To: Governor David Ige
Governor Ige: Assert Public Control Over Public Education
Remove private organizations like the H.L. Castle Foundation, which are not subject to Sunshine Law, from ANY involvement in decision-making around public education.
Why is this important?
Hawaii public education is at a critical crossroads. Hawaii has the potential to have the best public education system in the nation if current movements in innovation, collaboration and empowerment are unleashed to their full potential. However, this potential is stymied due to special interest control of the Superintendent search process.
The H.L. Castle Foundation, which shares interlocking leadership with the Business Roundtable and the Chamber of Commerce, has been too intimately involved in setting the public education policy agenda. Recent actions by the H.L. Castle Foundation in the Superintendent search reveal clearly that corporate money buys corporate control. The H.L. Castle Foundation offered to fund the search for the superintendent, and selected an Iowa-based search firm known for seeking out corporate-minded educational leaders who will likely be inappropriate for our state's culture, context and vision for the future of Hawaii's public education. The H.L Castle Foundation also held the process hostage by withdrawing their funding offer of $50,000 when the candidate pool widened to include a candidate who had been openly critical of the education policies the Castle Foundation helped to craft under the federal 'No Child Left Behind' law and the federal 'Race to the Top' program. They only reinstated the funding they had originally offered when the candidate withdrew.
This is unacceptable. Now more than ever, we need public control of public education. Please sign below to show your support for transparency in public education. We are calling for the Castle Foundation to remove itself completely from the decision-making processes surrounding the selection the next Hawaii DOE superintendent.
The H.L. Castle Foundation, which shares interlocking leadership with the Business Roundtable and the Chamber of Commerce, has been too intimately involved in setting the public education policy agenda. Recent actions by the H.L. Castle Foundation in the Superintendent search reveal clearly that corporate money buys corporate control. The H.L. Castle Foundation offered to fund the search for the superintendent, and selected an Iowa-based search firm known for seeking out corporate-minded educational leaders who will likely be inappropriate for our state's culture, context and vision for the future of Hawaii's public education. The H.L Castle Foundation also held the process hostage by withdrawing their funding offer of $50,000 when the candidate pool widened to include a candidate who had been openly critical of the education policies the Castle Foundation helped to craft under the federal 'No Child Left Behind' law and the federal 'Race to the Top' program. They only reinstated the funding they had originally offered when the candidate withdrew.
This is unacceptable. Now more than ever, we need public control of public education. Please sign below to show your support for transparency in public education. We are calling for the Castle Foundation to remove itself completely from the decision-making processes surrounding the selection the next Hawaii DOE superintendent.