"Hedge funds are always looking for ways to turn a small amount of capital into a large amount of capital. A wealthy hedge fund manager can spend more than $1 million financing a charter school start-up. But once it is up and running, it qualifies for state funding, just like a public school... It is extremely leveraged philanthropy" — Predatory Hedge Fund Manager Whitney Tilson in bold, rest of quote is Joe Nocera

Don't know if people caught the evil princess of privatization's latest fact free op-ed on the Daily News, but I had some choice words in response to her mendaciousness:

Classic Gates Foundation employee propaganda: "...trumps the research that seniority does not guarantee effectiveness." A single peer reviewed study that backs your wild and specious claim?

Ms. Aguilar, when brave people like Martin Terrones, Julie Van Winkle, Sean Leys, and Jose Lara held a hunger strike to protest the layoffs at schools including John Liechty Middle School, YOU GLEEFULLY RIFED (LAID OFF) THE VERY SAME TEACHERS YOU ARE NOW SAYING SHOULD HAVE BEEN RETAINED -- ALL THE WHILE KNOWING THAT LAUSD HAD OVER A HALF A BILLION DOLLARS IN RESERVE!

A craven act so despicable, I lack the vocabulary to describe it adequately. No teachers should have received RIFs when the district had so much funds on hand -- that's true "intransigence." Furthermore, had LAUSD continued to comply with the Rodriguez v. LAUSD settlement, we never would have arrived at this point! Since that settlement didn't serve the interests of the Broad/Gates/Walton Triumvirate, you and the Mayor's other board allies came up with quite an underhanded deception.

Here's a great quote from one of my readers: 'Yolie Flores Aguilar once said to me and others during the hunger strike that the threat of "recall" was not going to work on her, that not passing the budget would put the many progressive programs this school board has put into effect in jeopardy, like "all day kindergarten", and that her passion for public education cannot be questions.' In other words, as you say, a "disproportionate number of their teachers, nearly two-thirds, were laid off in a period of two years" because you voted out of political expedience rather than in the interest of anyone's "civil rights." By the way, whatever happened to all day kindergarten?

You can tell yourself that you're meeting "needs of children" all you want, but the checks you're cashing from the plutocrats whose agenda you serve demonstrate the only motivation you've ever had.

this is a test comment.

A post below about Jan Perry and the South Central Farm mentioned Ralph Horowitz, which elicited a stray memory about some douchebaggery about Yolie Flores, charter schools, and filthy hedge-fund money, so i did a Google seach, "Charter schools" and "Hedge Fund," and i found the following Op-Ed from Indiana... Charter schools suck @ss !!! they destroy public education !!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Indiana created a
perfect storm in
education

Written by

ED EILER
For the Journal & Courier

2:50 PM, Aug. 9, 2011|

The perfect storm is upon us.

The Indiana Legislature has created an
environment that, in time, will result in
teacher shortages, drive teachers and
administrators to flee schools with high
poverty and possibly the state, and leave
schools struggling to fund programs that
provide educational opportunities to public
students while the state uses tax dollars to
subsidize children in private schools.

This has been the result of a well-funded
corporate and political assault on public
education. It is instructive to follow the
advice of Deep Throat in "All the
President's Men" and follow the money!

In July, Don Whittinghill wrote an article for
the Louisiana School Boards Association
detailing some of the involvement of hedge
fund managers and other corporate
investors in the charter school and
privatization movement. The article titled
"Follow the Charter Dollars" can be found at
www.lsba.com and is illuminating and
disturbing.

A May 9, 2010, New York Times article
reported that "a favorite cause of many of
the wealthy founders of New York hedge
funds (has become) charter schools."

The article goes on to provide the following
example of their involvement in New York:
Hedge fund managers "have been
contributing generously to lawmakers in
hopes of creating a friendlier climate for
charter schools.

"More immediately, they have raised a
multimillion-dollar war chest to lobby this
month for a bill to raise the maximum
number of charter schools statewide ... ."

A Google search of hedge fund and charter
schools yields 1,530,000 hits.

Why would billionaires and hedge fund
managers be interested in charter schools
and privatization?

In a May 7 New York Daily News column,
Juan Gonzalez explained how the new
markets tax credit program established by
Congress in 2000 to spur new or increased
Advertisement investments into operating businesses and
real estate projects in economically
depressed communities is being used by
banks and private equity firms to make
large sums of money by creating charter
schools.

The new markets tax credit provides a 39
percent tax credit over a seven-year
period, which Gonzalez contends results in
investors nearly being able to double their
investment during that period.

Hedge fund managers have spent millions
of dollars on promoting charter schools.
The intent of these managers is to make
money, not improve the plight of children.

It has been reported that some private
companies establish a nonprofit school
then use a for-profit affiliate to buy school
buildings and charge the school rent, which
is a substantial portion of the school's
overall budget.

Profit is made at the expense of students
and teachers.

This is at best a distortion of the intent of
the new markets tax credit program. If
Congress was looking for a tax loophole to
close, using the new market tax credit for
charter schools would be an excellent
candidate.

I do not believe greed is a good
replacement for the commitment,
competence and compassion of a teacher.

If you care about children, you have a duty
to become informed and involved.
If you are a member of the fourth estate,
you have a duty to be an independent
watchdog that serves the public interest by
investigating and reporting, not merely
passing along corporate positions.

If you are a teacher, hold on to the belief
that there are millions of people thankful
for the role you have played in their life
and support you.

The perfect storm is upon us. I'm afraid
our children might become lost in the
storm. They deserve better.

For the sake of our children, I can only
hope public education survives the storm
and continues to serve as a beacon of
promise and opportunity.

Eiler is superintendent of Lafayette schools.