A parent revolution?

L.A. Parents Union, effectively an astroturf front group for Green Dot, is funded for the most part by Eli Broad and William Gates. Hardly advocates of progressive education or social equality. What the 'Parent Revolution' (have to love the extreme right wing's appropriation of terms once reserved for the social justice struggle) does do is it dupes parents into supporting 'non-profit' organizations like Green Dot which pays massive six digit salaries to Steve Barr, Marco Petruzzi, and Ben Austin. These same fat cats drone on about how UTLA rank and file are overpaid.

An end goal to their union busting efforts, will be to apply 'free market principles' like competition between their privatized schools. That's right, the same thinking that brought us the dot.com disaster and the housing bubble fiasco. How apropos, considering Steve Barr's Silicon Valley roots, and connections to super-rich venture capitalists. While he's not lounging around his opulent Silver Lake home insinuating UTLA bureaucrats have carnal relations with sus domestica, he is working with some of the most reactionary elements in Los Angeles to destroy the last vestiges of public eduction.

Private institutions, answerable to no one, will replace schools as we know them. Once they have displaced public schools, the impetus to improve education will give way to their true motive. Like all efforts to maximize profits (yes Green Dot is a non-profit, but read the rules governing non-profits, especially those for salaries), through downward pressure on spending per student and teacher salaries in order to increase Mr. Barr's and his cronies' incomes substantially.

Far from the 'revolutionary instigators' right wing libertarian admirers call them, Mr. Barr and his highly paid wrecking crew will join the pantheon of profiteering crooks like the Waltons, Gates, and Madoffs.