Follow the money
Subtitle: how foundation dollars change public school politics
By: Sarah Reckhow
Series: Oxford studies in postwar American political development
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2013
Place of publication: New York, NY
Language: eng
Number of pages: 221
ISBN-13: 9780199937738
Subjects: Privatization in education; Public schools; Finance
Description: "In Follow the Money, Sarah Reckhow shows where and how foundation investment in education is occurring and provides a penetrating analysis of the effects of these investments in the two largest urban districts in the United States: New York City and Los Angeles. In New York City, centralized political control and the use of private resources have enabled rapid implementation of reform proposals. Yet this potent combination of top-down authority and outside funding also poses serious questions about transparency, responsiveness, and democratic accountability in New York. Furthermore, the sustainability of reform policies is closely linked to the political fortunes of the current mayor and his chosen school leader. While the media has highlighted the efforts of forceful reformers and dominating leaders such as Joel Klein in New York City and Michelle Rhee in Washington, D.C., a slower, but possibly more transformative, set of reforms have been taking place in Los Angeles. These reforms were also funded and shaped by major foundations, but they work from the bottom up, through charter school operators managing networks of schools. This strategy has built grassroots political momentum and demand for reform in Los Angeles that is unmatched in New York City and other districts with mayoral control. Reckhow's study of Los Angeles's education system shows how democratically responsive urban school reform could occur-pairing foundation investment with broad grassroots involvement." -- Publisher's description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: the boardroom progressives; title: Accountability, markets, and the philanthropic agenda; title: Following the money from foundations to urban school districts; title: From Annenberg to Gates; title: A shadow bureaucracy; title: Deliberative decentralization; title: Conclusions and implications; title: Appendix A: top 15 grant-makers to K-12 education, 2000 and 2005; title: Appendix B: grant recipient categories; title: Appendix C: explanation of data; title: Appendix D: surveys.