Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/15938
for education,” says Sanchez. “We need to make the public aware of the influence of large corporations on policy-making at the state and national education levels. And CTA will continue to put pressure on both Arne Duncan and our legislators to keep them from further eroding all the good things that are going on in schools today. To do this, we have to stop accept- ing money with strings attached.” State Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los An- geles) was defeated in her bid for state superintendent of public instruction, de- spite being backed in the primary by Eli Broad, Netflicks founder Reed Hastings and other charter advocates affiliated with foundations. Romero was the driv- ing force in passing flawed legislation that was supposed to make California’s schools eligible to receive RTTT funding. In the June elections, the public sent a clear message: All of our schools and communities deserve quality, affordable education and should not have to com- pete for those rights. According to Sacramento Bee colum- nist Peter Schrag, foundations are cutting back on their donations in California be- cause of what they describe as a lack of leadership. However, foundations are still pouring millions into efforts to further their political agenda. If there’s any silver lining to the role CORPORATE U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s ties to foundations > Margot Rogers, Duncan’s former chief of staff, served as the special assistant to the director of education at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She resigned in June. > Jim Shelton, the assistant deputy secretary for innovation and improvement, manages the department’s “competitive teacher quality,” school choice and learning technology programs. He was a program director for the education division of the Gates Foundation. > Joanne Weiss, director, Race to the Top, oversaw research and operations of the New Schools Venture Funds before joining the White House. That pro-charter school group is backed by the Broad Foundation, the Gates Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation (Wal-Mart), and the Doris and Donald Fisher Fund (Gap stores), among others. > Russlynn H. Ali, assistant secretary for civil rights, served as an assistant director of policy and research at the Broad Foundation, for which she was also on loan as chief of staff to the president of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education. > Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana, assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education, oversaw grants from the Annenberg Foundation and implemented schoolwide accountability reform in 15 Los Angeles County school districts. foundations play in public education, says Schrag, its calling attention to the government’s inadequate funding of public education. “Maybe a few more whacks from peo- ple with big clubs and deep pockets will ultimately wake us up,” says Schrag. “Maybe.” Stand Up for Sacramento Schools, funded in part with seed money from the Broad Foundation, to support new charter schools and create a report card to “grade” Sacramento schools. The district’s superintendent, Jonathan Ray- mond, was trained at The Broad Center’s executive management training program and had no previous experience in education. Tuttle says it’s been dif- ficult to work with the top-down superintendent. After months of negotiations, SCTA recently settled with the district, and members accepted pay cuts and concessions to keep schools open. “Our new superintendent smiles a lot. But it’s like an invisible wall has gone up and the type of access we have always had is gone, after years of developing a good working relationship with the district. He absolutely views schools as a business — and we are feeling that.” Sacramento schools are feeling a lack of academic freedom from millions of dollars donated by the Packard Foundation to John York Sacramento City Teachers Association pay for scripted learning. And the creation of small high schools with a $4 million grant from the Bill and Me- linda Gates Foundation in 2002 hasn’t worked out ide- ally. Genesis High School will be closed, and others are struggling to keep up enrollment. Large, comprehensive high schools were also divided into small learning com- munities (SLCs) with Gates money, which has been a mixed bag, say SCTA members. When John York came to teach at Kennedy High School, he was pleased to find strong camaraderie and support among colleagues in the English Department. “I was a new teacher, and if I had any questions, I could walk out in the hallway and find 100 years of experi- ence on my floor from veteran teachers,” he recalls. Teachers had been collaborating on ways to close the achievement gap with a new WASC plan (Western Association of Schools and Colleges’ accreditation pro- gram) and were readying for implementation. But the new prin- cipal called a meeting to inform them that the Gates plan would SEPTEMBER 2010 | www.cta.org 13 Continued on page 36