In this fall’s school board elections in Cincinnati, one of the candidates will be a TFA alum who is trying again after almost being kicked out of the Democratic Party three years ago.
Ben Lindy is the director of Teach for America in Cincinnati. He attended elite suburban schools, then graduated from Yale College and Yale Law School. After he taught in rural North Carolina, he tried to start his political career by running for state representative in Ohio. He was nearly censured and booted from the Democratic Party at that time when union officials discovered that he had written a law journal article that was anti-union and that was cited in a Supreme Court case to hurt the cause of collective bargaining. In that paper, he argued that collective bargaining agreements raise the performance of high-achieving students and lower the performance of “poorly achieving students.” On the face of it, this claim is absurd, first, because there are many different variables that affect student performance, especially in the state he studied, New Mexico, which has one of the highest child poverty rates in the nation. Consider also that the highest performing states in the nation–Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Jersey–have strong teachers’ unions, while the lowest performing states in the nation (mainly in the South) do not.
The 2016 effort to oust him from the Democratic Party failed by 26-21. When he was questioned about this stance on organized labor, he claimed to be pro-union but claimed that he hadn’t give much though to union issues.
Lindy showed a lack of knowledge about some labor issues. When asked his stance on prevailing wage, he said: “This is an issue I’d like to know more about.”
“I’m not hearing how you’ve evolved,” said Pat Bruns, a committee member who sits on the state board of education.
Lindy is a prodigious fund-raiser, which is enough to recommend him to some party leaders.
But party leaders should check where Lindy’s campaign cash is coming from. If it is coming from “Democrats for Education Reform,” bear in mind that these are hedge fund managers who are anti-union and anti-public schools, who favor TFA and merit pay. If it is coming from “Leadership for Educational Equity,” that is TFA’s political arm, which is anti-union and pro-charter school.
Be informed before you vote.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
One of the problems with modern life is the degree to which you have to be informed to live it. As a teacher, I am not only obliged to increase my understanding of my subject, but also of the latest technology that will connect the student. Meanwhile I have to remember a hundred different passwords to this or that web site because the state wants to put this or that piece of information online rath r than making sure I know about it. Making life complicated helps the people who have time to understand it and hurts the ones who are working too many hours.
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Regarding Cincinnati: Pat Bruns is a former member (2015-18) of the Ohio State Board of Education District 4 (Hamilton, Warren & part of Butler County). She is not now a member of that Board.
Ben Lindy had an op ed in the Cincinnati Enquirer August 1. “Be Proud of schools’ progress, but don’t settle.”
Lindy claims to be a long time supporter of Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS). He graduated from the selective admissions Walnut Hills High school, is a lawyer (Yale BA, 2003, JD 2010). Ben joined Teach for America and taught seventh grade social studies in North Carolina for three years. For more about this anti-union pro TFA candidate see https://badassteachers.blogspot.com/2016/02/urgent-bat-call-ohio-31-st-house.html
Lindy claims to have been a “district administrator and non-profit leader.” I have not been able to verify anything close to his being a “district administrator.” Perhaps he is referring to his post as Executive Director of TFA for Southwest Ohio. His “non-profit” leadership is with TFA Southwest Ohio.
In any case, Lindy is not vacating that TFA position to run for the school board. There is a direct conflict of interest in this arrangement because the CPS school board is paying TFA money for new hires. According to Michelle Dillingham, coordinator for the Cincinnati Educational Justice Coalition, this year (2019-2020) Cincinnati Public Schools needed to hire eight new school counselors, 25 math specialists, and 15 staffers who support the growing population of English as a Second Language (ESL) learners. Dillingham says CPS, has allocated $100,000 for the district to recruit all teachers, but another $100,000 goes to Teach for America.
Lindy’s oped has the usual reform spins about D and F schools and high school graduation rates at only 75%: “We should demand more for the next generation of kids in this city and remain open to new ideas for how we can start to make faster progress and on a larger scale.” I will not vote Lindy and urge others to reject him.
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The TFA strategy: set unattainable goals (100% proficiency on normed tests or 100% grad rates), then assert that the district is “failing” because it didn’t reach those targets. Look at any district or state that is u see “Reform” Control (eg, DC and New Orleans) and ask whether they have hit those targets. The answer is No.
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Ben Lindy’s Campaign Finances
His largest listed funder is “Leadership for Educational Equity”
His second-largest is ROSENTHAL, RICHARD H (Note: Glasser Y Rosenthal family are listed at stakeholders in TFA.”
https://votesmart.org/candidate/campaign-finance/166941/ben-lindy#.XWwpgkF7mUk
https://www.teachforamerica.org/where-we-work/chicago-northwest-indiana/support-our-work
Ballotpedia.org says “Leadership for Educational Equity (LEE) is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. LEE is a spin-off organization of Teach for America and was established in 2007.”
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Lloyd, Thanks for the link. I know Richard Rosenthal, a major contributer to Lindy’s campaign. Unfortunately, Rosenthal is a high profile philanthropist in Cincinnati and he is likely to bring in other major contributors to Lindy’s campaign.
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A person can hope that the national (or local) teachers’ union sends out mailers (like to retired teachers) telling people that TFA is no friend of labor and that it is the friend of the richest 0.1%. One can hope that other unions are contacted to oppose Lindy.
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Lindy won a position on the Cincinnati School Board. Keep your eye on him. Pretty sure he’s interested in higher office…
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Is he the TFA guy?
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