Timeline of Sharpton, Klein and Bloomberg's educational political machinations

[madfloridian]

Leonie Haimson has been following the events unfolding in the new educational reform partnerships since 2007.

Her bio from Huffington Post: She is a public school parent and Executive Director of Class Size Matters, as well as the founder of the NYC Public School Parent blog. She is also one of the contributors to a recent book, NYC Schools Under Bloomberg/Klein: What Parents, Teachers and Policymakers Need to Know, available at Lulu.com.

She posted this timeline at the NYC Public School Parents blog a few days ago.

New revelations and timeline of Sharpton, Klein and Bloomberg's political machinations

Today, in the Daily News, Adam Lisberg reports that Mayor Bloomberg gave $110,000 to Al Sharpton in 2008, apparently to gain his assent for overturning term limits, money that was laundered through the Education Equity Project, Joel Klein’s vanity non-profit that supposedly works for education reform.

This revelation comes on top of the earlier finding that Sharpton received a secret contribution of $500,000 from a hedge fund to join EEP in the first place, funds that were washed through Education Reform Now, a pro-charter lobbying group, to help him avoid federal indictment for tax fraud. Below is a timeline of events.

The Timeline starts in 2007, and is quite long. Here are some pertinent parts of it.

March 25, 2008: Eva Moskowitz writes an email to Klein:“As you know I met with Sharpton. Had a great meeting. Am sure you know Charlie King is working with who I have known for years. He was enthusiastic. Just was worried that Mayor and you were not on board. Was kind of surprised by this concern. Wonder if you can call him.”

Joel Klein responds, “I’m going to Memphis for him and have put together a panel for MLK day – I will speak to him. I think by on board he’s not talking policy….” (Haimson's aside: "What then? finances?")

...."May 9, 2008: The AP reports that Sharpton is a subject of federal investigation and that his organization owes nearly $1.5 million in overdue taxes and penalties. It is also revealed that over the course of the past year, Sharpton's lawyers have been negotiating with the feds over the size of his debt, which include $365,558 in NYC income tax and $931,397 in unpaid federal income tax. His for-profit company, Rev. Al Communications, owes the state another $175,962 in delinquent taxes.

Early June 2008: Al Sharpton and Joel Klein announce they will form the Education Equality Project.

That is a link to the signatories of the EEP. A great number of the list are education reformers....charter school leaders, leaders of religious communities, people in powerful places. There are groups like Democrats for School Reform which is made up of charter school advocates. There are mayors, superintendents, and filmmakers.

More from the timeline:

June 4, 2008: According to an article in the NY Times, Bloomberg and his advisers are exploring overturning term limits so he can run for a third term.

June 11, 2008: Education Equality Project, co-chaired by Joel Klein and Al Sharpton, is launched at a DC press conference.

Sharpton says: "There have been a lot of old alliances being protected, and the children are not being protected," he said. "And if we're going to move forward, we're going to have to be able to have new alliances here — that might mean some old relationships with teachers unions, principals unions and all are going to be a little troubled.”

Old relationship are going to be troubled...with teachers'unions?

Just a little more, but very long timeline.

October 17, 2008: The National Action Network receives another $60,000 payment from EEP. The same day, the NY Times reveals that the mayor and his top aides have asked leaders of community and arts organizations which have received contributions from Bloomberg and/or city funding to testify on behalf of overturning term limits during the City Council hearings. At least 11 Doe Fund employees, testified in favor of the mayor’s plan, without identifying their employer, describing themselves only as neighborhood residents. The DOE Fund also shipped homeless men to the hearings in support. It is later revealed that just weeks after the hearings, Bloomberg gave at least $5 million to the DOE Fund, and a year later, less than 48 hours before he was sworn in for a third term, another $5 million.

One of the signatories of the Education Equality Project along with Al Sharpton is Newt Gingrich, whose long time plans for education are to turn them over to the free market. He advocates charter schools and vouchers. He is seeing his dream come true.

The group is presenting education reform as a "civil rights issue." Those are also the words used by this administration.

Both Al Sharpton and Newt Gingrich have been traveling along with Arne Duncan on the road trip across the country to push education "reforms."

From September 2009

Education Secretary Arne Duncan, former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich and civil rights leader/onetime Democratic presidential candidate Al Sharpton will hit the road together next month in the name of education reform. The tour starts Sept. 29 in Philadelphia, heads to New Orleans on Nov. 3 and then to Baltimore on Nov. 13 -- cities selected for what they can teach others about school reform. The Department of Education plans to add other stops, including a rural venue.

Here are the goals of Gingrich. Read them carefully. All of them are being implemented now. Charters, private school "scholarships", choice...are all happening. They are being implemented in a ruthless way, with the closing of schools and their reopening as "something else" other than traditional public schools.

Introduce competition among schools and teachers

We should apply the free enterprise system to our education system by introducing competition among schools, administrators, and teachers. Our educators should be paid based on their performance and held accountable based on clear standards with real consequences. These ideas are designed to stimulate thinking beyond the timid “let’s do more of the same” that has greeted every call for rethinking math and science education.
Source: Gingrich Communications website, www.newt.org Dec 1, 2006

"Support charters; insist on change for failing schools

We should encourage the spread of public charter schools--one of the happiest new developments on the education scene--so parents, educators, & students working together can enjoy the maximum freedom to explore options and innovations until every child has a genuine opportunity to learn. As a corollary of this, we must identify the worst schools. We should insist on immediate change for bad schools. To start with, there should be no tenure and no binding contracts in the worst 20% of schools.
Source: Lessons Learned the Hard Way, by Newt Gingrich, p.208 Jul 2, 1998

Private scholarships for students at hopeless schools

If there were families left without an acceptable public school, scholarships should be available for them to find a private one. I am a graduate of a public school, as are my wife and two daughters. All of us remain committed to the idea of public education. However, if the available public school is one that gives parents legitimate worry for their children’s future, there ought to be alternative to having to stand helplessly watching an incompetent bureaucracy destroy their children’s lives.
Source: Lessons Learned the Hard Way, by Newt Gingrich, p.209 Jul 2, 1998

These were the goals of the Bush administration, and now they are being implemented.

Interesting timeline involving some of the major players.

[madfloridian]

1. Other members of the EEP. A very power-packed group.

Teachers just don't have a chance against this. BTW education is not a civil rights issue as that group says...it is a human rights issue.

The list:

Arlene Ackerman, School District of Philadelphia Superintendent

Jeanne Allen, The Center for Education Reform President

Andrés A. Alonso, Baltimore City Public Schools CEO

Seth Andrews, Democracy Prep Public Schools Founder & Superintendent

Ben Austin, Parent Revolution Executive Director

Tiki Barber, Tiki Ventures LLC Chairman

Steve Barr, Green Dot Public Schools Founder and Chairman

Michael Bennet, U.S. Senator (D-CO) and former Superintendent of the Denver Public Schools

Richard Berlin, Harlem RBI Executive Director and Chairman of DREAM Charter School

Reverend A.R. Bernard, Christian Cultural Center Senior Pastor

Michael R. Bloomberg, New York City Mayor

Tom Boasberg, Denver Public Schools Superintendent

Cory A. Booker, Newark Mayor

Derrell Bradford, E3 Executive Director

Rev. David Brawley, St. Paul Community Baptist Church Associate Pastor

David L. Brewer III, Former Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent

Jean-Claude Brizard, Rochester City School District Superintendent

Eli Broad, The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation Founder

Richard Buery Jr., Children's Aid Society President and CEO

Jeb Bush, Former Governor of Florida

Kaleem Caire, Urban League of Greater Madison President and CEO

Sarah Calderon, Casita Maria Center for Arts and Education Executive Director

Geoffrey Canada, Harlem Children's Zone President and CEO

Marlene Canter, former Los Angeles Unified School District School Board member

Victor Capellan, Dominican American National Roundtable (DANR) President

Thomas W. Carroll, Foundation for Education Reform & Accountability President

Meria Carstarphen, Austin Independent School District Superintendent

Michael Casserly, Council of the Great City Schools Executive Director

Julián Castro, San Antonio Mayor

Christopher D. Cerf, Sangari Global Education President and CEO

Kevin P. Chavous, Black Alliance for Educational Options Chairman

Iris Chen, "I Have a Dream" Foundation President and CEO

Stacey Childress, Gates Foundation Deputy Director of Education

Henry Cisneros, Former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Former Mayor of San Antonio

Jeffrey Cohen, Educate, Inc. CEO

Jordan Coleman, Youth Filmmaker, actor, student

Anthony J. Colón, The Avanti Strategy Group Managing Partner

Bob Compton, Two Million Minutes Executive Producer

John Conyers Jr., U.S. House of Representatives (D-MI)

Ramon Cortines, Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent and former New York City Schools Chancellor

Michael M. Crow, Arizona State University President

Richard M. Daley, Chicago Mayor

Timothy Daly, The New Teacher Project President

Marc Ecko, Marc Ecko Enterprises Founder and Chief Creative Officer

Jonah Edelman, Stand for Children Co-Founder and CEO

Chaka Fattah, U.S. House of Representatives (D-PA)

Mike Feinberg, Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) Co-Founder

Adrian M. Fenty, Washington, D.C. Mayor

Terry Fields, State Representative (D-FL)

Chester Finn, Thomas B. Fordham Institute President and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University

Harold E. Ford, Jr., Democratic Leadership Council Chairman

Yolie Flores, Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education Vice President

Howard Fuller, Former Milwaukee Public Schools Superintendent, Distinguished Professor of Education and Director of the Institute for the Transformation of Learning at Marquette University

Hector Gesualdo, Aspira New York Executive Director

Newt Gingrich, American Solutions for Winning the Future General Chairman

Deborah A. Gist, Rhode Island Education Commissioner

Terry Grier, Houston Independent School District Superintendent

Peter Groff, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools President & CEO

Dr. Beverly L. Hall, Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent

Phil Handy, President & CEO, Strategic Industries

Eric Hanushek, Hoover Institution, Stanford University Senior Fellow

David Harris, The Mind Trust President and CEO

Kati Haycock, The Education Trust President

Kristy Hebert, Advance Innovative Education CEO

John Hickenlooper, Denver Mayor

Jim Hunt, Former Governor of North Carolina

Walter Isaacson, Aspen Institute President and CEO

Bill Jackson, GreatSchools President

Craig M. Johnson, State Senator (D-NY)

Kevin Johnson, Sacramento Mayor

Alex Johnston, Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCAN) CEO

Jason Kamras, 2005 National Teacher of the Year & D.C. Public Schools Director of Human Capital Strategy

John Katzman, The Princeton Review and 2tor, Inc Founder

Lisa Graham Keegan, Founder, Education Breakthrough Network

Caroline Kim Oh, iMentor President

Joel I. Klein, New York City Schools Chancellor, Education Equality Project Co-Chair

Matthew Klein, Blue Ridge Foundation New York Executive Director

Suzanne T. Kubach, Policy Innovators in Education Network Executive Director

Marc Lampkin, Strong American Schools - ED in '08 Former Executive Director

John Legend, Entertainer & Education Activist

Ernest A. Logan, Council of Schools Supervisors & Administrators President

Michael L. Lomax, UNCF -- United Negro College Fund President and CEO, Education Equality Project Co-Chair

Carlos Louimet, New America Alliance Chair of the Board of Directors

Marc Porter Magee, 50CAN President

Michael Magee, Rhode Island Mayoral Academies Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Dannel Malloy, Stamford, CT Mayor

John McCain, U.S. Senator (R-AZ)

Mike McGalliard, MLA Partner Schools President and CEO

Daniel J. McKee, Cumberland, RI Mayor & Board Chair of Rhode Island Mayoral Academies

Rev. James Meeks, Illinois State Senator & Illinois Legislative Black Caucus Chairman

Matt Miller, Author, The Tyranny of Dead Ideas

Bill E. Milliken, Communities in Schools Founder and Vice Chairman

Ted Mitchell, NewSchools Venture Fund CEO

Sydney Morris, Educators 4 Excellence Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director

Alisha Thomas Morgan, Georgia General Assembly State Representative

Scott Morgan, Education Pioneers Founder and CEO

Eva Moskowitz, Success Charter Network Founder and CEO

James Mtume, KISS FM Radio "Open Line" Host

Janet Murguía, National Council of La Raza (NCLR) President and CEO, Education Equality Project Co-Chair

Monique Nadeau, Hope Street Group Executive Director

Michael Nutter, Philadelphia Mayor

Brian G. Osborne, School District of South Orange & Maplewood Superintendent

Rod Paige, Former U.S. Secretary of Education (2001-2005)

Paul G. Pastorek, Louisiana State Department of Education Superintendent

Theresa Pena, Denver Board of Education President

Bart Peterson, Former Mayor of Indianapolis

Earl Phalen, Reach Out and Read CEO and Summer Advantage USA Founder

Dianne Piché, U.S. Department of Education Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office of Civil Rights

Jared Polis, U.S. House of Representatives Colorado Second Congressional District, and former Chairman of the Colorado State Board of Education

Charles B. Reed, The California State University Chancellor

Michelle Rhee, Washington, D.C. Schools Chancellor

Greg Richmond, National Association of Charter School Authorizers President & CEO

Gerard Robinson, Virginia Secretary of Education

Roy Romer, The College Board Senior Advisor to the President

Amy Rosen, Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship President and CEO

Andrew Rotherham, Bellwether Education Partners Founding Partner

Hank Rubin, Institute for Collaborative Leadership President and Founder

Arthur Rothkopf, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Senior Vice President

Edward Rust, State Farm Insurance Companies Chairman and CEO

Abe Saavedra, Houston Public Schools Superintendent

Dave Saba, American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence President

Madeleine Sackler, Filmmaker, The Lottery

Gwendolyn Samuel, State of Black CT Alliance Co-Founder and Chairwoman

Lucinda Sanders, National Center for Women and Information Technology CEO and Co-Founder

Jon Schnur, New Leaders for New Schools CEO and Co-Founder

Van Schoales, Education Reform Now Executive Director

J.B. Schramm, College Summit CEO and Founder

Eric Schwarz, Citizen Schools CEO and Co-Founder

Rev. Al Sharpton, National Action Network President

Colin Smith, Change for Kids Executive Director & CEO

Eric Smith, Florida Department of Education Commissioner; Former Superintendent, Charlotte Mecklenburg, NC

Nelson Smith, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools Sr. Advisor

Shirley Smith, Hunter College Associate Professor

Margaret Spellings, Margaret Spellings and Company President & CEO; Former US Secretary of Education

Joshua P. Starr, Stamford Public Schools Superintendent

Evan Stone, Educators 4 Excellence Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director

Cate Swinburn, DC Public Education Fund President

Whitney Tilson, Democrats for Education Reform Co-Founder

Dacia Toll, Achievement First Co-CEO and President

Paul Vallas, New Orleans Recovery School District Superintendent

Tom Vander Ark, Revolution Learning Managing Partner and Vander Ark/Ratcliff Partner

Antonio R. Villaraigosa, Los Angeles Mayor

Kate Walsh, National Council on Teacher Quality President

J.C. Watts, Jr., Strong American Schools - ED in '08 National Spokesman

Martin R. West, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Assistant Professor

Chad Wick, KnowledgeWorks Foundation President and CEO

Amy Wilkins, Education Trust Vice President for Government Affairs and Communication

Roger Wilkins, Civil rights leader, professor of history, and journalist

Joe Williams, Democrats for Education Reform Executive Director

Steven Wolfe Pereira, MediaVest Multicultural Senior Vice President and Managing Director

Raul Yzaguirre, Nominee for Ambassadorship to the Dominican Republic

[Jakes Progress]

2. Okay. DU.

Now do you still think this program is a good thing. Are you willing to support Obama even if it means making newt gingrich's dreams come true? Just how far will you go in the name of loyalty? How many children need to be sacrificed on the altar of corporate education? Obama really has screwed up here. He has to either be a willing cog in turning American education over to corporate interests or he has done the stupidest thing possible by buying arne duncan and his friends as any kind of experts on education.

Obama looks good in a bathing suit on the beach. Happy Days. Put a leather jacket on him and let him ski over the shark with Fonzie. This jump will end the same way.

[madfloridian]

3. Yes, I think most still do. It is scarily easy to corporatize education....

if there is no opposing party.

It makes me sick to see so little opposition.

[madfloridian]

4. DFER vs everyday teachers...not a chance in hell.

Not just EEP, DFER as well. Democrats for Education Reform

From DFER watch:

http://dferwatch.wordpress.com/2010/07/16/dfer-ny-2010-spending-donations/

http://dferwatch.wordpress.com/connections-2/

Plus an interesting article:

http://www.nycapitolnews.com/news/126/ARTICLE/1778/2010-07-27.html

"In Manhattan restaurants, penthouses or in the boardroom of DFER, such meetings with supportive lawmakers and potential candidates have become increasingly frequent as charter backers gear up for the 2010 elections. And though such meetings between interest groups and candidates are common, these efforts are striking for how much cash they can inject, and how quickly, into a campaign they support, despite their relatively small numbers. Many of the donors also serve on the boards of charter schools, and say they are ideologically attracted to the cause because the schools promote the type of entrepreneurial spirit with which they built their own businesses.

Though charter advocates had been testifying at hearings and trying to sway policy for years, the decision to wade into electoral politics began to crystallize with the election of Eliot Spitzer in 2006 and the special-election victory of State Sen. Craig Johnson several months later.

The effort has since gained momentum and become more professional, with the election of Barack Obama, a pro-charter Democrat, and the Race to the Top program giving credence to the charter school movement in Democratic circles. What was initially a small circle of about five dedicated donors has grown to 25 or 30 regular contributors, according to Williams, with efforts spreading to state legislatures across the country."

[LWolf]

5. How many DUers think we should be implementing Gingrich's goals for education? nt

[madfloridian]

6. It's okay if Democrats implement it.

:shrug:

[LWolf]

7. Apparently.

:evilfrown:

[Jakes Progress]

8. Then many Democrats have no more morals

than the republicans who approved of everything bush did. I wonder how many in each party are just in it for the game - how many really don't believe in anything.

[madfloridian]

9. This has all been planned and organized for years.

And most are just accepting of it.

[RandomThoughts]

10. Not me, not being part of what they are doing, not going to have that hung around my neck.

[Bluesbreaker]

11. Great job

Thank you for your unflagging efforts to shine a light on what's happening to the education system in this country. This diary is one of the best sources of intelligence I've found detailing the war against public education.