Don't Like Chris Christie? Blame the Democrats.

Yesterday Diane Ravitch published a piece in The New Republic, titled Don't Like Betsy DeVos? Blame the Democrats.

If you care about public education at all, it's a must read. 

When I heard today that Senate President Sweeney is paving the way for Governor Christie, the least popular governor in the country, to replace three of the State Board of Education members who aren't 100% blind Christie loyalists, a mere six months before a gubernatorial election, I instantly thought of Diane's piece.

It's critical to remember that every awful thing Chris Christie has done to public education during his tenure has been done either with the direct assistance of the Democratic majority, or with their complicit silence. 

And the State Board of Education hasn't stood in Christie's way, either - until February. 

In a rare rejection of a Gov. Chris Christie proposal, the state Board of Education on Wednesday shot down his controversial plan to experiment with lower certification standards for charter school teachers and principals. 

The board voted 5-2 with one abstention to remove Christie's proposed five-year pilot program from his promised charter school deregulation package.

Three of the board members that cast no votes, including the president and vice-president of the board, are on the brink of being removed from their seats, likely because of this vote.

This narrative from Save Our Schools New Jersey's Facebook page explains what's about to happen.

SHAME ON YOU Senate President Steve Sweeney!!!

Tomorrow, the Democratically-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to put 3 Christie nominees on the State Board of Education for 6 years, replacing three current Board Members who vote more independently.

This will give Christie complete control of that important board once again.

The three Board members that Sweeney is replacing all voted against the regulations allowing for unqualified charter school teachers. With them gone, Christie will be able to bring those awful regulations up for a vote once more as well as any other destructive regulations that he can come up with over the next eight months.

What did Senate President Steve Sweeney get in exchange for hurting NJ children in this way?

Here's what those three board members told the Star Ledger after they cast their no votes on allowing uncertified teachers teach in charter schools:

Board President Mark Biedron:

"Out in the education community, I couldn't find anybody who thought this was a good idea other than, and I understand, the charter school organizations."

Board member Edith Fulton:

"There was nothing as controversial as what we dealt with today. The proposal is not legitimate."

Board Vice-President Joe Fisicaro was asked if the board had ever rejected a Christie proposal. Here's what he said:

"I don't remember ever doing it."

The real crime is that Biedron, Fisicaro and Fulton are the only three board members who not only regularly stay to hear public comment after board meetings, they actually listen to the public and engage with them. If other board members bother to stay, this is their typical level of engagement.

State BOE member Andrew Mulvihill
at a 2/10/16 meeting

Here's what Mulvihill had to say about the charter regulations that were voted down (hint, he wasn't one of the no votes).

Let's take a chance and back these guys up with what they want to do. It makes sense.

I have often been disappointed in the board's seeming inability to stand up to the administration, but it's now as plain as day that disagreeing with Christie and the all powerful charter school lobby is just not an option.

It is no surprise that Christie would exact this type of revenge on board members that dared to oppose him, but why are the Democrats playing along? 

Which brings us back to Diane's amazing piece about the Democratic Party's collusion on charters. 

She writes:

when DeVos was confirmed by a vote of 51 to 50, over unanimous Democratic opposition, Senator Cory Booker went on Facebook, “frustrated and saddened,” to sound a sorrowful note: “Somewhere in America, right now, there is a child who is wondering if this country stands up for them.” 

Listening to their cries of outrage, one might imagine that Democrats were America’s undisputed champions of public education. But the resistance to DeVos obscured an inconvenient truth: Democrats have been promoting a conservative “school reform” agenda for the past three decades. 

New Jersey, it's time to wake up. This is just the latest example of establishment Democrats in this state not standing by our public schools. If you're as sick of it as I am, call the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee tomorrow. Light up those phone lines like phone lines were lit up after Betsy DeVos showed her incompetence at her confirmation hearing.

If Steve Sweeney won't stop Christie's anti-public education agenda, Senate Democrats must. And if they won't, me must vote them out.

Here are the members of the committee and their phone numbers. Start calling now.

Judiciary Committee

Nicholas P. Scutari (D) - Chair     (908) 587-0404 Nia H. Gill (D) - Vice-Chair           (973) 509-0388 Christopher Bateman (R)            (908) 526-3600 Gerald Cardinale (R)                   (201) 567-2324 or (862) 248-0491 Michael J. Doherty  (R                 (908) 835-0552 or (908) 722-2427 Joseph M. Kyrillos (R)                 (732) 671-3206 Raymond J. Lesniak, (D)             (908) 624-0880 or (908) 327-9119 Kevin J. O'Toole, (R)                    (973) 237-1360 Nellie Pou (D)                                (973) 247-1555 Paul A. Sarlo, (D)                         (201) 804-8118 Bob Smith (D)                               (732) 752-0770    Brian P. Stack (D)                         (201) 721-5263 or (201) 376-1942 Loretta Weinberg (D)                   (201) 928-0100

We Made a Difference! Grassroots Organizing in New Jersey Inspires Senators to Take Action on PARCC

Yesterday I went on a road trip with my twin 10 year old girls to Senate President Steve Sweeney's office where we spent time with some of the most fantastic, courageous folks you'd ever want to meet.

Why were we there?

To ask Senator Sweeney to post SCR 132, a concurrent resolution that would send NJ's new PARCC graduation requirement regulations back to the State Board of Education for a much needed re-write. You see, the regulations that the State Board passed don't match up with state statute.

The statute calls for a test of basic skills administered in 11th grade with re-testing options in grade 12. So what does the NJDOE and the State Board do? Propose and pass regulations that make PARCC Algebra 1 (taken as early as 7th grade) and PARCC ELA 10 the new exit exams.

See the disconnect?

And the best part about the concurrent resolution? It completely side-steps Christie. It's veto proof.

The Assembly already passed their version of the resolution. If it passes the Senate the regulations go straight back to the State BOE for revision. But Ruiz hasn't posted it in the Senate Education Committee, and Sweeney hasn't posted it for a vote - it's completely stalled.

The New Jersey Senate, ladies and gentlemen - where pro-public education bills go to die.

But grassroots activists don't give up and we don't give in, so we headed for Sweeney's West Deptford office to bring our message right to his door. We rallied for a bit across the street, and then we strolled over to Sweeney's office and chatted with his staff.

The crew!

Let's go see Sweeney - with a bullhorn!

Should we knock, or maybe just stand out here
and see what happens - with a bullhorn.

This is just what Sen. Sweeney's staffers wanted to see at 4:45.

That's (one of) my girl(s).

And then today, this.

State Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Sen. Teresa Ruiz, chair of the chamber's Education Committee, penned a letter to state education officials this week, indicating that the use of PARCC as a high school exit exam violates legislative intent.

If you'd like to read the letter, you can find it here.

But why did Sweeney and Ruiz send a letter? Why didn't they just post SCR 132, and allow the full Senate to vote?

The letter is addressed to State BOE President Mark Biedron and Acting Commissioner Kimberly Harrington. Governor Chris Christie and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto are copied on the letter. Was a deal struck to do this more quietly to avoid humiliating the Governor - a man who is already the least popular Governor in the nation?

Who knows.

It's anybody's guess what will ultimately become of the graduation requirement regulations, but I'm putting this one in the win column for now. There's a lot more work to be done, but this is a damn good start. And best of all, when my girls came home from school and I told them the news, one exclaimed with glee, "We made a difference!"

Yes my darling girl, we made a difference.

$115 Million Price Tag for Christie Growth of Gulen Charters

On the heels of an explosive investigation of Gulen Charter Schools in New Jersey by The Record, comes a report today from CBS claiming that teachers at Gulen charters were forced to turn over up to 40% of their salary to the Gulen movement.

Leaving aside the insanely complex political issues for the moment, I'd like to add to the phenomenal job The Record has done investigating New Jersey's Gulen charters. 

Unbeknownst to most of us, Chris Christie has exponentially increased the number of Gulen charters in New Jersey - which will, without a doubt, dramatically increase the price tag as well. But by how much? 

Let's find out.

When he took office, four Gulen affiliated schools existed.

Thomas Edison EnergySmart Charter School (TEECS) - 2002
Paterson Charter School for Science & Technology - 2003
Central Jersey College Prep - 2006
Bergen Arts and Science - 2007

Chris Christie has opened three new Gulen charters, and has approved a fourth to open in September, 2017.

Passaic Arts and Science - 2011
Paterson Arts and Science - 2013
Hudson Arts and Science - 2016
Union Arts and Science - opening September 2017

Simply put, Christie has doubled the number of Gulen charters in his two terms.

How much is this costing New Jersey taxpayers in 2017?

Thanks to an Open Public Record Act (OPRA) request, I have the State Charter School Aid summaries for every single charter school in the state for FY17, so I can easily calculate that amount.

In the 2016-17 school year the taxpayers of New Jersey shelled out $64,972,385 to fund seven Gulen charters.

Central Jersey College Prep: $6,203,605
Bergen Arts and Science: $14,016,818
Passaic Arts and Science: $10,857,525
Paterson Arts and Science: $6,984,518
Hudson Arts and Science: $3,816,388
Paterson Charter School for Science & Tech: $14,615,460
Thomas Edison EnergySmart Charter School: $4,667,683

Kind of shocking, no?

Here are those aid summaries, so you can see the numbers for yourself and you can see if your district is impacted. (There's a zoom feature at the bottom) I think you'll be surprised to see just how many districts are impacted, and how much money they are losing.

FY 17 Gulen Charter Schools by darciecimarusti on Scribd

And as if the loss of almost 65 million dollars is not wild enough, wait until you hear about the expansions Governor Christie's administration has approved for these schools. 

Chris Christie explodes the number of Gulen charter seats

According to the aid summaries, these seven schools are serving approximately 4,797 students this year. 

Here are the expansions and new charter schools the Christie administration has approved in the last two years alone:

2016:

Expansions

Bergen Arts and Science CS	2007	Garfield, Hackensack, Lodi	K-12	1440
Thomas Edison Energy Smart CS	2012	Franklin Twp, North Brunswick, South Brunswick	K-6	584

New Charter School

Union Arts and Science CS

Elizabeth/Linden

K-2 (240 students)

2017:

Expansions

Paterson Arts and Science Charter School	2013	Paterson	K-8, 540	K-12, 897
Central Jersey College Prep Charter School	2006	New Brunswick, North Brunswick, Franklin	K-2, 6-12, 480	K-12, 1,320
Passaic Arts and Science Charter School	2011	Passaic	K-10, 860	K-12, 1,021
Hudson Arts and Science Charter School	2016	Jersey City, Kearny	K-5, 360	K-8, 1,021
Paterson Charter School for Science & Technology	2003	Paterson	K-12, 1,068	K-12, 1,584

And now to total up all the new seats. 

You'll notice the 2016 summary from the state doesn't make it easy to see how many seats they've added, so I had to do some digging. It looks like Bergen A&S was given an increase from 1,040 students to 1,400, a total of 360 new seats.

In the letter below, former Commissioner David Hespe says he's limiting TEECS's expansion, citing a lack of diversity, but he still allows TEECS to add an additional 200 seats. Not much of a punishment for not serving the same demographic mix as the sending districts, now is it? Read my good buddy Jersey Jazzman for more on the segregation happening at TEECS.

TEECS Charter Letter by darciecimarusti on Scribd

That makes 560 new seats just for Bergen A&S and TEECS, plus another 240 when Union Arts & Sciences opens up in September of 2017 to serve kids in K-2. Union A&S was approved to serve K-5, so at full expansion they will have 480 available seats.

Hudson Arts and Science just opened in September of 2016 to serve 360 kids in grades K-5. They were approved to serve K-8, so at full expansion they will serve 540 students, for a total of 180 additional seats.

And here's how many new seats were just approved in February of 2017.

Paterson Arts and Science: 357
Central Jersey College Prep: 840 (this includes a 360 seat new facility in New Brunswick)
Passaic Arts and Science: 161
Hudson Arts and Science: 661
Paterson Charter School for Science & Technology: 480

That's another 2,499 seats in 2017 to add to the 1,220 additional seats for Bergen, Hudson and Union A&S, and TEECS, for a total of 3,719 seats still to come in Gulen charter schools.

How much more is that going to cost?

According to the Aid Summaries above, there are 4,797 students enrolled in Gulen charters this school year. With a total of $64,972,385 spent, that's an average of $13,544.38 per student.

At that per pupil average, Christie's continued reckless expansion of Gulen charter schools will add another $50,371,549 burden to the taxpayers of New Jersey. 

After Christie leaves office, if the next administration doesn't do something to halt this unprecedented growth, the people of the fine state of New Jersey will soon spend $115,343,934 per year to support a network of Gulen charter schools.

And remember - Christie approves 'em but we pay for 'em out of our local tax dollars.

So what do we do?

If you think this is outrageous, start talking to the candidates for Governor of both parties. 

Show up at their meetings. Ask them questions. Send them letters. Let them know that if they want your vote they need to halt the charter school growth Christie has unleashed on the people of New Jersey. While you're at it, tell them they need to fix New Jersey's charter school law and give local school boards the say over new charters. 

And don't forget to tell the gubernatorial candidates that Christie made these decisions as he was about to walk out the door, sticking the next administration with this gigantic mess to figure out. 

Swell guy, that Christie.

Demand that Senators Who Have Received DeVos Money Recuse Themselves

On January 11, 2017 The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP) will hold the confirmation hearing for Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education. Recently, Politico released the paperwork DeVos filed with the Committee prior to her hearing. I perused it with some interest, wondering what it might reveal. Not a big surprise that she's involved in numerous education reform organizations, but even I got a chuckle to learn that she's a member of not one, but three yacht clubs.

But I digress.

What I really wanted to look at were her political contributions. The unsearchable pdf wasn't user friendly - lists of Committees, Campaigns and PACs are not terribly helpful or illuminating, so I decided to use the Federal Election Commission website to see what I could find.

I wanted to see if any of the members of the HELP Committee have any conflicts with DeVos and her billions. Sure enough, a fair number of the Republican Senators do.

But before we get to the actual contributions, I need to make something very clear. For Betsy DeVos to disclose only contributions that she gave as an individual is inherently dishonest. I've spent more than my fair share of time researching campaign contributions, and if there is one thing I've learned it's that billionaire families give as a unit. If there is a $2,600 contribution limit, the husband and wife both donate the limit, and they do it as often as possible.

The DeVos's are no exception to that rule, and as you will see, if anything, when one member of the DeVos clan contributes, the whole family contributes. Their businesses are family affairs. Just because her first name doesn't appear doesn't mean her interests are not in play. 

Check back to the DeVos family tree of businesses which illustrates this quite nicely.

When we consider if a Senator has a conflict of interest in participating in DeVos's nomination hearings, we have to consider not only her contributions, but those of the rest of her billionaire brood as well.

Here is a list of the twelve Republican Senators on the HELP Committee.

Health, Education, Labor and Pensions 

Lamar Alexander, Tennessee
Mike Enzi, Wyoming
Richard Burr, North Carolina
Johnny Isakson, Georgia
Rand Paul, Kentucky
Susan Collins, Maine
Bill Cassidy, Louisiana
Todd Young, Indiana
Orrin Hatch, Utah
Pat Roberts, Kansas
Lisa Murkowski, Alaska
Tim Scott, South Carolina

Let's see how many of them we can connect to campaign contributions or independent expenditures from DeVos, her family and the PACs they have contributed to.

Alticor PAC 

Between 1997 and 2016 the DeVos family contributed at least $283,000 to the Alticor PAC. Alticor is the parent company of Amway, and as we all know (see graphic above), Amway is a DeVos family company. 

Betsy DeVos contributed $5,000 to Alticor in 2015 and another $5,000 in 2016. You can view all of the DeVos family's contributions here.

In 2015 Alticor contributed directly to Lamar Alexander's Senate campaign.

Alticor also contributed to:

Friends of Todd Young in 2016
Orrin Hatch in 2010 and 2014
Pat Roberts in 2008

So right off the bat we've uncovered that the chairman of the HELP Committee and two committee members have benefited from campaign contributions from a DeVos family company PAC.

Alticor PAC Totals:

Lamar Alexander - $2,500
Todd Young - $2,000
Orrin Hatch - $2,000
Pat Roberts - $1,000

Senate Leadership Fund 

The Senate Leadership Fund describes itself as an "independent Super PAC" and claims that its sole goal is "to protect and expand the Republican Senate Majority when Harry Reid, Elizabeth Warren and their army of left-wing activists try to take it back in 2016."

This goal seems to have resonated with the DeVos family - they contributed $2,225,000 between 9/27/16 to 11/1/16. Yes - you saw that right - almost two and a quarter million in a little over a month. You can see those contributions here.

According to Open Secrets, Independent Expenditures to support Todd Young in his 2016 Indiana Senate race totaled almost $300,000. Expenditures to oppose his primary challenger Marlin Stutzman totaled $482,330, and to oppose his general election opponent the PAC spent a shocking $11,542,687. That's a total of $12,325,017 to put Young in the Senate.

Senate Leadership Fund Totals:

Todd Young - $12,325,017

Freedom Partners Action Fund

The DeVos Family contributed $2,000,000 to the Freedom Partners Action Fund Super PAC between 2014 and 2016. You can view those contributions here.

In turn, Freedom Partners Action Fund supported William Cassidy - and they successfully helped him defeat incumbent Mary Landrieu, spending over $1.6M to oppose her. Watch some of the commercials they produced to slam Landrieu - they're pretty heinous attack ads. 

The expenditures on Cassidy's behalf totaled $223,168 - you can see them here. In total, that's almost $2M to put Cassidy in office, and on the HELP Committee where DeVos will have her hearing. Money well spent, I suppose.

Freedom Partners spent less to support Pat Roberts, but they supported his Senate campaign to the tune of $17,507.45. See here.

Freedom Partners Action Fund Totals:

William Cassidy - $1,840,359
Pat Roberts - $17,507

ESAFund 

ESAFund's website is under construction, but says that they support candidates who "favor enhancing free enterprise, reducing the size of government, and balancing our nation's budget." 

Between 2014 and 2016 the DeVos family has contributed over $500,000 to the ESAFund. You can see those contributions here. 

Todd Young's 2016 campaign received $134,086.68 from ESAFund.

As a fun aside, ESAFund also spent close to $1M to oppose Bernie Sanders' presidential bid, and Sanders is on the HELP Committee as well.


ESAFund Totals:

Todd Young - $134,086

DeVos Family's Direct Contributions

Here is a list of the direct contributions the DeVos family have made to HELP Committee Members and how much was in Betsy DeVos's name (Click on amounts to see all of the individual contributions): 

Richard Burr - $43,200 ($5,400 from Betsy DeVos)

(Contributions on FEC website)


Lisa Murkowski - $40,500 ($5,400 from Betsy DeVos)

(Contributions on FEC website)


Bill Cassidy - $67,600 ($7,800 from Betsy DeVos)

(Contributions on FEC website)

Todd Young - $48,600 ($5,400 from Betsy DeVos)

(Contributions on FEC website)

Tim Scott - $49,200 ($7,400 from Betsy DeVos)

(Contributions on FEC website)

That's a total of $296,800 from the DeVos family ($31,400 in Betsy's name) directly to sitting members of the HELP Committee.

Conservative Solutions PAC

This one is just kind of amusing. The Conservative Solutions PAC supported Marco Rubio for President. Betsy DeVos gave $50,000 to this Rubio friendly PAC in her own name, and the DeVos family gave $750,000. See those contributions here.


Open Secrets shows that while Conservative Solutions spent almost $40M to support Rubio, they also spent over $4,750,000 to oppose Trump. Can you imagine the kind of leverage this gives someone like Trump over DeVos? Do you think this came up in their meeting? Hard to imagine it didn't, isn't it?

So how much money did Senators on the Committee get in total?

At the top of this post I listed the 12 Republican members on the HELP Committee, and I have been able to connect 8 of them to DeVos money, either directly or through PACs the DeVos family has contributed to. I would be remiss if I didn't add that this is just what I was able to find combing though FEC filings. In no way are these totals exhaustive. There well could be more money and other PACs I simply wasn't able to uncover with my somewhat limited Nancy Drew style sleuthing abilities.

Senators who have received contributions and/or support from the DeVos family and the PACs they contribute to should recuse themselves

End Citizens United and Every Voice have started a petition asking senators who have received contributions from Betsy DeVosto recuse themselves. You bet I'll be adding my name to that petition, and I hope you'll join me.

I would expand that call to include senators who have received the support of DeVos family members and PACs that the DeVos family have contributed to as well. 

If you haven't yet called your senators and the senators on the HELP Committee to oppose DeVos's appointment, please call on Monday. NPE Action has a handy list of Committee Members and their contact information for you to use, as well as a call script.

It's crucial we make these calls. DeVos is on a list of nominees Democrats plan to scrutinize, and Politico has reported that they may demand a roll call vote on her appointment. Hold the senators in your state and the senators on the HELP Committee accountable. DeVos has been clear that the money she and her family contribute is meant to buy influence.

"My family is the largest single contributor of soft money to the national Republican party. I have decided, however, to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buying influence. Now, I simply concede the point. We expect to foster a conservative governing philosophy consisting of limited government and respect for traditional American virtues. We expect a return on our investment; we expect a good and honest government. Furthermore, we expect the Republican party to use the money to promote these policies, and yes, to win elections."

Don't let her buy her way into the Secretary of Education's office. Our public schools are too important, and she doesn't have a clue as to how to oversee them.