Tag Archives: Michael Q. Sullivan

Pulling Back the Curtain on Empower Texans’ Crusade Against Public Education

By Kimberly Burkett
I’m currently teaching my preschool-aged son to read. We work regularly on sight words. We study Dick and Jane-like readers together. We encourage every new word that he identifies. As we go through these important exercises and celebrate new milestones, I’m reminded of what George Carlin once said. Not only is it important to teach our children to read, but also “teach your children to question what they read.” Sadly that important lesson seems to be lost on many.

I recently read a blog posted by Empower Texans/Texans for Fiscal Responsibility entitled “Maybe They Should Call it the ‘Superintendent’ PAC.” The blog questions the backers and agenda of Texas Parent PAC, a political action committee “for parents, grandparents, parents-to-be, and anyone who supports high quality public education.” Texas Parent PAC works to identify and encourage pro-education candidates.

The Empower Texans/Texans for Fiscal Responsibility blog alleges that Texas Parent PAC isn’t who they claim to be because in addition to parents, superintendents, H-E-B supermarket’s CEO Charles Butt, and former State Senator and Lieutenant Governor Bill Ratliff (many of whom are also parents) donate to their organization. According to the article, “‘Superintendent’, ‘consultant,’ and ‘educator’ are the primary occupations of Parent PAC’s donors in the last cycle.” The blogger then infers that because educators contribute to an education-focused PAC that their candidates are “hand-picked by school superintendents to find ways to pick our pockets clean.”

If you look beyond the fact that Empower Texans/Texans for Fiscal Responsibility opposes additional funding for public education and endorses candidates that will continue the trend we saw last session when $5.4 billion was cut from public education, there still remains something bothersome about their irrational rant against Parent PAC. So as Carlin suggested, I questioned what I read. I asked the Texans for Fiscal Responsibility Facebook page what is the difference between Texas Parent PAC, their supporters, and political endorsements and the PAC arm of Empower Texans/Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, their supporters, and their endorsements? What has Texas Parent PAC done that is so reprehensible to warrant an attack blog? What was odd about educators supporting an education-focused organization? Is that in any way surprising or nefarious?

My questions were not answered, and apparently not welcomed. Rather, Empower Texans/Texans for Fiscal Responsibility president and CEO, Michael Q. Sullivan and social media coordinator Dustin Matocha attacked me online with tired clichés like “liberal,” “troll,” “teacher-hating,” “big-spending,” and “bureaucrat.” (Ironically, I’m none of these things with the possible exception of big-spending; but I have no idea how they would know about my personal Target and Amazon shopping habits.) They also claimed I had “anti-religious” and “anti-parent” agendas. Mr. Sullivan also inferred that I wasn’t an involved parent – a baseless and random attack.

With those kinds of attacks, I had to wonder – did I hit a nerve? Perhaps Empower Texans/Texans for Fiscal Responsibility isn’t accustomed to being questioned about their supporters and deep-rooted agenda. When one of my discussions following their attacks was deleted (which to their credit, Empower Texans/Texans for Fiscal Responsibility rarely seems to do), I began to believe that perhaps there was something they didn’t want their followers to realize.

Who Are They Really?
So, here’s their secret — Empower Texans/Texans for Fiscal Responsibility have their own backers driving an agenda that is, in most cases, distinctly at odds with those of Texas Parent PAC and other pro-public education organizations. The views of public education espoused by their leaders would likely dismantle Texas’ public education system and, in many cases, put it into the hands of non educators and profit margin-focused business people.

Texans for Fiscal Responsibility is the advocacy arm of Empower Texans, a non-profit organization that promotes “free markets” (my translation: no taxes, pro-business and profit, cut spending to allow for more tax breaks for business). According to their website, the six-member board of directors of Empower Texans Foundation includes Mr. Sullivan and three members of the Dunn family of Midland, Texas. The four-member board of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility is comprised of Mr. Sullivan and three members of the Dunn family. It seems the Dunn family may have an inordinate amount of influence on Empower Texans/Texans for Fiscal Responsibility – perhaps more than a handful of superintendents donating to an education-focused political organization. In case you’re not familiar, allow me to introduce you to the Dunn family. According to his online biography Mr. Timothy Dunn is a lifelong oil man and serves as “chairman of the board of directors of Empower Texans and Texans for Fiscal Responsibility. He is also vice chairman of the board of directors at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.”

So let’s talk about Texas Public Policy Foundation. The foundation declares a mission to “promote and defend liberty, personal responsibility, and free enterprise in Texas and the nation.” This think tank is similar to the Heritage Foundation in their pursuit and promotion of right-wing policy. The Texas Public Policy Foundation seemingly has considerable influence over many conservative lawmakers, including Governor Rick Perry. In fact, the copyright of Rick Perry’s conservative fringe manifesto, “Fed Up!”, is owned by none other than the Texas Public Policy Foundation. If you review their website, you will find an education center that promotes policies representing all the greatest hits of conservatives’ views for education, including school choice (my translation: giving tax money to for-profit private schools and charters), virtual learning (my translation: promotion of the questionable and yet-to-be fully vetted for-profit online schools that are cropping up around the nation), market-based incentives to teacher compensation (my translation: tie teacher pay to standardized testing results), and the Texas taxpayer savings grant program (code word: school vouchers).

Mr. Dunn is also the founder and member of the Board of Trustees of the Midland Classical Academy, a private school that describes itself as an academy that provides an “academic foundation from a Biblical worldview.” Their website goes on to describe that they are “committed to recovering classical education and the Christian worldview in order to revitalize the impact of the Holy Scriptures on human history through such godly and educated disciples of Jesus Christ as God may raise up by this means.” Further, the website states that “Midland Classical Academy strives to operate as an extension of the family under the conviction that education is the primary responsibility of parents and the immediate family rather than that of the State.” (Unfortunately this seems at odds with Article I Section 7 of  the Texas state constitution, which indicates that supporting and maintaining  education IS the responsibility of the state Texas and its legislature.)

What Does it All Mean?
Okay, now that you know the leaders and their causes — what do you think? Is there a reason that Empower Texans/Texans for Fiscal Responsibility might benefit from attacking public education, attempting to defund it, and trying to discredit pro-education organizations through illogical blogs and attack pieces? Could it be helpful to Mr. Dunn’s academy to replace pro-public education lawmakers with those that might support school vouchers to private academies with missions like his? Would attacking a political action committee that supports pro-public education candidates possibly further those goals? Is there a deeper agenda than their simple and oft-repeated “fiscal responsibility” mantra suggests? Could it be the desire to profit from public education through private schools, charter schools, virtual schools, or other for-profit interests? Could it be the desire to re-model education into the holy grail of conservatives — the very vision laid out by the Texas Public Policy Foundation education center? What’s the motivation behind their crusade against public education and groups like Texas Parent PAC? The facts are there. You decide.

Despite what Mr. Sullivan and his little henchmen suggest, I’m just a mom. I don’t work for the government. I’m not a lobbyist. I’m not a bureaucrat. I’m not a politician. I am not an educator. In fact, I’m not even a contributor to Texas Parent PAC. I’m just a mom. My husband is a principal at a Title I elementary school. Despite the fact that he’s an “overpaid educrat,” he owes more money in student loans for his degrees in education than the annual salary he brings home. Yet my husband struggles daily with the stresses of ensuring that his low socio-economic (and in some cases homeless) students receive the education they rightly deserve. In addition to my husband’s students, we worry about our son — one of the 160,000 students the 82nd legislature did not fund last session (despite the convoluted spin some lawmakers and even the state comptroller have tried to put on this). If groups with ulterior motives continue to attack public education, what will our son’s opportunities and future look like? I can assure Mr. Sullivan and Empower Texans, my child is my only agenda. Can they say the same?

In the end, I’m a mom who was attacked for questioning what I read on the Empower Texans website.

“Teach your children to question what they read.”
Truer words have never been spoken. When my child advances beyond Dick and Jane readers, here are some of the lessons I’m going to teach him:

  • The difference between a blog, a news article, an editorial, and commentary: Many blogs like to disguise themselves as news articles by using official-looking, news-like bylines to give an air of authority. Sometimes new sites will run commentary or opinion pieces (a photo of the author is often a good tip that you’re not reading a news article). On occasion, sites like Yahoo! News will even pick up blogs and run them. Understand what you’re reading. A blog is often nothing more than an online personal journal. What you are reading now is my opinion, not news. There isn’t any guarantee to its validity. Always keep that in mind.
  • Consider the source: My absolute favorite example of this is the scary “article” I read after Obamacare had passed. It said we were all going to be micro-chipped so the government could track us. The “article” (which has since been discredited by various sources, including Snopes) was on a website that was encouraging people to buy gold and other supplies in preparation for some unknown, apocalyptic, government-ending event. Many groups like this promote uncertainty and paranoia to make a quick buck. Don’t fall for it.
  • Lies, damned lies, and studies: Who funded that “study?” Is a study that supports school vouchers funded by an association of private schools that would benefit from passing school vouchers? Check the fine print — is a study that says eating burgers and fries offers health benefits actually funded by a fast food restaurant association? Make sure the authors or funders of a study don’t have a horse in the race. Any one can do a “study” with varying degrees of validity. Check to see how the study was conducted. If it isn’t scientifically sound, originating from a research-based university, or coming from a peer-reviewed journal or magazine, there’s likely nothing to see there.
  • Use the About Us link: when reading an article or blog from a group you’re not familiar with, find the “about us” link on their website before you read any further. Who funded them? Who’s on their board of directors?  What is their stated mission? These are all important clues to the slant you’re possibly about to read.
  • Research and follow the money: Who stands to profit from what you’re reading? What benefit would a group have to gain from influencing your opinions? Research to find this — it won’t necessarily be handed to you nor will they admit to it freely. All of the information I’ve presented and linked in this blog didn’t come from a team of private investigators. I didn’t do a deep internet dive looking for dirt nor did I perform extensive background checks. How did I do it? Google. It’s a powerful tool and available to most everyone — use it.

But the most important lesson I will teach my son is to always have the courage to think critically, analyze what he reads, and make his own decisions. And above all else, take the time to question what you read.

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Sticks and Stones: Why I’m Proud to be an “Educrat” (Never Mind that Man Behind the Curtain!)

In a recent blog by a lobbyist/fiscal conservative regarding a variety of issues related to education, I was labeled an “Educrat.” Somehow, both Webster’s and Funk & Wagnall’s missed defining this term. When I Googled the definition, I was led to satirical definitions from UrbanDictionary, Wiktionary, and other sources. The New York Daily News once used the term to describe an individual who worked in New York City’s education department. Other than these obscure examples, my attempts to infer a definition for “Educrat” came up empty.

What I could gather from the blog is that this term clearly carried a negative connotation. But why? What is it about education that has led grown men to name calling more suitable to a schoolyard playground than a website blog? Could it be that opponents to public education have an agenda other than so-called fiscal conservatism? Perhaps in hopes of obscuring their true agendas and allegiances, they throw out red meat and call names as bright, shiny distractors for their followers. (Whatever you do, don’t look at the man behind the curtain to see what his real motivations are!)

Education has become a target for many groups, from those seeking to privatize it for profit; those that want to reduce its public funding to protect the subsidized statuses of/rebates for Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Whatever; those who wish to eliminate public education and revert to homeschooling; school “choice” supporters; and even those so far out of the mainstream that they prefer we return to the good ol’ days of the one-room school house taught by a paddle-wielding, bible-bearing schoolmarm. That’s a lot of targets on the back of educators.

So rather than letting those that potentially wield a hidden agenda define who I am and what I do, I chose to take the initiative and finally define the obscure notion of Educrat once and for all.

So, what is an Educrat?

  • If Educrat means that I am committed to ensuring ALL children receive a quality education and the opportunities and promise that comes with it, then count me in. I will stubbornly hold the state of Texas to its responsibility to provide a free and adequate education for all.
  • If Educrat means that unlike some members of the 82nd legislature, I don’t see education as a dreaded “entitlement,” but rather a right provided to ALL children by the constitution of the great state of Texas, then I’m your man.
  • If Educrat means that I work in a 50-year old building to provide leadership and a quality education for 600 low socioeconomic elementary school students (including several homeless children) that are expected to pass the most difficult state standardized test to date, then I will nail the title to my office door.
  • If Educrat means that I stand at the front door of my school every day to welcome the bright, smiling faces of the kindergartners and new students that the 82nd legislature and Governor Perry failed to fund in their budget, then I will happily be there for them even when the state of Texas wasn’t.
  • If Educrat means I have dedicated my life to a field that impacts all aspects of society and our economy and have earned three degrees to support this most-important endeavor, then I will happily repay my student loans and sign the check as Dr. Jerry Burkett, Educrat.
  • If Educrat means that I desire the same opportunities for all children regardless of their place in society, then I’ll be pleased to join the club.
  • If Educrat means that even with advanced degrees, mandated certifications, and the responsibility for 600 students and 50 campus employees, I make less money than many plumbers (despite the urban legend about overpaid administrators), then I will still show up to work every day with great pride to serve my students, staff, and community.
  • If Educrat means I will spend time away from my own family, friends, and hobbies to be there for the children society (and, in some cases, even their own parents) left behind, then where do I sign up?
  • If Educrat means I work in my “spare time” to educate teachers, principals, legislators, and the community on the challenges facing public education in Texas, then I will emblazon the term on my business cards.
  • If Educrat means I work to come up with solutions — not excuses — to the problems facing education today rather than nitpick faults and trash and disrespect the system, then I wear the title with honor.
  • If Educrat means I am not beholden to special interest groups who are lobbying against public education in an effort to “starve the beast” and privatize education for profit, then I will honor the title and remain beholden only to the students I serve daily. My students are my ONLY special interest.

As an Educrat, I don’t pretend that education does not come with its share of problems, that all decisions are always made in the best interest of students, or that system reform isn’t necessary. However, I also recognize that these issues will be exploited by those with other motivations. In the spirit of lies, damned lies, and statistics, they will manipulate numbers to paint pictures that favor their cause — whatever that cause may be. In an effort to distract, they will exaggerate the supposed perks, benefits, and lavish facilities built for administrators. (A fiscal conservative group recently lamented the “temples” built for administrators and perks “beyond the dreams of Midas.” Personally, I’m not familiar with these types of school districts. The administrative offices for my urban school district are housed in a former Winn Dixie supermarket – far from the Taj Mahal described by these propogandists.) While these distractors are committed to obfuscating and attacking, I will instead spend my time as many Educrats do — working to make public education better, more efficient, and more effective for the students and taxpayers of Texas. All despite the best efforts of the public education opponents to tear it down.

Public education will always provide our children the best opportunity for a better life. It provides economic growth and societal stability. And I will never stop fighting to protect it. If that’s what makes me an Educrat, then I’m damned proud to carry the title.

Respectfully,

Dr. Jerry R. Burkett
Educrat

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