Dollar Signs in the Eyes of Ed. "Reformers"

There is real room for ed. reform.  Yet, when the current ed. "reformers" look through the window of cost-benefit analysis, it seems, in many cases, they see primarily through the lens of monetary self-interests.  If it was otherwise, City schools would get the state funds promised by the court.  Class sizes would be reduced.

1.  Charters are great.  They allow for "school choice"...
         
and large managerial salaries and lucrative contracts.  They often hire cheap, non-unionized labor, the educational equivalent of migrant workers, picking brains with a predominant interest in test preparation before they burn out and move on, leaving in their wake a path strewn by increasing societal segregation. 

2.  High-stakes standardized tests are the best ways to evaluate students and teachers...

 

especially if there is "No Profit Left Behind"!  And, if you believe in the merits of investing so heavily in tests, let me sell you the Brooklyn Bridge!

3.  TFA is great because young, inexperienced teachers get a chance to show what they can do...


through the "hiring of young, mostly white T.F.A. members" at a time when there are "layoffs of many older black teachers amid significant budget cuts" (Memphis, New Orleans and, doubtless, elsewhere).  Most work for no more than three years.  They will not stay around long enough to collect pensions.  

4.  Eliminate the due-process rights of tenure and rid classrooms more easily of less energetic teachers...



many of whom may be expensive to hire because they are older.  They may fail to cower and would rather blow a whistle than jump and dance when told. 

5.  Send in common standards by the name of Common Core because we all need to be equal...


in failing and, if one size fits all, there are great profits to be made in nationally standardized books, tests, software, etc.

6.  Replace teachers with cutting-edge technology because...



using a babysitter with computers all day is a lot cheaper than hiring a human with an advanced degree--that is, until the robot burns out!  Imagine the potential for new class sizes!

As we potentially save money, ask yourself how much we are losing.

Get Real, Governor: Test-Based Evaluations Measure Little More than the Effort Expended in Prepping Kids for Tests!

Do the high-stakes regents measure me as a teacher?  Hardly.

I am told to prep my students for a month and a half for the test.  Do they do better because I prep them?  Most certainly, yes.

I could teach just as well throughout the year, but without this intensive prep, my students would predominately do worse.  Some might not realize how much they have forgotten.  Some might find it inconvenient to put in the amount of time required.  This is why people like Stanley Kaplan make good money selling test-review services to students.

I am not a better teacher for all the prep I do.  My students are not better in life for it.  My students lose out on in-depth projects.  They lose out on current events.  They do not read whole historical texts.  There is less room left for debates.  I would argue I am a worse teacher for it.

The high-stakes tests do not competently measure any teacher.  They merely measure the amount of effort sacrificed for review.  They also measure a march towards uniformity which is intensely irritating to me.  It detracts from my time spent legitimately teaching.  If you think you can ban regents prep by a state law, you are more naive than I can imagine.  As long as the stakes are so high, the whole course will become regents prep.  The fact that anyone could think otherwise is a sad commentary on one's lack of understanding.  

How Many Amenities Have Vanished from your School?

I'm a lucky one.  I still have a school.  Others were disembodied in the Bloomberg era.  To differing degrees, in the last decade, we have all witnessed our landscape change for the worse.

At our school, it started with the disappearance of a sofa in the teacher's lounge.  Then, the lounges, themselves, disappeared.  We now live in department offices, sitting at worktables.  Despite all the Common Planning time, we rarely meet, professionally or socially, across the disciplines. 

Next, we lost our teachers' cafeteria.  It is still a place to sit, but it no longer serves food.  If you want warm food served by a friendly face, separate from a line with hundreds of students, you're out of luck.  Since teacher cafeterias apparently fail to generate profits, they have been closed across the City.   

Teachers lost the parking lot behind our school.  It was due to building repairs, but it appears we will never get that lot back again.  Now, in a crowded neighborhood with high rates of auto theft, teachers on the later session often have difficulty finding parking in proximity to the building.  

Then, there are the huge array of problems caused to student life by lack of funding.  To name just a few, productions, newspapers and other publications often lack sufficient funding.  Students lost their school store.  They lost access to the more convenient lockers in the building.  At the same time, they lost space, due to overcrowding.  

On a wider scale, schools have lost a whole array of services for students.  Schools have lost art, music and physical education teachers.  Some schools have lost libraries.  Other schools have lost nurses.  By and far, the situation has been the worst in Philadelphia which has suffered student fatalities with no school nurse on duty.  How do you explain that to a parent?

The Newer Propaganda Video at Commoncoreworks.org

There is a new video at commoncoreworks.org.  It stresses the need for the Core in this era of high-speed information.   Let us compare the new video with the old.  The new version has none of the dollar bills so pervasive in the first video.  So many images of money must have proven a liability:  They reminded people of the Big Bucks behind the Core. 

Last Year's Version:  The Meaning of Life

The new video no longer mentions Shanghai, staircases in other countries or international competition.  Perhaps it isn't politically wise to publicly promote so vehemently the educational system of a country that heavily censors and suppresses freedoms.  

Vintage Core:  More of the Meaning of Life

There is no longer a great wave drowning the old world order.  The old imagery left a bitter taste.  It reminded one that Secretary Duncan once said Hurricane Katrina was the best thing to happen to education in New Orleans.  It brought privatization, sent a teaching force of mainly African Americans packing, only to be replaced by cheap TFA recruits.

Likening State Standards to a Tsunami

In the new video, a teacher is patiently explaining the video to a boy named Eddie.  Grandpa, apparently, has bitten the dust since September 2014.  (http://dianeravitch.net/2014/09/17/common-core-has-an-image-problem-new-ad-makes-it-worse/).  I guess they just couldn't convince his doddering old mind.  Has he been pushed off the Common-Core staircase or merely given a gun to shoot himself?

 

The new images come at you in full color.

The video states, "We all need the Common-Core State Standards to make sure that students are prepared for college and the real world."  Edupreneurs might all love the new market, but one naturally wonders why in our federal system of government fifty states need one set of standards and no constitutional amendment to empower it.  

The video goes on to propose that everyone needs to be on the same page from one end of the country to the other.  The Standards, as in the original video, are still likened to a staircase, teaching students to build things like "time machines," step by step. 

According to the video, "that staircase is the same no matter where you live.  So, even if you move, your new teachers know what step you're on."

  

Even in the same hallway of the same building, teachers of the same subject are rarely on the same page on the same day.  Students have different needs.  Students learn at different speeds.  Students have different interests.  One class may run with a given topic.  Another class may run from it.  Current events may intervene in different ways; there is a world entirely outside of test preparation and essentially far more important.  Teachers have diverse areas of expertise.   With the increased level of stress, given teachers may take ill or quit.  Classes may fall behind.  

Although students may "exercise" their brains in both rooms, reading maps, interpreting evidence, etc., if you think they can seamlessly transfer from one room to the next because of a thing called the Common Core, think again.  There are things called Content and Context which the Core seems to summarily dismiss. 

According to the video, "Your teacher will now also have more flexibility to help you really understand critical ideas."  If anything I have felt increasingly pressured to march in lockstep to the tune of the Almighty Test.  It is the antithesis of my reasons for teaching.  The video says these tests will "measure your growth better."  The more standardized a test, however, the less able it is to assess children who think in different ways.  Supposedly, the "new tests are just replacing the old ones you already take."  So, says the video, but see http://www.livingindialogue.com/excessive-standardized-testing-first-grade-fairy-tale/.

In the video, the teacher asks Eddie if he built his time machine, what would he see in the future.  He answers, "robots in my room."  With the increasing march towards uniformity, I fear teachers, Eddie and our children are becoming the robots of the future! 

How to Align Your Bulletin Boards to the Common Core

Here are some school bulletin boards.  The first version represents a photo of the original.  The second represents an update, aligning it to the Common Core.  In this day and age, I recommend teachers keep two copies of their bulletin work, each easily unrolled.  Post one copy to warm the hearts of your students to learning.  Keep another copy to be hastily unrolled when outside observers come to judge you and your students by standards that disrupt your learning environment.

We are Superheroes, Version 1




We are Superheroes, Version 2

Recipe for a Great School Year, Version 1




Recipe for a Great School Year, Version 2, filled with yummy Core-aligned rubrics.

Music Quote of the Month, Version 1



Music Quote of the Month, Version 2, for when kids need to sacrifice some joy for Academic Intervention Services based on low scores on a questionable test with dissonant cut scores.

Some Books are Worth Melting For, Version 1

Some Books are Worth Melting For, Version 2, primed to go with wonderful manuals, informational texts and product guidelines for wonderful devices students and their families should purchase.

College is Possible:  This board has already been updated to include "But the Common Core May Not Be!"  Recommendation:  Hide this one when the outside observers come.  

Teacher's Choice as a Barometer of the Profession

Teacher's Choice is a sum of money received by NYC teachers to help offset their out-of-pocket expenses in the name of allowing their classrooms to fuction more smoothly.  There are pretty strict rules which govern what can and cannot be purchased (see the link above, appendix B).  

In the 2014-2015 year, teacher-choice purchases must be completed by February 28th and accountability forms must be turned in by March 2nd.  Teachers have been given $77, clinicians $47, laboratory specialists $37 and school secretaries $25.

Tracing the history of Teacher's Choice, to the best of my memory, it seems to tell the tale of the ups, radical downs and moderate upturns in the regard in which my profession is held.

When I first started teaching, over twenty years ago, I think teacher's choice was over $100.  I was asked to donate my money back to the school.  Since I was financially stable, without a family to support, I turned my money over to the school.  I suppose lacking tenure might make one naturally more charitable in such situations, but I don't remember feeling threatened.  I just felt like I was helping the team.  We had paper in those days and a rexograph machine, turning out noxious-smelling, purple-inked dittos.  When you're a new teacher, you don't let too many things bother you.  My profession was held in relatively high regard then.

After a time, it seemed teacher's choice climbed to nearly two-hundred dollars, a sum, I would guess, many teachers spend as a minimum each year, buying supplies their schools lack.  Teachers could donate part of their sum back to their school.  Some years I purchased scholarly works with at least part of my funds.  I was asked to bring the purchases to school.  I did, after I read them.  And, they tended to disappear.  

Teacher's Choice dwindled during the Bloomberg years.  My memories are dim, but I am told that some years teachers received nothing.  It says a lot about the regard the City had for my chosen profession.  I have tried to suppress that memory.

Probably not coincidentally, during those lean years, our schools ran short of supplies for teachers and students.  For a time, teachers would share coupons and buy their own copy paper.  For a time, I had to buy my own dry-erase markers.  Last year, I spent the sum of my money on dry-erase markers.  This year, my school has them more readily available.   Never discount the joy brought by small miracles!

For a time, some teachers resorted to asking their high-school students to bring in supplies like a ream of paper.  Although some of my students' families may be doing better than me, I'm guessing by the percent of free lunches in the school, most are having a hard time.  I could not bring myself to ask.  

In the last couple of years, teacher's choice has begun to pick up a bit.  Teachers got $57, I think, last year.  Although nothing like the sums alive in my golden memories, it signifies improvement.  And, this year, teachers received $77.  I have no idea where this number comes from, but I'll consider it to be luckier than $57.

Although I have purchased supplies here and there already this year, including index cards, tape, pens, etc., I spent more than the  $77 over February break.  I recommend Costco, an unlikely choice.  Given the UFT boycott against Staples from June of last year and my complete ignorance as to whether or not it is still in effect, I was more than relieved to find Costco's shelves well-stocked with school supplies.  What's more, the prices were exceptionally good.  I purchased pens, pencils, sheet protectors, notebooks (to further organize lesson plans) and just because I will forever worry that the well might once again run dry, some more dry-erase markers.  Who's to say how long it will be until times become exceptionally lean again?  It may be just around the corner.   Teachers are still among the hunted in the state.  For the time being, they seem to be the preferred game of the Governor.  

When Will Studies Prove Immigrants are Coming to America for the Core?

If you, yourself, have been Common-Core aligned, you probably look upon data and the possible misinterpretations associated with it with a certain degree of reverence.  The above is an immigration chart for the United States, 1821-2000.  You may note some interesting points.  First, there is a spike in immigration in the 1840s.  Here, we can point to an Irish Potato Famine as well as a failed revolution in Germany. 

There is another dramatic spike in the first decade of the twentieth century, the Great Wave.  Many of these immigrants came from Southern and Eastern Europe.  They, too, were most likely driven by  conditions they faced at home, including difficult economic times, political intolerance and major pogroms.  

There have been more recent increases in immigration, some of it done illegally.  It begs the question why the increase in immigration?  I will tell you why, using all my Common-Core aligned skills.

It is clear to me that the cause must certainly be educational reform in the United States.  People come to the U.S. because NCLB gave them hope.  RttT kept the promise alive.  These immigrants want nothing more than the chance to take our standardized tests.  They crave the Common Core.  

How do I know?  Well, imagine I have a formula very similar in stature to the one that proves teachers are responsible for the poor test performance of students.  It's a Value Added Migration (in this case Immigration) model.  Also, you can imagine I am relying upon numerous studies undertaken by Gates-funded immigration institutes. 

Moreover, look at the illegal immigration patterns of the previous year.  It is primarily children from Central America (Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador) who risk detention centers to reach our schools.  In the last fiscal year, 52,000 children were apprehended as they illegally crossed the border.  You might think they come because of threats of gang violence, abuse or a more permissive U.S. policy for immigrant children.  You might have thought it was dire poverty or the promise of political freedom that drives the immigrants of today, as in the past.  I am here to tell you that you are wrong.  They come for Common-Core aligned standardized tests.  Happily, there is more than enough for everybody.  

Who's Been Haunting Your Door in the Last Decade?

In the last decade of ed. deform, there's been a scary array of images haunting America's classroom.  It's a shame because they demoralize a dignified profession, make it harder to teach (except to tests) and harder for kids to thrive.      

Michelle Rhee

Happy to say all my pictures, in this case, "fade to black and white."  Yet, the ideas Rhee brought to D.C. a decade ago (the sanctity of basing teacher evaluations upon students' standardized test scores, merit pay and the impact of good teachers in eliminating severe poverty) are still at the door.  None seem to work.  For those who wish to blame societal problems almost exclusively upon teachers, however, hope springs eternal.  

Secretary Duncan

Looks like a basketball just left his hands.  Too bad, it was really an RttT grant.  Here's the door-to-door (or state-to-state) equivalent of the Fuller Brush Man, but with a far inferior product.  He's been at my door pedaling the Common Core and junk-science evaluations.  He'll pay your state in the form of a more than generous grant to take it off his hands.  Just don't ask about the returns policy, but be thankful that Hurricane Sandy didn't turn out to be the best thing to happen to education in NYC!

Bill Gates 

He's been a big guy at my door with all sorts of screwy ideas to disrupt public education.  Comprehensive schools have bit the dust in favor of smaller structures, yielding no real benefits.  I've seen common standards built in mid-air and money thrown at it by the millions to try to blind us from the fact that gravity is pulling it down.  Money talks.  And, in this case, there is a lot of it.

Michael Bloomberg

He was at the door of NYC public education for more than a decade, trying to turn education into a business.  He was the "Education Mayor," thanks to his propaganda-pumping PR team and the explosion of sub-par credit-recovery schemes.  Teachers became synonymous, it seemed, with perverts whose feet must be put to the fire.  He sent out legions of Leadership Academy principals, fast-tracked to wreak havoc across the system.  If you survived without becoming an ATR, never forget your luck!

David Coleman

Not giving "a shit" about what students think or feel, unable to teach, himself, he looks down at the rest of us from his "common-core" pedestal in the sky--with standardized test, firmly clutched in hand.  If human worth can best be measured through the SATs, let's create a hell of a lot more standardized tests to let us know our worth and enthrall us with our education from the earliest years.  I did well on my SATs, but long ago I forgot the score.  I've never met anyone who gives "a shit" about it.  

Charlotte Danielson

All things in life, we must believe, can be objectively measured through rubrics with "domains" and "components." It's not enough to trust a qualified administrator to give the type of feedback teachers have received since time immemorial, we need someone to split hairs and make us squirm to fit models of highly effective that may sometimes fall flat on their face when confronted with academic realities.

Governor Cuomo

He's looming large now at my door after his State-of-the-State Address.  Despite the hashtag #invitecuomo, I really don't want him at my door.  I'm not the first to say this.  Since he cannot understand how teachers can be largely effective at the same time that cut scores have been set to slaughter students on Common-Core aligned State tests, I'm sure I don't want him at my door.  As far as I'm concerned, he can take his merit pay and put it towards the $2.5 billion he owes the City.  

When I signed up to become a teacher, I signed up to help children.  I didn't sign up to help corporate-minded reformers, so far removed from the sphere of education that they might just as well be on another planet.  Some of these "reformers" have come and gone.  Some are still lurking.   One wonders who could possibly show up next.

So, who do I want at my door? 

How about more parents?  We share the interests of their child.  We share the interests of the community.  Parents speak for the needs of their children.  They speak for the needs of their communities.  When they come, we need to lay out the welcome mat.  We need to  open our doors.  We need to listen.

What Will Craigslist be Used for Next?

Craigslist has been used for all sorts of questionable things.  Probably not topping the list, but still highly objectionable, it has been used to recruit people to grade high-stakes standardized exams.  It has been used in Dallas by Pearson for the all-important STAAR test.  It has been used recently by kellyservices, a company specializing in outsourcing and consulting, in Indianapolis to solicit standardized-test scorers.  All you basically need is a bachelor's degree, ID, time on your hands and one of those God-given rubrics.

I'm sure it's only a matter of time before underpaid workers, lacking benefits, operating out of dangerous warehouses abroad, are hired to grade standardized U.S. exams.  Perhaps they can be internationally recruited via a global version of Craigslist.    

In the meantime, here's a possible ad. for Craig's List.

Ed. Reformers Needed (to decimate the profession of the K-12 public-school teacher) (United States of America)


contract job
If you have a Bachelor's degree, struggled to achieve one, perhaps failed, dropped out of high school or harbor any personal bitterness towards educators in your life, we need your help to decimate the teaching profession in public schools. Come apply!
For more information and to schedule an appointment visit our website www.killingpublicschools.us or call us at 1-877-EDI-SBAD
Please be prepared to spend time going through the application / orientation process of anger mismanagement. Please bring two forms of identification and bring proof of your disdain for educators.
These are project based positions.
Monday - Friday, 8:30am - 4:30pm
Position Requirements:
-Must hold a grudge against educators, viewing them as worthless, sexual predators who are the basis of society's problems
-Ability to spew out anti-teacher propaganda on a regular basis
-Basic computer knowledge
-Knowledge of standard writing conventions and mechanics
-Demonstrate inflexibility, intolerance and anger (directed primarily against teachers) while working on various projects
• Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
• do NOT contact us with unsolicited services or offers

Cheating on Tests Via Cut Scores

It is entirely absurd to me that Governor Cuomo would like 50% of a teacher's worth to be measured by the test scores of students.  Obviously, someone can be the finest teacher alive, but if his students do not study, he will be proven inept.  Even more frightening still, more depends upon the decision of policymakers regarding difficulty levels of tests and where to set cut scores than the talent of a teacher.  The whole thing, supposedly made into a science, is too incredibly absurd to believe.  

Prior to the NY State Common-Core tests of 2013, Chancellor Meryl Tisch and former State Commissioner John King miraculously predicted (with a 1% margin of error) the passing rate of NY's students before the tests were ever administered.  Here, I am sure, politics pushed aside the professional judgment of educators.  

One can find an online primer in PDF-file form for setting cut scores.  One can also read Carol Burris' account at the Washingpost.com.  It seems the ELA cut score was set to jibe with the SATs.  It seems the passing rate was a foregone conclusion.  Ultimately, Burris concludes:  

"When the cut scores were set, the overall proficiency rate was 31 percent–close to the commissioner’s prediction.  The proportion of test takers who score 1630 on the SAT is 32 percent.  Coincidence?  Bet your sleeveless pineapple it’s not. Heck, the way I see it, the kids did not even need to show up for the test."

Diane Ravitch also speaks to the inanity and arbitrary nature of these tests and the level of proficiency demanded in order to pass.  Ravitch has spoken now and again on the manufactured crisis against the backdrop of NAEP.  Tisch promised in 2013 that scores would rise on NY State Common-Core tests.  And, guess what?  They rose the next year.  They had to, given the backlash against the tests.  The Common Core has become a political liability.  The scores seem to increase, not so much through teacher or student effort, but rather through the manipulation of cut scores.  

If 50% of my worth depends upon the political winds and the manipulation of test grades to curry favor variously between those who would privatize public education, enraged parents and possibly others, it says a lot.  One may not need to worry so much these days about teachers cheating to raise student test scores as politicians cheating to obtain the results they desire.  Welcome to the Wonderland of Educational Reform!

The Day I First Met Data

I once sat in a grad-school seminar led by two professors, one best associated with quantitative analysis.  I couldn't help but notice that the professor who was quantitatively inclined sat with his pencil and paper before him.  (There weren't too many laptops in those days.)  Every time someone spoke he added a check mark next to that person's name.  

It seemed the check marks kept coming regardless of the quality of the comments.  They focused on frequency.  There was a young man who clearly failed to complete the rigorous readings.  He waited for another student to reveal some fact.  Then, he seized upon it to build his answer.  He got all his check  marks, more than enough for a Ph.D.  He played the game to perfection.  It was an early introduction to the fine art of gaming data!  And, it pretty much showed me, even back then, that quantitative measures have their limitations.

On Standardizing Snowflakes

This morning, my Winter-Solstice baby sat in a snowbank while the July sister lamented the loss of summer.  Had the immobile winter baby fallen off her sled and cracked her head?  No, with rosy cheeks and all, she assured me she had not.  She was just carefully examining in wonderment each flake as it landed in her saucer-like sled.  

I came over to see.  She was right.  It was pretty amazing.  Snowflakes fell so big you could just about catch them like baseballs.  It proved more effective, however, to just let them fall as they please.  They landed gently and stuck.  They refused to melt.  They were big and fluffy stars, each beautiful and distinct, proud to be falling from heaven.  No two were the same.

To The Powers That Be, please never prioritize their standardization--through tests or otherwise.  There is great beauty in their diversity.

On Wounding the Many-Headed Monster of Educational Reform

Two years back, I wrote a letter to the President on Presidents' Day, regarding my views on Race to the Top and its impact upon educators, such as myself, and their students.  I received a reply mailed on the cusp of Indepedence Day.  I think I received it July 5th.  

The reply didn't specifically address my concerns, of course.  It was more of a form letter and it referred me to the federal government's website for educational policy.  I visited the site, but I didn't find my concerns adequately addressed there either.

I always try to trace a problem to its root in order to search for a permanent solution.  I used to think the federal government was the source of the problem for public education.  Indeed, with its Race-to-the-Top grants filtering down to the states, students and teachers became simultaneously subject to junk science measures of accountability as well as the Common Core.  Without fully realizing what they were in for, states reacted to federal initiatives in order to claim their piece of the pie.

The House Education and Workforce Committee has now approved a Student Access Act.  In brief, it would replace "national accountability" with "state-led accountability systems," prevent the U.S. Secretary of Education from "coercing states into adopting Common Core or any other standards," streamline a "maze of programs," provide for more "school choice" (probably code for public-school closure and the creation of opportunities for business) and focus more attention upon the needs of English-language learners, homeless children and, I am guessing, special-needs children, too.  

At one point, the major threat to public education in the City seemed to be Mayor Bloomberg.  Obviously, Bloomberg had no need to cater to the super wealthy for campaign donations.  He is one of them and one of the most successful ones at that.  He can buy most anything he wants.  It seems he did all in his power to help the likes of charter operators and the business-minded (like McGraw Hill with its failed online Regents scanning and grading experiment of 2013) create large salaries for managers and sometimes profits through throwing education further into the arms of the private sector. 

Making schools responsible for their own budgets and installing a Leadership Academy to dole out business-minded principals to schools encouraged cost-cutting and sometimes personal greed at the expense of sound education.  Older teachers became liabilities.  Some cost-cutting principals encouraged them to retire, minus the gold watch.  The City still suffers from some of the Leadership principals.  Bloomberg is gone, but his legacy lives on and his money will still find manifold ways to cause pain to public education.

Now, the focus in NY State is upon fighting back Governor Cuomo.  In his State of the State 2015, the Governor made clear to all that he is no fan of public education.  He would put in place, if he had his way, a plan to make 50% of teachers' evaluations dependent upon their students' test scores on tests meant to fail a generation.  He would continue Bloombergs policies of closing schools in favor of charters--which may just turn into more schools that further segregate society.  He would offer incentives of merit pay to pit one teacher against another as well as increase corruption in the system.  He has no plan for success.

It is clear to me that the problem with education "reform" does not start at the local, state or federal level of government.  It is clear to me that it starts with a segment of the super wealthy of society.  It is clear to me that it starts with families like the Waltons, some Wall-Street magnates or hedge-fund operators and the like.  They vigorously push their agenda, more than generously funding those who support them.  It is clear to me that they can buy a lot of what they want and much of it seems to be public policy.

It is clear to me that we face a multi-headed monster that would further increase the unequal distribution of wealth in society.  I would call it a money-hungry hydra, but I really feel it has many more heads than anything Hercules ever fought.  Perhaps, we can beat back the Governor's budget, and stop one head, but there are still so many left.  And, they quickly regenerate, sometimes into two.  Each is bankrolled by billions.  In many cases, the attacks are coordinated.  They seek to demolish due process and the dignity of labor.

If a mayor loses power, he will be replaced by a governor, well-funded by charter schools, hedge-fund operators and the like, who seek to destroy public education.  If federal policy is beaten back, the states may rear uglier heads still.  If we don't trace the problem to its roots and look for a solution there, we will forever be fighting the same damn monster in a different form.