Politicians in bed with Education Management Organizations: Proof is in the pudding.

Campaign Contributions Information:

• From 2002- 2006, Chris Whittle, CEO of Edison Schools, contributed $15,500.00 to the campaign of Representative Dwight Evans.
• From 2002- 2006, Rhonda Lauer, CEO of Foundations Inc. and her Chief of Staff, Emilio Matticoli, contributed $13,203.00 and $6,100.00, respectively, to the campaign of Representative Dwight Evans.
• Overall, from 2001-2006, Representative Dwight Evans received a total of $66,103.00 in campaign contributions from Victory Schools, Foundations Inc., Chancellor-Beacon, and Edison Schools. Edison Schools and Foundations Inc. contributed the largest amounts, $21,500.00 and $43, 853.00 respectively.
• From 2001-2005, Representative John Perzel received a total of $19,400.00 from Foundations Inc., Edison Schools, and Universal Companies. $12,900 of this sum came from Foundations Inc.
• From 2001-2006, Representative Vincent Fumo received $9,000.00 in campaign contributions from Foundations Inc.
• From 2001-2004, former Mayor John Street received $41,750.00 from Universal Companies and Victory Schools. Between 2001 and 2006, Governor Ed Rendell received $28,250.00 in campaign contributions from Universal Companies and Foundations Inc.

Link to Philadelphia Student Union's video on the topic of Corrective Action 2 and EMO's

I am continually amazed facts represented here (and not for the first time) do not get more attention. Beacon, the only EMO fired from Philly made the mistake of only giving $250 to one candidate.

Money talks, and everything else walks. Amazing how willing many parents are to sell their children to the highest bidder when they should be demanding excellence in academic resources from elected officials, when they should be demanding safe schools from elected officials, but conveniently, the elected officials are not in charge. So who is in charge? Parents, and thankfully they are now stepping up to the plate to demand accountability by school administrators.

Now some will say we have to hold teachers accountable. But let's not pretend here the way Vallas and Nevels did. When schools don't have effective discipline, when schools don't have enough books, when classes are split or overcrowded, exactly what is it that you can hold teachers accountable for?

It shouldn't be such a surprise that Philly media rarely covers anything of Substance when it comes to schools. Charters pay their teachers less than public which leaves more money to pay off the politicians and the media outlets here in town. If the parents that send their children to charters had invested their energy into the public schools there might be change here in Philadelphia. Running from the problem never solves anything.

One thing that is kept secret is the high turnover of teacher in many charters. Any teacher with anything on the ball is not going to remain at a school that pays low wages, minimal benefits, etc. In New Orleans Vallas is trying to use Teach For America college grads in place of certified teachers. What the media rarely mentions is that most of these teachers will leave once their two year obligation is over. Another thing is that Teach For America pays their employees' salary so principals are reluctant to fire any of them regardless of what they do. Behavior that would never be tolerated by public school teachers is accepted when it's done by Teach For America employees. If a TFA is fired the principal has to then replace them with a teacher that will be paid out of the school budget. Not likely to happen give today's budget constraints. Places like New Orleans are gonna be hurting as the TFAs start bailing upon completion of their two year obligation.
Check out the thread on District 299's blog, part of the Catalyst site, about how Chicago is using TFAs to replace certified teachers.

KNWMN seems to think that parents are going to change things. I wish they would, but I have some grave doubts from what I've seen from parents groups in the last couple of years. That's why my classroom has always been open to them whenever I'm teaching. Once parents see the nonsense that goes on inside the schools or the mounting problems we have to deal with in our undersupplied, overpopulated and unsupported classrooms they aren't so quick to accept the teacherbashing that the administration/politicians use to hide behind.