As the political field becomes a crowded one, I intend to look at each candidate from the perspective of how each one will benefit or harm public education because public education is the foundation of our democracy. I have determined that Cory Booker would be a disaster for public education because he doesn’t understand what constitutes a good education and because he puts his efforts into endeavors that may have political advantage for him but do not serve children well and do not help us to strengthen as a nation.
Diane Ravitch posted an analysis of Candidate Cory Booker, and I print it below. If you want to know more about Cory Booker and public education, I suggest you read The Prize: Who’s In Charge of America’s Schools by Dale Russakoff. It explains in detail Cory Booker’s involvement as mayor of Newark in the failed initiative of Mark Zuckerberg with his millions to improve public education in that city.
Mitchell Robinson of Michigan State University explains why he could not support for Cory Booker for the Democratic nomination in 2020. He writes: I really don’t want to be a single-issue voter, but education will almost always be the most important issue for me–and Booker is catastrophically wrong and bad on education. His corporate leanings and pro-pharma stance are just the gravy for me on Booker.
None of this this is new. The article below appeared in Education Week in 2013. Nothing has changed. Cory Booker is still a supporter of charters and vouchers, no different from Betsy DeVos except she’s a billionaire and he raises money from Wall Street billionaires. Things Educators Need to Know About Cory Booker Education Week By Alyson Klein October 29, 2013 New Jersey voters this month picked Newark Mayor Cory Booker, a Democrat, to fill the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, also a Democrat, who died in June. Mr. Booker already has a national profile on education issues. 1. ‘Democrat for Education Reform’: Mr. Booker was a galvanizing force in the past decade bringing together a cadre of high-powered, deep-pocketed Wall Street donors with an interest in education policy, to support his early races for city council and mayor. The group eventually became Democrats for Education Reform, now the signature political action committee for politicians who are fans of less-than-traditional Democratic policies, including charter schools and teacher performance pay. The group’s founders “knew each other before, but they got involved in politics together to support Cory Booker,” said Joe Williams, the executive director of dfer. The pac poured some quarter-million dollars into Mr. Booker’s Senate campaign, Mr. Williams estimated. 2. Voucher Supporter: Mr. Booker is among a handful of prominent Democrats nationally to support private school vouchers, and championed a proposed New Jersey law that would have created a voucher program in that state. He co-founded Excellent Education for Everyone, a nonprofit organization that sought to promote vouchers and charter schools in New Jersey. The push won backing from other well-known New Jersey Democrats but was ultimately unsuccessful. https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/10/30/10electionsenator.h33.html |
Real Learning CT 
Thank you for writing such informative posts for us educators. Thank you for teaching me so much!
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