What People Are Saying…..About Mayoral Control

What a week! The Education Equality Project convention did not feature an unblemished promotion of Mayoral control as some may have hoped. First came the report of the city's secretive ruling, allowing the Chancellor to raise money for the controversial organization on the taxpayer's dime...

....then came the explosive revelations of massive contributions from lobbyists funnelled through a 501C3 to Sharpton's organization right before the Project was launched.

Then came the convention itself....

Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein and the Rev. Al Sharpton, co-sponsored a conference of the Education Equality Project.... After Education Secretary Arne Duncan spoke enthusiastically about giving mayors of large cities control over their schools, saying that "we need the collective weight of the entire city behind us," many in the audience responded with skeptical boos...

Mr. Sharpton said in an interview on Thursday that he would not support the extension of mayoral control in its current form, suggesting that he agreed with criticism from some corners that the Bloomberg administration has marginalized parents in the last several years. "We feel there needs to be more of a role for parental involvement," Mr. Sharpton said. "We have to find a way to address that. We would not support the legislation as it is now." -- NY Times, April 2, 2009

Members of the Campaign for Better Schools, which is lobbying for significant changes to mayoral control,had deposited their organization's platform, printed on bright yellow paper, on each chair before the event began. Members of the Parent Commission on School Governance, also outspoken critics of Klein's, were also on hand to distribute fliers with their recommendations.-- Gotham Schools, April 2, 2009

As he's done in recent days,Duncan continued touting the benefits of mayoral control of urban school districts ... When he made the same pitch earlier in the day at the National Action Network's meeting in Midtown, it was met with an audible chorus of boos ... --NY Post, April 2, 2009

..... at the [second day of the] Education Equality Project conference..... Mr. Sharpton turned the floor over to Councilman Charles Barron, a frequent critic of New York's education reform efforts. "The mayor is out of control," Mr. Barron bellowed to scattered cheers from the audience of about200. "No one should have that dictatorial, autocratic power." . .. . When the time came for questions, audience members directed their concerns at Mr. Klein and his leadership of the 1.1 million-student school system over the past seven years.They said he had eviscerated the power of local school boards and left parents without a voice in the decision-making process. Some booed the chancellor ... -- NY Times, April 3. 2009

Barron also criticized Klein ... saying that the chancellor lacks any pedagogical expertise. ...Members of a group that pushes for revising the mayoral control law when it comes up for renewal this summer wore pins supporting their position and passed out fliers advertising their views. Several critics also challenged Klein's characterization of improvements made under his watch, saying that students are graduating without being prepared for college and that schools lack black history teaching.

A Harlem father, Vernon Ballard, said he lacks a voice in the school system — and leaders are not held accountable — when the mayor has total control. "There is accountability," Klein replied. "You have the chance to express your voice here." Many members of the audience broke into laughter. ---Gotham Schools, April 3, 2009

Common-sense education reforms for the candidates

Today the NY Sun broke the story about our letter to the Presidential candidates, sponsored by Class Size Matters and Parents United for Responsible Education, out of Chicago:

Senators Obama and McCain have a panel of education advisers each, and there is no shortage of school administrators, union bosses, business leaders, and policy wonks who would very much like to be in those ranks.

A new group is urging the presidential candidates to pay attention to another constituency as they craft their education platforms: parents.

Led by two parent organizers — one in New York City and one in Chicago — this group says it's parents, not the unions, not the CEOs, and not even many of the academics, who have the right idea of how to improve public schools.

"There's a complete disconnect between what we're being told by the politicians and the businesspeople about what we should want schools to do, and what parents want schools to do," the executive director of the Chicago-based Parents United for Responsible Education, Julie Woestehoff, said. "But frankly what parents want schools to do is better for their children. They know best."

Our letter to McCain and Obama -- posted in full here -- describes some common-sense education reforms that parents and other stakeholders believe the federal government should be supporting, including safe and uncrowded schools with more counselors, smaller classes, a rich curriculum including arts, and more parental involvement. This isn't rocket science, guys!

High-needs kids need these sort of conditions in their schools as much as the children of those who are backing the so-called Education Equality Project, who are pushing a very different agenda for urban schools that, in the letter, we call "NCLB on steroids."

We also have a slightly different emphasis than those who put together "A Broader, Bolder Approach" in that the education reforms we propose are both more specific and more wide-ranging, and we strongly believe that making these sorts of fundamental changes can make a significant and sustainable difference.

As our letter says, "Until these goals have been achieved, we cannot and should not give up on the potential of schools to transform lives."

We are also more explicit in our critique of the current regime of high-stakes testing and the argument that simply adding more charter schools will lead to improvements systemwide though competition and market forces-- which we see no evidence of in NYC or Chicago.

Instead, here in NYC, charter schools are allowed to cap enrollment and class size and are being forced into overcrowded buildings, where they are diminishing the ability of the children who attend the existing school in the building from enjoying the same advantages. Meanwhile, the Bloomberg/Klein administration remains vehemently opposed to reducing class sizes in our regular public schools systemwide.

As we say in the letter, the last thing our nation needs is a "trickle down" educational system.

The full letter is posted here, on our new website, Common-sense reforms for our schools ; if you'd like to sign on, just send us an email with your name, affiliation and town or city to commonsensereforms@gmail.com and we'll pass on your names to the candidates as well.

Teacher bashing in Denver; the new spectator sport

Lots of teacher union bashing at events in Denver scheduled around the Democratic National Convention – instigated and abetted by NYC folks like Klein and Sharpton and their so-called "Education Equality Project."

Amazing how trendy it has become to make teachers the scapegoats for the low-performance of city schools.

I don’t remember cops being blamed for high crime rates in urban areas.

Or for that matter, low-quality doctors being blamed for health problems among the poor and underinsured.

Al and Joel at the Olympics

Crack reporter David Bellel has obtained exclusive video from the Olympics -- the Education Equality Project taking their act on the road:

Three amigos: deconstructing the Klein/Sharpton/McCain Alliance

Joel Klein and Al Sharpton have been traveling the country, wooing editorial boards and other assorted opinion makers with the message of their Education Equality Project, which isn’t really about equality at all, but about promoting a particular conservative agenda: the panacea of competition and charter schools, scapegoating teachers, and overemphasizing high-stakes testing in the form of merit pay.

John McCain recently signed onto these principles, which was easy enough for him to do as they are basically the same as the education agenda of the GOP. In McCain’s speech to the Urban League, posted here, he attacked Obama for not doing the same:

“… My opponent talks a great deal about hope and change, and education is as good a test as any of his seriousness. The Education Equality Project is a practical plan for delivering change and restoring hope for children and parents who need a lot of both. And if Senator Obama continues to defer to the teachers unions, instead of committing to real reform, then he should start looking for new slogans.”

After the speech, Klein and Sharpton circulated a joint statement, praising McCain for his enlightened support, and by implication, pressuring Obama to follow suit:

"We are gratified that Sen. McCain has endorsed the principles of the Education Equality Project, joining education, civil rights, and elected officials across America who are working together to bring meaningful reform to our nation's public schools. Education reform, like civil rights, is above partisan politics and must be embraced by all."

McCain then further circulated the Klein/Sharpton statement, while his campaign aides lit into Obama for supposedly playing the “race card.”

All this put Sharpton in a rather sticky position. One would imagine that it is somewhat dangerous for him to be seen as complicitous with the conservative opponent of the first African-American nominee for President. As Sharpton himself is well aware, polls show that among African Americans, Obama far outstrips him in popularity.

Perhaps recognizing his vulnerability, Sharpton quickly backtracked, issuing a second statement, in which he tried to distance himself from McCain. This one, unlike the earlier one, was not posted on the Education Equity website:

While I am gratified that Sen. McCain has joined us in endorsing the principles of the Education Equality Project, I do not want to see this endorsement used as a political weapon nor as an opportunity for Sen. McCain to use this as an attack on Sen. Obama…I disagree with Sen. McCain using the fight for education equality in a political way and I disagree with Sen. McCain's statement that Sen. Obama used the race card.

So what platform is the Klein/Sharpton (and now McCain) alliance pushing? Let’s deconstruct it a little. See this from the EEP website:

“The project will take on conventional wisdom and the entrenched impediments to real reform, focusing on teacher quality and pay; accountability for results; and maximizing parents' options..” [Read: let’s bash the teacher unions, and promote even more testing and charter schools.]

“It will also challenge politicians, public officials, educators, union leaders, and anybody else who stands in the way of necessary change.” [Read: Let’s ignore the experts who point out the negative effects of high-stakes testing, including the way in which it makes test scores unreliable; and let's deny the legitimate priorities of public school parents and other stakeholders, who recognize the need for improving classroom conditions. Instead, let’s slander them and anyone else who dares to oppose us as defenders of the status quo.]

“This means challenging laws and contracts that preserve a system that fails students.” [More union bashing]

The one measure of every policy, regardless of the depths of its historic roots or the power of its adherents, must be whether it advances student learning. [Right. So why does Klein himself continue to refuse to provide urban, high needs students with the uncrowded conditions and smaller classes that he ensured that his own child would receive?]

It’s not a big mystery why Klein should be pushing himself into the national stage; clearly the man has a huge ego and probably aspires to being the next US Secretary of Education. (It was reported today that his mom called the Palm Beach Post to complain that her son’s name had been edited out of a syndicated column by David Brooks; perhaps what he really wants to do is to please his own mom.)

A larger question is why Sharpton would put his own status and legitimacy on the line, by allying himself with such a controversial figure as Klein, who commands far less trust and respect in the minority community, especially in NYC. (Indeed, Klein continues to have high disapproval ratings among black New Yorkers – at 39%)

Until recently, Sharpton was under the cloud of numerous investigations. Most prominently, federal officials accused him of owing nearly $10 million in payroll taxes, and threatened him with criminal prosecution. According to news reports, “Sharpton’s civil rights group had failed for several years in a row to file income tax returns, obtain workers compensation insurance, or disclose how much it was collecting in donations or paying its top employees, as required by law.”

Just ten days after launching the Education Equality Project, Sharpton came up with $1 million, which he promptly handed over to the IRS as a downpayment; in turn, the feds agreed to drop criminal charges if he paid back what he owed the government over the next few years.

Still, according to the NY Post, the NY Attorney General is investigating Sharpton’s finances, his group, the National Action Network, and his other business ventures.

So where did he get the $1 million? As Sharpton explained to the Daily News, “"I make money, so I can pay."

Another mystery is who is funding the Education Equality Project. Until recently, David Cantor, the chief communications officer of the DOE, was listed as the main press contact on all its press releases; now they are being sent out without any names attached.

Is this effort being subsidized by tax dollars that should be going towards improving our schools? Or as Cantor recently announced to our list serv, is the source of funding an “anonymous” donor, but someone other than Bloomberg? If so, who might that be?

UPDATE: see this John McCain oped in the Daily News -- in which he argues for vouchers -- and criticizes Obama for not supporting them. Will Klein/Sharpton endorse that controversial position as well?