Ex-Schools Chancellor Joel Klein Named Chair Of Education Reform Now (DFER)

Former NYC Schools Chancellor Joel Klein is busy making big bucks at News Corp., but he's apparently not too busy for some extra-curricular activities: Namely, serving as chairman of the board of the advocacy group Education Reform Now.

In his first statement in his new role, Klein is coming out in favor of changing the rules on the "last in, first out" procedure for teacher layoffs -- a position that keeps him in line with his old boss, Mayor Bloomberg, and his successor at the Education Department, Cathie Black.

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Education Reform Now* -- which pushed hard for raising the state cap on charter schools as part of last year's fight for federal Race To The Top school funding -- also plans to "focus its efforts in 2011 on expanding successful school models, like high-performing public charter schools, encouraging states anddistricts to develop and adopt value-added teacher evaluations, and ensuring that proven reform programs remain funded at the federal, state and district levels."

The group clashed with the United Federation of Teachers during the push to lift the charter cap, with the union saying ERN ran misleading ads to sway the public to their side.

Education Reform Now, a group once named Democrats for Education Reform and run by a former Milwaukee education reporter named Joe Williams, is a main player in the Democratic Party and represents their most rabidly anti-union, right-wing, pro-Wall Street fringe. But it is a very wealthy fringe.

Sitting on their board:

--John Petry. A partner at Gotham Capital Management. Petry’s Gotham Capital LLC, founded in 1985 with $7 million from junk-bond king Michael Milken, is a privately owned hedge fund.

--Sidney Hawkins Gargiulo. Hawkshaw Capital, founded in 2002 by a former Lehman Brothers analyst.

--John Sabat. SAC Capital, a Stamford, Conn.-based private investment firm.

--Brian Zied. Maverick Capital, a Dallas-based investment adviser managing hedge funds and private investment funds.

Also included among Education Reform Now’s funders is Julian Robertson, the founder of the Tiger Management hedge fund. According to McAdoo, Robertson’s gifts include $71 million in 2008, including $250,000 to Education Reform Now, $1 million to the Achievement First charter network, $2 million to KIPP charters, $3 million to the New York City Center for Charter School Excellence, $7.1 million to Teach for America and $200,000 to the New Teacher Project.

Of course, all this is open and above-board. But not always. Back in April of 2009, Ed Reform Now’s Joe Williams got in a mess of trouble for functioning as a bag man, channeling money through different organizations and funds to hide its source and destination.