As
I wrote a month ago, I am supporting Ralph Northam in the Democratic primary for the Virginia gubernatorial race. I agree with much of Tom Perriello's policy agenda and he is saying a lot things that resonate with me. If he wins the primary, I will work hard to get him elected. In the meantime, I am encouraging everyone to vote for Northam this Tuesday, June 13th.
I am concerned about Perriello's lack of leadership and political experience at the local and state levels. His connections to Wall Street and Silicon Valley Obama-era market-based, pro-privatization, neo-liberal education reformers trouble me. In general, I am not concerned that he is too liberal or too much of a populist; rather, my concern is that he is not the real deal, that he will not turn out to be a true progressive, especially on education. One of the main tenets of his platform is that he will stand up to Trump. Lots of folks are standing up to Trump right now. That's not so hard to do. What was hard is rolling up your sleeves and standing up to the Virginia GOP, as Northam did, year after year, before there was a Trump figure to rally against. It is both telling and concerning that most of Perriello's support comes from out of the state. As for public education, I was reassured by his statements about it in
this recent Washington Post interview (scroll down to close to the end). But I can not ignore his ties to the DFER crowd (again, out of state) which I pointed out in my
original post. More recently, Virginia public school parent and activist Michele Boyd found some further connections to the DFER crowd. Perriello supporters who would dismiss these ties maybe don't understand that for public education supporters, outfits like DFER and the Emerson Collective are like Dominion is for environmentalists.
Below is Michele's post.
(As a side note, I am told that
Blue Virginia would not post this. I am a loyal subscriber to and occasional contributor to
Blue Virginia. I find it it problematic that they would not run this post. I understand that they have endorsed Tom Perriello, but especially given the blog's collective nature, I believe that they should provide a space for Perriello
and Northam supporters, and as they usually do, allow for skepticism, criticism, and independent thought.
UPDATE 6/12/2017:
1.
Blue Virginia did post Michele Boyd's piece, a day after this post went up. See
here. Thank you,
Blue Virginia!)
2.
Blue Virginia recently
featured a post from a Virginia special education teacher about why she is supporting Perriello and with some claims about Northam's voting record on charter school legislation and ties to privatizers. I have not confirmed her claims and can do without the tone and the accusations of "attacks" (I do not believe I and others have "attacked" Perriello but have diplomatically explained our skepticism), but even so, her piece is certainly worth reading and finding out more about.
For example, Northam did vote for the "compromise" legislation (HB 1173 & SB 440) on charter schools that Meredyth Hall referred to and while it's not a great bill and Northam's vote is concerning, she rather mis-states what the final legislation actually dictated. To see what it did say, see
the March 2012 Commonwealth Educational Policy Institute General Assembly Update:
Charter Schools: Legislators agreed to a compromise on two charter school bills, HB 1173 and SB 440. The approved measures provide the following: 1) The local school board may allow a charter school to use vacant or unused properties or real estate owned by the school board. 2) Following a local school board decision to deny a public charter school application or to revoke or fail to renew a charter agreement, the local school board shall submit documentation to the Board of Education (BOE) as to the rationale for the denial or revocation; however, the BOE shall have no authority to grant or deny a public charter school application or to revoke or fail to renew a charter agreement. 3) Local school boards may elect whether charter school personnel are employees of the charter school or of the local school division. 4) Per pupil funding provided to the charter school by the local school board shall be negotiated in the charter agreement and be commensurate with the average school-based costs of educating the students in the division’s existing schools.
Why Has a Corporate Education
Reform Group Affiliated with Former U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan,
Donated $25,000 to Tom Perriello’s Campaign?
by Michele Boyd, a parent to
two children and a public education activist
For those of
us who care deeply about K-12 public education - whether we are students,
parents, educators, or concerned citizens - the stakes are high in Tuesday’s Democratic
primary. In the current anti-Trump environment,
the odds are in our favor that who we nominate on June 13th will
become the next Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is therefore paramount that we choose
wisely. The 1,253,482 children who are currently
enrolled in Virginia’s K-12 public schools and slightly over 100,000 teachers who
teach them are depending on us to get it right.
The media narrative that has emerged
in this race is Ralph Northam and Tom Perriello are both progressives and the policy
differences between them are insignificant,
including K-12 education. On
the surface, this appears to be true. (Read
here for Northam’s education platform and
here for Perriello’s.)
There’s more to this story, however. The candidates differ significantly in one
aspect that, in my opinion, overrides everything else: Tom Perriello has deep ties to the corporate education reform movement and
Ralph Northam does not.
As a busy mom who works full-time, I
was hoping that The Washington Post or other media outlets would scoop this
story. It’s telling that Mr. Perriello chose
not to disclose these ties at an education roundtable that myself and 15-20
others attended on January 31st in Manassas. With two children in public schools who have
endured a learning environment of high-stakes testing that creates stress and
anxiety, I cannot remain silent. Democratic
primary voters deserve to know the facts before casting ballots on Tuesday.
I’ll start by saying this much, when Mr. Perriello boasts that he has
the support of Obama Administration officials, we should believe him. As it turns out, former U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) Secretary, Arne Duncan, is Managing
Partner at the Emerson Collective.
What is the Emerson Collective?
Founded by billionaire Laurene Powell Jobs (wife of Apple’s co-founder Steve
Jobs), the Emerson Collective makes investments and grants in education and
other areas. The New York Times
described it as one of several
"top tier technology investors" in
AltSchool, a network of
small private schools that “use a proprietary learning management system that
tracks students’ activities and helps teachers personalize their learning.” Ms. Powell Jobs is also a board member of
several education reform organizations, including Teach for America and the NewSchools
Venture Fund. You can learn more about
the Emerson Collective, its $100 million high school redesign contest, and Ms.
Powell Jobs in
this October 2016 New York Magazine article.
In choosing the Emerson Collective, Mr. Duncan joined one of his former
top aides at USDOE, Ms. Russlyn Ali. Mr.
Duncan worked together with Ms. Ali at USDOE on the $4.35 billion
Race to the Top (RTTT), which offered stimulus money to states as
an incentive to adopt the Common Core standards and assessments, expand charter
schools, and use test scores to evaluate teachers – all ideas promoted by the
corporate education reformers.
Here is a video of Mr. Perriello sharing his thoughts on RTTT in March 2012
as President and CEO of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
Thankfully, in 2011
Virginia withdrew its RTTT application and became one of only five states to not adopt
the Common Core, avoiding the
acrimony and backlash experienced in many other states. We were also fortunate to preserve the
integrity of our system of traditional public schools and limit the growth of charters. Given that at least
two studies from 2009 and 2010 found that charter schools performed no
better and often worse than traditional public schools, this was a wise
decision. By maintaining our
independence, our state sent a bipartisan message to Mr. Duncan and the
privitizers that Virginia’s public schools were not for sale.
How did Mr. Perriello and Mr. Duncan become allies? Most likely it was through the political arm
of a PAC formed by Wall Street hedge fund managers in 2005 called
Democrats for
Education Reform (DFER). DFER seeks to change federal, state, and local
education policy to fit its agenda of choice, competition, and accountability through
“supporting reform-minded candidates for public office.” DFER co-founder Whitney Tilson
is quoted as saying that “hedge funds are always looking for ways to turn a
small amount of capital into a large amount of capital.”
DFER’s embrace of
“accountability” and “choice” often aligned with that of conservatives,
including many rightwing ideolog
ues. Mercedes Schneider, an educator, author, and
blogger
has documented DFER's receipt of $80,000 in donations in 2010 and 2014
from a group founded by
Betsy DeVos,
the American Federation for Children, and $65,000 in those same years from a
nonprofit that Mrs. DeVos chaired, the Alliance for School Choice. The education historian, Diane Ravitch,
argued recently in The New Republic that Democratic politicians who supported the
corporate education agenda “paved the way for DeVos and her plans to privatize
the school system.”
On April 14
th, myself and a friend attended a town hall
meeting in Montclair to clarify Mr. Perriello’s current position on charter
schools, standardized testing, and DFER.
Mr. Perriello recognized that some reformers wanted to destroy public
education. Mr. Perriello’s interest,
however, was that he was willing to try anything to improve public schools. He explained that since the evidence has led
him to conclude that charter schools don’t work, he no longer supports them. He also expressed support for
Governor Terri McAuliffe's veto of legislation which would have shifted
charter school decision-making authority from local school boards to Richmond. This is good news. If Mr. Perriello should win the Governorship,
we will hold him to his word.
Mr. Perriello's vigorous support for “data-driven education” was more
troubling, as well as his explanation of his past DFER ties. He distanced himself from the group, claiming
that he wasn’t a “member.” He also
stated that he hasn’t received any campaign donations from DFER in his current
race, but that he “couldn’t know if anybody who is affiliated with them” has
donated. (See
here for the video starting at 32:46.)
This is interesting. At the time
of the town hall, Mr. Perriello’s first quarter campaign disclosure report had
been filed. My friend and I were unaware
at the time, and in all fairness maybe he was, too, but Mr. Perriello’s former
Congressional colleague and DFER,
Mr. Jared
Polis, with whom he worked on charter
school legislation,
donated $3,500 to
his campaign. A quick check of DFER’s
website indicates that Mr. Polis remains a “featured” DFER. I find it doubtful that Mr. Perriello
wouldn’t remember his former colleague and friend.
Although at town halls and in debates, Mr. Perriello has disavowed
certain aspects of his past record on public education, in particular his
support for charter schools, there remains cause for concern. In addition to the worrisome donations from
the Emerson Collective and Mr. Polis, his campaign disclosure reports reveal
that he has also received donations from other individuals associated with corporate
education reform. One example is
venture capitalist Nicolas Hanauer, who
donated $1 million to a 2012 Washington State
referendum to allow charter schools and
$15,000 to Mr. Perriello. It’s
reported that Mr. Hanauer is well-known in Washington State political circles
as having a
combative personality, especially when confronting the teachers
union. I recognize that Mr. Perriello
and Mr. Hanauer may be aligned on other issues besides education, but until I
hear otherwise, I’m worried.
I believe that Mr. Perriello owes an explanation to the public about
the donations he has received from entities or individuals who have ties to corporate
education reform. Students, parents,
educators, and concerned citizens deserve no less. Virginia is one of the few states remaining whose
public education system hasn’t been corrupted by the privatization movement and
it’s important that we keep it this way.
This issue will be on the ballot in November with Betsy DeVos’s
surrogate, Ed Gillespie, and as Democrats it’s imperative that we make sure our
candidate has clean hands.
Ralph Northam has a public education record that demonstrates his
allegiance lies with children, parents, and educators – not with corporate education
reformers whether they are from Silicon Valley, Colorado, or Washington
State. Dr. Northam has promised to
follow in the footsteps of Governor McAuliffe who has vetoed all charter school
legislation, made important strides in SOL reform by reducing the number of tests
from 34 to 29, and recently signed into law a bipartisan bill which sets policy
to raise Virginia’s teacher salaries at or above the national level. Much more remains to be done and I believe
that Dr. Northam is up to the job.
I’ve had the opportunity to meet Dr. Northam three times, including once
at an education town hall, and I was impressed with his knowledge of the
issues, compassion, and unique understanding as a pediatric neurologist of
children and how they learn best. Having
a wife who is a K-5 science teacher only enhances his credentials.
Dr. Northam has also received the endorsement of the Virginia Education
Association, representing more than 50,000 teachers. I feel it’s important as Democrats that we return
to our roots and stand up for our educators, giving them the respect and
support they deserve. Dr. Northam has
pledged to give them a seat at the table.
The questions we need to ask ourselves before Tuesday’s primary is who
do we trust more with the awesome responsibility of leading our public schools
and looking out for the best interests of our children? Which candidate will appoint individuals who represent
Virginian values as Secretary of
Education and the nine members of the Board of Education? Who can we count on to ensure that K-12
education spending - which is more than one-third of the general fund -
supports priorities that will have the most impact? I have my answer and he is Dr. Ralph Northam.
