The hedge fund managers created an organization called “Democrats for Education Reform” to advocate for charter schools and high-stakes testing, including evaluating teachers by the test scores of their students (VAM).
In the comments section, someone recalled that George Miller was one of the architects of No Child Left Behind, and I remembered having an unpleasant encounter with Miller in 2010, after the release of my 2010 book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education. I was invited by Connecticut Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro to a private dinner at her home to talk about the book to the Democratic members of the House Education Committee, and Miller was there. In my talk, I was highly critical of NCLB. Miller was outraged. He defended it vociferously.
Yesterday I remembered that I had received an invitation to a fundraiser in 2012 for George Miller from DFER at a posh restaurant in Manhattan. The cost of each breakfast was $1,250. Miller did not have an opponent. I did not attend.
Miller has since retired. I was told that Nancy Pelosi relied on him as the leading education expert in Congress
Here is the list of Democrats (pro-charter, pro-high-stakes testing) endorsed by DFER in 2012. You may be surprised to see who is on the list, including Congressman Bobby Scott, who succeeded Miller as the leading Democrat on the House Education Committee, and Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, now a leading voice for gun control, but sponsor of the Murphy Amendment to ESSA, which was intended to preserve the George W. Bush punitive consequences of testing. Although every Democrat on the Senate HELP committee (including Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders) supported the Murphy Amendment, it was defeated by the Republican majority on the committee. Had it passed, schools would still be judged by AYP. And, of course, Jared Polis was on the DFER list; he is now running for governor of Colorado. He is a zealous supporter of charter schools.
This year, DFER’s big cause is the governor’s race in California, and their candidate is Antonio Villiraigosa, the former mayor of Los Angeles, who is carrying forward the DeVos agenda of privatization by charters.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I hope California is aware of Villaraigosa’s associations with Eli Broad and John Deasy of iPad and other scandals. DFER is California’s Republican Party. Democrats In Name Only.
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Thanks for this useful list of candidates to avoid. If the Democrats were wise, they would distance themselves from DFER. They would follow the people instead of the money. Parents and communities are tired of “reform” being foisted upon them, and they are tired of “lesser evil” choices. They are tired of politicians supporting privatization over public education. In Florida if it comes down to Scott or Nelson, I will choose Nelson as he is far more reasonable than the vile Scott.
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“They would follow the people instead of the money” – they are not a Communist party, nor Socialist, nor Social-Democratic. Heck, even Communist parties these days follow the money. Your expectations are unrealistic.
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The DFERS are so WRONG…NEO-LIBERALs for the $$$$$.
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As a parent educaton activist in Northern Virginia who knows several VEA members, I have always expressed my disappointment in its continued endorsement of Congressman Bobby Scott despite his affiliation with DFER. Until the VEA ceases endorsing him, there’s little hope for change. I find it disheartening & inexplicable.
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What was Jerry Brown’s relation with DFER? I know Brown has had some connections with charter schools in California.
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I am not sure but assume he didn’t need their money. He is relentlessly on board the charter train.
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Miller was my Congressman. I too had an unpleasant encounter with him at a local hearing where he showed up to personally push to convert one of the high schools in my district to charter. Since then that high school has among other things, experienced huge teacher turnover. Key senior classes have had multiple substitutes with “emergency crediamtials.” They hired an “executive director” whom they pay a quarter million dollars a year,!whose primary job seems to be opening more charters in our county who will hire him as a “consultant” and who hired his wife as an administrator for a salary of $170,000 per year. He also recently put one of the Candidates for Superintendent if the County Office of Education on his payroll as an “Assistant Prinicipal”. The County Office approves charters if they are turned down at the District level.
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Fortunately, Villaraigosa is slipping in the polls. I think he’s gone from second place to fourth and has only until June to get back in the top 2. (caveat: I don’t know the specifics of the polls (who conducted, likely voters or registered voters, margin of error)
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That’s good news.
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