About Us
DFER Launches At NYC Event
Two years ago, a group of education reformers in New York and Washington, DC got together to see if an all-Democratic group could help nudge our party to press for real education reform. We were disheartened by the widespread failure of the public school system to give poor kids in America an opportunity to compete in the modern world, and we were frightened by our own party’s unwillingness to take on powerful entrenched interests to help them.
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Statement of Principles
A first-rate system of public education is the cornerstone of a prosperous, free and just society, yet millions of American children today – particularly low-income and children of color - are trapped in persistently failing schools that are part of deeply dysfunctional school systems. These systems, once viewed romantically as avenues of opportunity for all, have become captive to powerful, entrenched interests that too often put the demands of adults before the educational needs of children. This perverse hierarchy of priorities is political, and thus requires a political response.
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The DFER Board
Alan Bersin - Member of California Board of Education, former California Secretary of Education, former San Diego Schools Superintendent, former U.S. Attorney for Southern California, member of Harvard University's Board of Overseers.
Kevin Chavous (chair) – Former Washington, DC, City Council member and chair of the Education Committee.
Tony Davis - Anchorage Capital, board chair for Achievement First East New York, in Brooklyn.
Charlie Ledley - Cornwall Capital, NYC, board member and treasurer of Harlem Village Academy and Leadership Village Academy Charter Schools.
Rafael Mayer - Co-founder and managing partner, Khronos LLC, board member for Planned Parenthood of NYC, KIPP AMP, and The Dalton School.
Sara Mead - New America Foundation, former analyst for Education Sector and the Progressive Policy Institute, Washington, D.C.
John Petry - Gotham Capital, co-founder of Harlem Success Academy Charter School, NYC.
Dianne Piche - Citizens Commission on Civil Rights, former national field coordinator for NARAL, part-time instructor of education law, policy and ethics at the University of Maryland - College Park graduate school of education.
Andrew Rotherham - Member, Virginia Board of Education, co-director, Education Sector, former White House education advisor to President Clinton, author of the blog, Eduwonk.com.
Whitney Tilson - T2 Partners and Tilson Funds, vice chairman of KIPP Academy Charter Schools in NYC, co-founder of the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City.
Caprice Young - President of the California Charter Schools Association, former president of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education, and former assistant deputy mayor in Los Angeles.
(Note - Organizations listed here are for identification purposes only and do not imply an endorsement or affiliation.)
The DFER Board of Advisors
William Ackman - Founder, Pershing Square Capital.
Steve Barr - Founder and CEO, Green Dot Public Schools.
Cory Booker - Mayor of Newark, N.J.
David Einhorn - Founder of Greenlight Capital, LLC.
Joel Greenblatt - Founder and Managing Partner of Gotham Capital.
Michael Novogratz - President of Fortress Investment Group.
Tom Vander Ark - President of the X-Prize Foundation.
The DFER Staff - Executive Director Joe Williams
Joe is a former newspaper journalist and author of the controversial book Cheating Our Kids: How Politics and Greed Ruin Education (PalgraveMacmillan, 2005).Continue reading "The DFER Staff - Executive Director Joe Williams"....
The DFER Staff - Chief of Staff Brienne Bellavita
Brienne joined Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) in the Fall of 2007. With a passion for public service, and a deep understanding of the political and policy worlds, Brienne's focus is to help build up the organization's programs promoting proven education reform policies and supporting local, statewide, and national champions of public education reform.Continue reading "The DFER Staff - Chief of Staff Brienne Bellavita"....
The DFER Staff - Director of Development Katie Campos
Before joining DFER in the fall of 2008, Katie worked as the Fundraising Coordinator for New York State Assemblyman Sam Hoyt's re-election campaign in Buffalo, New York.
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The DFER Staff - Executive Assistant Beverly Francis
Beverly is a New Yorker by zip code, but a true Floridian at heart. Beverly joined the staff of Democrats for Education Reform in the Fall of 2008. Her passion for advancement in public education derive both from being a product of the public education system, and being surrounded by a family of educators.
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What We Stand For
- We support policies which stimulate the creation of new, accountable public schools and which simultaneously close down failing schools
- We support mechanisms that allow parents to select excellent schools for their children, and where education dollars follow each child to their school.
- We support governance structures which hold leaders responsible, while giving them the tools to effectuate change. We believe in empowering mayors to lead urban school districts, so that they can be held accountable by the electorate.
- We support policies that allow school principals and their school communities to select their teams of educators, holding them accountable for student performance but allowing them flexibility to exercise sound, professional judgment.
- We support clearly-articulated national standards and expectations for core subject areas, while allowing states and local districts to determine how best to make sure that all students are reaching those standards.
