Laura Clawson’s post today about Hillary Clinton’s comments on schools in Iowa highlights a legitimate question on Clinton as a purveyor of failed DLC/New Democrat/Third Way policies.
Were her comments a backdoor way of promoting charter schools? Her words echo those of the “school reform” movement. These “school reform” activists include many wealthy donors from the Third Way wing of the party. Their policies have held sway in places like Chicago where Arne Duncan (former head of Chicago Public Schools) and Rahm Emanuel have closed significant numbers of neighborhood schools in low income communities with the bulk of students — and concommitant funding — being transferred to non-union charter schools.
Whether or not Clinton meant what she said regarding closing under-performing schools, or simply misspoke, the real questions are: Just what is her education policy, and what is her stand on charter schools?
She has policy positions on expanding Head Start and promoting tax offsets for higher education, but she has yet to articulate a policy on public education.
She has made some negative comments about charter schools during the campaign. Her public comments about charter schools make sense in light of the endorsements of both the AFT and the NEA. However, as a long-time member of the now-defunct DLC, and a friend to the New Democrat/Third Way wing of the party, all of whom have long advocated for charter schools and decried teachers’ unions, one has to wonder what she would do as president, vis a vis, education.
A news article from The Wall Street Journal on Deecember 17 may provide a clue:
Democrats backing the effort to overhaul American education have become increasingly concerned that presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton isn’t committed to their cause, and some donors are holding back support for her campaign.
Their worries stem from skeptical comments she has made about charter schools and teacher evaluations, as well as her close relationship with teachers’ unions, who are critical of both.
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Another major Democratic donor, Eli Broad, refused requests for contributions from another friendly super PAC, and only changed his mind after personal reassurances from former President Bill Clinton and campaign chairman John Podesta that Mrs. Clinton will support charter schools.
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He said he was reassured after conversations with Messrs. Clinton and Podesta that Mrs. Clinton would in fact support charter schools, and he said he believes she will support teacher-accountability measures. He said he now expects to financially support her campaign.
“I think when push gets to shove, she’ll be more like Bill Clinton and perhaps [Obama Education Secretary] Arne Duncan than we think right now,” he said.
There is an added layer of irony to the juxtaposition of Clinton’s Iowa quote and a post the AFT put up this morning on their Facebook page highlighting a news report about failed charter schools making a killing in Florida during Jeb!s reign.
Given that Clinton’s education policy is unstated and unclear at this point, one has to wonder how the rank-and-file at AFT feels about the endorsement AFT head Randi Weingarten bestowed on old friend Hillary so early in the primary process.
Time for Clinton to clarify her education policy. Will what she says on the campaign trail align with what she would actually do as president? Or is she saying one thing now and planning on doing something else if elected?
Do Bill Clinton and John Podesta, her campaign chairman, speak for her?