Michael Anderson
In this vignette, I will explore the following research questions: Why has education had
to deal with a feast or famine sort of access to the most meaningful instructional technology?
Why are some districts able to provide excellent technologically rich learning for their students,
when others will graduate students from middle and high school with negligible digital literacy
this year? and Are we at least moving in the right direction to provide equitable access to
educational realm, the billionaires and corporate interests have proven both disruptive to equity
and adaptability of our schools. Lets consider this troubling trend and imagine a more responsible
path toward authentic and equitable digital citizenship for our K-12 students.
Lets begin by recognizing the changing financing of public education in the United States
and how that financing affects access to well-designed & technology-rich K-12 instruction.
sponsoring that would focus on raising funds from other billionaires, such as the Waltons (of
Walmart fortune) and Gates (of Microsoft fortune and benefactor or Warren Buffets billions of
dollars) via their foundations that would sponsor initial investments in charter schools in cities
that often stand as educational reference points such as New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
Specifically, the plan is to remove 300,000 students from unionized Los Angeles Unified School
District (LAUSD) schools into unregulated and non-union LAUSD charter schools (Washington,
2015). The stated objective is to remove union protections for educators under the guise of
removing underachieving educators, but with an unwavering demand of cost reduction in the
areas of salary and benefits to educators. Broad claimed that when LAUSD salaries rise, the
competent teachers are less likely to choose to work in his unregulated charter schools. Broad
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would rather compromise the institution of public education than provide needed funding for
public schools and demand equity for all students. Pro-charter school billionaires like Broad have
coalesced around a business model for education whereby the values of: competition, incentives,
deregulation, and market-share drive the funding requirements. These values are in direct conflict
to the traditional value of education based upon collaboration and socialization that students need
Why is money for schools provided by billionaires a problem? In this vignette, the
emphasis is on the equitable funding for technologically-rich learning opportunities for K-12
public school students. In a climate of smaller state and local budgets, less federal support
institutionalize successful education reform with technology (Keane, et.al, 2003). Already,
schools like mine in LAUSD have laptops that were purchased in a fiscal boom-year from federal
funds (which vary wildly depending upon the economic conditions) some seven or eight years
ago, when we also had access to funding for class-size reduction. When money is made available
on a grant-basis to schools and districts under these conditions, the billionaires can effectively
disturb the stability of public education. Industry experts place the lifespan of student technology
(laptops, tablets, etc.) at four years; obviously this requires scheduled funding for devices to
ensure sustainability for technology-rich educational programs. If the funding from the
billionaires is based on annual grants and the total amount offered isnt enough to fund every
school anyway, then this strategy will simply ensure that preferred schools (and districts) will be
funded and provided with needed resources, while the funding failures for public education as a
whole persist and indeed perpetuate. The expenditure reports from these billionaire foundations
show that district headquarter positions are often subsidized by Broad and others after becoming
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fellows in Broads Superintendent Academy which conditions non-educational professionals to
tow the line of the reform objectives, which in LAUSD has led to millions of dollars worth of
salaries covered by foundations to place these fellows in important District positions; The
LAUSD School Board simply cannot turn-down this cost savings when deficient taxpayer
funding has tightened to purse strings to the extent that exists in recent years.
What if charter schools are not better than unionized schools anyway? It turns-out that the
issue has been studied by Stanford University and yielded findings very different from the public
perception and to claims by the billionaires along with the politicians with whom campaign
money has been provided. Charter schools have become a rallying cry for education reformers
yet, this study (Stanford 2013) reveals in unmistakable terms that, in the aggregate, charter
students are not faring as well as their TPS counterparts (Cremata, E., et.al., 2013). The
billionaires even produce feature films to turn the public away from support for public education.
Its no coincidence that Wont Back Down is funded in large part by Walden Media, the same
company that bankrolled Waiting for Superman. Walden Media is owned by Philip Anschutz, a
right-wing billionaire who has a long history of supporting right-wing politicians and causes
(Walker, 2012). When was the last time a feature film or successful television series showed what
public school can do and needs to do with regard to fostering digital citizenship and technological
literacy? I fear that access to meaningful and adaptive public education that drives a responsible
technologically literate society is not possible unless we can ensure that all students have
equitable access to the devices and associated well-designed instruction that they deserve. As it
stands, In 2009 the Gates Foundation and Viacom (the worlds fourth largest media
conglomerate, which includes MTV Networks, BET Networks, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon,
Comedy Central, and hundreds of other media properties) made a groundbreaking deal for
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entertainment programming (Barkan, 2011). This explains the suppression of programming that
would represent public education fairly. Lastly, just today Rupert Murdoch agreed to sell off the
Tribune Company, which publishes major newspapers including the Los Angeles Times to a
group of investors headed by Broad (Woodyard, 2015). Billionaires, by their nature are
accustomed to forcing their way by any means necessary. This move by Broad speaks volumes
about his obsession with manipulating the public to hold beliefs that run counter to their own
interests. The charter model has proven itself incompatible with educating our students on a scale
that will promote equity and access to 21st century education. Plus, the financing offered to
schools and districts has been shown to go toward administrative salaries, not toward a
The only way to ensure equity is to replace the billionaire-funded divide and conquer
model with a responsible funding model that demands equity and supports the communities for
which this funding is needed the most via public education. We deserve schools that are
accountable to well-informed voters, not billionaires and anti-union foundations. What happens
when elected leaders (ie. school board members) are circumvented by billionaires? New report
estimates $54 million in charter school fraud in New York state in 2014 (Park, 2014).
Students who happen to live in low-income areas are in the greatest need of technology-
rich instruction, yet the most functional and parentally supported of these students are the ones
targeted by the charter schools which dont improve their outcomes anyway. Also, charters
compromise their home public school by shifting resources away with their disenrollment, due to
per-pupil funding models (CA Ed. Code). Worse yet, the funding for the charter schools is not
guaranteed by the billionaire funders for the future, leaving us to wonder what the point of the
reshuffling is.
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Except in rare instances, even the most generous and patient funders will not stay with a
program forever (Keane, et.al, 2003). Instead of fighting for our livelihoods (eight years without
a raise in LAUSD until 2015) and continued threats to the right to remain unionized and retain
well-deserved benefits from the billionaires who aim to lower earnings of public school
educators, we need to funnel our energies into informing the public of our technologically
adaptive ambitions and needs. Unfortunately, the current model for funding of these programs in
California require either a billionaire backer or a partnership with a corporation such as Microsoft
that provides devices on loan with no certainty of sustainability (James Madison Middle School,
LAUSD, 2015). To compound this problem, districts like LAUSD have given-up trying to fund
21st century programs without sponsorships from corporations on a school by school basis, which
will ensure that equity and universal access to programs leading toward digital citizenship and
technological literacy will not be realized until at least 2020 when the next technology planning
The only funding source that makes sense is a public funding source from taxpayers who
believe in the programs. The billionaires have proven a bias against public schools and a
dedication to persuade the public that their public schools are inferior, unresponsive, and a drain.
The evidence shows that even under the attacks from the billionaires, schools and districts are
adapting. However, the kind of investment required to outfit the schools with the technology
(including sufficient broadband) and training (for educators, parents, and administrators) is only
possible and sustainable with support from the pubic that is directed at the ambitions of
technology-oriented education for all students. Schools are not businesses and any discussion of
market-share oriented ideology should be expelled or at least sent to spend some time with the
principle of equity.
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References
Barkan, J., (2011). Got Dough? How Billionaires Rule Our Schools, Retrieved from
https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/got-dough-how-billionaires-rule-our-schools
Cremata, E., Davis, D., Dickey, K., Lawyer, K., Negassi, Y., Raymond, M.E., & Woodworth, J.L.
(2013). National charter school study. Stanford University Center For Research Outcomes, 1-94
Keane, J.T., Gersick, A., Kim, C., & Honey, M. (2003). Toward a sustainability framework: Lessons
from the literature and the field. Benton Foundation, Retrieved from
https://www.benton.org/archive/publibrary/sustainability/sus_challenge.html#framework
Park, A.R., Liberatore, W., (2014). New Report Reveals New York States Charter Schools Pose $54
Million Fraud Risk to Taxpayers. Alliance for a Quality Education, retrieved from
http://www.aqeny.org/2014/12/release-new-report-reveals-new-york-states-charter-
schools-pose-54-million-fraud-risk-to-taxpayers/
Ravitch, D. (2010). Stop the madness. National Education Association, Retrieved from
http://www.nea.org/home/39774.htm
Walker, T. (2012). Wont Back Down: Parent Trigger Gets the Hollywood Treatment. National
Education Association. Retrieved from
http://neatoday.org/2012/05/02/wont-back-down-parent-trigger-gets-the-hollywood-
treatment-2/
Washington, B. (2015). CA educators push back against unregulated charter schools that threaten
students futures. Education Votes. Retrieved from
http://educationvotes.nea.org/2015/11/10/ca-educators-push-back-against-unregulated-
charter-school-plan-that-threatens-students-futures/.
Woodyard, C. (2015). Rupert Murdoch: Tribune selling newspaper group. USA Today. Retrieved from
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2015/11/27/rupert-murdoch-tribune-los-
angeles-times/76476022/