Who's Behind the California Charter Schools Association?

The Schools Matter blog today posted a great visual unmasking some of the big corporate billionaire deformers behind the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA). Just plain folks like Walmart heir Carrie Walton Penner. CCSA director Jed Wallace helps himself to $335,000 / year, which is no strain on the CCSA budget, since the Waltons and their friends provided CCSA with more than $2.2 million in revenues last year. Check it out here, and be sure to click on their graphic to see more of where their money comes from and where it goes.

San Francisco Gives School Supt. 65K/yr. Raise

S.F. schools supt. Richard Carranza

Yesterday's post was all about the gross inequality, patronage and nepotism in the Oakland Unified School District, where the school board helps the new superintendent to shovel money to the top (creating several brand new $150,000+/year jobs and filling them with cronies for Denver; handing out generous raises to other high-paid bureaucrats) while sharpening his ax to cut lower-paid (but more important) support positions.  Well, as always, San Francisco won't stand idly by and let itself be outdone by its East Bay neighbor. So San Francisco Chronicle reporter Jill Tucker reports (click here) that the San Francisco school board just voted  -- unanimously -- to give a $65,000 / year pay hike to SF schools superintendent Richard Carranza.  As of July 1, Carranza will be hauling down a cool $310,000 / year in base pay alone.

As Tucker reports, Carranza's pay increase alone is about equal to the average annual salary of San Francisco teachers. The SF school board laughingly justifies the raise as helping to overcome instability and inconsistency caused by superintendents jumping to other, more lucrative, opportunities. They, like the Oakland school board, are far less troubled by the destabilizing effects of teacher turnover.

Tucker quotes San Francisco teacher union president Dennis Kelly as saying, "With wage reopeners less than 18 months away, and teachers continuing to get priced out of the city, we hope this is a signal from the Board of Education that more money for the people in the classroom is also on the way."  Well, Dennis, we hope that there's "more money on the way" for teachers, but also for clericals, custodians, cafeteria workers, and the other school workers who have more and more trouble making ends meet. And we hope that there's more money for the kinds of resources schools really need. But "hoping" won't make that happen. That's going to require a united fight by school workers and the community against the school boards and superintendents, and the powerful corporate interests for whom they front -- in San Francisco, Oakland, and around the country.

Oakland School Supt. Cuts Bottom, Feeds Top

I'm starting up the blog again, after letting it lie dormant for a few years. I've posted some elsewhere (on the Facts for Working People blog and the Classroom Struggle blog). Maybe I'll try to collect what I've written and repost them here. Meanwhile, read on:

Oakland Schools Supt. Antwan Wilson

Antwan Wilson's Idea of Cutting Administration: Pad the Top, Chop From the Bottom

by Jack Gerson

Have you ever wondered why the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) regularly breaks the law by violating the state education code mandate that at least 55% of educational expenses go to classroom instruction, when virtually every other district in the state meets this stipulation year in and year out?  Have you ever wondered where the money goes, if not to the classroom? Well, I just looked over the salaries of new superintendent Antwan Wilson and his top administrators, and it sure says a lot about where some of that money is poured. And about the priorities of a school board and administration that pretends to turn its pockets inside out and cry, "We're cash-strapped!" to explain why they pay teachers at the bottom of the county and near the bottom of the state. What are those priorities?

Grossly overpay top administrators? CHECK.

Create high-paying positions for your friends and bring them in from over a thousand miles away. CHECK.

Pad the payroll with redundant positions by hiring several,people to do the same job, and then paying them all exorbitant salaries.  CHECK.

Give nearly all administrators pay hikes from last year's salaries far greater than the total raise for teachers over the past 12 years. CHECK.

Continue to outsource at double the state average, and make sure some of your old buddies from Denver get a cut of the action.  CHECK.

Superintendent Wilson says otherwise. (See http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=fe670bac28a9b16700ef0a4d9&id=b4ab226e52&e=4bb7b6c078).  He claims that “we are directing every new dollar we can to our teachers and classrooms to better serve our children”. Is that so? He’s clearly overlooked a few dollars — in fact, he’s overlooked several millions of them. For starters:

---Antwan Wilson, Superintendent of Schools: salary $280,000 / year ($30,000 / year more than Gary Yee was paid last year as acting superintendent).

---Allan Smith, Chief of Schools: Salary $175,000 / year -- brought in by Antwan Wilson from Denver Public Schools.  "Chief of Schools" is a brand new title created by Wilson for Allan Smith.

---Yana Smith (spouse of Allan Smith), Chief of Organizational Effectiveness and Culture: Salary $155,000 / year -- brought in by Antwan Wilson from Denver Public Schools.  "Chief of Organizational Effectiveness and Culture" is a brand new title created by Wilson for Yana Smith.

We don't need both a Superintendent of Schools (Antwan Wilson, $280,000 / year) *and* a Chief of Schools (Allan Smith, $175,000 / year).  And we have absolutely no need to pay $155,000 / year to a "Chief of Organizational Effectiveness and Culture" (Yana Smith, spouse of "Chief of Schools" Smith).

But wait, there's more.  Vernon Hal's title used to be "Chief Financial Officer." Now he's the Deputy Superintendent for Business.  We don't need both a deputy superintendent for business (Vernon Hal, $193,000 / year) and a Chief Financial Officer (Ruth Alahydoian , $150,000 / year).

Then there’s Brigitte Marshall. Four years ago, she was in charge of the Adult Ed program, and presided over its destruction, shutting down 95% of that formerly vital program. Based on this atrocity, since then her career has taken off and she has received promotion after promotion and raise after raise. Now her title is “Chief Talent Officer” (I am not making this up!) and her base salary is $160,000 / year.

And let's not overlook two more colleagues  Wilson brought in from Denver:

---Bernard McCune, for whom he created the post of "Deputy Chief, Post Secondary Readiness", with base salary of $157,500 / year. 

---Devin Dillon, the new Chief Academic Officer, raking in $175,000 / year.

Superintendent Wilson also displayed his priorities by filling the vacant OUSD Chief of Police position -- hello Jeffrey Godown, goodbye $150,000 / year plus benefits.

This is just a sample. The story is similar for the two dozen highest paid administrators. Indeed, the cumulative base pay for the inner circle (“chiefs”, deputy and assistant superintendents, etc.) has gone up by nearly $1 million between last school year and this one — from $2.81 million last year to $3.76 million this year. This increase comes from a combination of generously increasing salaries and creating five new “chief” titles (including the above-referenced “Chief of Schools” and “Chief of Organizational Effectiveness”.}

So if Wilson is cutting the central administration budget, much of the cuts are likely coming from the lower paid administrative support. This would be a repetition of what Randy Ward did in 2003 - 6 when the state came in. He brought in all kinds of Broad Foundation graduates and residents at the high end (Troy Christmas; Jonathan Klein; and many others) and promoted some ambitious locals, while laying waste to central services -- eliminating central copy services, almost annihilating maintenance (electricians, painters, window repair, etc.) and thus forcing schools to buy services from the likes of Kinko's. Randy Ward made other cuts “away from the classroom” — of clerical, cafeteria, custodial, and other essential school classified staff positions. 

Today, despite all of Antwan Wilson’s rhetoric, we hear reports that although Oakland High projects increased enrollment for next year, it is scheduled to lose several FTEs. So when Antwan Wilson says that he’s “budgeting for the classroom”, please excuse us for thinking, “Shades of the state takeover. More, needless, high-level and high-salaried administrators; salary boosts at the high end; chopping classified staff and low-level administrative support jobs.” Unacceptable.

If Antwan Wilson means what he says, here’s what he could do:

(1) Eliminate high-end bloat. Start by cutting redundant dead wood. No need for a Chief of Schools — there’s already a Superintendent of Schools. No need for a Chief Financial Officer — there’s already a Deputy Superintendent for Business. No need for a “Chief Talent Officer” (I trust no explanation is needed) nor a “Chief of Organizational Effectiveness”. Eliminating those four positions alone would save over $800,000 in combined salary and benefits. And that’s just a start. Other cabinet posts could be eliminated. 

(2) Give up that $280,000 / year base salary. Instead, cap all district salaries at teacher maximum salary (currently $84,000 / year if annualized to a 12-month basis). We hear  from the board, and from folks like Wilson, about how important teachers are. But when it comes to compensation, the well’s dry — virtually no raises since 2002. Why should administrators be paid more than teachers and staff? Why should we tolerate this gross and widening inequality?  Reducing the salaries of Wilson and his cabinet to teacher max, combined with cutting redundant cabinet positions, would save close to $3 million / year in salaries and benefits. And beyond the cabinet, there are 200 - 300 additional administrative positions salaried above teacher max -- many of them $50,000 / year or more higher in base salary alone.  My rough estimate is that capping all salaries at teacher maximum would save in the neighborhood of $12 million / year.

(3) Systematically review and reduce outsourcing to private consultants. We've noticed that Antwan Wilson is not shy about bringing in folks who worked for him in Denver and either creating high paying district jobs for them, or giving them lucrative contracts.  Nothing new here. For years, OUSD has been even more generous to private contractors than it has been to its high-paid administrators -- and that's generous indeed. In fact, five years ago OEA and CTA presented data to the Public Employee Relations Board's Factfinding Panel showing conclusively that proportional to its size, OUSD had twice the administrative overhead and twice the outsourced contracting of the average California school district. OUSD ought to be able to cut back in this area by as much as $20 million / year or more -- and where feasible redirect the work to unionized district employees.

So adding it up, we’re talking $30 million / year or more. And that ain’t chump change. Heck, with that, even the inept and malevolent OUSD administration could probably abide by state law and devote at least 55% of educational expenses to classroom instruction, providing (at last!) adequate raises to all schoolworkers, while at the same time preserving and even cutting class size (by hiring more certificated staff) and increasing support (by hiring more classified staff).

CTA in Sacramento: "Week of Action" or "Week in Traction"?

Posted this morning at Substance News:
http://substancenews.net

CTA’s “Week of Action”: What The Heck Was Going On In Sacramento?
by Jack Gerson

On the evening of Monday, May 9, 68 Bay Area college students, public school teachers, and their supporters chanting “Tax the Rich! That will fix the deficit!” were arrested for occupying and refusing to leave the state capitol building in Sacramento, California. Although this happened on the first day of a “Week of Action” called by the California Teachers Association (CTA) to protest cuts to state funding for K-12 education, CTA leadership walked away from the occupiers and literally pulled CTA members out of the Rotunda, saying that the protesters were “not on message”. Oakland Education Association (OEA) secretary Steve Neat, one of the arrestees, described it thus:

CTA leadership had the perfect opportunity to join a group of students and teachers fighting for real long-term change with direct action. They were very conspicuous by their absence. In fact they left and tried to usher CTA members away when we started chanting ‘tax the rich!’ I guess that wasn’t quite on message enough.”

Yet three days later, CTA president David Sanchez and several other CTA leaders were arrested for sitting in at the offices of Republican state legislature leaders Robert Dutton and Connie Conway. In the words of CTA’s press release, “CTA members refuse to leave capitol and demand passage of tax extensions to keep deeper cuts away from schools, colleges and essential public services.”

What is going on here? On Monday CTA leadership did all in its power to prevent and – failing that – limit and undercut an occupation of the Capitol by students and teachers demanding funding for public education and services. On Thursday, CTA leadership occupies the Capitol to demand funding for public education and services. If you feel confused, you’re not alone. I’ve gotten phone calls and emails from around the country asking, “What the heck is going on in Sacramento?”

So here’s what’s going on. CTA leadership’s strategy all along has been to throw their full support behind Democratic governor Jerry Brown. Last year, California labor unions contributed $20 million to Brown’s gubernatorial campaign last year. CTA was one of the biggest contributors. But as soon as Brown was elected, he started talking up the need for austerity. Brown has proposed an austerity budget that includes about $12 billion in cuts to essential public programs (($1.7 billion from medical care for the poor; $1.5 billion from welfare, $1.4 billion from higher education; cut hundreds of millions from programs for the disabled, for home assistance for the elderly, etc.) and an equal amount from extending regressive taxes set to expire this year for another five years (among them increases to state sales tax, vehicle license fees, and a decrease in tax deductions for dependents). Brown’s cuts have already been approved by the legislature, but Republicans are blocking extension of the regressive taxes. So the argument in Sacramento has been between Brown -- who wants to extend Schwarzenegger’s soak-the-poor taxes for another five years -- and the Republicans – who call for more program cuts instead of more taxes. Two rotten choices, right? Well, CTA leadership is openly and ardently demanding immediate approval of Brown’s tax package. Brown warns, “There is no other alternative. We all must sacrifice.” And CTA agrees: “We must fight for this budget. It is balanced. It mixes cuts with taxes. We must fight for it because the alternative is so much worse.” That is their focus, pure and simple. That was why they sat-in at the offices of Republican leaders Dutton and Conway. They tried to break up the Monday sit-in because its message was “tax the rich”, not “pass the tax extensions” (i.e., “tax the poor”).

However, it’s hardly a secret that not everyone is sacrificing. Not the banks – huge bailout and rip-off of taxpayer money, record profits, big bonuses, minimal taxes. Not the oil companies (especially in California, the only oil-producing state without an oil extraction tax). Not corporations (more than half of all profitable California corporations pay no state income tax). Not the rich (state income tax is lower now than it was under Republican governors Ronald Reagan and Pete Wilson). Making the banks, corporations and the rich pay would provide the money needed to restore and expand all essential programs and rescind all layoffs.

In fact, the Brown / Sanchez call for “shared sacrifice” was so hollow that even many long-time supporters of the CTA leadership (and of the Democrats) bridled. At CTA state council in early April, the 800 delegates forced the leadership to revise their plans for the May “Week of Action”. The call that emerged from this meeting supported Brown’s proposal for extending regressive taxes “short term”, while calling for progressive taxation “long term”.

But, CTA leadership never had any intention of a massive mobilization to Sacramento for their “Week of Action”. CTA has over 300,000 members. CTA State Council alone has 800 members, and they have several hundred paid staffers. CTA leadership could have turned out five thousand to Sacramento without really trying. But that wasn’t their plan. Their plan was to keep everything small, mild, and most of all under their control. Had thousands shown up on Monday, the Rotunda occupation might have turned into a sustained occupation, and the calls for “Tax the Rich” might have grown in substance and appeal. Things might have gotten out of hand. And so there were well under two hundred at the leadership’s Monday noontime “mass rally”, where the speeches were all about supporting Brown and his regressive taxes.

Here’s what happened after that rally, in the words of Oakland Education Association president Betty Olson-Jones (one of those arrested on Monday).

“By later in the afternoon, scores of UC Santa Cruz students had arrived, drawn to support teachers and occupy the State Capitol -- after all, that's what they'd heard CTA was planning to do! So when CTA members filed into the Rotunda at 5pm -- as planned -- to chant and march, the students joined us in a lively, energetic show of solidarity. And that's where CTA leadership got scared, started pulling (literally!) blue shirts from the crowd and ushering them to a side hall. When many of us just kept on circling the Rotunda chanting, some of them got angry started yelling at us to leave. We didn't. The irony (among many) is that CTA had a permit until 6pm! There was no reason to abandon the demonstration at 5:10, except that it wasn't under CTA's control. They were upset that the students were "taking over their action"! The reality is that the students had been unfailingly respectful, asking me and others how they could support us. What kind of a message did it send to the students when CTA leaders pulled teachers out of the Rotunda? They later told us in jail that they felt CTA had abandoned all of us. Had more teachers stayed it would have been an extraordinary opportunity to act in unison with our allies, the students.

“By 5:30 most CTA teachers had been moved out of the building (having been told by CTA staff and leadership that we faced immediate arrest and that our permit allowed us to sing, not chant (!)), and went to "rally" outside.”


And so the leadership tried to squash the Monday occupation, opting instead for a late-week “on-message” tame action unambiguously supporting Brown and demanding that the Republicans stop blocking the regressive tax extensions.

Unfortunately, despite their unquestioned courage and commitment, the “short term / long term” approach adopted by some of the Monday occupiers (OEA’s Olson-Jones included) is, at best, inadequate. Brown’s proposal – supported by Sanchez and by State Council is for a five-year extension of the regressive taxes. If five years is short term, what is long term? Furthermore, vague calls for “long-term” progressive taxation are already condensing into proposals for modest increases to high-end income taxes and equally modest adjustments to corporate taxation.

The fact is, CTA leadership’s short-term and long-term strategies are identical. They are to co-opt dissent and channel it into the Democrats; provide massive funding for Brown and Democratic politicians; phone-bank for Democratic candidates; usher incipient mass movements off the streets and into lobbying, phone banking, fundraising, etc. And the Democrats’ strategy – short-term, long-term, and in-between-term – can be summarized in one word: austerity. This is more than just a California strategy. In state legislature after state legislature, Democrats and Republicans agree that public worker unions and pensions and essential public programs must be rolled back, and labor bureaucrats support this call for “shared sacrifice”.

Fighting austerity requires a mass movement that rejects the whole notion of “shared sacrifice” and insists on rolling back all the cuts and all the layoffs and getting the money that’s needed from the banks, from the corporations, and from wealth (earned and inherited). The old slogans still apply: People before profits; Make the bosses pay!

April 4: Oakland Rally to Bail Out Schools Not Banks, End Foreclosures

On April 4, nearly 100 Oakland teachers and supporters shut down Wells Fargo Bank's Oakland City Center branch for three hours, demanding an end to the Great Bank Heist: Bail Out Schools Not Banks and End Foreclosures.Among those who joined the action were longshore workers from ILWU Local 10, who shut down the Port of Oakland and other west coast ports for the entire day. Also present were a group of homeowners whose mortgages were being threatened by Wells Fargo. This was the third and most successful action OEA and allies have held at Wells Fargo branches throughout the city. More actions are planned in the coming weeks.

There's a broad awareness that Wall Street and the banks have ripped off trrlllions of dollars, with the aid of Bush, Obama, Paulson, Bernanke, Geithner et al. And there's growing awareness that they've done this by transforming their private debt into public debt, and telling working and poor people lthat we must pay off that debt by acqueiescing to devastating cuts to essential public programs, jobs, health benefits, and pension. But, at last, there's a stirring, a realization that we don't have to accept their demands.

Here's a video of a speech I gave at the April 4 OEA rally.

Banks Cheat Struggling Homeowners Out of Billions

Shared sacrifice? Austerity? Not for the banks!

Elizabeth Warren and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have found that the big banks -- JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Ally Financial -- have swindled struggling homeowners out of at least $20 billion by cheating, shortchanging, and outright fraud in dealing with their loans and, especially, in wrongful foreclosures. The CFPB's seven-page report is summarized by Shahien Nasiripour in the Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/28/big-banks-save-billions-homeowners-suffer_n_841712.html

Wells Fargo:Laying Waste to Coal Country

Not only did Wells Fargo promote and profit from the toxic asset home mortgage bubble, it also promoted and profited from the proliferation of toxic waste and wholesale environmental destruction in coal country.