By happenstance, the same day that Michelle Rhee announced formation of her new education-reform advocacy group, Students First, a committee of our own board okayed a staff (and attorney)?recommendation that we engage in what the IRS calls a ?501 (h)? election, by which a non-profit charity such as the Fordham Institute can engage in a certain amount of lobbying without jeopardizing its tax-exemption.
Michelle isn't even pretending that Students First will be a charity or that contributions to it?and she's aiming for a billion dollars?will be tax-deductible. She is incorporating it as a 501(c)4 organization, typically defined as a ?civic league,? which means that it won't pay taxes but may participate in political campaigns as well as nearly unlimited lobbying, and that it doesn't have to disclose the identity of its donors.
She's doing it this way because she wants Students First to be a political-action organization that helps get the right people elected or defeated. As she wrote in this week's Newsweek, ?We'll support any candidate who's reform-minded, regardless of political party, so reform won't be just a few courageous politicians experimenting in isolated organizations?.From the National Rifle Association to the pharmaceutical industry to the tobacco lobby, powerful interests put pressure on our elected officials and government institutions to sway or stop change. Education is no different.?
Organizations like Fordham cannot participate directly in elections, even if we can (now, and within limits) lobby?for favorable legislation and other policy changes, but Students First can and will. So can?and do?Democrats for Education Reform, theAmerican Federation for Children Action Fund (a section 527 ?political organization?), All Children Matter and a widening array of political-action-and-advocacy outfits supporting bold school reform.
This signals a profound shift away from the traditional ?research and education? agenda of foundation-supported non-profit groups working on school reform, with their polite op eds, their innumerable studies and reports, and their innumerable conferences and symposia attended primarily by people who already agree with?their message.
It's a shift toward political hardball?cash contributions to campaigns, outright advocacy of this candidate and denunciation of the other one, the shrewd use of paid lobbyists, influence-peddlers, campaign consultants, marketing experts, and public relations firms.
Part of me wishes this weren't happening in education, as it has and is in just about every other sector of American life. Part of me wishes the old model would endure and in time prevail by virtue of its powerful analyses, moral superiority, and?irrefutable arguments. But the times are changing and will continue to. Michelle Rhee learned this the hard way?and is taking off the gloves. We at Fordham are slow learners but we're taking off at least one glove. Others are out there punching?and more soon will be.
?Chester E. Finn, Jr.
