Teach for America. A way to replace experienced, higher-salaried teachers?

[madfloridian]

From the University of Oklahoma student paper, there is an interesting point of view.

Teach for America not as good an idea as some graduates believe

The article presents it from a point of view of a social consciousness.

Those who are thinking of participating in Teach for America with a social justice mission in mind should consider this. Although a far more daunting task for sure, those really interested in social justice should consider ways of solving problems like unavoidable unemployment and low-wage jobs.

On top of failing to make a dent in poverty, Teach for America actually detracts from social justice by hurting real teachers. Teach for America students take low, entrance-level pay while also receiving a government subsidy for their salary in the form of Americorps stipends. Schools lay off teachers and then hire Teach for America teachers to fill positions that real teachers would otherwise be filling. Teach for America teachers are undercutting the wage needs of real teachers and causing them to be laid off as a result.

Imagine this: a well-off college student takes a subsidized teaching position at an impossibly low wage and displaces actual teachers who might already be struggling to get by — all for social justice!

For anyone who has any concern for labor rights, this is extremely abusive. Not undercutting wage demands of often unionized workers is rule number one of how to be a serious social justice advocate.

From Rethinking Schools this paragraph about what is happening in St. Louis schools right now. Think about this. The district is paying $2000 to Teach for America for every new trainee they send to the district. They are sending that much money to a non-profit group whose trainees get government subsidies.

Peter Downs, president of the elected school board, summarizes TFA’s role in one word: “privatization.” He says that the mayor, not the district, first invited TFA to St. Louis, in line with reforms such as for-profit charters and the privatization of services in curriculum development, teacher recruitment, maintenance, and food service. As part of its contract with TFA, the district pays $2,000 a year to TFA for each of its recruits. (The elected board has no power because the state took over the St. Louis schools; the mayoral appointee to the new three-person board is a former regional staff person for Teach for America.)

Looking past the spin

"Young social entrepreneurs seeking to reshape the US educational landscape.”

That is how the NYT once referred to the founder of Teach for America, Wendy Kopp, and her husband, Richard Barth.

This is one more way that entrepreneurs and billionaires with foundations are changing education in America in ways that can not be undone.

Most teachers have never paid much attention to Teach for America since its formation. Now with all the teacher layoffs, they are starting to notice. TFA trained teachers seem to be getting jobs as experienced teachers are laid off.

Wendy Kopp, the founder of TFA, is married to Richard Barth, the founder of KIPP charter schools. They are the couple referred to as the "young social entrepreneurs." And they are reshaping the education system in the United States.

Barth was also a former Edison vice president and TFA staffer. Both groups are considered non-profit organizations.

There is a very long and detailed article about Teach for America at the Rethinking Schools blog. With the limited ability to quote because of copyright, it is hard to summarize. There is so much there to absorb about how the education landscape is changing.

Looking Past the Spin

One of the things that came to mind is this question: When do non-profits start making so much profit that they are actually for profit?

Marcello Stroud sent me TFA’s 990 for fiscal 2008. It shows that TFA had revenues of $159 million in fiscal year 2008 and expenses of $124.5 million. CEO and founder Wendy Kopp made $265,585, with an additional $17,027 in benefits and deferred compensation. She also made an additional $71,021 in compensation and benefits through the TFA-related organization Teach for All. Seven other TFA staffers are listed as making more than $200,000 in pay and benefits, with another four approaching that amount.

It’s also interesting to look at the 990 for the KIPP Foundation, the charter school chain led by Richard Barth, a former Edison vice president and TFA staffer who also happens to be Kopp’s husband. Barth made more than $300,000 in pay and benefits, bringing the Kopp/Barth household income to almost $600,000 for their work with TFA and KIPP. (In a 2008 article, the New York Times dubbed Kopp and Barth as “a power couple in the world of education, emblematic of a new class of young social entrepreneurs seeking to reshape the United States’ educational landscape.”)

A couple of other things mentioned in the long article which will soon be subscription only....

Its employer partners include Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, KPMG, Credit Suisse, McKinsey and Company, and Google. Another TFA partner is Edison Schools, now known as Edison Learning.

The article also mentions layoffs and TFA, and names some school districts.

Last summer, Boston Teachers Union President Richard Stutman met with 18 local union presidents, “all of whom said they’d seen teachers laid off to make room for TFA members,” according to an article in USA Today. “I don’t think you’ll find a city that isn’t laying off people to accommodate Teach for America,” Stutman said.

One district, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, laid off hundreds of experienced teachers but kept 100 TFAers.

In Boston the union filed a complaint that the district was going to lay off 20 veteran teachers and replace them with Teach for America folks.

In DC Michelle Rhee, a TFA grad and school chancellor, laid of 229 teachers with experience but kept almost all of the 170 TFA recruits.

TFA recruits are only obligated for two years, yet they often replace teachers with years of experience.

I doubt you would find anyone who doesn't think there is room for improvement in our education system. There is room for improvement in any system. But there are many finally waking up and finding that America's tradition of public schools is being undermined by the corporate world and the "Billionaire Boys Club"

Most bizarre is when the mayor and chancellor show up at charter school rallies and tell the parents that public schools are no good and that they are lucky to be in a charter. I often wonder at such times if these two have forgotten that they are responsible for the 98 percent of the city’s public school children who are in regular schools. It’s like the president of Macy’s telling his customers to shop at Wal-Mart.

Of course, this course of action has the enthusiastic endorsement of the Billionaire Boys Club, that is, the Gates Foundation, the Broad Foundation, and the Walton Foundation. They know what needs to be done, and they don't see the point of listening to such unenlightened types as parents and teachers.

There has been so much teacher bashing since Reagan's Nation at Risk, a flawed report that took wings because of the media. It will be easy for this takeover, this privatization to happen.