Democrats for Education Reform

American political action committee

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Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) is a New York-based left-of-center political action committee and advocacy group which focuses on encouraging the Democratic Party to support public education reform and charter schools.[1]

## History

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DFER emerged around the same time as the Education Equality Project.[2] Hedge fund manager and philanthropist Whitney Tilson and lawyer and former politician Kevin P. Chavous are among the group's co-founders.[3]

## Positions

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DFER claims to support five policy areas: resource equity, teacher quality and preparation, accountability, public school choice, and higher ed quality and affordability. In 2018, the Colorado Democratic Party asked the Colorado DFER chapter to stop using "Democrats" in its name.[4]

## Leadership

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Shavar Jeffries, one of the charter school sector's most prominent Black leaders, became the president of the organization in 2015.[5][6][7] Since 2023, the organization is led by Jorge Elorza, former mayor of Providence, Rhode Island.[8]

## Activities

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In Washington D.C., DFER sent out attack ads against Janeese Lewis George, a progressive candidate for D.C. city council. After conducting polling that showed voters were concerned about crime, DFER ran mailers that claimed that George would defund the police.[9] After the election, DFER apologized for its efforts.[10]

## References

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1. ^ "Hillary Clinton Caught Between Dueling Forces on Education: Teachers and Wealthy Donors," The New York Times.
2. ^ Moe, Terry M. (2011). Special Interest Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools. Brookings Institution Press. ISBN 978-0-8157-2130-7.
3. ^ Kroll, Andy (October 8, 2014). "The Teachers' Unions Back Mark Pryor. He Raised Money for Their Enemies Anyway".
4. ^ Meltzer, Erica (April 14, 2018). "Colorado Democrats overwhelmingly reject Democrats for Education Reform at state assembly". Chalkbeat Colorado. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
5. ^ Resmovits, Joy (September 3, 2015). "Democrats for Education Reform's Shavar Jeffries on how to fix his own movement". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
6. ^ "Ex-Newark mayoral candidate Jeffries to head education lobbying group". NJ.com. September 4, 2015. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
7. ^ "At odds over Trump, Democrats for Education Reform chief resigned from Success board". Politico PRO. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
8. ^ Bernal, Rafael (April 3, 2023). "Former Providence mayor to lead Democratic education group". The Hill. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
9. ^ Cohen, Rachel (June 4, 2020). "A PROGRESSIVE CHALLENGER WAS ATTACKED FOR CALLING TO DEFUND THE POLICE. SHE WON ANYWAY". Intercept. Washington DC. Archived from the original on June 3, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
10. ^ Ryals, Mitch (June 5, 2020). "Democrats for Education Reform Founder Acknowledges Attack Mailers Were Unfair". Intercept. Washington DC. Retrieved June 5, 2020.

## External links

[edit]

* Democrats for Education Reform website

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