Oakland A’s owner Fisher, a charter school tycoon, is a leader in ‘charterizing’ public schools.

Libby Schaaf connected to Fisher through funding of her education nonprofit, Oakland Promise; she calls for closing schools.

By Ken Epstein

How does real estate development at the Port connect to closing schools? Some political observers say ongoing attempts to displace residents and ‘whiten’ Oakland has two components: one is the snatching of public funds and property to build luxury housing as Oakland A’s owner John Fisher is doing at the Port.

The other part is removing the neighborhood schools attended by generations of Oakland residents and replacing them with charter schools and private schools designed to appeal to more affluent newcomers.

Significant potential allies for school communities fighting closures may be the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and other labor unions at the Port of Oakland, which are under threat from conservative billionaire Fisher’s stadium/real estate project that seeks to take over public land at the Port of Oakland, potentially fatally disrupting the port’s functioning.

John Fisher. Twitter photo.

Fisher has strong connections to local politicians. Mayor Libby Schaaf, an outspoken leader pushing for the Oakland A’s Port real estate project, also publicly backs the closing of Oakland schools. She is a charter school supporter and has significant connections to Fisher, who, along with other charter school billionaires, helps fund Schaaf’s pet nonprofit project, Oakland Promise.

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Fisher is not only a baseball team owner, he is also a charter school tycoon. He and his mother Doris Fisher are leaders in the national effort to charterize school districts. According to the Knowledge is Power Program website, Fisher is on the board of directors of KIPP schools, which has charter schools across and the country and a network of 17 charters in Northern California, including a school in West Oakland and another in downtown Oakland.

KIPP’s office in this region is at 1000 Broadway, the same building where the school district has its headquarters.

Who is John Fisher? Politically, he is very conservative. According to Wiki, In 2019, it was revealed that Fisher, together with his mother Doris F. Fisher, as well as brothers William S. Fisher and Robert J. Fisher, had donated nearly $9 million to a dark money group that opposed Barack Obama in the 2012 election.”

According to the website of the KIPP charter school chain: “John Fisher is the executive vice chairman of Pisces Inc., and co-founder of Sansome Partners, which are the family office and investment group, respectively, for the Fisher Family, founders of The Gap. The Doris & Donald Fisher Fund focuses on education reform and charter schools and was founded by Doris Fisher and the late Donald Fisher.

“In addition to serving on a number of corporate boards, (Fisher) helped found and continues to serve on the board of Charter School Growth Fund and Silicon Schools Fund.”

Doris Fisher, worth $2.6 billion, has “focused much of her wealth and resources on building charter schools. She and her late husband Donald donated more than $70 million to … (KIPP schools) … (building) the operation into the largest network of charter schools in the country, with 200 schools serving 80,000 students in 20 states,” according to an article in the website Capital & Main in 2016.

Doris Fisher was listed in 2016 “as the second-largest political donor in California by the Sacramento Bee – and nearly all of her money now goes to promoting pro-charter school candidates and organizations,” according to Capital & Main. “While often labeled a Republican, she gives to Democrats and Republicans alike, just as long as they’re supportive of the charter school movement.”

Some of the financial connections between Oakland Promise — Schaaf’s nonprofit — to Fisher and other charter school billionaires are documented in Oakland Promise’s 2018 annual report.

Donations to Oakland Promise in 2018 by Fisher and Fisher-owned organizations include between $50,000-$100,000 from the Oakland Athletics, between $10,000-$25,000 from the Fisher Family and between $10,000-$25,000 from the Silicon Schools Fund.

Other charter school billionaires supporting Oakland Promise in 2018 were Arthur Rock, between $1 million-$3 million; Rogers Family Foundation, between $100,000- $1 million; Reed Hastings of Hastings Fund at Silicon Valley, between $100,000-$1 million

A locally based pro- charter school organization, Educate78, donated between $100,000-$1 million.

Schaaf is on board with Fisher’s agenda. In a KQED television interview on February 4, she offered “full-throttle support Fisher’s multi-billion-dollar real estate development at the Port,” she said. “This is everything that I as a mayor could want.”

Schaff was also unequivocal in her support for closing 15 Oakland neighborhood schools. She said that Oakland has 80 schools, while comparable districts have 40 schools, implying she supported closing as many as half the public schools in her city.

“I really feel for parents, students, teachers,” she said. “They have every right to be distrustful of this decision. But I believe it is different this time… This is an opportunity to do better for our students, for our educators, our families.”

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