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Star Wars in North Carolina

By dianeravitch
December 3, 2015 //
6

 

Stuart Egan is a high school teacher in North Carolina.

 

He writes:

 

 

Film and literature often depict human nature in precise ways, mimicking real life situations in colorful methods and allowing us to view ourselves more objectively through the eyes of others.

 

In fact, the converse can be true as well; real life is the stuff of film. Have you ever had a notion that the reality transpiring right in front of you is literally out of movie? Then maybe it is no wonder that the new installment of the Star Wars movies (The Force Awakens) seems like a new metaphorical chapter in the war in North Carolina to protect the sanctity of public education against the dark side of reform.

 

Truthfully, it’s not just the new episode of Star Wars that aptly depicts the fight between politics and public education. All of the movies contain memorable comparisons to what is happening in the struggle of the educational Rebel Alliance against the political Dark Side.

 

One simply needs to closely follow North Carolina’s regression in the last few years and you can witness a wonderful example of how the plot lines of the Star Wars movies appropriately mimic the actual events taking place in the political landscape of North Carolina today.

 

Just take a few of the iconic quotes given by those memorable characters and insert them into the epic that is North Carolina and you will plainly see that film really does imitate life.

 

As a veteran public school teacher, I know that the most sacred part of education is the student – teacher relationship. There is a power in the exchange of knowledge and the nurturing of skill sets. It is kind of like using the Force to train new Jedi to help protect the republic from sinister powers. Remember the Force? Here’s the actual definition from Obi-Wan Kenobi, who happens to be a great teacher. He says,

 

“The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together.”

 

However, when there is money to be made by profit-minded entities, many in power turn to the Dark Side and manipulate the Force for personal gain. Look at all of the charter schools that lack transparency and take state money to create favorable situations for just a few, especially its board members. Look at the virtual academies run by profit-minded companies. Look how many new “private” schools have been created in response to the Opportunity Grants.

 

Yet when these profit-minded reforms are questioned, lawmakers aligned with the Dark Side clothe themselves in a robe of righteousness, swear they are doing the will of the people, and ultimately scold those who question their intent. It sounds like Darth Vader’s great quote from the first Star Wars movie.

 

“I find your lack of faith disturbing.”

 

Actually, I find the lack of faith in teachers and public schools disturbing. With new legislation that designated more schools as being “low-performing,” we are seeing how the Dark Side is propagating the idea that we need to have more reforms. But there is something distressing about the timing of this. It’s the year before major elections and it seems that the GOP-led NC General Assembly and the Governor’s Office will take major steps to show great improvement for the 2015-2016 school year to give the facade that they are doing good work. But in the immortal words of Admiral Akbar in The Return of the Jedi,

 

“It’s a trap!”

 

What has played out in the past three years is a methodical dismantling of the public education system. Monies, resources, and benefits have been eroded away to create an environment of dependency on false reforms. Furthermore, the move to discredit teachers and educators through the removal of due-process rights and graduate degree pay along with shoddy teacher evaluation protocols have harvested more fear than real progress. And the greatest of teachers, Yoda tells us in The Phantom Menace that,

 

“Fear is the path to the dark side.”

 

It is this false fear that public schools are the root of the problems which plagues North Carolina and drives the actions the NC General Assembly in “reforming” our public school system. If the NCGA can convince the public that there is a reason to fear, then the NCGA has the opportunity to convince the public that it has the solution. So far, the solutions have resided in arbitrary testing and robotic curriculum practices. And those kinds of reforms are exactly what Obi-Wan Kenobi refers to when he states,

 

“These aren’t the droids you’re looking for….”

 

In fact, even many of the writing tests that are administered (as well as the standardized multiple choice tests) are created by outside entities and evaluated by computers and software designed by for-profit companies. The role of the teacher is then further severed like a disturbance of the Force. Even a droid can tell you that that is not good for education like when C3PO tells R2-D2,

 

“R2-D2, you know better than to trust a strange computer!”

 

Ever since legislators started removing the human element from education by decreasing teacher to student ratios, the dependence on non-educators to mold and shape pedagogical policy has increased. That means more lawmakers are taking on the business approach to remedy the very problems they have created. That translates to more contracts with testing companies to impersonally rate student achievement and teacher effectiveness without giving feedback on what would constitute good teaching. What happens is that people without educational experience are dictating what happens in classrooms more than those who do have the proper experience and knowhow. Han Solo makes this point in the 1977 release of A New Hope. He tells Luke Skywalker,

 

“Traveling through hyperspace ain’t like dusting crops, farm boy.”

 

And it isn’t. Traveling through hyperspace is not for those who have never been in a spaceship before. A wookie could tell you that. Additionally, reforming public education in North Carolina is not a job for those who have no idea what a classroom is like. Teachers and educators see that increased human interaction between a teacher (especially when experienced and respected) and student can overcome great odds, even ones derived by computers in valued added assessment models like EVAAS.

 

When C3PO tells Han Solo that he cannot fly through an asteroid field, he does not put into consideration who is doing the piloting. The droid states,

 

“Sir, the possibility of successfully navigating an asteroid field is approximately 3,720 to 1.”

 

But Solo is an expert. He’s like an experienced veteran teacher in the classroom and he is confident. That asteroid field is akin to all of the obstacles placed in front of teachers (increased class size, too many standardized tests, expanded duties, etc) as they try and do their job. Han Solo and his crew make it through to Cloud City. But of course the Dark Side catches him and puts him in a deep freeze, much like the salary scales of experienced teachers in North Carolina. Fortunately, he is rescued later by guess whom? Yes, a Jedi taught by the greatest of teachers.

 

This next election cycle really starts now. With more people putting their light sabers into the mix, we need more than ever to stand up against the Death Star that hovers over West Jones Street in Raleigh and bring North Carolina back as the model of progress it was before the rise of the Dark Side. This requires actually educating yourselves on the issues and practicing your rights to speak out, speak up, and speak to. It also means to vote. One cannot be passive – Yoda instructs us on that (with his inverted syntax).

 

“Do. Or do not. There is no try.”

 

Our state has lost a lot of teachers due to the current political environment. Some leave because the stagnant salaries will not allow them to raise families in the way they wish. Some leave because of the simple lack of respect. The new state motto “North Carolina: First in Teacher Flight” is a reality, and we just cannot clone effective teachers like storm troopers through programs like Teach for America. We need our teacher education programs in our colleges and universities to be invested in, not divested from.

 

But I am hearing more and more teachers speaking about how they will not leave; they are staying to fight the fight. It’s just like Obi-Wan Kenobi when he looked Darth Vader in the eye and calmly stated,

 

“You can’t win, Darth. Strike me down, and I will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.”

 

That’s the attitude that we need to have, as teachers, educators, and advocates for public education. This fight is far from over and why should we keep fighting for our schools? Because while Darth Vader may claim to be my father, all of the students in North Carolina’s public schools are our children and Yoda states,

 

“Truly wonderful the mind of a child is.”

 

So…Grab your closest wookie and ewok friends. Hop on your land speeder, X-wing fighter, or Millennium Falcon and go to the polls this next election cycle. Educate yourselves about the real issues surrounding public education. Like a great teacher, Yoda instructs us well when he says,

 

“In a dark place we find ourselves, and a little more knowledge lights our way.

 

Send messages to others through your droids, see past the Imperial rhetoric, stand up against the Greedos and the Jaba the Huts and,

 

“Always pass on what you have learned.”

 

And last but not least, always remember…

 

“The Force will be with you, always.”

 

 
Stuart Egan, NBCT
Public School Teacher
Jedi-In-Training
West Forsyth High School
Clemmons, NC

Categories North Carolina, Teachers

New Mexico: Good News for Teachers

By dianeravitch
December 2, 2015 //
5

Randi Weingarten tweeted good news in a lawsuit in New Mexico against the state’s test-based teacher evaluation system:

 

 

“Breaking!!!! @AFTNM @atfunion win preliminary injunction against New Mexico #vam -Huge step 4 teaching & learning & the end of blame& shame”

Categories Education Reform, New Mexico, Teacher Evaluations

Why the Adelanto School Board Refused to Renew Desert Trails Charter School

By dianeravitch
December 2, 2015 //
14

The fight over the future of the Desert Trails Elementary School was a nasty chapter in the history of public education. A billionaire funded group called Parent Revolution to the poor community to persuade parents to sign a petition to change their school. Some thought they were signing a petition for improvements; others knew the petition would turn the school over to a charter operator. A majority of parents signed the petition, but some tried to withdraw their signatures when they realized that they were agreeing to hand the management of their school over to a private board. A judge ruled that those who had signed the petition were not allowed to change their minds, so the petition succeeded with a minority of parent votes. Eventually only a small minority of the parents at the school selected a charter operator to run the school. The main accomplishment of the Parent Trigger was to bring conflict and divisiveness, not better education, to the community.

 

As I reported in the last post, the local school board rejected a renewal of the charter. You can expect that this matter will go to court, as the Parent Revolution organization has millions of dollars in its coffers.

 

Since California suspended state testing in its transition from its old standards to the Common Core, there was not much score data. But the crux of the matter can be found in the board’s discussion of governance. Who really was in charge of the charter?

Read this document, in which the board outlines its reasons for denying a renewal of the Desert Trails charter. The key section begins at the bottom of page 4, which reviews the unusual governance structure of the school.

 

 

DTPA’s governance structure raises a variety of concerns. DTPA is governed by Desert Trails, Inc., a nonprofit public benefit corporation. However, Desert Trails, Inc. has a sole statutory member, Ed Brokers Educational Services (“Ed Brokers”), another nonprofit public benefit corporation. Among other broad authority vested in Ed Brokers is the authority to approve a majority of Desert Trails, Inc.’s directors as well as removing any director at any time, thereby effectively giving Ed Brokers absolute control over the corporation and the Charter School. Thus, while technically DTPA is governed by Desert Trails, Inc., it is for all intents and purposes actually governed by Ed Brokers, and the Desert Trails, Inc. Board is under Ed Brokers’ authority.

Neither the Charter nor the bylaws provide any information about this sole statutory member of the Desert Trails, Inc. corporation, and the District is given no involvement or effective oversight authority over Ed Brokers. As a result of this structure, grave concerns arise as to what, if any, real authority the Desert Trails, Inc. Board has over DTPA, and corresponding concerns about the District’s ability effectively to exercise its oversight obligations. This corporate structure and DTPA’s Charter do not effectively ensure public access and accountability by specifically requiring Ed Brokers to comply with the Brown Act, Public Records Act, Political Reform Act, and/or other conflict of interest laws applicable to public agencies, and other similar laws and requirements that dictate transparency and public accountability in the operation of the public school system, including charter schools.

 

It is a most unusual arrangement, and it gets even more complicated.

Categories California, Charter Schools, Parent trigger

Tell Your Members of Congress to Fix the New ESEA!

By dianeravitch
December 2, 2015 //
19

The Network for Public Education and the NPE Action Fund believe in transforming public education so that it works to meet the needs of all children. Both organizations oppose high-stakes testing and privatization.

 

The NPE Action Fund has watched closely as Congress works to revise the federal law called No Child Left Behind and to correct the destructive assaults on education and educators found in Race to the Top. We hope both NCLB and Race to the Top will be consigned to the dustbin of history, for historians to dissect as a classic example of why politicians should respect the work of educators and not assume that they know more than teachers and principals. We believe that the current legislative proposal can be greatly improved. We urge you to contact your Senators and members of the House of Representatives about some serious flaws in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (aka NCLB).

 

Here are some of the key issues that should be revised:

 

Unfortunately the bill continues the annual mandate for testing in grades 3-8, and a waiver will still be needed if states want to give alternative assessments to more than one percent of their students with disabilities and English Language Learners after one year. The reality is many state exams are neither valid nor diagnostically useful for many of these students.

 

The Network for Public Education has consistently opposed annual testing, a practice not found in any of the world’s high-performing nation. In earlier statements, we supported grade-span testing–once in elementary school, once in middle school, and once in high school. We would prefer that teachers control testing and decide how much is just right, with little or no use of standardized testing except for diagnostic purposes, not for ranking and rating students, teachers, principals, or schools.

 

In addition, there are some new provisions that we are very concerned about:

 

The bill appears to require that “academic standards” including proficiency rates and growth based on state test scores, must count for at least 51% of any state’s accountability system. Some observers say that the bill would allow the Secretary of Education to determine the exact percentage of each factor in a state accountability system. This is not acceptable. Every state should be allowed to decide on its own system, including what percent to give standardized tests.

 
The bill would also allow states to use Title II funds, now meant for class size reduction and teacher quality initiatives, for Social Impact bonds, which amount to another profiteering scheme for Wall Street to loot our public schools. Recently, the New York Times reported on how Goldman Sachs helped fund a preschool program in Utah with Social Impact bonds. Goldman Sachs will now make hundreds of thousands of dollars, based on a flawed study that purported to show that 99 percent of these students will not require special education services – a far higher percent than any previous study. We vehemently oppose the inclusion of this provision in ESEA. If preschool is worth funding, and we believe that it is, it should be paid for by public funds and not provide another way for Wall Street profiteers to drain resources from our public schools.

 

We would also like Congress to strengthen federal protection for student privacy, which were weakened by changes in the regulations governing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) in 2011. Students’ personally identifiable data should not be released to third parties without the consent of his or her parents.

 

As I previously explained, the Network for Public Education has split into two separate organization: The Network for Public Education is a tax-deductible, charitable organization that will soon have its own c(3) status and is currently hosted by Voices for Education in Tucson, which does have c(3) status. Carol Burris, who recently retired as Principal of South Side High School in Rockville Center, Long Island, New York, is the executive director.

 

The other organization, the NPE Action Fund, was created to endorse candidates and engage in political activity on behalf of public education. It will be a c(4), and contributions to it will not be tax-deductible. The NPE Action Fund does not have money to give to candidates, but we vet candidates and endorse those we believe to be sincerely devoted to the improvement of public schools, not their privatization. Any candidate for state or local school board or any office should apply to its executive director, Robin Hiller, to learn how to obtain the NPE endorsement. rhiller@voicesforeducation.org.

 

Categories Accountability, Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Network for Public Education, Networkfor Public Education Action Fund

Adelanto (CA) School Board Votes to Cancel Desert Trails Charter

By dianeravitch
December 2, 2015 //
22

The first-ever use of the parent trigger, one of the very few ever in any state, was at the Desert Trails Elementary School in Adelanto, California. The Gates-, Walton-, and Broad-funded Parent Revolution sent in organizers to gather signatures from parents to convert the low-scoring school into a charter. When the petitions were presented, many parents asked to have their names withdrawn because they did not understand that they were signing away their public school. The matter went to court, and the judge held that the dissidents could not take their name off the petition. The battle over the school split the community. (see here and here and here.)

 

Now the school board has voted to withdraw the charter. Charter supporters vow to go to court to stay open.

Categories Education Reform, Parent trigger

Why FairTest Supports ESSA

By dianeravitch
December 2, 2015 //
12

FairTest has been the staunchest, most persistent critic of standardized testing for decades. Monty Neill explains here why FairTest supports ESSA, with full recognition of its faults.

 

He writes:

 

“From an assessment reform perspective, FairTest is convinced that the “Every Student Succeeds Act” (ESSA) now before the House and Senate, though far from perfect, improves on current testing policy. The bill significantly reduces federal accountability mandates and opens the door for states to overhaul their own assessment systems.

 

“Failure to pass this bill in 2015 means NCLB and waivers will continue to wreak havoc for at least another several years.

 

“The primary improvement would be in “accountability.” The unrealistic “Adequate Yearly Progress” annual test score gain requirement would be gone, as would be all the federally mandated punitive sanctions imposed on schools and teachers. States will be free to end much of the damage to educational quality and equity they built into their systems to comply with NCLB and waivers. Waivers to NCLB would end as of Aug. 1, 2016. (Other provisions of the bill would take effect over the coming summer and fall.)

 

“Another modest win would be federal recognition of the right for parents to opt their children out of tests in states that allow it. While a 95 percent test-participation provision remains, states will decide what happens to schools that do not meet the threshold. (The feds had already backed down from enforcing this dictate.)….

 

“A dangerous requirement to rank schools continues. Worse, rankings must be based predominantly on student scores. High school rankings must include graduation rates, and all schools must incorporate English learners’ progress towards English proficiency. This data must be broken out by “subgroup” status. However, states must incorporate at least one additional indicator of school quality (such as school climate or student engagement) and can include multiple such indicators….

 

“Meanwhile, up to seven states will be able to fundamentally overhaul their assessments right away, with additional states allowed to join this pilot program after three years. States could design systems that rely primarily on local, teacher-developed performance assessments (as does the New York Performance Standards Consortium). New Hampshire already has a waiver from NCLB to do that, starting with allowing pilot districts to administer the state test in only three grades. For all grades, the pilots employ a mix of state and local teacher designed performance tasks, an approach with great potential.

 

“The new law also bars the U.S. Secretary of Education from intervening in most aspects of state standards, assessment, accountability and improvement. Given Secretary Arne Duncan’s history (and the track record in New York state of his soon-to-be acting successor, John King), that seems a good thing.”

 

The law is not ideal. But it is far better than NCLB or the failed Race to Nowhere. And we can keep fighting for a better law and resisting at the local level by opting out.

Categories Accountability, Education Reform, Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Opt Out, Race to the Top

What’s In the ESSA About Accountability?

By dianeravitch
December 2, 2015 //
13

Here is a report from the Washington Post on the accountability features of the Every Student Succeeds Act.

 

“Specifically, under the Every Student Succeeds Act:

 

“The testing regime remains in place.

 

“States would still be required, as they are now, to test students annually in math and reading in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school, and publicly report the scores according to race, income, ethnicity, disability and whether students are English-language learners.
“States get to set their own academic goals.

“Where No Child Left Behind set forth one goal for the nation — 100 percent proficiency in math and reading by 2014 — the new bill would require each state to set and measure progress toward its own academic goals.
“Test scores still matter, but how much is up to the states. States would be charged with designing systems for judging schools. Each system would have to include measures of academic progress, including test scores, graduation rates and (for non-native English speakers) English language acquisition. But it would also have to include a measure of school climate, such as student engagement or access to advanced courses. All of the academic indicators together must count for “much” more than the non-academic factor, but the definition of “much” is not clear.
“What should be done in schools that are struggling will be up to states and districts. Under No Child Left Behind, a school could get dinged if just one of its subgroups failed to meet annual testing goals, and the federal government exercised a lot of say in what happened in persistently failing schools. Under the new bill, it’s likely that fewer schools will be required to be marked for interventions, and it’s up to states and, in many cases, districts to decide what to do to improve those schools. Schools marked for the most intensive interventions would be those among the lowest-performing 5 percent in the state, those in which fewer than two-thirds of students graduate on time, and those in which a subgroup of students “consistently underperforms.” It’s up to each state to determine how long a group of students would have to lag before the school would be required to take action.
“What happens if lots of kids opt out of testing?

“Again, it’s up to the state. Under No Child Left Behind, a school automatically got a black eye if it failed to test at least 95 percent of its eligible students. The aim was to ensure that principals and teachers weren’t discouraging low performers from showing up on test day in order to boost scores. The new bill maintains the 95 percent requirement, but states can decide how participation rates should figure into their overall school rating system.”

 

 

Categories Accountability, Education Reform, Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Standardized Testing

Warning! ESSA Threatens Special Education

By dianeravitch
December 2, 2015 //
23

Beverley Holden Johns is a nationally recognized expert on special education. She is alarmed that the new “Every Student Succeeds Act” permits states to engage in “pay for success” plans, where investors earn money by not referring students for the services they need. Get on the phone to your Senators and Congressmen at once to stop this money-making scheme.

 

Johns writes:

 

 

As we just passed its 40th birthday, special education faces perhaps its greatest threat since the Education of the Handicapped Act (EHA), now the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), was signed into law.

 

The new No Child Left Behind bill, S. 1177, as reported by the Conference Committee between the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House includes the permissive use of Federal funds by States and by local school districts of Pay for Success.

 

Title I, Part D
‘‘(A) may include—
‘‘(i) the acquisition of equipment;
‘‘(ii) pay-for-success initiatives;”

 

Funded by Goldman Sachs, Pay for Success in Utah
denied special education to over 99 percent of the
students that were in the early childhood Pay for Success program.

 

Goldman Sachs has received a first payment of over
$250,000 based on over 99 percent of students NOT being identified for special education.

 

Based on these results, Goldman Sachs may receive
an over 100 percent return on its investment as it
will receive yearly payments based on students
continuing to NOT be identified for special education (multiple yearly payments for one student).

 

“If special education is reduced to less than 1 percent of students, for all practical purposes it will cease to exist,” says Bev Johns, Chair of the Illinois Special Education Coalition.

 

Goldman Sachs has also funded a Pay for Success
program for the Chicago Public Schools based on
paying Goldman on the number of students NOT
identified for special education, but results for Chicago from that program are not yet available.

 

“Success is not the elimination of special education.
Success is not failing to identify students as needing
the specialized and individualized instruction required by IDEA,” states Johns.

 

“We simply cannot expect the general education teacher to do it all, to know it all, and to achieve academic excellence for each and every student,” says Johns.

 

“Pretending we can eliminate disability, pretending
that almost every student with a disability and their
parents will benefit WITHOUT the legal rights of IDEA which are only granted when a student is identified for special education, is to turn us back over 40 years to the time before we had State laws and then the Federal law requiring special education for each and every student with a disability,” states Johns.

 

It is possible that Pay for Success is also in other
parts of the 1,059 page S. 1177.

 

The section quoted above is in SEC. 1020 of S. 1177,
PREVENTION AND INTERVENTION PROGRAMS
FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH WHO ARE
NEGLECTED, DELINQUENT, AT-RISK
which amends Part D of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), Section 1415.

 

For more information: 217-473-1790

Categories Education Industry, For-Profit, NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Special Education

Mercedes Schneider Provides More Details about Proposed ESSA Law

By dianeravitch
December 2, 2015 //
30

Mercedes Schneider is one of the few people who have read all (or almost all) of the 1,000 page plus behemoth that is the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015. Her latest post provides valuable new information. This legislation was passed out of the Senate-House conference committee and is likely to move swiftly for full approval by both houses in the next few days or weeks. ESSA would replace No Child Left Behind, which should have been reauthorized eight years ago. It also kills off Race to the Top by stripping the Secretary of any power to impose his ideas about how to reform schools on districts and states.

 

The big change is the reduction in the role of the federal Department of Education (ED). This is the first big downsizing of the federal role since the original Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 was passed. There are strict limitations on the power of the Secretary to meddle in state or local education matters. The shrinking of the federal role is Arne Duncan’s legacy.

 

Mercedes points out that the law is still mired in the testing-and-accountability mindset but oversight and responsibility shifts is from the federal ED to local and state governments. She says the bill is “test-centric.”

 

But there are some very good things in the bill. It puts an end to the hated No Child Left Behind and the failed Race to the Top. The bill eliminates AYP and Duncan’s waivers. States can drop out of Common Core without any penalty. No more teacher evaluation by test scores unless the states want to do it. Bill Gates will no longer have the Department of Education mandating his latest ideas. No more federal mandates about how to reform schools.

 

I know that many readers would like the law to go farther. I would like to see an end to annual testing, a practice unknown in the high-performing nations of the world. I would like to see stipulations about charter accountability and transparency. But that’s not there.

 

Nonetheless, I support the bill because it gets rid of a terrible, failed law and a terrible, failed program. The Bush-Obama era is over. Now the fight for a humane education system shifts to the states. In some states, that may seem like a herculean task. But the fact is that parents and educators have a greater chance of being heard by their state legislators than by the White House and Congress.

 

So what next? Organize, mobilize, agitate, wake the town and tell the people. Stop the privatization of public schools. Stop the testing madness. Join with organizations in your state and community that are fighting to transform the schools to places where learning, character, ethics, imagination, creativity, citizenship, and kindness are valued. Join the Network for Public Education. Find out how to make alliances with people who share  your values. We have a long way to go. The time to start is now.

 

 

Categories Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Privatization, Race to the Top

Shocker! Howard Blume, L.A. Times: Secret PAC Funded Pro-Charter Candidates with $2.3 Million

By dianeravitch
December 2, 2015 //
32

Howard Blume of the Los Angeles Times reports that a secret PAC assembled $2.3 million and funneled it to the political arm of the California Charter Schools Association, which used it to finance the campaigns of three pro-charter school candidates in the recent school board election. Two of the three won their seats, including Ref Rodriguez, who founded and runs a chain of charter schools. The names of the donors were not revealed until the election was over.

 

Those contributions — from philanthropist Eli Broad, heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune, former New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and others — were made prior to the May 19 election to California Charter Schools Assn. Advocates, a political action committee in Sacramento. That group then forwarded campaign funds to a local affiliated committee.

 

The Los Angeles-based PAC was required by campaign laws only to identify the state charter group as the source of the funding, not the individual donors.

 

As a result, the donors remained anonymous in Los Angeles campaign filings. In September, the state charter group filed a required state report listing all its contributors.

 

While the practice appears to be within the law, state campaign regulators said they are concerned about how the contributions remained unreported for so long.

 

A spokesman for the Charter Association said it turns to outside backers because it would otherwise be outspent by the teachers union. In fact, the CCSA spent $2.7 million, compared to the union’s $1.6 million. So, follow the logic: funding provided from the salaries of teachers is comparable to funding from billionaires like the Waltons, Broad, and Bloomberg.

It’s sad that billionaires have no way to make their voices heard. So they feel compelled to try to buy the school board because they know more than the teachers who work there.

 

 

Among the charter donors not disclosed in L.A. filings was Bloomberg, who gave $350,000 in 2015. Bloomberg already had contributed $250,000 in 2014, an amount that was disclosed prior to the election because the funds arrived before the end of 2014.

 

Other donors from 2015 who were disclosed after the election included:

 

• Gap clothing co-founder Doris Fisher ($750,000). The longtime charter supporter also gave $550,000 in 2014.

 

• Wal-Mart Corp. heirs Carrie W. Penner ($150,000) and Jim Walton ($225,000). The two also gave a combined $620,000 in 2014.

 

• Grower Barbara Grimm ($500,000), owner of one of California’s largest farming operations, who started a charter school near Bakersfield. Grimm also gave $586,400 in 2014.

 

• Emerson Collective ($150,000), a corporation under the control of Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs, which supports charitable and political causes.

 

• Investor John H. Scully ($100,000). He and his wife also gave $400,000 in 2014.

 

• Philanthropist Eli Broad ($50,000). He also gave $305,000 to the state charter PAC in 2014.

 

 

The issue of so-called “dark money” has touched Broad and the Fisher family before. In the 2012 election, the Fishers gave $9 million and Broad, $1 million, to groups that concealed the sources of these donations. The money was used to oppose a tax increase to fund education and in support of a ballot measure to limit union participation in political campaigns. The tax increase passed, the anti-union measure failed and the dark money maneuvering led to fines for some of the participants, although not the donors.

 

As in this year’s elections, the mega-donors have not always carried the day. In the 2013 elections, candidates backed by wealthy donors lost two of three contests, including one in which incumbent Steve Zimmer prevailed. He used the identity of the donors as an effective counterpunch to their resources.

 

“They’re truly funded by and accountable to the 1%,” Zimmer said of the charter advocacy group.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories Billionaires, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Los Angeles, Politics, Privatization
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