The Mind Trust is funded by billionaires to advocate for privatization of public funds and public schools.
Now it is going after parents.
Of course, the best person to make the case to parents is an education entrepreneur.
Dear Friends, I deeply believe that those most impacted by systemic injustice are also the people who are best positioned to lead the fight to create a more just and equitable society. This is one of the many reasons why we are so excited about the work our Education Entrepreneur Fellow Ashley Virden is leading to empower Indianapolis parents to create the changes they deem necessary to dramatically improve our education system.
Read on for more about a recent event that Ashley hosted and how you can support her. You will also find information on our most recent Education Tour and a call for applications for our fourth cohort of Relay National Principals Academy Fellowships.
With gratitude,
Brandon Brown
CEO
Education Entrepreneur Fellow Ashley Virden leads parent organizing meeting On November 7, our Education Entrepreneur Fellow Ashley Virden led a community meeting for parents looking to become more involved in their children’s education. She is developing an independent parent advocacy nonprofit that will empower parents to create necessary change for children and communities across Indianapolis.
Virden is specifically searching for a group of parents who are interested in receiving training in leadership, community organizing, and advocacy. If you or someone you know might be interested in supporting the work she is doing to uplift the voices of Indianapolis parents, please reach out to her at avirden@themindtrust.org.
“Parents deserve to have a voice in our city’s education system and in the schools our kids attend. I am excited to start building a community of empowered parents who want to be advocates for all students in Indianapolis.”
Ashley Virden, Education Entrepreneur Fellow
Education Tour series visits IPS Newcomer Program On October 22, The Mind Trust hosted an Education Tour, formerly called Education Bus Tours, featuring IPS’ Newcomer Program. The Newcomer Program serves nearly 400 students in grades 3-9 who are new to the United States within the last year. Their students learn English alongside receiving core content instruction to prepare them for a successful transition to the school of their choice. In 2018-2019, the school served students from 33 countries, who spoke 22 different languages.
Learn more about the Newcomer Program
Now accepting applications for Relay’s National Principals Academy Fellowship The Mind Trust is accepting applications for the fourth cohort of Indianapolis school leaders to participate in Relay Graduate School of Education’s National Principals Academy Fellowship, a nationally-recognized fellowship that provides school and school systems leaders with powerful instructional and cultural professional development. We are grateful to the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation for a grant of $990,000 to help sponsor the next three cohorts fellows.
Read more about the NPAF application process
A few of our staff and Fellows volunteered at School on Wheels, filling backpacks with school supplies for students who utilize their programming. School on Wheels provides tutoring and wraparound academic support for hundreds of Indy children and families impacted by homelessness.
Our School Supports team partnered with the Lavinia Group to bring a literacy focused professional development to our Fellows and other Indianapolis school leaders. The training focused on building independence in reading to unleash student potential.
The Mind Trust In the News
10 new schools are seeking innovation partnership with IPS via Chalkbeat
Mind Trust Adds Lewis to Board via Inside Indiana Business
IPS Study Abroad Program To Relaunch As High School At Arlington via WFYI
New teacher residency program launches in Indy: ‘It will lead to a better retention’ via Fox 59
Church’s money management lessons lead to transformation in impoverished neighborhoodvia Faith & Leadership, Duke University
Schools were quick to downplay ILEARN results, but experts stand by the test. Here’s why.via Chalkbeat
The Mind Trust
1630 N. Meridian St., Suite 450 | Indianapolis, Indiana 46202
(317) 822-8102 | info@themindtrust.org
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This is an article written by The Mind Trust CEO in The 74:
https://www.the74million.org/article/commentary-10-lessons-from-indianapolis-in-reforming-education-in-our-nations-cities/
Read that and see if you can find anything they do on behalf of the group of students they dismiss with the usual ed reform throwaway line as “in traditional schools”.
They are charter school advocacy orgs. Which is fine! There are charter and voucher lobbying groups all over the place. But shouldn’t someone in government be an advocate for the public school students? Why can’t they have an advocate?
If government + influential lobbyists only support and promotes charters and vouchers, all we will get will be charters and vouchers. They offer nothing to students in public schools.
Ed reformers don’t have a charter school problem. They have a public school problem. They won’t work on behalf of students in public schools because they don’t support the continued existence of public schools. So what does that mean for public school students in these cities and states where they dominate government?
Why is it okay to have people who work exclusively on behalf of students in charter and private schools but NOT okay to have people who work exclusively on behalf of students in public schools?
Why can’t public school students have actual, committed advocates? Charters have them! Vouchers have them! My state legislature is flooded with orgs promoting charter and private schools. Why can’t the students who attend the unfashionable “traditional” public schools have someone who actually affirmatively supports the schools they attend?
And what does it mean for students in public schools in ed reform dominated cities and states that public school students DON’T have them? How are our kids going to fare in a political environment where the goal is to eradicate the schools they attend? How is that fair to them?
I saw that charter school supporters protested Elizabeth Warren.
This means ed reformers will back public school supporters to go protest all the politicians who bash, defund and work to eradicate public schools, correct? Public school parents should be protesting Jeb Bush, Betsy DeVos and the rest, correct? If not, why not?
All they would be doing is advocating on behalf of public school students. Why is it permissible for charter and voucher parents but not permissible for public school parents? Why are our schools and students not valued at all in this “movement”?
There is a long thread about the “parent” demonstration that disrupted Warren on behalf of charter schools.
Curiously the “parents” all wore matching T-shirts.
Which raises the question of who organized them and paid for their appearance.
Hint: Waltons? Hastings? CA Charter Schools Association?
The “parents” reported a number of anonymous $1,000 donations.
on the nose: WHO is behind this “resistance” — the journalism which hasn’t been done
A good rule of thumb is to never trust an organization with “trust” in its name.
Mind Trust
Mind the trusts —
Don’t trust them
Make the busts
Of trust men
Remember the meaning of “trust” as in the progressive era, when Teddy Roosevelt was a “trust buster.”
The trusts were not to be trusted!
They were combinations of powerful rich men out to crush the little guy.
Definition of a “trust buster”: http://www.ushistory.org/us/43b.asp
From the Urban Dictionary:
trust buster
one who seeks to break up trusts. Trusts are corporate monopolies organized under a trusteeship for the sole purpose of eliminating compitition in the market place. This was used as a nickname for Theodore Roosevelt because he was the first president to break up trusts. He invented a sort of gentlemen’s agreement with the trusts. He would notify any company if he thought their actions were illegal then he would give them time to change while looking at their records. If they did not change, then he would bring them to court.
While Taft broke up more trusts than Roosevelt, Roosevelt was the first trust buster.
#roosevelt#theodore#trust#monopoly#big gentlemen’s agreement
That was precisely my meaning of
“make the busts”
I just sent a message to Mind Trust telling this company what I think of them and their determined efforts to destroy public education, funded by the wealthy. I Googled [DuckDuckGo] the Mind Trust and got a volunteer questioner. They gave a spot on which to comment. They will NOT like what I said.
And, not that it matters because this is all more political and marketing than “science” but charters and traditional public schools are measured differently in Indianapolis. The charter promoters who designed the system set the bar higher for public schools than they did for charter schools. Beware the breezy, lazy assertions that the charter schools score higher and read the fine print. The system is designed to promote more charter schools and close more public schools.
I just got an automated response back from Mind Trust. HA. [I’m waiting for their staff to follow up with questions. Bet they won’t.]
Anyone else who wants to make comments look at their contact email address.
……………………………………..
Thank you for signing up to stay informed about future volunteer opportunities! Your support and interest is critical.
A member of our staff will follow up with you regarding any opportunities.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at info@themindtrust.org.
Contact Us
The Mind Trust
1630 N. Meridian St., Suite 450
Indianapolis, Indiana 46202
(317) 822-8102
info@themindtrust.org
From the bio of Mind Trust, Education Entrepreneur Fellow, Stephanie of Seton Education Partners who was employed for 6 years by Philanthropy Roundtable. a publication where the opinions of AEI’s Frederick Hess get posted, Stephanie founded Seton which “…provides guidance and technical assistance to Catholic parishes, dioceses… on leasing space to secular charter schools or to converting existing Catholic schools to charter schools”.
In contrast to John F. Kennedy’s admonition, bishops and state Catholic Conferences are engaged politically in promoting school choice. “I believe in an America where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly of indirectly upon the public acts of (government) officials.” -John F. Kennedy
Couple of notes-
Catholic Discussion of Seventh Day Adventism (2016)
and, a reminder that a prominent Harvard Constitutional law professor believes America should become the Empire of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
“The Mind Trust”?
Seriously?
Who is subliterate to contrive this trashy locution?
Think of the trust as in Trust-Buster.
Trust meant corporate monopoly.
It still does.
I think the term “education entrepreneur” is a euphemism that should be used only with quotation marks, followed by a definition, or many people won’t fully understand the gravity of the situation. (This is akin to the problems resulting from over-use of the Latin term “quid pro quo” today, instead of the more understandable English words “bribery” and “extortion,” when describing Trump’s behavior with the president of Ukraine.)
I believe it would probably be best to define “education entrepreneur” by saying “school privatizer” and/or “school profiteer,” since the fake Relay GSE is involved, so we have reason to doubt their “education” credentials. The latter term can apply even for non-profits, since many of them have money laundering departments and earmark a lot of funds for mostly non-educators serving in management capacities, while little money goes to classrooms or the largely non-unionized teaching staff at charter and private schools.
Your evaluation of Marian’s redesign of its education degree program (Indiana) funded by an ed reformer/school choice advocate and designed by a Dean for Impact (Gates-funded) would be informative.
Education entrepreneur = kid pro dough
How about a poem (haiku or tanka format) that uses all figurative language to describe the Always Trumpers?
Ed Entrepreneur
Know nothing self-styled expert
Kid pro dough nut-case
So accurate, I laughed.
The IndyStar reported that last year more than one-third of students in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis Catholic schools received vouchers. At $134,000,000 statewide, Indiana’s voucher program was the largest such program in the country.
Theocracy inseparable from oligarchy threatens American democracy.
Linda: “At $134,000,000 statewide, Indiana’s voucher program was the largest such program in the country.”
This is sickening when one considers that Hoosier teachers had to stage a Nov. 19th protest over the lack of funding for schools.
I keep writing to blockhead Senator Niemeyer [R-IN] and he only replies occasionally in a snail mail “infomercial” about how great Indiana is at funding schools…never mentioning that severe underfunding is happening to K-12 PUBLIC schools.
Thanks for continuing to make your state senator aware that he’s not representing his constituents. ALEC Exposed has a list of the Koch’s lackeys i.e. state senators and reps. Is Niemeyer one of them?.
Here is the list that I found from ALEC legislators: Bosma is not continuing. Good riddance.
Indiana[edit]
Brian Bosma, R, Indiana House of Representatives[25]
Timothy Brown, R, Indiana House of Representatives[37]
Jim Buck, R Indiana Senate[9]
Bill Davis, R, Indiana House of Representatives[37]
Richard Dodge, R, Indiana House of Representatives[25]
William Friend, R, Indiana House of Representatives[25]
David Frizzell, R, Indiana House of Representatives[7][37]
Douglas Gutwein, R, Indiana House of Representatives[29]
Eric Koch, R, Indiana House of Representatives[27][37]
Eric Turner, R, Indiana House of Representatives[37]
Jackie Walorski, R, Indiana House of Representatives[27]
10 GOP men and 1 woman – I presume that stat is similar to the whole- prejudice alive and well in Indiana.
Where’s “Waldo” Buttigieg when teachers need him?
Oh, right. Dining with his corporate donors.
“Education Entrepreneur Fellow Ashley Virden is leading to empower Indianapolis parents to create the changes they deem necessary to dramatically improve our education system.”
Huh!?!
I thought that was what publicly elected school boards were for. The elected school board holds monthly meetings open to everyone and parents/children/citizens of all ages, are allowed to stand up and address the board about their concerns.
How many of the 13,506 public school districts in the United States still have elected school boards that answer to voters, children, and parents insead of a fat cat CEO with a bloated six-figure income like Eva Moskowitz who pays herself several hundred thousand dollars a year while her publicly funded NYC private sector Charter Schools only teach 17,000 children.
“Eva Moskowitz, CEO of the 46-school Success Academy network, received a pay package totaling $782,175 in 2016. The nonprofit network paid Moskowitz $195,000 in base compensation and she received another $255,000 in salary plus a $300,000 bonus from the affiliated Success Foundation.”
https://nypost.com/2018/07/14/charter-school-ceos-get-massive-paychecks-thanks-to-private-donors/
How much does the chancellor for New York City’s K-12 public schools responsible for the education of 1.1 million children get paid?
“Carranza, who had signed a contract to serve for three years, served in this capacity until April 2018, when Carranza was hired as New York City Schools Chancellor with a $345,000 salary. He announced he accepted the new job in New York City in March of that year.”
Eva gets paid $46 per student.
Carranza gets paid $3.18 per student and that was after NYC added another $100,000 to his annual pay in 2018.
The NY Post mi$$pelled $uck$e$$ Foundation
$46 per $tudent = $uck$e$$
LOL Creative. I did laugh.
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet…
An institution, by any other name, that functions to negate, or empty, the intrinsic
(core-inherent-essential) SPIRIT of its power, and fills the vacuum with false consciousness (concocted notoriety/titles/status markers/ state cateshisms.)
betrays (wo)mankind…
The Mind Trust is a multi-faceted way to monetize student s, but they have zero experience or expertise in these areas.
Multi-faced (two, at least)
Mind Trust is actually Mind “BUST.”
Diane’s post states that Virden is working in Indiana. The Indiana Catholic Action Network describes the Indiana Catholic Conference as “the public policy voice of the Catholic bishops in Indiana regarding state and national matters”. The Archdiocese of Indianapolis bragged in 2009, in its publication, the Criterion, that 33 of the 150 state lawmakers were Catholic. One of their issues 10 years ago was a ban on embryonic stem cell research. Also in the Criterion, the following, “3) a willingness of Catholics in the pews to be engaged in the political process”.
The fear that Americans overcame when they elected the first Catholic President was realized about 20 years after his death. John F. Kennedy opposed any religious body influencing politicians.
“Catholics in the pews” is the hierarchical designation equivalent to “soldiers in the field” ready to be commanded.
Almost the entire leadership staff of the Indiana Non Public Education Association work in religious institutions. INPEA’s Exec. Director and the Executive Committee’s President and VP are from Catholic institutions.
Linda: I had no idea this organization existed. It is disgusting that shady groups like this exist. No wonder the “great” Hoosier ‘scholarship program’ is such a whopping $UCCE$$. I wonder how much the dingshits who are running this are paid.
…………………………………………………………………………
OUR PURPOSE
MISSION
The Indiana Non-Public Education Association serves as an advocate, promotes engagement, and strives for the advancement of non-public schools.
VISION
The Indiana Non-Public Education Association is recognized as the essential voice advancing excellence and equitable access for all non-public schools in Indiana.
SHARED BELIEFS
The Indiana Non-Public Education Association
promotes the rights of parents to educate their children in the schools of their choice;
promotes the vital role of non-public schools in Indiana and their significant contributions to educating young people and creating a better world;
promotes the rights of non-public schools to fulfill their unique missions;
fosters the participation of the non-public school community in shaping the state’s education agenda, and develops and promotes positions on education policy;
advocates the equitable opportunity of non-public school students to participate in appropriate state and federal education programs;
and is dedicated to excellence in learning, teaching, and leading.
WHAT IS SCHOOL CHOICE?
School Choice creates an educational system that ensures a wide array of options for parents and students. Indiana’s school-choice programs empower parents to choose the school that best suits their child. Every child, no matter their financial circumstances, deserves an opportunity to succeed.
In our state, school choice includes programs that provide public incentives for private giving to scholarships like the Indiana Scholarship Tax Credit Program. It also allows state support to follow students of low- and middle-income families to the school of their choice through the Choice Scholarship (Voucher) Program. And finally it gives taxpaying parents some small tax relief through a state deduction for private school educational expenses.
Indiana Non-Public Education Association
WHAT DOES SCHOOL CHOICE MEAN FOR OUR CHILDREN?
When every child gets to go to the school of their choice, every child gets the chance for a learning environment that is effective, motivating and challenging. School helps ensure that students receive the resources and attention they need to thrive in the classroom.
WHAT DOES SCHOOL CHOICE MEAN FOR PARENTS?
School choice ensures that every parent gets to choose the school where they send their child. School choice empowers parents to take a more active role in their child’s education, providing choices to place a child in the learning environment that is best for them to develop the building blocks needed for success in life. Once, only wealthier parents could send their children to the school of their choice. School choice advocates believe every family should have that opportunity.
Legislative Action Center
MAKE AN INFORMED CHOICE
The Institute for Quality Education (IQE) offers a free online tool to provide Hoosier families with key information about all of the K-12 school options available to them so they may choose the best school environment for their children. Families can also easily access school accountability grades and determine if they qualify for a school voucher or tax credit scholarship to help pay for private school tuition. Click here to access the Opportunity Calculator.
John Elcesser
Executive Director
jelcesser@inpea.org
Heidi Harmon
Director of Communications and Member Relations
hharmon@inpea.org
Julian Peebles Director of Advancement
jpeebles@inpea.org
Beatrice Bursten
Coordinator of Office Operations
bbursten@inpea.org
My online comment: I am disgusted to think that such an underhanded organization like this exists in Indiana. Teachers protested on Nov. 19, 2019 at the state capital in Indianapolis because of the gross underfunding of public K-12 schools. If you want your child to attend a non-public school pay for it out of your own pocket. Public schools are educating the majority of students and groups like this take away money from our students. SHAME ON THE INDIANA NON-PUBLIC EDUCATION ASSOCIATION!!! I am a retired public school teacher who isn’t afraid to speak out.
…………………………………………………………………….
Fort Wayne School Choice Rally
May 26, 2015
Indiana Non-Public Education Association
Many thanks to the 300+ parents, students, school leaders and other supporters who came to celebrate School Choice at the Rally for School Choice January 27, 2015 in Fort Wayne, IN. We are blessed to have this program help 29,146 students in Indiana!
2019- “For the 13th consecutive year, U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski (an Illinois corporate Dem.) introduced a resolution celebrating Catholic Schools Week”….2017- a cardinal was presented with a Texas House resolution honoring Catholic Schools Week. I’m sure there are many more celebrations of the theocracy’s action plan for parallel schools. The Paul Weyrich training manual (Koch) is posted at Theocracy Watch.
Carol-
The silence of the establishment Dems (CAP) about the Gates and Walton engine that powers privatization has a parallel in the silence of public school backers about the theocracy driving privatization.
You’ll note the lack of traction for the argument, at this blog. I hope it reflects a calculated political strategy to avoid weakening the movement. But, the value of one of the points made here, one that undermines public schools, i.e. Catholic schools are better than other religious schools, when they are the most politically organized and successful and, longest in the choice campaign, eludes me. If the case is made that Catholic schools are better than Gulen schools or evangelical schools, let them break rank and offend the other religious.
This year, when Bellwether advised reformers to reach out to churches to achieve their goals, the theocracy case was made. When Andy Smarick, formerly of AEI, advised Catholic schools on winning strategies, the case was made.
Recently, Jerry Falwell praised the respectful and quiet student protests against him on Liberty’s campus. The hierarchy at the top of Catholic schools posted “preserving civic order,” as a benefit of its schools.
Loud activism is the potential threat that the public school community poses to the theocracy and the billionaires’ status quo. The threat is advocacy for equal rights. The threat is democratic values. The threat is tolerance for minority religions. The threat is an end to privilege that can’t be earned by citizens like women and racial minorities. The threat is an interruption in growing concentration of wealth. The threat is an end to the food, shelter and medical deprivation that leads people to cling to their religions.
Very important points! They all contribute to the divisiveness of our country, when what we really need is a strong effort to unite us. This especially rings true, “The threat is an end to the food, shelter and medical deprivation that leads people to cling to their religions.”
That reminds me of how G.W. Bush pushed “faith-based initiatives” in communities and family assistance, so that people would not attempt to rely on government to help them through troubled times –as if we all have access to those kinds of resources, when many of us do not. It amounts to, ‘go anywhere but here, because your government is not about to help desperate people.’ Imagine if TR had said that during the Gilded Age, or if FDR said that during the Great Depression.
I suspect that many desperate Americans have been hoping that each billionaire they elect will turn out to be like TR & FDR. But The Roosevelts were truly exceptional and the best we’ve got today, like Nick Hanauer and maybe Warren Buffet, don’t run for office, so a lot of us have no safety nets and are pretty much on our own. I am very grateful for the $16 per month that I get in food stamps. It might not be much, but I don’t spend it right away because by the end of the month, I’ve found it to be a real lifesaver, along with my faith-based food pantry. (Though none that I know of provide cash assistance.)
What I like about Warren Buffett. He sent his three children to public schools. His daughter in Omaha sent her children to Omaha public schools. (Not sure of the others.) what I don’t like is that he gave billions of his charitable foundation toBill Gates Foundation.
Bill Gates is similar to a used car salesman. He will say anything to close a deal but Gates does not look like the stereotypical used car salesman. That’s why he often wears sweaters to general a fake grandfatherly persona .
Being that kind of salesman explains how Microsoft became so big while better companies with better products/software failed.
Therefore, I think Bill Gates scammed/fooled Warren Buffet and conned him out of his money.
I think Warren Buffet handed all that money over believing Gates misleading con of a sales pitch. Just because Warren Buffet wins more with his investments vs losses does not make him a good judge of character.
Bill Gates is a liar who lies with the expression of a saint plastered across his face and filling his eyes.
Educator,
More people should understand one of the messages from the Depression- deprivations can be so great that private charity is inadequate. More should also be aware of charitable organizations driving an agenda to manipulate. Examples are provided by AWrenchintheGears.com.
As you know, private charities are filled with holes of coverage for those in need. Donors to them are often self-serving like Bill Gates.
The largest single religious denomination represented in Congress is Catholic. We don’t know what portion of the group supports the activist, political agenda of U.S. bishops. Whether there is a link between bishop campaigns and “charity” is a judgement I will leave to others.
The Knights of Columbus is not the organization it was in the past.
K of C’s CEO and Chair of the Board receives pay of more than $2 mil dollars (NCR on-line). He’s on the Catholic University of America board, an institution that takes big money from libertarians like the Koch’s. “Knights of Columbus calls for School Choice Programs”. “After Katrina, K of C donated $500,000 to the Catholic school system in New Orleans”. “K of C gave several $50,000 donations to the Federalist Society”. “Dem. Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper was targeted for defeat.”
Across the board, there is a selective scrutiny of the parties involved in school choice.
@Diane
Our CA Coastal District looks just like what is described in the Education Next link provided on JULIAN VASQUEZ HEILIG’s Cloaking Inequity Blog post from Feb. 11th.
It is gearing up to cut teachers – they’ve heard up to 20% – while dangling pay raises over the heads of teachers who get on board. The District staff and school board continue to favor their INNOVATION HS school over the main HS. Recruitment is underway and parents recently received emails from the Superintendent saying if they want smaller class sizes for their kids they should consider the innovation school.
We’ve seen Foundations giving to the District Foundation to “Build Capacity” and teachers haven’t had a contract in years. Is the union strong enough? We don’t know!! Negotiations about to be finalized. The District is not backing down on moving ahead with their unaccountable “public” charters. There’s a signed agreement between the District and a Charter chain. None of this was done with any transparency. Families and educators were not consulted.
SOS!! Save our Schools!