Expect Lawsuits If Cuomo's Education Tax Credit Passes

So say opponents, according to Capitol Confidential:

Amid reports that Gov. Andrew Cuomo is looking to link his Education Tax Credit with renewal of rent control laws a phalanx of civil liberties groups along with members of the Assembly Democrats and the state’s Education Establishment said that they’ll be in court if the credit passes.

The credit is “an end run around the constitutional principle that bars the state from endorsing religion,” charged the NY Civil Liberties Union.

NYCLU members along with Andy Palotta of New York State United Teachers, Billy Easton, from the Alliance for Quality Education, Amrita Singh of Americans United for Separation of Church and State as well as Barbara Zaron of Reform Jewish Voices, spoke against the idea, which would provide tax credits for those who contribute to private/parochial school scholarships.

“This bill raises serious constitutional questions,” said Wendy Lecker of the Education Law Center.

... 

In addition to worries about breaking the separation of church and state, opponents said they also worried about what they said were unanswered questions about details of the plan, and what they say is the lack of transparency that would follow money going to privately run schools, which wouldn’t have to open their books or disclose other pieces of financial data as do public schools.

Unanswered questions about details of the plan and a lack of transparency for where the money will go?

Sounds just like Cuomo's teacher evaluation system and charter funding.

Cuomo has tried to link the tax credit to the extension of rent regulations in New York City, but there has been heavy pushback on that linkage and so far, it has come to naught.

But if it does pass, the lawsuits will start immediately.

Is Cuomo Set To Destroy Rent Regulations If He Doesn't Get His Education Tax Credit?

From the Times Union:

With the session clock ticking, the notorious Albany negotiating tactic of lumping together thorny items to get them all passed — in a measure sometimes labeled a ''big ugly''— rather than holding individual up or down votes appears to be in play. Online news site Capital New York reported Monday that two of Albany's most pressing issues — New York City rent regulations and the education investment tax credit — are set up to be handcuffed to each other by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

...

"As has always been the case, the Assembly supports stronger rent regulations, the Senate supports the education tax credit, and the governor is a proponent of both," Cuomo spokeswoman Melissa DeRosa told Capital New York.

Oh sure, Cuomo's in favor of both, so why not link them and help passage?

Critics of Cuomo had another way of looking at it:

"The governor is willing to let rent regulations go up in flames, if he can't pass an education tax credit for his hedge fund supporters who donate to private and charter schools to double their money, while our public schools starve, still waiting for $5 billion in CFE funding," state Sen. Bill Perkins, D-Manhattan, said in a statement. "It's outrageous and wrong, and we will not stand for it. The governor has said he is committed to repealing vacancy deregulation, and he needs to follow through on that commitment, without qualification."

I have a difficult time believing Cuomo has the political courage to destroy rent regulations if he doesn't get his education tax credit.

So the heavy hearts in the Assembly need to stand up to him and say "No to your education tax credit, no to linking the tax credit to rent regulations."

So far, it seems that is what they're doing:

By the end of the day Monday, pushback from legislators had dimmed the chances of linking the tax credit to rent regulations, said people familiar with the conversations. 

We'll see if that continues.

Heastie: Little Support In Assembly For Cuomo Education Tax Bill

The heavy hearts in the Assembly appear to be holding the line on Cuomo's education tax credit proposal:

The education investment tax credit remains a difficult lift for the Democratic-led Assembly in the final days of the legislative session, Speaker Carl Heastie said on Tuesday to reporters.

“It still is a very, very difficult subject in the conference,” Heastie said. “That hasn’t changed much over the last couple of weeks with the campaign being waged by supporters of the investment tax credit.”

Indeed, the assertive push from tax credit supporters aimed to push lawmakers to back the bill appears to have hardened some of the resistance to the measure in the chamber, where majority lawmakers have drawn support from the New York State United Teachers union.

Heastie says the bill won't get a floor vote unless a majority of the Democratic conference supports it.

We'll see if the heavy hearts continue to stand strong against this.

If I had to guess, I'd say many heavy hearts are happy to stand firm on this because it gives them some cover for the cave-in on the odious Cuomo education reforms in the budget.

The Clergy Campaign for Social and Economic Justice Calls Cuomo's Education Tax Credit Bill A Giveaway To The Wealthy

From the Daily News:

ALBANY — Timothy Cardinal Dolan and Gov. Cuomo pressed state lawmakers to pass a controversial education tax credit Monday while more than 100 clergy members signed a letter urging the governor to abandon it.

The Clergy Campaign for Social and Economic Justice said Cuomo’s proposal would provide “unaccountable tax relief in the funding of private education for the wealthiest among us.”

Clergy members also opposed Cuomo’s effort to raise the state’s cap on charter schools.

"The governor's agenda appears to be an assault on public schools, on behalf of wealthy donors and corporate interests,” said the Rev. Michael Walrond Jr. of the First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem.

Charter schools have harmed Catholic schools greatly, so really, the Catholic diocese at large should be opposed to an increase in the charter cap.

Many students in past years who might have attended Catholic schools now attend charters.

But in the usual quid pro quo that is politics, Dolan and Company remain mum on the charter cap so that they have a chance to see tax credits passed for private and Catholic schools.

So far, the heavy hearts in the Assembly have said they will hold the line and not pass the Cuomo private/Catholic school tax credit bill.

We'll see if that continues.

Journal News: Cuomo's Education Tax Credit A "Giveaway" To His Donors

LoHud:

Supporters of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's education tax credit pitch the bill as being all about "parental choice." That's even in the name of the legislation. Yes, parents should be able to choose to put their kid in a private school – but the taxpayer shouldn't have to foot the bill.

The Parental Choice in Education Act does just that, though in a circuitous way. It's pitched as a simple tax break for donors, talked up as costing no one a thing. In fact, the state would set aside $150 million in state funds, and double that amount within a few years, to provide tax credits that will surely end up aiding corporations and other wealthy donors that give to private schools.

For those who support private and parochial education systems, with a true spirit of generosity, we say good for them. But tax revenue shouldn't be diverted away from state coffers – which is what tax credits end up doing – so more money makes its way to private schools.

One controversial part of the bill includes access to tax credits –75 percent of any gift up to $1 million – for donors. The pool of money for the tax credits is limited; the dollars would be doled out on a first-come, first-served basis. Large corporations with fancy accounting firms can quickly grab the tax credits, and mom-and-pop donors would likely be left wanting.

Especially for high-income corporations, a tax credit is exponentially more valuable than the current tax deductions available for charitable giving to nonprofit institutions, including private or parochial schools.

There's a big difference between a tax deduction and a tax credit: A tax deduction reduces your taxable income, so your taxes are based on a lower amount; a tax credit comes off your tax liability, so it's cut off the bottom line of what you owe in taxes. Or as JTA, touting the benefits to Jewish day schools, put it: "a tax credit is the equivalent of cash."

The NY Times didn't like the tax credit either:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo can talk passionately about improving New York’s “failing public schools,” but when he made that point at churches and a yeshiva last Sunday it was, at best, disingenuous. He was there to sell his bill that would help private and parochial schools, by offering big tax credits to their donors. This energetic effort for an expensive and possibly unconstitutional bill that Mr. Cuomo has named the Parental Choice in Education Act could cost the state more than $150 million a year. That money should be used to help almost 2.7 million public school students in the state, not given to wealthy donors subsidizing mainly private or religious schools.

Elizabeth Lynam, a budget expert for New York’s Citizens Budget Commission, called the bill “an extremely lucrative benefit likely to serve the state’s wealthiest taxpayers.” Many of the people who would get the credit already support their favorite private or parochial schools, she said. A tax credit to encourage them isn’t needed.

The bill would allow a 75 percent credit on donations of up to $1 million for each individual or corporation contributing to funds for students in private or parochial schools. That is a huge change from existing law, which offers far less lucrative tax deductions. Typically, for the wealthiest taxpayers, the maximum state tax deduction on $1 million is about $22,000. The Cuomo plan would cap the number of tax credits it gives out and create a complicated system of deadlines and requirements before donors could get the full benefits. Those difficulties add to the suspicion that only someone with a fancy accountant could easily take advantage of this tax bonus.

The $150 million pool includes millions of dollars in tax credits for donations that could provide scholarships to private or parochial students from families with incomes of up to $300,000 a year, which hardly targets the neediest students. And, in an attempt to attract support from the Assembly speaker ,Carl Heastie, and his Democratic majority, Mr. Cuomo has proposed $70 million for a tuition credit of $500 per child sent to nonpublic schools for families with incomes of up to $60,000. There would also be $10 million a year for public-school teachers, including those in charter schools, who could get up to $200 each in tax relief when they buy classroom supplies.

With this misguided bill, Mr. Cuomo may have found plenty of support from religious leaders and private school donors. But his efforts seems jarring, given his record of seeking more accountability in schools. The state has little say in private and parochial schools over testing, the teaching of basic subjects or other data collection required for assessing a good education.

Moreover, taxpayer support for religious education has been banned by the state Constitution for over a century. Exceptions were made long ago for universal needs like transportation and special education, but there are questions as to whether the kind of public support for religious schools the bill proposes would be prohibited.

Cuomo's eagerness to starve public schools and pay off his wealthy donors and charter school buddies knows no bounds.

The Journal News sees it the same way - this is nothing more than Cuomo paying back his donors and punishing his enemies:

Regardless of Cuomo's best efforts to push "options" to public education and weaken his newest political nemesis, public-school teachers, the state's Constitutional mandate continues to be the financial support of a public school system, with state funding of specific services provided to private schools. Not the other way around.

Senate Republicans are all in on the Cuomo tax giveaway, so about the only thing that's holding the line here is Assembly Dems - but they're under a heavy assault from Cuomo and the hedge fundies:

Advocates for the credit have targeted recalcitrant lawmakers in a series of brutal mailers and robocalls aimed at Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy, D-Albany.

Click the link to Capitol Confidential to hear the robocall.

What are the chances the heavy hearts in the Assembly hold the line on Cuomo's tax giveaway to his donors with the attacks they're taking?

Siena Poll Shows Voters Don't Support Cuomo's Tax Credit For Private Schools

There's a new Siena poll out today showing Cuomo falling to his lowest job approval number in a Siena poll (41%-59%)

The poll also shows Cuomo with falling favorability ratings, down 8 points since the last Siena poll.

On the education initiative Cuomo's putting a lot weight behind - tax giveaways to private schools - voters disapprove 49%-44%.

More later on the poll.

But suffice to say, it's more evidence the heavy hearts in the Assembly can stand up to him on this - if they have the guts.

Kathy Hochul: Best Way To Support Public Schools Is By Taking Money From Them, Giving It To Private Schools And Charters

Here is a commentary by Kathy Holhul at Syracuse.com in which she asserts overcrowding and poor building conditions in public schools are good reasons to support more charter schools and tax credits for private schools:

Many critics try to argue that alternative schools, such as religious and charter schools, are somehow hurting the overall education system by taking away resources from traditional public schools. They argue that the governor should revoke all support for religious or charter schools – effectively abandoning those students – to focus just on public schools. They claim that this would be fair, but this just doesn't stand up to reason and here's why: 

There are roughly 4,500 public schools across the state – many of which are at capacity or overcrowded, and some are even utilizing trailers as classrooms. One hundred seventy-eight of those schools are failing, and many of them have been for 10 years or more.

Now imagine if the more than 400,000 students who are currently in charter or private schools – representing approximately 15 percent of the state's student population – had to attend one of those at-capacity, overcrowded or failing public schools. Who benefits from that scenario? Surely not the public school students who would find classroom space and resources stretched even further.

Can you follow the logic?

Many public schools are overcrowded, there's not enough space to house students in classrooms so decrepit trailers are used instead - and the way to solve these problems is to take money that could go to public schools and alleviate overcrowding and build new facilities and give that money to charters and private schools instead.

This is the same Kathy Hochul that AFT President Randi Weingarten robocalled for during the Democratic primary, claiming she was an excellent advocate for public schools.

Here's some advocacy for you - Hochul says public schools are overcrowded and falling apart, so let's take money that could go to public schools and give it to charters and private schools instead.

Has The Assembly Effectively De-Linked A Mayoral Control Extension From The Charter Cap Increase And Cuomo's Voucher Program?

A Capital NY piece by Bakeman and Shapiro reports the Assembly hopes they have:

ALBANY—State Assembly Democrats have effectively backed down from a fight over mayoral control of New York City schools.

It was generally expected heading into the final phase of the 2015 legislative session that much of the late-session political deal-making would involve renewing the state law that empowers Mayor Bill de Blasio to lead the nation’s largest public school district. The law, like the session, sunsets in June.

But the Assembly majority has decided to prioritize strengthening rent regulations, opting to take the path of least resistance on mayoral control. The Assembly on Monday passed a law extending the power for three years—not the seven years originally proposed, let alone the permanent extension de Blasio has sought.

Members also hoped to prevent an attempt by Governor Andrew Cuomo to link the extension of mayoral control to his end-of-session agenda, which includes lifting a cap on charter schools and establishing a tax credit for donations to private schools.

More on why the three year extension is a move to de-link mayoral control from the charter cap or Cuomo's voucher program:

In interviews, de Blasio administration officials and Albany lawmakers agreed that a three-year extension was the easiest way to maintain the current system of mayoral control without significant changes, a win for de Blasio.

And by not picking a battle with Cuomo over mayoral control, the Assembly and de Blasio may have more leverage on issues like the tax credit, and, of particular interest to de Blasio, the charter cap. De Blasio has repeatedly said he does not believe the cap on charters should be lifted, even as influential charter groups have intensified their calls for a lifting of the charter cap.

Charter advocates and education observers have said they believed the cap and mayoral control would be linked at the end of the session as a way to create pressure on both sides to pass versions of each proposal; that configuration seems unlikely if the extension passes.

The question is, do the Senate and Cuomo go for the de-linked extension?

There are 15 days to go in the session, Cuomo's taking time off after Sandra Lee's cancer surgery, and there are a lot of unresolved issues left to deal with, including rent regulations and the 421-a tax giveaway to the real estate industry.

On top of that, rumors continue to swirl that Governor Cuomo is a target of US Attorney Preet Bharara and he is enjoying his lowest approval numbers of his tenure as governor.

If ever there was a time when the heavy hearts in the Assembly could hold fast on a number of issues, from the charter cap to the Cuomo voucher plan, it is now.

But will they?

NYSUT Takes To The Air In Opposition To Cuomo's Private School Tax Credit Program

Capitol Confidential:

A tax credit to incentivize donations to education is being knocked by the state teachers union as “a shell game allowing corporations and the super rich to divert tax dollars to elite private schools.”

In a new radio ad, New York State United Teachers is challenging a renewed push by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to get an Education Investment Tax Credit passed before the end of the legislative session. The union contends the credit, as proposed by the governor, is a giveaway to the rich that will benefit only private schools.

The 60-second ad features Mr. Moneybags, a fictional fat cat who says the credit is “a scheme designed to favor us ‘zillionaires’ and our exclusive schools.”

“So let me get this straight: The rich will get millions of dollars in tax breaks, cutting the resources that could go to all kids?” a narrator asks incredulously.

“Oh please,” Mr. Moneybags shoots back. “When you’re rich like me, public schools just aren’t your concern.”

The ad is set to run for at least 10 days, according to NYSUT. The union did not divulge the cost.

I'm glad to see NYSUT go on the air with opposition to the tax credit program, but I'm not a huge fan of the "Mr. Moneybags" fictional fat cat frame.

But I know fictional characters have been very successful in the past - take Harry and Louise, for example - so perhaps it'll be fine.

In any case, at least they're spending some member money on something useful.

Will The Heavy Hearts In The Assembly Hold The Line On Cuomo's Voucher Bill?

From State of Politics:

The EITC is now going through some rebranding with the introduction of the new bill: It’s now called the Parental Choice in Education Act. 

The measure would provide up to $150 million in annual tax credits aimed at low-income families who want to send their children to non-public schools, scholarships for children in households with qualifying incomes to attend a public school outside of their district or private school and incentives for public districts to provide new programming, like after-school programs.

Early indications are, there are not enough heavy hearts in the Assembly to bring the rebranded voucher bill to the floor for a vote

Even if supporters can muster the needed votes, Heastie indicated that bringing the bill to the floor would require a majority of the Democratic conference’s support.

“It’s been our position that there is a majority for a reason and we feel that to really move bills in this house we should have a consensus of enough Democrats to pass the bill,” he said.

Of course these are heavy hearts we're talking about, so a little heavy pressure on them could make them pass this thing just the way they passed the odious budget this past April.

One unmknown here - Cuomo's consort Sandra Lee is undergoing cancer treatment and Cuomo says he's stepping away from some of his gubernatorial duties to support her.

The question is, with the legislative session ending in June and Cuomo allegedly stepping away from hands-on governance for a couple of weeks to deal with a family issue, how much pressure will he try and put on the heavy hearts?

Cuomo To Push Backdoor Tax Voucher Plan For Private Schools, Will Tie Proposal To DREAM Act

Yesterday I wondered if Governor Cuomo was going to further look to undercut the New York public school system by pushing for a backdoor tax voucher plan, thus stealing more money from public schools and siphoning it off to charters and (now) private schools.

It turns out he will do just that:

ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo on Wednesday will propose tying together two hot-button education initiatives that have split the left and right — creation of a state DREAM Act and an education tax credit, the Daily News has learned.

“The governor is including funding for the education tax credit and the DREAM Act in the same budget bill,” said a source with knowledge of the plan.

A Cuomo spokeswoman had no comment Tuesday.

Lumping the two issues into the same legislation means that lawmakers would either have to sign off on both or get neither.

The DREAM Act would provide state financial assistance to the college kids of undocumented immigrants and is backed by Democrats and the Hispanic community, and Timothy Cardinal Dolan and the state’s Catholic bishops.

But Senate Republicans have been opposed to the idea of spending taxpayer dollars on non-citizens.

This is the first time the governor is including the measure in his budget, something advocates have been pushing for.

The education tax credit is geared toward those who donate money to schools. The Senate GOP has been a big backer of the issue, which has been a top priority of Dolan and the bishops as well as private and parochial schools.

The teacher unions and many legislative Democrats vehemently oppose the tax credit, saying it serves as a type of voucher program that takes away needed money from public schools.

Conniving governor, this one.

You want your DREAM Act - then sign off on vouchers.

You want your vouchers - sign off on the DREAM Act.

We'll see if this works the way it did with the tax cap/rent control, which he also tied together if memory serves me.

Andrew Cuomo Calls Public School System "Single Greatest Failure Of The State"

In case you're thinking tomorrow won't be an all-out assault on public schools and public school teachers, see this statement from today:

Cuomo has said repeatedly that he’s dissatisfied with what he calls the “education industry”, which he labeled the most “sophisticated political machine” in Albany. Cuomo, who has tangled with the teachers union in recent months, reiterated those concerns on Tuesday.

“It probably has been the single greatest failure of the state in many ways,” Cuomo said.

Cuomo says reform, including an overhaul of teacher performance reviews and fixing bad schools are at the top of his agenda. And he says simply spending "more money" is not the answer. He says it’s been tried in the past, with little improvement.

“And you know what it’s gotten us?” Cuomo asked. “A larger and larger bureaucracy, and higher salaries for the people who work in the education industry.”

As I pointed out earlier, one of the biggest concerns New Yorkers have with education is the Common Core implementation - 49% say it should be stopped while only 34% say it should continue.

Unstated by Cuomo is how the "failure" he claims for New York schools is in so many ways tied to Common Core - the CCSS tests that were rigged for 70% failure rates, the CCSS rollout by NYSED that even Cuomo acknowledged was a mess.

It's a shame the teachers unions support Common Core - sure would be a great pushback against this extreme rhetoric out of Cuomo.

At any rate, I wonder if he isn't going to overdo it with this rhetoric?

Seriously, the public school system is the "single greatest failure in the state"?

I dunno, maybe he's polled this and thinks he's got a winner here.

But it seems to me to declare the public school system the single greatest failure in the state is going to find some decent pushback from a lot of ordinary New Yorkers who don't see that about their own schools and may wonder how it is that Cuomo can claim this a year after he blamed SED and the Regents for the poor Common Core rollout.

Cuomo May Look To Push A Backdoor Voucher Plan For Private Schools In Budget

Yesterday the turncoat Democrats known as the Independent Democratic Conference released an agenda that included this item (emphasis mine):

Creating an Education Investment Tax Credit (EITC) for Public and Private Schools

When it comes to effectively educating our children, New York’s schools need every dollar they can get. The IDC believes in rewarding New Yorkers which opt to voluntarily donate to their local public or private school by finally making these donations tax deductible. In order to make sure every dollar is spent fairly and effectively, tax deductible donations made to private schools must be used to fund scholarship opportunities that qualify.

That's a backdoor voucher plan that looks to take tax money from public schools and give it to private schools.

Today a NY Times article suggests Cuomo - who has supported this kind of program in the past - may push for it in the budget:

Mr. Cuomo has also voiced support for a bill, supported by the Catholic Church and advocates of vouchers, that would offer tax credits to individuals and corporations who donate money to public schools, or to scholarship programs that help poor and middle-class students attend private schools.  

Mr. Cuomo also expressed support for the bill last year, but it failed in the face of opposition from the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver. While the bill is supported by some 20 unions, who say that it would help the children of their members, the New York State teachers’ union staunchly opposes it, calling it a backdoor voucher program that directs tax dollars to private schools.

Cuomo has promised to "break" the public school system this term.

Increasing or completely eliminating the charter cap is certainly one way to do it, but I can see him looking to undercut the system further by steering tax money to private schools via this Education Investment Tax Credit (i.e., voucher) proposal.

Independent Democratic Conference Unveil Backdoor Voucher Plan For Private Schools In New York

The Independent Democratic Conference released an agenda today and this was in it (emphasis added):

Creating an Education Investment Tax Credit (EITC) for Public and Private Schools

When it comes to effectively educating our children, New York’s schools need every dollar they can get. The IDC believes in rewarding New Yorkers which opt to voluntarily donate to their local public or private school by finally making these donations tax deductible. In order to make sure every dollar is spent fairly and effectively, tax deductible donations made to private schools must be used to fund scholarship opportunities that qualify.

They can call it an "Education Investment Tax Credit (EITC) for Public and Private Schools" or "scholarship opportunities" or whatever they want.

In effect, it's a backdoor voucher plan to steer tax money away from public schools to private schools and further undercut the public school system.

If enacted, that's how the program will work and you can bet that's the intent.

GOP Majority In State Senate, With Help Of IDC, Will Push For More Charter Schools, Vouchers, Social Program Cuts

Ken Lovett in the Daily News:

Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos said his conference in the upcoming year will aggressively push for new tax cuts, reduced business regulations, and education alternatives.

Skelos, during a Sunday morning radio appearance on supermarket mogul and and former mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis' AM 970 radio show, made it clear he believes voters this past week rejected much of the progressive agenda the Democrats had pushed.

...

He spoke of the need to adequately fund the traditional public school system while at the same time making clear that charter schools need to be part of the solution, particularly in minority communities.

Skelos also said he will push to help parochial schools. While he didn't specifically reference it, the Senate GOP and Catholic Church last year pushed for enactment of an education investment tax credit that was blocked by the Assembly Democrats.

Skelos also hinted his conference might take aim at various state-funded social programs, saying they should only be available to those who "truly" need them in order to give them a "helping hand up, not a hand down."

He reiterated he believes his conference will work closely with Sen. Jeffrey Klein and his group of breakaway Democrats. He didn't say exactly what form that would take. The past two years, with the Republicans lacking enough members to make up its own majority, the GOP and Independent Democratic Conference formed an unprecedented bipartisan governing coalition to run the chamber.

The blueprint is being laid out for all to see:

The State Senate GOP majority, with the help of the Independent Democratic Conference, will push for an increase or complete elimination of the charter cap, they will push for a voucher program to further undercut the public school system, and they will look to cut social programs to people in need in order to fund more tax cuts for the wealthy.

Yesterday Jimmy Vielkind reported that Independent Democratic Conference head Jeff Klein said it's time to rethink what it means to be a Democrat:

“I think we have to take a step back, also, and maybe redefine what it means to be a Democrat.”

Since Klein and his fellow Democrats in the IDC plan on joining with the State Senate Republican majority in order to push through pro-charter school proposals, voucher programs, and social program cuts for people in need in order to fund tax cuts for rich people, we do indeed need to "redefine what it means to be a Democrat."

It seems to me that since Klein, Governor Cuomo and so many other Democrats push Republican programs and policies these days, the redefinition of "Democrat" is "Republican."

All The Good Walmart Does

Former Bloomberg DOE minion of school closings in NYC, Marc Sternberg, is featured prominently in this morning's NY Times piece on the Walton philanthropy-industrial complex and charter schools:

In 2013, the Walton foundation spent more than $164 million across the country. According to Marc Sternberg, who was appointed director of K-12 education reform at the Walton Family Foundation last September, Walton has given grants to one in every four charter start-ups in the country, for a total of $335 million.

“The Walton Family Foundation has been deeply committed to a theory of change, which is that we have a moral obligation to provide families with high quality choices,” said Mr. Sternberg. “We believe that in providing choices we are also compelling the other schools in an ecosystem to raise their game.”

...

Walton’s Mr. Sternberg, who started his career in Teach for America and founded the Bronx Lab School, a public school in New York City, does not apologize for Walton’s commitment to charter schools and vouchers. “What’s the argument there?” he said during an interview. “Don’t help anybody until you can help everybody?”

He said the foundation was focused not on ideology but on results, a word he repeated many times.

Let's focus on the "results" that Walmart, the company, gets so that the Walton Foundation can use some of that money they make to hire Marc Sternberg and other edu-entrepreneurs and reformers and push their pro-charter/pro-voucher agenda.

Sternberg claims the Walton money has clearly made DC a better place:

“D.C. is a better place today than it was 10 years ago because of the reforms that have played out here,” said Mr. Sternberg, who was an official in the New York City Department of Education under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. He pointed to recent increases in scores on national tests by both public and charter school students, saying that neighborhood schools had responded to competition from charters. “And maybe in very small part, because of Walton’s role,” he added.

Let's see all the good Walmart has done in DC:

Mayor Vincent C. Gray vetoed legislation Thursday that would force the District’s largest retailers to pay their workers significantly more, choosing the potential for jobs and development at home over joining a national fight against low-wage work.

Gray’s quandary is playing out in many U.S. cities, where local leaders who generally sympathize with worker causes are also eager to lure jobs and commerce for their constituents. Retailers, most notably Wal-Mart, have placed an increasing focus on urban expansion, while unions and advocates for workers have pushed measures like the District’s “living wage” bill as a valuable hedge against the proliferation of low-paying jobs.

 The veto, which is unlikely to be overridden by the D.C. Council, clears the way for Wal-Mart to continue its entry into the District — plans years in the making that were thrown into question after lawmakers embraced the wage proposal this year.

...

The bill, known as the Large Retailer Accountability Act, would require retailers with corporate sales of $1 billion or more and operating District stores of at least 75,000 square feet to pay their employees a “living wage” — no less than $12.50 an hour in combined wages and benefits. The proposal includes an exception for employers who collectively bargain with their workers. Existing employers would have four years to come into compliance.

The city’s minimum wage is $8.25 an hour. The bill would raise the annual earnings of a full-time employee making the lowest legal wage from about $17,000 to $26,000.

While the bill’s supporters repeatedly said it was not targeted at Wal-Mart, the debate was inextricably tied to the retail giant’s plans, announced in late 2010, to open as many as six stores in the city in the coming months and years.

The union exemption and square-footage requirement rankled Wal-Mart officials, who said those provisions created an uneven playing field — particularly with the unionized grocery chains they plan to compete with in the city.

A day ahead of the bill’s final passage in July, Wal-Mart told council members and the public that it would not pursue three of the six planned stores and would explore options for withdrawing from the others should legislators proceed. The ultimatum changed no votes on the council.

Wal-Mart spokesman Steven Restivo called the veto “good news for D.C. residents,” saying Gray chose “jobs, economic development and common sense over special interests.”

Restivo said the company will move forward with its stores in the District: “We look forward to finishing the work we started in the city almost three years ago.”

While the ultimatum from Walmart may have changed no votes on the council, it did ensure Gray's veto.

In the end, Walmart got exactly what it wanted - a dead living wage bill.

Oh, yeah - just feel all the goodness Walmart and Walton money have brought to DC.

So much goodness that you, well, can't actually pay your bills with it.