A small group of very wealthy financiers is spending at least $13 million to keep the GOP in control of the State Senate in New York. Most of the money is flowing through StudentsFirst, whose goal is to protect and expand privately managed charter schools.
A group of 17 wealthy donors has poured more than $13.4 million into four GOP-leaning super PACs in a bid to influence this year’s state legislative races, a new report claims.
The report from the activist group Hedge Clippers showed that the bulk of the money – about $10.6 million – went to New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany, a super PAC created by the pro-charter school group StudentsFirstNY.
Three other education reform PACs were also recipients of donations from the group of 17, the report found.
Hedge Clippers’ report comes as a super PAC created by the state teacher’s union, Fund For Great Public Schools, has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in the past few weeks to boost Democratic efforts to take control of the state Senate.
“A small group of mega-wealthy donors is trying to sway our elections to protect their personal fortunes, while teachers’ unions are supporting candidates who will enact a progressive agenda for all working people,” said Michael Kink of the Hedge Clippers campaign.
Among the biggest donors were hedge fund managers Daniel Loeb, who gave about $3.2 million to the super PACs, and Paul Singer, who gave about $2.5 million. Wal-Mart heir Alice Walton also gave about $2.4 million.
Jenny Sedlis, executive director of StudentsFirstNY, slammed the Hedge Clippers report.
“A group of civic-minded New Yorkers formed StudentsFirstNY to ensure the needs of students factor into the policy conversation in Albany,” Sedlis said. “These reports are an attempt to intimidate funders so that student interests won’t be represented. Thankfully our funders care too deeply about children to be intimidated.”
We call the billionaires “moguls,” “oligarchs,” and “tycoons,” determined to privatize our public schools and destroy public education. StudentsFirst calls them “civic-minded New Yorkers.” When did Alice Walton move to New York? Aren’t you pleased to know that billionaires will not be “intimidated” by reports that they are trying to undermine our democracy and privatize public education, which they scorn as beneath them and unworthy of their patronage?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
What’s the good of having all that money if it won’t buy a politician or two?
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Cross posted at http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/New-York-17-Tycoons-Try-t-in-General_News-Billionaires_Charter-School-Failure_Charter-Schools_Control-Fraud-161104-896.html#comment627120
with this comment whites embedded links at the comment.
See my series on privatization,,
http://www.opednews.com/Series/PRIVITIZATION-by-Susan-Lee-Schwartz-150925-546.html
using information that Diane Ravitch provides about the state legislatures http://www.opednews.com/Series/legislature-and-governorsL-by-Susan-Lee-Schwartz-150217-816.html which are taking over the local schools, with nary an educator on board, and giving them to charters, with not a shred of oversight! Here is a link to Diane’s posts on charter school corruption
https://dianeravitch.net/?s=charter+school++fraud.
http://www.opednews.com/Series/legislature-and-governorsL-by-Susan-Lee-Schwartz-150217-816.html
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Bravo to Hedge Clippers for exposing the economic royalists, robber barons, oligarchs, plutocrats and yachtocrats. Such lovely people, they want to privatize the schools, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. They want to maintain our privatized, “free” market for profit health care system which is cruel, punitive and costly. We are still the only wealthy democracy without a true national health care system. Here’s hoping amendment 69 (or ColoradoCare) passes in Colorado.
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Yesterday, I picked up a copy of the West Side Spirit, a weekly print magazine for the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It listed candidates running for local office including State Senate and their priorities. All the Republican candidates without fail listed expanding charter schools as a priority, and some listed it as the number 1 priority. I figured they were all bought off, and now I have the proof!
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Recently, in a national publication, Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) was featured negatively, for its use of hedge funds. In a recent letter that OPERS sent to members, who asked them to stop the use of hedge funds, the Retirement System cited a hedge fund talking point, which was crafted, by the industry, in response to the finding, that hedge funds fail to produce better returns. That new talking point, “hedge funds reduce volatility”, has also been found to be, false.
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Charters, charters, charters! It’s another round of charter-mania in ed reformland.
I’ll be relieved when they reach their goal of privatizing all public schools-all economic and social problems are solved.
No additional investment, trade-offs or sacrifices = huge returns. No wonder all politicians are head over heels in love.
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Ohio lawmakers, pressured by national ed reformers and lobbyists, set high school graduation requirements at levels where 50% of students will fail.
Recognizing they had been bamboozled into doing something dumb and reckless yet again, they were finally forced to listen to the people who actually live in this state so will be working on yet another round of rule changes:
“Ohio’s new high school graduation requirements likely will be lowered even before they take effect because of growing worries so many students can’t meet them.
School administrators, who will stage a rare rally on Nov. 15 at the Statehouse to protest the new standards, say that in some districts as many as half of the seniors may not receive diplomas in 2018 because they are not on track to meet the tougher state benchmarks.
“It’s important to get this right, and not graduating in some cases 50 percent of students is not acceptable,” said Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering.
She said she expects “we will make adjustments” to the requirements. “We can’t drag it out … kids are being stressed.”
Here’s an idea. Maybe they could ask the people who run public schools next time? These people have to travel to the statehouse and rally in order to have input into public school policy? They were completely ignored, again, when these decisions were made?
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The big dog (50 million students – their parents and their family and community cultures) will always wag the tail (use of test scores, promotion and graduation requirements). Schools will always bend to their constituents. It cannot work any other way. Community and family cultures dictate our limitations.
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The tycoons aren’t giving this money away, because they expect to earn a lot more if they win. This is an investment for public-fed profits that will keep paying them back for generations. A few million now could turn into a cash flow of billions.
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