In the past, I’ve touched on Teach for America (TFA) and it’s offshoot, Leadership For Educational Equity (LEE).

I recently reported on them when I found LEE money and Bloomberg money in the NC Superintendent race — for a Republican.

I just want to re-state what TFA and LEE are: Politically motivate recruiting groups, masquerading as subpar and taxpayer subsidized teacher training schools, whose main purpose is to seat it’s acolytes in places of political influence in order to further their specific ‘educational’ agendas.  Those ‘educational’  agendas are often skewed a particular way and it’s not to the center or right.

I just want to lay it out clearly here. It’s not just my personal opinion that these groups are more politically directed than education directed. It’s fact.  Follow the tweets.

The emphasis in LEE is on the “Equity” part.

Male students of color are more likely to miss class when they have white teachers https://t.co/imqVhoggNU

— LEE National (@LEE_National) January 6, 2016

VP of Alliances, Leadership for Educational Equity, help TFA w/ (political) movement for “educational equity”#nced https://t.co/yXNDOB0tXy

— A.P. Dillon – LL1885 (@LadyLiberty1885) July 14, 2015

Congress or K street. Take your pick. 

Director, Campaign Staff Development – Leadership for Educational Equity: Director, Campaign Staff Development… https://t.co/PZOnqVELUP

— Work for Congress (@workforcongress) December 30, 2015

Director, Organizing Partnerships and Strategy – Leadership for Educational Equity: Director, Organizing Partn… https://t.co/lh4Tisxfoz

— Work for Congress (@workforcongress) December 30, 2015

And LEE is not just political, both LEE and TFA  have an activist flavor.

TFA actually has employees organizing a large swath of the Black Lives Matter protests – including Durham. They are professional agitators and are partly taxpayer-funded and approved of from upon high.

Students need advocates who can organize communities and build a movement that will hold decision makers accountable https://t.co/RxuJXiYjdu

— LEE National (@LEE_National) January 21, 2016

That activism is well-funded.

Hey big spender! $10,800.00 from Bloomberg, Michael R. to Leadership for Educational Equity – Illinois PAC. https://t.co/6X5y2sPkhW

— Trib IL CampaignCash (@ILCampaignCash) December 4, 2015

And neither LEE nor TFA are’Right leaning’.

[jobsthatareLEFT] Manager, Candidate Ready Development – Leadership for Educational Equity… https://t.co/50Kx8XEUm3

— Jobs That Are LEFT (@jobsleft) January 22, 2016

Browse LEE’s twitter feed yourself.

Follow the Money

TFA’s EIN is 13-3541913.
View the TFA IRS 990 Forms via Propublica.

Their 2014 filing shows gross receipts of $524,829,910.

The stated purpose is to “eliminate educational inequity by enlisting our nations most powerful leaders in that mission”. They do that by putting their recruits into political positions, as I said at the start.

In addition to LEE, TFA also has another offshoot called Teach For All (EIN 26-2122566).
It is at 501(c)3 and  is also a multi-million dollar operation.

Wendy Kopp is their chairperson and she is paid over $180k for that role.

TFA has two CEO’s. The male Co-CEO, Matthew Cramer,  makes $412,285. The female Co-CEO, Elisa Bear, makes quite a bit less at $369,250.

Wow, paying a woman less than a man. Isn’t that a big no-no these days? Ironic. TFA can’t even ‘eliminate inequity’  in their own leadership.

LEE’s EIN is 20-8848357
View LEE’s IRS 990 Forms at Citizen Audit.