How DFER and the charter lobby hijacked our politicians, who are allowing them to hijack our public schools in an "inside job"
Today, hundreds of parents and teachers stood in the rain, protesting the first day of Camp Philos conclave, at the aptly named Whiteface Lodge. This shindig was organized by Democrats for Education Reform, with Governor Cuomo the honorary “host” for a meeting of deep-pocketed hedge funders and other financiers who support charter expansion, test based accountability, and other privatization schemes. Though at the last minute Cuomo cancelled his plans to attend, presumably because of the protests, several bloggers have written about how ridiculous and insulting is DFER’s spiel, comparing this meeting to the “philosopher’s retreat” that took place in the 19th century between Ralph Waldo Emerson, Russell Lowell, and Horatio Woodman. While the website says that the nation’s“thought leaders in education reform” will be there, instead they cite M. Night Shmayalan, movie director, and others of a less luminary stature. Check out the inspired critiques of Prof. Daniel Katz and teacher Patrick Walsh.
The schedule for the gathering features panels with absurd names like “Rocketships, Klingons and Tribbles: Charters' Course to Where No Schools Have Gone Before” and “Adequacy, Fairness and Equity: School Finance in the Age of Austerity” – a fitting discussion since Gov. Cuomo has made sure that NY public school funding is neither adequate nor equitable, and is instead steering more funds into the charter schools backed by his hedge fund contributors.
In the latest state budget, Cuomo engineered one of the biggest corporate giveaways in history – to require NYC provide free public space to all new or expanded charters going forward or pay for their private space. This is despite the fact that NYC already has the most overcrowded schools in the state – and the most expensive real estate. No doubt NYC Public School Parents: How DFER and the charter lobby hijacked our politicians, who are allowing them to hijack our public schools in an "inside job":
