Jeb Bush Creations: Newly-packaged “Chiefs for Change” and Relatively-unknown “Excellence in Education National”
In March 2013, I wrote a post detailing Jeb Bush’s special cadre of state education superintendents, Chiefs for Change. The purpose of this group is to promote Bush-approved education policies in states nationwide, including the A-F grading of schools, vouchers, charters, virtual schools, and alternative teacher certification.
Since its inception, Chiefs for Change has been umbilically connected to Bush’s nonprofit, Foundation for Excellence in Education (FEE).
On March 10, 2015, I wrote about Louisiana Superintendent John White’s assuming the lead for what is a noticeably-shrinking Chiefs for Change. Also on March 10, 2015, Washington Post reporter Lyndsey Layton wrote that Chiefs for Change would be breaking away from FEE:
Chiefs for Change, an advocacy group created by former Florida governor Jeb Bush to promote many of his K-12 education policies around the country, is breaking away from its origins and expanding to try to attract big city school leaders.Chiefs for Change announced Tuesday that it was splitting from the Foundation for Excellence in Education, created by Bush in 2008. The advocacy group said it will no longer receive financial support from the foundation.
Quite the gravy train separation for the few remaining Chiefs.
Chiefs for Change first appears on FEE’s 2010 990 as part of an FEE initiative called “Excellence in Action.” The 2010 990 identifies Chiefs for Change as part of FEE’s Excellence in Action expense of $1.7 million. Included is the following description with the expenditure:
Excellence in Action provides staffing support for Chiefs for Change, a coalition of reform-minded chief state school officers who are leaders in the reform movement.
FEE’s 2011 990 specifies the Chiefs for Change staffing expense as $155,648. By By 2012, FEE paid $594,086 for Chiefs staffing.
In 2012, FEE also paid its first grant to a department of education for one of those “chiefs”: $12,000 to the Louisiana Department of Education for “Common Core communications.”
The FEE money flowed much more freely to Chiefs in 2013: over $2.5 million for Jeb Bush Creations: Newly-packaged “Chiefs for Change” and Relatively-unknown “Excellence in Education National” | deutsch29:
