Schools Matter: Perhaps Bill and Melinda Gates need their folly expressed in a more familiar format to understand it?

First published on Schools Matter on August 16, 2016

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“Philanthropy is not progressive and never has been.” — Tiffany Lethabo King and Ewuare Osayande

Seems Bill and Melinda Gates have great difficulty learning from their myriad mistakes. Our Professor Stephen Krashen is frequently reminding them and their fellow neoliberal corporate education reformers of what the real problem is. While the convicted predatory monopolist has no degree, Melinda Gates actually attended and graduated college, so one would think the two of them could sort these issues out. Despite this, the Gates Foundation duo are demanding yet more data, as if that doubling down on their poorly-thought-out ideas will work.

Since they're both computer science types, the problem may just be that they need to see their folly expressed in code. To that end, I've written a short program illustrating what the two Gates Foundation plutocrats do.

If I were more cynical, given their behavior in the face of overwhelming evidence discrediting their ideas and ideology, I think that their constant calls for more data are an attempt to rationalize their conduct, rather than actually trying to help anyone.

Schools Matter: Perhaps Bill and Melinda Gates need their folly expressed in a more familiar format to understand it?

Looking back to OccupyLAUSD as the way forward

"This is a call out to the 99% who live, work, play and learn in the Los Angeles Unified School District. It is time we Reclaim Our Schools from the 1% wealthy Billionaires (like Eli Board, Gates, and Walton) and Corporate Management Companies who continue to set educational policies of school giveaways, increases in corporate charter schools, and constant school lay-offs." — OccupyLAUSD

Four years ago today activists stood up to neoliberal bagman John Deasy, his ‪#‎NPIC‬ backers including the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, and his corporate charter ‪#‎LAUSD‬ BOE enablers Monica Garcia and Tamar Galatzan. We demanded they rescind their draconian budget that eliminated Adult Education, SRLDP, EECs, and K-12 Arts. In conjunction with the OccupyLA movement, OccupyLAUSD camped in front of Beaudry for weeks. Surviving the elements and constant ‪#‎LAPD‬ harassment, we were able to counterpose a community-first message that resonated and forced them to back down on some of their cuts. Deasy still stuffed the pockets of greedy charter operators, like Ref Rodriguez, full of our money, but at least some of the programs our community relies on were preserved. Glad to have participated in OccupyLAUSD, and know that our struggles are going to get more difficult as the death-spiral of empire will see our rulers look for more ways to gut the public commons.

Looking back to OccupyLAUSD as the way forward

California Attorney General upgrades charter profiteer Refugio Ref Rodriguez's sham 501c3 "Partners for Developing Futures" from DELINQUENT to SUSPENDED!

CA SOS upgrades charter profiteer @drRefRodriguez's sham 501c3 from DELINQUENT to SUSPENDED! #LAUSD @LASchoolReport pic.twitter.com/NEUP27IDR5

— RD Skeels LAUSD 2013 (@RDSkeels4LAUSD) September 30, 2015

California Attorney General upgrades charter profiteer Refugio Ref Rodriguez's sham 501c3 "Partners for Developing Futures" from DELINQUENT to SUSPENDED!

Wayne Au: Mapping Corporate Education Reform in the Neoliberal State

Wayne Au: ”Mapping Corporate Education Reform in the Neoliberal State" from Fairhaven College, WWU on Vimeo.

Wayne Au, Associate Professor in the School of Educational Studies at the University of Washington Bothell; an editor for Rethinking Schools.

Public education is currently seen as one of the last great “prizes” for proponents of neoliberalism as a large market for potential profit. In this talk Professor Wayne Au analyzes how the neoliberal restructuring of the state relative to public education has resulted in a shift from democratic government to an increase in non-democratic network governance by corporations, non-profit organizations, and philanthropies. Drawing from his upcoming co-edited collection, this talk offers a framing for the rise of neoliberal network governance in education and share different examples of social network analyses illustrating such governance in the U.S. Chile, and elsewhere.

Wayne Au: Mapping Corporate Education Reform in the Neoliberal State

Workshop: let the community drive LCFF/LCAP for Schools Los Angeles Students Deserve

Instituto de Padres / Parent Institute
Saturday, July 18, 2015
12:00 to 4:00PM
3303 Wilshire Blvd., 8th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90010

Instituto de Padres / Parent Institute by Robert D. Skeels

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[The Education Trust-West] and many of the cited sources in the [20]14-15 ETW/LAUSD Case Study are noted School [R]eformers aligned with Secretary Duncan, the Broad/Gates/Waltons — and the then superintendent John Deasy — whose [Local Control Accountability Plan] LCAP this was. The Walton Foundation is thanked for their support. — Scott M. Folsom (4LAKids)

The Nonprofit Industrial Complex (NPIC) and their billionaire backers saw Governor Brown's wrongheaded Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) and Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) proposals as a "double-play" against public education. On the one hand elimination of categorical funding would further expose the most vulnerable (e.g. Students With Disabilities—(SWD)) to inequitable funding at the whim of those controlling the LCFF/LCAP process, on the other it would further the designs of those wanting to destroy the public commons as per the Andy Smarick roadmap.

The NPIC drove the entire Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) LCFF/LCAP process. Authentic community, family, and educator voices were drowned out by a cacophony of corporate voices in the guise of "engagement" that only the well-funded NPIC can wield. The United Way of Greater Los Angeles (UWGLA), and its smaller NPIC allies like Community Coalition, and their man in LAUSD—Eli Broad trained Superintendent John Deasy, controlled the LAUSD LCFF/LCAP process from start to finish, with a blitzkrieg series of forums, surveys, public relations, and more. However, no one should be surprised that Community Coalition is now the front group suing the district on behalf of their funders. That's how to create a crisis part of neoliberalism, so well described by Naomi Klein, works.

A chance for community to drive the process

The activists behind the Schools Los Angeles Students Deserve (SLASD) movement have organized an Instituto de Padres / Parent Institute forum to train authentic parent and community leaders to advocate for students in their communities. Here's an excerpt from a note sent to me by a parent leader discussing the event:

I urge you to encourage adult student leaders in the community to learn about the new Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) and Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). We are having a Parent Institute on Saturday, July 18th. Please see attached flyers in English and Spanish. Khallid Al-Alim, LAUSD parent activist, will explain this budget process. It is crucial that we understand this, if we are to effectively push back against the NPIC that you so clearly describe.

Workshop: let the community drive LCFF/LCAP for Schools Los Angeles Students Deserve

Schools Matter: 2015 Week 28 Education Odds and Ends

First published on Schools Matter on July 11, 2015

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“Our rulers don’t just want exclusive control over the governance and finances of our schools, they want to control both what is taught and by whom.” — Robert D. Skeels

Deasy not given his due

An EdSource piece by the respected Carl Cohn makes the tired old case for "breaking up" Los Angeles Unified School District. Cohn lists multiple recent missteps in his case — MiSiS cRiSiS and Pearson/iPad scandal among them — but never once mentions the common denominator of all the missteps, perhaps because of EdSource's sources of funding. I addressed Cohn's lack of attribution thusly:

Mr. Cohn, how coy of you not to provide full credit to John Deasy for nearly all of the woes you enumerate above? The Broad Superintendents Academy "graduate" oversaw (read masterminded) MiSiS, iPads, and many more projects that left the district in disarray, nearly bankrupt, with little more than the ability to manage damage control rather than implement any of the forward looking projects you allude to. While some say that Deasy, and all of the Nonprofit Industrial Complex (NPIC) organizations that supported his abject tenure, were following the Andy Smarick roadmap for scuttling school districts (outlined in his "Wave of the Future" essay in the fringe-right EdNext journal), I would posit it sounds more like Broad's meddling.

Dr. Mitchell Robinson's response to Peter Cunningham

http://socialjusticequotations.tumblr.com/post/118398294623/school-choice-is-a-false-choice-no-parent

Duncan given his due, for the most part

Arguably the doltish Arne Duncan is either the worst Secretary of Education in all of U.S. History, or the best corporate bagman to ever occupy the post. Honestly, he's both. The distinguished Professor Diane Ravitch excoriates the inept education chief in her response to Lyndsey Layton's ham-handed paean to Duncan.

Confronting a corporate reform neckbeard's mansplainin'

I was on Twitter the other day and noticed someone mansplainin' a teacher acquaintance of mine. The offender was none other than former Michelle Rhee minion Eric Lerum. When the teacher made the correct assertion that privately managed charter schools engage in selective enrollment, Lerum made the following bizarre statement:

.@cjnkira A frequently repeated talking pt not supported by evidence + unified enrollment system would actually help protect against that.

— Eric Lerum (@ericlerum) July 5, 2015

Incredulous at the neoliberal corporate reformer's statement I provided hard evidence from the Office of Independent Monitor (OIM):

@ericlerum @Rae_Shih @cjnkira Come again on the "not supported by evidence" thing? https://t.co/9j4FLjNZRw #LAUSD

— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) July 10, 2015

Lerum did not respond to that tweet, presumably because his entire argument rests on ignoring facts. Neither he, nor any other corporate reformer, are able to address the issue. Instead, he kept berating my teacher friend by citing policy papers (as opposed to legitimate research) by the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE), a fringe-right think-tank funded by reactionary ideologues including: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Fund for Educational Excellence, The Joyce Foundation, Laura and John Arnold Foundation, Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, National Alliance for Public [sic] Charter Schools, Walton Family Foundation, and The Broad Foundation.

At one point Lerum stated in regards to the significant under enrollment of Students with Disabilities (SWD), particularly low incident ones, "not enough to look at #s - must also examine cause of #s." Lerum holds a Juris Doctor, and I'm working on mine, so let me make this as simple as possible for him to understand in legal terms. The ostensible reasons why the lucrative charter school industry refuses to educate SWD are not important as this is a strict liability offense. Lack of specific intent, mistake of fact, or mistake of law are no defense here. Charters do not educate every child, and as such, must be held strictly liable for their crimes. Sorry to threaten the charter sector's profits, but that's the reality, and no amount of un-juried policy papers masquerading as "research" will change that.

The teacher then cited the illustrious Professor Antonia Darder's Racism and the Charter School Movement: Unveiling the Myths.

.@cjnkira This piece is all opinion & assertion, weak on facts & evidence. Does include good rhetoric for weighted student funding though.

— Eric Lerum (@ericlerum) July 5, 2015

Lerum's maladroit response speaks volumes to his limited understanding of education, and research in general. It is no exaggeration to say that Darder is an intellectual giant in the field of education. Years ago I remember one of my mentors, Dr. John Fernandez, saying "sure you've read McClaren, Macedo, and Giroux, but you need to read Darder, she's the closest thing to Freire." Professor Darder can write a piece like she did in Truthout precisely because she's written dozens of books, and peer reviewed articles. What does Lerum have to his credit? A few poorly composed and fact-free Huffington Post pieces? Yet leave it to the corporately sponsored Lerum to question the veracity of one of the preeminent scholars of our age.

It shouldn't surprise me that a neoliberal corporate education reformer like Lerum doesn't know the difference between peer reviewed works and policy papers. Nor should I be surprised that he didn't have the good sense to avoid insulting a luminary in the field of critical pedagogy. Moreover, while he had tons of mansplainin' on hand for my female teacher friend, as soon as I confronted him with the OIM report, he went silent. His only response to me was to assert that my questioning of CRPE's funders wasn't "substantive". I would posit that his staunch defense of his corporate funders and allies speaks for itself.

Ref Rodriguez watch

Corporate charter sector mogul Refugio "Ref" Rodriguez is under investigation by a number of authorities including the LAUSD Office of Inspector General and the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. Keeping up with all of Rodriguez's financial scandals and possible felonies is difficult, but the following articles and resources should help:

• LAUSD School Board Member-Elect Ref Rodriguez’s Financial Disclosures (And Possible Conflicts of Interest)
• Ref Rodriguez OIG Investigation Disclosure Neighborhood Council Resolution
• Was Refugio “Ref” Rodriguez self-dealing and running front groups?
• The Ref Rodriguez papers: Various documentation of Refugio "Ref" Rodriguez's alleged criminal acts and other sundry ethical lapses.
• Admitting no wrongdoing, Ref Rodriguez and Jacqueline Elliot resigned from all PUC Corporate Charter Boards

Admitting no wrongdoing, Ref Rodriguez and Jacqueline Elliot resigned from all PUC Corporate Charter Boards #LAUSD pic.twitter.com/xGZ5PQpmxz

— RD Skeels LAUSD 2013 (@RDSkeels4LAUSD) July 7, 2015

The NPIC further undermining LAUSD

The usual Nonprofit Industrial Complex (NPIC) suspects are hard at work in their never ending quest to bankrupt public education in Los Angeles. News that they were dissatisfied with the district's implementation of Local Control Funding Formula/Local Control Accountability Plan (LCFF) would be surprising given how they drove the entire process, except when viewed from the perspective that they never intended for LCFF to do anything but break the district. I had the following to say:

This is somewhat surprising given that UWGLA and their anti-public education CLASS "coalition" (read Eli Broad proxy groups) held so much sway over the entire LCFF process in LAUSD. For a while it looked like all the decisions for LCFF were being coined by John Deasy under the direct supervision of Elise Buik and Maria Brenes.

With more current news that a leading Broad Foundation funded group is suing the district, there's a need to create a community based opposition to the NPIC driving the entire process. Fortunately the folks at Schools Los Angeles Students Deserve are doing just that with their Instituto de Padres / Parent Institute next weekend.

The Non-Profit Industrial Complex’s role in imposing neoliberalism on public education

Originally written at the request of, juried by, and published in Regeneración, The Association of Raza Educators Journal, this essay on The Non-Profit Industrial Complex’s role in imposing neoliberalism on public education has been republished in Professor Henry Giroux's Truthout. Please read, discuss, and share widely.

Schools Matter: 2015 Week 28 Education Odds and Ends

Ref Rodriguez's Game of Hide the PUC Audit

May 12, 2015

Contact: Bennett Kayser HQ
Cell: 323-535-9930
 

DEFLATE GATE AT LAUSD AS RODRIGUEZ SUPPORTER GARCIA TRIES TO SQUASH RODRIGUEZ AUDIT SHOWING BAD BUSINESS.  BAD BOOKS AND VIOLATIONS – AUDIT DISAPPEARS, AGAIN!!

Los Angeles – Bennett Kayser, Board member of the second largest school district in the nation, has balanced three, $7 billion dollar budgets affecting 660,000 students, their families and those who serve them.

The report shows that Kayser’s Board District 5 challenger Ref Rodriguez couldn’t keep one school, with only 100 students, balanced for nine years (9) straight! This “insolvent” bad apple is Lakeview Charter, part of the Rodriguez/PUC charter chain. Ham-handed attempts by Rodriguez’s supporter to hide the Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) audit of the Rodriguez-run PUC Lakeview Charter School, and affiliated enterprises, have been exposed.

The audit became a hot political football to be deflated by Rodriguez’s ideological ally. Howard Blume of the Los Angeles Times first reported last week on the surreptitious attempts to hide the facts: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-puc-charter-audit-20150428-story.html

Under extraordinary circumstances, the independent audit of Rodriguez’s charter was withheld from the public, diverted into a “closed session” of the Tuesday, May 12th Board meeting and shoved under “attorney-client privilege” in an attempt to bury the damning report. The audit was also withheld from the usual public posting on the OIG’s website. Though still not posted, the audit can be viewed here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2070211/puc-lakeview-charter-academy-audit-4-23-2015-1.pdf

The Inspector General's report lays out how Rodriguez's school violated child abuse requirements, the State’s Education Code, State labor rules, best practices, and even its own charter, multiple times. On page three the report highlights “...the fact that for nine straight years of school operations, the Lakeview Charter Academy had poor financial results, and was fiscally insolvent.” (aka bankrupt!)

Perhaps out of fear that the scathing audit would trigger calls for additional investigations and oversite of Rodriguez’s schools, the topic was dropped from the Board’s Closed Session agenda for May 12, 2015.

The fact the PUC audit was pulled from the Board’s closed session agenda is proof-positive that games are being played by political allies to hide poor management, if not serious violations by Rodriguez and his executive team. What the PUC?
 

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Paid for by Re-Elect Bennett Kayser for School Board 2015 - General – 419 North Larchmont Blvd., #37, Los Angeles, CA 90004 – ID #1375891 – More information available at Ethics.lacity.org – Bennett2015.com – (323) 535-9930

Ref Rodriguez's Game of Hide the PUC Audit

CCSA's Ref Rodriguez campaign now linked to ALEC, Kochs, SFER and DFER

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April 21, 2015

Contact: Bennett Kayser HQ
Cell: 323-535-9930

HEY NEW YORKERS, WELCOME TO OUR L.A. SCHOOL BOARD RACE, NOW FOLLOW OUR LOCAL ETHICS AND TRANSPARENCY RULES!!

Los Angeles – New York money continues to attempt to buy influence in the Los Angeles Unified School Board race in District 5. Out-of-state “Reform, Inc.” money still pours in against local teacher and current Board member Bennett Kayser. One NYC billionaire was good for $450,000 as of December. Now, a front group from NYC linked to the hard-core Republican super PAC known as ALEC and the Koch brothers has inserted money in our school board race.

“Students for Education Reform” (SFER) has landed with boots on the ground, paid boots. (Whether they were flown in is another question.) SFER has spent $20,120.80 so far. Just two weeks in town and SFER has already violated our local ethics and transparency requirements.

SFER has failed to follow both California and the City of Los Angeles’ election ethics rules for mail communications. They are required to include a disclaimer specifying the name, address, a registered ID number and to inform the public who paid for the material and that additional information is available at ethics.lacity.org. Once again Rodriguez supporters are circumventing the law, violating local ethics rules and hiding out-of-state billionaire backers.

The following is SFER’s non-disclosure, “dis-closure” found on their mail: “Paid for by Students for Education Reform Action Network and not authorized by candidate(s) or any committee controlled by the candidate(s).”

Astroturf Activism: Who is Behind Students for Education Reform? (by George Joseph in the Nation)

SFER has received $1.6 million from Education Reform Now, whose PAC, Democrats for Education Reform (DFER), shelled out $1 million to attack the Chicago Teachers Union. DFER worked with the Koch brothers and ALEC to push Proposition 32, which if passed, would have blocked labor unions from using automatic payroll deductions for political purposes. Though SFER claims neutral territory, its motives are laid bare by its rallying around the funding of charter schools, the issue of limiting tenure, and its strict focus on testing. The testing corporations and charter school CEOs might agree with hedge funder and DFER founder Whitney Tilson’s explanation for his interest in education: “Hedge funds are always looking for ways to turn a small amount of capital into a large amount of capital.”

http://www.thenation.com/blog/172174/astroturf-activism-who-behind-students-education-reform

Nothing says democracy, education Reform, Inc.-style more than a trip to Walmart and valet service!



http://ethics.lacity.org/disclosure/campaign/search/public_ie_search_results.cfm

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Paid for by Re-Elect Bennett Kayser for School Board 2015 - General – 419 North Larchmont Blvd., #37, Los Angeles, CA 90004 – ID #1375891 – More information available at Ethics.lacity.org – Bennett2015.com – (323) 535-9930

Copyright © 2015 Re-Elect Bennett Kayser For School Board 2015 - General, All rights reserved.

CCSA's Ref Rodriguez campaign now linked to ALEC, Kochs, SFER and DFER

Schools Matter: Eli Broad funded United Way Greater Los Angeles now also serving CCSA's political arm

First published on Schools Matter on March 14, 2015

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"By what logic does United Way engage in an activity that is shunned by all the other charities?" — Professor Ralph E. Shaffer

United Way Greater Los Angeles' (UWGLA) role as a tax deductible lobbying and public relations firm for plutocrats like Eli Broad, Bill Gates, Carrie Walton Penner, and Casey Wasserman is expanding. They are now apparently functioning as adjunct to the deep pocketed California Charter School Association (CCSA). To wit, compare this email from the "non-partisan charity" UWGLA to that of the CCSA trade association's 501c4 wing, CCSA Advocates:

Notice any similarities?

In a discussion with several other social justice activists, we were trying to decide why UWGLA's well paid political consultants didn't have the good sense to at least change the precise order of the candidates that they and their fellow special interest group, the CCSA, feature on their propaganda pieces. UWGLA could argue, unconvincingly, that they put the names in the same order as candidates received votes in the primary election. However, it's far more likely that they used CCSA's billionaire backed candidates' existing information and then tacked on the other candidate information on as a grudging afterthought.

The first clue that UWGLA has absolutely no respect for the candidates outside of the CCSA privatization pushers like Galatzan and Rodriguez? They misspelled the Honorable Bennett Kayser's name as "BENNET KAYSER" in every occurrence of both the image and text of the communication they sent out. This is the seated school board member, and UWGLA has a mind-blowing multi-million dollar budget, but they get everything else correct except the school board member's name? Moreover, notice how all of the head shots are proportional, but they use the old political trick of making one candidate look abnormal by using a disproportional photo crop. A nasty little Fox News style play probably drawn up by CCSA's arch-reactionary political director Carlos Marquez.

We frequently look to UWGLA's plutocrat funding sources and the neoliberal pay-to-advocate paradigm that UWGLA and other members of the Non-Profit Industrial Complex (NPIC) operate under. Nothing is more telling of UWGLA's complete allegiance to the neoliberal corporate education reform agenda than this 2013 photo of privatizer Monica Garcia, the disgraced John Deasy, millionaire Casey Wasserman, billionaire Eli Broad, and UWGLA's Elise Buik. What we typically don't look at is the staff members UWGLA employs to promulgate their donors' agenda.

UWGLA's current Education Program Officer is Elmer G. Roldan. Prior to his UWGLA stint, Roldan worked for the Camino Nuevo Corporate Charter Chain—known for its unelected board of bankers, finance capitalists, and hedge fund managers. Before cashing in on the charter industry, Roldan worked for former Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) board member Monica Garcia, who has ties to the shadowy Gülenist cult. He also worked for the anti-public education NPIC Community Coalition. It's a safe bet that Roldan's whole two years of community college prepared him to deal with the broad range of topics on education policy and pedagogy.

Until recently (namely when they were exposed for their role in UWGLA's massive public deception campaign) Roldan worked alongside Ryan Smith and Jason Mandell. Before joining UWGLA, Smith worked for the notorious Green Dot Corporate Charter Chain and the so-called Partnership for Los Angeles Schools (PLAS) with Marshall Tuck (whose wife, Mae Tuck, also works at UWGLA). After the UWGLA astroturf incident, Smith went to work for the reactionary EdTrust. Mandell worked with fellow poverty pimp Yolie Flores at the The Gates Foundation funded Communities for Teaching Excellence. Mandell now works for the California Charter Schools Association, although that was sort of his function when his paychecks read UWGLA as well.

The candidate forums run by UWGLA mentioned in the mailer were addressed in Statement on Gates and Broad Foundation funded United Way Greater Los Angeles running LAUSD forums. Candidates opposing the CCSA funded ones had myriad complaints about the heavy handed manner in which the UWGLA treated them durring the forums. LAUSD District 3 candidate Carl J. Petersen submitted the following account. His complaints have been corroborated by other District 3 candidates, who wished to remain anonymous.

The first thing that hit me upon entering the venue was Ms. Galatzan had set up a table in the courtyard with her election paraphernalia, including yard signs. This clearly broke the rules which stated that only one piece of literature could be distributed and this would be at a table that the United Way would set up for all of the participants. Elizabeth Badger and I both immediately complained to the person in charge (I believe that his name was Elmer), who confirmed that Ms. Galatzan had broken the rules and promised that it would be taken care of. When the signs remained up I filed another complaint and was again assured that the signs would be taken down. Once on stage, the moderator announced a rule that each candidate was allowed one sign in the courtyard. The fact that this was a rule change was not conveyed to the audience.

The next inconsistency with the rules occurred during the debate itself. After a round that did not go well for Ms. Galatzan (I believe the subject was iPads), the moderator decided to break format and allowed Ms. Galatzan to go out of turn to defend herself. The moderator felt that this was fair because we had all attacked the incumbent.

To me, the strangest part of the night happened when I went to collect my unused literature. I had provided 200 flyers to be distributed at the appointed table, but the actual turnout was much less. I think the estimated attendance was 100 people. My flyers must have been in great demand because none were left and the volunteers said that they had not seen them. I wish I knew when in the evening they had been removed.

I think that it is telling that the United Way was the only candidate forum that Ms. Galatzan attended during the entire campaign. She skipped the second debate, a meet and greet at the Northridge West Neighborhood Council and a final Q&A at the Encino Neighborhood Council. I would like to know what assurances the United Way provided her that made her feel their event was a safe one for her.

Eli Broad and Carrie Walton Penner will stop at nothing to turn the entire public education system over to the private sector, where corruption and greed rule supreme. UWGLA's ability to remain a tax exempt organization is testament to how much power and influence the Broad/Gates/Walton Triumvirate have.

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Some of United Way of Greater Los Angeles and United Way Worldwide's other "education" related activities:

• Statement on Gates and Broad Foundation funded United Way Greater Los Angeles running LAUSD forums
• K12NN: United Way's Corporate NPIC Astroturf was thick in front of LAUSD last Tuesday
• United Way' Elise Buik's Myopic One Percent Policies
• Occupy United Way! Group founded and manifesto published
• United Way to market Scholastic's Reading Oasis (NASDAQ-SCHL)

* Emperor Broad is quoted in the New York Times

Schools Matter: Eli Broad funded United Way Greater Los Angeles now also serving CCSA's political arm

Billionaires behind California Charter Schools Association’s (CCSA) near record spending to defeat LAUSD's advocate for Students with Disabilities

Contact: Dan Nyaradi Cell: 541-480-4948 3/1/15 KAYSER IS UNDER-DOG IN ELECTION AS CCSA IS ON TRACK FOR ANOTHER ALL-TIME SPENDING RECORD IN A SCHOOL BOARD ELECTION Los Angeles –The California Charter Schools Association’s (CCSA) political arm, the CCSA Advocates, has dumped three quarters of a million dollars into defeating Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board member Bennett Kayser and for promoting Dr. Ref Rodriguez, a member of CCSA’s own Board of Directors. While the issues facing the District are many and varied, this single-issue advocacy group has compressed debate to a simplistic pro- or anti-charter discussion. With just three days left before Election Day, the trade organization and its candidate are $277,543.68 ahead in campaign expenditures. As of 2/25/15, a total of $412,615.34 has been spent in favor of Rodriguez with another $373,762.82 spent maliciously attacking Kayser. With over a quarter million dollar advantage, CCSAA has flooded the airwaves, radio waves, social media, mailboxes and phones. Over the next four days, this gap is expected to increase even more given the large pot of money stashed in Sacramento by the b/millionaires. Howard Blume recently reported in the Los Angeles Times (2/26/15) that prior to the December filing deadline, one billionaire gave the political action committee (PAC) $1.5 million, an out-of-state Republican gave $450,000, and an out-of-state Republican Walmart heir kicked in $250,000 to the group’s large political pot. By running its money through a Sacramento PAC, CCSAA has bypassed local reporting rules that require a much higher level of transparency. Once past the December deadline, the next time CCSA Advocates report is August 2015, at which point voters will learn who gave what in their local school board race. If necessary, there will be a general election in May, once again, voters will be without key information about the rich out-of-town Republicans paying to promote charter school growth in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, the overwhelming majority of Bennett Kayser donors represent the 99% who rely on public education. It will be their volunteering and their small donations that conquer Goliath. Rodriguez Total: $786,378.16 Kayser Total: $508,834.48 (Sources: http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-lausd-charters-election-20150226-story.html#page=1 and http://ethics.lacity.org/disclosure/campaign/totals/public_election.cfm?election_id=50) ### Paid for by Re-Elect Bennett Kayser for School Board 2015 – 419 North Larchmont Blvd., #37, Los Angeles, CA 90004 – ID #1361502 – Additional information is available at Ethics.lacity.org – Bennett2015.com – (323) 283-5574

Copyright © 2015 Re-Elect Bennett Kayser For School Board 2015, All rights reserved.

Billionaires behind California Charter Schools Association’s (CCSA) near record spending to defeat LAUSD's advocate for Students with Disabilities

Shutting out the public's voice. Why does the LA Times only publish the charter industry's side?

Sent to the Los Angeles Times on February 26, 2015

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Mr. Blume:

Your seemingly heavily biased piece today cites several who have made millions from the charter industry (e.g. Borden, Chang, and Austin), and even quotes right-wing millionaires like Hastings. No doubt giving them the only voices in the piece, and casting the simplistic accusation that this is an issue of teacher union versus charter industry "heroes" is the easiest way to win Karin Klein's go-ahead.

Would have been nice if you considered citing a single public school supporter in the community. Karen Wolfe, David Tokofsky, Dr. Cynthia Liu, Ellen Lubic, Sonja Luchini, Scott Folsom, and a host of others that believe in public schools, rather than privately managed charters, should be able to speak for the large part of the community that doesn't stand for either union interests or charter sector greed.

As the runner up in the 2013 election, and a widely cited essayist on education, I'm always available for thoughts on these things as well. However, I understand that my speaking truth to power makes me somewhat of a threat to the deep pocketed interests in the charter industry. That said, I think we should be asking the question: "why is it that Rodriguez can run for the LAUSD PUBLIC school board, but NO member of the PUBLIC can run for his PUC charter empire board?"

Robert D. Skeels
*********@ucla.edu

Shutting out the public's voice. Why does the LA Times only publish the charter industry's side?

HOW INDEPENDENT IS CCSA’S “INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURE FOR RODRIGUEZ AND DID HIS STUDENTS FOOT THE BILL?

Contact: Dan Nyaradi Cell: 541-480-4948 2/23/15   HOW INDEPENDENT IS CCSA’S “INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURE  FOR RODRIGUEZ AND DID HIS STUDENTS FOOT THE BILL? Los Angeles – According to its website, membership in the California Charter School Association (CCSA) is five dollars ($5.00) per child per year. The Partnership to Uplift Communities (PUC) is a charter chain opened in 1999 by Dr. Ref Rodriguez. In 2014 alone, PUC schools contributed over $21,000.00 to CCSA, with more anticipated in 2015 as two new PUC schools were opened. Assuming each PUC school joined CCSA in a timely manner, and that dues have been consistent and paid, PUC charter schools have given about $140,000.00 to CCSA over the years. Are tax dollars meant for student learning flowing to the charter lobby group from PUC classrooms? Or, is the $20,000.00 per year paid to CCSA considered a tax-deductible contribution from Rodriguez similar to a business association or a 501c3? Furthermore, Rodriguez currently sits on CCSA’s Board of Trustees according to PUC’s website (2/25/15). So, again, one must ask, how independent is CCSA’s “Independent Expenditure” on Rodriguez?   PUC School Year Opened 2014 Cumulative Dollars         PUC CALS 2000 $1530 $19,335 PUC CALS HS 2003 $1165 $12,400 PUC Early College 2004 $2200 $16,895 PUC ES Community 1999 $0 $600 PUC Community Middle PUC ECALS PUC Excel PUC Inspire PUC Lakeview PUC Lakeview HS PUC Milagro PUC Nueva Esperanza PUC Santa Rosa PUC Triumph PUC Triumph HS 1999 2011 2006 2014 2004 2010 2004 2009 2010 2007 2010 $1740 $2060 $1595 $0 $1765 $1560 $1440 $1730 $1065 $1730 $1460   $21,905 $4,805 $10,900 $600 $11,895 $4,545 $11,230 $6,475 $4,975 $9,970 $3,655       Over $140,000.00 Sources: http://www.calcharters.org/services/membership/school.html, the California Department of Education http://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/ and PUC’s websitehttp://www.pucschools.org/about/founders.php)   ###   Paid for by Re-Elect Bennett Kayser for School Board 2015 – 419 North Larchmont Blvd., #37, Los Angeles, CA 90004 – ID #1361502 – Additional information is available at Ethics.lacity.org – Bennett2015.com – (323) 283-5574

HOW INDEPENDENT IS CCSA’S “INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURE FOR RODRIGUEZ AND DID HIS STUDENTS FOOT THE BILL?

Schools Matter: Student leader Hannah Nguyen speaks truth to Teach for America power in the New York Times

First published on Schools Matter on February 07, 2015

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"Teacher turnover really destabilizes a learning environment. So having a model that perpetuates that inequity in and of itself was also very confusing for me." — Hannah Nguyen

Wendy Kopp's profitable neoliberal project has been having difficulty recruiting. Their corporate spin doesn't want to give any credit the social justice resistance to their project, but even the New York Times knew better. My comments on the piece:

I proudly participated in Students United for Public Education (SUPE)'s #ResistTFA movement at UCLA last spring before I graduated. Meeting educator Hannah Nguyen of SUPE National, when she was creating Teach for America (TFA) awareness at all Los Angeles universities, was an honor. Her ability to speak truth to power and privilege is peerless. I would start a #ResistTFA at my current school, but since it's a social justice law school, none of us would ever consider joining TFA in the first place.

Among its myriad failings, shortcomings, and the abject damage it has done to low income communities, TFA can count two accomplishments. First, it amassed a fortune for Wendy Kopp. Second, it provided the plutocrat class with yet another vector to undermine the remains of the public commons.

Big ups to educator @hbnguyen18 for keeping it 100! #ResistTFA http://t.co/KnhwqmtKs4 @supenational @USAS #NPIC pic.twitter.com/6enE1T0gIb

— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) February 6, 2015

Professor Mike Klonsky's thoughts on this are worth reading as well. I'm so happy to see Ms. Nguyen beginning to get the credit she deserves for all her hard work. All I can say is that the Schools Matter staff have known her since back in the day.

Right to left, Hannah Nguyen, Robert D. Skeels, and Dr. Stephen Krashen. August 25, 2013 at University of Southern California.

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Photo at top of post: Credit Monica Almeida/The New York Times

Schools Matter: Student leader Hannah Nguyen speaks truth to Teach for America power in the New York Times

K12NN Wire: United Way Greater Los Angeles creates ad campaign for their biased LAUSD candidate forums

First published on K12NN Wire on February 7, 2015

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"By what logic does United Way engage in an activity that is shunned by all the other charities?" — Professor Ralph E. Shaffer

Some of United Way Greater Los Angeles and United Way Worldwide's other "education" related activities:

• Statement on Gates and Broad Foundation funded United Way Greater Los Angeles running LAUSD forums
• K12NN: United Way's Corporate NPIC Astroturf was thick in front of LAUSD last Tuesday
• United Way' Elise Buik's Myopic One Percent Policies
• Occupy United Way! Group founded and manifesto published
• United Way to market Scholastic's Reading Oasis (NASDAQ-SCHL)

* Mr. Broad is quoted in the New York Times

K12NN Wire: United Way Greater Los Angeles creates ad campaign for their biased LAUSD candidate forums

Schools Matter: United Way to market Scholastic's Reading Oasis (NASDAQ-SCHL)

First published on Schools Matter on February 06, 2015

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"By what logic does United Way engage in an activity that is shunned by all the other charities?" — Professor Ralph E. Shaffer

If anyone is interested, I can forward them the press release email for this. United Way is essentially marketing Scholastic Corporation products through their "Club Connect Reading Oasis" project (www.unitedwayclubconnect.org). Scholastic (NASDAQ: SCHL) was noticeably excited by the announcement, and they claim they generate approximately $2 billion in annual revenues. I wonder if United Way Greater Los Angeles' Elise Buik will invite President and CEO of Scholastic, Dick Robinson, to join her at her next "education" round-table with Eli Broad, Casey Wasserman, and the discredited John Deasy?

Left to right: Monica Garcia, the disgraced John Deasy, Casey Wasserman, billionaire Eli Broad, and Elise Buik. Five of the greatest enemies to public education in Los Angeles under the aegis of the United Way Greater Los Angeles.

The above Scholastic deal was struck in conjunction with United Way Worldwide. Not all United Way organizations are active participants in the neoliberal corporate education reform project. On the other hand, some of them serve as a tax deductible public relations and lobbying firms for the Broad/Gates/Walton Triumvirate. The most egregious offender is United Way Greater Los Angeles (UWGLA). Some of UWGLA's other "education" related activities:

• Statement on Gates and Broad Foundation funded United Way Greater Los Angeles running LAUSD forums
• K12NN: United Way's Corporate NPIC Astroturf was thick in front of LAUSD last Tuesday
• United Way' Elise Buik's Myopic One Percent Policies
• Occupy United Way! Group founded and manifesto published

Schools Matter: United Way to market Scholastic's Reading Oasis (NASDAQ-SCHL)

Ultimately Coro is far more shadowy and cultish than even the Gülen charter school network

""Their real contribution is that they defuse political anger and dole out as aid or benevolence what people ought to have by right. They alter the public psyche. They turn people into dependent victims and blunt the edges of political resistance. NGOs [NPIC] form a sort of buffer between the government and public. Between Empire and its subjects. They have become the arbitrators, the interpreters, the facilitators. In the long run, NGOs are accountable to their funders, not to the people they work among." — Arundhati Roy

Recently I wrote a piece on neoliberal corporate education reform operative Caprice Young. It discussed an exchange I had where I informed California Badass Teacher Association (BATs) members of some of Young's activities since she left ICEF: "…after she [Caprice Young] left ICEF she was doing consulting and working with her fellow right-wing CORO alum, Bill Jackson, at the disgusting "Great Schools" #NPIC". I then needed to add Jackson's name to the list of Coro operatives known to be working to eliminate public education in Los Angeles. I maintained a running list in a footnote of a 2011 Schools Matter piece, but realized that was becoming too unwieldy. Therefore, I've begun this new list. It's of Coro acolytes that have inflicted considerable damage on Los Angeles schools. It isn't intended to be a list of all known Coro operatives. When I get time I'll try to fill in backgrounds and details on those listed here.

Coro operatives menacing Los Angeles schools

Yolie Flores-Aguilar

Wesley George Farrow

Jordan Henry

Bill Jackson

Ricardo Mireles

Alex Padilla

Gabe Rose

Ryan Smith

Caprice Young

Currently Magnolia division of the Gülen Charter school fiefdom

Ultimately @CoroSoCal is far more shadowy and cultish than Gülen's network itself #LAUSD #NPIC http://t.co/50W67agg1g pic.twitter.com/jD8H4DYcqN

— RDSkeels4Schoolboard (@RDSkeels4LAUSD) February 4, 2015

What is Coro?

Information on Coro is hard to come by. Activists rarely get Coro operatives to talk about their organization, and when they do, there's nothing said of substance. During my last quarter at UCLA I reached out to them as a prospective fellow. They encouraged me to apply, but wouldn't provide any details without applying and committing first. I suppose that's like not learning about Xenu until one achieves OTIII (perhaps John Deasy's friend Megan Chernin can confirm that). You can't learn much about them by reading their literature either. The philosophically threadbare propaganda of neoliberalism is typically littered with vapid and vacuous prose, and Coro's explanation of who they are and what they do is no different. To wit:

Coro contributes a group of trained individuals whose personal skills and civic involvement promote broader civic engagement and expand the social capital of the community. By developing a network of local and regional organizations willing to create internship and project opportunities for program participants, Coro creates a safe space in which diverse organizations and leaders enter into dialogue with program participants and with each other.

That's sixty-five words of prose with no meaning whatsoever, putting it right along with "no excuses," or "work hard and be nice." Professor Noam Chomsky addresses these types of phrases best:

It doesn't mean anything... That's the whole point of good propaganda. You want to create a slogan that nobody's going to be against, and everybody's going to be for. Nobody knows what it means, because it doesn't mean anything. Its crucial value is that it diverts your attention from a question that does mean something: Do you support our policy? [1]

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NOTES
[1] Chomsky, Noam. Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda, Second Edition. New York: Seven Stories Press., 1991. pp. 25-26.

Ultimately Coro is far more shadowy and cultish than even the Gülen charter school network

Want the best turnout of candidates? Hold community, rather than corporate, LAUSD debate forums!

"I have also observed and experienced how these organizations, in order to protect their non-profit status and marketability to liberal foundations, actively self-police against members’ deviation from their essentially reformist agendas, while continuing to appropriate the language and imagery of historical revolutionaries."—Professor Dylan Rodríguez

Left to right: Eleanor Garcia, Annamarie Montañez, Isabel Vazquez, Abelardo Diaz, Michelle "HOPE" Walker, Robert D. Skeels, and Scott Folsom. Seven of the eight 2013 candidates for LAUSD District 2 at the CARECEN November 15, 2012 forum. Photo by Sean Abajian.

Last week's announcement that both the Honorable Bennett Keysar, and Andrew Thomas withdrew from United Way of Greater Los Angeles' charter school informercial being billed as a debate forum saw the many in the corporate media feign outrage.

When Monica Garcia skipped four (4) consecutive District 2 Neighborhood Coalition (D2NC) debate forums in 2013, the lucrative charter school industry supporters—including the Los Angeles Times—didn't say a word. All seven other candidates attended those forums. Sponsored by grassroots community groups including Central American Resource Center (CARECEN-LA), Southern California Immigration Coalition (SCIC), Parent Organization Network (PON), and others, the D2NC forum audiences were comprised of families and community members—not rooms full of charter school parents working off their "volunteer hours" like the ones privatizer Ref Rodriguez is featured at these days.

On the other hand, hold a forum financed by Eli Broad through his United Way Greater Los Angeles (UWGLA) public relations firm, and suddenly Elise Buik and Steve Lopez are up in arms that only charter school candidates are showing up to their rigged forums. That kind of "selective outrage" on behalf of the interests of the rich and powerful really sums up those that support charter school greed over student need. Unfortunately these truths spoken to power don't have the neoliberal propaganda megaphone that is Steve Lopez at the Los Angeles Times.

It's time to take these forums out of the hands of the billionaire financed Nonprofit Industrial Complex. All the non-charter school candidates should withdraw from the UWGLA forums.

Community runs #LAUSD debate—all candidates except charter candidate attend! @LAUnitedWay runs—only charter shows up. pic.twitter.com/gNnKV25QIO

— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) January 30, 2015

Who was the missing candidate in 2013? Corporate charter school sock puppet Monica Garcia. Why no Steve Lopez piece then? Why no outrage from Elise "1%" Buik?

Want the best turnout of candidates? Hold community, rather than corporate, LAUSD debate forums!

Statement on Gates and Broad Foundation funded United Way Greater Los Angeles running LAUSD forums

"Philanthropy is not progressive and never has been."— Tiffany Lethabo King and Ewuare Osayande

"The United Way of LA is chief enforcer of Eli Broad’s corporate takeover of public Ed agenda. He’s the reason why I created the term “weaponized philanthropy” to describe how lefty-liberal groups in this city are under his sway. There’s NO good reason on earth the ACLU or LGBT Youth groups would support John Deasy except for the fact that they get money from UWGLA and much of that money comes from Broad."—Cynthia Liu, PhD

Left to right: Monica Garcia, the disgraced John Deasy, Casey Wasserman, billionaire Eli Broad, and Elise Buik. Five of the greatest enemies to public education in Los Angeles under the aegis of the United Way Greater Los Angeles.

The Nonprofit Industrial Complex in Los Angeles are using their unlimited resources to sway our schoolboard elections again. Here's a tweet linking to the Occupy United Way page that first pointed out the issue.

Statement on @gatesfoundation & @BroadFoundation funded @LAUnitedWay running #LAUSD forums https://t.co/HmsVewlJzQ pic.twitter.com/rpCUti4bE7

— RDSkeels4Schoolboard (@RDSkeels4LAUSD) January 22, 2015

My slightly edited statement from that page.

With the possible exceptions of Public Counsel and CHIRLA, could the United Way of Greater Los Angeles (UWGLA) have gathered a more vile coalition of revenue hungry corporate charter chains and billionaire foundation funded Nonprofit Industrial Complex (‎NPIC) members? KIPP, Coro, Eli Broad's Dan Chang's GPS:LA, E4E, ICS, and more. It's a rogues gallery of organizations on the dole of the Koch's, Bloomberg's, Broad's, Gates', and Walton Family Foundations. How is it that these organizations with the clear-cut political agendas of their funders are allowed to host forums like this?

Just in case there's any doubt that this entire event has been orchestrated by the UWGLA, here's the text from the registration form. See the email address?

Please fill out this brief form to let us know you will attend a Candidate Forum.

Childcare, translation, refreshments, voter registration and ballot information will be provided free of cost.

For more information and media inquires, contact Sara Mooney at smooney@unitedwayla.org or 213-808-6290

UWGLA runs these events so that they have complete control over what questions get asked, the tone and content of the conversations, the composition of audience, etc. These so-called forums end up being informercials for their favored (read charter school industry connected) candidates, and more importantly, their neoliberal corporate education reform agenda. Remember, UWGLA is the same organization that pays for fake "research" papers from less-than-credible fellow neoliberal NPIC like National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ). There is no depth too low for the UWGLA to plumb, evidenced by their now infamous April 2014 astroturf stunt.

United Way Greater Los Angeles is the best public relations firm that Eli Broad has ever hired.

Statement on Gates and Broad Foundation funded United Way Greater Los Angeles running LAUSD forums