The Broad Center’s efforts to “accelerate” disruptive reform do not improve school districts. Instead they destabilize them, promote the privatization of public policy and undermine the common ground public education needs to survive and improve. Broad’s support for charter expansion, school closings, test-based teacher evaluation, merit pay, Teach for America, hostility to teachers unions and top-down business management of school districts is wreaking havoc in urban districts across the country. Our “interest” in the Broad Center’s programs is in stopping them from doing further damage to our schools, students and communities.
What the Aug. 21 Answer sheet blog post doesn’t tell you is that nowhere in the memo referred to are the words “privatize public schools,” “run schools like businesses,” “corporate school reform” or “influence schools.” That is because these are not our goals. We don’t believe in these things, which is why you won’t see that language in any correspondence we produce.
In response to a request under the NJ Open Public Records Act (OPRA), Education Law Center has obtained a confidential proposal prepared for the Broad Foundation by the NJ Department of Education (NJDOE) to “turnaround,” take control, and potentially close over 200 public schools over the next three years.