Originally conceived in Los Angeles by Steve Barr’s (of Green Dot) Los Angeles Parents Union, and largely funded by the Broad Foundation, the "Parent Trigger" has spread east, and here and here. This is an initiative where if enough parents can be convinced, pressured, and tricked to sign a petition, a school will be closed down and replaced with a charter. On each Form 990 from 2005 to 2008, Steve Barr is listed as the CEO/President of the LAPU board.
Eli Broad contributed nearly 50% of the funding for the launch of the LAPU (formerly the Small Schools Alliance, aka the Parent Revolution). The money he supplied helped pay for the propaganda to make it seem like the movement is being generated by "the people," when in fact it is a carefully planned, targeted marketing campaign designed to wipe out the public schools.
An absolute lie is being spread that it was "developed by the grass-roots group Parent Revolution in the Los Angeles Unified School District.’ The lie is that group was not a grassroots group by any means. Danny Weil explains its true astroturf nature. Community members in LA have even stated that they were offered monetary compensation [by Green Dot] in exchange for their signature on a petition. But when a potential buyer for the LA Times is Eli Broad, who would there be to investigate?
Broad-supported State Senator Gloria Romero, in the running as State Superintendent of Public Instruction, has been the main pusher at the California state government level.
| GRANTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE BROAD FOUNDATION Source: Broad Foundation Form 990s (EIN = 954686318) obtained at the National Center for Charitable Statistics | |||
| Year | To Green Dot Public Schools/Green Dot Educational Project EIN = 95679811 | To the Small Schools Alliance, dba as the Los Angeles Parents Union since 2007 (This organization became the “Los Angeles Parents Union” in 2007 and uses the same EIN = 202207418. The LAPU is the same organization as the “Parent Revolution” and has the web site www.parentsunion.org, making a total of four names for the same organization.) | To the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Education and Support Fund |
| 2005 | $700,000: “To support high-quality public charter schools in Los Angeles” (Total 2005 support in contributions, gifts, grants, etc. to this organization was $5,315,065) | $100,000: General fund (Total 2005 revenue for the Small Schools Alliance was $980,608. Broad supplied 10% of its direct funding) | None |
| 2006 | $700,000: “To support more high-quality public charter schools in Los Angeles (Total 2006 Direct Public Support in contributions, gifts, grants, etc. to this organization was $9,524,116) | None (Total 2006 revenue for the Small Schools Alliance was $383,500) | $64,750: “To engage SEIU members in Los Angeles around an education reform package to change the Los Angeles Unified School District” |
| 2007 | $1,210,040 total: $9,040 to the Green Dot Educational Project, plus $1,201,000 to Green Dot Public Schools, “To support the scale up of more high-quality charter schools in Los Angeles” (Total 2007 Direct Public Support in contributions, gifts, grants, etc. to this organization was $10,015,000) | $150,000 total: $75,000 “To match SEIU funds to support the Small Schools Alliance launch of the Los Angeles Parent Union” plus $75,000 “To match SEIU funds to support the Small Schools Alliance business plan of the Los Angeles Parent Union” (Total 2007 revenue for the Small Schools Alliance/LAPU was $323,343. Broad supplied 46% of its direct funding) | None |
| 2008 | $1,859,000 total: $9,000 to the Green Dot Educational Project, plus $1,850,000 to Green Dot Public Schools, “To support the scale up of more high-quality charter schools in Los Angeles” (Total 2008 Direct Public Support in contributions, gifts, grants, etc. to this organization is not available at this time on 2/21/10) | $25,000: “To match SEIU funds to support the Small Schools Alliance business plan of the Los Angeles Parent Union” (Total 2008 revenue for the Small Schools Alliance/LAPU was $324,628. Broad supplied nearly 8% of its direct funding) | None |
QUESTION: What is the relationship between SEIU, Broad, and the Parent Revolution?
A presentation delivered at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform sponsored 2008 Emerging Knowledge Forum was called “Green Dot Public Schools & LA Parents Union.” The presentation team consisted of Steve Barr (Founder & CEO, Green Dot Public Schools), Sandy Blazer (Chief Academic Officer, Green Dot Public Schools), Christine Boardman, (President, Service Employees International Union, Local 73), and Ryan Smith (Executive Director, LA Parents Union). This is from their accompanying report.
“Steve Barr noticed that at one of Green Dots’ high schools, a large proportion of students has parents who were members of Local 1877 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). From this observation, a partnership evolved between Green Dot and SEIU’s national organization, as well as its Los Angeles affiliate. While most professional unions have opposed charter schools, SEIU has embraced LAPU’s reform agenda because their members’ children are the main victims of failing urban schools. For almost a year, SEIU has formally worked with Green Dot and LAPU, providing LAPU with both funding and technical assistance from experienced organizers. In turn, SEIU is interested in exploring how Green Dot’s model and LAPU’s organizing efforts can drive school reform in other urban districts across the country.”
Mike Garcia, President, Service Employees International Union Local 1877, is currently listed as a member of Green Dot’s board of directors. Teacher union members beware: the SEIU is not your friend.
Interesting facts from Green Dot’s 2007 Form 990
- Joanne Weiss, who is now running the Race to the Top program for Arne Duncan, is listed as a board member, as well as Kevin Hall of the Broad Foundation
- Steve Barr as Executive Director/CEO was paid $215,467
- Marco Petruzzi as Board President was paid $204,022. His current Green Dot bio says he is also Venice chapter president of the Los Angeles Parents Union.
Also, this is the document which contains the following:
“The Corpoation's [sic] review, which was completed on August 15, 2008, concluded that during the period from January 2004 through September 2007, the Corporation reimbursed Mr. Barr in error a total of $50,866 for charges that were either not reimbursable in nature, or were insufficiently substantiated or documented to qualify for reimbursement.” More information here.
About Ben Austin, the Executive Director of the Parents Union
The section “Compensation of the Five Highest Paid Independent Contractors for Professional Services” shows that Ben Austin, with an address listed in Beverly Hills' Benedict Canyon, was paid $94,475 that year. In April 2008 he became the Executive Director of the Parents Union (aka LAPU/aka Parents Revolution). In his bio, Austin proudly states that he will be sending his two daughters to Warner Avenue Elementary. To demonstrate how exceptional and affluent the families of this school are, in 2007 the Warner Avenue Foundation (EIN 95-4072053) provided the school with an extra $449,022 (or an extra $747/kid).
Parents like Ben Austin provided supplementary funds to pay for "teaching assistants for each classroom, as well as providing all students with access to a physical education, art, computer, science and music specialist" ($330,979), capital improvements and facilities maintenance ($7,223), educational, computer, copy, emergency and cleaning supplies ($49,639), and teacher and principal grants and student scholarships ($27,583). The biggest money making events were the spring auction ($94,844), a Halloween event ($61,470), a walk-a-thon ($40,238), and a holiday boutique ($14,064). Oh, the poor public school attending children of Ben Austin, their LAUSD experience will be just like that of everyone else. By the way, Austin's day job is an assistant city attorney for Los Angeles. He was previously a Deputy Mayor under Mayor Richard Riordan, who is a longtime friend of Eli Broad and another Gloria Romero supporter and have hosted big fundraisers for her.
Read here to find out how Austin/Parent Revolution is trying to distance itself from Green Dot. Good luck with that, folks, especially since Mr. Green Dot is your board CEO/President.
| More eye-popping differences between Ben Austin's LA public school and that of everyone else | Warner Avenue Elementary | Los Angeles Unified |
| African American | 2% | 10% |
| Asian | 17% | 4% |
| Latino | 5% | 74% |
| White | 75% | 9% |
| Socioeconomically disadvantaged ( | 3% | 78% |
| Gifted and Talented Education | 25% | 12% |
| English Learners | 6% | 31% |
| Students with Disabilities | 7% | 12% |
| Average Parent Education Level: "1" represents "Not a high school graduate" and "5" represents "Graduate school." | 4.47 | 2.22 |
| Academic Performance Index | 971 | 694 |
So now we have the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Parent Union and one of the originators/pushers of the “Parent Trigger” meeting with poor, limited English-speaking parents to convince them to sign school closure petitions and representing himself to them as just another typical LA Unified parent with children heading off to struggling schools, when in fact he resides in one of the most affluent areas of the city and will be sending his kids to one of the public schools which has absolutely no demographic relation to the schools used by his uninformed-about-the-dynamics and easily manipulated parent targets.
As a longtime public school parent who has used schools in my community with demographics much more aligned to my district as a whole, I am wise to the con Ben Austin is pulling off. ¡Qué cojones!
Addendum: Steve and Ben's project is certainly making the rounds. Arranging events and attending meetings must be what Barr has been busy with since he stepped down from his position as CEO of Green Dot last November.
From an email sent to me:
Get Smart Schools is part of a group of non-profits hosting an exciting new speaker series. Please join us at the event described below!
Want to help ensure that all kids in your community receive the very best education? Save the Date to join us for the next speaker in our series.
Speaker: Ben Austin, Los Angeles Parents Union (LAPU) and a Parent Revolution representative.
Thursday March 4, 2010
This is in Denver, Colorado.
GetSmartSchools is a program sponsored by the Piton Foundation. Christopher Scott, a parent and past Denver Public Schools school board candidate warns about this organization in the following statement submitted to the Denver Post last fall. It's more of the same:
"Secondarily, DPS senior executives have allowed the District to become the domain of special interests. Organizations such as Piton Foundation have unfettered access to District leadership, sitting important District committees like the Application Review Team evaluating charter applications for charters funded by the foundations themselves, providing recommendations to the District for more charter schools, while profiting by these recommendations. Moreover, under Michael Bennet, political action committees were brought to town to shape the school board election. This PAC, Stand for Children, poses as a pro-parent organization, but, in reality, its Chief Executive, Jonah Edelman, is a long time friend of Mr. Bennet, grew up next door to Tom Boasberg, whose sister served on Stand's Board of Directors until this month. According to Mr. Boasberg, he had no idea Stand was coming to Denver, as the decision was made while Bennet was Superintendent."
It is important to know that "The Piton Foundation is a private, operating foundation established in 1976 by Denver oil man Sam Gary. It is funded by the Gary-Williams Energy Corporation to develop and implement programs to improve education, expand economic opportunities for families, and strengthen lower-income communities." On its advisory board are
On the advisory board of GetSmartSchools are the usual ed deform/school privatization malanthropic foundations, big business interests, and charter-linked suspects:
- Amy Anderson, Donnell-Kay Foundation
- Jill Barkin, JP Morgan Chase & Co.
- Becca Bracey-Knight, Broad Foundation
- Phil Caplan, Urban West Group
- Heather Carroll, Edmonson Foundation
- Yee-Ann Cho, Envision Schools Colorado
- Ami Desai, Denver Venture School
- Wayne Eckerling, Former Assistant Superintendent, Denver Public Schools
- Sandra Elliott, Gnow-How
- Nora Flood, Colorado League of Charter Schools
- Lisa Flores, Gates Family Foundation
- Marcia Fulton, The Odyssey School
- Chris Gibbons, West Denver Prep
- Merlin Holmes, National Heritage Academies
- Rebecca Holmes, KIPP Colorado Schools
- Brooke Johnson, Carson Family Foundation
- Michael Johnston, Mapleton School District
- Rachel Kelley, Teach for America
- Ed Kennedy, Edison Schools
- Kim Knous-Dolan, Donnell-Kay Foundation
- Bill Kurtz, Denver School of Science and Technology
- Cathy Lund, Walton Foundation
- Zach McComsey, Atlas Prep School
- Alex Medler, Colorado Children's Campaign
- Gretchen Morgan, Envision Schools Colorado
- Alex Ooms, West Denver Prep
- Reyna Perez-Oquendo, Donnell-Kay Foundation
- Audra Philippon, AXL Academy
- Jane Shirley, William-Smith High School
- Tim Taylor, Colorado Succeeds
- Sean VanBerschot, Teach for America
- Brian Weber, Stapleton Foundation
To see what I've written previously about Green Dot and Steve Barr, read here and here.
