Why do Corporate Reformers Hate Democracy?
Back in the 1950s, we were told that the communists wanted to destroy democracy. I am not sure what the communists ever did to hurt democracy in America, but the corporate backers of charter schools are making some real headway.
Their target is the power of elected school boards and even the mayor of the nation's biggest city. In New York City, according to the New York Daily News, financiers have poured close to $4 million into ads attacking Mayor Bill de Blasio for revoking the carte blanche that the previous mayoral administration had given to charter schools.
Though corporate reformers like Bill Gates were huge fans of mayoral control of schools when their man was the mayor, there is now a drive to strip Mayor de Blasio of his power, led by New York governor Andrew Cuomo. In Indiana, the governor has similarly sought to remove powerfrom the elected state superintendent of education, Glenda Ritz, even though she was the top vote-getter in the 2012 election. The only consistent pattern is the effort to remove power from anyone who might not carry out their will.
Netflix billionaire Reed Hastings made his feelings clear last month at a convention of the California Charter Schools Association (transcript from StopRocketship.com, h/t Valerie Strauss.)
And so the fundamental problem with school districts is not their fault, the fundamental