Sentences with phrase «for excellent schools»

It was just a few weeks ago that CT News Junkie columnist Sarah Darer Littman wrote a scathing column on the ethics problems associated with the New York based corporate education reform industry group called Families for Excellent Schools and its subsidiary, and entity called the Coalition for Every Child.

Although they are calling themselves by a different name, the group is actually the same controversial New York based charter school lobby group known as «Families for Excellent Schools» http://www.familiesforexcellentschools.org/ except when they call themselves «Families for Excellent Schools Advocacy.»

This year Families for Excellent Schools has spent nearly $ 1.2 million lobbying in favor of Governor Malloy's charter school and education reform initiatives.

The latest ethics reports indicate that, once again, the New York based Families for Excellent Schools continue to spend the most on lobbying in Connecticut, having reported an additional $ 300,000 in lobbying expenditures since the beginning of this year's legislative session.

Here in Connecticut there are a number of charter school front groups including ConnCAN, Northeast Charter Schools Network, Families for Excellent Schools, the Coalition for Every Child, the Connecticut Council for Education Reform (CCER), Excel Bridgeport, Achieve Hartford and others.

According to a recent article in the Nation magazine entitled, 9 Billionaires Are About to Remake New York's Public Schools — Here's Their Story, both the Chair and Vice Chair of the Families for Excellent Schools Board of Directors are among the super elite that are funding the extraordinary effort to undermine public education in the United States.

The website adds, «Founded in 2011 through a partnership between schools and families, Families for Excellent Schools has built power in communities by engaging parents in the transformation of their schools.»

In his first year as superintendent, Elliot has established a clear sense of urgency around the need for excellent schools in South Carolina.

on Families for Excellent Schools, Luke Bronin and the expansion of the Charter School and Corporate Education Reform Industry in Hartford Connecticut.

Coates is a charter school advocate, member of Families for Excellent Schools and is the newest member of the Bridgeport Board of Education.

A quick glimpse at the newly formed www.fightforfairnessct.org will reveal the same logo as the old http://www.foreverychildct.org/, although they did change the color from Yellow to Blue to go along with the new t - shirts that Families for Excellent Schools are handing out to charter school parents and students in New York and Connecticut.

Families for Excellent Schools, which has wrangled with Bridgeport administrators over education reform, is behind the election - year initiative.

«We're grateful that the majority of legislators are bucking the special interests and listening to the pleas of parents who want a great school for their children,» said Kara Neidhardt, a spokesperson for Families for Excellent Schools, a charter advocacy group.

Doba's media statement goes on to explain that «Coalition members supporting» today's march include ConnCAN, the New England Charter Schools Network (NECSN), Achievement First, and Families for Excellent Schools....

However, what has remained relatively secret is that Bronin's PR person is a well - paid adviser for Families for Excellent Schools, the New York based charter school industry group that spent more than $ 1 million lobbying Connecticut legislators on behalf of Governor Malloy's proposal to divert millions of dollars in scarce state funds so that Bridgeport and Stamford could get new, privately owned, but publicly funded charter schools --- one of which will make former Capital Prep Principal Steve Perry very rich.

In addition to «The Big Six,» other organizations that are presently lobbying Connecticut legislators in favor of the charter school and «education reform» agenda include the Bronx Charter School for Excellence, the North East Charter Schools Network, Achievement First, Inc., the large charter school chain with schools in New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island, and Families for Excellent Schools, the New York - based lobbing and political entity that bused in charter school students and parents from as far away as New York City and Boston last year to rally in support of Malloy's efforts to hand charter schools even more public funds.

Although Families for Excellent Schools, now known as Families for Excellent Schools / Coalition for Every Child, was using www.fightforfairnessct.org last year as their online organizing website and have now shifted to http://www.foreverychildct.org/, they charter school advocacy group is sticking with the Twitter handle @FIGHTForFairnessCT.

«The mailer thanked a number of legislators for their support for great schools for every child,» Kara Neidhardt, a spokeswoman for Families for Excellent Schools, said in an email.

In just the first four months of the 2015 legislative session, Families for Excellent Schools has spent over $ 668,000 on its lobbying and advertising in support of Malloy's plan to add two more charter schools in Connecticut.

article Billionaires for Bronin, one of Luke Bronin's most noteworthy campaign contributors is Paul Tudor Jones II, the Greenwich Billionaire who is also one of the biggest donors to Families for Excellent Schools and was a charter school owner.

The use of «parent stipends» to induce charter school families to attend rallies has been one of the more controversial tactics used by Families for Excellent Schools.

Large charter networks and their influential affiliates, like Families for Excellent Schools, have held massive rallies calling on the state to lift the cap and have spent millions on cap - related lobbying and advertising.

The entity has donated to Families for Excellent Schools, Stand for Children, Educators 4 Excellence and Teach for America's Leadership for Educational Equity.

Schneider adds that since Education Reform Now Advocacy (ERNA) and Families for Excellent Schools Advocacy (FESA) are registered as non-profit foundations and not campaign groups, neither is required to disclose who they collect their money from.

After scoring a number of clean political wins over the de Blasio administration early in the mayor's term, Moskowitz and her pro-charter allies at Families for Excellent Schools have more recently absorbed a series of setbacks, from an attempt to re-negotiate a pre-Kindergarten contract to an ongoing but little - noticed dispute over school space for Success middle schoolers.

The group, of course, fails to explain that since it was founded, Families for Excellent Schools Inc. has collected an estimated $ 25 million from wealthy individuals and foundations to pay for its lobbying and advocacy work.

Marking a significant shift in its lobbying strategy, the influential charter school advocacy group Families for Excellent Schools will not hold a political rally in Albany this legislative session for the first time since Mayor Bill de Blasio took office, several sources confirmed.

As Sarah Darer Littman explained, not only had Families for Excellent Schools run into ethics issues in New York, but they were failing to report activities and expenditures here in Connecticut.

Look out Hartford, not only is the newly crowned Democratic Mayoral nominee Luke Bronin basking in the sunshine thanks to the money and players behind Families for Excellent Schools, but the charter school lobbying group is now hiring political operatives to «organize» in Hartford.

Families for Excellent Schools (FES) is a major New York City based, corporate funded, charter school and education reform advocacy group.

Families for Excellent Schools is the corporate funded, New York based, charter school industry lobbying group that bused in students and parents from as far away as New York City and Boston, last year, to attend a rally in support of Governor Dannel Malloy's effort to divert even more taxpayer money to Connecticut's privately owned and operated charter schools.

(ConnCAN); Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Advocacy; StudentsFirst / GENEPSA (Michelle Rhee); Families for Excellent Schools Inc.; Families for Excellent Schools Advocacy Inc.; Connecticut Council for Education Reform Inc. (CCER); North East Charter Schools Network; Bronx Charter School of Excellence; Students for Education Reform; Educators 4 Excellence; Excel Bridgeport, Inc.; Achieve Hartford, Inc. and their newest front group, the Coalition for Every Child, are pumping more and more money into lobbying and advertising programs.

During the recent legislative session, Families for Excellent Schools / Coalition for Every Child ran television ads calling upon Connecticut's elected officials to divert even more scarce taxpayer funds to charter schools.

In New York State Families for Excellent Schools Inc. has become the single largest lobbying entity in the State of New York spending nearly $ 10 million in 2014 alone to support the funding and expansion of charter schools.

According to research conducted by fellow education blogger and activist Mercedes Schneider, some of the biggest donors to Families for Excellent Schools are:

Over the past year and a half, Families for Excellent Schools — using a variety of aliases — has spent nearly $ 1.5 million in a record - breaking effort to lobby and persuade Connecticut legislators to support Governor Dannel Malloy's unfair, inappropriate and discriminatory «education reform» initiatives.

Among the more curious expenditures listed in the reports filed this month with the State Ethics Commission by Families for Excellent Schools / Coalition for Every Child was a payment of just over $ 2,000 to the charter school management company Achievement First, Inc..

One of the charter sector's most vocal groups, Families for Excellent Schools, released a statement with that sentiment on Thursday.

According to the foundation's reports, «The Walton Family Foundation supports Families for Excellent Schools in its work to train parents to create and run advocacy efforts to improve school quality and give every student access to an excellent education.»

The mailer was sent to constituents in McGee's district, which includes the northend of Hartford and parts of Windsor, by Families for Excellent Schools.

When slapped for failing to register Coalition for Every Child with the Connecticut's ethics office, the New Yorkers quickly changed their name to Families for Excellent Schools / Coalition for Every Child.

Families for Excellent Schools also spent approximately $ 6 million in 2014 to «prevent Mayor Bill de Blasio from regulating the charter school sector and won passage of a law that forces the city to pay the rent of charters «not located on public school grounds.»

While their primary purpose has been to support Eva Moskowitz and the other New York Charter School operators, Families for Excellent Schools arrived in Connecticut from New York last year and registered both Families for Excellent Schools AND Families for Excellent Schools Advocacy as lobbying entities with Connecticut's Office of State Ethics.

Not only has Families for Excellent Schools been paying Malloy / Bronin's spokesperson but the organization has also handed hundreds of thousands of dollars over to Roy Occhiogrosso, Malloy's top advisor and the managing director in Connecticut for another New York - based public relations firm called Global Strategies.

Watch the bouncing ball... as the Corporate Education Reform Industry, Families for Excellent Schools, the Coalition for Every Child, Governor Malloy's former press secretary Andrew Doba, Achievement First Inc. and the other charter school lobby groups try to divert even more public funds away from Connecticut's public schools and into the coffers of charter school companies...

Since its inception, Families for Excellent Schools has been involved in some of the most controversial pro-charter lobbying efforts in recent years.

However, Families for Excellent Schools has repeatedly refused to release a list of its donors.

Success Academy, Families for Excellent Schools, StudentsFirst, Cuomo Donor, New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany

«other groups, such as Families for Excellent Schools, use side payments — financial stipends of $ 250 — $ 1,000 per year — to give parents an incentive to participate in mobilization and advocacy efforts.»

A pro-charter school rally sponsored by Families for Excellent Schools.