Who funds the “reformers?”

Why Campbell Brown Refuses to Disclose Names of Donors

By Diane Ravitch

In her appearance on the Steven Colbert show, anti-union activist Campbell Brown refused to identify the names of her donors. One of her organizations is called, ironically, the Parents Transparency Project.

Veteran journalist David Sirota writes:

“As Brown keeps the identity of her financial backers under wraps, her organization describes itself as a group “whose mission is to bring transparency” to education policymaking.

“Politico has reported that under current law, Department of Labor rules require unions to ‘disclose more than many political groups about their internal operations,’ funding and expenditures.

“By contrast, many political groups seeking to limit teachers unions’ workplace rights and replace traditional public schools with privately run, union-free charter schools have been able to keep the identity of their benefactors shrouded in secrecy, though periodic leaks have shed at least some light on the funders.”

“For example, the most prominent opponent of the teachers union, Students First, has rejected requests for a list of its donors. Yet thanks to a Pennsylvania lobbying disclosure law, the Huffington Post in 2012 was able to report that “New Jersey hedge funder and Romney backer David Tepper and the Texas-based Laura and John Arnold Foundation [are] among the largest donors” to the organization.

“Additionally, the board of Students First includes hedge fund billionaire Paul Tudor Jones, News Corp. education-technology executive Joel Klein, and Dan Senor, Brown’s husband, who previously served as the Bush-appointed spokesperson for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq.

Likewise, in New Jersey, WNYC reported that a group called the Committee For Our Children’s Future spent millions on ads promoting Republican Gov. Chris Christie’s education agenda, while the funders of the ads remained anonymous.

WNYC later reported that television station filings revealed that the group used the “same ad buyers Christie used for his 2009 campaign for governor,” and that the contact address for the group could “be traced back to Kevin F. Feeley, a Christie donor whose son has worked for Christie as an intern.”

The radio station also reported that the documents linked the ads to a Republican consulting firm that had done work for former GOP presidential nominee John McCain. Christie has pushed for more privately run charter schools in New Jersey.”

Who are these shadowy groups who had their names as they seek to eliminate academic freedom from teachers? Why do their never explain why teachers in our highest performing schools are as likely (or more likely) to have due process right as teachers in low-performing schools? 

In an era when media pundits and celebrities claim to be experts about how to reform schools while teachers’ voices are silenced, you can bet we are headed in the wrong direction.