The other half of his fortune came from his AIG stock – yes, he made another killing on those same defective mortgages, as AIG bundled them into derivitives. He donated most of his AIG stock at its peak to his own privately-controlled education foundation, which dumped the stuff. By the time the crash came, he was out and we educators are trapped under his billions. He also rebuilt New Orleans for Bush – you know how that went.

The housing stock is worse than underwater, now. He brought in cheap drywall from China for his developments, and the walls are now exuding toxic hydrogen sulfide gas which corrodes the wiring and poisons the occupants. The problem surfaced first in Florida, because of the heat and humidity. It’s hard to say how many houses are affected, because of course he lies to evade responsibility, but the number keeps going up.

Now go back and read his insufferably arrogant quote, “We don’t know anything about how to teach or reading curriculum or any of that. But what we do know about is management and governance.”

So, a fortune created by federally- subsidized housing inequalities is then channeled into a tax-exempt foundation that funds the dismantling of the public schools and creation of a separate-and unequal education system. It’s almost like a perpetual motion machine, as designed by Mephistopheles.

Many people understand that there are drastic differences taking place in homes all over American but they think “We can’t do anything about it, so let’s concentrate on what we CAN do.” This might seem sensible but it is not true. Many countries provide social and home supports for their children and we can do it too. These supports come in the form of healthcare, infant and parent education, preschool and community centers that provide the kinds of enrichment that privileged children take for granted. We can do it! I admire Mr. Broad’s commitment to education but I wish he took a broader and bolder view on the subject.

Although Broad admits he doesn’t know anything about how to teach, the business model he imposes on public schools demands that his “trained” administrators come into our classrooms and force us to follow “standards-driven” teaching practices, supposedly to raise test scores. My district can’t provide working heat, light, or running water for my under-equipped lab, but we pay hundreds of thousands to the consulting businesses he promotes. The real drive behind his manipulations is the marketing plan for the useless “services” and products provided (at public expense) by his for-profit entrepreneurial “partners.”

Edubusiness entrepreneurs hide under a layer of fake non-profits set up by “philanthropists” like Broad and Gates. Broad brags he’s “not beholden to public opinion”, meaning that, because of his wealth and the political power it buys, he is not accountable to the public. Believe me, Broad won’t increase my pay at all. I get up at 5:30 every morning to dedicate my life, a day at a time, to teaching real chemistry. My students go to nursing schools, universities, state colleges and community colleges. When they enter the military, they do well enough on the ASVAB to qualify for specialist training. None of that is due to Broad’s business model, though, and I won’t promote his agenda. So my administrators have to decide that I’m not a leader.

It breaks my heart to see Duncan playing along. You should have seen my students when Obama won the presidency. Their eyes were shining. I tell them they will be the ones to walk across the stage, go on to the life they are supposed to live, and bring prosperity, health, security and life itself to their struggling immigrant families. Instead, it turns out Duncan owns his own his own stock in the Emperors New Schools Venture Fund.

I don’t know much about Broad, but he addresses your first questions fairly directly:

“We don’t know anything about how to teach or reading curriculum or any of that. But what we do know about is management and governance.”

I don’t anyone is suggesting that we run the schools like any of the businesses that have plunged our financial system into crisis, but we’ve also seen a steady decline in standards and efficiency and we need to do something big to stop it. I think that’s what Broad appears to be saying (though I’m going to look more up on him).

We’ve got 21st century problems, and we need solutions. If that means experimenting with public-private partnerships for our schools, like some states use for fixing their highways, for instance, or more accountability, then so be it, because the old system isn’t working anymore.