Ron Russo’s BOLD Plan Regurgitates Old Plans And The Worst Ideas Ever In Delaware Education

Ron Russo, the former Head of School at the Charter School of Wilmington, launched The BOLD Plan today on Facebook.  Using the tag “Education is a business”, Russo managed to take the most horrible ideas ever from the past three decades and put them into a single pile of absolute garbage.  While I don’t think this plan will go anywhere, it is symptomatic of the very same corporate education reform think tank crap that has proliferated American public education and turned Delaware’s school system into a very bad joke. The whole plan can be read below.

Welcome To The New Age Of Secrecy In Delaware’s Public/Private Partnership Marriage From Hell

Imagine a division of state government that no longer reports to the Governor.  It reports to the Secretary of State.  But this division will have a director from the private sector.  This director will not have to make their financial information public.  The activities of this division will be considered a non-profit agency deliberately removing itself from Freedom of Information Act requests.  Welcome to Governor John Carney’s non-transparent public/private partnership where anything can happen behind closed doors and the public will never know about it.

Delaware Business Roundtable’s Die-Hard Opt-Out Opposition Is Worrisome, Should Lobbyists Be Allowed To Give Public Comment Like This?

To be fair, this was not the only registered lobbyist at the Senate Education Committee to give public comment in opposition to opt-out, but it was definitely the most biased in my opinion.  Below is Bob Byrd’s public comment, who introduces himself first as a member of his lobbyist firm and not the organization he is representing.

Bob Byrd, Delaware Business Roundtable 27:54-28:55

Thank you Chairman.  My name is Bob Byrd, of the Byrd Group.  I’m here today representing the Delaware Business Roundtable.  I’ve had the privilege to represent the roundtable education reform for more years than I want to tell you.  And we are very much opposed to House Bill 50.  We think it goes in the wrong direction.  We are very much in favor of your joint resolution.  We feel the pain of the parents out there, we understand there’s always questions about testing.  But we think this is the wrong thing to do at this particular time.  We totally agree that we ought to do an analysis of testing and see what’s out there and then come back with legislation next year, maybe doing something else.  And we understand that a lot of people are opposed to the current testing.  But were opposed to House Bill 50 at this time.  I have a letter from our chairman, Ernie Dianastasis.  I’d rather read it, and take up a lot of time but I’m just gonna put it in the record.  But the Roundtable, they’re much opposed to House Bill 50.

I’m sorry, but this guy is a registered lobbyist. If the Delaware Business Roundtable truly felt the pain of parents, they would do much more than oppose a bill that gives them dignity in the face of brutal opposition. These guys are all about the money. Don’t believe a word they say. Of course big business would be against something that wouldn’t provide more money to big business. That’s what it’s all about!