The United Gates of America
The title is not a mistake. In the New York Times, we finally see coverage of a phenomenon some of us have been writing about for year. The piece begins by telling about a small committed group of apparently grass roots organized teachers who testified before the Indiana legislature and wrote an op ed asking to eliminate seniority-based layoff policies.
They described themselves simply as local teachers who favored school reform — one sympathetic state representative, Mary Ann Sullivan, said, “They seemed like genuine, real people versus the teachers’ union lobbyists.” They were, but they were also recruits in a national organization, Teach Plus, financed significantly by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
To see how pervasive the influence of the money of Bill Gates is, I strongly urge you to read Behind Grass-Roots School Advocacy, Bill Gates
In some cases, Mr. Gates is creating entirely new advocacy groups. The foundation is also paying
