BREAKING – Hidden in the Fine Print of Senate Floor Analysis of SB 1277: Marin County Office of Education To Transfer Additional $5 Million To Private Nonprofit Jewish Family And Children’s Services
New package brings state total for controversial educational program to $8.5M since 2021; MCOE takes a crumb. Also: Hank Levy Makes History! And a Class-Action Suit Against Reps Huffman and Thompson
I. An Additional $5 Million Uncovered
During an interview with Marin County Office of Education Superintendent John Carroll last summer, I asked about the initial $2 million provided by the California Department of Education to the MCOE for transfer to the Bay Area’s Jewish Family and Children’s Services for a controversial “Holocaust and Genocide Education” program.
At that time, Superintendent Carroll confirmed the funding, and responsibly informed me that he had learned of another, nearly identical round of funding that MCOE would transfer to the JFCS. This additional funding would have brought the then-total to nearly $4 million over a three-year period.
But that was in late June, before Senate Bill 1277 passed in September, which delivered an additional $5 million to the MCOE for transfer to the private, already well-funded, “nonprofit” JFCS.
This past Monday, December 16, Carroll sent me an email reply to more recent questions. That email clarified the two prior amounts as $2 million and $1.5 million, totalling $3.5 million from the State to MCOE to be transferred to JFCS. (The MCOE is allowed to take a percentage of the money, limited to 10% of the total; MCOE appears to have taken a modest 5% in the transfer of the initial $2 million package.)
A few paragraphs later, Carroll’s email also confirmed that there was an additional $5 million that would be dispensed from the California Department of Education to MCOE for transfer to the JFCS for the same Holocaust and Genocide education program.
That brings the total determined for transfer from the State (all or most of it through the MCOE) for the non-transparent JFCS program to $8.5 million.
As far as I have been able to search, that transfer through the MCOE of an additional $5 million – the largest transfer yet from MCOE to JFCS – has yet to be reported anywhere in local or regional media, even though it has direct impact on curriculum throughout California. (But at least you’re reading it here!)
The latest round of $5 million is confirmed in the fine print of the Senate Floor Analyses of SB 1277 (and confirmed in the text of SB 108):
“The Budget Act of 2024 provides $5 million in one-time Proposition 98 General Fund to the Marin County Office of Education to provide to the Collaborative. The funds may be spent or encumbered over the next five years.”
Screenshot of page 7 of the “Senate Floor Analyses” of SB 1277, see highlighted area in red:
Note that the legislative disclosure of MCOE’s role appears limited to the Senate Floor Analyses; it appears nowhere in the actual text of SB 1277.
The “Collaborative” named in the Senate Floor Analyses refers to the California Teachers Collaborative, the “brainchild” of the JFCS Holocaust Center. (Worth noting that the JFCS Holocaust Center is so securely funded that it has taken on a $45 million renovation of its San Francisco offices in lower Pacific Heights.)
Why is the State giving precious education dollars to such an already well-funded, religiously affiliated, pro-Israel “nonprofit” organization — for a public school education program about genocide that restricts any mention of Palestinians currently being genocided by Israel?
How was the private JFCS deemed competent or sufficiently unbiased to handle public school curriculum for “Holocaust and Genocide” education – apparently without much (if any) sort of competitive bidding process and against the protests of so many teachers and attorneys last summer in Sacramento?
These are questions that the MCOE Board declined to answer at the last two meetings.
The Controversy Surrounding the JFCS/CTC “Holocaust and Genocide Education Program”:
The JFCS/CTC educational program is controversial for many reasons, most prominently its refusal to acknowledge the ongoing ethnic cleansing and genocide being perpetrated by Israel against Palestinians, and its ties to pro-Israel lobbying groups such as the ADL. (Emmaia Gelman’s 2019 Boston Review exposé of the ADL remains a must-read, and retired teacher Marcy Winograd’s more recent exposé of the JFCS/CTC is equally comprehensive.)
The JFCS/CTC “educational” program is in many ways a desperate reaction to a decade-long shift in popular support away from Israel and toward Palestinians – not only amongst Americans overall but notably amongst younger Jewish Americans who are increasingly skeptical of a Jewish national state with an apartheid structure.
In turn, the Israel lobby, including its local affiliates, has scrambled to villify Palestinian advocates and indoctrinate younger people in the supposed necessity of Israel.
Israel is necessary, the lobby asserts, citing the Holocaust. But what did the now-displaced Palestinians have to do with the Holocaust? And why did the Palestinian people have to be displaced, imprisoned, tortured, frequently massacred, and finally subjected to a live-streamed genocide to compensate for Europe’s vicious anti-semitism? (Not to mention US complicity in the Holocaust itself through companies like IBM.)
The only rationale at this stage requires believing the false notion that Palestinians are somehow “lesser” human beings — and that is likely why the JFCS/CTC Holocaust and Genocide education program restricts any mention of the displacement and now genocide of the Palestinian people stemming from the creation of the state of Israel.
This pro-Israel propaganda is being funded by the State despite the reality of Israel’s current, illegal genocide of Palestinians in Gaza (a slaughter Israel now seems eager to replicate in Lebanon and Syria.)
A Percentage for MCOE
According to the terms of the agreement, the MCOE is entitled to a percentage (up to 10%) of the monies they transfer to JFCS for the program. It appears the first round of funding (for $2 million) may have delivered a 5% cut to MCOE, as the amount received by the JFCS was reportedly not $2 million, but $1.9 million. If the same percentage applies, MCOE can take a maximum of $500,000 from the $5 million, which will start to be dispersed as early as January 15.
A question I asked the MCOE Board at the December 17 meeting was, “Is it worth it?”
The transfer does not come without responsibility and, one should expect, a certain amount of liability.
Per Carroll’s December 16 email, MCOE is required to submit a report to the State legislature and budget office regarding the JFCS program. The first report for monies already transferred is due on or before January 1, 2025.
Why MCOE?
You might be wondering why a private religiously-based nonprofit such as the JFCS is receiving public funds from the State through the Marin County Office of Education. But nobody seems to have any answers for this. In the absence of explanations, I can only offer hypotheses:
1. The MCOE may have been selected in part because it is so unusually secretive for an elected body, and thus disclosure would have been minimal.
MCOE’s secrecy is guaranteed by the structure of its meetings, which are neither open to public participation via zoom, nor recorded. (At the November meeting, when I brought a GoPro to make a recording, one of the Board members, Dr. Curtis Robinson, immediately demanded if I was permitted do such a thing. I was nonplussed. “It’s a public meeting,” I responded, “of course I can record it.”)
After that exchange, the MCOE made a decision to at least provide Zoom access for watching the December meeting, but there is still no public participation through Zoom, nor is there any recording. (I went in person to record and ask questions at both the November and December meetings.)
2. The MCOE may have been selected in part because the County itself is so white and so racially segregated that minority groups – who in other counties would normally protest the anti-Palestinian JFCS program – are simply insufficient in number to make the effort at the already somewhat restricted meetings.
3. The MCOE may have been selected in part through a close relationship between Governor Newsom and a prior official at the Marin County Office of Education. A reporter notified me recently that former MCOE Legal Counsel and Assistant Superintendent Brooks Allen had been selected by Governor Newsom in 2020 as his education policy advisor and Executive Director of the State Board of Education. I confirmed this through a 2020 article in EdSource:
“Allen’s selections continues an unusual arrangement that former Gov. Jerry Brown started when he was elected to his third term as governor in which the state board staff work on both the governor’s and the state board’s priorities.”
The same article notes these “dual relationships on the state board were ‘complex’ given the ‘quasi-independent” nature of the board.”
Is Brooks Allen the Broker in the State-to-MCOE-to-JFCS Transfers?
I reached out to Brooks Allen but was referred instead to the Communications Director at the State Board of Education, Alex Traverso. Traverso declined to answer questions about Allen, and appeared not to be familiar with the details of SB 1277. I provided the Senate Floor Analyses to Traverso but he did not acknowledge reading it. (Traverso was previously employed in communications at the troubled California State Lottery.)
This is a developing story and I hope to continue to update in the New Year. I am particularly interested in the report that MCOE must provide to the State legislature and budget office regarding the program. That report is due on or before January 1, 2025.
II. Alameda County Treasurer Hank Levy Makes History By Announcing Divestment From Caterpillar; JCRC’s Mintzer Predictably Complains But Is Countered by Jewish Residents of Alameda County
If anyone could be said to have played the long game, it may be Hank Levy, although those who knew Levy in his youth are perhaps not as surprised.
On December 10, Levy announced he had freed Alameda County of most of its investments in Caterpillar, long implicated in the destruction of Palestinian homes and in the deaths of Palestinian and American civilians. This came after months of talks between Levy and a group called “Bay Area Divest”.
This moment seemed especially poignant since Levy had previously accepted the JCRC junket to Israel, and had reportedly kept his cards held close to his chest throughout his conversations with representatives of Bay Area Divest, a multi-denominational group that includes workers, activists, religious leaders, and attorneys. The group has significant input from members of the Palestinian American and Jewish American communities in Alameda County.
Bay Area Divest could well be model for what other counties could achieve. Levy’s decision was met warmly by the San Francisco Bay Area’s Council on American-Islamic Relations (full press release here), by AROC Bay Area, and members of Jewish Voice for Peace.
There were over 100 people who wished to speak on the item, which appeared late on the agenda. I extracted the video clip that shows JCRC’s Jonathan Mintzer’s disingenuous complaint, which was immediately countered by Alameda County resident and retired teacher Carla Schick in a distinctive New York accent. Please note the minimal applause Mintzer, followed by the hearty, lasting applause for Schick.
It is remarkable that JCRC leadership continues, more than 14 months into Israel’s genocide, to push back on the efforts of Americans to divest from companies doing business with Israel.
And where had I heard Carla’s warm and courageous voice before? At Lobby Day in Sacramento last summer, when I covered Carla’s interaction with Senator Josh Becker’s Press Secretary, Charles (Charlie) Lawlor in this article.
III. Ten Counties Joined In A Class-Action Suit Against Rep. Huffman and Rep Thompson:
For at least a month, readers have contacted me about the possibility of a class-action suit against Rep. Huffman for his vote for additional funding for Israel in the midst of an ongoing genocide. I admit I was uneasy about the suit because I didn’t know anything about the attorneys, who were as yet unnamed.
Last Thursday, the suit was filed and the attorney, Dean Royer, of the firm Szeto-Wong Law, spoke at a press conference in San Francisco with many of the plaintiffs. It was an inspiring moment, and I hope to dig deeper into how this suit will move forward. In the meantime, I invite you to watch the press conference in its entirety. The amount of work required to reach that point is remarkable, and the statements of the plaintiffs are worth hearing in full.
VI. Another Ray of Hope In An Uncertain Moment
In Berkeley last Friday, racing to the post office, I realized that I had once again forgotten about the regular freeway overpass protest at University Avenue. As I made my way through the Palestinian flags lining the overpass (flags greeted by the enthusiastic honking of drivers below), I met a young Palestinian American who briefly related what had happened at the last El Cerrito City Council meeting. Apparently, outgoing Mayor and JCRC BANJO Co-Chair Tessa Rudnick called police on the numerous peaceful members of the public who had been shut out of public comment.
Why do the JCRC and its BANJO co-Chairs and members hate democracy and transparency so much? Maybe it is because they know they have embraced something profoundly illegal and unethical.
The pro-Palestinian activists in El Cerrito are yet another inspiring (and seemingly tireless) group of people whom I haven’t had time to cover, but they deserve our attention. They have their own great style which has included sharing Palestinian music with the public, and are shown much love at their regular protests at the mall in El Cerrito. In this way, they have grown some considerable local influence — they seem to have been instrumental in helping to oust the pro-genocide Mayor/CM Tessa Rudnick.
In overlooked El Cerrito, there is a story about democracy and public participation that relates to what is happening in Marin, and I hope to share some of that story soon.
Thanks as always to readers and please stay warm, dry, and happy in this holiday season!
©️2024 Eva Chrysanthe