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California BATS Need Your Help! Stop Eli Broad Now!

By dianeravitch
September 13, 2017 //
11

Parent activist Karen Wolfe appeals for your help!

STOP AB 1217, Eli Broad’s latest power play.

California BATS need your help today!

California BATS Action Alert>> Please call or fax the State Assembly Education Committee TODAY! (Fax – (916)319-2187, or contact info at the bottom):

Tell them you OPPOSE AB 1217. A vote is expected this Thursday or Friday.

AB 1217 is sponsored by Eli Broad. It is a GUT & AMEND bill. That means it was sneaked into other legislation while we weren’t looking. Please help us tell the Assembly Ed Committee that we are awake!

Although not technically a charter, the bill would set a statewide precedent that lets charter school operators circumvent local districts, the County Office of Ed, and even the State Board of Education. It creates a new authorizer–the legislature. This is a top priority of the charter lobby.

Please tell Assembly Ed Committee to vote NO because:

– Usurps Local Control. The new LA school board is pro-charter. LACOE is pro-charter. Why skip them?

– Why are legislators far away pushing for a school in downtown Los Angeles? Why don’t they build one in their own district? Assembly member Miguel Santiago, who represents downtown L.A., opposes this bill.

– It circumvents an already established process to open a school. This law would create even less oversight and accountability than charter schools currently have.

– The State Finance Dept recommends a NO vote on AB 1217.

– The fields named are the blue color jobs of the tech industry. Why not a school to prepare for NASA jobs, or biotech or Engineering?

– The math & science problems are in elementary school. A high school does not address the problem, but charter operators receive more money for high schools. So is this really about kids? Or is it about money?

– We don’t need STEM schools; STEAM schools include the arts.

– California’s powerful charter lobby says it is neutral on this bill, but CCSA came to the LA School Board meeting and asked the board not to vote against it. The Center for Education Reform says, “Permitting the creation of multiple authorizers is one of the most important components of a strong charter law. The data show that states with multiple chartering authorities have almost three and a half times more charter schools than states that only allow local school board approval.”

– It will open the flood gates in California. Small, independent charters would be drowned by the big corporate charter management organizations that are ready to expand.

Shareable Action Alert by California BATs: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=776937455825833&id=164608490392069

LA County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl is against this bill.
On the LAUSD board, all three retired school principals are against this bill – George McKenna, Scott Schmerelson, Richard Vladovic.

The California Department of Finance is opposed to this bill. Its report states:

“It would be more appropriate for the school to seek establishment from the local school district, rather than from the Superintendent. The bill requires the school to develop a similar plan that charter schools must develop when submitting their petitions for charter, while circumventing the existing process to establish charter schools in the state.

“It could result in a school that lacks proper oversight, as it requires the Superintendent to issue reports to the Governor and the Legislature if the school fails to comply with this bill, but does not give the Superintendent authority to rescind its approval of the school or take other remediating measures.

“It sets a precedent for the Superintendent to approve, oversee, monitor, and report on the operation of the school beyond what the Superintendent is required to do with existing state schools.

“It creates additional total costs of $1.4 million non-Proposition 98 General Fund over five years that are beyond those included in the recently enacted Budget Act.”

California Assembly Education Committee:
Fax the Committee (916)319-2187
Patrick O’Donnell, Chair (916)319-2070
Rocky Chavez (916)319-2076
Todd Gloria (916)319-2078
Kevin Kiley (916)319-2006
Kevin McCarty (916)319-2007
Tony Thurmond (candidate for State Superintendent) (916)319-2015
Dr. Shirley Weber (916)319-2079

AB 1217 is wrong. Please call or fax, and share this with allies today!

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, Broad Foundation, California, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry

Viola Davis: Don’t Forget the Teachers and Public School That Changed Your Life

By dianeravitch
September 9, 2017 //
13

Viola Davis is one of the most gifted actors of our time. She has won the Tony Award, the Academy Award, and many other awards. She has never forgotten her humble origins and those who helped her rise to the top.

When she received the Tony award in 2010, she gave a powerful speech. She thanked God, her parents, and her teachers at Central Falls High School in Central Falls, Rhode Island. In that order.

I recall leaping to my feet when I heard her speak in 2010, because that was the very time when the city of Central Falls and the state of Rhode Island threatened to fire the entire staff of the High School that Viola Davis attended. To fire them en masse, from the principal to the lunch room staff. Arne Duncan congratulated the state officials for having the “courage” to fire everyone, and President Obama echoed Arne’s insult.

It was also the year of “Waiting for Superman,” and the corporate assault on the public schools went into high gear.

But then there was Viola Davis, thanking her teachers. I learned later that her own sister was a teacher at Central Falls HS.

But…but…but…then, Viola Davis took a leading role in the film “Won’t Back Down,” funded and produced by arch-evangelical billionaire Philip Anschutz (one of the “Superman” funders). “Won’t Back Down” celebrates the parent trigger, telling the fictional story of a parent and a teacher who were so disgusted with their public school that they gathered signatures and flipped the school over to a charter operator. I didn’t get to see the movie because it opened in 2,500 theatres (Anschutz owns the Regal theatre chain) and its receipts were so bad that it closed within a month and disappeared.

Last night, Viol Davis moderated Laurene Powell Jobs’ XQ extravaganza, which asserted that high schools are obsolete and need to be reinvented.

Viola Davis, please watch the speech you gave at the Oscars at 2010.

We need a real champion for public schools.

Trump and DeVos want to eliminate the schools that made you who you are today. Our public schools need your help. They are far from perfect. They need real reform, not a wrecking ball and disruption.

Viola Davis, help us. Join the millions of parents and educators who want better public schools.

The billionaires don’t need your help. We do. They are using you.

Join the Network for Public Education. Help the children and teachers whom the billionaires despise.

Categories Betsy DeVos, Billionaires, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, Network for Public Education, Parent trigger, Parents, Privatization, Propaganda, Rhode Island, Students

Laurene Powell Jobs’ Big Show: No Educators Invited

By dianeravitch
September 8, 2017 //
49

I have posted a couple of times about the celebrity show that Mrs. Jobs is paying for tonight. Lots of stars. No educators. If you should watch, write in with a comment. I have other things I have to do.

Here is what Politico says:

“STAR-STUDDED EVENT LOOKS AT RETHINKING HIGH SCHOOL: A hodgepodge of actors and musical stars will come together for a one-hour television special tonight on rethinking high school, set for broadcast on four major U.S. networks. The special was put together by the XQ Institute, a project of Laurene Powell Jobs’ philanthropic LLC called the Emerson Collective, and the nonprofit Entertainment Industry Foundation. In 2015, the XQ Institute launched a call to “rethink” high school, arguing that the average American high school has failed to keep up with huge changes in society and technology. High schools were revamped to use technology in unique ways; to shed traditional grades, classrooms and subjects to look more like creative workplaces; and set in nontraditional locations, like public museums.

– Russlynn Ali, XQ founder and former Education Department head of civil rights during the Obama administration, said “fixing our educational system is one of the biggest problems there is. Regardless of where you are on the political spectrum, we all have a vital interest in preparing America’s young people for the opportunities of the 21st century. But change of this magnitude is extraordinarily difficult, and won’t happen unless we unite around this common cause. Tonight’s special will highlight some of those schools, encourage educators and the public to build on those efforts and feature musical performances.” Celebrities expected to be there include Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hanks and Viola Davis. The special will air at 8 p.m. ET on ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC.”

Open it for links.

http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7a4567fcd7b496feae6fd258d30929ce1c151b2826d367480ee2df486e8c5e40bdf41a6bb996790f2f220479c91b352bcf191b308fda384f

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, Teachers and Teaching

Superstar Athlete and Charter Founder Teams Up with Koch Brothers to Fight Poverty in Dallas

By dianeravitch
September 2, 2017 //
10

Deion Sanders was a superstar in sports. He opened charter schools in Texas, which have closed. Now, he is joining with the notorious Koch brothers in a plan intended to end poverty in Dallas. The program, called Stand Together, aims to raise $21 million.

Chalk this one up to innocence. Or ignorance. Or naivete. No one has done more than the Koch brothers to rip apart the social safety net that helps Americans who are down on their luck than the Koch brothers.

The story in Inside Philanthropy begins:

As we’ve pointed out time and again, David and Charles Koch are eager for an image makeover. After decades spent attacking governmental overreach and financing the right’s policy infrastructure, as well as bankrolling GOP candidates, the Kochs found themselves with a family and company brand that had become synonymous with extremist and self-interested politics. Among other things, their recent efforts to repair that damage have included large-scale grants to institutions that help African Americans and stepped up work on bipartisan criminal justice reform, as we’ve been reporting.

What’s received less attention is Koch backing for a new national anti-poverty group Stand Together, which recently led Charles Koch to find a surprising ally in Deion Sanders, a larger-than-life figure also known by the nickname “Primetime.” Sanders has the distinction of being the only athlete to play in both a Super Bowl and a World Series. Following such an illustrious sports career, Sanders wants to give back, and he’s doing so in partnership with Koch and Stand Together.

According to Sanders, Koch is hardly the profit-hungry villain he’s sometimes made out to be. Commenting on a new joint effort between himself and the Koch-backed “venture philanthropy” organization, Sanders says, “I saw firsthand how wonderful and gracious and giving and kind the Koch family was in regards to really trying to make this country a better place for everyone.” High praise indeed, especially from a celebrity with very different roots than the usual Koch set.

Sanders’ charter chain, which opened schools in Dallas and Fort Worth in 2012, closed in 2015.

Even before Sanders’ first charter school opened, the Dallas Observer called them a “primetime scam.”

When the schools closed, they were in administrative chaos and saddled with crushing debt and dwindling enrollments.

Categories Billionaires, Charter Schools, Dallas, Education Reform, Poverty

Peter Greene: Get Your Barf Bag Ready for September 8, When Mrs. Jobs Reveals How to Fix Education

By dianeravitch
August 30, 2017 //
40

Peter Greene has a timely warning for us. Laurene Powell Jobs has lined up multiple TV channels and a star-studded cast to tell the world how she is fixing education. Her group is called the Emerson Collective. She hired Arne Duncan to advise her, despite the fact that he wasted $5 billion of federal funds (taxpayer money) on a failed effort to “reform” public schools by privatizing them, closing them, firing teachers and principals, and making standardized tests the purpose of education.

Peter notes that no working educator helped Mrs. Jobs formulate her plans. What do teachers know about education?

He writes:

“Brace yourselves. It’s time for a star-studded ed erformstravaganza.

“Another wave of PR dropped yesterday, touting a four-network, celebrity-packed, media event, proudly trumpeted everywhere from Variety to USA Today. On September 8, a huge line-up (including Tom Hanks, Yo-Yo Ma, Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Hudson and (sorry) Common) will present “an hour-long live television special about reinventing American high schools….

“The XQ Institute is an offspring of the Emerson Collective, a Palo Alto-based do-gooding group founded by Laurene Powell Jobs. The organization is dedicated to removing barriers to opportunity so people can live to their full potential in order to develop and execute innovative solutions that will spur change and promote equality. They were one of the first groups to hire Arne Duncan after his Ed Secretary stint (do not miss his hardcore street pic here). Oh, and they just bought controlling interest in the Atlantic which, for reasons we’ll get to, is kind of a bummer.

“Jobs was always a philanthropic power player, and she’s logged time in the ed reform biz with NewSchools Venture Fund (We raise contributions from donors and use it to find, fund and support teams of educators and education entrepreneurs who are reimagining public education), but as the widow of Apple Empresario Steve Jobs, she has a huge mountain of money to work with. She is, in fact, the fourth richest woman in the world. And she has decided she would like to fix education.

“Jobs has said, “We want to make high schools back into the great equalizers they were meant to be.”

“To do that, she launched XQ Institute, which launched a big competition– XQ: The Super School Project.

“The Super School Project is an open call to reimagine and design the next American high school. In towns and cities far and wide, teams will unite and take on this important work of our time: rethinking and building schools that deeply prepare our students for the rigorous challenges of college, jobs, and life…

“Jobs doesn’t use many of the dog whistles or talking points of reformsters, except for one that she really loves:

“Jobs told the NYT, “The system was created for the work force we needed 100 years ago. Things are not working the way we want it to be working.”

“In USA Today: The XQ Institute aims to “rethink” American public high schools, which, it maintains, have remained virtually unchanged for a century while the world has transformed dramatically.

“Schools haven’t changed in 100 years” is the dead horse Jobs rides in on, a criticism that only makes sense if you don’t know what schools were actually like in 1917, and if you haven’t actually visited one in the last century….

“I also note that in all the publicity for the event that I’ve now read, there is no mention of other sponsors, so while I don’t have proof, I’m pushed to conclude that Laurene Powell Jobs just busted out her checkbook and bought a full hour of Friday night primetime television on four networks.

“What can we expect. Well, music and comedy and documentaries are billed. And we’re talking about a SuperSchool live, so presumably we won’t bother with any coverage of those dopey Clark Kent schlubby schools where the rest of us slog away. This special will just focus on Jobs’ own created reality.”

Don’t you wish that billionaire dilettantes would fix health care or save national parks or find some other pet hobby? When do they get tired of failing? Again and again and again…

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization, Teachers and Teaching, Testing

Los Angeles: Rally Today to Protest Eli Broad Takeover of STEM Programs

By dianeravitch
August 28, 2017 //
42

Eli Broad will go down in history–if at all–as a selfish billionaire who used his money to destroy public education wherever and whenever he could. He graduated from public schools in Michigan, but instead of gratitude, he wants to ruin the public schools that helped him succeed. He promotes privatization. He has an Academy for superintendents where they are taught top-down, undemocratic methods; most are failures. He should be ashamed of himself. But billionaires know no shame.

Rally and Protest to support STEM schools, defeat ‘boutique’ school bill AB 1217

LOS ANGELES – Educators, students, parents and graduates of district STEM schools will rally TODAY at 4 PM on the front steps of Helen Bernstein High School, home of a successful STEM program, to protest AB 1217, which is co-sponsored by Assemblymember Raul Bocanegra and State Senator Anthony Portantino. The proposed bill would give away local authority to a boutique, privately-run STEM school in downtown LA.

Assembly Bill 1217 is a secretive, last-minute bill to create a publicly funded but privately operated STEM school, bypassing the local School Board, parents, and educators. If approved, it would take about 800 students from LAUSD but would not operate under the district’s purview. Citing accountability and funding concerns, the California Department of Finance opposes AB 1217 (see attached report). The bill would take away essential per-pupil funding and resources from the 142 STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) programs already run in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The backers of the bill include Billionaire Eli Broad, who for years has bankrolled various “some kids, not all kids” schemes to kill the public education system that serves all students in favor of unregulated, unaccountable charter school operators. Ironically, Broad and his cohorts, like the California Charter Schools Association, just spent millions of dollars to buy the LA School Board election — and now he is driving a heavy-handed attempt to circumvent the same board just a few months later. Read LA Times story.

“This bill is an insult to the STEM programs that are in existence at LAUSD schools,” said Ben Kim, who teaches AP Calculus and AP Statistics at the STEM Academy @Bernstein. “Our STEM schools are doing amazing work, despite operating on shoestring budgets. Why don’t they fund these programs before allowing a billionaire-backed school to open up, without proper oversight and accountability?”

TODAY’s protest follows a recent campus visit from newly elected board member Nick Melvoin, who praised the STEM @ Bernstein. The visit was then followed by a board vote to undercut funding at the same school, which is in his district. On Tuesday, Aug. 22, the LAUSD School Board voted 4-3 against George McKenna’s resolution opposing AB 1217. Divisive politics is what Nick Melvoin claimed to be avoiding as he voted along party lines, upholding the ‘billionaire bloc’ vote to deny local opposition to the state bill.

“The 4-3 school board vote shows that they are still beholden to their donors,” Kim said. “In their visit to our school, they tell us they support us. When it comes down to it, nice gestures mean nothing if they won’t fight for our public schools.”

Read Capital and Main story.

Speakers will include: UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl, Dr. Ruth Montes (STEM graduate), current STEM students and educators, community members and parents who will call on Portantino, Bocanegra and Melvoin to save LAUSD’s STEM programs and kill AB 1217.

PRESS AVAILABILITY (English and Spanish interviews available)

What: Rally against AB 1217
When: Monday, Aug. 28, 4 p.m. To 5 p.m.
Where: STEM Academy @ Helen Bernstein High School
1309 N. Wilton Place
Los Angeles CA 90028

UTLA, the nation’s second-largest teachers’ union local, represents more than 35,000 teachers and health & human services professionals who work in the Los Angeles Unified School District and in charter schools.

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, Broad Foundation, Education Industry, Injustice, Los Angeles, Privatization, STEM

Some of The Billionaires Behind Charters, Trump, and Success Academy

By dianeravitch
August 26, 2017 //
30

It may be hard to believe that billionaires are deeply concerned with the well-being of poor children of color. They fight any tax ibpncreases that might reduce income inequality and improve the quality of life for the families of these children. But they are more than willing to invest in charter schools.

In this article, teacher-writer Jake Jacobs explores the charter-love of the billionaires. Bear in mind that he has only scratched the surface, as there are billionaires in Idaho (the Albertson family), in Texas (Tim Dunn), in North Carolina (Art Pope), in Washington (Bill Gates), in California (Reed Hastings, Eli Broad, Doris Fischer, etc.), all of whom would rather pay to expand charters than to pay for a successful public sector.

Jacobs spreads the blame in a bipartisan manner. But behind it all is charters instead of taxes for the rich.

Jacobs writes:

“Trump went further than Hillary, promising a rapid expansion of charter schools – but this meant charter advocates were siding with both presidential candidates. After winning, Trump wasted no time seeking out the notorious charter maven Eva Moskowitz, CEO of the 41 school Success Academy network in New York City.

“Moskowitz had financial ties to the Trump campaign through Wall Street financier John Paulson. An $8.5 million donor to Success Academy who served as economic advisor to the Trump campaign. Billionaire investor Julian Robertson who gave Success a record-shattering $25 million gift is also a donor to a prominent pro-Trump PAC.

“After meeting Trump, Moskowitz pledged support for his plan to expand charters – as well as controversial private school vouchers – but she stopped short of joining Trump’s cabinet. Next, Moskowitz offered praise to Trump’s Education Secretary Betsy DeVos (whose foundation had previously donated $300,000 to Success Academy). Moskowitz then invited Ivanka Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan to tour Success charter schools in Harlem.

“Most people do not realize that PACs allied with Moskowitz also helped engineer a political coup in Albany. Her two charter school lobbying groups, Families for Excellent Schools and Great Public Schools PAC, an offshoot of Students First NY, spent over $10 million making pro-charter donors the biggest political manipulators in NY state.

“Another group of hedge funders called New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany financed a massive advertising campaign in 2014 to keep the NY State Senate in Republican hands and pro-charter. Success Academy mega-donor Daniel Loeb contributed $1 million to the group.

“Also pushing charter schools is Reclaim NY, a PAC disguised as a “charity” backed by reclusive billionaire Robert Mercer. When it’s founding VP Steve Bannon stepped down to work in Trump’s White House, it illustrated why The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer reported Mercer has “surrounded” Trump with “his people” by “paying for their seats.”

“MAYORAL CONTROL MATTERS

“As the plan to expand charter schools in NY starts with wealthy donors who in turn fund legislators, an important focus is wresting control from local stakeholders who might oppose charters opening in their neighborhood.

“Just as we see in charter-heavy Chicago, the key to this in NYC was mayoral control. In 2002, the NY legislature upstate first granted then-mayor Michael Bloomberg unilateral control of NYC schools for a term of seven years, dissolving locally-elected school boards. Because Bloomberg was an advocate for privatizing education and had successfully expanded charters, he was granted a six-year renewal in 2009.”

Categories Betsy DeVos, Bill de Blasio, Billionaires, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Failure, Inequality, Privatization

Richard Escow Schools Louise Linton, Wife of Treasury Secretary Mnuchin

By dianeravitch
August 24, 2017 //
20

I read about the events discussed in this open letter to Louise Linton and decided that I would not comment on the blog about her condescending remarks, made on a public site. But a reader said I should post the letter, because of what it says about oligarchy and the condition of our society today.

The background: The glamorous Ms. Linton Mnuchin posted a photograph of herself and her (homely) husband getting off a U.S. government jet after a trip to Kentucky. Along with the photo, she posted a comment listing the super-expensive designer items on her body. Someone saw her comment and chastised her for bragging about her clothes and her wealth. Linton responded with a nasty put-down of her critic, who clearly was not as rich as Mrs. Mnuchin.

Richard Escow wrote an open letter to Louise Linton.

The letter includes all the details and begins like this:

“Dear Ms. Linton,

“This has undoubtedly been a difficult couple of days for you, both as a person and as the wife of the United States Treasury Secretary.

“Nobody enjoys the sudden onrush of hostile attention that comes when something they’ve said goes viral, and not in a good way. Your public record, and even your recent infamous post, suggests you want to be a good person – or, at the very least, that you’d like to be seen as one.

“That’s not how people are seeing you at the moment, and that has to be rough.

“Perhaps it would help if someone explained why you’ve received so much negative attention in the last 48 hours.

“Bubble Life

“Simply put: You live in a bubble. That’s not your fault. It’s just the way it is. According to the Internet – the same Internet that has turned on you with such ferocity – you were born into a wealthy Scottish family and educated at the prestigious St George’s School for Girls and Fettes College.

“Your family owns a real-life, honest to God castle, for God’s sake.

“A little self-awareness is therefore in order: Your experience is not like that of most people. Some people are born into privilege and make a dedicated effort to see life from other people’s point of view. That does not seem to have been the case with you.”

Categories Bias, Billionaires

Laura Chapman: Here Comes the Billionaires’ Latest Scheme to Redesign Public Schools

By dianeravitch
August 24, 2017 //
31

Laura Chapman noted a major promotion that is scheduled for September, when Laurence Powell Jobs tells the world how to fix public schools. What is the source of her expertise? Well, she is surrounded by alumni of the ill-fated Obama Department of Education, which managed to blow away $5 billion and accomplish nothing other than to create a teacher shortage and enrich the testing and charter industry. Arne Duncan, mastermind of the failed Race to the Top, advises Jobs. She is also extremely rich, and we know from “Fiddler on the Roof” that “When you’re rich, they think you really know.”

The Billionaires who think they have the answers to high school redesign are planning a big splash in early September.

Premise: “While technology and society have rocketed forward, high school has used the same model since 1900. We can’t prepare our nation’s students for the 21st century with this outmoded system. Let’s rethink high school.”

On September 8, 2017, ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox New will be marketing the Emerson Collective’s “XQ: The Super School Project,” at 8 pm (7pm Central)

“XQ: The Super School Project was launched in September 2015 as an open call to rethink and design the next American high school. Thousands of school builders, and tens of thousands of supporters from towns and cities across all 50 states united to take on this important work. Nearly 4,000 teams of students, teachers, parents, community leaders and many more came together to conceptualize innovative models for 21st century learning. To date, XQ has pledged more than $100 million to a growing number of the most promising ideas, actively supporting these teams on their journeys to become Super Schools.” Here are some of the leaders of the project.

Laurene Powell Jobs. Chairs XQ’s board of directors, President of Emerson Collective. “Her two decades in the education field have convinced her that America is ready for a sea change to overhaul the system.” Widow of Steve Jobs.

Russlynn Ali, Chief Executive Officer. Former assistant secretary of civil rights at the U.S. Department of Education. Also serves as managing director of education at Emerson Collective.

Alexandra Berry, Chief of Staff. Designed professional development products for teachers at Amplify, Instructional faculty and operations team at Relay Graduate School of Education. Teach for America, middle school math learning specialist at Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) in Houston, Texas.

Matt Lorin, President: Former Executive Director of Honolulu-based, The Learning Coalition. Experience in philanthropy and civic engagement in public education.

Monica Martinez. Senior School Support Strategist. Expert in school redesign, policy, and philanthropy. Senior Fellow to the Hewlett Foundation, President of New Tech Network, VP of KnowledgeWorks Foundation, an associate at the Institute for Educational Leadership.

Dr. Linda Murray, Superintendent–in–Residence. Former senior advisor to the Education Trust-West and Superintendent of Schools for the San Jose Unified School District. Advises XQ on practice work …to help all students in XQ high schools reach college and career ready goals.

Sebastian Turner, Special Projects Lead: Worked as a personnel management consultant for Fortune 500 companies, human capital consultant and talent recruiter for charter management organizations. Former elementary school teacher.

Deep collaborators ( role not clear) include:
Yo-Yo Ma, the globally accomplished musician and creator;
Marc Ecko, Chief Brand and Creative Officer of COMPLEX, youth and justice advocate;
Geoffrey Canada, education advocate, founder of the Harlem Children’s Zone;
Michael Klein, global strategic and financial adviser and Managing Partner of M Klein,
Leon Wieseltier, Isaiah Berlin Senior Fellow in Culture and Policy at the Brookings Institution, listed as the philosopher for the Emerson Collective.

More information about the high school project go to https://xqsuperschool.org

For more about the people and projects of the Emerson Collective go to http://www.emersoncollective.com/our-team/

My generation would label many of these efforts variants of the 1960s alternative school movement with a lot more tech. I hope that someone or some group (other than the promoters) will track the longevity of these school, transformations, and what happens when the grant money and glow of publicity fades. Notice how some of the recruits to lead the project are “formers”… of TFA, of Relay (not) Graduate School of Education, the Education Trust, and active in pushing tech. ALmost forgot: Arne Duncan is a Partner in the Emerson Collective.

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, Corporate Reform, Corporate Reformers, Duncan, Arne, Education Industry, Education Reform, Privatization

Texas: The Billionaire Who Supports Public Schools

By dianeravitch
August 23, 2017 //
36

Yes, Virginia, there is one billionaire in America who supports public schools, not charter schools.

His name is Charles Butt. He became fabulously wealthy through ownership of a large chain of small-town grocery stores.

He must be a genius because he understands that it makes no sense to create a parallel system of publicly funded but privately managed schools.

Inside Philanthropy writes:

“Texas has the second-highest number of public school students in the U.S., just after California. Some 5 million kids are enrolled in more than 1,000 public school districts around the state. And nowhere is the K-12 population growing faster than in Texas, which is projected to see a 14 percent increase in students enrolled between 2014 and 2026. Already, the state is struggling with teacher shortages and experts believe the problem could get much worse.

“Enter Charles Butt, a Texas grocery mogul with a net worth of over $10 billion, who earlier this month announced his latest push to improve public education in his state, launching a $50 million initiative aimed at teacher training. The grants will provide scholarships for aspiring teachers and technical support for teacher training programs across Texas.

“The gift from Butt, chairman and CEO of the HEB grocery chain, is the latest in a multimillion-dollar effort to improve Texas education. Earlier this year, Butt gave $100 million to establish a leadership institute for school administrators.

“Beyond the size of Butt’s gifts—among the biggest for K-12 in recent years—what’s significant about these commitments is that Butt is not focused on bolstering charter schools or the array of nonprofits that support choice and accountability strategies. Instead, this mega-donor is looking to improve leadership and teaching in the traditional school districts that still educate the vast bulk Texas school children—and will for the foreseeable future.

“Whatever you may think about charter schools, funders have struggled to scale this approach to improving student outcomes. Butt has apparently concluded that his giving will have the greatest impact by bolstering the school system that exists, as opposed to building out a parallel K-12 universe. These days, more top donors seem to be thinking along the same lines as Butt. Even as existing charter funders double down on this strategy, it appears that fewer of the new mega-donors arriving in K-12 are focusing on choice.”

I sure wish I knew who those other “top donors” are. Where are those other “mega-donors”?

Thank God for Charles Butt.

He sees what billionaires like Gates, Broad, and the Waltons don’t: Help the schools where 85-90% of the students are. Do not fund Betsy DeVos’s privatization agenda.

Categories Billionaires, Supporting public schools
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