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Beware! Privatization Vandals Target 7 Cities for Destruction and Takeover

By dianeravitch
December 10, 2018 //
23

The privatization movement used to operate in stealth. It used to pretend to have grassroots support. Those days are over. As the public catches on to the empty promises of the charter industry and its intention to undermine democratic institutions, the charter funders have created a SWAT team to infiltrate targeted cities across the nation, promote charter schools, and buy their school boards.

These guys are not the Red Cross or the Salvation Army. They are paid vandals, on a mission to destroy public schools. They are out to destroy not just public schools, but local democracy. They should be ashamed. Usually, it is illegal to buy elections. This so-called City Fund brashly announces that it has raised nearly $200 million—with more on the way—to disrupt public schools and buy elections. How is this legal?

Chalkbeat’s Matt Barnum reports that vandals from the billionaire-funded “City Fund” have targeted seven cities, where they will use their millions to try to destroy public schools and to finance a takeover of the local school board.

“The City Fund has already given grants to organizations and schools in Atlanta, Indianapolis, Newark, Denver, San Antonio, St. Louis, and Nashville, according to one of the group’s founders, Neerav Kingsland. Those grants amount to $15 million of the $189 million the group has raised, he told Chalkbeat.

“City Fund staffers have also founded a 501(c)(4) organization called Public School Allies, according to an email obtained by Chalkbeat, which Kingsland confirmed. That setup will allow the group’s members to have more involvement in politics and lobbying, activities limited for traditional nonprofits…

“In their ideal scenario, parents would be able to choose among schools that have autonomy to operate as they see fit, including charter schools. In turn, schools are judged by outcomes (which usually means test scores). The ones deemed successful are allowed to grow, and the less-successful ones are closed or dramatically restructured.”

This is known as the “portfolio model,” which encourages the local board to close low-scoring public schools with charter schools. When the charter schools fail, they are replaced by other charter schools.

“A version of that strategy is already in place in Denver and Indianapolis. Those cities have large charter sectors and enrollment systems that include both district and charter schools In others, like San Antonio, Atlanta, and Camden, struggling district schools have been turned over to charter operators.

“The City Fund’s Newark grant is more of a surprise. Although the district has implemented many aspects of the portfolio model, and seen charter schools rapidly grow since a $100 million donation from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Newark hasn’t been a magnet of national philanthropy recently. That may be because the changes there sparked vehement community protest, and the district recently switched to an elected school board.

“Charter advocates in Nashville, meanwhile, have faced setbacks in recent years, losing several bitter school board races a few years ago. A pro-charter group appears to have folded there.

“Kingsland said The City Fund has given to The Mind Trust in Indianapolis; RootED in Denver; City Education Partners in San Antonio; the Newark Charter School Fund and the New Jersey Children’s Foundation; The Opportunity Trust in St. Louis; and RedefinED Atlanta. In Nashville, The City Fund gave directly to certain charter schools.

“The seven cities The City Fund has given to are unlikely to represent the full scope of the organization’s initial targets. Oakland, for instance, is not included, but The City Fund has received a $10 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for work there. The presentation The City Fund made for potential funders earlier this year says the organization expects to reach 30 to 40 cities in a decade or less.

“We will make additional grants,” Kingsland said in an email. “But we don’t expect to make grants in that many more cities. Right now we are focused on supporting a smaller group of local leaders to see if we can learn more about what works and what doesn’t at the city level.”

“Chalkbeat previously reported that the Hastings Fund, Laura and John Arnold Foundation, the Dell Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation were funding the effort. The Walton Family Foundation and the Ballmer Group are also funders, Kingsland said. (The Gates Foundation and Walton Family Foundation are also funders of Chalkbeat.)…

“It’s gained particular traction in a number of cities, like Newark, Camden, and New Orleans, while they were under state control. In Denver and Indianapolis, cities where the approach has maintained support with elected school boards, supporters faced setbacks in recent elections. Public School Allies may work to address and avoid such political hurdles.”

Note that the Vandals’ model of “success” is New Orleans, where the schools are almost completely privatized and highly stratified. Forty percent of the charter schools in New Orleans are “failing schools,” by the state’s rating system, and almost all their students are black. Louisiana is at the very bottom of NAEP, ranked above only Mississippi and the District of Columbia (another portfolio failure), and the charter school district of New Orleans is significantly lower-performing on state tests than the state as a whole.

This is not success. There is no model of privatization success. This is vandalism.

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, Fraud, Privatization

Alice Walton Is Now Officially the Richest Woman in the World

By dianeravitch
December 5, 2018 //
40

Should we offer congratulations to Alice Walton? Forbes just revealed that she is now the richest woman in the world.

She has a personal fortune of $46 Billion.

She spends a small part of her vast fortune undermining public education and democracy.

At every election that pits public schools against privatization, she throws in a few millions to support privatization. What a shame.

Imagine the praise she would garner if the Walton Family Foundation changed its direction and supported public schools, the schools that enroll 85% of all children in the United States? What if the Waltons supported experienced teachers, or teachers who plan a career in public education, instead of giving $50-100 million to TFA?

Imagine if she tried to strengthen our democratic institutions instead of using her wealth to undermine the schools on which most children rely.

I wonder why she uses her fortune to disrupt and destroy the public schools that educated her father, the founder of Walmart, Sam Walton. Sam went to public schools, not a religious school or a charter school or a prep school. He went to David H. Hickman High School in Columbia, Missouri.

Categories Billionaires, Walton Foundation

Los Angeles: Our Public Schools Are Not for Sale!

By dianeravitch
December 4, 2018 //
4

This full-page ad appeared in the Los Angeles Times a few days ago. It was paid for by the United Teachers of Los Angeles.

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Categories Accountability, Billionaires, Broad Foundation, California, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Reform, Los Angeles, Privatization, Resistance, Supporting public schools

Tom Ultican: An Astonishing $61 Million Spent on Tuck v. Thurmond Race

By dianeravitch
December 3, 2018 //
17

There has never been an election for State Superintendent of Public Instruction like the one recently concluded in California between Marshall Tuck and Tony Thurmond. Tom Ultican says that $61 Million was spent. It might eventually be even more.

This was an epic showdown between charter supports and charter skeptics.

The charter billionaires spent heavily on former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. He didn’t get to the runoffs.

“When Villaraigosa lost badly in the June 6 primary, many of the same billionaires listed above turned their full attention toward electing Marshall Tuck SPI.

“Following a brief career in investment banking, Tuck took a job at the politically connected Green Dot charter schools. Steve Barr a former chair of the Democratic Party who had served on national campaigns for Bill Clinton, Gary Hart and Michael Dukakis founded Green Dot charter schools in 1999. He hired Tuck in 2002 to be Chief Operating Officer (COO) and eventually promoted him to President and COO.

“When Los Angeles Mayor Anthony Villaraigosa was rebuffed in his efforts to take control of Los Angeles Unified School District, he convinced a few donors to underwrite the takeover of ten schools in areas which had suffered years of poor standardized testing results. They created a non-profit called Partnership for LA. Villaraigosa tapped Marshall Tuck to lead the Partnership.

“Tuck was extremely unpopular at the Partnership. The Sacramento Bee reported, “Teachers passed a vote of no confidence at nine of the schools at the end of the first year, leading to independent mediation.”

“During this education reform era in which connections are more important than skill, experience and training, Tuck remained in good standing with the Destroy Public Education (DPE) financiers. Subsequent to loosing the formerly most expensive SPI race in California’s history; Tuck’s benefactors took care of him. Despite no training as an educator, he was given a job as Educator-in-Residence at the New Teacher Center. Bill Gates provides much of the centers funding including grants totaling $26,305,252 since 2009…

“In Tuck versus Thurmond, the direct giving only accounted for 12% of total money spent. Although the direct money spent was comparatively small, it was revealing. In this race the contribution limit was $7,300 and it could be given twice (once for the primary and once for the general). Tuck received 377 maximum contributions for a total of $2,748,500. Thurmond received 170 maximum contributions for a total of $1,234,854.

“The race is generally viewed as a battle between billionaires and teachers unions, but that obscures some realities. Tuck’s maximum contributions came from 259 sources of which 257 were individuals. Thurmond’s Maximum contributions came from 129 sources of which 16 were individuals. Tuck received max contributions from 76 non-employed people, 65 financial industry employees, 39 corporate executives and 29 billionaires. Thurmond received a maximum contribution from one billionaire, Tom Steyer and two corporate executives, Stewart Resnick and Linda Ray Resnick, who also were maximum contributors for Tuck.

“The groups who gave maximum contributions to Thurmond were almost all organized by labor unions. Surprisingly, much of the money came from voluntary contributions and not union dues. For example, the California State Retirees PAC, made a maximum contribution to Thurmond. The largest amount contributed to the PAC by the 1404 contributors was $15.50. Another example is The California Federation of Teachers COPE which made two max donation to Thurmond. The money came from 1326 member organizations like the San Jose Federation of Teacher Local 957 whose members made voluntary contributions totaling to $73,391.

“It was the PACs who drove the election financially.”

You have to open the post to see the excellent LittleSis diagram of the billionaire funding of the Tuck campaign.

No doubt about it. Propivatization was the issue on the ballot in this race.

“When the year began, many supporters of public education were concerned because the candidate apposing Marshall Tuck was a one-term Assemblyman from Richmond, California with no name recognition. Not only that, he was a black man vulnerable to the race card. Then the Judases at the Association of California School Administrators endorsed Marshall Tuck for SPI.

“That might have been the point at which Thurmond demonstrated he was a special guy. On the weekend of January 20th he spoke at the CTA delegates meeting. He already had their endorsement since October, but in this speech the delegates met a charismatic candidate who brought them to their feet cheering. He declared “no privatization of public schools in California. Not in this state. Not on my watch.”

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, California, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Privatization

Steven Singer: Billionaire Heiress Hates Unions!

By dianeravitch
December 2, 2018 //
12

Steven Singer tells the sad story of a billionaire heiress who is very angry. She thinks she should be able to tell everyone what to do. Since she is not queen or empress, she has been spending millions of dollars to elect politicians who agree with her or take orders from her. However, in this election, she lost many of the races she thought she had bought. Her chosen candidates were rejected in many states.

She was so disappointed by her losses that she blamed “the unions” for supporting people who disagreed with her. How dare they! People who disagree with her, she believes, should not have unions, because then they could not support candidates who disagree with her.

Those people should not have the power to elect candidates! Only billionaires should!

Can you guess who that angry billionaire heiress is?

Categories Billionaires, Unions

San Francisco: City Supervisor Wants to Take Mark Zuckerberg’s Name off Public Hospital

By dianeravitch
December 2, 2018 //
11

The city supervisor of San Francisco wants to take Mark Zuckerberg’s name off the city’s only public hospital. Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, pediatrician Priscilla Chan made a gift of $75 million to the hospital, where Dr. Chan once worked. Maybe they could just rename it the Dr. Priscilla Chan Hospital.

Citing Facebook’s mishandling of user privacy and its use of an opposition research firm to discredit critics, San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin is pushing to remove Mark Zuckerberg’s name from the city’s public hospital.

The hospital was renamed Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital in 2015 after the Facebook CEO and his wife contributed $75 million to the hospital’s foundation.

Peskin on Tuesday asked the city attorney to outline a procedure for removing Zuckerberg’s name from the hospital. (Though it formally bears Chan’s name, the hospital often calls itself just “Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center” in signage.) In his remarks, Peskin cited the Cambridge Analytica scandal — in which the political data firm obtained the personal information of as many as 87 million Facebook users without their consent — and revelations in a recent New York Times article about Facebook’s hiring of a political consulting firm to discredit activists critical of the company. The social network, according to the Times, sought to cast some criticism of Facebook as anti-Semitic, while Facebook’s consulting firm was also accused of tactics tainted with anti-Semitism.

“It is not normal for private entities to use that information to spread, and in this case anti-Semitic, conspiracy theories on platforms they control,” Peskin said at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. “It is not normal for Mark Zuckerberg and (Facebook chief operating officer) Sheryl Sandberg to refuse to accept responsibility and to publicly distance themselves from acts that they have personally instigated. … This is about the integrity of institutions and spaces that are overwhelmingly funded by public money and taxpayer dollars.”

A spokesman for City Attorney Dennis Herrera said the office has received the request to look into the matter and does not have a policy position on the issue.

The city has moved to rename some public structures before, such as Justin Herman Plaza on the Embarcadero, but removing Zuckerberg’s name from the hospital may trigger a dispute because of a naming agreement Zuckerberg and Chan reached with the hospital, which is owned and operated by the San Francisco Department of Public Health. The agreement, adopted by the Board of Supervisors in 2015, says the hospital is to be named the Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center for 50 years. The $75 million gift is believed to be the single largest contribution by private individuals in support of a public hospital in the United States.

“It is customary in hospital capital campaigns to provide naming opportunities in honor of major philanthropic gifts, as a critical strategy for raising awareness for the project within the community and for garnering action from other community members and philanthropists,” the resolution said.

The resolution does not explicitly address what would happen if the naming were revoked. When asked whether the hospital, if the city were to seek to remove Zuckerberg’s name, would have to give the money back, a hospital spokesman said he “couldn’t offer an opinion on that.”

Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital is the only public acute-care hospital in the city, serving about 108,000 people each year. Chan, Zuckerberg’s wife, previously worked there as a pediatrician.

Facebook did not respond to a request for comment.

In a written statement, hospital CEO Susan Ehrlich said Zuckerberg and Chan’s contributions have helped the hospital acquire new technology to serve patients, renovate the building and improve patient care.

“In acknowledgment and appreciation of that gift, our hospital now carries their names,” Ehrlich said. “Naming is an important convention in philanthropy that encourages additional donors. … We are honored that Dr. Chan and Mr. Zuckerberg thought highly enough of our hospital and staff, and the health of San Franciscans, to donate their resources to our mission.”

Categories Billionaires, Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, Education Reform

Chalkbeat NY: What Are “Progressive Charter Leaders” to Do Now That Their Republican Allies Are Out of Power?

By dianeravitch
November 30, 2018 //
13

This article in Chalkbeat, sad to say, illustrates the inherent bias of a publication funded by the charter industry’s magnates.

Here are the facts: Charter Schools in New York State derived their political power from their alliance with hedge fund managers, Wall Street, the Republican Party, and Governor Cuomo (who relies on hedge fund managers and Wall Street for campaign contributions). In the midterms, the Republican Party and a group of Democrats who voted with the Republicans in the State Senate, were ousted.

Consequently, the Assembly and the State Senate will be controlled by progressive Democrats who are opposed to charter schools. In other words, the charter sector benefitted financially by their partnership with reactionary Republicans (and a half dozen Democrats who voted as if they were Republicans).

So Chalkbeat gives its readers an article posing the dilemma of “progressive charter leaders,” who don’t want to suffer because of their longstanding success at working with the Republicans who lost.

The article doesn’t explain in what ways these charters are “progressive.” Are they non-union, like most charters? Are they integrated? Do they take the kids with the greatest needs? Or are they just lobbying to keep a modicum of power in Albany?

The article uncritically states that there is a “waiting list” of 80,000. Where did that number come from? Was it audited? By whom? Or was it simply manufactured to claim a need that may or may not exist?

The new class of state senators ran against Democrats and Republicans who were funded by the charter lobby. The new Democratic leader of the State Senate is Andrea Stewart-Cousins. She was the target of a vile, racist attack last year by billionaire Daniel S. Loeb, who at the time was chair of the board of Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy charter chain. He said Senator Stewart-Cousins, who is African-American, had done “more damage to people of color than anyone who has ever donned a hood.”

Charter schools aligned themselves with the Trump-DeVos-Walton-Koch view of school choice. Elections have consequences.

Journalists should strive to avoid advocacy. That’s the realm of the editorial and opinion pages. Not journalists.

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, Charter Schools, Democrats, Education Industry, Education Reform, New York, New York City, Privatization

Arthur Goldstein: Jeff Bezos Gets a Landing Pad for His Helicopter While My Students Are Packed in Like Sardines!

By dianeravitch
November 29, 2018 //
23

Arthur Goldstein is pretty damned angry at Mayor DeBlasio. The city just loaded billions of dollars of tax breaks onto Amazon and multibillionaire Jeff Bezos, even giving Amazon one of the Department of Education’s buildings in Queens. But Goldstein’s students are crammed into crowded classrooms.

Where are the city’s priorities?

I’m shocked that the city has space to turn over to Amazon but can barely find any for schools. I suppose it’s an extraordinary privilege to be able to provide Jeff Bezos a new helipad, while rolling out the red carpet for thousands of high-paid workers, who may or may not even live here. From my perspective, teaching 34 students in half a classroom, I’m not particularly concerned about where the world’s richest man parks his business, let alone his helicopter.

I’ve been working at Francis Lewis High School in central Queens since 1993, and I can’t recall a time when we’ve been so pressed for space. While I bemoan my half room, some of my colleagues are teaching in windowless converted book storage rooms. After years of complaints, admin found a way to air-condition them. Despite this, the air quality is still sub-standard, according to recent tests conducted by UFT….

It’s all about priorities, and the city that so long claimed to place children first is failing spectacularly to do so. In three or four years our school will have an annex, but who’s to say the DOE won’t just dump another thousand kids on us so we’re as overcrowded as ever?
There might be a time to lavish billions in subsidies on Jeff Bezos, but that time is most certainly not now. Our schools and our kids are more important, by far, than bragging rights for Amazon.

Is this fair?

Categories Bill de Blasio, Billionaires, Class size, Funding, New York City

California: Charter Billionaires Spent $62 Million on State Races but Lost the Two Big Ones

By dianeravitch
November 27, 2018 //
13

The charter billionaires spent about $62 million to push their single issue in the state elections but lost the two big statewide races. They did better in legislative races, unfortunately, where it was easy to swamp their opponents.

Advocates for charter schools outspent almost everyone else trying to sway California elections in 2018.

Pro-charter groups helped break spending records trying to swing the race for Superintendent of Public Instruction, the most expensive down-ballot fight in California this year. They were also the top sources of outside spending in the race for governor — and even state Senate and Assembly races.
In total, charter school advocates made $62 million in independent expenditures on this year’s elections, according to a KPCC/LAist analysis of campaign finance data.

But most of that money was spent on losing efforts.

Last week, Marshall Tuck conceded the superintendent race to outgoing State Assemblyman Tony Thurmond. Pro-charter groups — most notably the advocacy group EdVoice — spent a total of $34 million trying to elect Tuck.

They were up against significant opposition: the state’s largest teachers unions and the California Democratic Party spent about $20 million to support Thurmond.

The loss comes after a disappointing gubernatorial primary in June. The political wing of the California Charter Schools Association spent $22 million trying to get former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa into the general election for Governor. Villaraigosa didn’t even come close.

They will now curry favor with Gov.-Elect Newsom.

Pro-charter groups fared somewhat better in state legislative races.

Combined, EdVoice and the California Charter Schools Association spent more than $5.9 million on those races. CCSA Advocates was the largest single source of independent expenditures in state legislative races.

In a down-ballot state legislative race, an independent expenditure of several hundred thousand dollars “is a lot of money,” Sonenshein [of Cal State L.A.] said.

In all, charter groups spent money trying to sway 17 state Assembly or Senate contests. In 13 races, charter school groups supported the winning candidate; eight of these winners were safe incumbents who held their seat by a double-digit margin.

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, California, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization

Virginia: TFA Political Group Funds School Board Races in Alexandria School Board Race

By dianeravitch
November 27, 2018 //
22

This is getting ridiculous. We know that billionaires like Betsy DeVos, the Koch brothers, Reed Hastings, and Michael Bloomberg have been underwriting candidates for local and state school boards.

Now Teach for America’s political action arm, called “Leaders in Education Fund,” which is part of LEE (Leadership for Educational Equity), is also intervening to elect local school board candidates.

Got that? TFA created LEE, which is part of Leaders in Education Fund, which funds candidates.

(Who supports LEE and TFA? The same billionaires who support charter schools: the Waltons, Eli Broad, Bill Gates, etc. One of the Waltons is on the board of LEE.) Any candidate funded by Leaders in Education Fund is funded by the Waltons and the rest of the billionaire privatizers.

Debbie Truong in the Washington Post writes about TFA intervention into a race in Alexandria, Virginia, where its preferred candidates spent ten times (10X) as much as the other candidates and won.

The winning candidates, both TFA alumni, insist that they are not planning to promote charters.

Why would TFA invest in local school boards? In Virginia, only school districts can authorize charter schools, and Virginia has only eight charter schools.

Why would TFA/LE/LEF/Waltons support candidates unless they intend to support TFA and charters?

Read the NPE/NPE Action report on the billionaires buying candidates for office, Hijacked by Billionaires. Of course, the report only scratches the surface, because it does not capture the full list of billionaires supporting privatization, like Republican Bill Bloomfield in California and the Koch brothers. One of the billionaires listed in the report, Arthur Rock, subsidizes TFA alumni who work as staff in Congressional offices, supplying “free” staff who are looking out for the interests of TFA.

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization, Teach for America, Virginia
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