Austin Beutner wants to convert Los Angeles into a “portfolio district.” He is not an educator, which qualifies him to reform the nation’s second largest school district, imposing ideas gleaned from the corporate sector, where he spent his career, buying and selling get, opening and closing, without knowing anything about the businesses he oversaw.
What is a portfolio district?
This is an article that appeared in Chalkbeat a year ago, explaining the concert of a “portfolio district” and some of the billionaire-funded Reformers promoting it.
The billionaires have funded an organization to bring “portfolio models” to 40 cities in 10 years. They begin their discussion by acknowledging that “very little works in education reform,” which is an accurate assessment.
They go on to claim that Denver, New Orleans, and Washington, D.C. are breakthrough districts whose successes should be spread. Not many people other than Reformers would look on D.C. as a model district; what’s it is best known for during the Rhee-Reform era is covered up cheating scandals, graduation rate scandals, and politicized data. D.C. has the largest achievement gaps of any urban district tested by NAEP. Jeanne Kaplan has written numerous posts about Denver’s bad habit of massaging the data. New Orleans has a highly stratified district, in which 40% of the charters are rated D or F by the state and highly segregated. Louisiana, under reform control for at least a decade, recently dropped on NAEP and is one of the lowest performing states in the nation (and New Orleans is one of its lowest performing districts).
Here are Powerpoint presentations assembled by one of Beutner’s shadow government firms that is paid for by Broad and others – Kitamba, the one that worked with Michelle Rhee in Washington, DC. This is from a “how to” conference in Texas on portfolio districts. Look at the power points associated with the workshop called “How to Thoughtfully Manage Your Portfolio,” especially slides 10 and 11. This explains exactly how it works – closing schools, turning schools over to charters. Assembled were big thinkers, failed Superintendents and consultants brought together to discuss the Reform strategies, which have worked nowhere. Jeanne Kaplan has written numerous posts about Denver’s bad habit of massaging the data.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This is more than informative, and worrisome also. There are many questions and one of them is where are the politicians in all this. If I were to ask right now, what is the state of the Nation’s education what would be the answer? Just to what extent has the Nation’s education been privatized?
Sometimes it seems that privatizing is declining and sometimes it seems to be gaining. It would be good to know, or have a wider view.
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Here is the wider view.
We now know that charters do not have greater success (on tests) than public schools unless they cherrypick their students.
The charter movement is actually in decline. The number of applications to open new charters has declined significantly in the past 5 years.
But the so-called Reformers want to expand and grow more and more charters because that is what they are paid big bucks to do.
“Reform” is no longer about “saving poor kids from failing schools,” but about protecting the money flow from big foundations to entrepreneurial charter operators and their buddies.
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Keep in mind that there are ways to “privatize” within the public system, even without charters. Right now that’s taking the form of edtech, “personalized” [sic] learning and data mining, all for massive profit.
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Pur$e-onalized kearning
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Learning
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I’m officially stealing that.
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Be my guest.
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Anybody who needs to know, or needs to show others what a total disaster the “portfolio” model is needs to watch this video of the premiere “portfolio” architect Paymon Rouinfard (sp.) jamming it down these unwilling parents’ throats:
VIDEO:
“Camden, NJ Parents Smack Down Camden Supe Paymon Rouhanifard at a Meeting Where Paymon Tells the Parents Their School is Being Given Over to Private, Unaccountable Charter Management.”
This video BELOW is worthy of an article — a perfect example of corporate ed. reform “throat-jamming” (to quote Peter Greene), as in they’re just jamming charter-ization and privatization down these parents’ throats, as the decision to give the traditional public school McGraw Elementary over to a private charter operator was made without and against the will of the parents.
It’s a done deal, but they’ll try to schmooze the parents anyway. They may be be lubing up the parents’ throats with manipulative con-man blather, but the it’s “throat-jamming” nonetheless,
Here’s this video of Paymon and his minions try to schmooze the parents of a Camden grade school that is being closed down, all its teachers fired, and the building / multi-million-dollar budget given to a private, unaccountable charter operator— Mastery Charter, Inc.
Paymon is the skinny guy in the baby-blue dress shirt and glasses who does most of the talking, leading the meeting.
Mastery Charter, Inc. chose to have a rep who is African-American — heavy-set guy in a white business shirt — to schmooze these African-American parents, but that cynical, racist choice didn’t seem to work.
Paymon & Co. are trying to convince them that this charter conversion will be just wonderful, and the parents — who have a deep, personal, multi generational attachment to the current traditional public school & its teachers — aren’t buying it.
Paymon & Co. are quite unprepared by how well-informed and confrontational these parents are.
( 1:38 – )
( 1:38 – )
Here, Paymon gets caught lying early on — claiming that any current teachers who move to the Mastery charter will retain their same seniority, retirement, etc. — and the parents who know otherwise shout:
“NOT TRUE!!!”
This point is followed up on at around…
(26:45 – )
(26:45 – )
where a parent (and also a school employee, I believe) pulls out a Mastery document — “I have the paper right here!” — that says any traditional public school teacher that opts to work at the new Master Charter incarnation of the school “will lose their tenure,” showing Paymon up to be a liar. She further asks him why any current teacher would give up something they worked 20, 30 years for.
These parents later yell that teachers at existing Mastery charters are all TFA, and who will only be there for 2 years, and whose primary motivation — or a strong motivation — is “just to pay off their student loans!” … in contrast to teachers who’ve spend decades teaching multiple generations of students.
Oooh snap!’
Next, they try to win the parents over by telling them how millions of dollars are going into renovating the school …. once it’s been given to a charter. The parents ask, “Why couldn’t they do that for the current traditional public school?”
Finally, a parent holds up a petition signed by the parents of all the current students who are asking Paymon NOT TO CLOSE THE SCHOOL, AND GIVE IT OVER TO MASTERY, telling him that they will hold him accountable if he goes through with the charter conversion:
This is at:
( 34:24 – )
( 34:24- )
Paymon threw that petition right in the trash, and wen ahead with the charter conversion.
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I missed a key point in the analysis of this video:
At the beginning of Paymon’s pitch to the parents justifying the closing & charter-izing of McGraw Elementary, Paymon gives a long argement that is based on …
… that’s right …
… low student test scores!!!!
PAYMON:
” … **kids are not at grade level based on state test scores. … Academic performance has been falling for 30 years.”*
… (“Academic performance” based on … once again … student test scores.)”*
This was likely a boilerplate speech that he vomited up whenever he needed to — to angry, skeptical parents … to the media … to politicians.
“I”m charter-izing, and creating a charter portfolio district all because of these terrible low test scores.”
He then “rinses and repeats” this during five years of charter-ization. which Paymon led and was in charge of overseeing.
After leaving after this five years, Paymon then writes this long screed decrying the misuse and over-emphasis — and negative consequences resulting from this misuse and over-emphasis — based on …
.. that’s right …
… low student test scores!!!!
BOTTOM LINE:
Using/misusing low test scores is great and useful when executing privatization … not so much when you’re done privatizing.
I love the parent who asks,
“If this program (charterizing, turning the school over to Mastery) is so great, then why aren’t you implementing it in affluent communities? … “the test scores are no better at the Camden charters.”
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Oh, and here are a couple of takedowns of Paymon by Jersey Jazzman.
In the first, Jazzman recounts Paymon’s days working and shilling for Eva (among other things).
On the eve of Paymon taking the job in Camden, Jazzman makes this pretty spot-on prediction of what Paymon will do in Camden, NJ:
http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2013/08/paymon-who.html
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
JERSEY JAZZMAN:
”I get the feeling that’s why this young man rose so quickly in NYC and Newark, and why he is now getting the Camden job:
“Rouhanifard has been trained to close local public schools over the objections of local parents to make way for charters, which, unlike public schools, do not serve every child in their neighborhoods. And if that angers parents, it doesn’t seem to phase him in the slightest.
“I don’t know what’s worse: that Rouhanifard hasn’t interacted with teachers, or that he holds parents in such contempt. Either way, his background bodes very poorly for the public schools of Camden.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
You also get an embedded YouTube video of Leonie Haimson yelling at Paymon during a NYC (PEP) school board meeting.
Here’s one more takedown of Paymon from Jersey Jazzman, written five years later:
http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2018/02/dont-believe-hype-facts-about.html
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Regarding the Mastery Charter Schools in the above video / post:
Mastery Charter, Inc. teachers do not need to be certified, or have any prior teaching training or experience.
Hmmm … why am I NOT surprised?
(Mastery. Ironic name, doncha think?
Indeed, as its teachers are not required to have even the slightest “mastery” of anything before setting foot in a classroom.)
From the FAQ’s for prospective Mastery teachers:
http://www.masterycharter.org/careers/teach-at-mastery/
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
FAQ
Q: Is this a substitute teaching position?
A: Nope, this is a full-time teaching position – salary and benefits!
Q: Do I need a certification?
A: You do not need a certification to apply or be hired initially. Once you are hired, we will work with you to secure the necessary certification for your role.
Q: What positions are available?
A: We are currently hiring for both immediate openings (ex: high school science, 4th grade literature, literacy support teachers, etc) as well as flex teacher roles. Flex teachers are placed at a campus to gain extra support until a lead teaching role becomes available, and yes, flex teachers are full-time positions too
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Don’t you just love that charters are free form that stifling regulation requiring trained, qualified teachers? (Yeah, but look at the savings in the line item “salary.”?)
Mastery has High School Science teachers with
— zero background (none required anyway) in Science;
— no education or training or Bachelor’s in teaching/education;
— no state certification— but promised assistance to obtain certification (no doubt from Relay, or a Relay-style alternate route diploma mill)
However, Orwell lives at Mastery as down the page, it
makes the claim:
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
“Excellent teachers make excellent schools. That’s why we are relentless about hiring top educators who can provide high-quality instruction AND build authentic, loving relationships with students.”
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Could you imagine hospital operators saying they we are relentless about hiring top doctors, but at the same time, not requiring those future physicians at at their hospital to have an M.D., or any prior medical training whatsoever?
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The “portfolio” model is another top down, non-evidence based, strategy to impose privatization on mostly minority communities. By buying board members and other stakeholders, they seek to turn democratically operated public schools into cash cows for corporations. There is nothing in their plan that will ensure better outcomes for students. It is simply a road map for a hostile takeover of a public institution and converting it to a privatized entity. The goal is to transfer the value of a public asset and move it into corporate hands. It is a strategy to move more wealth into the hands of the already wealthy. The local community loses a valuable asset, and in return they get chaos and disruption for no better outcomes. A “portfolio model” provides wealth and benefit to investors, not the local community that has its public schools “strip mined” by corporate raiders. Students are no longer a primary consideration, and their needs take a back seat to profit. Young people deserve to be more than a line item in some millionaire’s portfolio.
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Of course he does. Portfolio models are the worst. In Oakland, the district is looking at the possibility of closing up to 24 schools to “right size” the district, whatever that means. That’s what the portfolio model gets you; district schools closing on every corner of high-needs East and West Oakland, most of which will then be replaced by charter schools. And our GO-bought school board just lets it happen. Charters get right of first refusal for any closed district buildings via Prop. 39. The last 19 school closures resulted in 15 district schools being replaced by charters. How’s it working? Great, if you like the McDonalds model of school quality, high teacher churn/burnout, and a financial death spiral.
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It creates a scheme for moving public property into private pockets. It sounds like a legal mechanism for seizing public property.
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At a Hanukah celebration on Sunday, I sat in between an East Oakland mom whose 7th grade son fled a celebrated-yet-chaotic Oakland charter to attend a less chaotic Alameda charter, and an older mom whose son is teaching 7th grade as TFA at a chaotic public middle school in East Oakland. Bleak. The former mom reports that restorative justice goes by the wayside at the Oakland charter; the staff can’t make it work. I understand. When the volume of misbehavior is high, a time-and -labor-intensive response system like restorative justice is just not feasible.
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Portfolio is just slowly turning all the schools over to private contractors rather than quickly turning all the schools over to private contractors.
The people who promote it insist it’s different in each city, but if you read the plans they’re all basically identical- close public schools, open charter schools. Defund public schools, fund charter schools. Market charter schools, bash public schools.
The kids who are in existing public schools during the transition to privatization are going to get screwed. I think that’s 60% of students in LA, right?
They should transfer to charters right now. This is an announcement that the Best and Brightest have decided their schools have no value and will be pitched in the trash.
Get thee to a charter school. The public schools are now abandoned.
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Any model that defines students in a relationship to investors is highly suspect and should be rejected at all costs. Education should start with the needs of students, not investors.
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Will they retain 5% of public schools to act as a disfavored safety net for the favored charter and private schools?
That’s what the Netflix billionaire decreed, did he not?
That public schools exist only to back up selective choice schools.
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From the Chalk beat article on the Portfolio model
“A model emerges: Dozens of cities and millions in support
To understand the growing movement, a good place to start is with Ethan Gray and his organization, Education Cities.
The group started as a project of the Mind Trust, which hired Gray to create a network of peer groups across the country. Gray says his views were deeply influenced by the Mind Trust’s founder and leader David Harris, who helped him “understand how all the different pieces fit together when you’re trying to catalyze major change at the city level.”
Yes indeed.
I bet David Harris helped Ethan Gray understand , all right:: how much money he could make on the gig every year.
From the latest tax form 990 filing that I could locate (2015) Harris gets about $300k per year operating the Mind Trust (about 4% of their total $7 million revenue).
https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/204560286/2016_07_EO%2F20-4560286_990_201512
I could not locate tax form 990 for the offshoot organization that Gray heads which means I could not find his salary, but I did find something that states the revenue for 2014 at about $1.6 million
http://www.nonprofitfacts.com/OR/Cities-For-Education-Entrepreneurship-Trust-Inc-Cee-Trust.html
Make no mistake: the people who are running these so called “charitable” organizations are not volunteering. Far from it. Like the principles involved in writing the Common Core standards (David Coleman and Jason Zimba) they are doing quite well for themselves.
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I just found a 990 filing for “education cities” for 2016.
It states total revenue of close to $3million, with about $200k of that being paid to Ethan Gray, it’s CEO.
Not bad. Not bad atall.
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Good business. That’s what keeps them going. Where would these people find a job if the billionaires turned off the spigot?
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It’s actually enough to make a person ill.
Gray and Harris are making 4-5 times what the average teacher makes
each year.
These people have absolutely no shame.
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They could try teaching but they wouldn’t tolerate the low salaries.
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We could test the ed reform claim that they’re “agnostics”
Let’s study one of these districts. Were public schools and public school students treated fairly during the privatization transition? Or were they collateral damage?
How are the unfashionable PUBLIC schools doing in these districts? Have they gotten anything near the investment and cheerleading that charters get?
Gates and Walton won’t fund that study. If there’s still a real university out there that a billionaire hasn’t purchased maybe an academic could look at it.
Don’t swallow the “agnostic” claim without evidence. Where’s the evidence that these lobbyists treat public school students fairly? I haven’t seen a shred of it.
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What do they do if the miraculous transformation doesn’t occur and they’ve privatized all the public schools?
There’s no way to undo this experiment once it’s done. What if it’s another huge blunder by the same group of arrogant elites who have made so many other massive blunders?
The hubris is just breathtaking. 150 people have made an executive decision to privatize the only remaining public system in the country. If we all regret it, well, tough cookies. That’s just how they roll.
If it’s a disaster can we get public schools back? No. This decision is irreversible.
This is actually much, much bigger than privatizing Social Security. It’s a historic power grab. HUGE.
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It’s a shame to just pitch public schools on the trash heap. Such a waste. 150 years of investment exchanged for a cheap, gimmicky “choice app”. Reckless, entitled people who won’t have to live with the results of their decisions and will never be held accountable for any of them.
They won’t miss public schools. They didn’t attend them and their children won’t go anywhere near one.
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I was reading some of the ed reform plans for CTE. Labor unions provide most of the apprenticeships in skilled trades where I live.
Notably and glaringly absent from ed reform CTE plans? You guessed it- labor unions,
Ideology trumps common sense again. Labor unions are excluded from consideration, for no other reason than they are labor unions and ed reformers are vehemently anti-union.
Must be ideologically pure to make the cut.
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The only way to stop this is to end TOP DOWN and switch to BOTTOM UP with teachers trusted to make the decisions in their classrooms modeled on what Finland does and this must be supported by elected school boards, parents, and district administrators.
Before we can end TOP DOWN control, progressives and real liberals, not the Alt-Right generated demonized stereotype, will have to take back the White House, both Houses of Congress and the US Supreme Court and more states legislatures and governors’ mansions until the GOP is a pimple leaking and sinking into an ocean of red malignant puss compared to a clean air blue Mt Everest.
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What is the solution to improve the Los Angeles school district? It obviously is not working and many families send their children to private school already.
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The obvious answer is to stop the privatization and pour the necessary resources into the public schools so they can meet the needs of the children.
Charters siphon off money from the public schools.
Schools don’t improve by losing money.
Fragmentation is not a sound philosophy.
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If you were on the field and playing against a great team, would you send out one team or two? A dual school system is ineffective and inefficient.
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The largest team would be NYC public. Is it the most efficient and most effective or would it be better if it were split into multiple systems?
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We tried that. It was called decentralization. It failed.
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Sorry, the school districts on Long Island have an average of less than 6 schools, not 5.
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I remember now why I have repeatedly banned you from my blog. You come here to bait me and other readers.
Go away.
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When the big, recent fires hit California, the mega-rich bought private firefighters to protect their properties instead of paying taxes to protect everyone affected, causing a backlash. They were trying to do the same to education. There was bound to be a backlash. Beutner is going to be part of the trash heap of history. He’s on the wrong side.
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Thank you for posting this and continuing to keep an eye on LAUSD. You also posted a year and a half ago, my investigation into the precursor to Beutner’s portfolio district. Thank you for posting this and keeping an eye on LA, because it has outsized influence over national policy.
A year and a half ago you also posted about the precursor to LAUSD as a portfolio district: the unified enrollment system. That system paved the way for Beutner. The common enrollment scam was orchestrated by Broadies, too, hiding in plain site inside LAUSD.
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The Waltons invented Unified Enrollment (One APP) and launched it in NOLA.
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Yes. Have you noticed that they call it something different in every city? Unified Enrollment, Universal Enrollment, Common Enrollment, One App, etc., etc.
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sorry, for bad editing!
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I feel like I need to say something. Though I think it may be stating the obvious, I think sometimes it is obvious to too few of us.
When I ran a manufacturing facility we received raw materials on a regular basis. To make sure we produced the highest quality product we inspected the materials we received. If there were flaws, we sent it back. If it were in pristine condition, the raw materials got to stay and be turned into our final product, light-gauge steel roof trusses.
But in public education we do not get to stand at the front gate and reject our raw material for perceived flaws. No. We receive, indeed, we accept with enthusiasm every kid. Kids with broken homes and broken noses, ADD and IEPs, kids who are happy and healthy as well as kids whose only meal will be a school provided lunch. We accept them all. We accept the ones who have never read a book and the ones who read for fun. The ones who will become mechanics and animators. We teach them all.
We are public education teachers. And the greatest mistake we can ever make is to let charlatans dictate the terms of what makes a kid or a school successful. Authority bias must be rejected and held accountable. Show me the study that quantifies the efficacy of your reform. I will direct you to Professor Hattie’s work. Types of schools make little impact on student achievement. On the other hand, the number one factor on student learning is collective teacher efficacy.
Click to access VLPLUS-252-Influences-Hattie-ranking-DEC-2017.pdf
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