Rochester Leads the Way

Oh dear; Eli Broad isn't going to like this:



Can everyone understand now why the corporate reformers are pumping large wads of cash into school board elections? Why Jonah Edelman, money funnel to the obscenely wealthy, got himself involved in the Denver School Board race, which set records for campaign spending? Why the dictatorial Michael Bloomberg - who apparently now thinks of himself as a sort of stoned generalissimo - appoints corporatists to lead "his" schools? Why Newark continues to suffer under dictatorial control of its education system?

It has nothing to do with party politics. This is all about control: control of the schools, control of the contracts, control of the teachers, control of the students, control of the parents, control of the community. These people find the messiness of democracy to be distasteful. Life is much simpler for them if they hold the reigns tightly and continue to be held to account only by themselves.

These folks in Rochester get it. People around the country are starting to get it. The very notion of the Broad Superintendents Academy - a private training ground to push one man's vision of education "reform" - is offensive to democracy. Schools districts are civic institutions and should be transparent to the communities that they serve.

I know this talk makes some people nervous. It should; as Nehru said: "The man who has gotten everything he wants is all in favor of peace and order." Bravo to the folks in Rochester who brought a little chaos and disorder to a system that could use it.