Archives for category: DFER
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New York Times on the Debate Among Black Organizations about Charters

By dianeravitch
August 21, 2016 //
28

A good and balanced article in the New York Times about the division among black organizations about charters.

The writer, Kate Zernike, also wrote this stunning article about the failure of school choice in Detroit. Lots of choice but no good choices.

Howard Fuller runs Black Alliance for Educational Options. BAEO has been lavishly funded by rightwing foundations for many years, to advocate for vouchers and charters.

Shavar Jeffries, of course, speaks for Democrats for Educational Reform, which has zero roots in the black community. Its members and funders are hedge fund managers. DFER probably hired him so it would have a voice in this conversation. It has long claimed to speak for “the civil rights movement,” but no one could take that claim seriously when DFER consists only of billionaires, millionaires, and others whose roots are in Wall Street, not Main Street or Harlem or BedStuy.

The NAACP and Black Lives Matter are indeed grassroots activists who advocate for improvements in policies that affect the black community.

The debate will heat up as more and more black parents in places like Philadelphia, Detroit, Newark, Camden, St. Louis, and Baltimore see their public schools underfunded, understaffed, and losing resources to charters.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Civil Rights, Corporate Reformers, DFER, Education Industry, Privatization

Mercedes Schneider: How Could a Report on Corporate Reform Omit the Billionaire Funders?

By dianeravitch
May 10, 2016 //
62

Mercedes Schneider received a copy of the Media Matters report on the corporate rightwing assault on public education, as did I and many others. She had the same reaction that I did. How can you list the rightwing think tanks, corporate groups, and foundations that are promoting privatization and forget to mention the three biggest funders of rightwing attacks on public education: Gates, Walton, and Broad?

 

There were some other glaring omissions. Stand for Children and Parent Revolution were there, but not Democrats for Education Reform, which funds candidates who support the rightwing agenda.

 

It seemed fishy. Mercedes did some digging and learned that Media Matters is led by journalist David Brock. Brock is active in the Clinton campaign. It must have been a political decision to omit the three biggest funders of privatization and anti-union policies. More than 90% of the nation’s 7,000 or so charter schools are non-union. The expansion of charters is an effective way to break the nation’s largest public unions. The funders know that.

 

After more digging, Mercedes concluded that the omissions were not accidental. I decided to trash the post I had written. But I was glad to see some acknowledgement–even if partial–for the struggle we are engaged in to save public education.

 

 

Categories Billionaires, Broad Foundation, Charter Schools, Corporate Reform, DFER, Education Industry, Education Reform, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Unions, Walton Foundation

DFER Blasts Sanders for Failure to Support Charter Schools

By dianeravitch
February 19, 2016 //
39

Shavar Jeffries ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Newark; he was beaten by Ras Baraka. He is now executive director of the Democrats for Education Reform, the organization founded by hedge fund managers to promote the privatization of public education.

 

Jeffries published an article in the New York Daily News attacking Bernie Sanders for his opposition to charter schools, although he supported them in the past. He makes false claims about the “success” of charter schools, never mentioning that they impose militaristic discipline on black children and that national studies have repeatedly shown that they are no more “successful” than public schools unless they cherrypick their students and kick out the hardest to educate.

 

Jeffries throws a compliment to Hillary for backing off her accurate statement that charter schools don’t enroll the most challenging students.

 

And, biggest insult of all, he implies that Martin Luther King Jr. has something in common with the Wall Street predators that are promoting charter schools. Of course, we know they work in Wall Street because they wake up every morning wondering what they can do to help the poor children of America. And their conclusion: destroy public education. That’ll do it.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, DFER, Education Industry, Privatization
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