Given that Arthur Rock has a net worth of $1 billion, lives
in California and spends his time heaping money on tech startups (with
the mantra, “Get in, get out,” as his guide), a local school board race
in Atlanta, Ga. seems an unlikely candidate for his attention.
Yet
there is his name, on the campaign finance disclosure reports of four
candidates—two of whom were elected in November, and two who won a runoff on
December 3—for the board of Atlanta Public Schools. On each report, two
columns over from his name, the sum of $2,500 is listed, the maximum
allowable amount.
The APS race was a pivotal one for Atlanta, a city still dealing with the fallout of a cheating scandal that thrust its public school system into the national limelight. Just three incumbents were re-elected to the nine-seat board.
The biggest question facing the board of newcomers is to
what degree they will embrace charter schools. Last year, Georgia voters
passed a constitutional amendment that enabled the creation of a
state-appointed commission authorized to bypass local and state school
boards in approving new charter schools. Critics say the measure passed
because the text on the ballot, written by governor Nathan Deal,
referenced “parental involvement” and “student achievement,” but not the
specific authorities of the commission. In this climate, APS, which
already has the most charter schools of any Georgia school district,
will only avoid becoming the next laboratory for corporate education
reform with significant pushback from the new school board.
That’s where Arthur Rock comes in. And a lot of other rich people, too.
Rock is not the only name on the reports with financial power and a less than obvious connection to Atlanta Public Schools. Greg Penner of
the Walmart empire, Dave Goldberg of the Sheryl Sandberg empire
(they’re married), and Kent Thiry of the DaVita kidney dialysis empire
(it sounds inglorious, but he pulls in $17 million annually), are among
the names that had some Atlantans scratching their heads this election
season.
Michelle Constantinides has three children in Atlanta
Public Schools, and was alarmed by the level of corporate influence in
the race. She explains her worry is not that donors will directly
dictate board members’ decisions: “It’s much more sophisticated than
that,” she says. Rather, “it’s about building a relationship with people
and making them feel comfortable, and then once they feel comfortable,
coming in and providing a service.”
As evidence, she
points to Arthur Rock’s investment in Rocketship Education, a charter
school management company. In donating to school board candidates, she
says, “He’s marketing a product.”
That product has
Constantinides concerned. She doesn’t like the data-driven approach of
many charter schools and education companies, an approach she says is
already too strong in Atlanta’s schools. She recounts how her
third-grader, who attends a traditional public school, became so anxious
about having to take standardized tests for the first time next spring
that he vomited twice during the first week of school this fall.
Teachers
in Atlanta are hurting, too, according to Verdaillia Turner, president
of both the state and local chapters of the American Federation of
Teachers. Free from the regulations that hold traditional schools
accountable, charter school administrators in Georgia are able to fire
teachers without due process, require them to take on extra work without
extra compensation, and set other employment policies that nullify the
rights historically afforded to public school teachers.
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