Archives for category: Billionaires
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Know Your Multi-Millionaire “Reformers”: Art Pope

By dianeravitch
April 15, 2016 //
7

Art Pope is a major political figure in North Carolina. I don’t know whether he is a billionaire or only a multi-millionaire. Jane Mayer wrote in the New Yorker a few years ago that he bought the state of North Carolina.

 

Art Pope made his fortune by owning a large chain of discount variety stores around the state. He is a libertarian to the extreme. He used his political contributions to help Tea Party Republicans defeat moderate Republicans. His investments in political campaigns paid off big time in 2010, when his faction won control of the state legislature. Then in 2012, a Republican was elected governor, and for the first time in a century or more, North Carolina had an all-Republican leadership, free to impose its will.

 

Governor McCrory appointed Art Pope as state budget director, giving him the power to implement his extreme ideology. (In Pope’s only try for elected office, he failed.) On Pope’s watch, the state legislature enacted charters, cyber charters, and vouchers. And cut the public schools’ budget. And reduced environmental regulations. And did whatever they could think of to reduce government and give corporations free reign. ALEC must point to North Carolina as its model state.

 

The best source of information on the damage wrought by these modern-day vandals is NC Policy Watch’s Altered State: How Five Years of Conservative Rule Have Redefined North Carolina, which sums up the depredations of the past five years.

 

Pope funded the extremely conservative libertarian Locke Institute, which acts as an advocacy group for his ideology. One of the directors of the Locke Institute started his own charter chain (he is not an educator) and has made millions of dollars on leases.

 

Know who owns your state.

Categories ALEC, Billionaires, Corporate Reform, Education Reform, North Carolina

Hedge Fund Manager Gives Eva Moskowitz $25 Million

By dianeravitch
April 13, 2016 //
40

Hedge fund manager Julian Robertson gave Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy charter chain $25 million to help it expand. The chain picked up another $10 million from its friends at a fund-raising event.

 

Clearly, the 1% has not been disturbed by the stories of students humiliated by their teacher or students with disabilities pushed out to keep the scores high.

 

Even with all this additional funding, Moskowitz still demands that the city give her free space (taken away from existing schools that enroll the students she pushes out) or pay her rent in private space. When a Success Academy school co-locates with a public school, it refurbishes its rooms, separates them from the other school whose building it was, and creates a separate-and-unequal situation.

 

Nice work, billionaires!

Categories Billionaires, Charter Schools, Education Reform, Harlem Success Academy

Joanne Barkan: Do Philanthropists Hate Democracy?

By dianeravitch
April 13, 2016 //
46
  • This is a must read.

 

Joanne Barkan has written a remarkable article that closely examines Bill Gates’ determination to force charter schools on the people of Washington State.

 

This is is a story that you should read and understand. The people of the state voted against charters three times. But Gates was not to be denied. In 2012, he put together a huge pot of millions to overwhelm the citizens’ groups, parents, and educators who opposed his will. This vote passed by the tiniest of margins. Gates then put on his philanthropic hat and rushed a group of charters to open, so as to establish new facts on the ground.

 

 

When the high court of the state ruled against public funding for privately managed charters, Gates started an end run around the court. He was not to be denied. Barkan shows how little corporate reformers think of democracy and how much they prefer mayoral control and other mechanisms to eliminate civic engagement.

 

Defenders of of corporate reform like to say that they must counter the vast sums spent by teachers’ unions. Barkan exposes the lie:

 

 

“Education-reform philanthropists justify their massive political spending as a necessary counterweight to the teachers unions;8 yet, the philanthropists can, and consistently do, far outspend the unions. In 2004, Paul Allen had a net worth of $21 billion, Bill Gates had a net worth of $46.6 billion, and John T. Walton (who died in 2005) had a net worth of $20 billion.9 Donald Fisher’s net worth was $1.3 billion in 2005.10 In 2015, Allen had a net worth of $17.8 billion, Gates had a net worth of $76 billion, and Doris Fisher (Donald Fisher’s widow and a charter school donor) had a net worth of $2.9 billion.11 And the unions? According to the 2015 reports filed with the Office of Labor-Management Standards, the National Education Association had $388.8 million in total receipts; the American Federation of Teachers had $327.6 million in total receipts.12 As political rivals, the education-reform philanthropists and the teachers unions have never competed on a level playing field….

 

“The Washington charter saga highlights the workings of charitable plutocracy. Multibillionaire philanthropists use their personal wealth, their tax-exempt private foundations, and their high-profile identities as philanthropists to mold public policy to a degree not possible for other citizens. They exert this excessive influence without public input or accountability. As for the charitable donors who are trying to reshape public education according to their favorite theories or ideological preferences, they are intervening with too heavy a hand in a critical institution that belongs to the public and requires democratic control. But in any public domain, the philanthropist’s will and democratic control are often at odds.

 

“Voters, their elected representatives, grass-roots activists, civic groups, unions, public opinion—all can thwart an uber-philanthropist’s effort to impose his or her vision of the common good on everyone else. Democracy can be a nuisance for the multibillionaire—a fact of life that Bill Gates has often lamented….

 

 

“Questioning the work of megaphilanthropists is a tricky business. Many readers of this article will be fuming in this way: Would you rather let children remain illiterate, or allow generous people to use their wealth to give them schools? Would you rather send more money to our bumbling government, or let visionary philanthropists solve society’s problems? Here is a counterquestion: Would you rather have self-appointed social engineers—whose sole qualification is vast wealth—shape public policy according to their personal views, or try to repair American democracy?”

 

 

Categories Billionaires, Charter Schools, Democracy, Education Reform, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Washington State

Washington Governor Allows Funding for Charters

By dianeravitch
April 3, 2016 //
15

The charter wars in Washington State continue. You don’t think Bill Gates would permit his home state to go without charter schools.

 

The Supreme Court of Washington State ruled that charter schools are not public schools, but charter advocates were undeterred. After all, they have millions of dollars to throw around, but not to pay for the handful of charters they opened.

 

Allies of the charter industry introduced legislation to fund charters with lottery proceeds. Some Democratic legislators bowed to the Will of the Great Gates. It was left to Democratic Governor Jay Inslee to decide. He displayed a Profile of No-Courage by deciding not to sign the bill. Without his veto, the bill became law.

 

The legislature showed more concern for the 1,000 students in privately managed charters than for the one million children in public schools. The state’s highest court has ordered the legislature to fund the public schools and is fining that body $100,000 a day for its failure to do so.

 

Back to the courts.

Categories Billionaires, Charter Schools, Funding, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Washington State

Peter Greene: The Broad Superintendent and His Master’s Voice

By dianeravitch
April 2, 2016 //
21

Peter Greene made a discovery. He unraveled a secret that puzzled those who watch the career trajectories of Broad superintendents. Why did Briadie Superintendent John Covington leave the Kansas City school district that he promised to “save” before it was saved? He abruptly left, surprising many in Kansas City who thought he had made a commitment to stay.

 

Was it the higher salary for the leader of Michigan’s new Educational Achievement Authority? No.

 

Peter found the answer: Covington left Kansas City for the EAA because Eli Broad told him to.

 

When Eli calls, his disciples listen.

 

The EAA was supposed to be the proof point for Broad’s educational theories. No school board. Total control. It failed. Covington bailed out, amidst complaints about his expense account.

 

After more than a dozen years of “training” urban superintendents in his unaccredited program, Eli  has no successes. Yet he is pushing to take control of half the children in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Maybe he will put John Deasy in charge. No, wait, he tried that already.

 

Caveat emptor.

 

Let educators educate, not billionaires who think they know everything just because they are rich.

Categories Billionaires, Broad Foundation, Failure, Michigan

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
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