Background: Bill Gates, union-basher & H1B visa-monger, spoke at the American Federation of Teachers convention this year.
If the teachers at the convention had any idea how much money Gates has put into developing non-unionized charter schools, and that his vision includes an extreme reduction in the membership -- and power -- of their union, they might not have been so willing to cheer for him…
As a follow-up to that comment, I've collected a few facts that might help to enlighten some of those Gates teacher-fans. I think they should be aware that, as a direct consequence of Bill Gates' decisions, a number of them who were cheering for him will likely be saying goodbye to their jobs in the not-too-distant future. If they're lucky and not too old, they might get re-hired by some non-unionized charter school.
The Washington Post article informs us that the Gates Foundation gave “More than $81 million to charter schools and related initiatives” in the 29-months between January 2008 through May 2010. This figure does not include the $4 million dollars that Gates secretly paid to Learn-NY from his own pocket to bankroll the campaign to extend Michael Bloomberg’s mayoral control...Michael Bloomberg is strongly pro-charter and anti-union...
It is important to realize that the big venture philanthropists like Bill Gates and Eli Broad are using their wealth to advance charter schools on a number of different levels simultaneously; it’s a collective strategy where efforts potentiate each other...foundations are being used as the philanthropists' vehicle in order to fund a wide range of:
- charter advocacy groups
- pro-charter research organizations
- alternative teacher, principal, and superintendent training programs
- charter school development organizations
http://perimeterprimate.blogspot.com/2010/07/like-lambs-being-led-to-slaughter.htmland, I'll add, funds a parallel, privatized, national education bureaucracy that is being positioned to replace all vestiges of local or regional control. This bureaucracy authorizes, evaluates, plans, sets standards, develops curriculum, lobbies, etc.
Not to mention strategizes the destruction of public ed. For example:
Bill Gates (& Eli Broad) funds the Fordham Institute.
The Fordham Institute came up with this strategy to replace public urban school districts with charters:
Here, in short, is one roadmap for chartering’s way forward: First, commit to drastically increasing the charter market share in a few select communities until it is the dominant system and the district is reduced to a secondary provider. The target should be 75 percent.
Second, choose the target communities wisely. Each should begin with a solid charter base (at least 5 percent market share), a policy environment that will enable growth (fair funding, nondistrict authorizers, and no legislated caps), and a favorable political environment (friendly elected officials and editorial boards, a positive experience with charters to date, and unorganized opposition). For example, in New York a concerted effort could be made to site in Albany or Buffalo a large percentage of the 100 new charters allowed under the raised cap. Other potentially fertile districts include Denver, Detroit, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Oakland, and Washington, D.C.
Third, secure proven operators to open new schools. To the greatest extent possible, growth should be driven by replicating successful local charters and recruiting high-performing operators from other areas (see Figure 2).
Fourth, engage key allies like Teach For America, New Leaders for New Schools, and national and local foundations to ensure the effort has the human and financial capital needed. Last, commit to rigorously assessing charter performance in each community and working with authorizers to close the charters that fail to significantly improve student achievement.
http://educationnext.org/wave-of-the-future/Rule by unaccountable oligarchs. Their money is working behind the scenes everywhere to shape public perception & steer events.
"Philanthropists"
Fascists is more like it.
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