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Why the Colorado Democratic Party Denounced DFER

By dianeravitch
April 16, 2018 //
5

 

Democrats for Education Reform is an organization founded, funded, and led by hedge fund managers who support charter schools and high-stakes testing. They raise money to elect likeminded people across the country and are a key part of the Dark Money world of fundraisers for privatization of public schools.

On Saturday, the Colorado Democratic Party passed a strong resolution opposing privatization of public schools and demanding that DFER stop calling themselves “Democrats.”

Here is the story of the state Democratic convention, as reported in Chalkbest.

Colorado has been fertile ground for corporate reform, and DFER has been a source of funding for candidates for the state board, the Denver board, and other critical races. Senator Michael Bennett, once a superintendent of the Denver public schools, is a DFER favorite. So are two current candidates for governor, Jared Polis (who is so rich he doesn’t need DFER money) and former TFA State Senator Michael Johnston, who drafted the state’s harsh and ineffective teacher evaluation law.

“Vanessa Quintana, a political activist who was the formal sponsor of the minority report, was a student at Denver’s Manual High School when it was closed in 2006, a decision that Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, then Denver’s superintendent, defended at an education panel Friday.

“She said that before she finally graduated from high school, she had been through two school closures and a major school restructuring and dropped out of school twice. Three of her siblings never graduated, and she blames the instability of repeated school changes.

“When DFER claims they empower and uplift the voices of communities, DFER really means they silence the voices of displaced students like myself by uprooting community through school closure,” she told the delegates. “When Manual shut down my freshman year, it told me education reformers didn’t find me worthy of a school.”

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Closing schools, Colorado, Democrats, Denver, DFER, Education Reform, Privatization

Smoke and Mirrors in Albany

By dianeravitch
April 10, 2018 //
10

 

Did Governor Cuomo really broker a deal to unite the Democratic Party and bring the rebel Independent Democratic Caucus back from their alliance with the GOP?

Maybe not.

I just got this appeal from the Working Families Party:

“Well, that was quick.

“Just days after announcing they would “dissolve” their conference, the Independent Democratic Conference is inviting big-money donors to a $5000-a-plate NYC fundraiser for the IDC campaign committee, according to the Buffalo News.1

“Despite promising to immediately return to the Democratic fold, Senator Jeff Klein and the IDC are still raising money from real estate developers and hedge fund billionaires to their own separate campaign committee.

“This is exactly why need to defeat the IDC at the polls and replace them with progressives who we can count on to ALWAYS support a Democratic-Working Families majority in New York’s State Senate.

“Let’s defeat the IDC and Republicans for good and elect Working Families Democrats who we can count on to be part of a durable progressive majority. Chip in $20 to fight back against the hedge fund and real estate billionaires who continue to fund the IDC.

“For years, the Working Families Party has laid it all on the line to elect a Democratic-Working Families majority in the State Senate — and progressive Democrats to Congress — across NY state. But every step of the way, we’ve been stopped by the IDC-Republican alliance.

“We need to make absolutely sure not only that we win this year, but that we do it with candidates who will stand unequivocally with working families, not millionaires and billionaires.

“That’s why we’re proud to be working to elect courageous Working Families Democrats like Alessandra Biaggi, Robert Jackson, Jessica Ramos, Zellnor Myrie, Rachel May, Jasmine Robinson, and John Duane who are running energetic grassroots campaigns challenging IDC incumbents in their home districts.2 These are candidates who would never even THINK of supporting Trump Republicans.

“We need to win these races and others if we want to win a durable Democratic-Working Families majority in Albany. But with IDC members still collecting huge checks from their corporate donors, it’s going to take all of us pitching in to do it.

“Fight back against the hedge fund and real estate billionaires who continue to fund the IDC and Republicans. Chip in $20 to help us elect Working Families Democrats across New York:”

Cynthia Nixon got Governor Cuomo to put on a show of unity.

But once again, like four years ago, his promise did not last.

Who will Cuomo support in the Democratic primaries? The unfaithful IDC or the Democrats supported by the WFP?

Categories Cuomo, Andrew, Democrats, New York

Cynthia Nixon’s First Big Accomplishment: She Forced Cuomo to Unite the Senate Democrats

By dianeravitch
April 10, 2018 //
10

 

Despite the fact that New York is a blue state, its legislature is divided, and Governor Cuomo likes it that way. The Democratic-controlled State Assembly wants progressive legislation, the Republican State Senate does not. A breakaway group of 8 Democrats (called the Independent Democratic Caucus) has caucused with the Republicans, giving them complete control of the Senate, with perks for the breakaway Democrats who keep the Republicans in power. Cuomo’s support of Republican control of the State Senate protected him from ever having to veto progressive legislation because the State Senate reliably vetoed all progressive legislation, such as a tax on the 1% who finance Cuomo’s campaigns.

Under pressure from Cynthia Nixon’s challenge from his left, Cuomo took a crucial step to unite the New York Democratic Party. After eight years in office, Cuomo persuaded the members of the IDC to support the Democratic Party. As one Democrat said, he is wary and will “sleep with one eye open.” The more that Cuomo protests that Cynthia Nixon had nothing to do with his change of mind, the more it appears that she was the precipitating factor.

Now, State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins will lead the Democrats in the Senate and Jeffrey Klein of the IDC will be her deputy. Only a few weeks ago, Cuomo and three other men were writing the state’s sexual harassment policy, excluding Stewart-Cousins; not a woman in the room as the guys determined what sexual harassment is and how to deal with it.

Four years ago, Cuomo promised the Working Families Party to corral the IDC, promised to help Democratic candidates running for the State Senate, got its endorsement, then broke his promise the day after he won the WFP endorsement.

Why is he shifting gears now? Because Cynthia Nixon has called out Cuomo as a phony progressive.

Sadly, control of the State Senate now resides in the hands of one man: State Senator Simcha Felder.

Felder represents the Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn. Although nominally a Democrat, Felder caucuses with the Republicans. He makes clear that he is loyal only to the religious group who elected him.

”Without Mr. Felder, who recently held up the state budget for concessions on how yeshivas are overseen by the state, the new Democratic coalition would still be one vote short of a majority. In an interview, Mr. Felder reiterated that he has no loyalty to either party, but rather is looking for the best deal for his district, which includes a large population of Orthodox Jews.”

Felder held up adoption of the state budget, until he got reassurances about the independence of the state’s yeshivas, which enroll a small fraction of the state’s 2.7 million students. The Yeshivas do not want the state to monitor their curriculum, such as, whether they teach English and science. Ironically, the final legislation gives the oversight authority to the States Education Department, which has the power to make and enforce demands.

As the swing vote, Felder now controls the State Senate.

 

Categories Cuomo, Andrew, Democrats, Education Reform, Hypocrisy, New York

DFER’s Choices for 2012: Still Relevant

By dianeravitch
March 25, 2018 //
10

The hedge fund managers created an organization called “Democrats for Education Reform” to advocate for charter schools and high-stakes testing, including evaluating teachers by the test scores of their students (VAM).

In the comments section, someone recalled that George Miller was one of the architects of No Child Left Behind, and I remembered having an unpleasant encounter with Miller in 2010, after the release of my 2010 book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education. I was invited by Connecticut Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro to a private dinner at her home to talk about the book to the Democratic members of the House Education Committee, and Miller was there. In my talk, I was highly critical of NCLB. Miller was outraged. He defended it vociferously.

Yesterday I remembered that I had received an invitation to a fundraiser in 2012 for George Miller from DFER at a posh restaurant in Manhattan. The cost of each breakfast was $1,250. Miller did  not have an opponent. I did not attend.

Miller has since retired. I was told that Nancy Pelosi relied on him as the leading education expert in Congress

Here is the list of Democrats (pro-charter, pro-high-stakes testing) endorsed by DFER in 2012. You may be surprised to see who is on the list, including Congressman Bobby Scott, who succeeded Miller as the leading Democrat on the House Education Committee, and Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, now a leading voice for gun control, but sponsor of the Murphy Amendment to ESSA, which was intended to preserve the George W. Bush punitive consequences of testing. Although every Democrat on the Senate HELP committee (including Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders) supported the Murphy Amendment, it was defeated by the Republican majority on the committee. Had it passed, schools would still be judged by AYP. And, of course, Jared Polis was on the DFER list; he is now running for governor of Colorado. He is a zealous supporter of charter schools.

This year, DFER’s big cause is the governor’s race in California, and their candidate is Antonio Villiraigosa, the former mayor of Los Angeles, who is carrying forward the DeVos agenda of privatization by charters.

Categories Accountability, California, Charter Schools, Democrats, Democrats for Education Reform, NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Privatization

Center for American Progress: The Highly Negative Effects of Vouchers

By dianeravitch
March 22, 2018 //
48

 

The Center for American Progress published a useful review of voucher research, which concludes that going to a voucher school is equivalent to losing 1/3 of a year of schooling. Over the past year or so, I have posted the individual studies of vouchers as they appeared, and it is helpful to have them summarized in one place.

The authors of this research review—Ulrich Boser, Meg Bender, and Erin Roth—are senior analysts at CAP. They have done a good job in pulling together the many studies and analyzing the negative effects of vouchers on children. Researchers do not agree on the wisdom of converting test score gains or losses into “days of learning,” a strategy invented by researchers at CREDO, but the authors here use the device against the choice advocates who use it to bash public schools.

CAP is a puzzle to me. Throughout the Obama years, it was a safe haven and cheerleading squad for everything associated with the Obama administration, including the failed, odious, and ineffective Race to the Top.

As this carefully researched paper makes clear, CAP opposes vouchers. But where is CAP on charters? Is it still defending the Obama-Duncan line that school choice is good and traditional public schools are not? Is it willing to do the same research-based review of charters that it did of vouchers?

Does CAP still believe in school choice? Does it support half of the Trump-DeVos agenda? Or will it help return the Democratic Party to its roots by acknowledging the importance of strong public schools, democratically governed, subject to state and federal laws, doors open to all?

 

 

Categories Accountability, Betsy DeVos, Charter Schools, Democrats, Privatization, Race to the Top, School Choice, Supporting public schools, Vouchers

California Democratic Party Offers Advice to Trump

By dianeravitch
March 13, 2018 //
5

 

This is good reading!

The California Democratic Party wrote up some pointers for Trump while he visits there.

An excellent reminder of the differences between Trump and Democrats in the Golden State.

Personally, I sincerely hope Trump makes time to visit charter schools and praise them as the capstone of the Trump-DeVos agenda. California’s charter-friendly environment makes Betsy DeVos very happy. After all, California has more charter schools than any other state.

Categories Betsy DeVos, California, Democrats

Slate: DeVos Said What Democrats Have Been Saying for Years

By dianeravitch
March 12, 2018 //
55

 

Ben Mathis-Lilley, chief news editor for SLATE, points out what should be obvious: everyone is mocking Betsy DeVos’s clueless interview with 60 Minutes, but she echoed what Democrats have been saying for years.

Low-scoring schools should compete to get better, even if they have less funding and larger classes? More money for high-scoring schools? Charters are awesome?

“The bad news for Democrats who found DeVos’ performance appalling is that these principles have been a crucial part of their party’s education policy for 17 years. Broadly speaking, the regime of compelling competition between schools by creating charter-school or school-choice programs and by rewarding those whose students do well on standardized tests was launched at a federal level by the No Child Left Behind Act; the NCLB was co-sponsored by Ted Kennedy and passed the Senate in 2001 with 87 votes. When Barack Obama became president, he created the Race to the Top program, which the Washington Post described at the time as a “competition for $4.35 billion in grants” that would “ease limits on charter schools” and “tie teacher pay to student achievement,” i.e. direct extra funds to already-successful schools.”

He points out that Senator Cory Booker addressed DeVos’s pro-voucher, anti-public school organization twice. Yet Booker is shocked, shocked that she has the same views as he does.

”DeVos is not qualified for her job and has more than earned her reputation for cluelessness. But if you gave her a Harvard degree, a history of employment at McKinsey or Goldman Sachs, and a little more public-speaking finesse, nothing DeVos told Lesley Stahl above would have bothered the Democrats who’ve been setting their party’s education policy for going on two decades.”

Categories Betsy DeVos, Democrats, Democrats for Education Reform, Duncan, Arne, Education Reform, NCLB (No Child Left Behind), Race to the Top

Where Was the National Democratic Party During the West Virginia Teachers Strike?

By dianeravitch
March 6, 2018 //
82

 

An article in the Daily Beast asks the question that is the title of this post.

Another question: Where was President Obama and Secretary Arne Duncan when Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker stripped away collective bargaining, and union members encircled the State Capitol in protest? Answer: absent.

They did, however, find time in March 2011 to fly to Miami to join Jeb Bush in celebrating a “turnaround school” whose staff had been replaced. (A month later, the same high school was listed by the state as a “failing school” slated for closure, but the national media had moved on.)

Categories Bush, Jeb, Democrats, Duncan, Arne, Florida, Obama, Turnaround Schools, Unions, Walker, Scott, West Virginia

Florida: Pro-Public School Candidate Wins Election to Florida House!

By dianeravitch
February 14, 2018 //
14

 

Margaret Good won a special election to the Florida House yesterday. Supporting public education was one of the major planks in her platform. She flipped a seat in a district Trump won in 2016.

When will the Democratic Party wake up and realize that nearly 90% of families enroll their children in public schools and are opposed to privatization?

Categories Democrats, Florida

Peter Greene: Center for American Progress Calls for Doubling Down on Failed Reforms

By dianeravitch
February 12, 2018 //
44

 

During the Obama years, the Center for American Progress reliably cheered on the administration’s education policies. As one after another failed, CAP never backed down. Charter schools good. Closing schools good. Common Core great. Despite the convergence of evidence that these policies did not work, that they destabilized fragile urban neighborhoods, that they demoralized teachers and created shortages, CAP never wavered.

As Peter Greene shows in this post, the CAP has learned nothing from the past 15 years of failed reforms. They are still pushing policy ideas cribbed from the GOP.

They still are pushing state takeovers and turnarounds.

He writes:

”And what example do folks who support takeovers and turnarounds like to cite? Of course, it’s New Orleans. Do we really have to get into all the ways that the privatization of the New Orleans school system is less than a resounding success? Or let’s discus the Tennessee experiment in a recovery school district, in which the state promised to turn the bottom five percent into the top schools in the state, and they utterly failed. As in, the guy charged with making it happened gave up and admitted that it was way harder than he thought it would be, failed.

“The whole premise of a state takeover is that somebody in the state capital somehow knows more about how to make a school work than the people who work there (or, in most cases, can hire some guy who knows because he graduated from an ivy league school and spent two years in a classroom once). The takeover model still holds onto a premise that many reformsters, to their credit, have moved past: that trained professional educators who have devoted their adult lives to working in schools– those people are the whole problem. It’s insulting, it’s stupid, and it’s a great way to let some folks off the hook, like, say, the policy makers who consistently underfund some schools.

“Most importantly, at this point, there isn’t a lick of evidence that it works.

“We have the results of the School Improvement Grants used by the Obama administration to “fix” schools, and the results were that SIG didn’t accomplish anything (other than, I suppose, keeping a bunch of consultants well-paid). SIG also did damage because it allowed the current administration and their ilk to say, “See? Throwing money at schools doesn’t help.” But the real lesson of SIG, which came with very specific Fix Your School instructions attached, was that when the state or federal government try to tell a local school district exactly how things should be fixed, instead of listening to the people who live and work there, nothing gets better. That same fundamental flaw is part of the DNA of the takeover/turnaround approach.

“But CAP is excited about ESSA because some states have included this model in their plan. So, yay.”

Worst of all, CAP ends it’s paean to ESSA by linking to a paper produced by a Jeb Bush’s Chiefs for Change.

If proof is needed of a mind meld between “centrist” Democrats and free-market, DeVos-style Republicans, This is it.

 

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Closing schools, Common Core, Corporate Reform, Corporate Reformers, Democrats, Education Industry, Privatization, Stupid, Turnaround
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