BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 X-WR-CALNAME:www.indybay.org PRODID:-//indybay/ical// v1.0//EN BEGIN:VEVENT UID:Indybay-18755502 SEQUENCE:18868141 CREATED:20140508T193100Z DESCRIPTION:Carrie E. Walton Penner\nhttp://walmart1percent.org/family-tree/carrie-walton-penner/\nObama as WalMart Greeter\nLabor and environmentalists will be protesting President Obama's publicity and support for union busting Walmart in Mountain View. Walmart has a long record of terrorizing workers on the job and creating harmful health and safety conditions for workers throughout the country.\nThese Walmart workers at Walmart cannot afford to pay their rents and many probably live in their cars and are subsidized by public subsidies such as food stamps and public healthcare because of the cost shifting by criminal Walmart corporation. Of course Obama won't be talking about a living wage by Walmart billionaires who are also trying to privatize public education by the Walton family.\nBig Profits in Not-for-Profit Charter Schools\nhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/charter-school-executive-profit_b_5093883.html\nCarrie E. Walton Penner\nhttp://walmart1percent.org/family-tree/carrie-walton-penner/\n\nQuick facts\nFamily: Daughter of Rob Walton. Married to Greg Penner; four children\nAge: 43 (born August 12, 1970)\nResidence: Atherton, CA; home is valued at $20.6 million. Walton Penner and her husband Greg Penner also own a $7.5 million home in Carmel, CA. They are clients of luxury landscape architect Ron Herman, who was once described in Fortune magazine as “gardener to the plutocracy.”\nTwitter: @cewp812\nWealth\nUnknown. However, her father Rob Walton has an estimated net worth of $26.1 billion. In addition, her husband Greg Penner manages Madrone Capital Partners, an investment firm “affiliated with S. Robson Walton and other [Walton] family members.” Madrone’s investments include a $1 billion investment in the Hyatt Hotels Corporation, a $33 million investment in the failed search engine Cuil, and a stake in the bankrupt solar energy company Solyndra, which was raided by the FBI in September 2011.\nEducational and professional background\nEducation\n • High School: Governor Dummer Academy (Massachusetts; now known as the Governor’s Academy), 1988\n • BA, Georgetown University, Economics and History\n • MA, Stanford University School of Education, 1997\nProfessional\nWalton Penner, a stay-at-home parent, supports the “school choice” education reform movement, seeking to shift resources from public education to privately-funded options or impose market economic frameworks on public education. One summary biography of her explains that the Walton Family Foundation, of which she is a board member, “believes that the best way to achieve continuous and sustainable improvements in K–12 schools is to create competition among schools by empowering parents to choose among them.”\nHer previous jobs have included:\n • Program Officer for Education, Walton Family Foundation\n • Research Analyst for an evaluation of the Michigan Mathematics and Science Centers\n • Evaluator, National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship\n • Consultant, Willowbrook International Preschool, Tokyo, Japan\nPolitical giving\nWalton Penner is an active donor to politicians at both the federal and state level, and has used her wealth to promote political causes in states she doesn’t live in.\nFederal giving\nWalton Penner has been an active donor to politicians running for federal office. She gave the most during the 2004 election cycle, when she gave more than $100,000 to politicians—97% to Republican candidates.\nExamples of state-level giving\n • Louisiana: In October 2011, Walton Penner and her husband Greg Penner each donated $5,000 to Kira Orange Jones, a candidate for the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE). Orange Jones, the Teach for America head in New Orleans who was elected to the BESE in this fall’s election, is said to have “[run] as the embodiment of post-Katrina reform efforts in New Orleans”—reform efforts that have been focused on charter schools and school privatization. Greg Penner is on the board of Teach for America.\n • Wisconsin: Walton Penner has funded Republican candidates for state office in Wisconsin, a state she doesn’t live in. As the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism reported in September 2011, Carrie Walton Penner was the second-largest individual contributor to winning state legislative candidates in the 2010 elections that put Republicans in control of the state government; six of the top ten donors were members of the Walton family. Under the first budget passed by Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-majority legislature, funding for public schools was cut by $800 million over two years, while funding for programs that funnel public money to private schools increased by $17 million over two years.\nCommunity connections\n • Walton Family Foundation: Board of Directors\n • The KIPP Foundation: Board Member. The KIPP Foundation is charged with growing the network of KIPP charter schools and provides supports and services for the KIPP network.\n • Alliance for School Choice: Board Member. The Alliance for School Choice is a 501(c)(3) school choice advocacy group affiliated with Republican activist Betsy DeVos.\n • American Federation for Children: Board Member. The American Federation for Children is the 501(c)(4) (lobbying/political) arm of the Alliance for School Choice.\n • California Charter Schools Association: Board Member; CCSA seeks to grow the number of publicly-funded charter schools in California.\n- See more at: http://walmart1percent.org/family-tree/carrie-walton-penner/#sthash.yzMuWbPh.dpuf\n\nThe Walmart's Education Agenda And Funding Of Privatization And Union Busting\nhttp://walmart1percent.org/education/\n“Before considering the specific goals and activities of these foundations, it is worth reflecting on the wisdom of allowing education policy to be directed or, one might say, captured by private foundations. There is something fundamentally antidemocratic about relinquishing control of the public education policy agenda to private foundations run by society’s wealthiest people.”[1]\n- Diane Ravitch, education historian and Assistant Secretary of Education under President George H.W. Bush\nWhen the richest family in the country inserts itself into the education policy debate, ordinary Americans have reason to be concerned. Why should one family’s overwhelmingly deep pockets give them the right to play such an outsized role in determining how the next generation of American students is educated? What are they really trying to accomplish?\nWhy do the Waltons care about education?\nWhile John Walton said in February 2000 that he believed the greatest responsibility facing the country was to provide a “world-class education” for all children,[2] recent comments from his wife suggest that the family’s original motive for becoming involved in education policy may have been less lofty.\nIn a June 2011 speech to the graduating class of the private school her son Lukas attended, Christy Walton explained that her family became involved in K-12 education reform because their business—presumably Walmart—“was having trouble finding qualified people to fill entry-level positions” and because the family believed that “the education being provided [in public schools] had been dummied [sic] down.”\nWho’s involved? Who are they connected to?\nThrough their foundation, the Walton family has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to promote charter schools and private schools, and family members are involved in many prominent national organizations pursuing this agenda. Get to know the family members most involved in this work:\n • John Walton: Until his death in 2005, John Walton coordinated the education work of his family and family’s foundation.[3] Most notably, he and the late Republican financier Ted Forstmann co-founded the Children’s Scholarship Fund, which funds private school educations for low-income children[4], and he assisted in the creation of the right-wing advocacy group Alliance for School Choice.[5] He was also a shareholder in a for-profit school development company [6] that went bankrupt in 2006.[7]\n • Carrie Walton Penner: Penner, who graduated from a private boarding school and attended two elite universities,[8] sits on the boards of the KIPP Foundation[9] (to which the Walton Family Foundation recently gave $25 million[10]) and the California Charter Schools Association.[11] She is also on the boards of the Alliance for School Choice[12]—a voucher advocacy group—and its lobbying and political affiliate.[13] Penner has a degree from the Stanford University School of Education, but has apparently never worked on the front line of education as a teacher.[14]\n • Greg Penner: Greg Penner, Carrie Walton Penner’s husband, is on the National Board of Directors for Teach for America, and is a director of the Charter Growth Fund,[15] a “non-profit venture capital fund” investing charter in schools.[16]\n • Christy Walton: Christy Walton is now the co-chair of the Children’s Scholarship Fund, which her late husband co-founded.[17]\n • Annie Proietti: Jim Walton’s daughter, Annie Walton Proietti, works for a KIPP school in Denver.[18]\nWhat are they trying to accomplish? What are they funding?\nThe Walton Family Foundation states on its website that it seeks to “infuse competitive pressure into America’s K-12 education system by increasing the quantity and quality of school choices available to parents, especially in low-income communities.”[19] Between 2005 and 2010, the Walton Family Foundation gave nearly $700 million to education reform organizations.[20] Specifically, the family provides lavish funding for voucher programs, charter schools, and policy and advocacy groups devoted to establishing and promoting alternatives to public schooling.\nIn addition, the Walton Family Foundation finances education studies whose findings reinforce the family’s positions on education reform. In January 2012, The Washington Post reported[21] on a new study done by Illinois-based IFF, a “regional nonprofit community development financial institution”[22] that identifies itself as a “stakeholder” in the charter school movement,[23] and funded with a $100,000 grant from the Walton Family Foundation.[24] Considering the source of this study, it is perhaps unsurprising that the study called for the closure of over 30 public schools in the city and the expansion of charter schools.[25]\nWhile the family funds charter schools, it seems clear that its real interest lies with voucher programs, a mechanism for school privatization through which public tax dollars can be diverted to private institutions. The late John Walton, son of Walmart founder Sam Walton, was recognized by Business Week in February 2000 as “a leading advocate for using ‘consumer choice’ to reform America’s schools”—that is, through the use of taxpayer-funded private school vouchers.[26] Indeed, the family apparently began working on charter schools as a sort of compromise, only after it became clear that privatization of schools was a very controversial idea.[27]\nThe family is active in education policy outside of its foundation, too—for example, by injecting money into local political races, often far from where they live:\n • Wisconsin: Many of the Walmart heirs have furthered their interests in school privatization by funding Republican candidates for state office in Wisconsin, a state none of them lives in. As the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism reported in September 2011, six members of the family were among the top 10 individual contributors to winning state legislative candidates in the 2010 elections that put Republicans in control of the state government. Under the first budget passed by Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-majority legislature, funding for public schools was cut by $800 million over two years, while funding for voucher programs that funnel public money to private schools increased by $17 million over two years. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has the first and largest voucher program in the country, and the Walton Family Foundation provides substantial funding to School Choice Wisconsin, the state’s primary advocate for vouchers.[28]\n • Louisiana: In October 2011, Carrie and Greg Penner, who live in California, each donated $5,000 to Kira Orange Jones, a candidate for the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE).[29] Orange Jones, the Teach for America head in New Orleans who was elected to the BESE in this fall’s election, is said to have “[run] as the embodiment of post-Katrina reform efforts in New Orleans”[30]—reform efforts that have been focused on charter schools and school privatization. Greg Penner is on the board of Teach for America.[31]\n • California: In 2006, Greg Penner contributed $250,000 to a campaign against proposed Proposition 82.[32] The proposition, sponsored by actor and director Rob Reiner, sought to establish a universal preschool system in California for four-year-olds by placing an additional income tax on individuals making more than $400,000 a year, and couples making in excess of $800,000.[33]\n\nWhy is this a problem?\nIn her most recent book, education historian Diane Ravitch, Assistant Secretary of Education under President George H.W. Bush and a former supporter of charters and vouchers,[34] clearly articulates the problem with Walton-style education philanthropy:\nThese foundations, no matter how worthy and high-minded, are after all, not public agencies. They are not subject to public oversight or review, as a public agency would be. They have taken it upon themselves to reform public education, perhaps in ways that would never survive the scrutiny of voters in any district or state. If voters don’t like the foundations’ reform agenda, they can’t vote them out of office. The foundations demand that public schools and teachers be held accountable for performance, but they themselves are accountable to no one. If their plans fail, no sanctions are levied against them. They are bastions of unaccountable power.[35]\nThe Waltons and the Walton Family Foundation have gargantuan financial resources and can exert undue influence on politicians and public policy issues of their choosing. No matter where people come down on the issues of education reform or school choice, we can all agree it is unfair that the Walton family gets to dictate the future of public education because of the amount of money at its disposal, and to do so in a way that is unaccountable to the public.\nRemember, too, that the Waltons—white, rural, and mind-bogglingly wealthy—pursue their education reform goals in low-income, urban communities where the student populations consist largely of children of color. When a profoundly privileged family seeks to engage in philanthropy in historically marginalized communities that they are not part of, the lack of accountability is even more troubling.\nThe Waltons and their foundation have reaped billions and billions of dollars from a ruthless business model that relies on Walmart jobs being insecure and unstable jobs, with low wages, skimpy benefits, and little respect in the workplace. Their company has helped create a world where parents have to work two or more jobs, with unstable hours to make ends meet. They’ve helped create a world where parents struggle with choices like paying rent, putting food on the table or taking a sick child to the doctor. And now the Waltons want to tell us how to fix our schools? The Walmart model has made its impact on much of the world. But, for many, the Walmartization of our schools is one step too far.\n\n[1] Diane Ravitch, The Death and Life of the Great American School System, pp. 200-201.\n[2] “John Walton: ‘Making a World-Class Education Available to Every Child,’” Bloomberg\nBusinessweek, February 7, 2000, http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_06/b3667008.htm\n[3] “A Quiet Family Fund Creates a Loud Buzz,” Caroline Preston, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, February 20, 2011,http://philanthropy.com/article/The-Quiet-Walton-Family-Fund/126421/\n[4] “Theodore Forstmann, Private Equity Pioneer, Is Dead at 71,” Andrew Ross Sorkin, The New York Times, November 20, 2011,http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/theodore-forstmann-private-equity-pioneer-is-dead-at-71/; “Founders – Children’s Scholarship Fund,” http://www.scholarshipfund.org/drupal1/?q=founders.\n[5] “The Carnegie of School Choice,” Joanne Jacobs, Philanthropy Roundtable, September/October 2005,http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/topic/excellence_in_philanthropy/the_carnegie_of_school_choice\n[6] Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. proxy statement dated April 18, 1997, http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/104169/0000104169-97-000002.txtand “Wal-Marting Philanthropy,” Bill Berkowitz, October 22, 2004, http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1022-01.htm\n[7] “Tesseract Group, Inc.,” http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=319510\n[8] 2009 Annual Report of Giving, for The Governor’s Academy:http://www.gda.org/uploaded/Giving/Annual_Reports/2009_Annual_report.pdf; “Carrie Walton Penner,”http://www.calcharters.org/about/board/carrie-walton-penner.html; “Teaching Arkansas Children Well,” Stanford Magazine, March/April 2002,http://www.davidfetterman.com/arkansasstanfordmagazine.htm\n[9] “KIPP Board of Directors,” http://www.kipp.org/about-kipp/the-kipp-foundation/board-of-directors\n[10] “$25 Million Investment in KIPP to Help Double Number of Families That Choose KIPP Schools,”http://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/mediacenter/educationreform/walton-family-foundation-invests-$25-million-in-kipp-to-serve-59,000-students-by-2015\n[11] “Carrie Walton Penner,” http://www.calcharters.org/about/board/carrie-walton-penner.html\n[12] “Alliance for School Choice,” http://www.allianceforschoolchoice.org/leadership\n[13] “American Federation for Children – Leadership,” http://www.federationforchildren.org/leadership\n[14] Her bio for the California Charter School Association indicates that she has never held a teaching position: “California Charter Schools Association: The Association: Our Team: The Board,” http://twiststudio.net/ccsa/association/ourteam-board.html#bio\n[15] “Charter School Growth Fund – Who We Are – Board,” http://www.chartergrowthfund.org/who.board.html\n[16] “Charter School Growth Fund – Who We Are – Overview,” http://www.chartergrowthfund.org/who.overview.html\n[17] “Theodore Forstmann, Private Equity Pioneer, Is Dead at 71,” Andrew Ross Sorkin, The New York Times, November 20, 2011,http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/theodore-forstmann-private-equity-pioneer-is-dead-at-71/; “Founders – Children’s Scholarship Fund,” http://www.scholarshipfund.org/drupal1/?q=founders.\n[18] http://volunteer.du.edu/index.cfm?page=main.oppSearchDetail&agencyID=100\n[19] “Education Reform,” http://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/educationreform\n[20] Based on reports of grant funding in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 on the Walton Family Foundation website (and archived versions of the website from the Internet Archive, http://www.archive.org).\n[21] “Many public schools in D.C.’s poorest area should be transformed or shut, study says; more charters recommended,” Bill Turque, The Washington Post, January 26, 2012. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/2012/01/24/gIQAXI9sRQ_story.html\n[22] “About IFF,” http://www.iff.org/about-iff\n[23] “Policy and Research,” http://www.iff.org/policy-and-research\n[24] “Many public schools in D.C.’s poorest area should be transformed or shut, study says; more charters recommended,” Bill Turque, The Washington Post, January 26, 2012. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/2012/01/24/gIQAXI9sRQ_story.html\n[25] “Many public schools in D.C.’s poorest area should be transformed or shut, study says; more charters recommended,” Bill Turque, The Washington Post, January 26, 2012. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/2012/01/24/gIQAXI9sRQ_story.html\n[26] John Walton: ‘Making a World-Class Education Available to Every Child,’” Bloomberg\nBusinessweek, February 7, 2000, http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_06/b3667008.htm\n[27] See Christy Walton’s June 2011 speech: “So in California, where we were living at that time, we began to work on vouchers, and that’s the full choice, where money follows the child, so whatever public or private school you decide and determine that your child needs to attend. And there was such a battle that there was a compromise made, and that gave us the public charter schools that we have today, that are in many, many states. And these public schools offer some options to the conventional system. But they’re still not as innovative and successful overall as the majority of private schools.”\n[28] “The selling of school choice,” Bill Lueders, the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, September 18, 2011. Available online athttp://www.wisconsinwatch.org/2011/09/18/school-choice-part-1/.\n[29] Louisiana Board of Ethics Campaign Finance Portal search, 12/09/11\n[30] “Kira Orange Jones elected to BESE,” Andrew Vanacore, the Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), November 19, 2011.http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/11/kira_orange_jones_elected_to_b.html\n[31] “Boards – Teach for America,” http://www.teachforamerica.org/about-us/boards/\n[32] Followthemoney.org, California Contributions Report. Accessed 20 May 2011.\n[33] Furillo, Andy, “Election Law Election law quirk spurs protests; Preschool initiative backers want to know where foes got funds.” Sacramento Bee. 3 May 2006.\n[34] “Why I Changed My Mind, Diane Ravitch, The Nation, May 27, 2010, http://www.thenation.com/article/why-i-changed-my-mind\n[35] Diane Ravitch, The Death and Life of the Great American School System, pp. 200-201.\n- See more at: http://walmart1percent.org/education/#sthash.TpnVTaif.dpuf\n\nEntrepreneurs & Venture Capitalists: Line Up for Your Cash Cow Charter School Profits\nhttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/08/22/1233120/-Entrepreneurs-Venture-Capitalists-Line-Up-for-Your-Cash-Cow-Charter-School-Profits\nTHU AUG 22, 2013 AT 07:52 PM PDT\nEntrepreneurs & Venture Capitalists: Line Up for Your Cash Cow Charter School Profits\n\nDoes anyone have a problem with Venture Capitalists, Charter Schools, and Entrepreneursall being in the same sentence? You should.\n\nYes, the $Billionaires are lining up to invest in Charter Schools and are looking for like-minded entrepreneurs. Nothing new here. BUT and I mean a BIG BUT.....\n\nIt seems like kids are a great commodity to invest in, like pork bellies. There is a Kid Rush as tech companies and school builders line up for the Charter Gravy Train.\n\nThe Charter School Investment Gravy Train began during the Clinton Administration thanks to a new law: New Markets Tax Credit Program\n\nNMTC emerged in the late 1990s, when numerous foundations and think tanks were working to popularize the idea of using business-oriented mechanisms to help disadvantaged communities increase wealth and jobs.\n... to open untapped markets through a fostering of “community capitalism.”\n\nparticipants called for improving access to capital (especially through equity investment)\n\nVice President Al Gore, in support of the conference conclusions, stated that,\n\n“The greatest untapped markets In the world are right here at home, in our distressed communities.”\n\nThat's so true. Poverty is a huge, profitable market. Just as the Pay Day Lenders charging poor people 600% interest or the car dealerships that charge poor people 25% interest. And privately owned and operated Charter Schools are booming.\nWe are closing Head Start programs, some 60,000 kids will be shut out, but Goldman Sachs to Finance Early Education Program\n\nThte Walmart Foundation is one of the largest financial behemoths funding Charter Schools. Let's no forget that Hillary Clinton served on Walmart's Board of Directors for six years, from 1986-1992\n\n\n\nDavid Sirota has done a great job following the well-funded, often scandalous, and mediocre-at-best but VERY PROFITABLE Charter School movement. Here's his recent article:\n\nSchool reformers give a lesson in corruption\n\nParadoxes come in all different forms, but here’s one that perfectly fits this Gilded Age:\nThe most significant lesson from the ongoing debate about American education has little to do with schools and everything to do with money.\n\nThis lesson comes from a series of recent scandals that expose the financial motives of the leaders of the so-called education “reform” movement — the one that is trying to privatize public schools.\n\nDavid hits the "For Profit Charter School drive" nail on the head in this video. (embedding twice, with both the old and new embed codes).\n\n\n\nIN A NUTSHELL: Charter Schools are For-Profit Public Education, run by hopeful entrepreneurs, funded by $Billionaires, Banks, Hedge Funds, and Private Equity firms who will profit from For-Profit Public Education.\n\nFor-Profit Public Education is a $1.3 Trillion dollar market to be tapped. All those yet unscooped dollars must be driving some investors absolutely crazy.\n\nLike the privatized prison business model, K-12 School privatization is just another humanity-callous opportunity for the 1% Owners to profit from the 99% Serfs.\n\nBut the Charter School corruption is becoming a huge scandal. Click here for an alphabetical listing of Charter School Scandals\n\nAlso, Check out these reports:\n\nHucksters, Campaign Donors, Scam Artists: Open a Charter School in New Jersey\n\nCharter School Moguls Scam Oregon Out of Millions\n\nHead of Charter School Pleads Guilty to Fraud Charges\n\nCharter School Founder Dorothy June Brown Charged in $6 Million Fraud Scheme\n\nGeorgia file connects Twin Cities charter school, fraud scheme\n\nSHAME ON AMERICA!\n\nImagine how wonderful public education would be today if these uberly wealthy people had spent their $Trillions on improving existing schools and building enough new schools to keep the student teacher ration below 20:1\n\nBut, hey, who expects anyone to invest in America's children and their future without some promise of profiteering. \n\nThis isn't Sweden, you know!\n\nWill the $Billionaires pockets keep the money train rolling if the Charter train crashes? Are they aware they might be making unsound investments?\n\nAccording to the following, today's Charter School profits might just crash the train in the not-to-distant future. Here's why\n\nEven television's somewhat conservative Legal Authority, Jonathan Turley, is raising the alarms about Charter School Investors profits being made off of publically-funded, privately-owned Charter Schools.\n\nShockingly, the GOP Congress, towards the end of Bill Clinton's second term, provided the financial incentive to make HUGE PROFITS from building Charter Schools: New Markets Tax Credit Program (NMTC Program)\n\nTurley writes:\n\nCharter Schools and The Profit Motive\n\nGonzalez said the banks and other wealthy investors had been making “windfall profits” by taking advantage of “a little-known federal tax break to finance new charter-school construction.”\nThat little know tax break, the New Markets Tax Credit, can be so lucrative, Gonzalez said, “that a lender who uses it can almost double his money in seven years.”\n\nHe added that the tax break “gives an enormous federal tax credit to banks and equity funds that invest in community projects in underserved communities, and it’s been used heavily now for the last several years for charter schools.”\n\nWHAT WILL WALL STREET AND THE $BILLIONAIRES BET ON NEXT? My guess is federally-funded Pre-School.\nWho is providing all the cash?\n\nTHE WALTONS\n\n\n\nNote two items the Waltons are funding: New Teacher Project and Students First. Both of these organizations were launched by Michelle Rhee, as seen in this chart.\n\n\n\nThere is so much big money flowing into the Charter School movement it is mind boggling. For instance,\n\nBILL & MELINDA GATES, JP MORGAN, & other $Billionaire Foundations\n\n\n\nAnd Lawrence Summers is a former Director for Teach for America, along with his many insider money making ventures that should disqualify him for the Fed Chair, imo.\n\n\n\nTHE INFORMATION THAT WAS MISSING WAS HOW THE MONEY FLOWED from $Billionaires through foundations to Entrepreneurs to build and open, operate, and profit from Charter Schools that collect taxpayers money for the students.\n\nThere are several funnels but NewSchools Venture Fund is a key financial sourse element. And, yes, Ms. Rhee got a grant from them, too.\n\n\n\nPLEASE FOCUS ON TWO NAMES IN THIS LAST CHART:\n\nKim Smith, Co-Founder of NewSchools Venture Fund; and\n\nDeborah McGriff, Partner of NewSchools Venture Fund\n\nTHIS IS WHERE THE RIGHT WING MEETS THE LEFT WING and Cory Booker is on board.\n\nBlack Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO): Community Voice or Captive of the Right?\n\nBAEO announced its formation on August 24, 2000 at a national press conference in Washington, D.C. Former Milwaukee Schools Superintendent Dr. Howard Fuller, the group's president and founder, said it would support tax-funded voucher programs, private scholarships, tuition tax credits, charter schools and public/private partnerships.\nNote that Deborah McGriff is also Vice Chair of BAEO and Kim Smith and Cory Booker are two of the directors of BAEO.\n\n\nAlso, note that Theodore Mitchell is a Director of New Leaders AND he is the CEO of NewSchools Venture Fund.\n\nHe has long been a leader in education reform in California and nationally. From 2008 through 2010, he served as president of the California State Board of Education.\nSo here's how it works:\n$Billionaires make money selling to us, the profits are donated to their foundations that then fund organizations that are organized to fund entrepreneurs to grow the Charter School movement, change political policy to be more favorable to Charter Schools, and to fund politicians that will go with the Charter School program which, once built, will be PAID FOR BY US and our children forever.\n\nTo add spice to the HUGE K-12 MARKET, you can invest in all sorts of new businesses springing up everywhere THANKS TO FUNDING from the $Billionaires and their foundations.\n\nYou will find an interactive link here that you can use to find the hundreds of new business NewSchools is helping to launch.\n\nEducation is now a burgeoning market for venture capitalists, private equity, and entrepreneurs.\n\nIn a short time, we will begin to hear about problems with a new investment opportunity to help poor people:\n\nBuilding a Healthy & Sustainable Social Impact Bond Market:\n\nPay-for-Success (PFS) financings, sometimes known as Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) or Social Innovation Financings\n\nOver the next several months, we hope to continue to drive the field forward by catalyzing investor collaboration that brings together private foundations and commercially-oriented capital, leveraged into these deals initially by subordinated philanthropic investment.\nOur commitment to testing SIBs stems from the belief that this structure could represent the most tangible example of innovative financing we are likely to see for the next five to ten years. We hope you will join us in building this market to scale solutions to social problems facing poor or vulnerable communities in the US.\n\nApparently, investors can double their investments in a few years earning 7.5% - 13% depending on how successful the program they invest in becomes.\n \n\nIf the program creates better results through lower re-conviction rates, the return to the investors can increase up to 13.5%.\n\nWorkers United Will Never Be Divided! SF Rally And March To Defend Fired WalMart Workers\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agfw_1CnJo4&feature=youtu.be\nIn a national day of action for the 60 fired Walmart workers on September 5, 2013, San Francisco bay area Walmart workers and labor and community activists rallied and marched to the Four Seasons Hotel where Walmart Board Of Directors member Marissa Mayer who is also CEO of Yahoo! lives.\nSome workers and supporters blocked the entrance to the hotel and were arrested.\nFor more information on this campaign go to:\nwww.changewalmart.org\nProduction of Labor Video Project www.laborvideo.org\n\nWalMart Workers Fed Up! Richmond-San Leandro Actions In BA On 2012 Black Friday\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aYrurD-E7E\nAs part of the national WalMart Black Friday on November 23, \ndemonstrations and protests were held in San Leandro and \nRichmond in the Bay Area. WalMart workers spoke about the \nintimidation and terrorism on the job to silence them from \nspeaking out and organizing. Some workers walked off the \njob in solidarity with the national day of action and were \npromptly fired. Making Change at Walmart is the organizing \ngroup which called this day of action and it is supported by \nthe United Food And Commercial Workers Union UFCW.\nIn San Leandro, WalMart on November 22, 2012 also \nthreatened the use of the police to remove the protesters \nincluding their own workers.\nProduction of Labor Video Project www.laborvideo.org\n\nWalmart Nightmare! Injured Worker Speaks Out\n http://youtu.be/RQEmXZOWUkg\nAt the November 23, 2012 national Black Friday at WalMarts around \nthe country, an injured worker at he Richmond Walmart spoke out \nabout her injuries and the health and safety conditions at Walmart.\nShe also discusses how Walmart criminally conspired to retaliate\nagainst her because of her injurers and cost shift their health\ncosts to others.\nProduction of Labor Video Project www.laborvideo.org\n\nFighting Wal-Martization\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vA3ReSfPOyQ&feature=gv\nFighting Wal-Martization 26 min. (2005) shows Wal-Mart plays a critical role in \nholding down wages in the US. This video looks at how the labor movement \nis seeking to stop the Wal-Martization of America and why this threatens the living \nconditions of all the people when a Wal-Mart goes up in highly unionized \nOakland California. \nThis is a production of \nThe Labor Video Project \nP.O. Box 720027 San Francisco 94172 \n(415)282-1908 \nlvpsf@labornet.org www.laborvideo.org\n https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/05/08/18755502.php SUMMARY:Greet Obama As He Helps Union Buster WalMart In Mountain View LOCATION:Walmart Mountain View\nEl Camino St and San Antonio\nMountain View URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/05/08/18755502.php DTSTART:20140509T160000Z DTEND:20140509T170000Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR