Yesterday, at the end of my post on the new Gallup Poll showing public opposition to the school “reformer” agenda growing dramatically, I asked:
The question is: What will “school reformers” do in response? Will they moderate their positions and come to the table to compromise, or will they double-down in self-righteousness and zeal (and get a lot more money from Gates, Walton, Broad, etc.)?
It didn’t take long to get a response to that question here in California — Marshall Tuck, a leading school “reformer” in Los Angeles, has just announced his candidacy for the California Superintendent of Public Instruction. He’ll be opposing incumbent Tom Torlakson, who is probably the most progressive State Superintendent in the country.
So let me get this straight — the “reformer” agenda is opposed by growing majorities in polls; despite spending huge amounts of money in the recent Los Angeles school board elections, “reformers” suffered major defeats; and their candidate for the State Superintendent position in the last election, Gloria Romero, didn’t even make the run-off — yet, despite all that, they’re going to go after a popular incumbent who is supported by a popular Governor (Jerry Brown), who has been publicly opposing a large part of the school “reformer” agenda.
Delusional is the only word I can think of to describe their thinking….
They can afford to double-down when they have Rhee/Student’s First bankrolling their campaigns. That $8M from Waltons/Walmart to Students First (sic) gets to do double duty, causing the Sacramento city government to suddenly “discover” they are “losing” sales tax revenue because of it’s model big-box ordinance (http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/lack-of-rules-allow-sacramento/content?oid=11011435) which they repeal at Walmart’s urging. She can then use the money to dump into campaigns, like Tuck’s, which even if he loses, forces progressive education forces opposed to these phonies to spend a lot of time, energy, and money on a campaign we should be well past by now.
The promise of Local Control Funding Formula Legislation is that it has come at a time when all have agreed to the necessity of the talks. Worrisome to me as a citizen is evidence of the long-term damage these policies have already accomplished . . . de-certifying human, states, civil and worker rights protections, de-humanizing students, families, teachers and staff to numbers on a page, de-moralizing . . .
Education DEFORM . . . talk about a National Security Threat, huh?!?!?!?