Rachel Levy is a blogger, a parent of children in Virginia public schools, and a public education activist, though not in that order.
In this post, she explains why she is supporting Lt. Governor Ralph Northam in the Democratic run-off for Governor on June 13.
Northam’s opponent Tom Periello is presenting himself as a progressive, and he has been endorsed by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. But Levy points out that Periello was DFERs “Reformer of the Month” in 2010. Has he changed? He hast said so.
Levy writes:
“Almost every state-level office holder, Virginia’s senators, and most if not all of Virginia’s Democratic members of the U.S. House have endorsed Ralph Northam. The Perriello campaign tries to dismiss this as “back room establishment.” First of all, that’s dismissive of individual voters like me who support Northam and implies that we can’t think for ourselves. Second, um, those members of the “back room establishment” are the people who have actually done the nitty gritty (and super important) local- and state-level work that Perriello hasn’t and who are closest to constituents. You know who’s even more establishment and even more distant from Virginia voters? The Obama officials who all endorsed Perriello. It doesn’t get much more centrist establishment than John Podesta.”
Levy says she will vote for whichever Democrat wins the run-off.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“But Levy points out that Periello was DFERs “Reformer of the Month” in 2010. ”
That’s disqualifying. What a bad endorsement.
This is not accurate. According to this report on their debate, “Perriello said flatly that he would oppose charter schools, while Northam said the state’s public schools should be properly funded before further exploration of charter schools.” http://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/at-henrico-debate-northam-and-perriello-trade-blows-over-democratic/article_0ec1bafc-94ab-53d4-9fcc-f85e40480a62.html
Both men have has some right wing positions in the past and have become overt progressives now. This is probably political survival tactics in Virginia. Northam had voted for G.W. Bush twice before going into politics and says it was a mistake he regrets now. Perriello accepted NRA endorsement and followed Obama on Charters, but forcefully rejects both now. Perriello won a conservative Congressional seat the first time in ages, with the Obama win in 2008. He voted for Obamacare, which he probably knew would make him lose office in 2010, and it did. That to me was a profile in courage. But I’m still undecided. I’ve heard Perriello, who was impressive, and will hear Northam this Thursday at our local Indivisible group. I think both will be good, and the Republican just awful.
I would like to know whether Perriello is funded by DFER in this race. When and if he releases his contributors, would you share it with us? He spent some time working for the Center for American Progress; they are the pro-charter Obama Democrats. I hope he makes a pledge not to support the kind of legislation that Governor McAuliffe vetoed. The DFER-CAP history gives pause.
http://www.vpap.org/committees/285810/perriello-for-governor-tom/
Here’s his 1st quarter report, Diane. We in Virginia await your analysis! Thank you!
http://www.vpap.org/donors/238986-jared-polis/
Jared Polis alert!! DFER alert!!
I am the parent who questioned Tom Perriello about his past DFER connections at his town hall meeting in Montclair, Virginia, on April 14, 2017, and I even mentioned Jared Polis’s name!! Tom distanced himself from DFER and said he was unaware of any current DFER campaign contributions. I’m trying to find the You Tube video of our exchange to post. Stay tuned!
Here is a link to the town hall meeting —
I ask my question about past support of charter schools at approx. 32:20 and MAB’s question about DFER immediately follows.
Va Teacher,
Were you satisfied that Periello will oppose charters? I listened to the video you posted. I am so used to reformer lies that I am skeptical but I don’t want to be unfair.
It always surprises me that Governor races give so little attention to education because it is the biggest chunk of every state’s budget.
I will take Perriello at his word about charter schools and he did say he would veto legislation like the legislation for vouchers and charter schools our current Governor, Terry McAuliffe, has vetoed. However, I but concerns about how he has conveniently changed his mind on other issues, too, such as abortion, guns, and building of pipelines, since his days in Congress.
I was also very concerned about Periello’s response to MAB regarding DFER, ESPECIALLY Since we uncovered Polis’s recent campaign donation to his gubernatorial campaign.
Not surprisingly, the Virginia Education Association has endorsed our current Lt. Governor Ralph Northam in the Democratic primary because of his steadfast support for public education as LG and State senator. I will be voting for Northam and volunteering to canvass for him.
If Perriello wins the primary, I will support him. The likely republican nominee for governor, Ed Gillespie, has received large campaign donations from Betsy DeVos.
VATeacher, are contributions to the candidates online?
CO Congressman Jared Polis is a Obama-Duncan charter zealot. He is also a multimillionaire.
Diane, the full list is in MAB’s first link on funding. I note that the funders include the Soros’s, which I take to mean that they think he is the most progressive candidate.
I think this discussion is focusing too much just on Periello. Northam’s answer was weaker than Periello on Charters, and he voted for W. Bush the second time, which is hard for me to get past. Both have problems with past right wing positions, and solid progressive policies now, I believe.
I think both will govern liberally, and be a check on the reactionary legislature, if that continues.
William Berkson,
I can’t find MAB’s first comment or the link he sent. Could you forward it?
Here is MAB’s link, from above: http://www.vpap.org/committees/285810/perriello-for-governor-tom/
I didn’t have time to check the list out, but recognized the name of one prominent charter supporter. Nicholas Hanauer gave $1 million to Bill Gates’ successful campaign to get a referendum for charters passed in Washington State. The highest state court subsequently declared that charter schools are not public schools, because unlike other public schools in the state, they do not have an elected board.
Gates has been fighting this ever since with legislative work-arounds to create alternate funding sources.
Diane — Thanks for your willingness to search this list. It’s concerning that two big reform figures have already have been discovered in Perriello’s campaign contributions list.
What are some other big DFER / reformer names we should be looking for in searching through the campaign donations?
On a side note, The first time I heard you speak was at the NEA Convention in 2009, or so, I believe. Thanks for all of your efforts to strengthen public education — many teachers and parents are appreciative.
You have to google names and link to DFER or charter schools. Hanauer sounded familiar. He was easy. I did not recognize any others
Diane, I want to add that at the Townhall on 4/14/17, Tom did state that he supported Governor McAuliffe’s veto of the charter school legislation that would have shifted decision-making control from local to state.
Diane,
Please see my two comments above VA Teacher’s for links to Perriello’s campaign contributors and Jared Polis’s in particular wherein he donated $3,500.
We are hoping you can review the list of contributors to identify any DFER’s in addition to Polis.
Thanks!
MAB,
I am unable to find the links you sent. Please send again.
http://www.vpap.org/committees/285810/perriello-for-governor-tom/
Here’s the link to all of his 1st quarter contributors.
Hope it works this time. If not please let me know & I will ask my friend, VATeacher, to post.
http://www.vpap.org/donors/238986-jared-polis/
Here is the link to Jared Polis.
What’s concerning is that I asked him point blank at the townhall on 4/14/17 if he’s still receiving DFER donations (you can watch this exchange in the video after VATeacher’s charter questions). His response was no, but he wouldn’t know if individuals affiliated with DFER have donated. He clearly knows who Jared Polis is (since co-sponsored charter school legislation with him in Congress). He wasn’t aware of Polis’s 1st quarter $3,500 donation? This is what I feared about Tom Perriello – that he wasn’t being upfront. I had reason to feel this way prior to his townhall & why I came prepared to ask him the DFER questions.
MAB,
Is that the only contribution Periello received in 2017? That seems unlikely but I don’t know where to find the full list of contributors.
Diane. Are you able to open the first link I posted (above the Jared Polis link) with the complete list of Perriello’s donors for the 1st quarter? We anxiously await your review to let us know if there are DFER-related donations we are unaware of. Thanks.
Please see the two links I posted above VATeacher’s comments with Perriello’s campaign contributors and Jared Polis’s in particular.
Sent from my Sprint Samsung Galaxy S7.
The Virginia legislature has passed several bills, providing for school choice. One was passed this February. ( http://loudounnow.com/2017/02/07/state-house-passes-school-choice-voucher-bill/)
Governor McAuliffe keeps vetoing these bills. It is time for a governor, who will support school choice, and sign this legistation.
Neither of the two major Democratic candidates have endorsed school choice.
Charles, in case you had not noticed, this is a blog whose fundamental goal is to preserve and improve public schools. Do you understand that?
Your banner says: “A site to discuss better education for all” (SIC)
Is your fundamental goal different from your banner?
If you truly support better education for all, you should be supporting private, parochial, public, home schooling, private military academies, etc.
The answer is no, I do not understand. If you are solely interested in discussing government-run public schools, then you should consider altering your banner.
I believe, sincerely, that school choice will benefit government-run public schools. This may sound weird, but it is true.
When public schools lose their monopoly, and all schools are forced to deal with the discipline of the marketplace, public schools will be forced to improve or close.
With alternate schools innovating, and meeting the needs of parents/children, public schools will “feel the spur”.
Charles,
As every other nation recognizes, the only way to provide “a better education for all” is by establishing an excellent public school system.
Those nations have have adopted a free-market ideology provide highly inequitable schools and highly segregated schools. We already have far too much inequity and too much segregation, it would be far worse with a regime of school choice, which benefits the advantaged and harms the have-nots.
This blog is dedicated to supporting a better education for all by strengthening public schools and the teaching profession.
Now that you understand the purpose of the blog, would you stop submitting duplicate comments about the virtues of choice?
@Diane: Message received, and somewhat understood. The benefits of school choice and vouchers are self-evident, and need not be repeated. The rich have school choice. Many people. lower on the economic scale, make sacrifices and come up with the money to send their children to alternate schools.
The benefits of alternate schools are also self-evident. They need not be repeated. Parents send their children to private/parochial schools by choice. If these schools were an abomination, they would all close. These schools are subject to the discipline of the marketplace. Public schools are not.
I believe sincerely, that supporters of public schools, and alternate schools can find “common ground”, and work together to the benefit of parents, children, and our nation. We cannot afford to fail our children. We have to live in the society, that today’s children will build.
Public school advocates are almost silent, over the needs of gifted/talented students. It is not “elitism” to provide additional funds and support to these children. Most (NOT ALL) public schools do not have the resources, nor the qualified teachers, to deal with gifted/talented. This is why many people (including myself) believe that gifted/talented, should be removed from schools, which are ill-equipped to deal with them.
Either a residence preparatory academy (like the Illinois math and science academy), or alternate schools, will enable parents and teachers to meet the needs of these children.
States should be spending more on the training of teachers. And I believe especially on the training of teachers for special needs children, and more especially on training teachers to meet the exceptional demands of gifted/talented children.
We are more in agreement, than you realize.
Charles,
There have been multiple studies of the failure of vouchers to help the neediest kids. There have been multiple examples of charter fraud, waste, and abuse. The only route to “a better education for all” is found in Finland, where there are highly educated professionals in every classroom, equitable resources of every school, and where you live doesn’t matter: all schools are good schools.
@Diane: Are you serious? Do you sincerely believe, that ” The only route to “a better education for all” is found in Finland ” (sic)?
I readily concede, that Finland has a top-notch system of publicly financed education, and that their schools are excellent. I also believe that many (NOT ALL) of their ideas and concepts should be emulated here in the USA.
The problem is that Finland is a socialist, Scandinavian country, and there would be much political opposition to bringing in most of their ideas and concepts. Politics is the art of the possible.
Notwithstanding, there are excellent public schools in many parts of the USA. I can’t stop bragging about Fairfax VA. Sadly, downstate Virginia does not have the financial resources of Northern VA, and the legislature is loath to provide the necessary funding to provide the same funding as Northern VA. The kids lose, because schools in VA are financed by property taxes (primarily).
While everyone agrees that the Finns have great schools, we live in the real world. We have 50 states, one federal district, one commonwealth, and three territories. There is no way that we could have a unified, federal school system like the Finns. What works in Finland, may not be transferable to Wyoming.
Charles,
Read Pasi Sahlberg’s book, Finnish Lessons. Finland copied its educational ideas about individualizing instruction, assuring equity for all, and the importance of public schooling from the US. Have you been to Finland. It is not a socialist country. That’s ridiculous.
@Diane: Why is there so little discussion of special needs children? Most people have no problem with additional funding and attention going to handicapped, learning-disabled, blind, etc.
But, there is little support for additional funding/attention going to the gifted/talented children. I think there is a “double standard”.
Most professional educators would agree that gifted/talented children need additional attention and funding, to reach their full potential. Some years ago, the governor of Maryland, attempted to get a residence preparatory academy for gifted/talented in Maryland. The governor was almost tarred and feathered by the educational establishment there. They cried “elitism”. Sad.
What do you think would be appropriate for gifted/talented children?
I have never been to Finland. But by any objective measure, the country is a socialist country. see
https://blog.genoppinstitute.org/articles/2016/08/08/if-socialism-is-so-great-why-is-finland-scrapping-it/
http://blog.peerform.com/top-ten-most-socialist-countries-in-the-world/
Their socialist system seems to work well for them. I am also glad that their public education system works in their favor. I am 1000% in favor, of emulating their successes.
Our nation adopted the interstate highway system, from the German Autobahns. I have no problem at all, from adopting good ideas from foreign nations.
Charles,
I have been in Communist countries, socialist countries, and capitalist countries.
Finland is a capitalist country with a powerful social safety net.
if you haven’t been there, don’t opine.
As this thread is still active, let me make one comment on Hanauer and Periello. I don’t think you can conclude from Hanauer’s support of Periello that Periello is lying about his current support of public education. He said in the online video that charters are proven not to help. That to me is the bright line of somebody who gets it.
Hanauer, like a lot of misguided supporters of charters, is otherwise a liberal activist. He was a leader of the successful effort to get a $15 minimum wage in Seattle, his home town. When Periello announced he said he supported the $15 minimum wage, and then Northam followed suit. So Hanauer has other reasons to support Periello.
And even you, Diane, and, I admit, I, initially thought charters might work. So the fact that Periello was slower to come around is concerning, but I don’t think is a reason to hold a grudge if he has seen the light. I just don’t want to see us doing guilt by association, which also helped sink Hillary. In my opinion the charter issue is NOT a reason to prefer Northam, whose statements on charters in fact have been somewhat softer.
Virginia is slow to bring in school choice. There are fewer charter schools in Virginia, than either Maryland nor North Carolina. Virginia is really “several” states. I have lived in Lynchburg, Norfolk, and Fairfax. 20% of the state’s population lives in Fairfax. The public schools here are excellent, and there is little feeling here for school choice. “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” mentality. And downstate, in the rural areas, there is little demand for school choice.
Nevertheless, the Commonwealth is predominately Republican, notwithstanding our two democratic senators.
I do not understand how allowing unaccountable bankers & real estate profiteers to come in between public education money & the school equals quality for all children. The choosers are private entities whose primary ‘market’ is to do nothing but siphon public money from the public. The choosers in these schools are not teachers, parents, or children & they refuse to allow democratically elected school boards.