Bad Education

With a Bush White House, Republican majorities in Congress and a Republican governor in California, complaining about Republican policy decisions can get a little rote for even most partisan of Democrats (The 463, btw, bats both ways).  So, three cheers to a gaggle of Democrats in the California state legislature who prove that you can have legitimate reasons to bash the donkey party in 2005.

You see, what do you get when you put together five years of service on the state board of education; tireless support of successful, innovative charter schools; millions of dollars in campaign donations to Democrats; service as TechNet president; and, a CEO role at NetFlix? You get the Bronx cheer from a Democratic run committee and the first rejection of a Schwarzenegger appointee (who happens to be very much of a Democrat -- someone who was first appointed to the board by Gray Davis.)

This is the fate of Reed Hastings.  Let former Dukakis campaign manager Susan Estrich explain: 

...(Hastings) is a passionate Democrat, and his issue is public education.... The idea that Democrats could reject him had me checking the local headlines this morning twice, to make sure that this wasn't some joke edition. Have these people lost their minds? This is the most talented guy on the team, not to mention that he's responsible for about $15 million to Democratic campaigns....

Then I got it. Cut to the chase.

This isn't about qualifications or performance. So what if he killed himself for the last five years working on the Board of Education, running all over the state encouraging charter schools, using his own money when necessary to help provide start-up funds, while running a multimillion dollar business as his day job?

He failed the bilingual education litmus test.

He thinks children in bilingual education classes in public schools should be taught at least two-and-a-half hours a day in English.

That's why he wasn't confirmed.

It's the you're-either-with-us-or-against-us type of policy that so many Democrats say they detest when it comes from the White House or Tom DeLay.  Chris Nolan says "This could turn out to be a turning point in the relationship between Silicon Valley and the state's Democratic Party."

Mostly, what the Hastings episode makes me think about is how hard it's going to be to turn our education system around at a time that when we need it re-energized to compete against India, China, Russia...   Yes, Declan McCullagh is right to say in his recent column that too many blue ribbon panels of executives have said for too many decades that education is job one for the industry and America to not much positive end.  But, Declan is living in a libertarian utopia when he suggests that the teachers unions, public university system and Democratic Party structure can be reformed quickly if the tech industry just wasn't so modest (or, "incremental", as he says) in pushing for reforms.

Just ask Reed Hastings.

Comments

[att systems]

Yes! Finally something about systm.