Bill Gates — Vulture Philanthropist

A Trojan Horse in the AFT House

A union leadership which willingly “partners” with billionaire Bill Gates, and other proponents of the business model of
education, has turned away from the battle for educational equality. This is precisely what the AFT leadership chose to do
when they became the recipient of Gates’ millions for the AFT Innovation Fund. The invitation to permit Bill Gates make
a personal appearance at this convention sends a signal to the membership and to the public about the AFT’s nefarious
priorities. Bill Gates addressing a teachers union convention is akin to asking George W. Bush to speak at an anti-war rally
or Klansman address a NAACP convention.

Trojan Horse – A trick or stratagem that causes a target

to invite a foe into a securely protected bastion or place.

Attacks on teachers at the heart of Gates “reforms”

The elimination of union protections for teachers (seniority, tenure protection, work
rules) – along with attempts to shift salary structure to merit-pay based schemes
– are major planks of the billionaires and millionaires who are force-feeding their
business model of education “reform” (now dubbed by many progressive reformers
as “education deform”) upon this nation. Their solutions, unproven by research, lie in
the belief that what works for business (competition, assessments, results, rewards and punishments) are the key to more
effective schools.

Undue influence
Because of his astronomical wealth, Bill Gates’ influence has a long reach. Key senior positions at the U.S. Department of
Education are held by people affiliated with his Foundation. Race to the Top is reflective of policies being pushed by his
Foundation, i.e. the removal and limitations of teacher rights and teacher voice from all levels of decision-making, even
in the classroom. The Gates Foundation has been “helping” states with their applications for RTTT. Financially desperate
states have caved in to the pressure by altering their own laws and approaches so they get a chance to access the pot of
federal money. For example, in an (unsuccessful) effort to secure funds, the Palm Beach school district declared 70% of
its teachers “ineffective.”

Additionally, a wide variety of think tanks and education groups, sometimes on near-opposite ends of the spectrum,
have been the beneficiaries of Gates’ money and have melded into one general consensus. Editorial boards read the press
releases of these organizations and parrot the consensus in the media.

“There is something fundamentally antidemocratic about relinquishing control of the public edu-
cation policy agenda to private foundations run by society’s wealthiest people...they represent a...
powerful force that is beyond the reach of democratic institutions.”
— Diane Ravitch in “The Death and Life of the Great American School System

Gates’ support of mayoral control

Gates and his allies want mayors to control urban school districts, a rejection of publicly-elected school boards, thus
eliminating local parent and community input. In the summer of 2009, Gates gave more than $1 million dollars to a NY
City based front group (Learn NY) to push for the renewal of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s control over the NYCDOE.
The AFT’s largest local (UFT, Local 2) joined Gates in supporting mayoral control. The AFT continues to ignore the
abysmal record of Chicago Public Schools when led by Paul Vallas (who is now privatizing the New Orleans school
system) and his successor Arne Duncan, both under Richard Daley’s mayoral control. There is inherent racism on a policy
that disenfranchises people of color while suburban white people get to elect and run their own school boards.
AFT Peace and Justice Caucus
STOP BY OUR TABLE
 Small schools: Gates’ first experiment went awry
Ten years ago the Gates Foundation decided that comprehensive high schools were the major cause of low graduation
rates and began pushing small schools initiatives (spending $100 million in New York City alone), leading to school
closures and massive dislocations of students and teachers. By early 2009, Gates admitted that “many of the small schools
that we invested in did not improve students’ achievement in any significant way.” By then, however, communities had
been disrupted and many treasured historical institutions in urban communities had been destroyed.

NYC parent activist Leonie Haimson calls these experiments on public education unethical, and notes
that no research backs them. “They would never be allowed in the medical field,” she says. “Informed
consent by parents does not exist. Most parents oppose these experiments vociferously.”

Teacher “effectiveness” and charters: Gates’ current experiments

Gates has targeted $335 million to define teacher effectiveness. He repeats the ed deform mantra that “teachers are the
most important element in a child’s education,” a clever saying being used to blame teachers when schools don’t function
effectively. The current emphasis on teacher effectiveness as tied to their students’ test scores is part of the corporatization
of American education.

The Gates Foundation is pouring enormous sums into expanding the numbers of unproven non-unionized charters where
teachers are younger, less experienced, less skilled, and less career-minded. Unrestrained, the expansion of charter schools
will result in the dismantling of today’s mostly-unionized public school work force.

Given the [Gates] foundation’s significant investment in advocacy, it was improbable that anyone
would challenge Bill Gates and tell him his new goals were likely to be as ill advised as the $2 billion
he had pored into restructuring the nation’s high schools. Who would warn of the dangers of creating
a two-tiered system in urban districts, with charter schools for motivated students and public schools
for all those left behind? Who would raise questions about the sustainability of charter schools that
rely on a steady infusion of young college graduates who stay for only a few years? Who would cau-
tion him of the dangers of judging teacher effectiveness solely by the ups and downs of scores on
standardized tests of basic skills? Who would tell him that the data systems now in use – and the ones
he was about to fund – would never identify as great the kinds of teachers who had inspired him?
— Diane Ravitch in “The Death and Life of the Great American School System

Where has the AFT been?

So why does the AFT go along with people and organizations which have been aiming blame darts at teachers and their
unions? A teacher effectiveness measurement project funded by the Gates Foundation should ring loud alarm bells, but
instead, many AFT locals, led by the UFT, have been going along.

Opposing Bill Gates’ notions of school “reform” is not the equivalent of holding the current system in high esteem.
Yes, schools need to be improved, but in a way that will benefit students and teachers over the long term, and without
destroying public education.

THE TEACHERS UNIONS ARE THE ONLY FORCE CAPABLE OF ORGANIZING A NATIONAL
RESISTANCE TO THE ATTACKS ON TEACHERS AND THE PRIVATIZATION OF PUBLIC EDUCATION.

For more information, go to http://www.aftpeaceandjusticecaucus.org/