We our now entering the second round of “Race to the Top.” State legislatures are busy worshiping at the alter of “charter schools” in order to establish their eligibility.
The radio, television, and print ads show a very unlikely and powerful coalition supporting the demand for new charter schools – Barack Obama, Arne Duncan, JP Morgan, assorted hedge funds, Michael “Moneybags” Bloomberg, Joel “Clueless” Klein, and Reverend Al Sharpton. The impression they are trying to give is that everybody whose opinion we trust thinks it is a good idea and that the teachers and their evil union want to block reform that will benefit our children.
On May 27, 2010, JP Morgan Chase ran a full-page advertisement in The New York Times with the headline The Way Forward, Investing in Our Children’s Future. It cost the bank approximately $180,000. This is the same JP Morgan Chase that received a $25 billion bailout from Congress as part of the federal Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). Just because the bank can’t manage its own affairs, does not mean it shouldn’t manage ours.