D is for Democrats for Education Reform

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Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) is a political action committee and lobbying group that is predominantly supported by hedge fund managers.  It's philosophy and goals are in line with the corporate reform movement's goals of privatization of schools through charters and vouchers, merit pay, the elimination of collective bargaining, deprofessionalizing of teaching, high stakes testing as the major goal of education, etc. Three other major organizations that work similarly to DFER as PACs and lobbying groups for corporate education advocates include Students First, the American Federation for Children, and Stand for Children.

In addition to these groups, the national Democratic Party seems to have embraced all aspects of the corporate reform model.  Our Democratic President Obama chose for his Education Secretary Arne Duncan,  a former basketball player with no experience in public schools.  Duncan never attended, taught, or worked in any public school in his life but he is now creating policy for the nation.  Both he and Obama consult with big business but not teachers or career educators, and their centerpiece program, Race to the Top, is a corporate reformers' dream, replete with tighter regulations on teacher evalution tied to testing and looser regulations on charter schools.  So it will be easier than ever under this Democratic leadership to fire public school teachers and close their schools and move that taxpayer money into for-profit charter schools staffed by cheap, easily-replaced teachers.

• Dump Duncan Cause He's Flunkin': The Petition
• Who are Democrats for Education Reform? And Why Do They Keep Bashing Public Schools and Unions? 
• Democrats for Neoliberal Education Reform
• DFER Watch
• America's Education Reform Lobby Makes Its Presence Known at the Voting Booth
• Obama's Education Policy Sucks (warning, strong profanity here)
• DFER Board of Directors and Board of Advisors 
• Profiteering and Union-Busting Repackaged as School Reform
• "Stand for Children" Stands for Corporations
• Standing for Corporate America
• Simmering Discontent Puts Stand for Children in Hot Water
• Tom Olsen, Another Former Stand for Children Member, Speaks Out
• Rheefirst.com
• Last Stand for Children First (satire)
• Sourcewatch: The American Federation for Children
• Right-Wing Billionaires Invest in Wisconsin's Recall Elections