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Saturday, March 28, 2015

Stunning revelation Bill Gates has spent $2.3 Billion on Common Core – #PARCC | North Denver News

Stunning revelation Bill Gates has spent $2.3 Billion on Common Core – #PARCC | North Denver News:

Stunning revelation Bill Gates has spent $2.3 Billion on Common Core – #PARCC








 The new curriculum driven into law by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, the Common Core Standards, is a product of massive spending on an unprecedented historical level by Bill Gates.

Research by Jack Hassard, Professor Emeritus at Georgia State, shows compelling evidence that Gates has spent $2.3 billion pushing the Common Core. More than 1800 grants to organizations running from  teachers unions to state departments of education to  political groups like the National Governor’s Association have pushed the Common Core into 45 states, with little transparency and next to no public review.
The Common Core now represents a de facto and de jure national school curriculum, something theoretically prohibited by federal law. But the Common Core comes with common high-stakes tests and common textbooks, making  the standards are more than standards.
The Gates involvement, profiteering by testing publishers like Pearson and the heavy-hand of federal coercion in the Common Core has aroused political opposition from right and left, as well as from education experts who have called the standards inappropriate developmentally, pushing young children into material they aren’t ready for.
The Colorado Department of Education was a major recipient of Gates Foundation money, during a time when funding for Colorado classrooms was slashed. CDE’s Colorado Legacy Foundation received $9.7 million in Gates money in 2011, and $1.4 million in a second grant that year. CDE received another  $6 million in 2012. In 2012, and 2010,  CDE received $1.74 million each. In 2013, $828,000 was received. At over $22 million in recent years, the Colorado Department of Education is one of the largest Gates recipients in the nation.
Colorado Legacy Foundation2010College-ReadyUS Program$1,747,441
Colorado Legacy Foundation2013College-ReadyUS Program$828,653
Colorado Legacy Foundation2013College-ReadyUS Program$36,540
Colorado Legacy Foundation2011Global Policy & AdvocacyUS Program$149,876
Colorado Legacy Foundation2012Global Policy & AdvocacyUS Program$200,000
Colorado Legacy Foundation2012College-ReadyUS Program$5,992,250
Colorado Legacy Foundation2013College-ReadyUS Program$100,001
Colorado Legacy Foundation2010College-ReadyUS Program$16,100
Colorado Legacy Foundation2013College-ReadyUS Program$36,540
Colorado Legacy Foundation2011College-ReadyUS Program$1,397,601
Colorado Legacy Foundation2011College-ReadyUS Program$9,707,210
Colorado Legacy Foundation2012College-ReadyUS Program$1,748,337
Denver Public Schools received $10 million in a grant that was largely purposed to boosting charter school enrollment in 2010. In 2012, DPS received $4 million. For 2011, it was a paltry $1.1 million. Another $10 million came to the district in 2013, making DPS one of Bill Gates largest clients. Prior to 2010, DPS netted nearly $900,000.
Denver Public Schools2011College-ReadyUS Program$330,008
Denver Public Schools2009 and earlierCollege-ReadyUS Program$871,202
Denver Public Schools2013College-ReadyUS Program$1,362
Denver Public Schools2009 and earlierCollege-ReadyUS Program$300,000
Denver Public Schools2010College-ReadyUS Program$10,000,000
Denver Public Schools2012College-ReadyUS Program$1,725
Denver Public Schools2012College-ReadyUS Program$4,001,999
Denver Public Schools2013College-ReadyUS Program$100,000
Denver Public Schools2011College-ReadyUS Program$1,100,000
Denver Public Schools2013College-ReadyUS Program$10,000,000
The Aspen Institute, which has spearheaded a program that looks to break teacher’s unions, received nearly $4 million in 2009 and prior. It took in another $3.6 million in 2013, along with another $1.5 million that year.
Colorado Children’s Campaign, a group whose mission has morphed into pushing charter schools and vouchers, has received $8.7 million. It’s former head, Barbara O’Brien now sits on the DPS School Board, underscoring the deep conflicts of interest causes by the massive Gates giving. Critics say the only programs getting attention in DPS are those funded by Gates.
Colorado Children’s Campaign2009 and earlierCollege-ReadyUS Program$750,000
Colorado Children’s Campaign2011Global Policy & AdvocacyUS Program$521,858
Colorado Children’s Campaign2013College-ReadyUS Program$146,337
Colorado Children’s Campaign2009 and earlierCollege-ReadyUS Program$8,062,122
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