I read about this group before, but I didn’t pay it much mind. For some reason though, it stayed with me and gnawed at the back of my mind. Yesterday, I decided to look into them, and found out more about them. The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) is a group of southern states, stretching from Delaware to Texas. Each state has a board and an advisory council. Here is Delaware’s group:
A lot of these names make sense, and some make no sense at all! I’m not sure why a former state representative would serve on a council like this. Darryl Scott has been somewhat quiet since he decided not to run again for State Rep but I am hearing his name spoken more than usual these days. With all due respect to Robert Rescigno, I have never heard his name before. Markell, Sokola and Jaques are the peanut butter & jelly (including the bread) of all things education in Delaware, so that fits. Senator Brian Pettyjohn serves on the Senate Education Committee so I get that. But Senator F. Gary Simpson? I found that to be an odd choice. So what does this group do? And who funds it? Some of the names of the “non-profits” and “foundations” below are the usual suspects when it comes to this kind of thing. Which tells me this group is not an official political group but rather another corporate education reform group…
From what I could from this document on the SREB website, this is all just more of the same. More groups, more connections, and more taxpayer money that produces the same results…not a whole heck of a lot! But what is interesting is some of the names that don’t serve on the Delaware SREB Board or the SREB Legislative Advisory Council and some of the other activities that go on with this group…
By what benchmarks is Delaware stating they are a leading state for standards and assessments?
I would love to see one of these newsletters! Can anyone send them to me?
State Rep. Joe Miro is involved! He is also on the House Education Committee.
Senator Sokola hanging out with Dr. Gray! When it comes to the tech side of things in education, you can always count on Senator David Sokola to be in the thick of it!
More Sokola!
Can someone tell me what an “Academic Common Market” is? Never mind, I looked it up. It allows Delaware students to pay the same as in-state tuition rates at other colleges and universities if they are in the SREB. Only 88 college students in Delaware are participating.
This all sounds like some regional thing, and I’m sure there are other boards like this in other sections of the country. This is just more corporate education reform, but on the legislative side of things. I always wonder where some of our legislators get all their nifty ideas for the destruction of public education…
The Season Of Myths 
My guess is there are opportunities for private investors buried deep in ESEA. These folks will use this bill to write state laws. For 8 yrs, Duncan has been setting up the infrastructure for privatization & leaking his reg tweeking to insiders. It’s no surprise these boards popped up to prepare for the gravy train ESSA set in motion.
You wrote about the Social Impact Bonds in The “Pay for Success” section. Pre-K will be in everyone’s 2016 stump speeches because they care so much.
http://dianeravitch.net/2015/12/03/social-impact-bonds-included-in-essa/
A commentor on Ravitch’s site had this to say about SIBs
Noelle Greene
I am noticing at the local level, states are passing Pay for Success laws to fund preschool and daycare programs for low income working mothers. Of course the primary goal is to direct any savings in social welfare costs to the investor. I am suspicious of the people behind these contracts because they are the same group of people (ALEC types) who are opposed to Head Start. It’s hypocritical to be for daycare but against Head Start.
Also, the recent NYTimes story (Did Goldman Make the Grade 11/4/2015) highlighted how Goldman was able to change the formula that defines their success in a way for investors to make more money.
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One more thing. If the POTUS & elected officials wanted universal Pre-K, Head Start can be brought to scale in just a few years. HS gets its funding directly from the federal govt. and they must accept 10% of children w/ disabilities. If POTUS & States really want universal Pre-K they don’t need Goldman Sachs to pay for it.
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