The battle over Question 2 in Massachusetts was overshadowed by the national election, but it was an important bellwether in the fight against privatization.
The amount of money spent was phenomenal. The usual billionaire suspects put up most of the money to promote the measure and the teachers’ union, spending the dues collected from individual teachers who work daily in the classrooms of the state, put up most of the money to resist increased privatization of public schools.
The ballot measure was defeated overwhelmingly, by 62-38. The only districts to approve it were affluent districts that would unlikely to have any charters, and the districts that voted against it most heavily were those that already had charters and saw the drain on their budgets.
An Associated Press review of donations to school choice ballot questions and candidates found that spending on the 2016 question — which would have let Massachusetts add up to a dozen new or expanded charter schools each year outside of existing caps — topped $43 million.
Of the nine school choice-related ballot questions put before voters across the country since 2000, that level of spending was second only a 2000 ballot question in California, which would have established school vouchers.
Spending on the California question neared $63 million.
Both the Massachusetts and the California question failed. In Massachusetts, more than six in 10 voters rejected the proposal.
Those supporting the Massachusetts question included a handful of big money donors who rank among the top 48 individuals or married couples who gave at least $100,000 from 2000 to 2016 to support statewide ballot measures advocating for the creation or expansion of charter schools or taxpayer-funded scholarships that can be used for private school tuition for students in kindergarten through high school, according to the AP review.
Some of those top money donors to last year’s ballot question hailed from out-of-state including: Alice Walton, of Arizona, a member of Wal-Mart’s Walton family, who gave $740,000; Bloomberg founder and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who contributed $490,000; and John Douglas Arnold, of Texas, a Centaurus Advisors hedge fund manager and former Enron trader, who gave $250,000.
The top 48 donor list also includes Massachusetts residents who supported the 2016 charter school question, including: Edward Shapiro, a Wellesley resident and partner at Par Capital Management, who gave $225,000; Bradley Bloom, a Wellesley resident and co-founder of Berkshire Partners, who gave $150,000; and Ray Stata, a Dover resident and Analog Devices founder, who contributed $125,000.
All told, supporters poured nearly $27 million into trying to persuade Massachusetts voters to support the initiative. The opposition, funded largely by teachers unions, spent more than $16 million fighting the question.
The group spending the most to support the question — the New York City-based Families for Excellent Schools — contributed more than $17 million. The group has refused to say who is funding them.
New Yorkers are familiar with “Families for Excellent Schools.” This is the group that spent millions on television advertising to attack Mayor Bill de Blasio when he tried to rein in Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy schools. The New York Times reported that the group consists of wealthy Wall Street moguls. These “families” for “excellent schools” are rich white men who live in places like Greenwich, Connecticut, and other affluent suburbs, who have probably never set foot in a public school.
Another piece of evidence as to why we must return to Eisenhower-era income tax rates if our democracy is to survive.
They lost, but they won’t abide by the voters’ decision.
The usual reformster orgs are pushing “Empowerment Zones” which would strip teachers of their union protections in the name of “flexibility”:
“Under the legislation, innovation zones would enjoy broad latitude over curriculum, the length and structure of the school day, and hiring decisions. They would still be staffed by unionized district teachers and they would enroll all the same children who attended the school before the changeover.
The zones, which could be initiated either by local education officials or by the state education commissioner, would be overseen by an independent board that would include local representatives, but not be under the control of the district school committee and superintendent.”
https://commonwealthmagazine.org/education/will-state-embrace-innovation-school-zones/
State Senate President Stan Rosenberg, who door knocked with teachers in opposition to Question 2, gave the keynote address at a DFER luncheon on May 2.
And this week Rich Barlow told us that, “Opposition to charter schools is to the left what climate change denial is to the right, a fortress of unreason that shields ideology from contrary evidence.” in a post titled “Open Schools, Closed Minds: The Progressive Bias Against Charter Schools”
http://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2017/05/16/charter-schools-opposition-rich-barlow
In 1993, Massachusetts passed legislation for a “foundation budget” which would guarantee local school districts received sufficient money from the state to make up for disparities in school budgets due to cities’ and town’s inability to pay for equitable schooling across the state. The foundation budget was a response to a lawsuit known as McDuffy v. Secretary of the Executive Office of Education, begun in 1978. The problem is funding has not been approriated and we’re now about $2 billion in the hole. Meantime, DESE seeks charters and other means to undermine public schools.
Click to access fbrc.pdf
By the way, there’s a statewide rally for public education on Boston Common this afternoon from 2:00-5:00. Parents, students and teachers will be performing. It’s sponsored by the same coalition of folks who banded together to fight off the predations of the Question 2 reformsters.
Come if you can – all the cool kids will be there!
http://rallyforpubliced.com
Christine,
Gates’ attacks on public universities are in full gear. Two of the incursions into higher ed. are New America’s “Starting from Scratch or a New Vision for Higher Ed.” and Frontier Set, “Georgia will implement
business models for collaborative course development and delivery.”
It’s disgusting how much was spent. Can you imagine how many teachers, counselors, cafeteria staff, paraprofessionals, or custodians that money could have hired? How about pencils, paper, musical instruments, sheet music, art supplies, field trips, cooking equipment, library books, etc?
And that goes for all of the money spent by these “choice” advocates in elections and ballot initiatives.
I know it’s been said, but it needs to be repeated ad infinitum until people realize what’s happening.
I have no problem with this kind of spending. The people who spent the money were well within their rights. (See the US Constitution Amendment 1). I do not live in Mass, but I am delighted with the results.