Campaign disclosures for the last month have just been filed for the current elections to the Los Angeles Unified School District board and the numbers are obscene. Worse yet, the donors have no vested interest in Los Angeles schools, but they're ponying up the money anyway.

After Michelle Rhee's disingenuous claim that she was just marching "for the children" last week, she tossed $250,000 into the kitty for Kate Anderson, the "reform" candidate looking to oust Steve Zimmer.

LA Times:

A group led by former District of Columbia schools chancellor Michelle Rhee donated $250,000 Wednesday to contests for seats on the Los Angeles Board of Education, adding further political fuel to a battle over the direction of reform efforts in the nation's second-largest school system.

The support of StudentsFirst, which is based in Sacramento, will benefit an independent campaign on behalf of school board President Monica Garcia as well as Kate Anderson and Antonio Sanchez, who are seeking to join the seven-member body.

That's not all. Michael Bloomberg tossed in a million last week, and News Corp has tossed in $50,000 too. Then there's Netflix chairman Reed Hastings with his donation of $100,000, Jeffrey Katzenberg with $50,000, and Laurene Powell Jobs, who has given $112,500 between a foundation she runs and her own personal funds.

But wait! There's more! Venture capitalists don't want to be left in the dust, so they're digging into their pockets, too, giving a collective total of $200,000.

Since January 1, 2013, $2.8 million dollars in outside money has been given to three candidates backed by the Coalition for School Reform, which supports Kate Anderson, Antonio Sanchez, and incumbent school board president Monica Garcia.

As usual, Michelle Rhee has her own agenda first, rather than students:

Rhee said her involvement in Los Angeles could advance school reform statewide.

"We think it's important that John Deasy be able to continue on the job to finish the work he started," she said.

Deasy is developing an evaluation system that incorporates the use of student standardized test scores as one measure of an instructor's effectiveness. Last week, he directed principals to count test results as 30% of an evaluation. He also has altered district rules so that layoffs are not based strictly on seniority.

As a reminder, that "evaluation system" was used to humiliate Los Angeles teachers by using their students' performance on standardized tests which don't account for underfunded facilities, poverty, and other barriers to student learning.

Laura Clawson at Daily Kos:

This is the kind of money that's behind corporate education policy, with its attendant privatization, teaching to the test, and union-busting. And when you look at the players giving six and seven figures here, you realize how much more money is coming down the pike.

The election is March 5th. Who knows how many other billionaires will pony up to buy Los Angeles schools by then. Voters, beware.

As you read this, Michelle Rhee is marshaling the troops to march on for Los Angeles Unified School District students. Because we all know Rhee puts "Students First," right? Here are her public reasons for the march:

• To drive voter registration and turnout for school board and mayoral elections
• To raise awareness of the unequal access to high quality education and the candidates' platforms
• To ask our candidates to listen to our community and commit to strengthening our public education system

There's a subtext in those bullets, trying to influence Los Angeles as it has in Chicago or New York or Atlanta or any metropolitan city: Charter schools will solve the problem.

Continue reading »

From Media Matters, a pertinent reminder about just who profits from the insistence on teacher testing as part of the CTU contract. Imagine that, I guess it just slipped their minds. I mean, we're only talking about $4.7 million, right? Greedy creeps:

In an op-ed in Sunday's Wall Street Journal, News Corp. executive vice president Joel Klein attacked the ongoing teachers' strike in Chicago without disclosing his role in administering $4.7 million in educational testing contracts at the heart of the dispute.

In 2010, News Corp. purchased 90 percent of the education technology company Wireless Generation for $360 million, incorporating that company into the education subsidiary of News Corp. now known as Amplify.

Klein, the former schools chancellor for New York City, was hired by Rupert Murdoch to run News Corp.'s education division in July of 2010 and is now the CEO of Amplify. While the Journal -- which is also owned by News Corp. -- identified Klein as Amplify's CEO, neither the paper nor Klein himself disclosed that the company has millions of dollars in contracts for the very testing that is a central issue in the strike.

In May, Chicago Public Schools entered into an agreement with Wireless Generation to provide "math assessment services" and "literacy assessment services" to the school district. The math agreement is for "a total cost not to exceed $1,700,000" while the literacy assessment cites a cost "not to exceed $3,000,000." The Progressive Change Campaign Committee first reported on these contracts in a September 12 blog post.

In his op-ed, Klein downplays the teachers' rationale for taking action, writing that the strike "feels more about attitude -- 'the mayor doesn't respect us' -- than substance." In fact, the Chicago Teacher's Union objects to a reformulation of the existing teacher evaluation system which would make standardized tests -- like those administered by Wireless Generation -- count for 40 percent of the score, which will be used to determine teacher pay and whether certain teachers will be laid off.

[...] In previous news stories discussing education reform, the Journal has disclosed its financial connection to News Corp. and Wireless Generation. In a May story on education standards, the Journal wrote about "Wireless Generation, an education-technology company owned by News Corp., which also owns The Wall Street Journal." In a January story on the "Race to the Top" education program, they made a similar disclosure. But the paper has not disclosed the contracts with Chicago Public Schools in their coverage of the strike.

I love the smell of AstroTurf in the morning, don't you? Michelle Rhee appears to be taking a page out of the books of those lovely right-wing organizations like FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity, who routinely game blog comments and social media to weight their message and make it look like there's more support for their crazy thoughts than there actually is.

Michelle Rhee's group in Florida is emailing around a bunch of right wing links about the parent trigger and how those mean unions get in the way of "real education", while bribing their list members with gift cards for pro-StudentsFirst propaganda posted on blogs.

Also, starting right now, there will be a monthly contest for the best rapid response. The more comments you leave on blog posts, the more times you can enter! Post a polite and persuasive pro-reform comment and email me the link so I can check it out.

That's all you have to do!

At the end of the month (August 26th at midnight) I will announce the winner. Not only will that winner get a gift card to the restaurant or store of choice, but he or she will also be promoting the cause of real and transformative change in public schools! What could be better?

Awesome! Just drop your propaganda and a gift card is in your future. Maybe.

Meanwhile, about those charter schools Rhee loves so very much "for the students" have a bit of a problem. In Ohio, a virtual charter school has been put on probation after going into the hole to the tune of $800,000 while the operator of said virtual charter school hired the wife, brother and son of the superintendent in the district where it was chartered. Ohio's charter schools owe millions in unpaid auditor fees, escaping accountability for their use of public funds. At least, for now.

In Philadelphia, a charter school operator is accused of defrauding Philadephia schools out of over $6.5 million.

But that doesn't stop Joel Klein - Rhee and Rupert's partner in profitization -- from trumpeting how awesome New York's charter schools are. As if that wasn't loathsome enough, Klein actually argues that poverty isn't any kind of limiting factor as long as those kids get into the right charter school.

Education isn't a series of test scores. After all, Klein is high-fiving charters over test scores that include ridiculous questions like the one about the pineapple and the hare. Honestly, if those charter schools actually performed on questions like that, it's likely the kids aren't learning anything at all!

But hey, say nice things and you'll get a gift card. Thanks, Michelle!