Archives for category: Billionaires
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Meet Billionaire Paul Tudor Jones

By dianeravitch
March 20, 2016 //
44

Paul Tudor Jones is a hedge fund billionaire who enjoys a lavish life style, with multiple homes, jets, and yachts. He has cultivated his image as a philanthropist who cares deeply about the poor and needy. But his political activities assure Republican control of the New York State Senate, which refuses to raise taxes in the 1%. He is a major supporter of charter schools and of a group of wealthy backers of “Families for Excellent Schools,” which financed a multi-million dollar campaign to defeat Mayor Bill de Blasio’s effort to rein in charter schools.

 

He gives political contributions to Democrats (such as Corey Booker and Debbie Wasserman Schultz) and Republicans (such as Eric Cantor).

 

Know your billionaires.

Categories Bill de Blasio, Billionaires, Boston Consulting Group, Education Reform

The 400 Leading Billionaires in the World

By dianeravitch
March 20, 2016 //
24

Bloomberg News posted a list of the 400 top billionaires (those with only a couple of billion don’t make the cut). The collective wealth of these men (and a few women) is nearly $4 trillion.

 

If you scan the list, you will see the big funders of the corporate assault on public education: Bill Gates; the Walton family; Eli Broad. And you will also see the producers of the edu-propaganda film “Waiting for ‘Superman’,” Philip Anschutz and Jeff Skoll.

 

You may recognize some other billionaires who have contributed to the attack on teachers and public education. But the list seems incomplete: missing is Michael Bloomberg. Was it my oversight?

Categories Billionaires, Corporate Reformers, Education Reform

A Washington State Legislator Joins the Honor Roll

By dianeravitch
March 16, 2016 //
6

The Washington State legislature is bending itself into pretzels to protect the 1,000 students who attend privately managed charter schools. Meanwhile, the legislature has failed to attend to the court-mandated full funding of the public schools attended by more than 1 million students.

 

Why do 1,000 students matter more than 1 million students? What kind of future will Washington State have if it protects 1,000 students and ignores the needs of 1 million students? Which billionaire or billionaires hired the 22 lobbyists who worked the Democrats who control the House in the legislature?

 

Representative Mike Sells of Washington State responded to this post about the Democrats who betrayed public schools; he describes what has happened in the state legislature in the following comment. For supporting the 1 million students in Washington State who attend public schools, I add Mike Sells to this blog’s honor roll:

 

 

What is not mentioned here, is the proponents literally disappearing when it comes to full funding for the public schools. Despite their protestation during the regular session that they believed that the funding should take place, they are nowhere to be found or even commenting much on blogs other than bragging about their coup. The 22 highly paid lobbyists brought in cleared the halls the day after the vote and are nowhere to be seen on the funding of public schools issue.

 

The bragging by proponents of spending on two six figure ad buys has not translated over to helping the public schools. You know big money was being spent when Strategies 360 lobbyists were outside the door plunking for a vote along with the usual ‘astroturf’ groups.

 

A number of us raised amendments on the charter school bill that were turned down. Rep. Drew Hansen suggested temporary funding for the current 8 [charters] until we could figure out the funding issues. That was a no. I proposed that charter schools use the same Teacher/Principal Evaluation Programs that we passed in 2010 for the public schools, if we believed in the importance of teacher quality. (You can find roll calls on many of these amendments) That was a no. Suggestions to make the governance more transparent and open were also turned down, which I believe will only add to the unconstitutionality of the new bill.

 

Only those that had pre-acceptance by charter school proponents seemed to make it through out of the 27 amendments on the House floor. Even proposing that charter school board members file public disclosure forms like other appointed public officials do was at first opposed on the House floor, but actually made it through, when opponents realized that appointed Board members in this state do file them already in other areas. We are now in special session with the supplemental budget, and it has been complicated by the millions slated for charter schools. No more funding is pointed toward settling the court ordered funding for the public schools, and we are facing possible cuts due to a so-called levy cliff.

 
Rep. Mike Sells, 38th Legislative District

Categories Billionaires, Charter Schools, Education Reform, Honor Roll, Washington State

Jeff Bryant: Why Schools Should Not Operate Like Walmart

By dianeravitch
March 16, 2016 //
13

This is a must-read article. Share it with your friends who don’t understand the corporate assault on American public schools.

 

Jeff Bryant writes here about the Walton family’s effort to impose the Walmart business philosophy on public education. I have called it the Walmartization  of public education. The he family collectively is worth about $150 billion.

 

When Walmart enters a community, the local businesses can’t compete with its low prices and vast inventory. The local businesses close down. Main Streets across America are filled with empty stores and a dying commercial core, thanks to Walmart’s cutthroat competition. Walmart doesn’t care about community. It has only one purpose: profits for Walmart.

 

Central to to its business philosophy is cost-cutting. It wants the lowest-paid employees. It wants the lowest price products, so it buys wherever labor costs are lowest. I would be surprised if anything sold by Walmart is American-made.

 

To to achieve its goal of low prices and high profits, Walmart is anti-union.

 

When Walmart recently announced that it was closing more than 150 stores, many people lost their jobs, and many communities awoke to realize they had no grocery store, no hardware store, no toy store, no shoe store, no drug store. Walmart had killed them all.

 

The Waltons are doing to education what they have done in business: killing off beloved community schools and replacing them with privately managed charter schools that have no roots in the community. These schools are almost always non-union. They are staffed by Teach for America recruits, who will be gone in two or three years.

 

Instead of local community schools staffed by career teachers whose parents and grandparents lived in the community, the new charters are transient, filled with transient teachers and administrators. If they don’t enroll enough students or if they see a better market niche elsewhere or if their scores are disappointing, they will close and move on, leaving a shattered community behind.

 

As I write this, I suddenly remembered my third-grade teacher in Houston, Miss Doty. Years later, I read that she became principal of an elementary school. A deranged father entered the school grounds while the children were at recess. She rushed out, shooed the children inside, and stood between him and the school entrance. He set off a homemade bomb, killed himself, and Ms. Doty lost a leg.

 

Nothing transient about Ms. Dory or her school. Now Houston is awash in charter schools. They siphon money away from public schools, as well as the motivated parents and children. One of the purposes of public education–building community–is sacrificed to the market.

 

Walmart represents the predatory face of capitalism. As Bryant asks, why should a handful of billionaires reshape public education?

 

 

Categories Billionaires, Charter Schools

Alabama: Will Michigan Billionaires Buy a Seat on the State Board of Education

By dianeravitch
February 28, 2016 //
3

Larry Lee writes here about Matt Brown, a candidate for state board of education in Alabama who says he is proud to take money from the billionaire DeVos family of Michigan.

 

As Lee points out, the DeVos family is devoted to replacing public schools with vouchers and charters. Their organization, American Federation for Children, funds choice proponents across the country. They favorite cause is vouchers. A few years back, AFC honored Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Michelle Rhee for their efforts to push privatization of public schools.

 

As Larry Lee writes:

 

“Someone who wants a seat on the governing body that is supposed to advocate for public schools is proud to take money from folks who do not support public education. Just how does that work?

 

“(And the irony of his statement about having adequately-funded public schools is that just 12 months ago he was working hard to make sure a tax vote to fund Baldwin County schools was defeated.)

 

“Brown went on to say that he is not familiar with the DeVos family.

 

“OK, since he’s not done his homework, let’s help. Betsy DeVos has been called the “four-star general” of the effort to privatize public schools across the country. In the just-released best seller, Dark Money. The hidden history of the billionaires behind the rise of the radical right, author Jane Mayer links the DeVos family with the on-going efforts of Charles and David Koch to radicalize the United States.

 

“In 2006 Dick DeVos ran for governor of Michigan, and even though he spent $34 million of his own money, was unsuccessful. In 2000 the couple spent $2 million on a Michigan vote to approve vouchers. The vote was handily defeated. A PAC run by Betsy DeVos was fined $2.6 million by the Ohio Elections Commission for violating that state’s election laws.

 

“Of course, it is common for politicians to claim that where they get campaign contributions will have no bearing on how they vote. How honest is a statement like this? Betsy DeVos tells us on page 235 of Dark Money when she says, “I have decided, however, to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buying influence. Now I simply concede the point. They are right. We do expect some things in return.”

 

“Truer words were never spoken.

 

“And that’s why Matt Brown being proud of money from the DeVos family is a scary thought.”

 

Will the people of Alabama enable these billionaires from Michigsn to buy a seat on the state board of education? Or will they insist on someone who wants to improve the public schools and help the children of Alabama?

Categories Alabama, Billionaires, Corporate Reform, Education Reform, Privatization

Gene Glass: Would Horace Mann Tweet? (Make This Go Viral!)

By dianeravitch
February 8, 2016 //
8

Gene Glass has written one of the most brilliant, most perceptive commentaries on the billionaires’ reform movement that I have ever read.

He gives a witty, well-sourced analysis of the familiar corporate reform narrative and punches giant holes in it.

Here is the opening sentence:

“A democratically run public education system in America is under siege. It is being attacked by greedy, union-hating corporations and billionaire boys whose success in business has proven to them that their circle of competence knows no bounds.”

Glass is one of our nation’s most celebrated and honored researchers. He called VAM “stupid” back in 1998. Unlike many ivory-tower academics, he is taking sides: he is on the side of public education, democracy, and truth.

If you don’t read this, shame on you.

Please tweet it, post it on Facebook, share it with your friends and your elected officials.

Categories Billionaires, Charter Schools, Corporate Reform, ESSA, For-Profit, Hoax, Research, Testing

Ed Berger: The Robber Barons of Arizona

By dianeravitch
February 3, 2016 //
13

Edward F. Berger is a champion for children and public schools in Arizona. He writes in this essay that the state is controlled by a tiny claque of very wealthy people who want to starve the public sector. This small minority is well-organized and well-funded. Berger compares them to the Robber Barons of the 19th century whose goals were money and power.

 

Berger writes:

 

Arizona is run by a well-organized minority. They work to undermine and control representative democracy, elected boards and officials, public schools, environmental regulations, any law that limits the powers of corporations, and interference in their affairs by The People. They believe in the right to rape, rip and run for personal gain while demanding free and unregulated access to natural and national resources. They attack workers’ organizations, associations and unions, taxes on individual wealth, and laws that hold individuals responsible for activities that damage others, the planet, and a sustainable future….

 

Fred Koch, father of the infamous Koch brothers, created a powerful empire. He had an ideology of freedom from government intervention that his sons inherited.

 

Berger writes:

 

Fred was a founder of the John Birch Society, a movement based on:The destruction of public education, the privatization (control) of prisons, racial inequality, and denial of workers’ rights to organize. He was able to inculcate two of his sons (Charles and David Koch) to believe that they are the rightful heirs of his mission and will determine the future of America.

 

When the John Birch Society gained disrepute, they dropped that name and formed dozens of subversive* organizations. The largest in the US and Arizona is the American Legislative Executive Council (ALEC). If your elected representative is a member of ALEC, be afraid and get them gone! Another is the Goldwater Institute. The corporate leadership of Arizona Public Service (APS) and its holding company, Pinnacle West Capital corporation, is deeply involved with the Koch-ALEC-Goldwater Institute politicians. One can not underestimate the subversive work of the Goldwater Institute (a false 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization) with a purely political agenda. Through its minions, the legislators and governors placed in office by the power of this minority, they were recently able to place a Goldwater Institute lawyer on the Supreme Court of Arizona. As an example of their reach, in 2015 the Goldwater Institute filed suit in far off Massachusetts to challenge that state’s ban on corporate contributions to political candidates. A stated goal of the Goldwater Institute is to support charter schools and vouchers. They lead the pack of active and disruptive organizations working in the state sowing, cultural division, anti-teacher, anti-education, anti-unions, and pro-corporations movements….

 

Most of the members of the state legislature are in the Koch-ALEC-Goldwater Institute pocket , or they are forced to cooperate with the extreme right to keep from being ostracized and rendered ineffective for their constituents. Voters are discouraged from voting. It looks like Governor Doug Ducey is being groomed to take on the work of Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who followed the Koch dictates to his ruin. The governors and legislators in many states are being placed by the Koch-ALEC machine. They have used gerrymandering and control of the primaries to ensure that key members of the republican right do not have to fear re-election. The Koch-ALEC machine has made inroads into the US Chamber Of Commerce, and the United States Supreme Court, forcing rulings like Citizens United….

 

Public education in the state of Arizona is being systematically dis-mantled.The budget is being used to starve and destroy public schools, and to privatize every aspect of government to gain access to, and profit from, our tax dollars. Public school financing, and thus education programs, have been arbitrarily cut and then reinstated at a fraction of what they need to operate. Governor Ducey plays a game of ‘cut deep and then give a little back,’ so he can brag about his support, while starving and destroying the state’s public schools, universities, and service sectors. His agenda is not for the children and families of Arizona, it is for a small, well-organized minority. He is trying to prove to his masters that he can be the new Scott Walker or Rick Snyder and he can make Arizona go the way of Wisconsin and Michigan.

 

This is not what the people of Arizona want, writes Berger, but the grip of the plutocracy is so tight that people have given up the power of democracy. Less than 40% turn out to vote.

 

Berger remains hopeful. He thinks the time is approaching when the people of Arizona elect a government that serves them, not the Robber Barons.

 

 

 

 

Categories ALEC, Arizona, Billionaires, Democracy, Education Reform

Anthony Cody: Are Journalistic Ethics Passè?

By dianeravitch
January 23, 2016 //
15

Los Angeles blogger Karen Wolfe started the inquiry about the ethics of the Los Angeles Times accepting a subsidy from billionaire Eli Broad for its education coverage even as he is one of the major figures covered. She posted a statement by distinguished journalist Paul Sussman, who literally wrote the book on ethics in journalism; Sussman said the Times has “a massive conflict of interest” by accepting money from a person it covers on the issue he is engaged in.
Blogger Alexander Russo, who is funded by the AFT and Education Post (which is funded by Broad, among others) contends that the issue is more complex than it seems. He draws attention to many other major media that are subsidized by the wealthy.

 

 

Yes, others do it too. Last year, investigative reporter David Sirota caused PBS to return a multimillion dollar grant from the John Arnold Foundation. The program was going to reveal the”pension crisis,” a subject that Arnold feels strongly about. PBS was embarrassed by the appearance of a conflict of interest.

 

 

The he larger problem behinds these skirmishes is whether we have a free press, one that will dare to expose the misdeeds of the mighty. This will be hard to do if they are subsidized by the mighty.
Blogger Anthony Cody assesses the matter and, as usual, brings clarity to it.

 

 

“I want to add one additional point, which I made at some length in this earlier post. It is not “neutral” or “objective” to expand coverage of “innovation” in education. It is not “neutral” or “objective” to have sections of a publication focused on “what is working” in education. The Gates Foundation has made clear that they are very interested in promoting the idea that technology is of tremendous educational value. Stories that trumpet success in this arena are not neutral. They advance the agenda of those selling technological solutions to human problems in education. The act of “focusing on success” sidelines serious criticism of this approach. Journalism that focuses primarily on success misses one of the crucial roles that true journalists must play.

 

 

“Solutions to this may be, as Russo suggests, “unlikely or unworkable.” Undoing the corporate influence on the newsrooms of America is not going to be easy. But acknowledging we have a serious problem would be a valuable first step. An important second step would be to recognize independent bloggers as a critical part of the field of education journalism.”

Categories Billionaires, Education Reform

John Thompson on Education and the Media

By dianeravitch
January 11, 2016 //
11

John Thompson, historian and teacher in Oklahoma, writes here about a growing awareness in the mainstream media of the infusion of Big Money into education. The New York Review of Books is a major influence among highly educated people and has a reach far beyond professional educators.

 

 

The New York Review of Book’s Michael Massing, in “Reimagining Journalism: The Story of the One Percent,” proposes a new journalism to document and explain the effects of secretive corporate elites on our diverse social institutions. He basically calls for a very well-funded version of the Diane Ravitch blog.

 
O.K., it’s more complicated than that. Massing notes that “Education is but one area of American life that is being transformed by Big Money.” He wants a website that is staffed by top investigative journalists, and experts in the fields that are being taken over by “billionaires [who] are shaping policy, influencing opinion, promoting favorite causes, polishing their images—and carefully shielding themselves from scrutiny.”

 
Massing proposes a site, complete with reporters, editors, and “digital whizzes,” who “could burrow deep into the world of the one percent and document the remarkable impact they are having on so many areas of American life.” Similar to Ravitch’s blog, its purpose would be “tracking the major participants, showing the links between them, assessing their influence and impact, and analyzing the evidence on the performance of both public and charter schools.”

 
Moreover, Massing wants a site that:

 
Could also serve as a sounding board for people in the field, encouraging principals, teachers, parents, and grantees to send in comments about their dealings with these institutions. The most thoughtful could be edited and posted on the site, providing a bottom-up perspective that rarely gets aired.

 
Massing explains that “even amid the outpouring of coverage of rising income inequality … the richest Americans have remained largely hidden from view.” And, “journalists have largely let them get away with it.” We need sites that will cover more than education, but Massing, who has been influenced by the work of Mohammad Khan, Zephyr Teachout, and Ravitch, uses their work as a model for the 21st century journalism we need.

 

His website would:

 
Produce an ongoing record of the activities of the foundations and private donors trying to affect education policy. The political and lobbying efforts of the teachers’ unions and their allies would be included as well, showing how much money and influence they are able to mobilize in elections and for what candidates.

 

In the first of two articles, Massing describes Paul Singer, the CEO of the hedge fund Elliott Management as an example of “the ability of today’s ultrarich to amass tremendous power while remaining out of the limelight.” Singer is not merely a key funder of the blood-in-the-eye, anti-union StudentsFirst NY, but also the test, sort, reward and punish policies pushed by Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee, and other corporate school reformers. The billionaire is the single largest donor to the Republican Party; a backer of Marco Rubio and many Tea Party candidates; a funder of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which attacked John Kerry’s war record; a donor to Karl Rove’s American Crossroads and the anti-tax group, Club for Growth; and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, “which has worked tirelessly to isolate and sanction Iran.”
To illustrate the secretive and far-reaching influence of the One Percent, Massing draws upon the Washington Park Project, and Kahn’s and Teachout’s “Corruption in Education: Hedge Funds and the Takeover of New York’s Schools.” 

 

They offered:

 
An eye-opening look at the large sums being spent by what it called “a tiny group of powerful hedge fund executives” seeking to “take over education policy” in the state. This “lightning war on public education,” they wrote, was “hasty and secretive” and “driven by unaccountable private individuals. It represents a new form of political power, and therefore requires a new kind of political oversight.”

 
Massing then praises the online Hechinger Report and Diane Ravitch who have sharply analyzed the record of the Billionaires Boy’s Club and education reform movement. He explains the need to further document the activities of the Gates, Broad, and Walton foundations, as well as analyze their real world effects on schools.

 
Yes, America needs websites for examining the structure of money and influence on all of our institutions. Ravitch and her contributors, commenters, and readers should all feel proud of our bottom-up efforts. Massing is correct; our nation needs to produce Diane Ravitchs to lead similar grassroots efforts in health, finance, economics, and politics. I bet it will happen.

Categories Billionaires, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Media

Here is a Shocker: The CTU Supports Groups That Support Public Education

By dianeravitch
January 9, 2016 //
9

The Chicago Sun-Times published an article with astonishing news. The Chicago Teachers Union gives money to groups that support public education, including the Network for Public Education.

 

NPE has used the contribution from CTU to give scholarships to parents, students, and educators to attend our annual national conferences, as well as to fund the development of a state-by-state report card that will be released on February 10, evaluating the states by their support for their public schools.

 

I pointed out to the reporter that CTU’s support for allies of public education must be seen in the context of billionaires who allot hundreds of millions of dollars every single year to privatize public education. It is not a fair fight, to be sure.

 

I wish the teachers’ unions and other civic-minded groups had many millions more to invest in pushing back against privatization, union busting, and high-stakes testing and fighting for early childhood education, equitable funding, smaller classes, and well-prepared teachers.

Categories Billionaires, Education Reform, Network for Public Education, Privatization, Unions
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