Anthony Cody wonders why corporate education reformers hate democracy. They love mayoral control, but only if the mayor agrees with their privatization agenda. They hate local school boards, because they are elected and can be removed.
They love private corporate control. They work to enact ALEC’s goal of removing local control from communities.
Democracy is too messy. The reformers know how to buy mayors and legislatures. Campaign contributions do the job. But the problem with democracy is that voters are unpredictable. The “reformers” can’t buy them, although the reformers can spend millions to flood the airwaves with attack ads, and they own most of the mainstream media. Think Murdoch. Think Education Nation.
Think Reed Hastings, the billionaire who owns Netflix. He let the cat out of the bag in a recent speech, which Cody quotes and links to.
Cody asks:
“Reed Hastings was right about one thing. If you go to the American public and actually tell them you want to eliminate elected school boards, or completely disempower them, no one’s going to go for that. So instead, these billionaires conspire. Yes, conspire, behind closed doors, and we only find out when someone surreptitiously shoots a video of the bald-faced attempt to steal our democracy right out from under us.
“The question nobody asks is “why do they hate our freedom”? The answer is obvious. Occasionally it gets in the way of what they want to do. And when that happens, the solution is to destroy democracy. Take power away from the elected offices that are there to ensure accountability to the people. Make sure that it goes wherever your grip is strongest. And spend millions on TV ads to cover up the real game under way. “
Diane Ravitch's blog 
School boards are targets, while legislatures at all levels are not for a couple reasons.
Legislatures are easier to buy, and legislators get more financially out of being a legislator.
Even when school boards are paid, it’s not much. It’s harder to buy school boards – despite Michelle Rhee.
So boards need to go. They get in the way.
People forget that legislators have long responded to the wants of the haves, the upper incomes.
So democracy disappeared a long time ago – except for those pesky school boards.
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It’s more complicated. We have separation of powers in this country – no government agency is all powerful. So some decisions are made at the school, some at the district, some at the state, some by Congress, some by the courts, some by the executive branch, etc.
Some of us who post on this board don’t agree with some decisions legislatures make. But we are disagreeing about the decisions, not about the value of democracy. For example, I assume those who advocate for the ability of local boards to veto charters would not advocate local control over things like equal opportunity for young women and young men in sports, or opportunities for students with disabilities. These are issues that some local boards were not very receptive to until Congress made decisions.
State legislatures make a variety of decisions. These folks are elected too. So I think the situation is more complicated that some reformers are anti democracy.
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The problem really isn’t that complicated. Certain people want money and power. Other people stand in their way. Ends justify the means. Destroy those that stand in your way to get what you want. Pretty simply and I’m amazed the general public doesn’t see this or doesn’t want to. Like frogs in a frying pan.
Whether federal, state, or local levels, this scene plays out. The Federal level is already taken over and no longer represents the vast majority of Americans (see Bill Moyers Shadow Government series). The courts, legislature, executive branch all answer to a wealthy few. Corporations are people now. State governments are being taken over, particularly the red states who are “open for business”. The governors there are towing the line in eliminating access, transparency, and accountability through shield laws and gerrymandering. Next is the local level – school boards, country commissions, mayors.
In that sense, the Tea Party – while easily misled – has the right idea that the government is no longer answering to The People. But what they get wrong is that it isn’t Obama or Liberals that are taking away our government. The people manipulating the Tea Party don’t want LESS government, they want to OWN government. Rather than destroy governments, the idea should be to reform government to do good and benefit the most Americans as possible, not just a well connected few. Government can be an instrument of public good as the schools have proved through the years depite the considerable power and wealth of 1/2 the country trying to destroy them – the schools continue to survive.
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“The people manipulating the Tea Party don’t want LESS government, they want to OWN government.”
Very well stated. I think I’ll put that on a t-shirt.
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Mr. Nathan, would you care to begin your comments with a disclosure of how much your 501C3 position pays you to advocate for neoliberal privatization via the lucrative charter sector, or do I need to dig up some 990 Forms?
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My yearly salary is less than $40K
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“less than $40K” is very hard to believe, considering Joe’s Center for School Change (CSC), now affiliated with EdVisions, which he promotes so often here, says on its website:
“CSC has received more than $26 million from the U.S. and Minnesota Departments of Education and the Annenberg, Bill and Melinda Gates, Blandin, Cargill, Carlson, Carnegie, Frey, Helzberg, Kauffman, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Target, and Travelers Foundations.”
People who work in organizations that are affiliated with and supported by other enterprises often receive more than a single salary.
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Ah to dream. Jimmy Carter already has said that we no longer live with a functioning Democracy. When a former President says that, we need to heed the call.
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That’s right….we live in an oligarchy/plutocracy. And we are in the midst of trying to figure out how to salvage the best of what we had.
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Yes, and all the presidents who came after him helped to firmly entrench the plutocracy. Obama was the hope and change yet, he handed more of the government over to the few filthy rich people.
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To them, it’s simple: democracy is not cost-effective.
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Appointees are so much more obedient than elected officials. They are willing to ignore the public and serve a perfunctory role, rubber stamping whatever dictators desire.
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I thought that the Mayor had total control over the schools given to him by the legislature.
It appears that Bill Clinton is controlling education in NYC and the Mayor. His foundation is creating digital badges to track children. It is a wide web here.
http://nypost.com/2014/03/27/gov-cuomo-boosts-charter-schools-in-tentative-deal/
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The Democratic party is functioning according to the misconception that America wants yet another neo-liberal, corporate loving Clinton in the presidency. They have so lost touch with their base.
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They serve Wall Street. They take their money and Wall Street calls the shots. Just think about what Hillary will be like. Obama part 2. How awful
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The rephormers are all successful* Wall Street tycoons who made their fortunes (they think) by their own wits and skill. In their business worlds they needn’t be bothered with messy things like the opinions or input of their lessers, so why should they have to be bothered with such things in any other sphere? They are obviously so smart and talented (the best and the brightest!) that the world would best be left in their beneficent hands.
*Successful in terms of money, power and control, that is. Ethics, morality, decency, humanity? Not so much.
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Oh, they’re definitely beginning a push to get rid of elected school boards.
Here’s our friends at the Fordham Institute:
“What does this mean for education governance? School board members and their attitudes do matter—so it’s important to take seriously who gets elected and how. Even as we strive to bring about structural reforms and governance innovations in the education system, we should also be working to get better results from the structures in place in most communities today.”
The hubris is incredible. 150 unelected people in DC are going to somehow come up with a better “model for governance” in local government than an elected school board.
Did most “communities today” ask for “structural reform” in their local governance model?
Hey, what ever happened to the ed reform goal of “improving public schools”, anyway? Remember that? That’s what we were sold. How are existing public schools doing under ed reform?
Christ. Talk about mission drift. Now they’re drafting local governance models that are more to their liking? The “elected and local” model doesn’t meet their needs?
http://www.edexcellence.net/commentary/education-gadfly-daily/flypaper/does-school-board-leadership-matter
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‘The hubris is incredible.’
That line says it all, about absolutely everything that is going on right now…the HUBRIS. I used to use that term every time I saw one of those bright pink Hummer H3s. The owners think because they want it they should have it, environment be damned. ‘They’ assume because they want to take our public education dollars and do what they want with them (make venture capitalist very rich) they should be able to take them, consequences to the greater good (the public) be damned.
Ed reform was just a diversion…they are really after the big pink hummer called OUR tax dollars.
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I guess there’s two ways to look at an inability to work with others in an existing system.
One could take the more humble view of “maybe it’s my ideas and my approach” or one could go the ed reformer route, and say “they need a new system that accommodates me!”
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America is built, in part, on continued re-invention. Articles of Incorporation did not work. so we came up with the Constitution. Constitution was not enough, so there is a process of amendments. Laws are passed constantly to refine improve. Nobody agrees with all the laws passed – but passing laws is part of the democratic process.
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Another “kittens are cute” post, Joe.
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Yes, kittens are cute, and charters are public schools.
They really, really are.
I swear.
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Except when serves them to not be public schools.
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The Walton Rural Life Center in Kansas, a rural charter school, would seem to me to be an excellent public school. Why folks would want it closed is a mystery to me.
Here is a link to the School’s website: https://w-usd373-ks.schoolloop.com/cms/page_view?d=x&piid=&vpid=1315742617684
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Think about Cuomo. Can you imagine being so selfish and greedy for power that you sell out the public in this way? What a crook. The whole government needs to be reformed, not education.
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Ed reformers in Florida further gut public school funding and support.
They don’t even mention public schools anymore in these plans. It’s as if those schools and kids don’t exist.
Florida will be the first state with a fully privately-owned, privately-operated “public school system”. There may be 5 or 10% of public schools left to act as “safety net” schools underneath the charters and the private schools, but public schools will be all but gone.
This is Jeb Bush’s educational legacy, the privatization of a public system, and since Duncan is identical to Bush, this is where we’re headed in the other 49 states.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/k12/school-choice-bills-find-support-in-florida-house/2172306
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Funny ed reform story out of Kansas.
As you may have been aware, ed reformers gutted public school funding, so it went to a judge and they were ordered to fund public schools.
So what did they do? They inserted a “radical” measure to expand privately-owned, privately-run, publicly-funded schools. Fortunately, they got caught red-handed:
“Language that would have allowed for rapid expansion of charter schools with little state regulation was added to a bill late Thursday without the knowledge of the governor or of House or Senate leaders.
The Legislature has until July 1 to respond to a state Supreme Court order to fix funding disparities between richer and poorer school districts across the state – a fix that the state Education Department has estimated would cost $129 million.
Late Thursday, House Republicans introduced a bill to solve that problem after two weeks of discussion between the governor’s office and legislative leaders. The bill included $129 million in additional funding, but also included arguably radical provisions that were never discussed during the two weeks of meetings, according to a statement released by House Speaker Ray Merrick’s office.
House Bill 2773 would have set up a Kansas Independent Charter School Board that would have been completely independent from the state’s Department of Education. The board would have the power to authorize public charter schools and free them from any state laws and regulations deemed a hindrance to educational goals.
These schools would have been privately run but primarily funded by public dollars.
Those changes were added behind the back of the speaker by Rep. Marc Rhoades, R-Newton, and Rep. Kasha Kelley, R-Arkansas City. The first time Merrick heard about the charter school legislation was Thursday evening after being questioned by reporters.
Rhoades released a statement Friday morning.
“The piece about charter schools was added in at the last moment at the request of a member and I take full responsibility for that decision,” Rhoades, the House Appropriations chair, said.”
http://www.kansas.com/2014/03/21/3358868/house-speaker-wont-allow-charter.html
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So, are privatized correctional facilities cost effective?
You bet, but they are also notoriously corrupt because the bottom line is profit. The concept of prisoner welfare, of for that matter the welfare of security officers, does not exist. The “public” is put a very long distance from having to think about the law, justice, and the rest.
Moreover the contracting system in many states is designed so the public pays for jail spaces even if the prisons are not full.
The profiteers are rewarded when the incarceration rate increases.
Big profits are anticipated if/when there are further arrests for illegal immigrants. You can bet that the biggest for-profit player is lobbying for prison-friendly legislation.
See, https://www.aclu.org/blog/prisoners-rights/biggest-baddest-prison-profiteer-them-all prisons
Much there to consider in relation to for-profit education.
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Would you be happy with not for profit charter schools? I believe the one in Walton Kansas that I linked to above is one of those, as well as The Community Roots Charter School in Brooklyn, NY. The form and policies of charter schools are largely controlled by state legislation.
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And the legislation for charters varies widely.so does the governance and even accountability. But being a non-profit doesn’t mean some people aren’t profiting handsomely with substantial salaries.
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“The board would have the power to authorize public charter schools and free them from any state laws and regulations deemed a hindrance to educational goals.”
This is INCREDIBLY broad language. All the charter has to do is say a state law or regulation is a “hindrance” and they’re exempted.
“Authorize” is a deregulatory process. The board (which is itself given power by state law) then “authorizes” the charter (actually the charter management organization) to do just about anything under this.
This is a sweet deal for lawmakers. They don’t want to operate public schools anyway. Now they just palm the whole thing off on a CMO and provide funding. Presto! “Public school system”.
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Reblogged this on Crazy Normal – the Classroom Exposé and commented:
Anthony Cody: Why Do the Fake Education “Reformers” Hate Democracy? http://wp.me/p2odLa-7wv via @DianeRavitch
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“teachingeconomist
March 28, 2014 at 1:53 pm
Would you be happy with not for profit charter schools? I believe the one in Walton Kansas that I linked to above is one of those, as well as The Community Roots Charter School in Brooklyn, NY. The form and policies of charter schools are largely controlled by state legislation.”
Why do you believe conservatives will regulate a privatized school system at the state level?
They don’t regulate any other private entity. Why would they start now?
When liberals were joining with conservatives to launch this campaign against public schools, were they really deluding themselves that the privatized system would be “well regulated”?
Are they unfamiliar with conservatives? How could they be so stupid and reckless and naive?
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If you think regulation is so difficult, certainly eliminating charter schools will prove impossible.
Any thoughts about why the charter school in Walton Kansas should be closed?
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If it is paid for by the public but controlled by a private entity it should be shut down. The public should fund the school properly so that it functions. There is so much wasteful spending of our tax dollars that have gone to private entities etc, in our wars that we could have paid for public ed ten times over.
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Closing Walton’s charter school will likely kill the town.
Would you allow Pell grants to be used at private universities like NYU? That is public money going to a privately controlled school.
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Check out this video that my husband made. He wrote it one evening after listening to one of my rants about the undermining and coming extinction of our public schools.
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It is certainly telling that the Common Core leave’s out the most important “C” in CCR– Citizenship. Not to mention that Social Studies is the one core subject for which there has never been a standardized test, in my 30 years’ experience, anyway. Can’t have an educated citizenry!
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Reblogged this on Rickarcher1959's Blog and commented:
Reformers love indoctrination. They would love our children to be robots so they can have power. If they control what is taught in schools they control the future.
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donenews.co.uk
Anthony Cody: Why Do Reformers Hate Democracy? | Diane Ravitch’s blog
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