in funding from my small rural district alone. People here know the funding is gone. They don’t know why it’s gone. Let’s tell them.
They’ve dominated the political narrative for so long that it may be hard for us to see that there are real political vulnerabilities in “reform”. They are obviously aware of these vulnerabilities, which is why they’re using deceptive language for vouchers and talking out of both sides of their mouth on teachers.
“We” (public school advocates) have real strengths in the political realm. Let’s use them. We’re anti-voucher, pro-teacher and pro-funding. That’s where MOST people are.
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I read the article. It provides no indication that anything nefarious actually took place. It suggests that this effort was 30 years in the making. When any interest group pushes legislation this kind of thing will happen. Was there no organized opposition in Indiana to this legislation? Do you think national healthcare legislation was formulated in a particularly transparent and non-partisan way? Partisan interest groups putting together detailed legislative proposals is not in itself anti-democratic since legislators still have to review the proposed legislation in committee and the full houses.
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Bernie, democracy is defined in civics class as open government with decisions openly arrived at. Not decisions made in secret by powerful men who plot for 30 years. Did you ever take a civics class? Do you believe in democracy?
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Diane:
It may well be that the guys in Indiana did something that was illegal but there is no evidence in the article. Calling private emails “secret” is a bit melodramatic to say the least.
I do not understand how the formulation of policies and the proposing of draft legislation by individuals in private and with select individuals is anti-democratic per se. Are you saying this legislation was not reviewed and voted on in Indiana? The article implies that these were proposals that Daniels proposed to Indiana legislators.
Democracy does not demand that all decisions be open and transparent. It does more or less require that discussions of and voting on actual legislation be open and transparent. The article as I read it is talking about legislative proposals which is a completely different kettle of fish.
How is what happened here any different from efforts to formulate and propose efforts to limit or eliminate vouchers by those opposed to vouchers? Are they meant to copy the proponents of vouchers on all their emails discussing their proposals and legislative wording? Should the SEIU make public their internal deliberations about legislation to raise the minimum wage?
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Bernie:
Take the time to read the e-mails. There’s evidence of collusion by a small group plotting to undermine public education for the purpose of funneling money to the profiteers. They are working together in agreement to undercut educators who they call educrats.
Evidently, the job description for the chief of staff at the Indiana DOE is to destroy public education. What’s Todd Huston doing now?
http://www.in.gov/legislative/house_republicans/homepages/r37/
http://inhrcc.com/candidates/37/todd-huston
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Really Bernie? That pail is getting pretty heavy….. Must be exhausting defending edufrauds.
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Linda:
I am not defending edufrauds. I value logic, precision and evidence when making arguments. It is fair enough too oppose the Daniels’ policies but arguing that the way those proposals were formulated was anti-democratic needs some very specific evidence that was not presented in the article.
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Sure.
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Bernie ignores the pail full of Huston’s rotten e-mails and defends edufauds. Huston, Miles, Harris, Lubbers, etc. were working together to destroy public education for the purpose of redirecting tax funds to donors and profiteers away from Indiana’s students, school districts and classrooms. By their own admission, they worked together to control the media!
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ObamaCare/ACA was hammered out publicly in House and Senate committees with numerous GOP contributions to the law. I just wanted to point that out.
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stevietheman:
I have been looking for an insider’s history of the Affordable Care Act without much success. If you or anybody knows of one please let me know.
However, I did look for one on Clinton’s earlier Healthcare Reform Effort and found one that I think shows that such major reform efforts are indeed like making sausage with many different players and initially no actual requirement to be open and transparent. Indeed the author, a healthcare reformer with strong policy preferences and a sympathetic Clinton insider to the whole process, suggests that the earlier effort failed because Clinton tried to be too open too early.
http://prospect.org/article/hillarycare-mythology
I am not hung up on healthcare reform. It is simply that it is a good surrogate for any discussion of education reform.
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Yes, another episode in the “stealth coup” that may be underway in America for some years now; billionaires and power brokers meeting out of public view to plan their private capture of the public sector, their final solution for demolishing labor union influence, their strategies for divide and conquer, some of it in public view, like the Broad Academy and its plans, like Gates and his huge donations to AFT, NAACP, EDWEek, etc.
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Funny I thought we were a democratic society, not dictatorship. It seems all too easy to persuade others in this country to be a leader of your own agenda. Nobody questions your motives and the effects it might have on others. It’s an ironic twist of the Stalin regime only not as obvious to the public. Nonetheless, Coleman may go down in infamy.
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What’s amusing to me is that Democrats and “liberals” can continue to support these ideas, ALL of which came from hard Right conservatives.
If anyone can show me how any of this reform agenda that has been swallowed whole by Democrats, liberals and media is in any way “liberal” or even “centrist” I would like to see an example of that.
The teacher evaluation system they’re all lock-step supporting came directly out of a conservative think tank. Who are they kidding with this? I recognize that there is “bipartisan” support for all of these hard Right policies, but the fact is NONE of them came out of “liberalism”. What’s the “Democratic” or “liberal” contribution to school reform? Point that out to me. Not seeing it.
One of two things happened. Democrats and liberals either got completely rolled by Republicans and conservatives, or they knew it was happening and went along.
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I think many Democrats were snowed by the “global economy” mentality, and that way too many people are impressed by being associated with Gates money. There was some by proxy millionaire wishfulness going on. When a poor family encounters a free holiday ham, they might want to find out the root, source and motivation behind it. I think our Democratic leadership (in NC anyway) forgot that and were just like “hey! Free ham!” Now look where we are.
Not all free hams are free.
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Yes, some hams are left over, rotten and infested with maggots…take them and you pay for it eventually.
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Here’s a link to the Maine story referenced in the AP story. The reporter in Maine won an award, but more importantly he stopped for-profit online education reform lobbyists in their tracks. It was great work. Mainers rejected the reform online school scam as a result of his shining a little sun on it.
http://www.pressherald.com/news/virtual-schools-in-maine_2012-09-02.html?pagenum=full
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Chiara:
Thanks for the link. It is an interesting story and it certainly more explicitly raises the issue of potential undue influence – without any evidence of illegal activity. However, it also makes clear that this is part of a long public policy debate that is full of partisans on both sides of the issue. For example, the author of the article acknowledges the role of the NEA in funding the National Education Policy whose experts are opposed to the public funding of on-line education.
Interestingly the author’s follow-up piece indicates that the Maine Legislative Education Committee has not succumbed and proposals to publically fund on-line schools are very much on hold.
http://www.kjonline.com/news/Report-States-digital-learning-strategy-plans-unfinished.html
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Well, that was my point, Bernie. The reason the Maine legislature has not “succumbed” is because they were all exposed in the article.
I recognize there are “partisans on both sides” but you’ll recall one of the main selling points of “school reform” was that unions had “captured” education. I live in Ohio. I got news for you. School reform lobbyists have “captured” my legislature. Michelle Rhee lobbied to strip collective bargaining rights from public employees in Ohio. That’s fact. Reform lobbyists in Ohio stripped funding from the public school my son attends in the last budget. That’s fact.
Reform lobbyists insist unions are their only opposition. They say this even in right to work states. It’s ridiculous. It’s simply not true. There are no “unions” in RTW states. What are they talking about?
I’m not a teacher or a union member and I oppose the privatization of education. Despite your comment about “partisans” I oppose Obama’s education agenda IN ADDITION to that of Jeb Bush, and I’m a Democrat. I’ve watched education reform for more than a decade now. I cannot identify a single benefit to my local public school. Not one. Now, I don’t know if that’s true of all public school parents, but 95% of the kids in this country attend public schools. Maybe we should pay some attention to the VAST majority of kids rather than the 5% of kids who attend private/charter schools.
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Mark Lubbers, a Daniels confidant – “The whole concept of when do you bring in the public is an academic question in the sense that it’s the legitimate question,”
Can anyone tell me what this means? Is it Doublespeak for “the public has no place in this democracy”?
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I had to reread Diane’s posting and the comments to be sure that the owner of this blog did not raise the issue of “illegality” but rather that of “democracy.”
Her statement in the comments sections should be clear: “democracy is defined in civics class as open government with decisions openly arrived at. Not decisions made in secret by powerful men who plot for 30 years.”
If someone has a difficulty with this, please refer to Marx [er, Groucho]:
“A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five.”
🙂
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KrazyTA:
There is nothing anti-democratic in formulating legislative proposals privately or, if you insist, in secret. It happens all the time, particularly when significant opposition to that legislation is expected. Obama’s healthcare and Clinton’s healthcare were both formulated behind closed doors with selected friendly experts and interest groups. That is simply part of the political process. And just as in the case of healthcare reform, opponents are free to complain about the process and its lack of inclusion. But that does not make it anti-democratic in the generally accepted meaning of the term. It is also part of the remit of the executive arms to formulate such policy proposals at both the Federal and State level. It is at their discretion whether to and to what degree to include various stakeholders in the formulation of those proposals. When it comes to actually reviewing and voting on proposals then in a representative democracy openness and transparency are in order.
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Like this, ALEC style?
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Linda:
And how does this add to the discussion?
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You didn’t learn anything? You knew about the “scholarships”? Sorry to have wasted three minutes of your time. Possibly it doesn’t add to the “discussion” you want.
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Bernie,
I don’t know about you, but I want to know who is writing the laws. Usually we elect people for that purpose. When the laws are written behind closed doors by unelected ideologues, that’s anti-democratic.
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Diane:
You have been in the Executive Branch. You know that proposals for legislation and laws emerge from discussions within the Executive Branch that frequently involve particular experts and special interests whose perspectives are aligned with the administration. They may be detailed legislation ready or broad based policy descriptions. They may or may not involve public input at this stage.They are then sent to the relevant Congressional Committees were they get refined or totally rewritten – sometimes with stakeholders input – and cast into legislative language Normally these Committees then hold public hearings. Finally, read or unread, the legislation gets voted on.
Where am I amiss in this description of new legislation?
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Showing that “ALEC Rock” video
sure shut you up in a hurry… in that
you will not, or more accurately, CAN
not respond to the arguments
contained within.
Having you watch that was like
exposing Kryptonite to Superman.
I’m gonna link it again:
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Jack:
What arguments? What evidence? If the point is that a whole bunch of folks, including some very rich guys, have got together to push a particular viewpoint then that is hardly news. They can easily be defeated at the ballot box if you have a strong counter-argument. So far most of the counter arguments are indeed cartoonish.
If you fail at the ballot box and you are correct that the proposed solutions will not work, it will become clear in a few short years. We are all being forced to take the new health care reform on this wait and see basis. Why not education reform?
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Bernie,
You seem to be okay with just dumping democracy and letting the rich guys make the decisions and tell us about it later.
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Diane:
No, I am not okay with dumping democracy and letting the rich guys decide. But how is it any different than other forms of interest group politics? There are rich individuals on both sides of the political spectrum and on both sides of the education reform debate.
You said in you final comment on the original post:
“We learn in civics textbook how laws are written, legislators debate, hearings are held.
A great deal of process of formulating legislation goes on behind closed doors. I am not saying that it is ideal but that is the way it is done. I bet that the legislative efforts to repeal education reform legislation that includes vouchers and charters is very similar to the way the original reforms were put together. The actors are different but the tactics are similar.
As I said earlier, I am sure that you saw this closed door stuff happening when you were an Assistant Secretary.
Just to be clear with respect to democracy: I am for getting all money out of politics, both the Corporations and the Unions. I am for a truncated election cycle like the UK’s rather than the pernicious and divisive never-ending political cycle. I am for extended voting periods and for voter ID.
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Bernie,
No, I didn’t see that “closed door stuff” going on when I was Assistant Secretary in the Bush administration.
We made no policy decisions without explicit authorization by Congress, after open hearings.
You have seen too many Hollywood movies.
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Diane:
Then the article will be interesting.
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I my be wrong, but I think Bernie’s point is that this is how an agency gets clear authorization from congress, by drafting proposals and working with sympathetic individuals, representatives and staff.
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These are intentionally stealth actions. For nearly 40 years, ALEC was a clandestine organization with a lot of clout, unknown to the press or to most citizens, because ALEC wanted to be covert. Why be so furtive if everything is on the up and up? Because what they propose is in the best interests of corporations and the far right, not the average person, like their voter suppression laws.
Watch Bill Moyers’, “The United States of ALEC”: http://billmoyers.com/episode/encore-united-states-of-alec/
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What inept narcissistic behavior by Al Hubbard, David Harris, Mark Lubbers, Todd Huston, Tony Bennett, Mark Miles and Mitch Daniels.??!! These guys put themselves and the political donors first. Students and teachers are used for INC. profiteering.
Parents will contact every legislator in Indiana and beyond to register concerns about the Indiana reform/profiteering fix.
Who elected Al Hubbard and Todd Huston with their band of groupies to undercut degreed teachers and public education?
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This is atrocious. I have no other words.
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It is hard to understand the relevance of some of the emails when you don’t know how these people are connected. What makes this email exchange revealing is that these state employees are plotting the privatization of public education and being directed by people outside the state government. During the time of the emails, Todd Huston worked in the Indiana Department of Ed for Tony Bennett, he is now a state representative but works for the College Board under David Coleman. Mark Lubbers is a friend of Mitch Daniels that works in investments, but his wife Teresa Lubbers is the Commissioner for Higher Education in Indiana and Al Hubbard is a board member of the Hudson Institute, a very conservative think tank that has recently become involved in promoting school choice. Many of the other people named or sending emails were all state employees of the Governors office or the Department of Education.
I think we can all assume that there are many conversations about policy that are held privately among legislators. But these conversations detail the extent to which Todd Huston goes to bring in private corporations into Indiana’s public education. Their connections to wealthy businessmen looking to cash in on some of the billions that Indiana spends on education is disgusting. And now Todd Huston is a state legislator and the main driver of the train that has increased school vouchers and allowed failed charter schools to skate on $91 million in loans from the state. And many of these people are actively working to limit the powers of our current State Superintendent, Glenda Ritz who defeated Tony Bennett.
Bernie1815 may not see the illegalities of this type of exchange, but these emails only scratch the surface. These people in the emails are slime and they act only for their own interests. Todd Huston in particular should be in jail for embezzling public funds, and hopefully we will see some charges brought against some of these players when the investigations of the A-F grading scam is completed.
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Teresa:
Anyone caught embezzling funds or behaving illegally needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Breaches of public trust deserve special sanctions. Period, end of paragraph. I said the same about the folks in the Charter School in Houston.
So now, what is it that this article or any other article has shown that these characters have done that is illegal? I grant that the potential is certainly there, but what have they actually done.
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Bernie,
Point of view, most often, is DEPENDENT on the institution that you serve.
As “Slick Willy” once said: In order to be viable to the “System” you must join the cheering throngs.
The cheerleaders of the “System” continue the “Perpetually Rejuvenated Illusions”.
Democracy, like a silent dog whistle, triggers many “Government-Schooled” perceptions.
The “Perceptions” imply equal justice, rule of law, Constitutional protections or
rights, yadda, yadda.
De-Bunking deception, exposes complicity.
“I never let my schooling interfere with my education.”
-Mark Twain
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NoBrick:
Your comment is too cryptic for me. Can you say it another way?
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Bernie,
I’m not alarmed by the “Secret” collusion of Capital. Government is simply a
“Proxy” for Capital. Dressing it up as “Democracy”,
serves Emperor Capital, as he commands.
Do the decisions disguised as “Democracy”,empower the people, or enact the DICTATES
of Capital?
Compare the “Power” of our symbolic, elected representatives, to the power of
NON-ELECTED APPOINTEES.
I’m not against Democracy! I’m against deception!
In the last 40 years we’ve had deception, NOT Democracy.
Playing the “Democracy Card” today, as though it STILL exists, is fundamental
dishonesty, IMO.
Where we put our Capital (Consumer Demand) can change the game.
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NoBrick:
I am with WInston Churchill on this issue:
“Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”
Sir Winston Churchill, Hansard, November 11, 1947
Question: Who or what is “Capital”?
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Capital=MONEY
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If so then it is like saying that politics is all about vested and personal interests. So what democracy about?
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