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Dear Friends,

The news was blaring this weekend.  All the talk seemed to suggest that the nation was focused almost entirely on the release of the Mueller Report. It’s been that way for months. And now it’s out. We’re told the nation is riveted, waiting to learn what’s inside.

And that does indeed seem to be the focus of the news. But are all eyes really on this report, or are they in their backyards, in their homes and on their schools wondering how and when someone is going to fix the dysfunction?

Perhaps we need a Mueller Report for education to find out where, in fact, the root of the failure is, where the money is going, why there is so little progress, so we can finally take care of our most precious resource, which (newsflash!) is not the presidency, but our children.

A Look Inside Detroit’s Crumbling Public Schools  (Image credit: The Atlantic)

I am so tired -  but not deterred - by this constant focus on everything other than the most important things in this nation. As I write, there are people in and around our schools trying to stop what little progress has been made to transform education, giving children the education they need and deserve.

There are people whipping up teachers into a frenzy against the most basic opportunities for kids in states from Arizona to North Carolina, school board presidents demanding that things stay the same as they are, despite a majority failing schools in their district. There are unions organizing charter schools which often times are the only option for success that students have, while at the same time wealthy and influential parents are buying their way into schools compensating their kids deficiencies with more tutor programs and building yurts in far off countries.

Inequities are extraordinary and when people work hard to create equity and succeed it gets nary a mention, while the entire country is apparently riveted on some stupid report out of Washington.

Enough is enough.

Look at your prisons and ask why they’re full and funded.

Look at your schools and wonder whether or not they are really learning anything about history, their nation, or what it will take to become truly productive in life.  Look at your colleges of all kinds and ask whether or not they’re truly innovating in a way that makes them worthy to emulate.

Look at your community and ask yourself if it’s so good, what would it take for everybody else to have this and if it’s not cohesive and expansive economically, why is that?

I bet you’ll find that education has everything to do with it.

People and communities don’t need your money; what they need is the power to use the money the government already allocates for education in the one way that works best for their child and only their child - which is not your child or my child. It is not an authorizer’s child, nor a policymaker's child. It is not the child of a school district or school board.

Government entities  - from charter school authorizers to state education departments, policymakers and many others like philanthropists and business leaders pick and choose winners in education without looking what a community needs, and ignoring parent needs and demands. They defer to interest groups making them more powerful than they really are or deserve to be.  They hide the actions, the data, the money, the results that are really occurring behind incomprehensible reports and excuses. This is precisely the kind of behavior that the Mueller Report is allegedly trying to uncover at the highest levels of government.

Whether that report turns out to be nonsense or a national security threat, one thing is for certain: our national security is not safe as long as we have a dysfunctional education system that rests money in the hands of people with power and bureaucracy rather than parents and communities.

Enough. Maybe the media can’t seem to acknowledge the corruption and miseducation most US students are victims of, but we can. You and I. We will not be deterred in our fight and we will continue to challenge those who stand in the way of great education for students at every level.

It may not make us popular (and I’m sure I’ll get my share of hate mail on this note!) but it is the most important work we could be doing today.

Please join us.  Reach out now if you don’t know why, check us out at EdReform.com or call me personally at 202-750-0016.

Whether or not you send a check or simply join the fight for better opportunities in school, we welcome your support at any level.