The Bill Moyers and company article suggested a shift in spending patterns
by the Ed Reform, putting more of their dough on the local level in recent
years. That may be true, but it could be that they simply have more money to
throw around, and there has been a shift in their patterns of local investment.
The Broad foundation was launched in the 1990s, and immediately started to
invest in school districts. The Broad Foundation's Teachers Union Reform
Network and its Superintendent school were designed to build a pro-Charter,
corporate Ed reform leadership at the local level, acquiring as "assets"
officers of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers and the placement of its
superintendent school graduates as superintendents of the Minneapolis and St.
Paul school district. In 2006, the DFL even ran a "reform" slate that was
something of a stealth reform slate. Chris Stewart and Pam Costain didn't sound
much like corporate school reformers until after their election. The
administration and board already had established a collaborative relation with
McKinsey and Co., a pro-reform business consultant who facilitated the process
of developing the district's strategic plan for 2007 to 2014. The reformers got
a good return for a very small investment in the school board election. Big
money was spent in Minneapolis on the district 4 seat in 2012, helping to elect
Josh Remnitz, and in at-large seats in 2014, which led to the election of Don
Samuels. This year there are no openly pro-reform candidates among the DFL
slate, who also pledged not to take money from the reformers, but do not oppose
the school district "reform" agenda. The DFL at-large candidate, Kim Ellison
endorsed the district's current strategic plan, without qualification, in
response to a question posed in the Teachers' Union questionnaire for board
candidate. I stated why I oppose the strategic plan in one of my responses as a
candidate for the at-large seat.
-Doug Mann, Green Party endorsed candidate for Minneapolis School Board, at
large