Did AFT Offset Costs of Anti-Corporate Crusade with Corporate Cash?

The following is from AFT in 2009, when the future for corporate ed reform seemed ascendant, and Randi was on a wave.  AFT has scrubbed the video from their site, but I plugged it in to where it had been previously deleted from the Press Release.  Do have a look, and note the venue for this big announcement. Were no dark alleys available?

With AFT now spending a million bucks on their new Pretender Crusade to End Corporate Ed Reform, not to worry.  They have collected many times that amount from Gates, Broad, and Ford. From AFT:

The AFT on April 28 [2009] launched the first union-led, private foundation-supported effort to provide grants to local AFT unions nationwide to develop and implement bold education innovations in public schools.

"The AFT Innovation Fund clearly demonstrates the AFT's enduring commitment to the next generation and should put to rest anyone's misperception that unions aren't reformers. Each successful innovation through this program should be adaptable anywhere, potentially benefiting hundreds of thousands of children," Byrd-Bennett says.

Eli Broad, founder of the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, praised the fund's goals. "Given their daily frontline experience with students, teachers-and the unions that represent them-can play a pivotal role in identifying innovative, large-scale solutions that will position both students and teachers to succeed," Broad said. "We applaud the AFT for taking the lead in encouraging educators to generate innovations that will result in measurable, dramatic, districtwide improvements in student achievement."

The Ford Foundation said it was pleased to contribute to the fund. "Creating high-quality schools for our most vulnerable students is a collective effort, requiring the involvement and participation of everybody," says Jeannie Oakes, director of education and scholarship at the Ford Foundation. "This fund will enable teachers-the people closest to the children-to play an important and constructive role in education reform."

The education director of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation spoke of the fund's potential. "To dramatically increase the number of students who graduate high school and go on to complete college, we partner with organizations that are focused on measurably increasing student achievement for low-income and minority students," says Vicki L. Phillips, director of education at the Gates Foundation. "Ensuring every student has an effective teacher every year, especially those students with the greatest needs, is at the heart of reaching this goal. The AFT Innovation Fund can help put teachers at the forefront of bold reforms like common state standards; innovative, evidenced-based measures of evaluating teacher effectiveness; differentiated pay and school-based teacher contracts."

The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation said it chose to partner with the AFT because of the fund's promising potential. "The Mott has long valued education as a stepping stone to success for families, communities and the country," says Maureen Smyth, senior vice president of programs and communication. "By helping to inform and inspire education reform, the Innovation Fund will spark new opportunities to raise student achievement and build school and community partnerships."

Please visit the Innovation Fund Web site for the full list of advisory board members as well as the fund overview, application information and more.

April 28, 2009

And here is info on how to get some of that Broad cash:

Funding Database 

The Eli Broad Foundation
Funding Type:		Grants & Awards
Deadline:		No Deadline
Program Web Site:		http://www.broadeducation.org/index.html
Grade Level:		K-2nd, 3rd-5th, 6th-8th, 9th-12th,
Position:		Classroom Teacher
District Type:		Urban, Suburban, Rural,
Subject Area:		English Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, Foreign Language, Fine Arts, Technology / Media Centers,
States:		Alaska, Alabama, Overseas, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Wyoming, National Program,
The Broad Foundation focuses on improving urban K-12 public education through better governance, management and labor relations.